Crime and Punishment and ways to make our prison system better Essay

Crime and Punishment and ways to make our prison system better - Essay Example This essay describes how hard it is for the imprisoned people to find their place in society after coming out. The Policy Information Report by the Educational Testing Service finds that the rate of black youths incarcerated has increased to the point that it â€Å"jeopardize(s) the achievement of broader social justice goals†. This is especially true for those who dropped out from school. This indicates that there is a gap in the educational opportunities of the Black youth as compared to the White youth. It is a matter of common knowledge that when people are not educated, they receive lesser opportunities for employment and, therefore, some of them turn to alternatives such as criminal activities to earn their living. Therefore, it can be construed that lack of education causes crime, which in turn increases the incarceration rates. Besides, research evidence suggests that â€Å"illiteracy† and the lack of mathematical skills are quite high in prisoners and a â€Å" half of all prisoners† do not possess any education at all. It is also seen that there is an increased trend of early dropout from schools, which can be attributed to drug use, lack of family support or the want of economic resources. Therefore, any reformations of prison systems must also encompass the concept of educating the prisoner through in house sources so that when they get released, they can engage in some productive employment. This will decrease the chances of recidivism and, thereby, eliminate the chances of their repeated incarceration. In the present day, the job market has become highly competitive and business entities have a wide variety of choices of people to hire. This means that people who do not possess adequate qualification, such as a college degree and professional skills, remain unemployed. In addition, the fact of being imprisoned casts the shadow of social stigma of ex-convicts and, usually, employers would not be interested in hiring them. This si tuation forces them to look for alternative sources of income and they end up relying on criminal activities for income and this

