New World Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

New World - Essay Example To begin with, John Smith was an English voyager, who was also a soldier and writer by choice; As a matter of fact, he was most well-known for his part in the establishment of the so-called first eternal English colony in the New World at Jamestown, Virginia. Smiths myth has grown-up over the periods, precisely due to the widespread story of his connection with Pocahontas, who was well known as a Native American princess. Through his writing the whole world was able to know him more closely and for them the most common characteristics figure associated with him was notorious self-promoter. His writing about himself, narrating various incidents of his life also gives a clear picture about him.. Smith, whose histories deliver ample of what is recognized about Pocahontas, was part of a provisional group of some 100 men assigned the charge of developing an American cluster on behalf of the London-based Virginia Company. Way back in April 1607, three of the company boats reach the coast o f Virginia and a group volunteered ashore. â€Å"What they found, one of the actual settlers wrote in a near-swoon, were "fair meadows and goodly tall Trees, with such Fresh-waters running through the woods.† In this line, if one analyzes the movie then it is very clear that there is the number of resemblance between the movie and the story of Smith. Dargis in his review has mentioned that the director opens the movie "The New World" with pictures of moving water, skinny-dippers shot from below and the lady who soon recognized by the viewer’s as Pocahontas when she pronounces something which sounds like a prayer (sing the song of a land). Then, after a brief recognition categorization, James Horner's music gives way to tweeting birds, blustering breeze and â€Å"what might be the rumble of distant thunder or a cannon blast.

Environmental Economics Essay Example for Free

Environmental Economics Essay Agriculture has an instrumental role and close association in preservation and conservation of the environment and economic development. It promotes environment diversity and enhances the creation of artificial habitats. The green biomass that covers many fields forms a basis of aesthetic to the human emotions. Intensified uses of chemical in agricultural production threaten the above benefits that arise from agricultural fields. In the recent past, a growing concern has been raised with regard to the negative impact arising from agricultural related activities and policies. Legalization of substances such as pesticide and fertilizer enhance negative consequences on the environment. They contain toxic elements thus causes pollution of surface water and underground water, drainage of wetlands, air pollutions and loss of diverse life forms and habitats. Settlement scheme in implemented on fragile lands such swamps, disturbances the ecological balance in the area. Environmental issues can be resolve by promoting organic agriculture, establishing relevant institutions, formulation of legislation and policies. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) members agreed that reforms should, to the extent possible, simultaneously enable progress to be made on trade liberation and environment. They also agreed to uphold the need to integrate agricultural development with environmental issues. (OECD 1993, p, 24-50) The focus of this study is therefore to examine the risk of inorganic agriculture against organic agriculture on the environment and thereafter formulate alternative strategies to foster sustainability. Environmental issues are diverse and multi-disciplinary in nature since they cut across all sectors of the economy and cultures. Unsustainable agriculture and increase in populations in the world modifies environmental issues. Population increase exerts high pressure on the economic processes to stretch, in most cases beyond the natural sustainable limit, to accommodate the excess demand (Sandler, Todd. 1997, p, 34-73) In response, the world has embarked on intensified adoption to scientific invention and advancement in technological development to improve production. Organic means of production are therefore considered redundant and barbaric in favor of inorganic agriculture. Unsustainable means of production, consequently, have widened and continue to widen environmental global challenges that threaten to cripple and suffocate the world’s economy. Studies have shown that increased use of chemical, such as pesticides and fertilizers for production in farming activities perpetuates the environmental global challenges. This puts the future livelihood for mankind at a stake and uncertain. It is therefore important to examine environmental challenges attached to intensive use of chemical for agricultural production and thereafter provide an alternative strategy to enhance sustainability. (Dutch Committee, 1994, p, 30-50) Intensified use of chemical for production is largely attributed to agricultural and industrial revolution. Population has also influenced the need to use chemicals to increase food production to meet the ever growing world demand for food. Initially, the above means of agricultural production were common in Europe and Asian continent. Abject poverty in the world has created great desire and demand for technological innovation to increase food production. Globalization and scientific advancement has therefore provided a solution to the world food demand problem. However, the solution comes with a bundle of side effects. Technological and scientific information transfer, particularly, to African countries, where poverty is obsolete and unsustainable (Andersons, L. and Bruce, Yundle, 2001, p, 50-200) Over the last three decades there has been an increasing global use of chemicals for agricultural production. Traditionally, production was based on organic means thus less environmental concerns. Merchandised agriculture has raised the public concern over the nature of the problems that arises from agricultural production. These problems are diverse and wholly attributed to environmental pollution caused by intensified use of pesticide and fertilizers. (Uri, Noel, 1999, p, 23-123) The problems are aggravated by improper management of agricultural chemicals thereby causing serious environmental issues. These pose a great problem to the survival and well-being of humanity, particularly those living in developing world. This is because fertilizers and pesticides are agent of pollution to water bodies, food sources, land, air and vegetation. The development of agriculture production through specialization and intensification of land use in recent decades has given rise to a wide range of environmental effects, both within the agricultural industry itself and increasingly, externally to it. The recognition and understanding of these consequences of modern high technology agriculture developed in the 1970s and during the 1980s progress was made in addressing these impacts. Some problems still remain however and will be of increasing importance. (OCED, p, 177) The use of chemicals for agricultural production therefore will continue to compromise the environmental sustainability. The World Health Organization estimates that about a quarter of the diseases facing mankind today occur due to prolonged exposure to environmental pollution. Most of these environmental related diseases are however, not easily detected and may be acquired during childhood and manifest later in adulthood. The indiscriminate and excessive use of agrochemicals for crop protection represents by far the greatest threat to human health, to the genetic stock of the population and to sustain agriculture and environment. At a United Nations seminar in Nairobi Kenya in 1984, it was reported that almost 370,000 people suffer from pesticide poisoning and about 10,000annually die due to poisoning. Recently, the World Health Organization estimated 500,000 fatalities due to pesticide poisoning in developing world. This WHO’s report further claims that another 400,000 cases of poisoning were due to pesticide handling and usage. (Mervyns, p, 12) From the quotation above, it is clear that the impacts of agrochemical increases with time and magnitude. This kind of trend is unsustainable and therefore threatens the future of humanity. The impact of pesticide and fertilizer on human health is crucial and therefore should never be under-estimated. The traces of these chemical causes inhalation problems. Accumulation of the elements in the body system affects the free circulation of blood in the body. Biodiversity forms a basis upon which the world’s beauty, emotional fulfillment and aesthetic appeal are based. Agriculture spices up the aesthetic-array of the world. It also creates artificial habitats that shelter migratory organisms such as birds, insects and animals. It therefore follows that agricultural production is a gene bank for scientific development. Intensive use of pesticides and fertilizers puts the existence of nature in it natural form at stake. This is because chemicals kill organisms that perpetuate natural fertilization processes thereby hindering the natural form of nature stabilization. Chemical enhances the process of mutation. This leads to evolution of hybridized species of pests which are resistant to natural mean of pest control and at times even resistant to pesticides. Loss of biodiversity as a result of chemical use in agricultural production is therefore eminent. It has been reported that, â€Å"The first sub lethal effect of a pesticide on a bird was probably the eggshell thinning phenomena first described by Ratcliff. DDE, the stable metabolite of DDE is reported to be the cause of eggshell thinning and consequent decline in the breeding success of birds of prey. † (Mervyns, p, 78) Equity is a controversial aspect of resource distribution in the world. The gap between the rich and the poor is quite disheartening. Economic processes and advancement also work towards widening the gap. Commercialization of agriculture with intensive use of chemicals, poses environmental degradation. This consequently deprives the land of its ability to naturally produce food thereby lowering its production yield. The poor depend totally on the environment for their livelihood. Inorganic agriculture is a world’s strategy to check the gap between the poor and the rich. It is widely believe that many people in the world sleep without food for many days. Increased food production, will therefore help to resolve one of the greatest challenges that is threatening to tear the earth a part. However, inorganic farming has failed to bridge the gap between the poor and the rich. The efficiency of using chemicals to increase food production is questionable. Traditional means of production were more manual, labor intensive and time consuming with minimum negative impacts to the environment. Current means of agricultural production are merchandized and more efficient as compared with the traditional methods. However, with regard to the environmental challenges, the efficiency of inorganic production to address the abject poverty in the world is low. Ecology is defined as the domestic site of organism, knowledge and the sum of the relation of the surrounding world. It is a self sustaining environment. Ecology is always sensitive to changes. Introduction of foreign substances such as traces of pesticides and fertilizer modify the ecological characteristic and identity. Nutrients like nitrate and phosphate are normally washed down into water bodies when it rains. This initiates the process of eutrophication. Eutrophication is a process whereby the water experiences enrichment with nutrients of nitrate and phosphate. Consequently water lilies, phytoplasm and algae blooms to experience luxuriant growth. This phenomenon has negative impacts on the functions of the water body. In the first place, Algae bloom forms a green like layer on top of the water thereby hindering penetration of light to the water body. Due to high accumulation of substance in the water, decaying process increases. This causes a biological oxygen demand which leads to suffocation of aquatic lives in the water body. Bad smell arises from the water body as a result of decaying processes. The value of water for domestic use therefore reduces.

