C. Wright Mills Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

C. Wright Mills - Essay Example Mills is known for his masterpieces like "The New Men of Power: America's Labor Leaders" (1948) which is basically a study of the Labour Metaphysics and how labour leaders have cooperated with the business officials to the disadvantage of the worker,while the workforce stays happy with mere "bread and butter" and has assumed a rather subordinate to role to such leaders. Another one of his classics is the book White Collar: The American Middle Classes (1951) which continues his stance against the officials and the bureaucracy who he accuses of suppressing the common individual by the tactic of overworking him and charging him a large amount of taxes. The immense work pressure on the worker causes him to suffer from alienation and imposes upon him a robot like existence in return for financial remuneration. His other important works include The Sociological Imagination (1959) in which he has tried to demonstrate a link between history biography and sociology. Other works include The Causes of World War Three (1958), Listen, Yankee: The Revolution in Cuba (1960), and The Marxists (1962). Academics have argued over whether Mills was a Marxist or a follower of liberalism. He felt more comfortable as a humanist Marxist than being called a follower of Max Weber. Mills was in agreement with other Marxist sociologists that the American suffers from the great divide between the weak and the powerful. The weak are suppressed and they feel alienated. He has made some interesting observations in his works like the one below; When, in a city of 100,000, only one man is unemployed, that is his personal trouble, and for its relief we properly look to the character of the man, his skills, and his immediate opportunities. But when in a nation of 50 million employees, 15 million men are unemployed, that is an issue, and we may not hope to find its solution within the range of opportunities open to any one individual. ( The Sociological Imagination 1959). The Power Elite Coming to one of his most prominent works, in 1956 he wrote the book The Power Elite (1956) in which he has analysed the US structure of power in its three forms i.e. the political, military, and economic elite whom he accuses of sharing similar views which are aimed at suppressing the working classes. The book was tremendously influential when it came out and even today it is a source of inspiration in socio-political academics. He has focused on the power structure of the US politics and military in the post World War II era. The Power Elite reflects a kind of trilogy of the US society and it was a follow up to his other books like The New Men of Power (1948) and White Collar (1951).Like all masterpieces it attracted much negative academic and political controversy at the time of its publication. Mills brazenly accused the elitists as "the warlords," "the higher immorality," "the power elite," "crackpot realism," and "organized irresponsibility,". The book was so well researched that it had 47 pages of Notes and was a full scale study of the structure and distribution of power in the United States. It was

First assigment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

First assigment - Essay Example Personally, this artwork is the most beautiful set of limestone that I have ever seen in my entire life that is why I chose it for this assignment. The artwork is the Floor Mosaic Fragment Depicting Bacchus. The artwork is made of limestone tesserae with a dimension of 117.5 x 117.5 cm. The estimated date of its creation is before 5th century and its provenance is Daphne, from a villa at Daphne near Antioch or modern Antakya, Turkey (RISD Museum, nd). The artwork is an image of Bacchus in the center of the mosaic floor. The form of the whole artwork is a perfect square and inside the square is circle with a series of wave inside it. The color is flesh and inside the wavy circle is the image of Bacchus looking in the upper left corner of the box. He is wearing the typical roman garb with laurels on his head indicating that he holds a special position in roman society. I would like to compare the style of the artwork to Rembrandt’s later works where thick marks of brushes can be seen in the painting. It may look rough when scrutinized closely but its beauty is revealed when looked at a distance. The same is true with the floor mosaic fragment of Bacchus where its beauty can only be appreciated when looked at a distance because the color blends to form a complete whole portrait of Bacchus. There are also some details and decorations that may not be seen when the artwork is observed closely but can be appreciated when one steps back to appreciate the whole picture. For example, the roman leaves on the head of Bacchus may be just pebbles or lime stones when observed closely but when steps back, the intricate detail of the artwork can be appreciated. The same is true for the dress. Up close, it does not resemble to any work of art but just a collection of lime stones until of course one steps back and realize that it is in fact a dress. One has to remember that during that time, the formal method of drawing or painting did not yet

