Explain what is meant by the full employment level of National Income :: Economics

Explain what is meant by the full employment level of National Income and Equilibrium level of National Income. Why might these levels of income be different? National Income is the level of total output, expenditure or income of an economy over a period of time. The main measure of NY used around the world today is Gross Domestic Product, or GDP. This is a measure of all domestic production, that is, production not including trade, which takes into account the value of indirect taxes such as GST. Full employment level of National Income means the level of total output attained when unemployment is at a socially acceptable level. In most cases this is around 5%, however it does tend to vary. If a government sets a target unemployment level and this is reached, the economy is said to be operating at full employment (Nf). Full employment also includes something called the natural rate of unemployment, which includes seasonal and frictional unemployment, as well as those individuals who do not wish to be employed. In other words, the natural rate of unemployment is the proportion of the workforce which voluntarily remain unemployed whilst the labour market is in equilibrium. We can see, therefore, that full employment may include some unemployment, although it is usually a small percentage of the working population. Equilibrium level of employment, however, may have a larger level of unemployment. The diagram below represents a situation in which the full employment level is illustrated. National Income $100b This diagram presents a situation where the SRAS and the AD curve intersect on the LRAS and $100b is the NY. The terms used in the diagram must be explained. SRAS stands for short run aggregate supply, which is the relationship between the aggregate supply of all final goods and services and the price level, holding all else constant. In the short run, the prices of final goods and services can change, but the factor prices do not. Because of this, it is not possible to generalise the time period referred to by the word short, as factor prices can change at any time for numerous reasons. The SRAS is upward sloping because of the law of diminishing returns, that is some inputs can increase whilst others may not, and the fact that resource bottlenecks may occur when the economy moves towards Nf. AD stands for aggregate demand,, which is the sum of all planned spending in an economy. The slope of the AD curve is due to the income effect and the substitute effect. AD is calculated by Consumption + Investment + Government spending + (Exports – Imports), or

Alan Freed and the Payola Scandal Essay

In the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, during a time of shifting cultural identity, many Americans who held conservative views found themselves caught in a socio-cultural predicament. The social dynamic of urban communities had begun to change as more African-Americans moved from the Southern United States into the Northern and Western regions of the country. This diaspora meant better jobs and homes for African-Americans and ultimately translated into more spending power among this portion of the population. While many sectors were positively impacted by this increase in African American spending power, participants of exclusionary practices were destined to suffer. An example of this suffering was evident in the music industry where the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) had monopolized the music licensing industry until the Broadcast Music Incorporation was formed and began to provide affordable music licenses to those musicians previously excluded by ASCAP. This development signaled a â€Å"changing of the guard† and the ASCAP found that the change was ultimately not in their favor (Hood-Ancklewicz 3). The individuals who supported and encouraged the proliferation of this social revolution were labeled responsible for the growing lack of â€Å"social stability† and would be contended with under the guise of a quest for morals and justice. In 1959 the House Subcommittee launched an investigation into the existence of rigging in popular game shows and at the urging of ASCAP expanded that probe into the music industry. Given his nonconformist attitude, unapologetic support of rock n’ roll music, interracial dance parties and â€Å"frenzied† stage shows, Alan Freed became the most popular fatality of the payola scandal. Alan Freed was not the only person guilty of accepting â€Å"payola†, but he was among the most visibly linked to the promulgation of rock n’ roll. Alan Freed has been credited with being the first to popularize the title Rock n’Roll in relation to this particular music genre. Additionally, he was the first to encourage integration by hosting wildly successful interracial Rock n’ Roll stage shows with solely African American performers. Freed also made no attempt to control the pandemonium created by his exhilarating lineup of performers, which generally resulted in teens dancing in the aisles, screaming wildly at performers and storming venues for the opportunity to participate by any means necessary. The â€Å"firsts† associated with Freed helped to solidify his image as the Father of Rock n’ Roll and conversely sealed his fate as the scapegoat of the payola scandal. Mainly targeting radio stations and well known deejays and record executives, including Freed, the â€Å"clean cut† Dick Clark and, others linked to the popularization of rock n’ roll music. The payola investigations made radio executives across the nation nervous. Many of the stations began to enact measures to ensure that they would not be implicated in any wrong doing and as a result began to require that