Wars Pepsi VS Coca Cola Essay Example for Free

Wars Pepsi VS Coca Cola Essay History of Pepsi: Pepsi was first introduced as Brads Drink in United States, in 1893 by Caleb Bradham, who made it at his drugstore where the drink was sold. It was later labeled Pepsi Cola, named after the digestive enzyme pepsin and kola nuts used in the recipe. Bradham sought to create a fountain drink that was delicious and would aid in digestion and boost energy. In 1903, Bradham moved the bottling of Pepsi-Cola from his drugstore to a rented warehouse. That year, Bradham sold 7,968 gallons of syrup. The next year, Pepsi was sold in six-ounce bottles, and sales increased to 19,848 gallons. In 1909, automobile race pioneer Barney Oldfield was the first celebrity to endorse Pepsi-Cola, describing it as A bully drinkrefreshing, invigorating, a fine bracer before a race. The advertising theme Delicious and Healthful was then used over the next two decades. In 1926, Pepsi received its first logo redesign since the original design of 1905. In 1929, the logo was changed again. In 1931, at the depth of the Great Depression, the Pepsi-Cola Company entered bankruptcy – in large part due to financial losses incurred by speculating on wildly fluctuating sugar prices as a result of World War I. Assets were sold and Roy C. Megargel bought the Pepsi trademark. Megargel was unsuccessful, and soon Pepsis assets were purchased by Charles Guth, the President of Loft Inc. Loft was a candy manufacturer with retail stores that contained soda fountains. He sought to replace Coca-Cola at his stores fountains after Coke refused to give him a discount on syrup. Guth then had Lofts chemists reformulate the Pepsi-Cola syrup formula. On three separate occasions between 1922 and 1933, The Coca-Cola Company was offered the opportunity to purchase the Pepsi-Cola company, and it declined on each occasion. History of Coca Cola: Coca-Cola was invented in 1886 by John Pemberton, an Atlanta, Georgia, pharmacist. Pemberton was actually trying to concoct a headache remedy, but once he mixed his special syrup with carbonated water, and a few customers tasted the result, he realized that he had the makings of a popular soda  fountain beverage. The name Coca-Cola was coined by Pembertons bookkeeper, Frank Robinson, who also wrote out the new name in the expressive script that has become Coca Colas signature logo. Though the Coca-Cola Company apparently would rather not talk about the origin of its name in detail, its clear that Robinson derived Coca-Cola from two of the drinks ingredients: cola from the cola nut, and extract of coca leaf, also the source of cocaine. Cocaine was a common ingredient of nineteenth-century patent medicines, and by the standards of the day it contained a minuscule amount that probably had no effect on its consumers. Still, by the early 1890s there was a rising tide of anti-cocaine sentiment, and Atlanta businessman Asa Candler, who acquired the Coca Cola Company in 1891, steadily decreased even the tiny amount of the drug in the recipe. The only reason Candler kept putting even minute amounts of coca extract in the drink was the belief that to omit it entirely might cause Coca Cola to lose its trademark. But Coca-Cola was completely cocaine free by 1929. In 1940, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the name Coke rightfully belongs to the Coca-Cola Company. In financial circles, Coca-Cola has been one of the strongest and most reliable trading stocks, showing a steady return in all of its years of existence but one. Warren Buffet, one of the worlds richest men, has always touted Coca Cola as an essential in ones stock portfolio. Comparision between their Advertisements: Additionally while Pepsi with its younger audience tends to focus soley on pop stars, it was Coca-Cola who is regarded as having one of the greatest TV advertisiments of all time, featuring a far more mature pop band Blondie and the enormous hit Atomic, the video played the main chorus of the song to the backdrop of professional footballers taking part in geniune competitive World Cup games and the noise a contender for the coveted title of Greatest Commercial of All Time in many nations. Coca-Cola had Christina Aguilera featured in their commercials, while Pepsi had Britney Spears, Keshauntae  Brown, Michael Jackson, and Mariah Carey Comparision between their Marketing Approach: Both Coca-Cola and Pepsi try to market as part of a life-style. Coca-Cola uses phrases such as Coke side of life in their website, www.coca-cola.com, while Pepsi uses phrases such as Hot stuff in their website, www.pepsi.com, to promote the idea that Pepsi is in sync with the cool side of life. Coca-Cola is more popular but Pepsi has a bigger company. Pepsi tries to reach out to the younger generation by appealing to pop culture. If you visit their website you will be greeted with flashy pages containing pop music, cars, and fashion. Coca-Colas website also has links for music and sports, two arenas in which soda-pop is often consumed; however, Coca-Colas is less flashy and uses a classical appeal, most likely because of Coca-Colas long history as the standard for cola beverages. Comparision between Market Share: Comparision between Logo: Pepsi’s Logo: The Pepsi logo, just like the world’s favourite beverage, has evolved over a long period of time and has become an all time recognizable logo across the planet. Despite the lapse of over a 100 years, Pepsi Cola still leads the beverages industry and continues to capture the hearts and minds of millions of consumers with its dazzling taste and refreshing qualities. The production of Pepsi Cola kicked off on 16th June 1903. The logo that was designed back then remains more or less the same with minor innovations. Caleb Bradham, the man who founded the company, basically scribbled a design which later went on to gather fame. Sensing the success of his ground breaking drink, he came up with a logo and that centered on curves. The first visible changes were made in 1940 and 1950, when red and blue colors replaced the original red logo along with a slight alteration to the shape. Another change to the logo was made in 1962 when the word â€Å"Cola† was dropped from the logo, making it just â€Å"Pepsi†. The logo again embraced some minor changes on its centennial anniversary in 1998, with Pepsi’s success reflected by a sphere which still is part of the world’s most popular logo  today. Coca Cola’s Logo: Coca Cola is world’s biggest brand and its logo is most omnipresent in consumer psyche. In numerous surveys, it has been ranked as the most popular and most trusted brand of the world which is sold in more than 200 countries of the world. Pharmacist John S. Pemberton was the inventor of Coca-Cola. It was invented as patent medicine. His partner Frank Mason Robinson created first Coca Cola logo in 1885. First it was called, Coca Wine, but Robinson came up with the idea of Coca-Cola because he thought the two Cs would look well in advertising, and visualized the logo’s distinctive cursive script called Spencerian script which was a prevalent form of handwriting in 19th century’s US. The red and white color combination was chosen as it was attractive, has blend of energy and purity. It was also meant to attract the youngsters. Example of one basic logo design that has ruled the world without having much change in it, yes there was some subtle and minute alteration, but it has not drastically changed the properties of the logo. Compared to Pepsi, Coca-Cola logo better positioned in consumer psyche, that’s because when most people think about it, they think of this logo only and not of many variants. But when Pepsi is mentioned, many logos flow into people’s minds. Coca-Cola’s barely changing logo is better for people to remember. Comparision between Slogans over the years: Since both were developed and introcuded by pharmicists, they claimed that both drinks had medicinal properties. Cokes 1900 slogan was For headache and exhaustion, drink Coca-Cola, while Pepsis 1903 slogan was Exhilarating, Invigorating, Aids Digestion. In 1929, Pepsi claimed: Heres Health! Coke has been selling a refreshing and satisfying image for a longer time than Pepsi. Heres a quick list of slogans that remind us a lot of those we see today: * 1904 Coca-Cola satisfies * 1904 Delicious and Refreshing * 1905 Good all the way down * 1906 Thirst quenching delicious and refreshing * 1907 Cooling refreshing delicious * 1909 Delicious, wholesome, refreshing * 1909 Delicious, wholesome, thirst quenching * 1909 Drink delicious Coca-Cola In the other hand, Pepsi tried to show that their drink was better for small pockets, having more ounces of drink available in each bottle. Check it out: * 1934 Double Size * 1939 Twice as Much for a Nickel * 1943 Bigger Drink, Better Taste * 1949 Why Take Less When Pepsis Best? After that, since Coca-Cola was the top selling cola drink for so long, Pepsi started to change their awareness. Pepsi had to find a way to make people think different of what they were used to. Making Coke look old was solution they found. * 1961 Now Its Pepsi for Those Who Think Young * 1963 Come Alive! Youre in the Pepsi Generation * 1984 The Choice of a New Generation * 1989 A Generation Ahead * 1993 Be Young, Have Fun, Drink Pepsi * 1997 Generation Next Although its reign was never trembled by Pepsi, Coke replied these slogans reaffirming its untouchable quality and tradition. * 1942 The only thing like Coca-Cola is Coca-Cola itself * 1945 Whenever you hear Have a Coke, you hear the voice of America * 1970 Its the real thing * 1985 Americas Real Choice * 1989 Cant Beat the Feeling * 1990 Cant Beat the Real Thing * 1993 Always Coca-Cola Another detail that makes clear to us that Coke never felt threaten is the fact that the Coca-Cola logo was hardly ever changed. The times Coke tried some change, the feedback was all negative, and they had to bring back the classic logo. Pepsi has been changing its logo since ever, adjusting themselves to each generation, making their way to become the young choice. Comparision between their websites: Pepsi’s Website: The Pepsi website (www.pepsi.com) offers users a very different experience than Coca-Cola’s website. The Pepsi site greets users with an animation and sounds of a glass being filled by ice and Pepsi, which is then paired with a food item such as onion rings or a fajita. There are four main links in Pepsi’s main page, two of which deal directly with Pepsi marketing campaigns. The first link is entitled â€Å"promotions.† By clicking this link, users of PepsiCo’s website are taken to a contest that involves consumers buying Pepsi and having a 1/3 chance of receiving a free music download courtesy of Apple’s iTunes. The second link, called â€Å"street motion† allows PepsiCo website users to enter a drawing where the winner will receive a free luxury automobile. The third link is for â€Å"Pepsi sports† where the NFL’s Rookie of the Year is named and consumers are reminded time and time again that Pepsi is the official drink sponsor of the NFL. This link also includes streaming video of every Pepsi Super Bowl ad. The final link is entitled â€Å"Pepsi music.† This link takes users to Pepsi’s website touting their sponsorship of a summer music tour that involves some of the biggest names in pop-music. Pepsi’s sites are very easy to navigate if one is looking to find information about PepsiCo’s promotions or marketing campaigns. If a user is looking for company or product information, however, it can be difficult to find. At the bottom of the main page is a small link for company information. By clicking this link, users are taken to a different page called PepsiWorld.com. At PepsiWorld.com, users can find the company’s history, job information, and information on other brands that Pepsi owns such as Quaker Oats and Frito Lay. Aesthetically, Pepsi’s websites are very nice. They use bright colors and large, animated links. The site can prove to be frustrating for those that are looking for company information, but for everyone else, they are very interactive and fun. PepsiCo’s sites are geared much more towards customers that are already Pepsi drinkers and have an idea of PepsiCo’s marketing campaigns. The goal of PepsiCo’s sites are not to build new customers, rather they aim to reinforce current customers’ concepts of the organization. Coca Cola’s website: When you arrive at Coca-Cola’s front page, you are greeted by three page  links. These links connect to Coca-Cola company information, their worldwide site, and their U.S. site. By clicking the company information link, the user is transported to Coca-Cola’s official company website where one can find information for investors, job information, and a company history. The company information page is set out in an easy to navigate manner with â€Å"pull-down† menus for each of the links within the company page. The worldwide and the U.S. sites on www.cocacola.com are very similar in content. The worldwide site provides international users with a link to Coca-Cola’s country-specific sites that provides information on products and Coca-Cola themed games and downloads. The Coca-Cola in the U.S site provides many of the same marketing tools that the international sites provide. There are â€Å"pull-down† menus on the site for music downloads, product information, sports, message boards, as well as links to all Coca-Cola television advertisements. Each of Coca-Cola’s web pages is easy to navigate. However, most of the pages are not aesthetically pleasing. With the exception of a few of the international sites (www.zambia.coca-cola.com), most Coca-Cola sites are mainly done in different shades of red and black. This provides a very dull experience for the user while searching the Coca-Cola website. Coca-Cola’s website focuses on not only current customers, but it also focuses on building strong relationships with existing customers by providing large amounts of company and product information. Comparision between Brand Personality and Target Markets: Pepsi’s Brand Personality and Target Markets: Pepsi has always had a young target audience. Many of their ads were targeted at teens and pre-teens and are injected with fun, sports and most often, music. Pepsi has leveraged all manner of musical celebrities over the years. There was a fantastic commercial featuring Michael Jackson and a group of kids that are probably far too young to legally target for such a sugary product these days! When Pepsi wasn’t using musical celebrities, humor was their weapon of choice, again utilizing young kids in the ads. Who could forget the lovable little girl telling the bartender, â€Å"I asked for a Pepsi Pal† in the voice of the Godfather? A few hilarious advertisements of Pepsi: Coca Cola’s Brand Personality and Target Markets: Though to a degree, Coca-Cola and Pepsi have always been similar in their â€Å"fun and young† personalities, the two companies have consistently stayed on separate paths over the decades. On the whole, Pepsi has stuck with its high energy, music and comedy-driven strategy while Coke can be seen constantly gravitating towards the emotional side of branding. Coca-Cola ads depict human experience in two primary ways. First, Coca-Cola was embracing diversity. This can be clearly seen in its long-running â€Å"I’d like to buy the world a Coke† series of ads, depicting people from all over the globe joining together in Coke and song. Further, Coca-Cola has long been available in one form or another in countries all across the world and it’s even rumored to be the most recognizable brand, logo and even word on the planet. When Coca-Cola ads aren’t targeting worldwide diversity, they still possess a strong sense of community and overcoming differences and hardship through universal similarities such as a love for Coke. The second way that Coke has leveraged the human experience throughout the years is through a strong emphasis on families. They seem to know that Mom does the shopping and to get her you have to use an emotional appeal that makes Coca-Cola not only a family desire, but that is an integral part of the family’s life. This occurs all over Coca-Cola’s advertising throughout the years. Whether its an endearing scene of a father and son watching the Santa Coke truck go by or a family of polar bears consistently being brought together by Coke, the ads are aimed right at the hearts of American consumers. Comparision in tactics of Gaining Consumers: Pepsi: Changes Everything In the evolution image above of Pepsi’s logo, consumers saw Pepsi roll along with popular design trends as they introduced Photoshop-centric gradients, shadows and highlights. As with every good design trend, this was firmly rejected by the designers of the next decade. The design community’s eventual response was a full-throttle rebirth of minimalism. Every brand that made their logos look shinier in the late 90s suddenly hit command-z and started stripping their personalities through thin, sans-serif fonts and simple, solid colors By now we’re all familiar with Pepsi’s foray into this  trend. After decades of refining, they hit the Pepsi globe with the ugly stick, trashed the familiar bold typography and gave us this: Years later I still can’t muster up anything but disdain for this rebranding project. Call me old fashioned but I think Pepsi took a baseball bat to their brand heritage. Meanwhile, they made the â€Å"e† in Pepsi mirror the old logo! It might be an attempt at cleverness, but it seems indecisive. Emotional brand ties aside, consumers simply don’t see the logic behind this project. Keeping their image young and fresh is one thing, wasting millions of dollars to twist and smudge your iconic logo is another. They had a really strong and recognizable logo to revert to and rethinking it so dramatically wasn’t either necessary or effective in any way. What makes this overhaul absolutely laughable is the explanation behind it from the Arnell Group. Shortly after the rebranding went public a PDF was leaked which is amazingly nonsensical in its attempt to be sophisticated. Pepsi has since recovered from the public’s hatred of their new brand simply by trudging on. The redesign of their entire line of drinks has stuck with the exception of Sierra Mist, whose strange foggy forest design has already been abandoned for a new look that is actually quite attractive by comparison. Meanwhile, Pepsi’s overall personality has stayed pretty much the same as they continue to primarily use humor and music in their advertising. In 2011, their Super Bowl featured several humorous Pepsi Max commercials and the Pepsi website prominently features an index of â€Å"emerging artists†. The biggest brand goal change that took place with the rebranding project was the Pepsi Refresh Project, which continues on today. Through this initiative Pepsi gives grants to people with great ideas for how to improve their community. It’s an excellent project and a great direction for Pepsi. More and more, big companies are expected to use portions of their mountains of cash to make the world a better place and the Pepsi Refresh Project is doing exactly that. From this we can also see the effects of their branding in action. Notice how they consistently use the new logo as an â€Å"O† in various places. Honestly, despite rejecting the drastic change of their logo I do like the consistency of the visual direction they’ve gone in ever since. Coke Simplifies In the early 2000s, Coke underwent a process very similar to Pepsi’s rebranding project. Like Pepsi, Coca-Cola undertook a branding project that had essentially undone the clutter that had made its way into the brand identity and strip it down to a meaningful and simplified version. In a case study released by San Francisco design firm Turner Duckworth, the problem with Coke was clearly portrayed: The Turner Duckworth team responded to this problem in a drastically different way than the Arnell Group handled the Pepsi refresh (for starters, their logic actually made sense and wasn’t a bunch of circles). Arnell did in fact simplify the Pepsi brand, but in the process they redefined it into something that it has never been before. On the surface, this sounds great but as we saw, the execution felt more like a gunshot to the heart of the brand. Turner Duckworth on the other hand, didn’t attempt to redefine the most valuable brand on the planet, they simply brought it back to its roots. The result was a strengthening of the core features of the logo and product imagery. Turner Duckworth realized that the heart of the brand didn’t just lie in the logo itself but something physical that consumers had all experienced in a very real way over the years: the coke bottle. This idea of leveraging something physical is very important. We’ve all had Coca-Cola from a can, paper cup and plastic bottle before, but there’s something magically nostalgic about that old glass bottle. Not only did they apply their newly simplified look to the glass Coke bottle, they made the silhouette of that bottle the new brand hero and began using it in new and innovative ways. Below we can see the awesome Coca-Cola aluminum can bottles and the application of the Coke bottle silhouette onto other representations of the Coke brand such as paper cups and door signs.