Political Power in France 1780-1815 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Political Power in France 1780-1815 - Essay Example The period 1780-1815 was marked by various happenings in France. In the years before the French Revolution, France was experiencing difficult times. The cost of necessities had gone up tremendously. Bread, which was the staple food of the French, had its cost sky rocketing. The reason behind the price of bread going up was that a severe drought and extreme winter hit France. These conditions affected wheat yield which consequently affected bread production. Due to the law supply of bread and the high demand for the same from people, the prices went high. The poor Frenchmen could not afford bread. During the same period, King Louis XVI was in reign. He was weak and could not make decisions in time. He married Marie Antoinette with whom they lived lavishly at the expense of their countrymen. France was in huge debts following the policies of rulers before Louis XVI. Louis XIV and XV had used foreign policies that led France to costly wars. France was driven into deeper debts with the r oyal family and the nobility living lavishly. A taxation system that exempted the Nobility and Clergy was put in place. This was unfair since these were the well off people in society yet they were not to pay these taxes. All these and more factors that will be discussed in the paper will explain the unfolding that took place in France during the period 1780 to 1815. As mentioned earlier, the wars that were initiated by Louis XVI had put France in serious debts. Food scarcity was also becoming a very big problem. Economic problems were on the rise during this period. Suggestions by some ministers to tax the nobility were met with contempt. The problem of the serious debts was not going to be sorted if the nobility and the clergy continued to be exempted. By 1788, the attempts to salvage France from these debts were registered a failure. A meeting of the Estates-General was called by the King. The First Estate was made up of church members or the clergy. The second Estate constituted of the nobility, then the third Estate constituted of the remaining Frenchmen. The issue of classism was not uncommon during meetings. The third Estate, which constituted mostly of the Bourgeoisies, had the majority of members. The last meeting of the Estates-General had been held in 1614. Being the majority, the third Estate demanded greater representation in the house. Their demands were not met which led to their breaking away and forming the National Assembly. This group was the voice of the whole nation thereby challenging the King and the two orders. Liberalism that was fueled by the spirit of Enlightenment led to liberal-minded members of the clergy and nobility joining the National Assembly. The members of the National Assembly accentuated the need for the parliament in France being similar to that in Britain. These people swore to see to it that a constitution was written and sanctioned. The Tennis Court Oath as it came to be known was the movement by the National Assembly in their bid to get a new constitution for France. King Louis XVI, rallied up his troops against the supporters of the National Assembly, as well as, on the National Assembly members. Paris and Versailles were besieged by the King’s defense force. However, the king vacillated bringing the first act of the movement come to a stand. For the first time in the history of the French monarchy, Louis capitulated some of the power that was held absolute. This power had been considered absolute for over two centuries and many say that Louis XVI surrender jeopardized his authority over France. When France’s finance minister, Jacques Necker was dismissed, many were displeased. During the severe climatic conditions, food

Statistic Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Statistic - Research Paper Example Identifying the relationship between the variable would depict if there go hand in hand. According to the results of the Anova analysis, the p-value P=0.221 which is higher than the alpha value used for the study ÃŽ ±= .05. With a P=0.222 when value is high than .05 meaning that the data is not statistically significant hence the null hypothesis is supported for the study since the p-value shows that there is no relationship between lifestyle on satisfaction of your social life. In order to proof the significance relationship undertaken using ANOVA analysis as above, a correlation analysis done using Kendall’s was under taken an it depicted that there is a correlation between lifestyle and social life at .151, however it was a weak positive correlation and it is not statistically significant (p=.117. The main effect of the analysis is that there is a week correlation between lifestyle and social life at .151, and it is not statistically significant (p=.117). Hence, the null hypothesis was supported for the study. This explains that despite the fact that, human beings have different lifestyle it has a small impact on the social life of individuals. However, the small difference depicted from the study indicates that small portion of people is affected by the lifestyle to an extent of destroying their social life. For example, those taking drugs and living unhealthy life can be affected by the lifestyle they are taking. According to United States 2013, health fact sheet the number of obese individual has increased from 1 million people to 1.2 million over the last 5 years and these has caused various social dysfunctions such as lack of human capital because of obese â€Å"syndrome† (Babbie, 2013). This is shown using the scatter graphy