their disc jockeys sign disclosure statements, divest themselves of questionable outside interests and cooperate with investigators as necessary. Those disc jockeys that refused to do so were fired. Many deejays resigned some suggesting that payola was as much a part of the system as any other widely held production practice, while others simply confessed to accepting cash and other gifts in exchange for promoting records. Alan Freed refused to sign documents on the moral grounds that doing so would negatively impact his â€Å"reputation for integrity† as a result Freed was fired from the radio station (Segrave 110). Freed admitted that he had accepted valuable gifts but, he explained â€Å"not in front. If I’ve helped somebody, I’ll accept a nice gift but I wouldn’t take a dime to plug a record. I’d be a fool to; I’d be giving up control of my program† (Segrave 80). The end of the payola scandal dawned with Alan Freed disenfranchised from his livelihood. Freed was forced out of the concert promotion business, blacklisted, arrested, fined three hundred dollars and given a six month suspended sentence and though by modern standards this punishment may seem mild, compared to the punishment of other deejays it was among the most calculating and exacting punishments delivered. While some critics argue that the scandal did not end Freed’s career it is clear that â€Å"justice† was not doled out equally among all offenders (Palmer 136). Dick Clark, who was also investigated, was questioned about outside interests that he held with various publication houses, record presses, talent firms, etc. Clark minimized the number of investments reported to the committee, his employers supported his claims that he had divested those interests. Following the investigation it was learned that the claims of divestment were not only false but that Clark had also deflated the number reported to the subcommittee. Clark was ultimately exonerated and never seemed to be in any real danger of losing his livelihood, while Alan Freed was left destitute (Segrave 110). By many accounts Freed’s success in the music industry was instantaneous and was bolstered by the unwavering support of his interracial teen audience. In 1952 when Freed held the Moondog Coronation Ball an estimated 30,000 teens stormed the venue causing the event to be closed down by the local police department. Soon after this incident Freed took his stage shows on tour and was arrested and charged with inciting a riot after a similar occurrence in Boston. Freed moved from Ohio to New York where his success continue to grow exponentially (Palmer 23). Of note among Freed’s perceived â€Å"shortcomings† was the fact that all of Freed’s performers were African-American and even when â€Å"sanitized† versions of African-American songs were available Freed still preferred and continued to promote the original versions (Palmer 136-139). The image of rock n’ roll (leather jackets and sideburns) upset the sensibilities of larger society and as a result when the investigations into payola, a practice that had existed in various formats for years, became public knowledge and the House Subcommittee on Legislative Oversight had the support and the fuel necessary to effect change, Alan Freed became target number one. Rock n’ roll was shunned by the more conservative personalities in American society and as a result was blamed for many societal ills. Few expected the genre to last, disgusted by the lack of perceived merit in the rock n’ roll genre, many of the ASCAP members and conservative American public denied its â€Å"staying power†. In her1956 article for the Miami Herald, Phyllis Battelle quotes an unnamed source as saying â€Å"Perhaps the only hopeful thing about rock n’ roll is that it’s so bad. It cannot endure indefinitely† (Batelle 4C+). This sentiment comforted few Americans while others focused on the reasons why rock n’ roll was not a viable music form. Rock n’ roll on the other hand continued to reinvent itself, to influence and morph into different genres. The influence of rock n’ roll is heard clearly in other genres now and has become as intrinsic to the American cultural legacy as payola in the music industry. Though rock n’ roll waned for a short period of time it ultimately was revived by the British invasion which also revived the folk and R&B genres (Hood-Anklwicz 4). Ironically the integrationist mentality that was once a part of rock n’ roll music faded in the early sixties undoubtedly influenced by the newly sanitized radio and broadcast environment, the loss of charismatic personalities such as Alan Freed and the stress of the continuously changing cultural dynamic in American society. Fears like those expressed in segregationist propaganda like the American Nationalist went unfounded as rock n’ roll eventually became racially segregated once more. Dick Clark’s clean cut presentation of rock n’ roll minus the tilting pelvises and gyrations, minus the dancing in the aisles and frenzied pandemonium, minus the leather jackets and sideburns was to become the popular music among whites while African American performers performed for largely African-American audiences (Palmer, 146). Many African American performers of the rock n’ roll era have credited Freed with the breaking of social barriers and have recognized his attempt to encourage integration among young Blacks and Whites. Before concluding that Alan Freed was ultimately made the example for being all things rock n’ roll, it is imperative to note that the practice of payola was never absent from the music industry, it â€Å"has never been and is not now illegal†. The 1960 law passed, did not make the practice illegal but made the failure to report payola illegal (Segrave,vii). While the concept of