Challenging Behavior Among The Children Children And Young People Essay

Challenging Behavior Among The Children Children And Young People Essay Abstract The objectivity of this study is to improve the challenging behavior among the children in early stages of the education and the impact of behavior modification therapy for improvement in the challenging behaviors due to dsygraphia. The hypothesis of the study the implementation of behavior modification techniques gives satiability in challenging behavior of children due to dsygraphia. The study will be conducted in the schools of twin cities of Pakistan (Islamabad and Rawalpindi). This study will helpful in improving handwriting skills and overcome to the behavior issues. For the evaluation the Functional Behavioral Assessment, Wechsler Intelligence Scale For Children 4th Edition (WISC-IV) and Handwriting Assessment by The McMaster Handwriting Assessment Protocol 2nd edition shall be used. The implementation of behavior modification techniques shall be applied after the evaluation. Keywords: behavior modification therapy, challenging behavior, Dsygraphia, Introduction According to Ormrod J.E Students with learning disabilities have average or above average score on intelligence test. But sometime they experience difficulty with one or more specific aspects of information processing (2009). There are 30% to 40% primary and secondary school-aged students are usually facing handwriting problems. Because of emotional, social and academic, consequences that they can usually impose on the examination of such difficulties are important. These common problems are increasing the tendency of handwriting difficulties and behavior issues in children. The dsygraphia is characterized as a writing disorder which is associated with the writing impairment. In children, the disorder generally emerges when they are firstly introduced to writing. The term behavior refers as person response internally and externally. The challenging behavior can be attention seeking tantrums, aggressiveness and uncooperative behavior. Handwriting difficulty or dysgraphia was defined by Hamstra-Bletz Blote (1993) as a difficulty in the production of written language which is associated with of writing impairment. Challenging behaviors give the impression to the parents-child relationship and parents become very conscious while interacting with their children. The dsygraphia or written languages learning disability including problems are copying the correct words and letters, consistence and neatness while writing, spelling consistency and written organization. The challenging behavior of the children are faced by the families, teachers and other individua l and even children themselves, when they are unable to behave in the peer group and in their surrounding they often become frustrated, defeated and overwhelmed. Behavior modification is a using a principals of learning and cognition to understand and changing the behavior of an individual. Behavior modification is an empirically demonstrated of behavior change techniques. Behavior modification therapy is very beneficial for children and successful than in adults. Due to the reason children are in a stage of forming their self-identity. The term behavior modification firstly appears by Edward Thorndike in 1911. His article Provisional Laws of Acquired Behavior or Learning makes frequent use of the term modifying behavior. The principals of Behaviorism into the classroom setting and the individual with challenging behavior, there are group of procedures collectively known as behavior modification (Ormrod J.E, 2009). When children are not facing academic problem orally but in the written expression such as, difficult spellings, word utterance and child wants to write but unable to write. There are some possibilities that, the child may be unable to think thats why they are unable express in written expression. Usually the children with dsygraphia able to express themselves verbally, but unable to write at a level that reflects the complexity of their thoughts. It is the children themselves that feel challenged by the situation they find themselves in; feeling frustrated, misunderstood and sometimes made to feel lazy and unexpressive in the front of adults and also the teachers who should be supporting them. If the adults around these children change their own behavior towards the children and become empathetic and supportive then the child no longer needs to feel all those negative things. Behavior therapy focuses on the changing desire behavior, it can involve the maladaptive behavior which can be modified with help of behavior modification therapy. The study conducted by Crouch Jukubecy (2007), simple the address the dysgraphia on a single subject to intervention in literacy instruction and motor skills. The researchers implemented handwriting and letter naming drills, as well as occupational therapeutic techniques for improvement the fine motor skills. As a results written expression slightly improved. Another study conducted by B. E. Yeger, L.N.Yanuv and S. Rosenblum (2009) based on children perceived self- efficacy self-reporting and handwriting performance due to the dsygraphia. The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between childrens performance about the writing skills and self reports, their handwriting expression and motor-perceived self-efficacy. The study conducted on Twenty-one children with dsygraphia for evaluation through Computerized Penmanship Evaluation Tool and Questionnaire for Handwriting Proficiency (CHaP) and the Perceived Efficacy and Goal Setting System (PEGS). After the evaluation of the children were able to identify and report the handwriting deficiency which and facilitated with occupational therapy intervention in class. Behavior Modification is a type of behavioral therapy, in which principles of Operant Conditioning are used to eliminate some type of unwanted, maladaptive, behavior. Its treatment procedures and techniques are ways of rearranging an individuals environment, to help individual function more fully in society. For example, a child is showing tantrum while writing, so every time a favorite piece of candy can use as reinforcement, for modifying the behavior with maladaptive behavior replaced. Every time child throws tantrum candy use as reward. The behavioral therapy plays a vital role in the field of psychotherapy, the cognitive behavioral therapy one of them. Jafari A.S.A and Heidari.F (2012) investigated the efficacy of cognitive-behavioral therapy on the improvement of self-perception among gifted students with learning disorder. They focused on the cognitive-behavioral therapy efficiency and the improvement of self-perception among the gifted students with learning disorders. They evaluated the learning disorder through Wechsler intelligence scale for children on twenty eight students. Experimentation was conducted and cognitive-behavioral therapy administered on experimental group. The finding of experimentation was that the cognitive-behavioral therapy plays an important role for the improvement of self-perception among gifted students with learning disorder. Aphasia is acquired language disorder due to brain damage. Rapp.B and Glucroft.B (2009) had been done a little research on the behavioral therapeutic techniques can useful for the aphasic with the dysgraphia. The Individuals with the aphasia has a language impairment which id directed associated with written language impairment. The main objective of this study was to evaluated the role and impact of behavioral intervention for dysgraphia because of primary progressive aphasia. The conclusion of this study was that the first time the behavioral intervention can give benefit to improvement in dysgraphia due to primary progressive aphasia. Dysgraphia is an important aspect which is responsible in some contexts of challenging behaviors in the children. When they feel handwriting disorder become fun in front of their peer group and become an embracement for their parents children usually throw the tantrum and attention seeking behavior. Another unique study by Adi-Japha, Shalev, Landau, , Gross-Tsur, Teicher, Frenkel (2005) conducted an experimental design on ADHD students with the writing and spelling deficiencies and also identified dysgraphia. In the study the sample used for an experimental group alone with 20 male students diagnosed ADHD and in the control group 20 non-ADHD male students. The test applied, for speed, fluency and letter naming were given as a Reading tests, along with a spelling test. The analysis of the tests was for motor pattern errors, graphemic errors, and spatial disorders. Motor production was tested  by having students write words with repetition. The Results indicated that both experimental group and control group performed same in speed, reading letter naming and phoneme manipulation. The experimental group performed well on the reading assessment as compared to spelling. They also omitted and transposed letters in all tests. The writing skills were inconsistent in letter and word p roduction and font size. The experimenter concluded that word formation and spelling deficiency was due to non-linguistic deficiencies in processing and attention, and only minor affected by motor skill deficiency. The ADHD students required a special attention and additional instructional help on written expression. The use of spell-check programs for spelling deficiencies and an implementation of word processing software to aid in letter formation were suggested. The children facing emotional difficulty in writing during class room settings, they often face emotional factors. Things are getting worse for them day by day. Usually during school work, when the child is unable to copy from board and class work remains unfinished and incomplete, usually the child experience frustration. Methodology Problem statement: Can the techniques of behavior modification therapy play a vital role for improvement of challenging behavior in children with dsygraphia? Objectivity Due to these academic, emotional and social consequences the children are facing difficulties in learning abilities and having behavior issues. The purpose of this study is to help children for investigation and improvement in their behavior issues due to dsygraphia or poor handwriting with the help of techniques of behavioral modification therapy. It is also helpful for the teachers whose are dealing with these behaviors, they can improve their skills for handle these challenging behaviors in classroom setting and improve the handwriting in children with the help of behavior modification techniques. Significance of this study The Significance of this study is helpful for childrens improvement in the handwriting skills and overcome the behavior issues. It also helps children to learning the coping strategies of overcoming their behavioral issues by themselves. They come to know about their capabilities in written communication and convert the thoughts into the written expression. Hypothesis The implementation of behavior modification techniques gives satiability in challenging behavior of children due to dsygraphia. The implementation of behavior modification techniques does not give satiability in challenging behavior of children due to dsygraphia. Procedure This study will be conducted in different schools of Islamabad and Rawalpindi (Pakistan). Through the participant Observation Functional Behavioral Assessment, behavioral intervention plans, and positive intervention will be use for the evaluation the challenging behaviors. The Wechsler Intelligence Scale For Children 4th Edition (WISC-IV) and Handwriting Assessment of The McMaster Handwriting Assessment Protocol 2nd edition shall be use for evaluation of dsygraphia. The structured interview will be conduct with parents and teachers. After the diagnosis the behavioral modification therapeutic techniques will be applied on children with challenging behavioral issues due to dsygraphia. There shall be total 10 school finalized. From each school 10 students shall be taken 5 girls and 5 boys from third grade to sixth grade. After the assessment only 10 students shall be a part of therapeutic sessions for three months. The re-evaluation also will be conducted in the end for assessing the improvement in behavior and hand writing skills. Participants Ten different students of third grade to sixth grade shall be randomly select for the assessments from ten different schools of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Ten girls and boys shall be part of this study from different schools. After the completion of evaluation, the therapeutic sessions for three months 5 boys and 5 girls shall be a part of the further study. Setting The study will be conducted within the regular classroom and separate room for therapeutic implementations. Research design The design of a study will be descriptive, based on identification and implementations of the behavior modification techniques. Results The results shall be explained in the description. Discussion Behavior modification is very useful and empirically demonstration of behavior change techniques. It is usually used to modify the behaviors according to the environment. The behavior of an individual can be modified through the positive and negative reinforcement. All behaviors have some set of consistent rules. Behavior modification techniques can develop method of defining, observing, and measuring behaviors, and it can also design an effective interventions. Behavior modification techniques always has solutions for managing challenging behavior and those behaviors can be change , shaped and maintained by the consequences of that behavior. Due to the dsygraphia the effective teacher training shall be very useful for these individuals. The various activates such as, an active listening, communication and interpersonal skills training for individuals who are very helpful for those whose are facing learning difficulties. The teachers should know about the students who have handwriting difficulties. The children can experience the fearful situation and become very insecure. They can also experience failure, and shameful attitudes from parents and adults. Children usually hide their academic weakness and start cheating. The parents need counseling and training in application of behavioral techniques for modification and changing their own behavior towards their children. The skinners theories of reinforcement play a large role in the education discipline and for the student achievement. An impact on education his theories have been utilized for many years and play a useful role in behavior modification. Reinforcement is a positive way to achieve the goal in classroom setting and even individually if the individual facing is learning difficulties.

