JPMorgan Chase Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 5

JPMorgan Chase - Essay Example The Commission enforces its authority also by bringing â€Å"civil enforcement actions† against those who violate the securities laws (SEC, n.d.). On the other hand, the SEC as an overseer, watches over â€Å"the key participants in the securities world,† which include â€Å"securities exchanges, securities brokers and dealers, investment advisors, and mutual funds† and heads in advancing â€Å"the disclosure of important market-related information, maintaining fair dealing, and protecting against fraud† (SEC, n.d.). The SEC also persistently works with the participants of the major market as well as investors in the securities markets to take note of their concerns and experiences (SEC, n.d.). The primary responsibilities of the Commission include: interpreting and enforcing â€Å"federal securities laws†; issuing â€Å"new rules and amending existing rules†; overseeing the examination of â€Å"securities firms, brokers, investment advisers , and ratings agencies†; overseeing â€Å"private regulatory organizations in the securities, accounting, and auditing fields†; and coordinating â€Å"U.S. securities regulation with federal, state, and foreign authorities† (SEC, n.d.). The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on the other hand, is mandated â€Å"to regulate commodity futures and option markets in the United States† (US CFTC, n.d.). ... 2. Determine the elements of a valid contract, and discuss how consumers and banks each have a duty of good faith and fair dealing in the banking relationship. The elements of a valid contract are â€Å"parties competent to contract, a proper or lawful subject matter, consideration, mutuality of agreement or assent, and mutuality of obligation† (Henke v. U.S. Dept. of Commerce, 83 F.3d 1445 (D.C. Cir. 1996); Foundation Telecommunications, Inc. v. Moe Studio, Inc., 341 Ark. 231, 16 S.W.3d 531 (2000); Mallory v. City of Detroit, 181 Mich. App. 121, 449 N.W.2d 115 (1989); Rhode Island Five v. Medical Associates of Bristol County, Inc., 668 A.2d 1250 (R.I. 1996). It may also be â€Å"offer, acceptance, and consideration† (Gatlin v. Methodist Medical Center, Inc., 772 So. 2d 1023 (Miss. 2000); Sauner v. Public Service Authority of South Carolina, 354 S.C. 397, 581 S.E.2d 161 (2003); Shaw v. Smith, 964 P.2d 428 (Wyo. 1998). In every contract, there is always â€Å"an implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing† (Lloyd Noland Foundation, Inc. v. City of Fairfield Healthcare Authority, 837 So. 2d 253 (Ala. 2002); Wells Fargo Bank v. Arizona Laborers, Teamsters and Cement Masons Local No. 395 Pension Trust Fund, 201 Ariz. 474, 38 P.3d 12 (2002), as corrected, (Apr. 9, 2002)), where â€Å"neither party shall do anything† which would destroy or injure â€Å"the right of the other party to receive the fruits of the contract† (Diagnostic Laboratory, Inc. v. PBL Consultants, 136 Ariz. 415, 666 P.2d 515 (Ct. App. Div. 2 1983); Okun v. Morton, 203 Cal. App. 3d 805, 250 Cal. Rptr. 220 (2d Dist. 1988); Dunfee v. Baskin-Robbins, Inc., 221 Mont. 447, 720 P.2d 1148 (1986); Spanish Oaks, Inc. v.

Global Sourcing - Defining Global Capital Market Opportunities close Essay

Global Sourcing - Defining Global Capital Market Opportunities close - Essay Example p.). As such, global sourcing of capital could be described as a practice of sourcing funds from the global market/fund through the use of financial instruments such as stocks, mutual funds and engaging services of intermediaries. All investments have risks, and these are described as the systematic risk and unsystematic risks. Systematic risks are those risks that could not be diversified or eliminated, usually a big event that will set off a loss of economic value or confidence in the financial system. Examples are war, inflation, fluctuations of interest that affect the entire economy. Unsystematic risks are those belonging to the company alone. Examples are fires, natural disasters, or falling of sales. Risks in investments could not be eliminated, however, systematic risks could be measured and expected market returns are calculated through statistical method of regression analysis. Regression analysis makes use of Beta coefficient. A Beta coefficient is a measure of volatility that says, â€Å"a beta of 1 means that the security’s price will move with the market; less than 1 means that the security price will be less volatile in the market, and a beta of more than 1 indicates that the security’s price will be more volatile in the market† (Investopedia, n. p.). A beta >1 scheme offers greater returns but at the same time presents more risks. Example: high-tech stocks have a beta >l, while utilities have

Energy conservation Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Energy conservation - Term Paper Example The other thing is that the fossil fuels could yield large amounts of energy and happen to be easily combustible (Borowitz, 2004). Fossil fuels are portable and have been in use since centuries. Fossil fuels happen to have a high calorific value and do yield large amounts of energy on combustion (Borowitz, 2004). That is why they are the most preferred source of energy on earth. The other good thing about fossil fuels is that being primarily composed of carbon and hydrogen atoms; they are very stable and easy to handle unlike other sources of energy like the nuclear energy (Borowitz, 2004). Fossil fuels are thereby hassle free and risk free. In the contemporary context the fossil fuels happen to be the most affordable and cost effective source of energy (Borowitz, 2004). However, the one big lacuna with fossil fuels is that they cause pollution and global warming. The burning and combustion of the fossil fuels produces gases like carbon-dioxide, carbon-monoxide and methane that not o nly pollute earth’s atmosphere, but also cause global warming. ... This global warming caused by the burning of fossil fuels gets further augmented by the other polluting human activities like deforestation, which not only denude the earth but also hamper the natural processes that lead to absorption and assimilation of carbon-dioxide and other green house gases produced by human activities like industrialization, transportation, thermal energy generation, etc (Posner, 2004). Thereby fossil fuels are one major cause of global warming. To understand the threat posed by global