Difficult Hate Terms Defined Conclusively Criminology Essay

Difficult Hate Terms Defined Conclusively Criminology Essay Why is Hate Crime Such a Difficult Term to Define Conclusively? Hate crime is a relatively new concept which originated during the 1980s in the US after a series of incidents directed towards Jews, Asians and Blacks (Green, McFalls and Smith, 2001). The term was brought to Europe and the UK in the 1990s, and hate crime became a prominent issue after the 1999 McPherson Report into the murder of Stephen Lawrence, a black teenager in London (Bowling and Phillips, 2003). It is a concept which is often used by politicians, the media, the Criminal Justice System and the public; although they often do not fully understand what the term means (Hall, 2005). This essay will explore the term hate crime and try to understand why there is no definitive definition of it, and the reasons for the many conflicting definitions. The first section will explore academic definitions and how they have developed, looking at the flaws of the early definitions and moving on to the most used and most comprehen sive definitions of recent times. After this the essay will explore the official definitions used by a variety of government bodies including the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and the Criminal Justice Systems definitions. This essay will then compare how recordings of hate crime differ around the world, and how different definitions of hate crime can lead to dramatically different levels in the number of hate crimes recorded (Giannasi, 2011). The next section will explore in more depth some of the topics covered already, in particularly how different definitions and different countries and states include different factors of hate crimes, such as sexual orientation and gender, as well as exploring the level of prejudice that is required for a crime to become a hate crime. The penultimate section explores the new and borderline hate crimes and whether these groups should be protected under hate crime laws, comparing them to Perrys definition of a hate crime. Finally this essay will explore incitement of hatred laws, and how these laws are seen as controversial and are argued to prevent freedom of speech (Gerstenfeld, 2011), as well as exploring the controversial nature of hate crime, looking at how hate crime laws are seen by some as punishing thought instead of actions. In order to understand why hate crime is such a difficult term to define we first need to look at the different definitions that have been suggested, so that we can see how they differ. There have been many different definitions suggested by a variety of academics and policy makers, each trying to define what a hate crime entails (Jacobs and Potter, 1997). The most basic definition of a hate crime is a crime motivated by hate, but this is contested by most, if not all, academics due to its simplicity and the fact that not all hate crimes have hate as a contributing factor (Hall, 2005), as we shall see later the term prejudice is often preferred. Many early definitions suggested by academics, as well as more recent ones, often fail to fully describe what a hate crime is, leaving many gaps in there definition. Petrosinos (2003) definition of a hate crime only refers to victimisation of ethnic minority groups, whilst Wolfe and Copelands (1994, as cited in Jenness and Broad, 2009) defini tion states that there needs to be violence towards the victim, although most definitions argue that it does not just have to be violence (Green et al, 2001). The definition that is often referred to as the best is Perrys 2001 definition (Chakraborti and Garland, 2009; Hall, 2005); Hate crime involves acts of violence and intimidation, usually directed towards already stigmatised and marginalised groups. As such, it is a mechanism of power and oppression, intended to reaffirm the precarious hierarchies that characterise a given social order. It attempts to re-create simultaneously the threatened (real or imagined) hegemony of the perpetrators group and the appropriate subordinate identity of the victims group. (Perry, 2001: 10). Her definition begins by identifying that acts of intimidation and violence can amount to a hate crime, but does not specify that it is violence towards a person and therefore it can include violence towards a persons property, which is also a form of intimidation. By including all acts of violence and intimidation Perry is including the low-level forms of hate crime, such as simple assault, harassment, threats, and vandalism (Bell, 2004: 185), as these are the most common hate crimes. Her definition follows Sheffields 1995 definition, which identifies the significance of reaffirming hierarchies and the social order within society (Chakraborti and Garland, 2009). Perrys definition also identifies that the victims group are already stigmatised in society and are historically marginalised groups, such as race, religion and gender (Craig, 2002). This does cause problems when we consider the new borderline groups, such as Goths, as these groups do not fit this definition, as they have no t been historically marginalised, but crimes against these groups are still seen as hate crimes; this issue will be discussed later in the essay. Her definition then states that the perpetrator is not just attacking the victim but the whole of the victims group. This is echoed by the work of Hall (2005) as they both describe a hate crime as a type of message crime, which is directed towards the minority group to show that they are the minority and are lower in society than the perpetrator, not just an attack on the individual. In fact the individual victims of serious violent hate crimes is often not know to the victim and are attacked just because of their perceived identity (Aurdley, 2005). Official definitions of hate crime can also vary dramatically between different countries and different states, as well as between different agencies within the same country (Jacobs and Potter, 1997). An example of this is the differences in the definitions used by the police and the courts, which often results in a different number of recorded hate crimes when compared to the number of convictions for hate crimes (Iganski, 2002). The guidelines used by the police to define a hate crime are that of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO). Their most recent set of guidelines were set out in their hate crime manual, Hate Crime: Delivering a Quality Service Good Practice and Tactical Guidance (2005), which expanded on their previous 2000 definition, and split a hate crime in two sections, as hate incidents and hate crimes. They define a hate incident as any incident, which may or may not constitute a criminal offence, which is perceived by the victim or any other person, as bei ng motivated by prejudice or hate (ACPO, 2005: 9), and a hate crime as any hate incident, which constitutes a criminal offence, perceived by the victim or any other person, as being motivated by prejudice or hate (ACPO, 2005: 9). As mentioned this definition defines both a hate crime and a hate incident, and is different to the single hate crime definition from their 2000 hate crime manual, as this did not include hate incidents (Gerstenfeld, 2011). This is the first problem when defining hate crime, as it is not just crimes that are included but incidents of hate as well, meaning that there is a high number of hate crimes recorded by the Police when compared to different agencies. Another point is that it is not just police officers who can classify a crime as a hate crime but the victim and any other person as well. As mentioned earlier the term prejudice is often preferred to the term hate, as hate is a strong word and often it is prejudice rather than hate that is a factor (Hall , 2005). The problem with the term prejudice in this definition is that it does not define what level of prejudice is required or the types of prejudices which are included, as prejudice against other football teams is still prejudice, but are not classed as hate crimes. These problems with ACPOs definition are not exclusive problems, as most definitions have similar problems, and they will be discussed in greater detail later. What this definition has done though is it has made it easier for crimes to be defined as hate crimes by the victim, as the victim often has a better perception of the crime than the police officer who records it. Hate crime laws in England and Wales give certain groups and identities specific laws to protect them, and to enhance the penalties given to offenders, such as the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001, which give penalty enhancements for racial and religiously motivated crime respectively (Goodey, 2005). The other legislation for penalty enhancement is the Criminal Justice Act 2003 which offers penalty enhancement for sexual orientation or disablist crimes. Other legislation for hate crimes is incitement of hatred laws, which make it a criminal offence to incite hatred of certain groups, either written or verbally. The Public Order Act 1986, the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 and the Criminal Justice Act 2008 all have provisions for incitement of hatred, but they only cover certain groups, such as race, religion and sexual orientation and not other groups such as the disabled and new youth subcultures (Chakraborti and Garland, 2009). T he burden of proof for all of these crimes lies with the prosecution and often the burden of proof, especially for incitement of hatred, is subjective, having to demonstrate that the offender meant to cause harm by what they said. The Criminal Justice Act 2003, which set the penalty enhancement laws for disablist and religious hate crimes, states that for a penalty enhancement the defence needs to prove that at the time of committing the offence or immediately before or after doing so, the offender demonstrated towards the victim of the offence hostility (Criminal Justice Act 2003: section 146). This means that for an offence to be a hate crime the perpetrator has to show hostility towards the victim at the time of the attack, and therefore the perpetrators affiliation with far right groups or prior hatred cannot be a factor when defining a crime as a hate crime (Hall, 2005). The number of hate crimes recorded in different countries around the world and in different states within America differ dramatically, because of the different measures used to define what a hate crime is, as hate crime is a socially constructed concept (Perry, 2001). Also the different methods used to record hate crimes give different figures of recorded hate crime, because as mentioned previously anybody can class a crime as a hate crime in England when reporting it, and in other countries, such as America, it is just the police who can record it as a hate crime (Bowling and Phillips, 2003). The UK recorded 52,102 hate crimes in 2009, which is 44,302 more than USA recorded in 2008 (Giannasi, 2011), which has a population which is five times the size of the UKs. This does not mean that the UK has a greater hate crime problem than the USA, but that the recording of it is different, as they define a hate crime differently. In Greece there were two recorded hate crimes in 2008 and 142 in Italy (Giannasi, 2011). All of this shows that the recording of hate crime differs dramatically around the world, because of the different requirements of a hate crime, and the different definitions and understandings of it. As mentioned previously the word prejudice is used more frequently then the term hate, because hate is not always present, as the crimes are often more about reaffirming hierarchies and the social order than because of hatred towards an specific identity (Hall, 2005). Most definitions state that the offence needs to be motivated by prejudice towards the victim and there group identity. The problem with this is they do not state how much prejudice needs to be present to make it a hate crime. In ACPOs definition of a hate crime it states that a hate crime should be motivated by prejudice or hate (ACPO, 2005: 9), but this leaves questions about how much it needs to be motivated by prejudice or hate. The Criminal Justice Act 2003 states that this prejudice needs to be present at the time of the offence, shortly before or shortly after (Hall, 2005). The level of prejudice is hard to define as hate crime is a socially constructed concept and therefore it is often down an individual to dete rmine if the prejudice was sufficient (Jacobs and Potter, 1998). Because of the difficulties in defining the amount of prejudice required it is difficult to define a hate crime, as there is differences in interpretations of the levels of prejudice required because it is an individual decision, and therefore there is no specific measure of when a crime becomes a crime of prejudice towards the victims identity and therefore a hate crime, or what is acceptable or unacceptable prejudice (Hall, 2005). As we have seen the definitions of hate crime vary geographically between different countries and different states (Chakraborti and Garland, 2009). Hate crime has been an issue for discussion in the USA for much longer than in the UK, but they do not have a universal definition for a hate crime. One of the most notable conflicts in definitions between different states in the USA is the different victim groups that hate crime laws cover. There are some federal hate crime laws which are enforced over all states and jurisdictions in America, such as laws to give enhanced penalties for crimes against certain groups, such race and religious crimes (Green et al, 2001). But it is mainly down to individual states to define what a hate crime is and as a result the groups covered by these laws vary between different states, and they also vary between different countries. Some states classify gender and sexual orientation as hate crime victims, while other states do not (Gerstenfeld, 2011). Thi s is a problem when it comes to conclusively defining hate crime, as there is no consensus on who can be victims of a hate crime. In England and Wales there are five main strands of hate crime as set out by ACPO (2009), these are race, religion, sexual orientation, transgender and disability. All of these groups fit with Perrys definition of who hate crime victims are, as they are all historically marginalised minority groups. Although these are the main groups there are many other minority groups which can be victims of hate crimes. One group which has caused many discussions as to whether or not they should be classified as a hate crime victims are victims of domestic violence (Gerstenfeld, 2011). One of the arguments for domestic violence being a hate crime is that it matches the definition suggested Perry (2001) as women are a historically marginalised minority group, and domestic violence is to reinforce the hierarchies of society, with men being dominant (Batsleer, Burman, Chantler, Pantling, McIntosh, Smailes and Warner, 2002). The opposing argument is that it should not be a hate crime because women are not being attacked because of their group identity; instead they are being targeted because they are close to the perpetrator and an easy target for them, and therefore it is not a message crime to the wider female population (Dutton, 2006). ACPO (2008) does not identify age as one of its main strands, but does recognise it as a form of hate crime (Chakraborti and Garland, 2009). Although the ACPO (2009) and the Home Office (2008) identify ageism as a form of hate crime only about one third of police forces record it as such (Chakraborti and Garland, 2009). Ageism is similar to disablist hate crime in that it is often committed by a person of trust (Cuddy and Fiske, 2004) and behind closed doors. There are some arguments that ageism should not be classified as a hate crime because often the victim is not attacked because of their age, or to reinforce the social order of society but instead it is because they are an easy target, as a result of their age (Wolhunter, Olley and Denham, 2009). Another argument against classifying ageism as a hate crime is that the elderly are a heterogeneous group and include people from a variety of backgrounds (Lister and Wall, 2006). The arguments for ageism being classified as a hate crim e is that older people often develop disabilities and therefore crimes towards a victim because of their age is often seen as disablist hate crimes, although they differ from people who are born with a disability (Chakraborti and Garland, 2009). The main differences between those who are victims of a hate crime because of their age when compared to other disabilities is that everyone is likely to become old and therefore everybody has a chance of becoming potential victims of ageism. Goths, Punks and other new youth subcultures are also borderline hate crime victims (Garland, 2010). Hate crimes against these groups was highlighted by the murder of Sophie Lancaster in 2007. She was murdered because of her Gothic identity and at court the judge commented that this was a hate crime and imposed an enhanced punishment because so (BBC News, 2008). The reason for crimes like this being a classed as a hate crime is that the victims are often targeted because of their identity and their appearance (Gifford, 2010), and often it is a message crime towards all members of the subculture, which is meant to reinforce the hierarchies of the majority (Garland, 2010). These crimes against new youth subcultures do not fit the definition suggested by Perry of a hate crime. This is because they are not an historically marginalised minority, as they are a relatively new group, but the harm and impacts these crimes have on the wider community is the same as other forms of hate crime (G arland, 2010). There are many other borderline expressions of hate that do not fit the existing definitions of a hate crime, but are still crimes of hate or prejudice. Another example is sectarianism hate crimes, which are crimes committed by members of the Protestants, Unionist or Loyalist communities towards members of the Catholic, Nationalist or Republican communities and vice versa (Chakraborti and Garland, 2009). These are crimes of prejudice against the opposite community because of their identity, but unlike other crimes they do not have to be committed by the majority towards the minority, and instead can be committed by either side (Jarman, 2005). There is much debate as to whether sectarianism crimes should be classified as hate crimes or not, as they do not conform to the general definitions of what a hate crime is. All of these borderline crimes further show how difficult it is to define a hate crime, as crimes that do not fit the conventional definitions are often seen as a hate crime. As previously mentioned there are hate crime laws for incitement of hatred, as well as penalty enhancement laws. Incitement of hatred is a greater issue in the UK than it is in the US, as the first amendment of the US constitution states that there cannot be laws which prevent their freedom of speech (Levin, 1999). The UK has several laws which govern incitement of hatred, making speeches and articles which contain threatening, abusive or hatred behaviour towards a minority group illegal. These laws have been very controversial in the UK, as they restrict freedom of speech, which is a human right (Gerstenfeld, 2011). The 2004 Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill aimed to make incitement of religious hatred illegal, as had already been done for incitement of racial hatred by the Public Order Act 1986. But there was much opposition towards this new bill, much of which came for comedians and was led by Rowan Atkinson, claiming that the freedom to criticise ideas is one of the fundame ntal freedoms of society (Atkinson, 2004 as cited in BBC News, 2004). There have also been discussions and arguments over what hate crime laws are punishing, as laws such as the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and Criminal Justice Act 2003 give an increased punishment for perpetrators of hate crime. The reason for this is that hate crimes cause more harm to the victim and their wider community than ordinary crimes, as they are being targeted because of who they are, rather than something they have done, and therefore they feel more at risk of repeat victimisation (Craig, 2002). This has led to arguments over whether punishing a hate crime is just in fact punishing peoples thoughts rather than their actions (Iganski, 2002). A crime usually has two factors that determine its severity and the reasons for it; these being the intent and the motive (Hall, 2005). The intent of the perpetrator is how much hurt or damage they meant to cause to the victim and the motive is why they did it. Hate crime focuses on the motive and unlike punishment for most offences, whe re the amount of damage or hurt determines the perpetrators punishment, it is also the reasons for their actions which determine their punishment (Hall, 2005). Therefore many see it is punishing peoples thoughts and the way they think rather than their actions (Jacobs and Potter, 1997). This essay has aimed to explore why the term hate crime is so difficult to define conclusively. It has done this by exploring the academics definitions of what a hate crime is and the problems with some of the many definitions suggested by a variety of academics. It identified Perrys definition as the most definitive, although there are flaws with her definition, as with all definitions (Chakraborti and Garland, 2009). The reason for identifying this definition is that it is the most often used definition by other academics, as it is the most comprehensive (Chakraborti and Garland, 2009; Hall, 2005). The essay then went on to explore the official definitions used in the UK, such as those used by ACPO and the Criminal Justice System. It explored how these definitions contradict each other as the police record hate incidents, which are not crimes and therefore the courts cannot punish offenders for them. The levels of recorded hate crimes around the world vary dramatically with the UK recording nearly seven times the number of hate crimes compared to the USA (Giannasi, 2011); despite the USA having a population that is five times that of the UK. This shows how definitions of hate crime vary dramatically around the world, especially as Greece only recorded two hate crimes in 2008 (Giannasi, 2011). The next section expanded on some of the issues mention previously when discussing the different definitions of hate crime. It explored how different definitions, countries and states have different victim groups and how some include gender and sexual orientation, while others do not. The essay then went on to discuss different victim groups who are classified as borderline hate crime groups. This includes ageism, Goths and other new youth subcultures as well as sectarianism; although these groups do not fit Perrys definition of what a hate crime is, they are recognised as a hate crime by many people, due to the effects that crimes on these groups can have. The final sec tion of this essay explored incitement of hated, and how laws to prevent this have caused much debate over the protection of human rights to comment and criticise ideas (BBC News, 2004). This section discussed how hate crime laws can be seen as being a way of punishing peoples thoughts, rather than their actions as these laws can increase sentences for perpetrators based on the reasons for their actions rather than the actions themselves. Overall this essay has identified the reasons why hate crime is so difficult to define conclusively, due to the different victims, crimes and levels of prejudice, and how this has led to difficulties in creating definitions and comparing hate crime geographically.