payola presents an ethical flaw in the system it is nonetheless a flaw that is as inherent to the music industry as is manipulation to the industry of politics. The great professor and historian, Lord Acton, is quoted as saying, â€Å"power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely†. This notion is evident on both ends of the rock n’ roll spectrum on one end Alan Freed was said to â€Å"be drunk with power† (Palmer 23), so much so that he failed to see the danger in overbooking venues, was charged with encouraging riotous behavior among teens and a general failure to realize the detriment that would come to his livelihood if he continued to challenge the prescribed social norms of the 1950’s. On the other end of the spectrum is the American government who continues to support censorship and participate in the creation of scapegoats when suitable to the larger political agenda. Overall, Alan Freed was a trendsetter who was perhaps â€Å"before his time† and thereby was punished accordingly for going against the grain. He lived as the champion of rock n’ roll firsts and died tormented by opportunities unrealized.

Modernity and Literature Essay

Modernity by itself is a very abstract concept which can be associated with all new experiences in history. It is largely temporal because what is modern today is the old or obsolete tomorrow. Modernity is said to be a logic of negation because it tends to give importance to the present over the past, and at the same time also frowns over the present with respect to the future. From a purely historical perspective however, the society which evolved in Europe after the French Revolution of 1789 can be termed as modern in so much so that there is a marked difference or break in the way of thinking, living and enterprise between the societies after and before the French Revolution. The evolution of the modern society was not a process that happened overnight. The roots of the modern society and its gradual evolution can be traced back to the beginning of the eighteenth century. In fact the period from that point in history to the French Revolution is termed as the period of intellectual Enlightenment when there was a radical change in philosophy, science, politics, arts and culture. It was on these new forms of knowledge that the foundation of the modern society or modernity was based. Defining the Traditional Many scholars have tried to analyze the basic or instinctive nature of human beings in attempts to track back how modernity could have affected the core individual. In his book Leviathan, Hobbes deduced that in an environment uninfluenced by artificial systems or in a ‘state of nature’ human beings would be war like and violent, and their lives would consequently be solitary, poor, brutish and short. Rousseau however contradicts Hobbes. He claims that humans are essentially benevolent by nature. He believed in the ‘noble savage’ or the concept that devoid of civilization human beings are essentially peaceful and egalitarian and live in harmony with the environment – an idea associated with Romanticism. Human beings have however lived in communities and formed societies since the very early ages. In what is now known as the ancient world or the world of classical pagan antiquity typical of the societies of Greece and Rome, the concept of the ‘new’ or ‘change’ was absent. Time, like the seasons, was supposed to move in cyclical order, repeating itself with regularity cycle after cycle with nothing new or changed to break away from the established order. The people were steeped in more superstitious and religious beliefs which ruled almost every aspect of their lives. Christianity brought about changes in the belief systems of the ancient world. Christianity postulated that time was linear, that it began from the birth of Jesus Christ and would end with the apocalypse and the second coming of Jesus. This was a linear concept of time that moved in a straight line and not in a cycle that kept coming back to the same point. The Foundations of Modernity It was during the Enlightenment period that the Christian concepts of time and history were secularized to give way to the modern approach to change and progress. There were many other basic changes during the Enlightenment. The key ideas which formed the basis of the enlightenment period were autonomy and emancipation, progress and the improvement of history and universalism. The development of scientific knowledge gave rise to religious skepticism. People were no longer willing to submit blindly to the dictates of ordained religion. In other words they attained emancipation from the shackles of religion that had governed almost all aspects of their lives. This emancipation led to autonomy of the individual. Individuals began to decide for themselves instead submitting to an external authority such as religion. The people now decided by themselves what kind of authority, rules and regulation would be good for them, and such authority must be natural and not supernatural. Enlightenment encouraged criticism. Enlightenment thinkers did not hold anything sacred and freely criticized, questioned, examined and challenged all dogmas and institutions in their search for betterment or progress. Thinkers such as Voltaire defended reason and rationalism against institutionalized superstition and tyranny. The belief that there could and should be a change for the better came to be a prominent characteristic of modernity. The critical attitude of enlightenment thinker to contemporary social and political institutions paved the way for scientific studies of political and social studies and subsequent evolution of better forms of such institutions. The scientific revolution during the period, culminating in the