Multilateralism and Regionalism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Multilateralism and Regionalism - Essay Example Most of these regional agreements remained within the concept of free trade areas and most of them were based on a multilateralization of bilateral agreements or unions. The mushrooming of initiatives gave birth too many treaties and institutions of economic integration which still exist, but never were a success, because regional areas were conceived as likelier sites for import-substituting industrialization than small national markets. Few of these regional groupings were successful in furthering freer trade or deeper economic integration between partners. In the developing world regional agreements were seen as a means of reducing dependence on economic ties with the capitalist core region. The theory of comparative advantage, certainly, argues that unobstructed exchange between countries will augment the total amount of world output if every country tends to focus in those goods that it can generate at a comparatively lower cost compared to possible trading partners. Every country then will trade several of those lower-cost goods with other nations for goods that can be formed elsewhere more economically than at home. In the end, with free trade amongst nations, all countries will discover that their consumption potential recline outside their domestic production potential. Comparative advantage and its expansions from a theoretical perspective have not resulted in any considerable weakening of the general strength of this body of theory nor of its consequence, a free trade system. The rationale for free trade is thus quite old. Building his case on the gains from trade to be had from specialization reflecting the division of labor, Smith had the essence of the argument right. But it was left to David Ricardo (building on James Mill) to clinch the case formally. Ricardo used a stripped-down model- only one factor of production with constant productivity of labor in two goods, but with relative productivity between the goods different across two countries-to show that both countries could gain from trade via specialization. The Ricardian analysis implied that this "technical possibility" of gaining from trade would be realized if a policy of free trade were adopted in an institutional setting where prices guided resource allocation. But the analytically satisfactory proofs of trade's benefits that we modern economists demand are the handiwork of theorists working in the twentieth century. David Ricardo armed advocate of free trade with the theorem of comparative advantage. His basic assumption was that every economic value was created by labor (the labor theory of value) and a belief that the three basic factors of production (land, labor, and capital) could not move across national boundaries. Ricardo and other economists, however, were interested in learning what law governs the distribution of national income among the factors production, and what the determinants of international trade patterns are. Heckscher - Ohlin approach The classical Ricardo assumed, literally or in effect, a single factor of production. Obviously, that assumption precluded considerations such as the consequences of varying input proportions and of changes in trade on the distribution

Democratic Education Essay Example for Free

Democratic Education Essay Democratic Education should be a mainstream style of teaching, and should be taught specifically to anyone aspiring to become any type of successful instructor. Everywhere you go the world is constantly changing, people adapt, time ticks away, and the days come and go, every waking moment is progression to the future. Why is the one thing that we as a society depend on for survival going backwards? Our education system and the way we educate children is the only tool we as a society use to ensure our existence, think of the world as a well oiled machine. If you neglect certain parts, yes maybe it will keep working for a short while. Eventually the machine will fall apart because of the mistreating and lack of or poor maintenance, if we keep neglecting our education system by turning a blind eye to the type of educators we give teaching credentials to or the way our current teachers or professors are instruction our future, then our existence is headed for an abrupt halt. Schools need to embrace interesting, interactive-learning environments throughout the curriculum. â€Å"If you do not want to do something, you will not, period.† This thought means if someone is in a place that does not at least entertain the senses, let alone stimulate the mind then why even waste the time to just be physically be present? By doing that it wastes money, and more importantly the teacher and the students time. Democratic education as a teaching style is based on â€Å"affirmative authority without disrespect of freedom†; Democratic Education, by bell hooks. Authoritative guidance with inspiring, limitless, encouragement should be the goal of every type of educational course offered in the United States. We need to input this style of teaching into our aspiring teachers required classes to graduate at any institution or university across the country. We need democratic education because this type of teaching inspires the students, just because someone passes a test or any kind of written exam does not determine someones intelligence. The definition of the term intelligence, according to www.google.com, means the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills. This applies to institutions and their instructors because if a pupil is not taught how to apply these skills he or she has been taught how does this apply to the fast-pace times that we live in today? The answer is, it does not. Democratic education benefits the entire classroom rather than just a select few because of the more upbeat style of teaching. The beauty of democratic education is that it can also be incorporated with the old style of a more text-geared curriculum as well. It has the potential to improve teaching as a profession because it would lengthen the required courses to become a teacher, therefore narrowing the number of instructors produced. With that being said, the teaching salaries can improve because of the new demand for this productive style of teaching that K-12 schools would require the employed instructors to have completed during their college career(s). Our future generations upbringing needs to be updated according to the new age that we live in today. Democratic education needs to be a mainstream style of teaching, not for our benefit, but for the future of the precious world that you and I share. This is not a type of thing to be organized and implemented to help certain individuals succeed but for everyone, we need to teach our children that as a country we are a collective, and as individuals we are our own. Democratic education be used as another tool to help us educate the country and create a more successful tomorrow.