Children And Play In The First Essay -- essays research papers

Child’s Play: The First Two Years of Life In the first two years of life play is both a reflection of and an influence on all areas of infant development: intellectual, social, emotional and physical. Play is a central, all–encompassing characteristic of infant development, allowing children to learn about the world and themselves. Even during the first half-year of life infant’s really do play, even though the interpretation of what is play and what is exploration must first be established. The focus of this paper is to discuss three forms of play that occur during the first two years of life. The work of Jean Piaget and other psychologists in supporting and developing these ideas is critical. The first of these is sensorimotor play which begins with the infant’s accidental discovery of an activity that is inherently satisfying, and consists of the continuos repetition of that activity for the sheer joy of doing so (Hughes, 1991). The second is play with objects involves the intentional handling of an o bject that leads to satisfaction from the handling. Finally symbolic play is the use of mental representation, in which one object represents another (Hughes, 1991). Exploration or Play?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The differences between play and exploration can be difficult to assess. When infants are exploring their surroundings, they are usually cautious and serious. While examining an item during exploration an infant would smell, taste and perhaps rub the item against his/her cheek in a ritualistic manner. In play however, an infant would jump from one object to another without care, and play activities are completely devoid of the rigidity previously described.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Finally, when children explore their entire attention is drawn on the object begin explored. Their heart rates are steady, and they are unwilling to be interrupted. Yet, during play the children’s heart rate is variable and they are interrupted easily (Hughes, 1991). It should be easier to tell the difference between play and exploration using these behavioral differences as a guideline. Sensorimotor Play   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first year of life consists of what Jean Piaget called sensorimotor play or practice play (Piaget, 1962), the repetition of already assimilated sensory or motor activities for the sheer pleasure of doing so. Piaget suggests th... ... even more sophisticated, as children combine objects in play, use them appropriately, and begin incorporating them into symbolic play.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Symbolic play is characterized by a serious of levels that suddenly appear in the second year. Further development is seen as each level is symbolic play is explored. Decentration refers to the degree that a child is able to shift focus from self to external objects. Decontextualization refers to the use of one object as a substitute for another, and integration is the organization of play into complex patterns. References Garvey, C. (1990). Play. Cambridge: Harvard University. Hughes, F. P. (1991). Children, play and development. Boston: Allyn/Bacon. Piaget, J. (1962). Play, dreams, and imitation in childhood. New York: Norton. Piaget, J. (1963). The origins of intelligence in children. New York: Free Press. Rosenblatt, D. (1977). Developmental trends in infant play. In B. Tizard & D. Harvey   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  (Eds.), The biology of play. Philadelphia: Lippincott. Sheridan, M.D. (1977). Spontaneous play in early childhood from birth to six years.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  England: NFER Publishing.