work of Isaac Newton, presented a very practical and objective view of the natural world to people at large, and science came to be regarded very highly. Scientific inquiry was gradually extended to cover new social, political and cultural areas. Such studies were oriented around the cause-and-effect approach of naturalism. Control of prejudice was also deemed to be essential to make them value free. Enlightenment thinking emphasized the importance of reason and rationality in organization and development of knowledge. The gradual development of the scientific temperament with a paradigm change from the qualitative to the quantitative is also very evident in Europe of the time. People came to believe that they could better their own lot through a more scientific and rational approach to everything. The concept of universalism which advocated that reason and science were applicable to all fields of study and that science laws, in particular, were universal, also grew roots during the period. People began to believe in change, development and progress – all basic tenets of modernity as we know it today. Autonomy to decide for their own good, gave the people the right to choose the form of authority that could lead them as a society or community towards a better future and progress. This opened the doors to the emergence of states with separate and legally defined spheres of jurisdiction. Thus we find that modernity represents a transformation – philosophical, scientific, social, political and cultural – at a definite time in history at a definite spatial location. This transformation also represents a continuum up to the present in so much so that its basic principles are inherent in the societies and nations of today. The period of enlightenment can be seen as one of transition from the ‘traditional’ to the ‘modern’ forms of society, from an age of blind beliefs to a new age of reason and rational. Different Perspectives on development of Modernity Different political and philosophical thinkers have however developed different, and sometimes contradicting, theories of the development of modernity. Friedrich Hegel and Karl Marx are two of the leading thinkers whose theories run counter to each other. For Hegel, the development of modernity was a dialectical process which was governed by the increasing self-consciousness of what he termed as the collective human ‘mind’ or ‘spirit’. According to Hegel, the dialectic process of development of the mind comprised three stages, with two initially contradicting positions synthesizing into a third reconciled position. Human beings live what Hegel called an ‘Ethical Life’ or in a social environment shaped by customs and traditions. This ethical life has three stages: the first is the family, which is dissolved in due course, the second is the ‘civil society’ that a person builds up as a result of his social interactions beyond the family and greater relations, and finally the third stage of the ‘state’ which Hegel defines as the highest form of social reason. For Hegel therefore, the formation of the modern state is the mark of modernity when human beings achieve the ultimate stage of social existence. Hegel believed as individuals or families, human beings are too selfish and self-centered co-exist in harmony and work for development. It is the state that is able to integrate the contradictions of different individuals, and not market forces. Since the state by itself is composed of political institutions, Hegel’s theory equates the development of the modern state or modern political institutions with modernity. Marx took a completely opposing view, when he asserted that material forces drive history. For him the state by itself is not an ideal entity for the integration of human beings into a cohesive whole for their development as a nation or a society. According to him it is the material forces comprising social and economic forces that drive history towards modernity. People engage in production for their means of subsistence, they bind together and form states for the sake of production. Different forms of productions create different class relations. It is to maximize production and gain the maximum benefits and advantages that people bond together in different classes in the form of the modern state. The different ways in which production is organized give rise to complex forms of social organization because a particular mode of production is an entire way of life for the people who are involved in it. For Marx social existence is not consciously determined by human beings, rather, it is the other way round: their social existence determines their consciousness. When there are contradictions between productive forces and the social relationships of production, class conflict arises. For Marx, therefore, modernity is defined by the state of social existence. Marx acknowledges that ‘capitalism has been the most productive mode of production, and it contains the most potential for the realization of human freedom’. This very dynamic characteristic of capitalism is born out of its destructiveness for all traditional social constraints such as religion, nation, family, sex, etc. But it is the same destructiveness and creativeness that creates the experience of modernity in Capitalism. This vital association between capitalism and modernity from none less that Marx himself establishes that the capitalism that evolved after the period of enlightenment in Europe has been acknowledged as the modern era of the period of modernity by Marx. Marx however states that capitalism is exploitative, and because it is exploitative, its full potential cannot be harnessed for the benefit of all. He therefore advocates communism which is a system of planned and