warming to earth’s environment and ecosystems, the thing that needs to be kept in mind is that the life that evolved on the planet earth over millions of years could only thrive and sustain itself in a specific climate and temperature. Till now the earth’s natural greenhouse effect had kept the temperature on earth ideally suitable for the survival of the dependent flora and fauna and ecosystems (Posner, 2004). However, with the accelerated greenhouse effect caused by pollution unleashed by the rampant and sustained usage of fossil fuels, the temperatures on earth are gradually augmenting. This is giving way to climate change, which simply means that owing to the rising pollution, around the earth the temperatures are raising, sea levels are rising and seasons are shifting (Posner, 2004). The survival of life on earth requires resources like food and water. However, with the augmenting global warming a day may come when the phenomena like droughts, storms and hurricanes, threatened ecosystems, and changing landscapes caused by global warming may threaten the existence of life on earth. To restrain and slow down the negative

Behavior Disorders Related to Cultural Diversity Essay

Behavior Disorders Related to Cultural Diversity - Essay Example However, when discussing children and adolescents, the picture changes because individuals in this age range are still in the process of building their belief systems. The individuals who experience or construct behaviors which are destructive as a result of cultural diversity do so from a number of influences and causal factors. However, one factor that should not be used to understand these behaviors and interactions is that of racism. Although the individual may well be experiencing events similar to racially motivated disagreements, because the younger population is still constructing their core belief systems, we must look for other influences in order to understand their behaviors. According to Boucher, the issue of mental health is a valid discussion to pursue when inquiring into children and adolescent behavioral disorders. The child who is able to take a step back, so to speak, and look at a situation from a more objective viewpoint is a person who has a better foundation of emotional and mental health than those who cannot. When an individual cannot withdraw, and put emotionally charged feelings on a lesser priority level and consider a problem or situation from a more rational point of view, the person cannot detach in order to think more clearly and exercise behavioral choice over their responses. This persona has a problem with "detachment: or an inability to be objective or to distance themselves from circumstances. They over personalize events; they complain that they are the brunt of insults, the butt of jokes, blamed, or targeted; or they believe that they are victims. Unable to prioritize, they react to everything in equal proportion; molehills bec ome mountains." (Boucher, 1999) This behavior is not that which rises to the point of clinical detachment disorder, but rather is simply the learned ability to think through a problem, whether emotionally or racially charged or not. Boucher continues "The detachment difficulty evident in students with emotional and behavior disorders does not involve such a pervasive quality of unreality. Their detachment difficulty, rather, is a process of selective perception. These individuals can deal only with what relates to them; they cannot think beyond themselves; and they are unable to put order into their thoughts and behaviors, or prioritize." (Boucher, 1999) Thus Boucher has identified one of the inherent difficulties with approaching the subject of adolescent and child behavioral disorders as they relate to cultural diversity. Individuals in a culturally diverse setting are often more conscious of themselves, uncomfortable with how they do or do not fit in. When this is perceived as being motivated across racial divides the problem can escalate quickly. In other words, the younger population often has not yet developed the ability to step back and see the situation through a rational viewpoint. For example, black and white people groups within the American culture have unique, and yet often opposing views of the country and culture which give them identity. Black and white, a subgroup and a group respectively, have a different experience within the American culture which has given birth to what can be diametrically opposed perspectives on the American experience. For the white group, what could be called a ruling class by those who feel

Nonverbal Communication Cod Essay Example for Free

Nonverbal Communication Cod Essay 1. What nonverbal messages are being sent in this image? 2. What type of nonverbal communication codes are being used to deliver the messages? 3. What effect does each message have on the other people in the image? 4. What nonverbal communication skills and strategies could be used to communicate effectively in this situation? 1. What cultural barriers are seen in this image? 2. What type of nonverbal communication codes are being used to deliver the messages? 3. What effect does each message have on the other people in the image? 4. What nonverbal communication skills and strategies could be used to communicate effectively in this situation? 1. What nonverbal messages are being sent in this image? 2. What type of nonverbal communication codes are being used to deliver the messages? 3. What effect does each message have on the other people in the image? 4. What nonverbal communication skills and strategies could be used to communicate effectively in this situation? 1. What cultural barriers can be seen in this image? 2. What nonverbal messages are being sent in this image? 3. What type of nonverbal communication codes are being used to deliver the messages? 4. What effect does each message have on the other people in the image? 5. What nonverbal communication skills and strategies could be used to communicate effectively in this situation? 1. What cultural barriers can be seen in this image? 2. What nonverbal messages are being sent in this image? 3. What type of nonverbal communication codes are being used to deliver the messages? 4. What effect does each message have on the other people in the image? 5. What nonverbal communication skills and strategies could be used to communicate effectively in this situation?