Comparing Internet Privacy in the European Union and the United States :: Internet Private Censorship Essays

Comparing Internet Privacy in the European Union and the United States Introduction Most people regard one's right to privacy as a fundamental right. But how do we define "privacy?" According to Basse, there are three aspects to privacy: freedom from intrusion, control of information about one's self, and freedom from surveillance.1 Certainly, we cannot expect complete privacy in all of these aspects at all times. However, technological advances are making it increasingly difficult for individuals to determine when they can and cannot expect privacy, and what degree of privacy they can expect. For example, at one time a personal conversation taking place far from prying ears would have afforded the participants a very high expectation of privacy. This was no longer the case once directional microphones were developed. Similarly, satellites in orbit high overhead can take pictures of places that had previously been considered private (and do so with astounding resolution). GPS-compatible cellular phones can be used to pinpoint the location of the person carrying them. Computers are another technological advancement that has threatened the privacy of an individual's personal information. In 1977, it was announced that computer matching, which takes previously unrelated files, would be used to reduce welfare abuse.2 Computer matching is now commonplace both within the government and in the private sector. While this type of matching would have been possible without the use of computers (by hand matching hard-copy file, for example), computers have made it practical, relatively easy and inexpensive. With the Internet, organizations can transfer data from one point in the world to another easily and almost instantly, further facilitating the practice of computer matching. In addition, with the rise in popularity of the World Wide Web, the Internet has become not only an information exchange medium, but also an information collection medium. Consider browsing the World Wide Web. Simply by visiting a web page, one has already told the owner of that web site quite a bit of information about one's self. Web browsers routinely send web servers information as part of the hypertext transport protocol (http) request. This information can include things such as the date and time of the visit, the web browser's IP address, the type of web browser and operating system, and the URL of the web page previously visited. In addition, web servers can send "cookies," small files containing identifying information, back to the web browser. In this way, a web server can now uniquely identify repeat visitors to a web site.