conscious production by men and women of their won free will. This brings us to the question whether humanity has already passed through a stage of history that has been termed as modernity, and has moved on to the postmodern era (Mitchell, 2009). Another important point is regarding the placing of modernity. Modernity is understood to be a process that began and ended in Europe, and was later exported to other parts of the world. Thinkers like Marx tend to differ. He saw Capitalism emerge as a ‘rosy dawn’ not in England or the Netherlands but in the production trade and finance of the colonial system (Marx, 1967). Therefore, though the concept of modernity can be defined in various ways, it definitely refers to the process of evolution of the human mind and the society to a point where people were able to come together for their own advantage and benefit and work for unceasing development under a collectively formalized authority such as the nation state. It can also be state with a certain degree of assertiveness that the period from the beginning of the Eighteenth Century to the French Revolution in 1789 actually marked the period of active development of modernity in Europe. The concepts that were nurtured during the period bore fruit immediately afterwards in Europe and the West and later spread to the rest of the world. The world has continued since on very much the same basic principles but with far more advanced technologies and superior social, economic and political approaches. Influence of Modernity on Literature Modernity had a profound influence on literature. As people began to think differently, they also began to write differently. The modernist ideas of religious emancipation, autonomy, reliance on reason, rationality and science, and on development and progress began to find expression in the literature that developed even during the period of enlightenment and thereafter. This new form of literature came to be known as the Modernist Literature. Modernist literature tended to vent expression to the tendencies of modernity. Modernist literature, as also modernist art, took up cudgels against the old system of blind beliefs. Centering around the idea of individualism or the individual mind, modernist literature displayed mistrust of established institutions such as conventional forms of autocratic government and religion. It also tended not to believe in any absolute truths. Simmel (1903) gives an overview of the thematic concerns of Modernist Literature when he states that, â€Å"The deepest problems of modern life derive from the claim of the individual to preserve the autonomy and individuality of his existence in the face of overwhelming social forces, of historical heritage, of external culture, and of the technique of life. † Examples from two Greats A few examples of Modernist literature will serve to make its characteristics more clear. Rene Descartes (1596 – 1650) is considered to be one of the early enlightenment thinkers whose literary works opened the avenues to the modern era. Known as the founder of modern philosophy and the father of modern mathematics, Descartes was a French philosopher, mathematician and scientist whose influence has served to shape the beginnings of Modernist literature. In his famous work, The Discourse on Method, he presents the equally famous quotation ‘cogito ergo sum’ or ‘I think, therefore I am’, which about sums up the very principle of the basis of the modern era. â€Å"I observed that, whilst I thus wished to think that all was false, it was absolutely necessary that I, who thus thought, should be somewhat; and as I observed that this truth, I think, therefore I am (COGITO ERGO SUM), was so certain and of such evidence that no ground of doubt, however extravagant, could be alleged by the sceptics capable of shaking it, I concluded that I might, without scruple, accept it as the first principle of the philosophy of which I was in search† (Descartes, 1637). In this work, Descartes drew on ancients such as Sextus Emiricus to revive the idea of skepticism, and reached a truth that he found to be undeniable. â€Å"Descartes started his line of reasoning by doubting everything, so as to assess the world from a fresh perspective, clear of any preconceived notions. In other words, he rejected man’s reliance on God’s revealed word, placing his own intellect on a higher plain† (McCarter, 2006). David Hume (1711 – 1776) was a philosopher, economist and historian from Scotland, and was considered a notable personality both in western philosophy and of the Scottish Enlightenment movement. In his works, he had a way of projecting the errors of scepticism and naturalism, thus carving out a way for secular humanism. In his most famous work, ‘An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding’, Hume asserts that all human knowledge is imbibed through our senses. He argues that unless the source from which the impression of a certain entity is conveyed to our senses is identified, that entity cannot exist. The logic would nullify the existence of God, a soul or a self. â€Å"By the term impression, then, I mean all our more lively perceptions, when we hear, or see, or feel, or love, or hate, or desire, or will. And impressions are distinguished from ideas, which are the less lively perceptions, of which we are conscious, when we reflect on any of those sensations or movements above mentioned †¦It seems a proposition, which will not admit of much dispute, that all our ideas are nothing but copies of our impressions, or, in other words, that it is impossible for us to think of anything, which we have not antecedently felt, either by our external or internal senses†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Dover Philosophical Classics, 