Class Inequality Essay Example for Free

Class Inequality Essay Social class is one of the oldest and most persistent inequalities in British society. In the past, people were very aware of their social class and their expected roles and responsibilities. People would have worn different clothes, behaved in different ways and had a very different culture from each other and they would have accepted this as a perfectly normal element of behaviour. We are still aware today of some of the cultural differences between the social classes so that rich people and poorer people have different accents, are educated differently and wear different styles of clothes from each other. These cultural differences that separate the classes are known as indicators of class. In the past, many people also believed that people of the highest social classes were better than other people and should be respected because of their social position. This idea is known as deference. People nowadays are less willing to admit that social class is important. Poorer people may imitate the styles and behaviour of wealthy people by buying copies of their expensive clothes in cheaper shops or buying replicas and fakes. However, rich people often copy the street style of the working class people and their fashions. The differences between the classes seem to be blurred to such an extent that many people would not define their social class in the same way that sociologists might. Sociologists mostly believe that despite the way that people reject the idea of social classes, it is still important in our society. We are just less aware of it than people were in the past. It affects our life chances and our life styles, with high earning people enjoying a superior standard of living and better life chances than those from more deprived backgrounds. Subjective class can be measured by attitudes, beliefs and political opinions. This generally consists of the vague notions upper, middle and working class and most people would identify themselves as belonging to one of these groups. This type of description does not explain the full range of  differences between these groups. People may be middle class and have access to huge wealth, whereas others have the education, lifestyle and manners of the middle class but are relatively poor. Equally, people from a working class background who achieve very good professional jobs may well still feel themselves to be working class. In contrast, sociologists are concerned with objective class. This refers to our occupations, education, possessions and our wealth. It can be measured in the data put out by the Office of Population, Censuses and Surveys such as mortality lists. Sociologists have had limited success in attempts to measure social class objectively. There are two generally used scales of social class, though a very wide number have been devised by sociologists in the past. The Registrar Generals Index of Social Class was used by government statisticians till 2001, and is still widely used as a rough indicator of peoples background. It uses occupation as the basis of differentiation. People are placed in a five point scale. This is still used by advertisers and manufacturers who target products to certain markets. There are weaknesses with this class indicator because it does not take into account peoples income or their job security. In addition, women take their class from their male relatives. Most people are in class C or class 3. Since 2001, the class structure has been amended to take into account employment conditions including: job security, promotion opportunity and the ability and opportunity to work on their own and make own decision s about tasks. This new scale is known as the NS SEC. Goldblatt suggested alternative measures of class including home ownership, access to a car and educational status and he has shown that all of these can be correlated to inequalities in health. One of the most recent attempts to define the class system in a new and radical way was by Will Hutton (18995). Hutton is a critic of the New Right. He argues that social inequality, in the form of low wages, low skill and high unemployment, has resulted in a clearly divided and economically unstable society. Hutton has put forward the 30-30-40 thesis to show the three-way split in contemporary British class relations. He says our society can now be seen to consist of: 30% unemployed, low paid, insecure work; 30% with some job security and quality of life; 40% privileged workers in secure and regular employment. In addition, the nature of work which is a traditional measure of a persons class position is changing so the debates have become complex and theoretical. Certainly, inequality is an important social dynamic, but there is a question mark over whether this is related to social class or whether people even recognise class as significant in their lives. Marxists argue strongly that it is but that people do not recognise it for reasons related to deskilling and proletarianisation; feminists suggest other dynamics influence inequality and post-modernists suggest that the important dynamic is not class but the ability to spend money. 2 What is the link between class and occupation? Traditionally class has been linked to the type of work a person does. The debate as to the nature of class has therefore become more complex as the nature of work has changed. The upper classes are able to live off unearned income such as rents from land or property. There are so few of the upper classes that they are more or less invisible to sociologists. Very little research has been done on these people. Upper class people usually keep themselves to themselves and are not willing to participate in studies. Recent work by Adonis and Pollard (1998) stresses the significance of the upper class in modern British society and they consider that there is an emerging superclass that consist of an elite of extremely high paid managers and professionals. According to Adonis and Pollard, this new superclass is linked financially to the City of London, a male and upper class world that has many links with the traditions and heritage of public school and Oxbridge elites of the past. This superclass emerged from the financial changes of the 1980s and is composed of people who benefited from low taxation and privatisation of industry to become significant in international trading with global companies. They earn multi-million salaries and have large financial bonus packages. Papers tend to refer to them as Fat Cats. The middle classes live off professional work such as law, medicine or the ownership of a business. Generally they earn more and have better working conditions than the working class. Working class people work with their hands as tradesmen or labourers. Work with the hands is known as manual work. We still call professional people who sell knowledge rather than skills, non-manual workers. This is the basic social class division in society between manual and non-manual work. Middle class work requires educational qualifications and skills. Most people who are members of the middle classes will have been to university and gained higher level professional qualifications as well. Generally, middle class professional work is well paid or has good conditions and terms of service. In the past, there would have been quite serious differences in pay between professional workers and manual workers though these differences have been eroded. C Wright Mills (1956) and others have seen the middle classes as divided into two groups. The higher professions have the potential for high earnings and who are self-employed or employed by large corporations. These are people such as judges, accountants, lawyers, dentists, doctors. These people tend to control entry into their occupations. The lower professions are often, though not exclusively, feminised and work in the public sector. They have limited access to high earnings and include teachers, nurses, and social workers. The lower middle classes have become more like the working class according to the Marxist, Braverman (1974) who points out that many of the professions, such as architects, have become vulnerable to redundancies. He also claims that skills are being lost (de-skilling) because