Postcolonial Gothic texts? Essay

Before starting this essay, it is important to acknowledge the fact that the term ‘postcolonial gothic’ is quite difficult to define accurately. For the most part of this essay, I will be taking for granted the fact that these texts are essentially postcolonial in form, in so far as they are texts that have ’emerged in their present form out of the experience of colonization and asserted themselves by foregrounding the tension with imperial power. ‘1 It is with this certainty in mind that I will be looking more specifically at the gothic elements of the pieces, which separate the texts from other typically postcolonial works. Nevertheless, certain distinguishing postcolonial features will arise throughout the essay and this will be especially explicit when I look at the contextual aspects of the pieces. Turcotte identifies the fact that ‘it is certainly possible to argue that the generic qualities of the Gothic mode lend themselves to articulating the colonial experience in as much as each emerges out of a condition of deracination and uncertainty, of the familiar transposed into unfamiliar space. ‘2 As such, the idea of displacement presents itself clearly though the two texts. In Wide Sargasso Sea for instance, we feel a strong sense of Rochester’s alienation in Jamaica: †Is it true,’ she said, ‘that England is like a dream? Because one of my friends who married an Englishman wrote and told me so. She said this place like London is like a cold dark dream sometimes. I want to wake up. ‘ ‘Well,’ I answered annoyed, ‘that is precisely how your beautiful island seems to me, quite unreal and like a dream. ‘ ‘But how can rivers and mountains and the sea be unreal? ‘ And how can millions of people, their houses and their streets be unreal? ‘ (67) He finds it impossible to feel comfortable in Jamaica and it is Antoinette’s equivalent inability to understand England that forms a barrier between the couple. The gulf between their different backgrounds and upbringings is particularly evident through this conversation and it becomes increasingly clear that Rochester sees Antoinette as alien and inaccessible to him: ‘I felt very little tenderness for her, she was a stranger to me, a stranger who did not think or feel as I did. ‘ (78) Therefore, we see the postcolonial notion of the ‘other’ featuring in the novel. When we learn that Rochester views Antoinette in such a manner – as ‘that which is unfamiliar and extraneous to a dominant subjectivity’3 – a certain unease is created, which amplifies the gothic tone of the novel. The reader senses his discomfort with her ethnicity, as he talks derogatively about her: ‘I did not relish going back to England in the role of rejected suitor jilted by this Creole girl. ‘ (65) This prejudice seems to develop into a deep-seated fear of contamination from the Creole woman with ‘long, dark, sad alien eyes†¦ [who] looked very much like Amelie. ‘ (105) Further supporting his discomfort with her ethnic origin is the fact that he insists upon calling her Bertha, despite her objections: ‘Bertha is not my name. You are trying to make me into someone else, calling me by another name. ‘ (121) His renaming of Antoinette suggests that he wants to make her sound more English and, since she shares her name with her mother, he also appears to want to detach her from her family and her creole heritage. Antoinette is a white creole and throughout the novel, the reader senses that Rochester feels betrayed by his experience – he has gone to Jamaica in order to marry a wealthy heiress, whose skin is white like his own. As such, at first sight, things do appear to resemble normality for him and it is only when he gets to know her better that the differences in their make up show through. To pinpoint this sensation more precisely, we need to look at an idea stemming from displacement, that Freud identified as ‘the condition of the uncanny, where the home is unhomely – where the heimlich becomes unheimlich – and yet remains sufficiently familiar to disorient and disempower. ‘4 This is certainly the situation in which Rochester finds himself and this is epitomised when Rochester begins to see Antoinette as a doll: ‘She lifted her eyes. Blank lovely eyes. Mad eyes†¦ I scarcely recognised her voice. No warmth, no sweetness. The doll had a doll’s voice, a breathless but curiously different voice. ‘ (140) Freud claimed that a favourable condition for the uncanny is when there is uncertainty as to whether an object is alive or not and this is certainly the way in which Rochester views Antoinette. Therefore, although on the surface everything appears to be normal, all the things around Rochester have a peculiar unfamiliarity for him. The character of Antoinette also suffers such alienation when she arrives in England and is confined to her room: ‘Now they have taken everything away. What am I doing in this place and who am I? ‘ (147) The reader senses that without her country and the things around her that are familiar to her, she has lost her own identity. The notions of displacement and the uncanny are very disturbing in essence. They infuse the novel with a sense of unease and a sense of disturbance in the characters that the readers can relate to. Similarly, in Ovando many of these features of displacement and the uncanny are evident and the anxiety and dread that this imposes on the reader is what gives this story its gothic overtones. The character of Ovando symbolises the imperial power in the story and the narrator represents the native peoples, crushed by the colonisers. The impact of Ovando on the narrator’s land is profound and the imposition of his European culture appears to contribute to this effect: ‘He carries with him the following things: bibles, cathedrals, museums†¦ libraries’ (3) Although these things represent the treasures of culture in their European environment, the narrator appears to be recognising the fact that these things do not belong in their New World environment. Through enforcing these things on the new land, Ovando is conforming to what is described in â€Å"The Empire Writes Back† as ‘the political and cultural monocentrism of the colonial enterprise†¦ of the European world. ‘5 Furthermore, Ovando enforces his religious beliefs on the natives and this becomes clear when he tries to justify his actions by referring to ‘fate’ and the narrator states: ‘I could have brought a stop to what was an invasion to me, a discovery to him; after all, I too knew of divinities and eternities and unalterable events. ‘ (4) Ovando fails to see that the natives have their own belief systems in place and his ignorance is exemplified by the fact that the narrator appears to realise Ovando’s downfall, acknowledging his ignorance. Although he does not condone the colonisers’ actions in any way, there is a degree of understanding on the part of the narrator -who represents the natives – that does appear to be present in Ovando: ‘To the stranger’s eye (Ovando’s) everything in my world appears as if it were made anew each night as I sleep, by gods in their heavenly chambers’ (7) The narrator is acknowledging the fact that Ovando and the Imperial powers on the whole failed to realise that the New World – ironically named by the imperialists – was not in fact ‘new’. These countries had their own pasts and their own traditions that the narrow-minded colonisers, who had their eyes ‘half-shut’ (6), failed to recognise or appreciate. Although of course this narrative is written from the biased perspective of the natives (Kincaid’s background supports this fact) the historical accounts of colonisation do essentially support the notion of the blinkered imperialists. As a consequence of this and the lack of integration into native lifestyle by the colonisers, they fail to see that their European traditions are displaced in this new environment and, through imposing them, they create a rift between themselves and the natives. More obviously present in Ovando is the notion of the uncanny. Standing alongside this sense of displacement, the presence of the uncanny promotes a very daunting and disturbing feel in the piece. Turcotte directs the notion of the uncanny in postcolonial literature in particular to the notion of ‘physical perversion†¦ [where] nature, it seemed to many, was out of kilter. ‘6 Throughout this short story, everything is out of kilter in effect. For instance, when Ovando is looking at the map, Kincaid distorts reality and time: ‘Using the forefinger of his left hand, he traced on his map a line. Months later his finger came to a stop. It was a point not too far from where he had started. ‘ (6) This distortion of time is disorientating to the reader and the narrator describes other events, which are equally impossible. When for instance the narrator describes the protest put to Ovando about his unfair treatment of the natives, he undergoes a process of metamorphosis: ‘But Ovando could not hear me, for by this time his head had taken the shape of a groundworm, which has no ears. ‘ (10) Although the narrator is clearly illustrating his refusal to hear the pleas of the natives, it becomes clear that nothing is impossible in the story. Kincaid writes: ‘The moment in which the words could be said was the moment in which the words would be true. ‘ (8) – and the reader recognises that whatever is said in the story simply has to be accepted as the truth. The author gives words an enormous amount of command and authority and, as such, the power of words in this story exceeds the influence of the reader to interpret the events for themselves. Therefore, it could be deemed that Kincaid is confiscating the power of interpretation from the reader in order to highlight the way in which power was taken away from the natives – and the unease and discomfort that this creates adds to the gothic effect of the story. Morrow and McGraph acknowledge that after the 1830 and ’40s the gothic became ‘increasingly fascinated with the psyche of the gothic personality. ‘7 This is particularly obvious in Ovando, with Kincaid’s in-depth exploration of the mental workings of the coloniser. The supposed superiority of the European colonisers, over the natives is apparent through the character of Ovando, who insists upon ‘possess[ing]’ the natives. Similarly, we have insight into the workings of the colonised people. We see their bitter retrospection at their welcoming attitude towards the colonisers: ‘†Ovando,† I said, â€Å"Ovando,† and I smiled at him and threw my arms open to embrace this stinky relic of a person. Many people have said that this was my first big mistake, and I always say, How could it be a mistake to show sympathy to another human being, on first meeting? ‘ (3) Although this is not symbolic of the ‘gothic personality’ in the same way that Ovando’s thoughts are, the juxtaposition of this welcoming, warm attitude highlights the deviousness of Ovando’s thinking, as he deliberately takes advantage of people who were prepared to share their land with him. In Wide Sargasso Sea, there is no equally explicit demonic gothic personality as there is in Ovando. However, there are dark qualities lurking in both Antoinette and Rochester. With Antoinette, of course, her personality creates an amount of unease in the reader, particularly since we aware of the fate of the character she is rooted in from Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. Additionally, with Rochester’s unease about the fact that ‘her mother was mad’ (129), the reader is constantly haunted by the notion that she will turn out like her mother. Obviously, these anxieties turn out to be justified as we see her realisation of her supposed responsibility: ‘I was outside holding my candle. Now at last I know why I was brought here and what I have to do. ‘ (155-6). Antoinette burns down the house, believing in her misery that this is her destiny. This, in itself, is quite a morbid notion that amplifies her state of despair and gloom. McGraph and Morrow acknowledge that ‘the new gothicist would take as a starting place the concern with interior entropy – spiritual and emotional breakdown†¦ ‘8 Therefore the recognition of Antoinette’s despair means that, although this insight into her psyche does not mirror the horror and gruesomeness of the gothic personality in Ovando, the extent of her despair instils a deep sense of dismay in the reader and supports the gothic nature of the text. The respective writers also employ various literary techniques in the pieces, which indicate that the texts are postcolonial gothic in nature. For instance, the entire notion of gothic literature is suggestive of ‘horror, madness, monstrosity, death, disease, terror, evil and weird sexuality’9 and many of these qualities are prevalent in Ovando. The imagery used in Ovando conforms to these horrific characteristics customary in gothic literature and the physical appearance of Ovando corresponds to this in particular: ‘Not a shred of flesh was left on his bones; he was a complete skeleton except for his brain, which remained, and was growing smaller by the millennium. He stank’ (3) This gruesome image of Ovando can only provoke horror and disgust in the reader and the nightmarish qualities of such gothic literature present themselves clearly here. Similarly, the physical appearance of Ovando continues to worsen into the form of the devil: ‘He had also grown horns on either side of his head, and from these he hung various instruments of torture; his tongue he made forked. ‘ (9) This demonic image is possibly one of the darkest images that can be drawn upon and, as such, Kincaid is portraying the character of Ovando in the most evil way possible. The idea that he personally ‘made’ his tongue forked also draws to mind images of masochism that, again, are dark in nature. This use of graphic and disturbing imagery draws all the qualities of ‘horror, madness, monstrosity†¦ ‘ together to form a deeply disturbing text conforming to the conventions of gothic writing. The structure of Ovando also allows the piece to fit into the genre of gothic literature successfully. The piece is dreamlike in that it has no fixed structure and it moves through the action with no real sense of succession at all. Events do not lead into one another, but the reader gets the sense of dreamlike disorder with the physical world constantly changing. It is this constant flux in the story that creates a disturbing sense of disorder in the piece, which, no doubt, reflects the disorder created by the invasion of the colonisers. In Wide Sargasso Sea, Rhys uses some very graphic images that are disturbing in nature and as such conform to the gothic style. During the fire, we hear Antoinette’s retelling of events, as she realises that their pet parrot is stuck in the burning house: ‘I opened my eyes, everybody was looking up and pointing at Coco on the glacis railings with his feathers alight. He made an effort to fly down but his clipped wings failed him and he fell down screeching. He was all on fire. ‘ (36) This horrific image of the bird being burned alive equates to the burning images of the devil in Ovando and highlights the notion of suffering in the text. The colonial experience clearly caused suffering and anguish and this conveyance of pain is an effective means of expressing this. Rhys also refers frequently to the notion of obeah, which relates to black magic and spirit theft. Antoinette accuses Rochester of obeah, through trying to change her name, but she is also guilty of its practice when she puts a love potion in his wine. This exploration of the unknown and the ghosts that Christophine knows about, although ‘that is not what she calls them’ (113) creates an eerie and supernatural dimension in the piece. The use of such ideas by Rhys is concordant with the daunting elements that define the gothic genre. In Ovando in particular, the gothic literary technique of inversion is also employed throughout. McGraph and Marrow identify the use of inversion as a gothic effect, ‘where terror and unreason subverted consensus and rationality, where passion was transformed into disgust, love turned to hatred and good engendered evil. ’10 The narrator appears to acknowledge throughout that good can engender evil. When Ovando arrived on the island, of course, the narrator was eager to accept him: ‘For I loved him then, not the way I would love my mother, or my child, but with that more general and spontaneous kind of love that I feel when I see any human being. ‘ (3) The good in Ovando, however, is overtaken by greed and self-love, epitomised in the masturbation episode where ‘Ovando gently passes his hands down his own back, through the crevices of his private parts†¦ ‘ (11-12). Therefore, the reader senses that the imperial powers were all subjected to this inversion driven by greed in effect, and this literary technique is an effective way of mirroring this inversion of good to bad in human beings. Similarly in Wide Sargasso Sea, some of these features of inversion can also seen to be employed by Rhys. Rochester’s worsening feelings towards Antionette indicate this and such an overturn in emotions that epitomises the gothic tone and alteration from passion to disgust can be seen when Rochester sleeps with Amelie. No sooner has he slept with her, did he begin to feel discontented with her appearance: ‘†¦ her skin was darker, her lips thicker than I had thought†¦ I had no wish to touch her and she knew it, for she got up at once and began to dress. ‘ (115-6) His darkest fears appear to surface through her, with his acknowledgement of how native she looks and the hint that he worries further that she could be related to Antoinette. Having previously stated: ‘Perhaps they are related, I thought. It’s possible, it’s even probable in this damned place. ‘ (105) -the way in which he sees her this morning strongly rouses the deep-seated fear of incestuous relations in him. These issues in themselves are dark and gothic in that sense, although the fact that these issues are only hinted at makes them far more ominous in some respects. Looking at the works from a contextual perspective, it is interesting to see that Gelder concludes that ‘Postcolonial nations can re-animate the traumas of their colonial pasts to produce Gothic narratives. ’11 This can be seen explicitly in Ovando through the character of Frey Nicolas de Ovando. Although he appears to be a fictitious character, he was undoubtedly named after a sixteenth century governor in the Dominican Republic. Friar Nicolas de Ovando was governor from 1502 to 1509 and during this time, he was renowned for his cruel treatment of the native Taino tribe. It is reported that, in order to gain more power over the tribes, he arranged a feast for the tribe chiefs and then burnt down the house where it was held. Furthermore, any people who survived the fire were tortured and killed. There is no question that Kincaid’s character was created in direct reference to him and the cruelty of the character of Ovando in her novel supports this fact: ‘One morning, Ovando arose from his bed. Assisted by people he had forcibly placed in various stages of social and spiritual degradation†¦ ‘ (9) This demonstrates explicitly the blame that Kincaid attributes to Ovando for the pain and suffering caused. She dispels any notions of fate or necessity and lays the burden on the shoulder of the one character who, in addition to clearly being the general described above, broadly represents the imperial nations. It is clear that Kincaid is drawing upon real life horrors for her story and Turcotte identifies this technique: ‘From its inception the Gothic has dealt with fears and themes which are endemic in the colonial experience: isolation, entrapment, fear of pursuit and fear of the unknown. ’12 Therefore we see that the gothic genre is particularly apt for expressing the distresses caused by the process of colonisation. This process of the re-animation of traumas from people’s colonial pasts is repeated in a sense through Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea. She is retelling a Gothic story that already exists in Jane Eyre, giving depth and, indeed, a life to Rochester’s mad wife in the attic. Spivak recognises that Rhys takes Bronte’s Jane Eyre and ‘rewrites a canonical English text within the European novelistic tradition in the interest of the white Creole rather than the native. ’13 This would suggest that, just as the madwoman in the attic has no voice in Jane Eyre, neither does the colonised persons in colonial and postcolonial literature. Therefore, Rhys is giving them the voice they have been deprived of. Many things point to the fact that this was her deliberate intention and we can assume that her personal reward from doing such a thing is clear when we hear other accounts of prejudice in her works: ‘I had discovered that if I called myself English they would snub me haughtily: ‘You’re not English; you’re a horrid colonial. †14 Jean Rhys was a white Creole like this character and, as such, the closeness of the character to the novelist makes it difficult to detach the two. Therefore, it is clear that the gothic genre for Rhys is an effective means of conveying the personal trauma she has experienced as a result of prejudice, stemming from colonisation. In conclusion, it is clear to see that these texts can be defined as postcolonial gothic. As postcolonial texts, they also possess many of the distinguishing features of gothic texts. The aptness of the gothic genre as a means of reiterating colonial pasts is evident throughout, as the horror and disruption that it conveys so well is symbolic of the anxiety and heartache that the process of colonisation created for those people ensnared in its progression. Bibliography:   Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths, Helen Tiffin. The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Postcolonial Literatures. London: Routledge. 1989.   ed. Athill, Diana. â€Å"The Day They Burned the Books† in The Collected Short Stories of Jean Rhys. New York: W. W. Norton. 1968.   Boehmer, Elleke. Colonial and Postcolonial Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1995. Ed. Childs, Peter. Post-Colonial Theory and English Literature: A Reader. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. 1999.   Gelder, Ken. â€Å"Postcolonial Gothic† in The Handbook to Gothic Literature. ed. Mulvey-Roberts, Marie. Basingstoke: Macmillan. 1998.   Kincaid, Jamaica. â€Å"Ovando† in The Picador Book of the New Gothic. A Collection of Contemporary Gothic Fiction. ed. Mcgraph, Patrick; Morrow, Bradford. London: Picador. 1992.   ed. McGraph, Patrick, Bradford Morrow. The Picador Book of the New Gothic. A Collection of Contemporary Gothic Fiction.