Louis Vuitton Expansion Strategy

Louis Vuitton Expansion Strategy Operating in 59 countries, Louis Vuitton is the largest global luxury brand in the world. It is a member of the Louis Vuitton Moà «t Hennessy Group and the main business unit of the conglomerate s fashion and leather goods segment. Louis Vuitton has been very successful in selling its famous handbags, shoes, suitcases and other luxury goods and generated revenues of about $ 4 billion in 2004. Louis Vuitton opened the first store in India in 2003 and one year later the second one in Mumbai, both located in luxury hotels. 2. Problem Statement One main goal for Louis Vuitton is to acquire a customer base of one million Indians by 2010. In order to achieve that it is not only important to serve high-net-worth consumers, but it is also crucial to target the so called cocooners. It is therefore a necessary objective to make the new elite aware of the brand and increase their perception of Louis Vuittons exclusivity. Furthermore, super rich are only willing to pay premium prices for those luxury products which clearly distinguish them from lower tiers of the population. In order to reach these the company can choose among three distinct strategies. 3. Alternatives 3.1. Louis Vuitton in Bollywood In this alternative, Louis Vuitton would have Indian movie actors endorsing its products and a product placement in Bollywood movies. The target segment would not only be the Indian super rich society who is already familiar with the brand, but as well the so called cocooners. Since the Bollywood movies are very popular in India, this strategy would result in general brand awareness in the society. For the celebrity endorsement LV could chose Aishwarya Rai and Shahrukh Khan to be the face of Louis Vuitton India. The campaign would comprise posters, billboards and TV commercials with both actors advertising LV products (Exhibit 1). Since Bollywood actors are perceived as role models and have a great influence in Indian society, it is expected that brand awareness will increase while reinforcing the image of Louis Vuitton as a luxury and lifestyle brand. In addition, Louis Vuitton will have its products placed in Indian movies, which depict wealthy and influential characters. This would include as well the characters shopping at the LV store in the new Emporio luxury mall in order to advertise the store itself. Another positive effect would be increasing LVs market share in the long run. Advertising through Bollywood could help develop the taste of luxury and lifestyle in the so called cocooner segment. 3.2. LV Exclusive Another alternative Louis Vuitton could approach would be to offer a special club card with mould-breaking exclusivity. This special club card would be divided into 3 different levels, the LV Exclusive Silver Card (Exhibit 2), LV Exclusive Gold Card (Exhibit 3) and LV Exclusive Platinum Card (Exhibit 4), based on the amount of money the customer spent. The LV Exclusive Club Card provides the customer with exclusive, high-end services and luxury rewards. After the first purchase of a Louis Vuitton item in one of its Indian stores, customers will receive a basic customer card in order to keep track of the sum of money they spent. The targeted segment for this strategy would be the super rich, who seek exclusivity and are already familiar with the brand. This strategy would certainly increase the brand loyalty of the high-class society because of the unique offers provided by the LV Exclusive Club Card. Additionally, Louis Vuitton will be able to track customer buying patterns and obtain key information about buying behavior through this special club card, which allows them to tailor their products to their customers needs. 3.3. Successful Indian Women Another alternative for the company could be that it focuses on a certain segment in particular the women, who represent a vital part of LV s customers. They are becoming more emancipated and as a powerful group have to be taken into consideration. Indian women need a role model to inspire them, so if Louis Vuitton shows them a successful woman wearing one of its products, the outcome would be inspired women, desiring to possess a LV item. Using such an approach they will target not only a segment consisting of individuals divided by their net income, but strong women that need to give utterance to their achievements. In order to increase the brand awareness among this certain segment, the company should invest in advertising its products. The best place would be an elite specified magazine, dealing with business and social issues, for example India Today, Entrepreneurs, The Business Enterprise and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾ Reading Hour . The emphasis should be laid on the one side on a picture of a well-known woman like Indira Nooyi (Exhibit 5), CFO and president of PepsiCo, depicting a typical role model. She will represent the thousands of women in the Indian society who have silently overcome the limitations and stood out for better terms. Billboards and ads in online issues of established feminine magazines would support the idea of women power and that in a world ruled by men, women still can be successful and exclusive. As a result, this strategy will help Louis Vuitton to increase brand awareness among all the Indian women and extend its customer database. 