mechanisation means that individuals are now being taken over by technology. People are no longer required to undertake tasks that traditionally required talent. Tradesmen have lost their skills to machines, and architects plans can be created by computer programmes. Others, such as teachers or opticians who are unable to control entry into their professions are no longer able to claim high rates of pay as there is always demand for work and people who are willing to  accept low rates in return for employment. Oppenheimer (1973) has also suggested that the middle classes have lost power and authority in work. Working class work may require high levels of skill and effort: however, because it is manual work, it is not generally well paid and often is of relatively low status. In addition, although years of on-the-job training may be involved in such work, people will not have been to university or college. Hairdressing, for example, is one of the worst paid occupations on average. Unskilled work is very low value, low status work and there are few openings for people who have no educational qualifications. Work which once was done by people is now done by one person with a qualification who operates a machine. In the 1930s, digging was done by teams of men with shovels. We would be surprised to see people do work of this kind today. Even much check-out work is now done by machine alone. In the 197Os, it was commonly believed by many commentators that the working class were becoming more middle class as their incomes were higher than previously earned by the working class. This theory was known as the affluent worker thesis or embourgeoisement and was supported by Galbraith. This theory was disproved by Goldthorpe, Lockwood, Bechofer and Platt (1968) who conducted detailed research on car workers in Dagenham. They found that that the workers worked longer hours and had different attitudes to work from middle class management. Fiona Devine (1992) repeated the work and found that redundancy and unemployment were a real concern for working class families. The gap between professional work and working class work was widening. Another debate has opened up in terms of occupation and class in the last thirty years. Unemployment and benefit dependency has become more common in British society. This has led to the development of a significant underclass of people who have never earned their own money. In the early 1970s, the term was used sympathetically by Giddens and other members of the developing New Left (1973) to describe those who faced massive deprivation and social inequality with working conditions and income levels below even those of the working class. At the same time, other social commentators from the New  Right were using the term underclass negatively to describe a class of people who have little self-sufficiency but rely on social security benefits to survive. The term dole scrounger was widely used in the press to describe those who lived on benefit. What is the relationship between work, class and income? There is a common belief that those who earn more money have worked harder for it. In reality, the low paid are often extremely hard working but unable to gain an acceptable income from the work that they do. One of the reasons is to do with the changing nature of the work that is available. The structure of the British economy has undergone radical change since the end of World War 2. There has been a massive move away from employment in primary industries such as agriculture and coal mining. Manufacturing or secondary industry has also experienced a drop in employment. There has been a reduction in traditionally male heavy industry and a growth in light industry and assembly work that can be automated and which employs more females. The real growth sector in the economy has been in service sector jobs. Many of these are middle class jobs in management and training; however, more are jobs which offer long hours, low pay and casual part time work in restaurants and pubs. Ivan Turak (2000) points out that the actual number of manual jobs fell by 11% between 1981 and 1991 while non-manual jobs have expanded. Certain sectors of the workforce have been more vulnerable to unemployment, and he points to the older male manual worker as being particularly vulnerable. Paul Gregg (1994) has claimed that one of the main causes of poverty in Britain is unemployment and that the UK had a third more families out of work than other developed countries. Statistics suggest that in a fifth of households, there is no adult in employment and although in the rest of Europe, 80% of single parents work, in Britain the figure is closer to 40% of single parents in work. Figures based on social class alone are difficult to access, as emphasis is placed on other forms of inequality in official data. However, there is a  clear link between a persons social class and the opportunities or life chances that they may experience. As Wilkinson (1996) identified, people at the bottom of the stratification system in the UK have severely reduced life chances: In Britain people in the poorest areas have death rates that are age for age four times as high as people in the richest areas. Among Whitehall civil servants, junior staff were found to have death rates three times as high as the most senior administrators working in the same offices. In 1994, it was established that 2.2 million workers in the UK earned less than 68% of the average gross weekly wage that stood at less than  £6.00 per hour in that year. These low paid workers tended to be female, the young, the disabled, single parents and members of ethnic minorities. Their work was part-time, homework or casual labour and they tended to be found in certain areas, and in smaller firms. After much pressure on government, National Minimum Wage legislation was introduced by the Labour government with effect from April 1999. It is currently set at  £5.73 (2009). Employers organisations had predicted a massive increase in unemployment following the introduction of a minimum wage, but this did not occur. Even so, people still resort to desperate measures to obtain satisfactory income. Evidence presented to the Low Pay Commission by the Greater Manchester Low Pay Unit (2000) described one woman who had taken on three low paid jobs at one time in order to make ends meet. Wadsworth (2007) suggests that around 10% of British households rely on minimum wage income. He also points out that many minimum wage earners take a second job to supplement income. Bryan and Taylor (2006) suggest that those who earn National Minimum Wage (NMW) tend to stay in NMW work jobs when they change employment. In addition, low pay workers spend time out of work. More than 80% of NMW workers are female, and many are over the age of 50. Most of these workers had no qualifications. There is also some evidence that employers can evade minimum wage legislation through a variety of semi-legal tactics and pay their workers less than they are entitled to. Migrants are very vulnerable to this kind of abuse. We are clearly a long way from Tony Blairs claim in 1999 we are all middle class. Where class convergence has been greatest it has been at the margins of the classes with a blurred area between the upper working class and lower middle class. The term embourgeoisement is less discussed than it used to be, but Goldthorpe et als conclusion that the working class has fragmented into a new and traditional working class commands general support to this day. Another factor worth remembering when considering the embourgeoisement debate is what is happening at the other end of the working class. At the bottom of society many see an impoverished underclass of those living on the minimum wage or in receipt of long-term welfare. This impoverished group has seen their living standards deteriorate relative to the rest of society. 