Macroeconomics Tutorial Test Essay

Question 1. (i) Identify and briefly explain the main features of the business cycle. (2 marks) Business cycles are usually characterized by periods of transition from peak to trough and then from trough to peak. The peak of a business cycle is the high point of GDP prior to a downturn whereas a Trough is the low point economic activity prior to a recovery. The period in which the economy is moving from a peak to a trough is called a contraction and the period in which the economy is moving from a trough to peak is an Expansion. (ii) Explain the concepts of (a) potential output and (b) the output gap. (3 marks) Potential Output (y*) or full employment output is the level of GDP an economy can produce when using its resources, such as labour and capital, at normal rates. This is not the same as maximum output. Potential output grows over time with growth in labour and capital and with growths in technology. At any point in time, the difference between the economy’s potential output and actual output is called the output gap (y – y*). A positive output gap, which occurs when actual output is higher than potential output and when resources are being utilised at above-normal rates, is called an expansionary gap. This is related to firms operating above normal capacity and can lead them to raise prices (inflationary). On the other hand, a negative output gap, which occurs when potential output exceeds actual output and when resources are not being utilised, is called a contractionary gap. This is re lated to capital and labour not being fully utilised (cost in terms of forgone output). (iii) Explain the concept of Okun’s law. Discuss the implications of Okun law for policymakers. (5 marks) Okun’s law states that each extra percentage point of cyclical unemployment is associated with about a 1.6 percentage point (for Australia) increase in the output gap, measured in relation to potential output. The quantitative relationship is (y-y*)/y* = -B(u-u*). This describes how an additional percentage point of cyclical unemployment is associated with a B percentage point decline in the output gap. The output losses associated sustained in recessions, calculated according to Okun’s law, can be quite significant. Calculations using this relationship depict that output gaps and cyclical unemployment may have major costs. Therefore, we can conclude with the fact that the public and policymakers have concern in relation to contractions and recessions. Question 2 (i) Discuss the role played by fixed (or sticky) prices in the Keynesian model of income determination. Briefly explain what would happen if prices were fully flexible in the short run. (2 marks) New Keynesians assume prices and wages are fixed or sticky, meaning that they do not change easily or quickly with alterations in supply and demand, so that quantity adjustment prevails. When prices are sticky, higher aggregate demand raises production, and this raises incomes. If prices were fully flexible in the short run, economy’s resources would be fully employed and thereby the economy would return to the natural level of real GDP. Firms would stop producing when price is lower than production cost, so there would be less competition. (ii) Explain the concept of Planned Aggregate Expenditure (PAE). How does PAE differ from Actual Expenditure? (2 marks) Planned Aggregate Expenditure is the total planned spending on final goods and services. In equilibrium, planned expenditure and actual expenditure must equal in the economy. The difference between planned and actual expenditure is unplanned inventory investment. When firms sell fewer products than planned, stocks of inventories increase. Because of this, actual expenditure can be above or below planned expenditure. (iii) Use the Keynesian aggregate expenditure model and appropriate diagrams to explain the following: – The paradox of thrift – The effect on equilibrium GDP of an exogenous increase in exports. (6 marks) Question 3 (i) Explain what is meant by the multiplier? Why, in general, does a one dollar change in exogenous expenditure produce a larger change in short-run output? (3 marks) The income-expenditure multiplier, or the multiplier for short, is the effect of a one-unit increase in exogenous expenditure on short-run equilibrium output. For example, a multiplier of 3 means that a 6-unit decrease in exogenous expenditure reduces short-run equilibrium output by 18 units. Therefore, a one dollar change in exogenous expenditure produce a larger change in short-run output as initial amount of expenditure leads to raised consumption spending resulting in an increase in national income greater than the initial amount of spending. (ii) Explain the role played by the marginal propensity to import in determining the size of the multiplier. Other things equal, how does an increase in the marginal propensity to import affect the size of the multiplier? (3 marks) The marginal propensity to import is the change in imports divided by the change in disposable income. It decides the slope of the aggregate expenditures line and is part to the multiplier process. Similar to taxes, the marginal propensity to import tends to lower the size of the multiplier as demand for domestically produced final goods and services falls. An increase in the marginal propensity to import increases the value of the denominator of the equation, which then decreases the overall value of the fraction and thus the size of the multiplier. (iii) Use a diagram to illustrate the concept of short-run equilibrium in the Keynesian aggregate expenditure model. Suppose the economy is initially not in equilibrium, explain the process by which the economy adjusts to equilibrium. (4 marks) Question 4 (i) What are the main instruments of fiscal policy? Explain how each might be used to close an expansionary output gap. (4 marks) Main components of Fiscal Policy: – Government expenditure: Government spending of goods and services, investment and infrastructure directly affects total spending. If too much or too little total spending causes output gaps, the government can help to guide the economy toward full employment by changing its own level of spending. – Taxes or transfer payments: In contrast, changes in tax or transfers do not affect planned spending directly. When disposable income rises households should spend more. Thus tax cut or increase in transfers should increase planned aggregate expenditure. Similarly, an increase in taxes or a cut in transfers, by lowering households’ disposable income, will tend to lower planned spending. This stimulates spending and eliminates contractionary gap. (ii) Explain what is meant by the government budget constraint. Indicate how it provides a link between fiscal policy and public debt. (3 marks) Government budget constraint is the term given to the concept that government spending in any period had to be financial either by raising taxes or by government borrowing.We can denote government expenditure undertaken by the government in period t by Gt and transfer payments by Qt. Therefore, the total spending activities of the government can be noted as Gt+ Qt. Also, the government has three means at its disposal to finance this expenditure: 1. Taxes available to be spent by government it time t – denoted by Tt. 2. Issued security when government borrows money – This is a financial asset that obliges the government to repay the loan, and pay interest, over some designated time period. Bt-2 is the stock of securities that the government still has owing at the end of the last period. Any new borrowing that the government unde rtakes in period t will be denoted as Bt – Bt-1. The stockpile of debt that accumulates when government continues borrowing money is called the public debt. 3. Interest needed to pay on government’s stock of debt – in any time t the government pays interest of rBt-1 where r is the real rate of interest. Government expenditures (purchases, transfer payments and interest payments) in any period need to be funded by taxes or by borrowing. This is the Government budget constraint summarized as below: Gt+ Qt + rBt-1 = Tt + (Bt – Bt-1). If we rearrange this so that gross taxes are on the left-hand side, the link between fiscal policy and the stock of public debt becomes readily apparent: Gt+ Qt – Tt + rBt-1 = (Bt – Bt-1). (iii) Explain the difference between discretionary fiscal policy and automatic stabilisers. Which one of these will be the main influence on the size of the structural budget deficit? Explain. (3 marks) Discretionary fiscal policy refers to deliberate changes in the level of government spending, transfer payments or in tax rates. Automatic stabilizers refer to the tendency for a system of taxes and transfers, which are related to the level of income to automatically reduce the size of GDP fluctuations.

Baby Boom History

Baby Boom History The dramatic increase in the number of births from 1946 to 1964 in the United States (1947 to 1966 in Canada and 1946 to 1961 in Australia) is called the Baby Boom. It was caused by young males who, upon returning to the United States, Canada, and Australia following tours of duty overseas during World War II, began families; this brought about a significant number of new children into the world. The Beginning of the Baby Boom In the 1930s to early 1940s, new births in the United States averaged around 2.3 to 2.8 million each year. In 1946, the first year of the Baby Boom, new births in the U.S. skyrocketed to 3.47 million births! New births continued to grow throughout the 1940s and 1950s, leading to a peak in the late 1950s with 4.3 million births in 1957 and 1961. (There was a dip to 4.2 million births in 1958) By the mid-sixties, the birth rate began to slowly fall. In 1964 (the final year of the Baby Boom), 4 million babies were born in the U.S. and in 1965, there was a significant drop to 3.76 million births. From 1965 on, there was a plunge in the number of births to a low of 3.14 million births in 1973, lower than any year’s births since 1945. Life of a Baby Boomer In the United States, approximately 79 million babies were born during the Baby Boom. Much of this cohort of nineteen years (1946-1964) grew up with Woodstock, the Vietnam War, and John F. Kennedy as president. In 2006, the oldest Baby Boomers turned 60 years old, including the first two Baby Boomer presidents, Presidents William J. Clinton and George W. Bush, both born in the first year of the Baby Boom, 1946. Dropping Birth Rate After 1964 From 1973 on, Generation X was nowhere near as populous as their parents. The total births rose to 3.6 million in 1980 and then 4.16 million in 1990. For 1990 on, the number of births has remained somewhat constant – from 2000 to now, the birth rate has hovered at 4 million annually. It’s amazing that 1957 and 1961 are the peak birth years in raw number of births for the nation even though the total national population was 60% of the current population. Obviously, the birth rate among Americans has dropped precipitously. The birth rate per 1000 population in 1957 was 25.3. In 1973, it was 14.8. The birth rate per 1000 rose to 16.7 in 1990 but today has dropped to 14. Affect on Economy The dramatic increase in births during the Baby Boom helped to lead to exponential rises in the demand for consumer products, suburban homes, automobiles, roads, and services. Demographer P.K. Whelpton forecast this demand, as quoted in the August 9, 1948 edition of Newsweek. When the number of persons is rising rapidly it is necessary to prepare for the increase. Houses and apartments must be built; streets must be paved; power, light, water, and sewer systems must be extended; existing factories, stores and other business structures must be enlarged or new ones erected; and much machinery must be manufactured. And that’s exactly what happened. The metropolitan areas of the United States exploded in growth and led to huge suburban developments, such as Levittown. The table below displays the total number of births for each year indicated from 1930 through 2007 in the United States. Notice the increase in births during the Baby Boom from 1946 to 1964. The source for this data are numerous editions of the Statistical Abstract of the United States. U.S. Births 1930-2007 Year Births 1930 2.2 million 1933 2.31 million 1935 2.15 million 1940 2.36 million 1941 2.5 million 1942 2.8 million 1943 2.9 million 1944 2.8 million 1945 2.8 million 1946 3.47 million 1947 3.9 million 1948 3.5 million 1949 3.56 million 1950 3.6 million 1951 3.75 million 1952 3.85 million 1953 3.9 million 1954 4 million 1955 4.1 million 1956 4.16 million 1957 4.3 million 1958 4.2 million 1959 4.25 million 1960 4.26 million 1961 4.3 million 1962 4.17 million 1963 4.1 million 1964 4 million 1965 3.76 million 1966 3.6 million 1967 3.5 million 1973 3.14 million 1980 3.6 million 1985 3.76 million 1990 4.16 million 1995 3.9 million 2000 4 million 2004 4.1 million 2007 4.317 million The table below displays the total number of births for each year indicated from 1930 through 2007 in the United States. Notice the increase in births during the Baby Boom from 1946 to 1964. The source for this data are numerous editions of the Statistical Abstract of the United States. U.S. Births 1930-2007 Year Births 1930 2.2 million 1933 2.31 million 1935 2.15 million 1940 2.36 million 1941 2.5 million 1942 2.8 million 1943 2.9 million 1944 2.8 million 1945 2.8 million 1946 3.47 million 1947 3.9 million 1948 3.5 million 1949 3.56 million 1950 3.6 million 1951 3.75 million 1952 3.85 million 1953 3.9 million 1954 4 million 1955 4.1 million 1956 4.16 million 1957 4.3 million 1958 4.2 million 1959 4.25 million 1960 4.26 million 1961 4.3 million 1962 4.17 million 1963 4.1 million 1964 4 million 1965 3.76 million 1966 3.6 million 1967 3.5 million 1973 3.14 million 1980 3.6 million 1985 3.76 million 1990 4.16 million 1995 3.9 million 2000 4 million 2004 4.1 million 2007 4.317 million