2004) In the same work Hume also postulates two kinds of human reasoning – Relation of Ideas and Matters of Fact. The former involves abstract concepts such as of mathematics where deductive faculty is required, and the later is about empirical experiences which are inductive in nature. This postulate has come to be known as Hume’s Fork. Hume, along with his contemporaries of the Scottish Enlightenment, also proposed that the basis for principles of morals is to be sought in the utility that they tend to serve. This shows the questioning nature of modernist literature not only of religious but also of moral and social norms and values. A very visible influence of modernity is therefore seen in the works of Hume. Present-day Modernist Literature If modernity influenced literature, it also used literature to shift from a philosophical and theoretical domain into the practical lives of people. Modernity could infiltrate into the lives of people through literary works that defined and reiterated the legitimate new modes of classification. Old literary forms with traditional meanings attached to them were reworked, allowing readers to modify or contravene the older meanings. â€Å"This opening-up process allowed readers to glean new meanings that modified or contravened the older ones. In the course of these changes, words, forms, and institutions altered their meaning in British life: they, and the practices they comprised, referred differently†¦. modifying ‘reference potential’ in literature fed back into how readers responded to changes in life†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Rothstein, 2007) In art and literature, many critics view ‘modernism’ as a new trend in the field of art and literature, defined basically by stylistic and structural variations. They would not accept the fact that ‘modernism’, it is basic approach, was the principles of modernity rendered plausible in literature and art. Modernity has always tried to hold up the world in new perspectives. Similarly, modernist literature opens up the world in all its forms – theoretical, philosophical, aesthetical and political – for fresh scrutiny. Even in its present form, modernist literature attempts to break the objective world of the realist. â€Å"Modernist writing †¦ takes the reader into a world of unfamiliarity, a deep introspection, a cognitive thought-provoking experience, skepticism of religion, and openness to culture, technology, and innovation† (Melton, 2010). Modernist literature exhibits a fascination with the workings of the mind, and how reality is reflected by the mind. The questioning of life, with or without the presence of God, is another trademark of the philosophical and theoretical moorings of modernist literature. Charles Darwin’s work challenges God as the Creator and presents the process of natural selection in the survival of life. This led to modernist literature of time travel, of questioning the existence of individuals and the purpose of the universe. Modernism brought about a new openness in the areas of feminism, bisexuality, the family, and the mind. In the world of today, modernist literature still display much of the characteristics of the times in which it first took shape. A very important theme of modernist literature today is a feeling of being alone in the world – a feeling stemming from estrangement or alienation. Characters are often presented as being depressed or angry. A second common trait is that of being in doubt. â€Å"It may be disbelief in religion, in happiness, or simply a lack of purpose and doubt in the value of human life. Finally, a third theme that is prevalent is a search for the truth† (Foster, 2010). Then there is a third theme in which the alienated character is always in the search for truth and seeks answers to a plethora of questions relating to human subjectivity. In all these characteristics are to be found the same questioning nature, the same denouncement of blind beliefs and the same dependence on reason and rationality that the Eighteenth Century enlightenment thinkers had pursued. The character is alienated and estranged because he or she questions all that is deemed not right by his or her own mind; the character questions the beliefs of religion and other institutions which are not based on reasoning; and finally the character seeks answers and the truth. â€Å"Modernist literature encompasses the thematic fingerprints of a rebellious, questioning, disbelieving, meditative, and confident type of form, which was conceived out of a change in the belief of humanity, the mind, a God, and the self brought on by the shift from capitalism to an ever-increasing society of revolutionary changes† (Melton, 2010). References Descartes, R. , 1637, The Discourse on Methods. Dover Philosophical Classics, 2004, David Hume, An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding, Dover Publications Inc. Foster, J. , 2010, Modernism in Literature and History, Available: http://www. helium. com/items/743749-modernism-in-literature-and-history Karl Marx, 1967, Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, 3 vols. , New York: International Publishers, 1:703. McCarter, J. , P. , 2006, Literature of the Modern Era, The Puritans’ Home School Curriculum. Melton, L. , 2010, Modernism in Literature and History, Available: http://www. helium. com/items/809291-modernism-in-literature-and-history Mitchell, T. , 2000, The Stage of Modernity, Available: http://www. ram-wan. net/restrepo/modernidad/the%20stage%20of%20modernity-mitchell. pdf Rothstein, E. , 2007, Gleaning Modernity, Earlier Eighteenth Century Literature and the Modernizing Process, Rosemont Publishing and Printing Corp. , Associated University Presses. Simmel, G. , 1093, The Metropolis and Mental Life.