3 How does social class affect educational attainment? As the ESRC point out, British sociologists all tend to agree that qualifications are the best predictor of whether a child will gain a high earning middle-class job. However they also point out that there are unequal success rates between social classes at school and unequal entry and success rates in post-compulsory education. Government data reveals significant differences between the educational attainments of the differing social classes. In 2008, 35% of the working class pupils obtained five or more good-grade GCSEs, compared with 63 per cent of children from middle class families. While the proportion of poorer children getting degrees has risen by just 3 per cent, the increase among those from wealthier backgrounds is 26 per cent. The reasons for the development of this pattern are complex. It could be to do with home or schools, or it could be related to cultural or material deprivation. Sociologists, Bynner and Joshi (2002) used longitudinal birth cohort data and discovered that the link between class and educational underattainment is clear and years of government policy have had little impact on this inequality. In 1999, West et al found that there was a 66% correlation between free  school meals and low school attainment. Levacic and Hardman in 1999 also pointed out the relationship between free school meals and poor GCSE grades. OKeefe found that there was a measurable relationship between free school meals and higher levels of truancy. Jefferis (2002) found an unarguable link between class and attainment. She studied nearly 11,000 children born from March 3 to 9, 1958. Maths, reading and other ability tests measured the educational attainment of the children at ages seven, 11 and 16. At the age of 33 their highest educational achievement was recorded. Her research team found the gap in educational attainment between children of higher and lower social classes widened as time went on it was greatest by the age of 33. At university level, social class inequalities still have an effect. Wakeling suggested in 2002 that a lower class degree and rich parents are more likely to lead to a student taking up post-graduate studies than the highest level university degrees and a modest background. Boliver (2006) found that only 35% of candidates from semi/unskilled manual class origins applied to a Russell Group university (one of the top 100 universities in the UK), in contrast to 65% of those from professional backgrounds. Machin and Vignoles (2005) conducted research on links between higher education and family background, focusing particularly on the experiences of two cohorts of individuals born in 1958 and 1970. They claim that links between educational achievement and parental income / social class strengthened during this period. The Social Mobility Commission, reporting in 2009, found that social class accounts for much of the gap in attainment between higher and lower achievers. They reported that the gap widens as children get older. In addition, it was claimed that increased spending on education has favoured the middle classes. In other words division between the social classes is widening. 4 What is the relationship between social class, criminality and inequality in the UK? Maguire points out that the prison population tends to consist of young,  male, poorly educated people who are likely to have experienced difficult or deprived childhoods and many of whom come from ethnic minority or mixed ethnic backgrounds. In 1992, 40 % of male prisoners had left school before the age of sixteen. People from lower social class backgrounds are significantly more likely to appear in victim and conviction statistics than people from wealthier backgrounds and it is a matter of argument as to whether they commit more crime, or they are more likely to be convicted if they do commit crimes. In the past, much analysis of criminal behaviour worked on the false assumptions that crime statistics were an accurate representation of crime and that conviction rates gave a fair representation of criminal behaviour. Self report studies show that the majority of the population have broken the law and that middle class crimes can often be very serious indeed. For example, Murphy et al (1990) showed that football hooliganism is not limited to the working classes and Pearson (1987) found that drug offences occur in all social classes. White collar crime and corporate offences receive very little attention from the news media in comparison with youth crime such as knife crime. Levi (1993) pointed out that official statistics do not include tax fraud cases as these are rarely prosecuted by the police or followed up by the criminal justice system. Snider points out that capitalist states are unwilling to pass laws that regulate business or challenge the rights of the rich to make money. Karstedt (2004) estimates that middle class crimes such as car tax avoidance, tax fraud and damaging items once worn in order to return them to shops may cost the UK something in the region of  £14 billion each year. Braithwaite, as early as 1979, concluded that working class children and adults commit the types of crime that are targeted by the police and do so at higher rates than middle class people. There is also research evidence to show that some forms of crime are linked to poverty and deprivation. Gang crime is especially prevalent in areas of deprivation where there are fewer opportunities for work. Brodie et al (2000) and Hope and Shaw (1988) found disadvantaged communities to be vulnerable to youth crime. It is estimated that 40% of crime takes place in about 10% of local authority areas. Stratesky (2004) links this phenomenon to the concentration of power and social exclusion in post industrial communities. Willott and Griffin (1999) found that working class men in prison justified their criminal behaviour by claiming that they were supporting their families. Furthermore, because they were effectively excluded from society, they could not then be expected to follow its rules. It could be argued that these accounts are self- serving because the victims of crime are often the very weakest in the community. Living in a poor and deprived community is also to live at risk of being a victim of crimes such as car theft, vandalism, anti-social behaviour, burglary and violence. Hughes et al (2002) suggest that more than half of victims of crime have already previously been victimised. This acts as evidence that some types of crime are more likely to be associated with working class status than others, particularly crimes against property and the person. 5 Are there class inequalities in the experience of health? The over-arching factor affecting health inequality in the UK is social class. Study after study shows that people born in poor families are low birth weight, are more likely to die as babies, grow up with poor health, are vulnerable to disabling disease and impaired development and they die early. Their children will experience poor life chances so health inequality runs in families. Some of these health inequalities are due to patterns of poor life style so that obesity and smoking related illnesses are also diseases of poverty and deprivation. Children born in poverty and deprivation are also vulnerable to high risk behaviour such as drug abuse, binge drinking and sexual transmission of disease. Furthermore, in 2002, the Office for National Statistics said that inequalities of health and life expectancy between social classes were widening. Spicker points out that figures from the UK show that people in lower social classes, including children, are more likely to suffer from infective and parasitic diseases, pneumonia, poisonings or violence. Adults in lower social classes are more likely to suffer from cancer, heart disease and respiratory disease. He also underlines the point that there are inequalities in access to health care according to social class, so that the  poorest people live in areas with fewer doctors, more difficult access to major hospitals and poorer services. Wheeler et al, working on 2001 Census data also found that areas with the highest levels of poor health tend to have the lowest numbers of doctors and other health professionals (other than nurses). They also discovered that areas with high levels of poor health tend also to have high numbers of their population providing informal care for family and friends. There is lower take-up of preventative medicine such as vaccination and routine screen ing for disabling conditions among working class people. This called the inverse care law. Discounting theories that suggest