Effect of the railroads on the United states essays

Effect of the railroads on the United states essays There were numerous revolutionary inventions that contributed to the giant leap made by some nations during the Industrial Revolution. From inventions in the textile industry to inventions in transportation, these many innovations played a central role in the rise of the industrial nations. Among the significant inventions that contributed foremost to the rise of nations such as the United States, the railroad stands out. The railway system originated in the European nation, England, which had a dense population confined to a small geographic area. This was not the situation in the United States; however, this did not stop the railroad from reaching the Americas in the early 1800s. Unlike the railroad system in England, which was allotted a large budget and which had relatively little land to cover, railroads in America had to meet the demands of a population that was greatly dispersed across larger distances. They had to meet this goal on a limited budget. Though railroad companies experienced remarkable success in both situations, they were especially successful in the young United States. Before the Civil War, and even in the era that followed, the railway system played an important role in the transportation, expansion and economy of the United States. Before the introduction of the railroad into American society, transportation across land was slow and dangerous. Railroads carried more goods and people across larger distances at a much faster rate of speed than any other method of transportation that existed at that time. The confines of the railroad car protected goods and travelers from the turbulence of the changing weather and terrain, as well as from the dangerous animals and criminals that might be encountered along its trails. In only 60 years, the United States railway system expanded from a minor 23 miles of track to an estimated 166,703 miles of track. This expansion made transportation cheaper. With th...

Latino/a Sexuality and the Heteronormative

Latino/a Sexuality and the Heteronormative In his novel The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz examines Latino identities and sexuality, and the ways in which both are affected and informed by violence. This violence is enacted through institutions like the state, through representation and misrepresentation, and by the very nature of sex and sexuality. Diaz gives an analysis of identity and sexuality, pointing to the way in which it is not only formed and generated by oneself, but also put on and impressed, through violence or with violent repercussions. Reinaldo Arenas’s autobiography Before Night Falls conveys similar themes as Diaz’s novel about the way in which sexuality is policed through violence from the stateparticularly in the form of dictatorships. Arenas depicts life in Cuba at the time of Castro, discussing how Castro, and the state, presented homosexuality as evidence of being unpatriotic and against nationalism, as well as grounds for torture and imprisonment. Many of the men who engage in homosexual acts are not homosexual themselves, and it is in fact such policing that causes more sex acts to occur. This environment of violence and sexuality, then, also carries over to all other aspects of life. Similarly, Diaz discusses the way sexuality comes into play in the Dominican Republic, during the time of Trujillo. Oscar’s mother Beli falls prey to the violence of the state in the form of an attack sanctioned by Trujillo’s sister, who does not agree with her relationship with her husband, the Ga ngster. In this way Diaz, like Arenas, dismantles the idea of the state as a noble protector and enforcer of just laws, illustrating the ways in which it in fact carries out injustices, and performs its own agenda. Both authors also describe how such violent enforcement does not garner successBeli continues to have an amorous relationship with the Gangster, even after the attack, and Arenas continues to have sex with men, in fact gaining more opportunities for sex acts due to state oppression. Foucault, in his The History of Sexuality, discusses the idea of the repressive hypothesis, talking about how sexuality is thought of as having a history of repression, and discussions of sexuality have been withheld since the Victorian era. Foucault points to the inaccuracy of this claim, stating that silence itself performs a certain kind of discourse, and the repression of discourses on sexuality are instrumental in their formation. Diaz, too, discusses a similar idea regarding the withholding of informationhe relates a story in which Abelard, Oscar’s grandfather, is imprisoned and violently tortured by Trujillo for hiding away his daughter and wife from his rapacious sexual appetite. He then contrasts this narrative with mention of another possible reason for his imprisonment, relaying information about a possible book that Abelard could have written about Trujillo, displaying the supernatural qualities of Trujillo and his regime. In doing so, Diaz gives mentions la pagina blanca, the information that is missing or unknown from such narratives, and the ways in which it can speak louder than any words can. The erasure of violence from public knowledge, as well as the erasure for the reasons for its production, does not remove knowledge of its existence or its effects. In this way, sexuality and violence, even when being given the illusion of being silenced, emerge and are spoken about even through its absence from public discourse. Ricardo L. Ortiz, in his article â€Å"Cultural Erotics of Cuban America† analyses the impact of Arenas’s life and death. As a homosexual, Arenas was placed outside of the context of Cuban nationalism, even being categorized as a terrorist subject in regards to his homosexuality, and through his death, Arenas simultaneously reaffirmed his identity as a Cuban in spite of being outside of Castro’s nationalist project, and attacked him as the cause of his death. Ortiz discusses Arena’s death in a pro-life context of protest through calling attention to the flaws and injustices of the Cuban government, while claiming sexuality as an element necessary for sustaining life. Similarly, Diaz constructs a similar understanding of Oscar’s death in his novel. Oscar essentially commits suicide by choosing to stay with Ybin, in spite of knowing that her violently angry boyfriend will come after him. As Ybin’s boyfriend is employed by the state, he can be s een as a manifestation of its violence, as well as a re-embodying of the violence of state enacted in past times, to Beli. Oscar’s sexuality comes to be the cause of his death, and he comes to fulfill his Dominican identity through its expression. As such, both authors point to the nature of protest through death and beyond life, and Latino sexuality as crucial to understandings of Latino identity. Further, the state can be evidenced as manipulating representations of sexuality for its own aims. In A Queer Mother For a Nation, Licia Fiol-Matta analyzes how the state became encapsulated in the image of Gabriela Mistral, and why she became a symbol for the nation. Mistral’s masculine, gender-queer identity and demeanor allowed her to be taken seriously in spite of being female, and still encompass desired state-sanctioned feminine traits like motherhood. Mistral followed in the state’s racist rhetoric, maintaining an â€Å"othering† gaze against blacks and pushing for racial cleansing through producing more white-mixed offspring. This racist rhetoric provided the state with a language in which to â€Å"other† black populations through the passive violence of exclusion and negative representation. Similarly, Diaz presents the figure of Oscar Wao in an interestingly contradictory light. He does not possess any of the traits of a stereotypical Dominican, and throughout his life finds it extremely difficult to flirt, date, or have sex with any girls because of his extremely nerdy and socially awkward personalityeventually coming to do violence to himself in part because of his inability to perform this aspect of his identity and sexuality. In spite of this, he eventually fulfills the saying that no Dominican man dies a virgin, by having sex with his prostitute girlfriendand in doing so comes to exemplify the idea that even as an exception to the rule, he can perform his â€Å"Dominican-ness† to the fullest. As such, Diaz examines in a tongue-in-cheek manner the way Latino bodies are stereotyped, even inside of the Latino community, and the violence of this type of representation, as well as the affect it can have on identity. In this way, both authors discuss the politics of representation and the contradictory and performative nature of identity and sexuality. Philippe Bourgois, in his anthropological analysis of Puerto Rican street life depicted in In Search of Respect: Selling Crack en El Barrio performs a similar violence through his representation of Latino bodies. As an outsider to this community, Bourgois casts an â€Å"othering† gaze on Puerto Rican crack dealers and creates a culture of difference between readers (as well as himself) and the members of the community he depicts. One of the aspects of this distance comes from an eroticisation of violence in the name of providing unadulterated truth (and of course, for consumer marketability)which brings to mind questions of, when is it okay to reproduce structures of violence, when doing so produces the same violence? Diaz asks a similar question in his reproduction of stereotypes of oversexed, hypersexual Dominicans in the figures of Yunior and Oscarwhat is authorial responsibility, especially in regards to the understandings of readerships? How can this violence be avoided? Diaz himself constructs problematic depictions of females and female sexuality, describing women in a somewhat chauvinistic lightmany of the female figures are represented as objects for the males to conquer through sexual pursuit. For both authors, the replication of such structures supports and reproduces racist and sexist ideas through consumerism. Such ideas then become part of a system of capitalism, providing interesting implications regarding the â€Å"selling† of problematic constructions of identity and sexuality. And as sexuality plays a large part in understandings of the formation of identity, these types of representations can have the effect of creating an environment in which violence becomes normalized in everyday consciousness. In his theoretical work Disidentifications, Jos? Esteban Munoz discusses his theory of disidentification, stating the ways in which categorization through sexuality and race, among other things, allows for a dismissal of or limiting understandings of identity. Disidentification, then, becomes a survival strategy, a way of avoiding the way in which representation can be unrelatable, or reproduced through the systemic violence of rearticulation. Much as Munoz examines the work of Carmelita Tropicana or Marga Gomez, and how they reclaim possibly harmful representations through camp, Diaz reproduces tongue-in-cheek stereotypes of Dominican identity and sexuality, and provides alternative representations of Latino identity and sexuality through his characters. Lola, for example, is represented as having a very present sense of sexuality, but is costumed in the role of a â€Å"goth.† Both writers point to the importance of the multiplicity of identity, and find ways to articulate La tino identity and sexuality that do not conform with the violence of heteronormative ideals. Junot Diaz examines the nature of identity and sexuality in regards to Latino bodies, and the ways in which they are impressed, manipulated, or reproduced through violence. Disidentification, perhaps, provides a necessary step towards providing an alternative consciousness and understanding of identity that does not become enmeshed in the culture of differenceand asks further questions about the way hegemonic society, institutions, and normalized violence enforces and regulates these ideas. How, then, can we use disidentification to further remove ourselves from the violent and harmful heteronormative? And what are the ways we can imagine ourselves in a more broad, inclusive sense of being?

International Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 12

International Business - Essay Example There is a say, â€Å"You can always buy in your own language but you must sell in your customer’s language† (Institute of Linguist Great Britian, 1995, p.187). This is true when we consider the aspect of Localized marketing strategy. Localization strategy thus demands a great deal of geographic surveys and international brand management which involves a considerably larger proportion of money. The international strategy runs over elaborate business literature by which it completes the process of decision making and execution of the trade between countries. This strategy is rather scientific as it institutes decision making characters such as market speculation, international trade agreements and other cooperative arrangements. The main theme of this strategy is driven by predictions about the outcomes of the trade. However, in this process, a better chance is enhanced with various examinations and experiments done on the subject at different levels based on the political, topographical and socio-economic conditions of the trading country. Many of the international business giants are successful only because of the effectiveness of international strategy. Apparently the most sophisticated one, transactional strategy is more beneficial to trade as it maintains a high degree of integrity and consistency of international business data. Transactional strategy is largely adopted by firms and corporatists managing international banking, insurance and stock broking. This strategy requires the involvement of computerized mechanism rather than human elements. Since the transactional strategy is more transparent than the other two, it is needless to say that it has to be protected with the strongest transaction support system available for the trade. Competitive advantage of a firm demands it to perform beyond the expected levels in order to compete with the market in a given period of time. Due to insufficient supply of factors of

Eveline James Joyce Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Eveline James Joyce - Research Paper Example Dust is everywhere in her room in spite of the fact that she has been mopping and dusting for years. She is a part of this dusty atmosphere, just another object in her room. Thesis: a psychological development of this woman is intensely influenced by the external subjection to her self-restraint and her obsession with her father. A Flow of Life or a Stasis of Oblivion When love rushes in her life, she does not have any choice but to follow this external acclaim. She follows her lover, and it is difficult to imagine, but this calm woman has managed to board a ship about to set sail across the ocean. There is a high speed animated development of her life. Nevertheless, she gives up and is occupied by her vivid imagination, when she is dreaming about her lover, who is grasping her head and she is experiencing her inner passion and desire. In her real world, she lets these dreams be only in her mind, but she is resistant to the wind of change for sure. A gentle and a passive female natur e, she turns into a subjective animal, and it looks like she has no choice but only continue her passive life. â€Å"Eveline† in Dubliners reminds us about the importance of small pieces and images in our lives. It is possible to claim that the whole life is a big puzzle and different episodes in our lives are merely puzzle elements. Joyce saturates his manner of narration in this piece from Dubliners with vivid descriptions and luxurious emotions, rich impressions and endless feelings and perceptions. Even readers can experience his bright idealistic world through the small segments and episodes of his stories. It is possible to consider "Eveline" from different perspectives. On the one hand, in "Eveline" domesticity is clearly associated with details, with metonymy and synecdoche. The detail that will become Eveline's signature is the "odour of dusty cretonne" (Mosher 408). In this article the author clearly underlines that housewives and their housekeeping is associated wi th special smells and episodes of their lives. This woman always cleans up, and the curtains of crettone are her Everest. She always tries to put up with difficulties and deal with inevitable dust in those curtains. Her home is a museum of memories for her and nothing more. There are many different objects connected with her life, but it is better for her to get rid of them, like Italians get rid of old furniture on the New Year. Her female nature and her role of a housewife are developed in accordance with commonly accepted social templates, but in the real world she plays a very pitiful role because she has to count her meager funds. We can see that the "purse" is a metonymy of her role as housekeeper for her family. She is imprisoned in her home and her housekeeping obligations bear her down. She counts every nickel in her purse, and visiting market is really depressing and intriguing for her. Frank suggests getting rid of her imprisonment and offers a trip to Buenos Aires with h im. He says that his home is there. "Home" is a metaphor about her another life. It is a direct juxtaposition to her daily life and she hesitates whether to try on a new role or not. Joyce introduces and apt euphemism  for  "sexually  aroused"  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ "pleasantly confused" (Joyce 45). He shows that feelings are common for her and her love is just another background for her possible development. Moreover, it looks like this woman

What is International Marketing Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

What is International Marketing - Coursework Example and the management has configured its successful entry into major Asian countries such as China, and European countries such as France (Zou, & Fu, 2011:60). Joe’s Ice Cream has functioning manufacturing facilities overseas, and there are ongoing coordinating successful marketing strategies across the globe. Joe’s Ice Cream marketers must look forward to understanding the current and potential environment that their product can do well (Bennett, 2008:102). In reviewing its situational strategies, Joe’s Ice Cream has its strengths to exploit (Leeds Metropolitan University 2010: 12). The superior technology has given Joe’s Ice Cream a better platform to meet their growing customers’ desire for ice cream in myriad ways. This has ensured that its competitors cannot imitate their current technology hence retaining Joe’s Ice Cream as a unique brand in the market. Instead of targeting only its current market, Joe’s Ice Cream is required to keep on targeting new markets and customers internationally in order to grow their business. In addition, Joe’s Ice Cream is a strong brand name, which has boosted and created a major strength to the company (Czinkota, & Ronkainen, 2013:150). The company has continually exploited this brand through charging hi gher prices for their products as customers continue to place higher additional value in the discrete brand of Joe’s Ice Cream. Because of the strong management tactics and their ability to make use of cost advantage maneuvers, Joe’s Ice Cream continues to expand in the international market as a unique company. On another level, Joe’s Ice Cream has an unmatched opportunity through the availability of the fragmented market. The management has been able to fragment its international markets, hence creating diverse opportunities for the sale of Joe’s Ice Cream and its products (Keillor, 2007:70). In addition, this has expanded and increased its market share opening the window for a sustainable cost advantage.

The color purple shades of gender discrimination Research Paper

The color purple shades of gender discrimination - Research Paper Example Even people that have not met before recall good old times like old friends do, and this just shows that nobody, and nothing can ever be too far away. This is something we can all be thankful for, in this modern age of technology. The truth be told, this phenomenon of globalizing just about anything was anything but ordinary, as Alice Walker tells through her story The Color Purple. Written in such a way that highlights the most-likely unheard-of situations in Georgia during the 1940’s, this kind of setting was very much near to what Walker had experienced when she was growing up in Jim Crow South (White). Being the daughter of a sharecropper, and living in a place that has a strong discrimination against African-Americans, she got engaged with the need to be free, just like any other person, regardless of the color of their skin. Through these eyes, Walker was able to show many readers the feelings and situations of African-American women that, aside from the color of their s kin, were also looked down upon by their own people too, because they were females. She herself was a witness to such injustice, because she grew up seeing her father doing it to her mother and her female siblings (Bates). Although many women were already starting to awaken and realize their potentials, their contributions as well as the power of their own thoughts, they were still considered as deviant, in being different from what is considered normal (â€Å"Deviant†). This form of deviance from the picture of being an obedient, quiet and dutiful wife fueled many African-American women’s need to be recognized more or less an equal of men, and thus need a redemption from the common norms, as portrayed in some of Walker’s stories (Bloom). The Color Purple delves into the thoughts and feelings of two sisters, Celie and Nettie, whose bond was so strong that even if their only connection for a very long time was through their letters to one another. Even if they ha ve gone through so much hardship, it was like they never were separated. The whole story was written in such a way that it was narrated through letters exchanged between the two sisters, during the time when Nettie, the younger sister decided to work as a missionary-teacher in a remote part of Africa for a long time, and when her sister Celie was starting to recognize what she actually wants in life. Even though it took a very long time for the two sisters to reconcile, in the end everything came in full circle upon their much awaited meeting. Aside from the struggles of being women in a male-dominated world, the story also shows the different kinds of relationships among kin, friends, and lovers that eventually shape a human being’s personality as a whole. The story began as Celie’s letter to God, because she mustn’t tell anybody about what happened to her, lest she gets killed (Walker 1). She wrote to God how her mother was getting sicker and sicker, how she g ot raped twice by their Pa Fonso, the man whom they thought was their real father, how she bore him a daughter then a son, and both were taken away from her when they were still a few months old. Since what happened, she never had a good relationship with her Pa, or any other man. She just stayed quiet and submissive, even after her Pa had her married to a certain Mr.____, which she chose not to give a name (Walker 6). Although Mr.____ would have wanted to marry Nettie, Fonso decided that since Celie was already spoilt (she already had two children), she would be