Multinational Corporations Essay

Multinational corporations have existed since the beginning of overseas trade. They have remained a part of the business scene throughout history, entering their modern form in the 17th and 18th centuries with the creation of large, European-based monopolistic concerns such as the British East India Company during the age of colonization. Multinational concerns were viewed at that time as agents of civilization and played a pivotal role in the commercial and industrial development of Asia, South America, and Africa. By the end of the 19th century, advances in communications had more closely linked world markets, and multinational corporations retained their favorable image as instruments of improved global relations through commercial ties. The existence of close international trading relations did not prevent the outbreak of two world wars in the first half of the twentieth century, but an even more closely bound world economy emerged in the aftermath of the period of conflict. In more recent times, multinational corporations have grown in power and visibility, but have come to be viewed more ambivalently by both governments and consumers worldwide. Indeed, multinationals today are viewed with increased suspicion given their perceived lack of concern for the economic well-being of particular geographic regions and the public impression that multinationals are gaining power in relation to national government agencies, international trade federations and organizations, and local, national, and international labor organizations. Despite such concerns, multinational corporations appear poised to expand their power and influence as barriers to international trade continue to be removed. Furthermore, the actual nature and methods of multinationals are in large measure misunderstood by the public, and their long-term influence is likely to be less sinister than imagined. Multinational corporations share many common traits, including the methods they use to penetrate new markets, the manner in which their overseas subsidiaries are tied to their headquarters operations, and their interaction with national governmental agencies and national and international labor organizations. WHAT IS A MULTINATIONAL CORPORATION? As the name implies, a multinational corporation is a business concern with operations in more than one country. These operations outside the company’s home country may be linked to the parent by merger, operated as subsidiaries, or have considerable autonomy. Multinational corporations are sometimes perceived as large, utilitarian enterprises with little or no regard for the social and economic well-being of the countries in which they operate, but the reality of their situation is more complicated. There are over 40,000 multinational corporations currently operating in the global economy, in addition to approximately 250,000 overseas affiliates running cross-continental businesses. In 1995, the top 200 multinational corporations had combined sales of $7. 1 trillion, which is equivalent to 28. 3 percent of the world’s gross domestic product. The top multinational corporations are headquartered in the United States, Western Europe, and Japan; they have the capacity to shape global trade, production, and financial transactions. Multinational corporations are viewed by many as favoring their home operations when making difficult economic decisions, but this tendency is declining as companies are forced to respond to increasing global competition. The World Trade Organization (WTO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Bank are the three institutions that underwrite the basic rules and regulations of economic, monetary, and trade relations between countries. Many developing nations have loosened trade rules under pressure from the IMF and the World Bank. The domestic financial markets in these countries have not been developed and do not have appropriate laws in place to enable domestic financial institutions to stand up to foreign competition. The administrative setup, judicial systems, and law-enforcing agencies generally cannot guarantee the social discipline and political stability that are necessary in order to support a growth-friendly atmosphere. As a result, most multinational corporations are investing in certain geographic locations only. In the 1990s, most foreign investment was in high-income countries and a few geographic locations in the South like East Asia and Latin America. According to the World Bank’s 2002 World Development Indicators, there are 63 countries considered to be low-income countries. The share of these low-income countries in which foreign countries are making direct investments is very small; it rose from 0. 5 percent 1990 to only 1. 6 percent in 2000. Although foreign direct investment in developing countries rose considerably in the 1990s, not all developing countries benefited from these investments. Most of the foreign direct investment went to a very small number of lower and upper middle income developing countries in East Asia and Latin America. In these countries, the rate of economic growth is increasing and the number of people living at poverty level is falling. However, there are still nearly 140 developing countries that are showing very slow growth rates while the 24 richest, developed countries (plus another 10 to 12 newly industrialized countries) are benefiting from most of the economic growth and prosperity. Therefore, many people in the developing countries are still living in poverty. Similarly, multinational corporations are viewed as being exploitative of both their workers and the local environment, given their relative lack of association with any given locality. This criticism of multinationals is valid to a point, but it must be remembered that no corporation can successfully operate without regard to local social, labor, and environmental standards, and that multinationals in large measure do conform to local standards in these regards. Multinational corporations are also seen as acquiring too much political and economic power in the modern business environment. Indeed, corporations are able to influence public policy to some degree by threatening to move jobs overseas, but companies are often prevented from employing this tactic given the need for highly trained workers to produce many products. Such workers can seldom be found in low-wage countries. Furthermore, once they enter a market, multinationals are bound by the same constraints as domestically owned concerns, and find it difficult to abandon the infrastructure they produced to enter the market in the first place. The modern multinational corporation is not necessarily headquartered in a wealthy nation. Many countries that were recently classified as part of the developing world, including Brazil, Taiwan, Kuwait, and Venezuela, are now home to large multinational concerns. The days of corporate colonization seem to be nearing an end. Multinational corporations follow three general procedures when seeking to access new markets: merger with or direct acquisition of existing concerns; sequential market entry; and joint ventures. Merger or direct acquisition of existing companies in a new market is the most straightforward method of new market penetration employed by multinational corporations. Such an entry, known as foreign direct investment, allows multinationals, especially the larger ones, to take full advantage of their size and the economies of scale that this provides. The rash of mergers within the global automotive industries during the late 1990s are illustrative of this method of gaining access to new markets and, significantly, were made in response to increased global competition. Multinational corporations also make use of a procedure known as sequential market entry when seeking to penetrate a new market. Sequential market entry often also includes foreign direct investment, and involves the establishment or acquisition of concerns operating in niche markets related to the parent company’s product lines in the new country of operation. Japan’s Sony Corporation made use of sequential market entry in the United States, beginning with the establishment of a small television assembly plant in San Diego, California, in 1972. For the next two years, Sony’s U. S. operations remained confined to the manufacture of televisions, the parent company’s leading product line. Sony branched out in 1974 with the creation of a magnetic tape plant in Dothan, Alabama, and expanded further by opening an audio equipment plant in Delano, Pennsylvania, in 1977. After a period of consolidation brought on by an unfavorable exchange rate between the yen and dollar, Sony continued to expand and diversify its U. S. operations, adding facilities for the production of computer displays and data storage systems during the 1980s. In the 1990s, Sony further diversified it U. S. facilities and now also produces semiconductors and personal telecommunications products in the United States. Sony’s example is a classic case of a multinational using its core product line to defeat indigenous competition and lay the foundation for the sequential expansion of corporate activities into related areas. Finally, multinational corporations often access new markets by creating joint ventures with firms already operating in these markets. This has particularly been the case in countries formerly or presently under communist rule, including those of the former Soviet Union, eastern Europe, and the People’s Republic of China. In such joint ventures, the venture partner in the market to be entered retains considerable or even complete autonomy, while realizing the advantages of technology transfer and management and production expertise from the parent concern. The establishment of joint ventures has often proved awkward in the long run for multinational corporations, which are likely to find their venture partners are formidable competitors when a more direct penetration of the new market is attempted. Multinational corporations are thus able to penetrate new markets in a variety of ways, which allow existing concerns in the market to be accessed a varying degree of autonomy and control over operations. While no one doubts the economic success and pervasiveness of multinational corporations, their motives and actions have been called into question by social welfare, environmental protection, and labor organizations and government agencies worldwide. National and international labor unions have expressed concern that multinational corporations in economically developed countries can avoid labor negotiations by simply moving their jobs to developing countries where labor costs are markedly less. Labor organizations in developing countries face the converse of the same problem, as they are usually obliged to negotiate with the national subsidiary of the multinational corporation in their country, which is usually willing to negotiate contract terms only on the basis of domestic wage standards, which may be well below those in the parent company’s country. Offshore outsourcing, or offshoring, is a term used to describe the practice of using cheap foreign labor to manufacture goods or provide services only to sell them back into the domestic marketplace. Today, many Americans are concerned about the issue of whether American multinational companies will continue to export jobs to cheap overseas labor markets. In the fall of 2003, the University of California-Berkeley showed that as many as 14 million American jobs were potentially at risk over the next decade. In 2004, the United States faced a half-trillion-dollar trade deficit, with a surplus in services. Opponents of offshoring claim that it takes jobs away from Americans, while also increasing the imbalance of trade. When foreign companies set up operations in America, they usually sell the products manufactured in the U. S. to American consumers. However, when U. S. companies outsource jobs to cheap overseas labor markets, they usually sell the goods they produce to Americans, rather than to the consumers in the country in which they are made. In 2004, the states of Illinois and Tennessee passed legislation aimed at limiting offshoring; in 2005, another 16 states considered bills that would limit state aid and tax breaks to firms that outsource abroad. Insourcing, on the other hand, is a term used to describe the practice of foreign companies employing U. S. workers. Foreign automakers are among the largest insourcers. Many non-U. S. auto manufacturers have built plants in the United States, thus ensuring access to American consumers. Auto manufacturers such as Toyota now make approximately one third of its profits from U. S. car sales. Social welfare organizations are similarly concerned about the actions of multinationals, which are presumably less interested in social matters in countries in which they maintain subsidiary operations. Environmental protection agencies are equally concerned about the activities of multinationals, which often maintain environmentally hazardous operations in countries with minimal environmental protection statutes. Finally, government agencies fear the growing power of multinationals, which once again can use the threat of removing their operations from a country to secure favorable regulation and legislation. All of these concerns are valid, and abuses have undoubtedly occurred, but many forces are also at work to keep multinational corporations from wielding unlimited power over even their own operations. Increased consumer awareness of environmental and social issues and the impact of commercial activity on social welfare and environmental quality have greatly influenced the actions of all corporations in recent years, and this trend shows every sign of continuing. Multinational corporations are constrained from moving their operations into areas with excessively low labor costs given the relative lack of skilled laborers available for work in such areas. Furthermore, the sensitivity of the modern consumer to the plight of individuals in countries with repressive governments mitigates the removal of multinational business operations to areas where legal protection of workers is minimal. Examples of consumer reaction to unpopular action by multinationals are plentiful, and include the outcry against the use of sweatshop labor by Nike and activism against operations by the Shell Oil Company in Nigeria and PepsiCo in Myanmar (formerly Burma) due to the repressive nature of the governments in those countries. Multinational corporations are also constrained by consumer attitudes in environmental matters. Environmental disasters such as those which occurred in Bhopal, India (the explosion of an unsafe chemical plant operated by Union Carbide, resulting in great loss of life in surrounding areas) and Prince William Sound, Alaska (the rupture of a single-hulled tanker, the Exxon Valdez, causing an environmental catastrophe) led to ceaseless bad publicity for the corporations involved and continue to serve as a reminder of the long-term cost in consumer approval of ignoring environmental, labor, and safety concerns. Similarly, consumer awareness of global issues lessens the power of multinational corporations in their dealings with government agencies. International conventions of governments are also able to regulate the activities of multinational corporations without fear of economic reprisal, with examples including the 1987 Montreal Protocol limiting global production and use of chlorofluorocarbons and the 1989 Basel Convention regulating the treatment of and trade in chemical wastes. In fact, despite worries over the impact of multinational corporations in environmentally sensitive and economically developing areas, the corporate social performance of multinationals has been surprisingly favorable to date. The activities of multinational corporations encourage technology transfer from the developed to the developing world, and the wages paid to multinational employees in developing countries are generally above the national average. When the actions of multinationals do cause a loss of jobs in a given country, it is often the case that another multinational will move into the resulting vacuum, with little net loss of jobs in the long run. Subsidiaries of multinationals are also likely to adhere to the corporate standard of environmental protection even if this is more stringent than the regulations in place in their country of operation, and so in most cases create less pollution than similar indigenous industries.