the working class are genetically weaker, then the unavoidable conclusion is that poverty leads to ill health through poor nutrition, housing and environment. This is exacerbated through cultural differences in the diet and fitness of different social classes, and in certain habits like smoking. Tim Spector (2006), an epidemiologist found that social class has an impact on how the body ages, irrespective of diet and bad habits. In a study of 1,500 women, he discovered that there is a link between class and poor health. He claims that the cause is that people from lower social backgrounds are more likely to feel insecure, especially at work, and suffer low self-esteem and a sense of lacking control over their lives. He claims that the stress this causes creates damage at a cellular level that accelerates ageing. Support for this theory can be found in the fact that studies consistently show that people from lower social classes experience higher levels of mental ill-health, with particularly high rates of depression and anxiety. There is additional health risk from many working class jobs. Males in manual jobs are more than twice as likely to get occupational lung cancer. Bladder cancer is also work-related, associated with work in industrial settings. For nearly all conditions the risk of heart disease, cancer, stain injury and stress is higher for those in working class occupations rather than managerial jobs in the same industry. 6 Class change and sociological theory Social class is undoubtedly changing significantly and this has prompted a  number of debates as to the meanings of these changes and the impact that they have on class. Marxists have a problem because Marx suggested that people would develop a class consciousness and overthrow capitalism. Clearly, this has not happened, in fact people are less aware of class as a social dynamic. There are different explanations for this. 7 8 What is proletarianisation? Proletarianisation is a Marxist concept that sees the middle-class as identifying increasingly with working-class identity. Applied research has focused upon using case studies to examine whether non-manual work is becoming increasingly similar to manual work. Neo-Marxists like Erik Wright or Harry Braverman claim that proletarianisation is progressing at a reasonable pace. In contrast, neo-Weberians like David Lockwood and John Goldthorpe have always vigorously argued against it. One reason for this conflict of views is that different meanings of proletarianisation are adopted in order to measure it. Neo-Marxists such as Wright and Braverman argue that routine white-collar workers are no longer middle class. They consequently see such jobs and even some professions, such as nursing and teaching, as particularly prone to proletarianisation. Braverman argues that deskilling in the workplace affects both manual and non-manual work, causing him to argue that routine white-collar workers have joined the mass of unskilled employees. As such they are part of the working class, they are proletarianised. Braverman argues that deskilling and the loss of the social and economic advantages non-manual jobs enjoyed over manual work, are the key factors behind the growth of proletarianisation. In addition, many workers have lost the control and autonomy they enjoyed 20 years or so in the workplace. A good example is the university lecturers Wright cited as example of semi-autonomous workers in a contradictory class location. Many university lecturers are very poorly paid and on short term contracts. Many earn less than primary school teachers. In addition they are subject to performance  scrutiny and time monitoring. Many professionals in education are now subject to clocking in and out like factory workers. It has been argued by some feminists, such as Rosemary Crompton, that women are more prone to proletarianisation than men, in the sense that they experience poorer promotional opportunities. In examining the work of clerks (Crompton and Jones) they found that only a low level of skill was required and that computerisation seemed to accentuate proletarianisation. However, Marshall et al have challenged the idea of proletarianisation. They found both male and female routine white collar workers reported greater levels of autonomy than those in the working class. They found that it was mainly manual workers who felt their work had been deskilled. In contrast, the perceptions of over 90 per cent of male and female non-manual workers were that neither skill levels nor autonomy had significantly diminished. However, they did find that personal service workers such as receptionists, check-out operators and shop assistants lacked a sense of autonomy in a manner similar to the working class. Since this group is composed primarily of female workers, this supports the idea that women are more prone to proletarianisation. Recent research by Clark and Hoffman-Martinot (1998) has highlighted a growing number of casual or routine workers who spend their working day in front of a VDU and/or on the telephone. †¢ Marxists would see such workers, especially those is call centres as working class despite the white-collar working environment. They would see the low morale and general worker discontent as evidence of class consciousness and a sense of collective work-place identity. †¢ A Weberian analysis would identify class in terms of a group sharing a weak market position in the labour force. Weberians might identify any internal competition between workers and factors such as performance-related pay as designed to fragment the workforce. Any attempts at unionisation, they might argue, could reflect the pursuit of sectional interests (party) rather than evidence of class consciousness. 9 How have contemporary models of class developed? As we have seen a range of neo-Marxist and neo- Weberian models of class have developed in the past 50 years or so adapting and interpreting the ideas of Marx and Weber. There is a consensus that the size and make-up of the working-class is shrinking as we move to a post-industrial society, however, there are markedly different interpretations about the meanings and consequences of this change. †¢ Neo-Weberians such as John Goldthorpe and David Lockwood have focused upon occupational categories within a market power context. †¢ Neo-Marxists argue that the critical issue is whether the working-class are falsely conscious. †¢ A third group, the postmodernists have argued that class is dead; having lost its significance as a source of identity. Consumption, they argue, has become the main definer of people in society. What do postmodernists say about class changes?  Postmodernists would question whether class and class identities are meaningful concepts anymore, arguing it makes more sense to speak of a fragmented society with identity increasingly derived from consumption rather than issues associated with production, such as occupation. According to a Postmodern vision, people are seen to acquire their identities as consumers rather than as producers. Status differences (now based on consumption) were seen no longer as sharp and divisive, but loose and cross-cutting. Peoples consumption became home-centred in the post-war period, rather than communal, and their identities as consumers became constructed from images that came into their homes through the rapidly expanding media. The mass popular culture that resulted seemed more real than experiences outside the home and at the workplace. The French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu researched the relationship between consumption and class. He found that consumption patterns varied not only between classes but within them too. He argued that people thus use consumption to both establish and express their social difference. Bourdieu draws from both the work of Marx and Weber in his analysis that consumption and class are interrelated influences on identity. He argues social  divisions are not shaped by economic capital alone but introduces his important concept of cultural capital that he sees as shaping lifestyle including promoting education success, sports and leisure activities. However, he argues that cultural capital has to have symbolic status and be recognized within the society as having high status.