4. Issues 4.1. To what extent will Louis Vuittons marketing activities affect customer awareness in India? Louis Vuitton s targeted Indian customer segment requires a different strategy then the ones used by the company throughout the world. The three proposed alternatives provide different approaches as to how Louis Vuitton can service its new generation of customers. Louis Vuitton in Bollywood targets both high-net-worth individuals and the rising cocooners because of the popularity of the Bollywood industry in India. This strategy, however, implies high advertising resources in order to be able to reach the desired segment through product placement and celebrity endorsement. The LV Exclusive club card targets mainly the high net-worth individuals by offering high-end services which increase the shopping-experiences of the customers. While the number of high-net-worth individuals increases by 19.3% a year, according to the World Wealth Report, it is questionable if this customer segment only will be sufficient for Louis Vuitton to reach the target of a one-million customer base by 2010. The third alternative is about targeting successful women. Concentrating on this segment would target both women from the high-net-worth individuals and the cocooners segment. The main disadvantage is to define how many Indian women are ready to break the cultura l boundaries of the paternalistic family structures that still rule in this country. What is the impact of of Louis Vuittons marketing activities on their brand image in India? According to the purchasing behavior of India s high class, consumers are expecting a brand that stands for exclusivity and provides the owner of a Louis Vuitton product with a powerful status symbol. Working closely with the Bollywood industry through product placement and celebrity endorsement will have a high magnitude on increasing customer awareness. While Bollywood celebrities are seen as part of the high class, Louis Vuitton may need to maintain a close look in what movies they will place their products in order to minimize the risk of a brand association with a common product. The LV Exclusive club card system could increase loyalty among already existing customers, offering the brand image a crà ¨me de la crà ¨me status thus underlining the exclusivity of Louis Vuitton items. Last but not least, by tailoring their advertising on women only will associate the brand with a women s product, so Louis Vuitton products for men (i.e. dress shoes, suits, shirts) may suffer. Since India is a collectivist country, women usually buy clothes for the entire family, so the effect of the brand image being associated with a women s brand will be minimal. 4.3. Will LV face a social-status conflict (conflict of interest) by targeting two different customer segments (i.e. HNW individuals and cocooners)? Through the means of LV Exclusive Cards Louis Vuitton is trying to gain loyalty among super rich Indian customers. However, LV must consider the growing product awareness of the cocooners who are not the target group of the Exclusive Cards but will be of fast growing importance as customers. As positive as new customers are in general this also bears the risk of a conflict between the super rich and the cocooners who are much greater in numbers. HNW consumers may start to perceive LV as a rather common brand and switch to different luxury products as cocooners step up the social hierarchy. Furthermore, the second alternative Louis Vuitton in Bollywood could also result in a conflict between those two segments. If the products popularity increases this may have a negative impact on the buying behavior of the HNW consumers. This would go along with the above-mentioned decrease in exclusivity. Finally, women may be an interesting target group as stated in third alternative but conflict s may also occur between the HNW women who may be coming from rich families and the self-made emancipated cocooner woman. These very different types of women will require different endorsing role models which may are perceived negatively by each other group. How long will Louis Vuitton maintain a competitive advantage considering the proposed alternatives? Louis Vuittons advance on the Indian market will not remain unseen by the competition. Other luxury goods producers could benchmark Louis Vuittons approaches. Companies such as Gucci, Prada and Giorgio Armani could easily copy LVs Bollywood strategy as well as the alternative for attracting Indian women. It might be more challenging though to imitate LVs Exclusive Cards approach successfully because Indian high-net-worth costumers will already be loyal to Louis Vuitton in the ideal case and will not be looking for substitutes or additional luxury products in the same segment. 5. Conclusion All in all, while it may require more advertising resources than for example targeting emancipated women via print media, Louis Vuitton in Bollywood proves to reach the highest number of consumers, underlines the brand s exclusivity, and the company will be able to increase its market share in the long run. First, with the Bollywood industry booming in India, Louis Vuitton can reach a wide array of consumers and thus increase the overall customer awareness of Indians. Second, by using celebrity endorsement and selective product placement in movies, the company will be able to clearly communicate a brand image that advocates its exclusivity thus offering its potential customers a means to showcase their success. Last but not least, Louis Vuitton can educate the nouveau riche towards choosing their brand, which will considerably increase their market share in the long run. It is therefore highly recommended that Louis Vuitton in Bollywood is the most appropriate and effective promotion campaign to reach and nurture the emerging new generation of customers in India.