Medieval Universities Essay

The English universities were one of the most significant creations of Medieval England. The scholars who attended eitherOxford or Cambridge Universities set an intellectual standard that contrasted markedly with the norm of Medieval England. Oxford University came into being some 20 years before Cambridge University. The church had a major impact at Oxford. The town came within the diocese of Lincoln, yet Oxford had its own archdeaconry. It was the input of the church that led to the first recorded student/university authority clash at Oxford. The universities led to major growth in both Oxford and Cambridge as towns and both became important centres. No-one is quite sure why Oxford was chosen as the town for England’s first university – however, the town had a number of distinct advantages. Oxford was the centre of communications within its region and both royalty and foreign scholars frequently visited the town. There were also many religious houses/centres around the town and the agricultural land was rich and farming did well at this time. Oxford was considered to be in a civilised part of England – it was near to London and getting to Europe was not necessarily a major journey. Oxford also held strategic importance, which led to the building of a castle there. In 1167, a quarrel between Henry II and Thomas Becket led to a temporary ban on English scholars going to study in France. For whatever reason, scholars and academics gathered in Oxford to continue with their work – fifty of them. As journeying to the university in Paris was not allowed, more scholars and academics arrived in Oxford. Sometime after 1167 Giraldus Cambrensis visited Oxford and started teaching there. He taught three times a day. He took poor students for lectures; he then taught academics from different faculties, and lastly he taught knights and the likes. His clientele became larger than the ‘normal’ monastic or cathedral school. In 1180, Prior Philip of St. Frieswade, Oxford, recorded that a scholar had left his family in York to study at Oxford. Within twelve years, the importance of a good education was clearly having an impact. In 1192, Richard of Devizes wrote â€Å"Oxonia vix suos clericos, non dico satiat, sed sustenat.†| Richard was basically stating that there were so many scholars in Oxford that the town could barely feed them. By 1209, it was estimated that there were 3,000 students in Oxford. It was also in 1209 that students in Oxford started to migrate to Cambridge. This occurred after some students killed a woman in Oxford. At this time, King John and Pope Innocent III were quarrelling over a new Archbishop of Canterbury. Innocent put England under an interdict. With such worries, John had few thoughts for students in Oxford. He gave his permission for the execution of three students in Oxford involved in the woman’s death. However, in the delay that took pace, the students fled to Reading, Cambridge of Paris. Others followed to Cambridge and by 1284, Peterhouse College was founded. Unlike the great university of its time – the university in Paris – Oxford was not connected to either a cathedral or a religious house. The Sorbonne was supervised by ecclesiastical men while Oxford was supervised by masters, though these were usually in holy orders. Regardless of this, Oxford developed with a degree of practical independence. By the end of what is considered to be Medieval England, the following colleges had been created at Oxford – University College, Balliol, Merton and Exeter. In Cambridge, Peterhouse College was created. Student life in both towns was to transform Oxford and Cambridge. The lifestyle of the students was to frequently bring both universities into conflict with the church.