Martin Luther King in the 20th century essays

Martin Luther King in the 20th century essays Why is Martin Luther King jr. considered to be a significant figure of the 20th Century? Dr. Martin Luther King is considered by many to be a significant figure of the 20th century for a variety of reasons; because of what he achieved and the difficulties he overcame in attaining these achievements. Dr. King is significant because for thirteen struggle-filled years he fought to make his dream of liberation for all people become a reality, because of the hope and inspiration he gave millions of oppressed people, because of the non-violent way in which he fought and because of the way in which he influenced America, changing it forever as he brought into the spotlight the injustices of the black American peoples treatment, because he led the civil rights movement and overcame legal. While Dr King endeavoured to achieve these things, he rose above many difficulties including his own, his supporters, his marchers and his familys constant danger and other such difficulties as the black people of Chicago not listening to him and resorting to violence. One of the main reasons Dr King is such a significant figure of the 20th Century is because he courageously fought to make his dream, that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed; We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. a reality, so that all people could be liberated and treated equally. He is significant because of the changes he wrought throughout America as he led the civil rights movement to victory, ultimately leading them to conquer legal racism. Dr King was the dominant force in the civil rights movement during its greatest decade of achievement, he organised and led many mass meetings, marches, boycotts and prayer vigils. He achieved many great things through these mass actions including the more major achievements of desegregating the Montgomery bus system becaus...

The Continuum of Long-Term Care Essays

The Continuum of Long-Term Care Essays The Continuum of Long-Term Care Essay The Continuum of Long-Term Care Essay The Continuum of Long-Term Care Lukita Wilson November 28, 2010 David Olsen Long-Term Care A variety of services that provides medical and non-medical needs toward individuals who are suffering from chronic illness, disability or old age is known as long-term care. Long- term care meets the needs of individuals who are no longer able to do many activities, which include bathing, dressing, cooking, and using the bathroom. This year, about nine million men and women over the age of 65 will need long-term care (Medicare. ov). By 2020, 12 million older Americans will need long-term care. Most will be cared for at home; family and friends are the sole caregiver for 70 percent of the elderly. A study by the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services says that people will likely have a 40 percent chance of entering a nursing home will stay there five years or more (Medicare. gov). The goal for long-term care in the twenty-first century is to be organized as an eff icient, coordinated continuum of high-quality care (Evashwick, 2005). According to Evashwick and Rundall continuum of care is defined as more than a collection of fragmented services; it is an integrated system of care. Therefore, in order for long-term care to provide an quality of care, each services provided must work together as an organization. Managing Health Care Resources for Long-Term Care In order for long-term care to continue providing services they have adapted to change during the last decades. The organization has created different ways of providing services to individuals, especially now that a lot of ndividuals are at a certain age and they know exactly what type of service they want. Long-term care consumers want to maintain their current lifestyles and increasingly willing to shop around for providers who can accommodate them (Pratt, 2004). They want to receive care at home whenever possible, resulting in more demand for home health care and other home based services. Their desire for a homelike environment even when institutionalize d has led to assisted living, congregate housing, and other similar modifications of the more traditional types of long-term care (Pratt, 2004). Long-term care have noticed competition from other providers such as hospitals that would like to capitalize on such services because they are trying to survive, so they have decided to change certain aspects (Pratt, 2004). The changes in the system have also created new opportunities for those long-term care providers clever enough to see and take advantage of them. They must decide whether they should compete by themselves or join forces with others to strengthen their strategic position (Pratt, 2004). Long-Term Care Services Individuals that need long-term care in some point in their life have many options to choose from that will not interrupt their independence to a certain aspect. there are many programs that can be found in the community such as adult day service centers, transportation services, and home care agencies. Also, there are other providers that needed when the individual has certain medical needs such as assisted living, continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs) and nursing homes. Majority of long-term that is provided starts at home and a member of the family is usually the caregiver. Its estimated that individuals currently turning 65 may need 3 years of long-term care in their lifetime, with almost 2 years of that care provided at home. The majority of care that is provided at home-about 80 percent- is provided by unpaid caregivers (National Clearinghouse for Long-Term Care, 2008). Each organization under long-term care provides medical and non-medical care and social settings that fulfills the agreement of continuum of care. The programs and housing available includes support from health care providers that will try to maintain the quality of care individuals need. Transitioning in Long-Term Continuum In order to transition patients from one level to another level of care in the health continuum, long-term care organizations partake in transfer agreements. Transfer agreements are arrange between different levels of care and the providers after the other level no longer needed. â€Å"Hospitals have had agreements for placing their patients in nursing facilities or with home health care agencies. The two providers have worked out agreements to move consumers back and forth between them as care needs change† (Pratt, 2004, pg 222). Transfer agreements usually spell out such things as the clinical or functional conditions of patients for whom the receiving organization is prepared to care, which avoids appropriate transfers. They signify agreement on the types of information shared , saving providers and consumers potential grief and improving the quality of care (Pratt, 2004, pg 222). By different organizations participating in transfer agreements, it brings them business that would help keep them up float. For example, home health care agencies would profit by taking in transfers from hospitals and other long-term care organizations. Future Trends of Long-Term Care During this time the elderly are living longer and in a couple of years, baby boomers are about to retire so the need for long-term care is relevant. Consumers are at a point where they know exactly how they want a certain a degree of care for themselves as well as their family members. â€Å"Creation of new services has created additional demand. As more consumer-friendly services have become available and consumers have become more knowledgeable about them, there has been an increase in user of those services† (Pratt, 2004, pg 418). Even though long-term organizations are creating new services, many individuals continue to lack the quality of care they deserve and because of that Congress is stepping in. â€Å"As Congress and the Obama administration consider broad-based health reform, efforts to restructure long-term care are taking on greater urgency and policy experts have put forward several reform plans aimed at improving access to careâ€Å"(Gleckman, 2009). The main concern about long-term care is providing the money to pay for individuals and care providers. As a result, policymakers are considering several proposals for substantial reform. These fall under three categories: Shifting the focus of Medicaid long-term benefits to home care, expanding the long-term care and geriatric workforce, and restructuring the means of finance† (Gleckman, 2009). Federal and state have agreed that many individuals should think about long-term care insurance. In fact, federal and state have discussed providing ta x credits and deductions for buying long-term care insurance. Conclusion Evashwick defines continuum of care as a client-oriented system composed of both services and integrating mechanisms that guides and tracks clients over time through comprehensive array of health, mental health, and social services spanning Based on that definition, long term care has tried many methods in order to fulfill the promise of providing quality of care to all individuals who are need. Long term care has upgraded many of their organizations to allow many consumers to have a home based atmosphere at any level of care which includes services such as hospices, adult day centers, and improving community and base care. Even though long-term care organizations have obtain many resources they are lacking financial ability which has caused a major politicians will come together to help improve the financial responsibility especially or hurdle in providing quality of care. Hopefully, Congress and other politicians will figure that side of continuum of care when the baby boomers are about to retire. References Evashwick, C. (2005). The Continuum of Long- term care. (3rd edition). Clifton Park (NY): Delmar. Gleckman, K. (2009). The future of Long-Term Care: What is its place in the Health reform Debate. Retrieved from urban. org/UploadedPDF/411908_longterm_care. pdf Medicare. gov (2009). Retrieved from medicare. gov/longtermcare/static/home. asp National Clearinghouse for Long-Term Care Information. (2008). Retrieved from longtermcare. gov/LTC/Main_Site/index. aspx Pratt, J. R. (2004). Long-Term Care: Management across the continuum. (2nd edition). Sudbury (MA): Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