NCOER EVAL DA 2166-8 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

NCOER EVAL DA 2166-8 - Essay Example This is due to three reasons. Firstly, the soldier illustrated appropriate military bearing, posture, and also appearance. Secondly, the soldier illustrated adequate mental and also physical capabilities, required for the performance of any successful military project or mission. Thirdly, the soldier maintained satisfactory physical fitness and mental alertness, despite the temporary challenges of back injury and extreme operational tempo. The soldier achieved success ratings in terms of leadership competencies. This is illustrated through three issues. Firstly, the soldier is a proven leader who understands approaches of motivating junior soldiers to effectively and efficiently accomplish missions, with minimal supervision. Secondly, the soldier effectively coached 6 soldiers through initiating study groups. The initiative increased the General technical scores of the soldiers, to more than 110. Thirdly, he enhanced spirit de corps by endorsing SHARP. He thus made himself available to help, through training, the unit victim advocate. The soldier achieved the success score for the training aspect. This is due to effective performance in three major areas. Firstly, he effectively identified more than 7 soldiers who can be competent platoon Master drivers. Secondly, he trained 31 soldiers using 6 military vehicles, and no accident or incident was reported. Thirdly, the soldier successfully trained two soldiers, and hence they passed the APFT after several unsuccessfully attempts. He also taught the significance of individual responsibility to the soldiers, through motivating them to formulate and work towards achieving their goals. The soldier received a score of success, and this is illustrated through three issues. Firstly, he properly managed military commodities and equipments worth in excess of $2.1 million. Secondly, there was no loss, mismanagement, embezzlement or discrepancies

What is International Marketing Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

What is International Marketing - Coursework Example and the management has configured its successful entry into major Asian countries such as China, and European countries such as France (Zou, & Fu, 2011:60). Joe’s Ice Cream has functioning manufacturing facilities overseas, and there are ongoing coordinating successful marketing strategies across the globe. Joe’s Ice Cream marketers must look forward to understanding the current and potential environment that their product can do well (Bennett, 2008:102). In reviewing its situational strategies, Joe’s Ice Cream has its strengths to exploit (Leeds Metropolitan University 2010: 12). The superior technology has given Joe’s Ice Cream a better platform to meet their growing customers’ desire for ice cream in myriad ways. This has ensured that its competitors cannot imitate their current technology hence retaining Joe’s Ice Cream as a unique brand in the market. Instead of targeting only its current market, Joe’s Ice Cream is required to keep on targeting new markets and customers internationally in order to grow their business. In addition, Joe’s Ice Cream is a strong brand name, which has boosted and created a major strength to the company (Czinkota, & Ronkainen, 2013:150). The company has continually exploited this brand through charging hi gher prices for their products as customers continue to place higher additional value in the discrete brand of Joe’s Ice Cream. Because of the strong management tactics and their ability to make use of cost advantage maneuvers, Joe’s Ice Cream continues to expand in the international market as a unique company. On another level, Joe’s Ice Cream has an unmatched opportunity through the availability of the fragmented market. The management has been able to fragment its international markets, hence creating diverse opportunities for the sale of Joe’s Ice Cream and its products (Keillor, 2007:70). In addition, this has expanded and increased its market share opening the window for a sustainable cost advantage.

NCOER EVAL DA 2166-8 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

NCOER EVAL DA 2166-8 - Essay Example This is due to three reasons. Firstly, the soldier illustrated appropriate military bearing, posture, and also appearance. Secondly, the soldier illustrated adequate mental and also physical capabilities, required for the performance of any successful military project or mission. Thirdly, the soldier maintained satisfactory physical fitness and mental alertness, despite the temporary challenges of back injury and extreme operational tempo. The soldier achieved success ratings in terms of leadership competencies. This is illustrated through three issues. Firstly, the soldier is a proven leader who understands approaches of motivating junior soldiers to effectively and efficiently accomplish missions, with minimal supervision. Secondly, the soldier effectively coached 6 soldiers through initiating study groups. The initiative increased the General technical scores of the soldiers, to more than 110. Thirdly, he enhanced spirit de corps by endorsing SHARP. He thus made himself available to help, through training, the unit victim advocate. The soldier achieved the success score for the training aspect. This is due to effective performance in three major areas. Firstly, he effectively identified more than 7 soldiers who can be competent platoon Master drivers. Secondly, he trained 31 soldiers using 6 military vehicles, and no accident or incident was reported. Thirdly, the soldier successfully trained two soldiers, and hence they passed the APFT after several unsuccessfully attempts. He also taught the significance of individual responsibility to the soldiers, through motivating them to formulate and work towards achieving their goals. The soldier received a score of success, and this is illustrated through three issues. Firstly, he properly managed military commodities and equipments worth in excess of $2.1 million. Secondly, there was no loss, mismanagement, embezzlement or discrepancies

The Sociology of Slavery, Race, and Ethnicity Essay Example for Free

The Sociology of Slavery, Race, and Ethnicity Essay According to Essentials of Sociology a Down-to-Earth Approach written by James M. Henslin, Race is defined as a group of people with inherited physical characteristics that distinguish it from another group. The concept of race is both a reality and a myth. The reality of race is that we as humans are born with a variety of shapes and colors (Henslin, 214). Depending on our genetic makeup, we are viewed upon as white, black, red, yellow, or brown (Henslin, 214). Other distinguishing characteristics include the color of our eyes, fullness of our lips, and texture of our hair. The assortment of these characteristics in the concept of race is obviously reality. In contrast, the concept of race is also considered to be a myth. People seem to believe that there are genuine races. For example, many believe that a race could be composed of only blacks and whites or African Americans and Caucasians. When in reality, these classified racial groups differ from one another only once in a thousand subunits of the genome, making us surprisingly homogenous (Henslin, 214). Race, because of the above differences in reality and myth, is seen as a very sensitive matter. It can also be confused with ethnicity. Race, as mentioned above refers to supposed biological characteristics that distinguish one group of people from another, while ethnicity refers to cultural characteristics (Henslin, 217). They are commonly confused with one another because of ignorance of the people. Ethnicity refers to people who identify with each other on the basis of common ancestry and cultural heritage and their sense of belonging may center on their clan, country, or region of origin, foods, clothing, language, music, religion, or family names and relationships (Henslin, 217). The terms race and ethnicity or ethnic groups are often confused because people think a particular group of people are a race when in actuality they are really an ethnic group. For example, people think Jews are a race; however they are properly considered an ethnic group (Henslin, 217). Their cultural characteristics, especially their religion bind them together (Henslin, 217). Aside from race being a sensitive matter, prejudice and discrimination are also among subjects people hesitate to speak about. Prejudice and discrimination are common throughout the world, therefore are very significant in social life (Henslin, 218). Discrimination is action of unfair treatment directed against someone (Henslin, 218). People can be discriminated against based on many characteristics. For example, age, sex, height, weight, skin color, clothing, speech, income, education, marital status, sexual orientation, disease, disability, religion, and politics (Henslin, 218). Discrimination has been a long time issue that dates back many, many years and yet it still exists today. People are protected by laws against discrimination, however others nonetheless finds ways to get around these laws. Discrimination is most often the result of an attitude called prejudice (Henslin, 220). Prejudice denotes the possession of negative attitudes of a particular kind regarding members of a specific group or category (Denmark, 2010). As commonly used, prejudice is not merely a statement of opinion or belief, but an attitude that includes feelings such as contempt, dislike, or loathing (Denmark, 2010). Discrimination is a term applied to the negative actions that result from prejudicial attitudes and that are directed against the targets or victims of prejudice (Denmark, 2010). Someone who is prejudiced may, in certain situations, practice discrimination. Discrimination can be classified into various categories including individual discrimination and institutional discrimination. Individual discrimination is the negative treatment of one person by another (Henslin, 222). This treatment usually involves individuals. For example, one may be discriminate another because of the color of their skin. This then becomes and issue between these two individuals. Institutional Discrimination is the negative treatment of a minority group that is built onto a society’s institutions (Henslin, 222). This type of discrimination creates favor for one group against others because of race or ethnicity. For instance, being denied a loan application because of the color of one’s skin. Studies from earlier have shown that bank lenders had participated in such practices discriminating against minorities by rejecting their loan applications (Henslin, 222). They defended themselves by stating that whites had better credit history (Henslin, 222). The subject of race, discrimination, prejudice, individual discrimination, and institutional discrimination all have had a major impact on the current social, education, and economic position of African Americans. Discrimination involving cooperative efforts by the real estate industry, federal housing policy, banking instructions, and neighborhood organizations ensured blacks were restricted in housing choices to the least desirable residential areas (Collins and Williams, 1999). Thus, putting African Americans in tough situations as it relates to social, educational, and economic opportunities. Schools help to socialize and provide knowledge to children to become better individuals in society. However, when the schools are located in the least desirable residential area, this poses a threat to the socialization and education of children. This has a major impact on those African American children because they are not afforded the same education and socialization as those children attending the more desirable schools. Whites also display widespread acceptance of negative stereotypes of blacks and great reluctance to positive ones therefore impacting the current position of African Americans (Collins and Williams, 1999). For example, more than half of whites believe blacks are prone to violence, prefer to live off welfare, and lack the motivation or will power to pull themselves up out of poverty (Collins and Williams, 1999). African Americans then internalize this racism because they have been told or hear these allegations over and over and now believe that it is true, subsequently affecting them socially, educationally, and economically. Segregation has also played an important role in the impact of the current situations of African Americans. Blacks are discouraged from residing in white residential areas and whites continue to move out of communities when the black population increases (Collins and Williams, 1999). There has been a very minimal decline in segregation over time for this is another issue impacting African Americans today (Collins and Williams, 1999). All things considered, prior to the civil rights legislation, African Americans were not afforded the same opportunities as whites. Sociologist William Julius Wilson has stated, â€Å"The African American experience was dominated by race. † He has stated this because African. Americans were segregated from whites and this adversely affected African Americans. They were negatively treated, solely based on the similar characteristics of their skin. Another term commonly used to describe this treatment is racism. Whites were able to maintain their social distance from blacks, limiting them to only certain jobs and opportunities (Henslin, 227). They also were able to manipulate the social institutions to suppress African Americans and deny them full access to society’s benefits, a term theorists use internal colonialism (Henslin, 227). By denying black’s access to the society, whites were able to control them based on race. REFERENCES Collins, C. and Williams, R. (1999). The Deadly Effects of Racism. Sociological Forum, Vol. 14, No. 3 (Sept. , 1999), pp. 495-523. Retrieved March 16, 2011 from JSTOR database. Demark, F. L. (2010), Prejudice and Discrimination. Retreived March 17, 2011 from http://onlinelibrary. wiley. com/doi/10. 1002/9780470479216. corpsy0700/full Henslin, J. M. (2011). Essentials of Sociology: A Down-To-Earth Approach. Boston: Pearson Higher Education.