Homelessness in the United States Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Homelessness in the United States - Essay Example This essay will look at the conflict theory to explain homelessness. Homelessness, in reference to the McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, means the situation where an individual does not have a fixed, consistent, and adequate nighttime abode. A homeless person can also be defined as an entity with a principal night time residence that is not commonly used for human habitation or a principal nighttime residence that is a temporary shelter with the intention of being institutionalized. In addition, it means a principal nighttime residence that is an administered or a publicly managed sanctuary that provides short-term accommodation and includes welfare hotels and transition shelters for the mentally ill. Homelessness has been a problem in the United States since the pre-industrial era. In the 16th Century, the homeless in the US were few and were taken care of by the immediate community since it was viewed as a communal duty to offer help to them. This was promoted by the local churches and community organizations. In the late seventeenth century, however, a more systematic system was employed. For instance, the New York City working with the local churches rented a house to use as a temporary shelter for the homeless. This culminated in an official ‘almshouse’ in 1734. ... But after the civil war, opportunities especially for women dwindled in these rural settings and people moved to the new growing cities to work as bar maids, clerks, housekeepers, and even commercial sex workers. For most people, home was where they spent the night thus began a system of loosely attached people engaged in all sorts of activity including vices such as crime. Young men and women unhappy to work in the orderly disciplined factories carried about their own business and travelers for which constant moving became a way of life. The number of people who could not find work increased and became too many for the existing shelters. Consequently, some people started spending without roofs over their heads. This problem worsened during the great depression where even warehouses holding as much as 4000 people were not sufficient; thus began the modern problem of homelessness in the United States. From the First World War to the second, the number of unemployed people increased si nce manual labor was taken over by mechanization and industrialization. This resulted in a large number of homeless people in the seventies through to the nineties up to current times (Baumohl, 1996). In 1987, the number of the homeless was estimated at 500 – 600 000 with 81% being male, 54% non white, and 48% not having cleared high school. In 2010, it was estimated that the US had 3,500,000 homeless people. The majority of the people were between 25 to 44 years of age. 70% of the homeless live in the urban areas, 20% in sub-urban areas, and 10% in the rural areas. 67% of the homeless are single men while 20% are women. In addition, 25% are veterans and 15% are parents with children. Los Angeles has the highest

Policy Paper Term Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Policy - Term Paper Example Palestine is the land that the two factions have been fighting for ownership. The Jew asserts that Palestine is theirs based on the biblical promise. On the other hand, the Arabs claim that the land is theirs since they have continuously been staying in that place for a long time. It is an important aspect for the policy makers and the society to address the pre-existing feud so to cultivate peaceful co-existence between the two groups. The purpose of this paper is to propose relevant policies that will strengthen the United States foreign policy in the Middle East. The significance of this policy is that it will minimize instances of conflict and spread of weapons of mass demolition. The context of this paper is the prolonged boundary conflict between the Arabs and the Jews. The conflict involving the Zionist Jews and Palestine Arabs is a recent phenomenon that began in the end of the 19th century. Even though the two groups are of different religious belief, religious disparities are not the main reason of the conflict. The conflict started as a struggle over land where both groups had claimed ownership of Palestine (Primer on Palestine, Israel and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, p.1). Before the beginning of the 20th century, majority of the Jews existing in Palestine were concentrated in four cities. They were more inclined to their religious beliefs and customs. They believed that their attachment to Palestine was religious. The further migration of the Jews from other parts of the world was due to the desire of finding their origin. Consequently, this led to the rise of the Jew population to approximately sixty thousand. At the time, the Arab population was at 683,000. The sudden rise in the number of Jew inhabitants occupying Palestine greatly provoked the Arabs (Primer on Palestine, Israel and the Arab-Israeli Conflict,p.5). During the period of conflict, the British government had made a number of promises to both the Arabs and Palestine. However,

Human Resources Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Human Resources Management - Essay Example General Motors stands proudly as an organization that holds the status of global market leader due to the outstanding performance of its employees around the globe. By recognizing the value of its human capital, the company has managed to achieve its organizational goals from many years. Like many other organizations, GM is also faced with different challenges that have influenced its competitiveness in the market. I have carefully analyzed and discussed all the key aspects. This essay is divided into three parts each discussing different key aspects of HRM in General Motors; an organization which is known all around the globe. The company holds a strong competitive position in the market. In the first part, I have surveyed and analyzed the three competitive challenges that have influence the HRM practices within this company. These challenges include sustainability, technology and globalization. Their advantages and disadvantages have also been discussed. In second part, I have disc ussed the role of skills, behavior and culture in a corporate business environment. However, in the last part I have discussed the two out of the some basic HRM practices such as, reward management and training and development in the selected company along with their level of consistency within the