UNIT 7 TASK 1 Essay

UNIT 7 TASK 1 Essay UNIT 7 TASK 1 Essay Sociological Perspectives Functionalism This is the sociological approach that sees the institutions of society as functioning in agreement among each other making a particular and obvious role to the smooth running of society. This perspective can best be understood by likening society to the human body, the same way the human body functions through the efficient interrelationship of major organs like the lungs, heart, kidneys and the liver, it has mechanisms to deal with diseases so that different in society each have particular contributions to make. They work as one by using methods of social control to deal with deviant members or groups so that society functions efficiently. Talcott Parsons played an important role in the development of functionalism as the sociological approach; he imagined society as a system made up of interrelated institutions that contributed to its ease of running and success. He thought the most important role of an institution was to socialise individuals and make sure they understand the fundamental values of their society and behave in suitable ways; this ensured that there was order in society. This perspective can be criticised by claiming that it doesn’t approach areas of conflict that characterise modern societies and in principle could be found in every society, although functionalists emphasise that consensus and agreement are a perfect image of institutions having clear, positive functions and co-operating effectively for the good of everyone. Nonetheless, this does not look like it’s to reflect various peoples experience and understanding of the modern world where there are frequently obvious winners and losers and lots of non-conformists. Functionalism is based on the idea that in all societies members share a number of essential principles and beliefs which value consensus underpins the socialisation process and the working of the main institutions. Marxism Marxism also being a conflict model as well as a structuralist model. This perspective was originally developed by Karl Marx, he thought that individual behaviour was formed by society but believed that the economic system defined society and everyone’s place within it. He held the view that in the industrial society during his time, there were two social classes, one which is the bourgeoisie or the capitalists, the small but powerful group who owned the factories as well as the other places of employment. The proletariat, a much larger, less fortunate â€Å"financially†, poorer group of workers. His idea was that both these social class groups would always be in conflict, land and offices would want high profits whereas the employees will want higher wages which would eventually consume the profits. This is the reason sometimes Marxism is called the conflict model. He thought that this particular conflict would lead to revolution because there was an unbalanced relatio nship between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat and conflict was inherent in the economic system. Marxists claim that the bourgeoisie also had power in other institutions and they nurture the society because they manage the mass media, the legal system and it’s their ideas that control the school curriculum. Through the socialisation process, the values and attitudes of the ruling class are passed on rather than the general value system of the functionalists. This is done effectively that the majority of the proletariat do not understand that they are being exploited and that they are helping the interests of the bourgeoisie rather than their own group, the lack of awareness by the proletariat is called false consciousness, this is the false consciousness of taking on the views and beliefs of the Bourgeoisie by the proletariat. Just the same as functionalists, Marxists also possess a structuralist perspective, they view family as contributing to an established social system and would consider the family as the servant of the capitalist

Cyberspace and Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4750 words

Cyberspace and Society - Essay Example The latest figures indicate that 460,000 CCTV cameras were sold between 1996-1999 (Gadher, 1999). Clive Norris, a criminologist at Hull University stated "A million cameras could be a conservative estimate. On an average day in London, or any other big country in the United States, an individual is filmed by more thancameras from 30 different CCTV networks. The filming goes on throughout the day, and in some areas, such as the London Underground, it is constant" (Gadher, 1999). Local authorities run nearly CCTVs partly funded by Home Office grants. CCTV systems were initially installed in town centers to protect shops but, in the face of the fear of crime, spread to residential districts, schools and parks (Unsworth, 1999). In the United Kingdom cameras have not been found to deter crime (with cases of violence against shops on the rise by 44% between 1996-7) but they helped to secure conviction (Unsworth, 1999). Interestingly, it has been asserted that CCTV can be effective in reduc ing crime or the fear of crime, (Unsworth) and it is the perception of danger, not necessarily actual risk that may be significant. Cameras can be connected to computers with software capable of... In the United Kingdom cameras have not been found to deter crime (with cases of violence against shops on the rise by 44% between 1996-7) but they helped to secure conviction (Unsworth, 1999). Interestingly, it has been asserted that CCTV can be effective in reducing crime or the fear of crime, (Unsworth) and it is the perception of danger, not necessarily actual risk that may be significant. Cameras can be connected to computers with software capable of vehicle license plate recognition or face recognition. A computer-controlled surveillance system that automatically tracks police-designated target faces has gone into effect in East London. Software that can match people passing video cameras to facial images stored on a database has been developed and tested (Thomas, 1998). When the CCTV identifies a target face, the local police security team passes the information to police. The intent is to prevent mugging and shoplifting but civil liberties groups note that innocent people are bound to suffer, as mistakes inevitably will be made. There is a balance to be struck between crime prevention and our individual and collective freedoms. The use of this kind of technology strikes the wrong balance (Thomas, 1999). What is the purpose of data protection law Depending upon whose opinion is being voiced, data protection law can be variously heard described as a means of protecting an individual's fundamental right to privacy (Debussere, 2005), a mechanism for validating the commodification of data, a justification for overriding of privacy interests in the 'public interest' (Leith, 2002), or a disguised barrier to entrance to a nation's market for international competitors (Nijhawan, 2003: 492) to provide

Critical thinking-a challenge in your life-learning english Essay

Critical thinking-a challenge in your life-learning english - Essay Example I continued to deceit myself and others hypocritically that there is nothing wrong, and I am not an egocentric person. Another challenging trait is my laziness. I used to put off things until the workload is increased to an unmanageable level. Emotions had an overwhelming impact on my personality, and they often overrun the logic and reason.   In this flow of emotions, I used to indulge myself in an unfair allocation of time and resource to tasks and people. Last but not the least is the conformity which kept me away of innovative ideas to overcome certain negative traits. Under the circumstances, I have decided to structure my efforts to crush these undisciplined traits in a well-defined action plan. The action plan consists of eight traits that might be helpful in achieving my goal of English learning. The first important trait is to replace arrogance with humbleness. Humbleness is the key to learn things from others because people love to transfer knowledge to those who can give respect to others. Secondly, learning requires courage to know and change oneself while understanding others’ sentiments can help in controlling the egocentrism. Giving respect to others perspective is the best way to promote tolerance and dialogue, which can be helpful in learning skills and establishing friendly relations with others.   Similarly, I have planned to replace the hypocrisy with integrity. This requires removal of double standard in thinking and dealing with others and making sincere efforts to help them out in their hard times. People can lend you s ome help if you can reciprocate their care with sincerity. This attitude is very helpful to achieve learning objectives. However, success can only be achieved in any sphere of life through persistent and restless efforts. Hard work can fill the gaps of personal incapacities and shortcomings.

Mesozoic History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Mesozoic History - Essay Example The sediment part from the bone is removed. Acid is used for preservation but in a very little amount as the bone is constructed of calcium carbonate and calcium phosphate. Ascetic acid and formic acid are commonly used for the purpose. The dinosaur bone that I own is from the Mesozoic period. Dinosaur bones are very helpful as index fossils and there are some specific reasons behind this phenomenon. First of all, dinosaur bones can be traced very easily. Understanding the age to which they belong is not hard if someone deals with the index fossils. Invertebrate Life: there were a few life forms existing during this period. Shells of silica and calcium carbonate are the two main forms. Class Sardonica was very important during this time. Marine invertebrates developed rapidly during the Mesozoic period. Vertebrate Life: there were three distinguished sections in Mesozoic vertebrate life and they were: sauropod, theropod and ornithischian dinosaurs. Dinosaurs were among the best known creatures which dominated the world at that period. Plant Life: this was the era when some of the major plants existed. Among them the mentionable ones are ginkoes, ferns and cycads. There were also some flowering plants present in the Mesozoic era too. Insect pollinating was one of these plants' characteristics. Mesozoic was a period the dinosaurs are believed to have become extinct from the world.