Romantic Era And The Byronic Hero English Literature Essay

Romantic Era And The Byronic Hero English Literature Essay The Romantic Era and the Byronic Hero. During the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, literature and art as well as political philosophy were deeply influenced by new ideas about individualism and citizen rights. The American and French Revolutions illustrate the power and volatility of these new ideas. Although the term Romantic wasnt applied to this period until many decades later, the writers of this period expressed a sense of collective intellectual energy that they called the spirit of the age.†It was a time for questioning the status quo, challenging conventions of social hierarchy, and elevating the value of the common man and woman. Romantic writers reflected on the beauty of the natural world as a means of discovering, illuminating, and articulating their own insights about human nature. Their writing frequently included scathing critiques of social injustices, mainly associated with growing urbanization; meanwhile, they idealized rural landscapes and lifestyle s. Many of these authors were profoundly influenced by Miltons poetic works, especially  Paradise Lost. For example, William Blakes  Songs of Innocence and Experience  juxtaposes poetic visions of the world first through the eyes of a child, or innocent, and then through experienced eyes that recognize sin and inhumanity as part of the human fallen condition. As mentioned in the readings, Blake argued that Miltons Satan was the true hero of  Paradise Lost, and many of his contemporaries agreed with him. Miltons Satan inspired a new figure in English literature: the Byronic Hero. In this lesson, we will read several defenses of this rebellious and misunderstood, tragic character. In particular, we will investigate how this figure informs Mary Shelleys famous gothic novel,  Frankenstein. During the Romantic period, the art form of the novel became increasingly popular, in conjunction with a growing reading public. Some of the most famous and influential novels of this era include Jane Austins satiric novels of sensibility and manners, Walter Scotts historical novels, and Mary Shelleys critique of science and society in  Frankenstein. Most of us are familiar with the monstrous figure of Frankenstein from popular culture: film and television images. Mary Shelleys original creature was conceived in the aftermath of the French Revolution and the subsequent bloodshed that shocked and disillusioned many of the initial supporters of this revolution. Note that the name Frankenstein refers specifically to the scientist, Victor Frankenstein, who created a living Creature. The relationship between Victor and the Creature offers a complex commentary on the duties and responsibilities of both a creator and the created, which invites comparisons with Miltons depiction of the rel ationships between God, Adam and Eve, and Satan. Shelley interweaves the Biblical narrative of the Fall in Genesis with the Greek myth of Prometheus, another creation myth about duty, betrayal and punishment. Furthermore,  Frankenstein  explores themes of pride and ambition by combining these grand epic narratives with Shelleys own personal experiences of procreation, parenting, and death. Lesson Four Reading Assignment Readings: In  Masters of British Literature  (Longman, Vol. B), skim â€Å"The Romantics and their Contemporaries†, (pp. 3-28). Also read: William Wordsworth, â€Å"The World is too much with us†; â€Å"London 1802† (231-2); â€Å"Manfred’ and Its Time: The Byronic Hero† (386-7); and Coleridge, â€Å"Satanic Pride and Rebellious Self-Idolatry† (392-3) In the Longman Cultural Edition of Mary Shelley’s  Frankenstein, please read Susan Wolfson’s introduction (pp. xvii-xxii) before you read the novel. Then read Mary Shelley’s  Frankenstein  (the 1818 edition). And, then read the excerpts in â€Å"God, Adam, and Satan† (301-322). Reading Questions: As you read the novel, consider the following questions: What is the effect on the reader of learning about Victor’s story through the third-person, Walton, and his letters to his sister? On page 34, Victor images the gratitude that his creation will feel towards him. How does he respond, on page 37, when he actually animates the body of his creation? How does Victors initial vision of being a creator differ from the reality throughout the rest of his tale? How would you describe Victors character? How is he perceived by other characters in the novel? At various points in the narrative do you find your allegiance shift from Victor to the Creature, or vice versa? Why might the author want the reader to feel sympathy for each of these characters? Traditionally, a novel will have a protagonist, or hero, and an antagonist, or villain. Who is the protagonist and who is the antagonist in this work? Consider how this narrative evokes the story of the Garden of Eden, the Forbidden Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, the desire to be godlike, and the Fall from Grace. What is the effect of these allusions? How does this novel view science and the quest for knowledge? Does Walton learn anything from Victor’s tale? Is it significant that he acquiesces to his men’s desires to return to England? Lesson Four Writing Assignment Essay Assignment: Select one of the following essay prompts. After considering how you would answer each of the questions in the prompt, craft a thesis based on your answers and write a 5-page essay, supporting your selected topic. In Chapter VII of volume II, the Creature finds a bag of books, including Milton’s  Paradise Lost. How is the Creature affected by reading this epic poem as â€Å"true history† (98)? Shelley invites us to compare Victors creation with Miltons retelling of Genesis. How does this comparison influence our interpretation of  Frankenstein?  Is the Creature more similar to Adam or to Satan? Does Shelley’s novel encourage us to view Satan as a heroic rebel or the arch-fiend? Explain your answers with evidence from both  Paradise Lost  and  Frankenstein  and additional readings about the Romantic poets. Milton embellishes much of the Genesis story, but regarding the punishment of Eve, he restates the King James Bible text (Genesis 2:16) with almost no alteration or addition; Miltons God decrees to Eve: Thy sorrow I will greatly multiply By thy conception; children thou shalt bring In sorrow forth, and to thy husbands will Thine shall submit, he over thee shall rule. (Book X, lines 193-6) Mary Shelleys mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, was a famous feminist who died from complications of childbirth soon after Mary was born. Mary Shelley suffered miscarriages and the early deaths of several of her own children. Many critics hypothesize that Shelleys experiences of birth and death greatly influenced her creation of  Frankenstein. They argue that Victors obsession with creating a human represents a desire to possess and/or circumvent human reproduction. In your essay, connect Victors desire to supplant human procreation to Eves temptation to possess knowledge and become godlike. How are their transgressions similar and different? How are their punishments similar and different? You might consider the theory of the Fortunate Fall† in your discussion. Discuss how the Romantic Poets interpreted Miltons  Paradise Lost. Explain the political and social events that influenced their ideas about God and Satan.   