Alexander Hamilton vs Aaron Burr Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Alexander Hamilton vs Aaron Burr - Essay Example This dual occurred on July 11, 1804. Both Hamilton and Burr served as officers in the revolutionary war and then later tuned to politics. Hamilton became the secretary of American treasury during the George Washington administration and Burr became the New York senator and the vice president of America in the Thomas Jefferson administration. Even though the conflicts between them started as early as in the 1790’s, it attained fearful proportions in the early part of the 19 th century. (McNamara) Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr fought for the ticket of Democratic-republican alliance for the President election in 1800. Both of them got 73 electoral votes each and the fight ended in a tie. Hamilton used this occasion very well and wrote letters and used all his influence with the Federalists to thwart Burr. The voting went on for several days, and after 36 ballots the tie was finally broken. Thomas Jefferson became the President of United States and Aaron Burr was declared as the vice president. It is believed that Alexander Hamilton played a major role in defeating Aaron Burr (Election of 1800 Was Significant and  Controversial) In 1804, even though Aaron Burr ran for governor of New York State, he lost the election, due to vicious attacks levelled against him by Hamilton The conflict between these two prominent figures continued at the beginning of the 19 th century also and finally Burr issued a challenge. Both of them agreed to finish their conflict in a dual fight. They agreed to assemble at a duelling ground on the heights in Weehawken, across the Hudson River from Manhattan, on the morning of July 11, 1804 with their supporters (McNamara). Burr arrived first at the sight as agreed between them and Hamilton arrived after the Burr and his supporters took positions. Both the parties exchanged salutations before the beginning of the fight. They positioned at a distance of ten full paces. They then proceeded to load the pistols in each

Self-Report Measures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Self-Report Measures - Essay Example They are ideal tools when the researcher wishes to study a few participants in greater detail (Stangor, 2010). A typical example would be the use of T.A.T. (Thematic Apperception Test) cards to gather data from the participants. The stories told by participants yield rich data; but it can become very cumbersome to study a large sample in this manner. Fixed Format Self Report measures, on the other hand, are techniques that limit the number of responses that a subject can give to any answer by providing alternatives, or scaled attributes; where the participant indicates one (or more) of the alternatives provided as a response. With such measures, the data obtained is easily analyzed with quantitative techniques; but is limited in that the participant cannot give a response that is not provided among the options (Stangor, 2010). A typical example would be the use if Likert Scales to measure the extent of agreement or disagreement with a particular issue. Such measures can be used with a large sample size; often many individuals can be asked to contribute data at the same time. Explain the advantages of free-format self-report measures and fixed-format self-report measures. No.

Urban Water Quality Issues Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 242

Urban Water Quality Issues - Assignment Example An instance where referencing will be essential in technical writing is in research dissertations in order to indicate the historical backgrounds of different water elements and water quality issues. This analyzes the previous researches that were undertaken by some engineers in a similar field to prove or reject the claims presented. Referencing in technical writing will also apply in transaction documents issued to supplier or vendors of engineering materials. Similarly, engineers normally enter into contracts with other parties and this requires legal interpretations of the phrases used in the documents (Jaffe & Trajtenberg, 2008). It is essential to ensure that the contract provisions conform to the laws by indicating the correct sections through credible references.ABC Company requested the submission of a report concerning urban water quality issues in which the findings by various researches indicated that the activity would be successful. Regnery, et al (2013), claim that urb anization has affected the quality of water due to factors like population growth, urban runoff, and sewage overflow. It is apparent that the high number of residents within the urban centers has contributed to developments that affect the drainage systems. Such constructions spoil the water resources because the water supply cannot serve the high population (Regnery, et al., 2013). Â  This leads to the shortage of water within the areas and the residents are forced to use untreated water from other sources. The author also indicates that urban runoff and sewage overflows sleeps water downhill to other areas, causing flooding and blockages.

Alexander Hamilton vs Aaron Burr Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Alexander Hamilton vs Aaron Burr - Essay Example This dual occurred on July 11, 1804. Both Hamilton and Burr served as officers in the revolutionary war and then later tuned to politics. Hamilton became the secretary of American treasury during the George Washington administration and Burr became the New York senator and the vice president of America in the Thomas Jefferson administration. Even though the conflicts between them started as early as in the 1790’s, it attained fearful proportions in the early part of the 19 th century. (McNamara) Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr fought for the ticket of Democratic-republican alliance for the President election in 1800. Both of them got 73 electoral votes each and the fight ended in a tie. Hamilton used this occasion very well and wrote letters and used all his influence with the Federalists to thwart Burr. The voting went on for several days, and after 36 ballots the tie was finally broken. Thomas Jefferson became the President of United States and Aaron Burr was declared as the vice president. It is believed that Alexander Hamilton played a major role in defeating Aaron Burr (Election of 1800 Was Significant and  Controversial) In 1804, even though Aaron Burr ran for governor of New York State, he lost the election, due to vicious attacks levelled against him by Hamilton The conflict between these two prominent figures continued at the beginning of the 19 th century also and finally Burr issued a challenge. Both of them agreed to finish their conflict in a dual fight. They agreed to assemble at a duelling ground on the heights in Weehawken, across the Hudson River from Manhattan, on the morning of July 11, 1804 with their supporters (McNamara). Burr arrived first at the sight as agreed between them and Hamilton arrived after the Burr and his supporters took positions. Both the parties exchanged salutations before the beginning of the fight. They positioned at a distance of ten full paces. They then proceeded to load the pistols in each

Urban Water Quality Issues Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 242

Urban Water Quality Issues - Assignment Example An instance where referencing will be essential in technical writing is in research dissertations in order to indicate the historical backgrounds of different water elements and water quality issues. This analyzes the previous researches that were undertaken by some engineers in a similar field to prove or reject the claims presented. Referencing in technical writing will also apply in transaction documents issued to supplier or vendors of engineering materials. Similarly, engineers normally enter into contracts with other parties and this requires legal interpretations of the phrases used in the documents (Jaffe & Trajtenberg, 2008). It is essential to ensure that the contract provisions conform to the laws by indicating the correct sections through credible references.ABC Company requested the submission of a report concerning urban water quality issues in which the findings by various researches indicated that the activity would be successful. Regnery, et al (2013), claim that urb anization has affected the quality of water due to factors like population growth, urban runoff, and sewage overflow. It is apparent that the high number of residents within the urban centers has contributed to developments that affect the drainage systems. Such constructions spoil the water resources because the water supply cannot serve the high population (Regnery, et al., 2013). Â  This leads to the shortage of water within the areas and the residents are forced to use untreated water from other sources. The author also indicates that urban runoff and sewage overflows sleeps water downhill to other areas, causing flooding and blockages.

Manhood, Power and Respect instead of Childhood Essay Example for Free

Manhood, Power and Respect instead of Childhood Essay Dave Saunders is the main character of the story, the Theme of the Story is â€Å"Looking for Maturity, Respect and Power†. He is tired of been treated as a child, wants to spend his money to whatever he wants, because his mom holds his money, so he just wants to prove to the others that he is a Man. One day he decided to go the local store to buy a gun, which is the store of Mistah Joe, he ask Joe for a catalog, once he gets the catalog he went back home, his mom sees the catalog, and she doesn’t let him to buy, but after he tells her that the house needs a gun and also that he’s going to give the gun to his dad, she gives $2 for him to buy it. Next day he goes to Mistah Joe store to buy the gun, after buying it he goes to the field to admire the pistol. Next day of work, his is so excited that now his has a gun, he takes jenny the mule and goes far away, so he can test the gun, but accidentally he killed jenny. However, when everybody finds out that he is lying about jenny death, he decided to escape and leave all behind. And the story started like this. Dave Saunders 17 years-old, works at Mr. Hawkins fields, there is the place he makes his own money, and also when he begins his desire to get older, powerful and more respect. One day after he works at Mr. Hawkins fields he was heading home and thinking about the discussion that he had with others field hands that day, and also tired of being treated as a child. He resolves to get a gun for himself, so he can show more power to the others. Instead going home he goes to the local store that they offer a mail-catalog, which is the store of Mistah Joe, when he gets there he asks Mistah Joe for a gun, Mistah Joe Surprised says to Dave â€Å"ain’t nothing but a boy,† (Richard Wright) and he does not need a gun, but he nevertheless offer to sell an old pistol left-hand fully loaded for $2 dollars, Dave goes to his house so excited to ask his mom for $2 dollars to purchase the gun, but when he gets to his house Mrs. Saunders is angry because he has kept the dinner waiting, he sits down and Mrs. Saunders sees the catalog in his arm, and she sizes it, she takes the catalog and tells him to go wash his hands, when he comes back, Dave was so infatuated with the catalog that he did not notice that his father had spoken to him and his food is in front of him. But he knows if he asks his father the money the answer would be a straight NO, and he thinks that his mother is a little easier to persuade. But when he starts a conversation with her, she tells him â€Å"git outta here! Don yuh talk t me bout no gun! Yuh a fool! (Richard Wright), but Dave states that the family needs a gun and after he buys it he will give to his father, Mrs. Saunders agrees to buy the gun but with one condition, as soon as he buys the gun it has to come straight to her possession and also make him promise that he will do it as she said. The first thing he does in the next morning is go to the Mistah Joe store and purchase the gun, while he comes back home, he stops in the field just to play with the gun and he starts shooting imagery objects, afterwards he gets home, he breaks his promise because he hide the gun under his pillow and tells his Mrs. Saunders that the pistol is hidden outside, and it is not true. He leaves his house very early in the morning, ties the pistol in his leg with a piece of flannel and goes to Mr. Hawkins field, he hooks up Jenny the mule and go plow the field far away so he can practicing shooting the gun and no one would hear it, but a fatality happened, he shot Jenny at his first shoot, when he realizes that Jenny is been shot he tried to plug dirty into the bullet hole to stop bleeding, but Jenny soon dies, he is frightened about what happened, he goes back to Mr. Hawkins and trying to tell a believable story about Jenny’s death, afterward someone finds Jenny and Dave make up a story that Jenny had something wrong and all of sudden fell on the point of the plow, but Mrs. Saunders knows it’s a lie, Dave is forced to tell the truth, when he assumed that he killed Jenny, Mr. Hawkins tells him that he has to pay $50 dollars for the mule, and he will take $2 dollars every month of his salary until he pays the $50 dollars. Dave feels annoyed because he has to pay back the mule, also very upset because all the others think he is a child more now than ever before. He decides to leave the city, by doing this he will leave all behind, his childhood and he will become a man as his desire. Dave Saunders is a boy that wants to get the power, the respect, the manhood and also the maturity that most of the men have. The gun seems to symbolize all this to Dave’s eyes, but it’s been showed that is just a phony imagination. Work Cited Richard Wright’s Parody of the Hunt Tradition in â€Å"The Man Who Was Almost a Man†(Fall 1986). Detroit: Gale Group, 2000