Refer to at least two examples from the poets writings in the Reading Assignment, as well as the scholarly commentary.  Then, consider Mary Shelleys incorporation of  Paradise Lost  into  Frankenstein.   Does her adoption of Milton reflect or challenge the ideas of what Susan Wolfson terms Romantic Satanism (p 301 in the Longman Cultural Edition of  Frankenstein)?   In other words, how does Shelleys novel respond to the Romantic Poets interpretation of Miltons epic poem? Paradise Lost (Paradise Lost) revealed human sin and corruption. The poem describes the rebellious angels of Satan. Adam and Eve were possessed by Satan, ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that God prohibited eating. Finally, Satan and his cohorts were turned into snakes. Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden of Eden. The poem reflects the poets freedom to pursue the lofty spirit. Satan had gathered many rebel angels under him. The poem describes how Satan and his angels fall into hell by the thunder and the heat of fire, after a while, he wakes from dizziness. Satan awakens all the same angles in Heaven, and they got up. Satan comforts them in the speech, inspiring them, finally he told them, according to an ancient prophecy or report in heaven, there is a new world and a new creature to be created. So they decided to hold a plenary session of the prophecy, and discussed countermeasures. At the beginning of the meeting, the first question is debated: it is necessary to take a risk of war to restore the kingdom of heaven. The final three take a proposal, which is Satan mentioned, to explore whether the prophecy or hagiography is correct. According to legend, the God is creating a new world and a new species, a creature with not much difference between them. The difficult question is who will be sent to do the difficult exploration. Their leader Satan alone bears the task, winning peoples admiration and applause. After the meeting, other members pursue pleasure randomly. In the journey of Satan through the hell gate, the door is closed, the person in charge of the gate talked with Satan. Finally, the man opened the door. Satan saw a big pit between the hell and the heaven, which is chaotic world. Under the guidance of the ordeal, he only went to see what hes looking for in new world. When Satan went into the new world, God seated on a throne saw. The God refers to the prophecy that Satan will seduce human, and his plot will succeed. Human beings are free, and there is resistance to temptation, sweeping all slander to justice, the ability of wisdom. He also claims; people commit crime because of many reasons. Satan is wandering edge of a wasteland for a while in the new universe. Seen from what is called empty border place, people and things soaring; then, he would fly to the sun. He first pretends to deform for junior angels, sincerely, to see a new world and live in one of these people. Under Youlies guidance, he flies to paradise. Satan finally reached the new world, and it landed in a survey of the garden of Eden place, where it has been close to his destination, he alone takes bold adventure, to be against God, man. The moment he got into all kinds of confusion, his heart occupies many strong emotions: jealousy, fear, despair and so on. But in the end he decided to implement the evil plans, along the radial paradise. He crossed the border, into a cormorant, squatting on the tree of life the highest office park, looking around. It is his first sight of Adam and Eve. His wonder at their beautiful appearance and the happy scene make him determined to make them fall. After eavesdropping on their conversation, knowing they were forbidden to eat the fruits from the park tree of knowledge, which can let them under penalty of death. He decided to start, entice them to transgress. He leaves here, trying to further understand the situation. As night falls, Adam and Eve want Gabriel to send an angel, sending two power ful angels to Adams house, to protect the sleep of Adam and Eve, lest suffering from evil. They found him on the ear of Eve, in her dream to seduce her. The devil was arrested on the spot, brought before Gabriel. When questioned, his attitude is very strong; but for the warning, flies out of paradise. After snooping the Satan has sinister motives, like a lost soul in the night and returns to paradise, into the inside body of sleeping serpent. In the morning Adam and Eve are out to work, and each person does the job by their own. Adam did not approve of it, worrying about the danger, which had been previously warned the enemy will seduce her at her when she was alone. Eve would not be as strong and decisive enough, so she wants to separate labor, to test her ability. Adam finally gave in. Seen her alone, snake skillfully came to her, close to her; at first look, then opening, said a lot of flattery, flattering her how outstanding she is. Eve, listening to what the snake spoke, became very curious, asking how he can speak like human beings, but also can also understand so well. The snake answered, that is because of eating fruit from a certain tree in the garden, which can also make people more rational. Eve asked him to have a look of that tree. She looks, what is unexpected is tha t this tree is the right tree of the knowledge that the God forbids her to eat. The snake is of strong courage, using many reasons to persuade her to try. She finally tries, feeling very delicious. She thought to let Adam have a taste of this thing. But she hesitated, finally decided to give him this fruit, and advised him to eat. Adam was frightened at first because this is forbidden. But finally he decided to eat the fruit. The forbidden fruit in the two persons takes effect, they feel ashamed; and they find something to cover their nakedness. Then two people quarrel with one another. God said: they are unable to prevent Satan going into the park. Sin and death, sitting in the gate of hell, are excited to find Satan succeeds in the new world of conspiracy, so they are determined to follow their father Satan. They followed their path according to Satan, building a road or bridge on the chaotic world. As they prepare to leave back to hell, they meet Satan, returning after a conceited triumphant. Satan successfully indulges in verbiage before all the people for human conspiracy. Audience only applauds. And they, like in the paradise, are suddenly transformed into a snake. In their eyes, the scene of the forbidden tree appeared, they stretched to pick the fruit, but full of dust.Sin and death still continue their work. Adam came to know of his degraded condition, deeply sad, and Eve comfort is also rejected by him. Eve adheres to persuade him. In order to avoid the curse fallen to his descendants, she advised Adam to use violence; he strongly opposed, but reminded her of her sons to revenge snake, thereby holding good hope, encouraging her to pray with him to appease the anger of god. Then Satan, in the snakes image, committed a terrible, hateful deception behavior in the garden. Milton has been very clever in describing this story. He uses the story to deliver a spirit of freedom. And he makes full use of this story to show his ideas.