Consider the relationships between culture and social identity in Essay

Consider the relationships between culture and social identity in Pygmalion and Educating Rita - Essay Example The ‘Pygmalion myth’ was a favourite subject for the Victorian play wrights where Shaw was not an exception. Will Russell’s ‘Educating Rita’ is, to a certain extent, thematically similar to Shaw’s play ‘Pygmalion.’ The central figure of this play is Susan, who calls herself as Rita, hairdresser from Liverpool who has decided to get an education, not to seek for s new job but to explore an entirely new world which she has never experienced before. She selects an Open University English Literature course and joins the world of Professor Frank, an alcoholic. Though she was determined and completed her studies, she could not either receive or reject her new state. A comparison of both the plays unveils that both the dramatists have effectively used culture and social identity as a means to makes the readers aware of the ill-effects of class distinctions and certain other factors. The play [Educating Rita] is a searing assault on our ri gid class distinctions, and culture of ignorance and misunderstanding, aggravated by inequalities in wealth and education (Educating Rita, 2010). â€Å"In retrospect, Educating Rita is a personal success story and one of hope, at least at the time it was written† (Aguilar, C. M J p.29). One can see a similar theme in ‘Pygmalion’ where Eliza is in search of her personal identity and it advocates the decisive role of culture in moulding one’s identity. The proposed study is conducted on the grounds that culture has a predominant role in forming one’s social identity or social milieu. Culture and social identity have a reciprocal relation akin to the relation between individuality and social identity. It is common knowledge that the seeds of one’s individuality lay in one’s culture, that is, the social set up figures out a person’s individuality. This is crystal clear when observing the first

Why was Japan so unsuccessful in solving the problem of deflation over Essay

Why was Japan so unsuccessful in solving the problem of deflation over the past decade - Essay Example On 29 December 1989, the Nikkei peaked at 38, 916 after a five year return of 237%. The rate in June of 2008 was at 14, 354 which is a startling 63% lower than the 1989 figure (Harrison 2008). According to the International Monetary Fund (2006), Japan was experiencing recovery from its previous declining position, but by 2009, the International Monetary fund showed recognition that the economic downturn of 2008 had stifled progress and the deflation was still a pervasive issue. As Shown in the graph examples in figure 1, both the real estate market and the stock market have shown steady deflationary trends since 1990. There have been a series of attempts to remedy the problem of deflation in Japan. These attempts include fiscal expansion, reduction of interest rates, Yen depreciation, and finally a zero interest rate program followed by a quantitative expansion program (Greenwood 2010). Unfortunately, these programs have all been ineffective in providing relief from the ongoing deflationary period. Greenwood (2010) states that the lack of recovery is due to poor political and economic leadership, an unwillingness to adopt unorthodox strategies, mistakes at the technical level, and the appearance of a â€Å"balance sheet recession†. An expansionary fiscal policy adopted by a government is marked by measures that are taken in order to create increased economic stabilization through governmental policies intended to create economic stimulus. In 1981, Yasuhiro Nakisone, Prime Minister of Japan, instituted polices that were stringent for the Japanese economy. However, by 1986, Naksone believed that these policies would require some adjustment in order to avert the looming crisis. A private advisory group headed by Bank of Japan Chairman Maekawa Haruo and commissioned by Nakisone submitted a report commonly referred to as the Maekawa Report which states that the Japanese economic policies and

Ways to Improve Group Productivity within a hospital or medical Research Paper

Ways to Improve Group Productivity within a hospital or medical facility - Research Paper Example In analyzing this problems, this paper focuses on the department of admissions,the department of public relations, the department of social work, and the department of medical records which are found in an hospital organization. This paper gives an explanation on the impact of the problems under consideration, and identifies the policies which administrators within the hospital set up need to enact for purposes of ensuring efficiency in meeting the goals of the hospital organization. This is because if administrators do not develop solutions to the problems the organization faces, chances are high that the hospital might fail to provide better health care services to its customers. This paper contains suggestions ofthe best training program that could enhance group productivity. Lorenzi (2004) denotes that training is a method of continuous appraisal, since the medical staff acquires relevant skills that are essential to serve the current health care needs of the organizations custom ers. This paper has a conclusion, and it is a summary of the main points addressed in it. One of the problems facing group productivity within the hospital set up is the conflict that emanate from lack of a clear guideline on the role of members within a collaborative group. For instance, within the admissions department of the hospital, there is a group that coordinates the admission of patients, another group prepares their admission, while another group arranges for any reservation of a patients admission. These are devise roles within the admission departmentand because of a clear guideline on the role of members who are in this unit, a conflict of roles emanate. For instance, the group that coordinates the admission of patients is headed by a team leader; it is this person who assigns duties, depending on the present circumstance. A situation arises when such an individual did not report for work because of personal or official issues. Members of the group will be confused beca use nobody will assign them duties, leading to each of them carrying out tasks that were not meant for them. This therefore leads to a rise of conflict of roles, and its result is inefficiency in meeting the objectives of the admissions department (Lorenzi, 2005). To improve on this problem, it is important for the organization to develop a policy that will guide in assigning roles to the various members of its staff. To effectively implement this policy, the organization must create an office, whose main responsibility is to monitor the performance of employees in relation to their specific tasks, and how they contribute in meeting the objectives of the organization. Another major problem that arose from the research is lack of an effective communication capability amongst the various members of different groups within the hospital organization. This problem can affect all the departments of the organization, which includes the admissions department, the public relations department , the medical records department, the maintenance and engineering department and the department of social work. This is because communication is the key that drives the growth of any department of an organization. For instance, the duties of the department of public relations are to solve the problems of out and in patients. If the department lacks modernized communication gadgets such as computers, they will be unable to effectively offer this service to their customers (Kongstvedt, 1997).The reason to this argument is because of the modernization of the communication

Merger, Acquisition, and International Strategies Research Paper - 4

Merger, Acquisition, and International Strategies - Research Paper Example Currently, Nokia focuses on developing telecommunications infrastructures on a large scale, provision of online mapping services, and the development of mobile communication technologies (Slater, 2004). Nokia also played a great role in contributing to the development of the mobile phone industry in the early years of 2000 (Park, 2014). The company played a role in developing GSM standards, and for a considerable period of time, Nokia was one of the largest producers and sellers of mobile phone products, in the world. Nokia also entered the Smartphone industry, and this is through its platform referred to as Symbian. However, the dominance of this company, in the Smartphone industry was challenged by the emergence of Apples. This is through the production of its Android devices, and its iPhones. Furthermore, because of stiff competition from companies such as Samsung, Alcatel, etc, the market share of Nokia was beginning to fall, and it experienced a series of losses (Park, 2014). Microsoft on the other had is an American company, that specializes in the development of computer software. The headquarters of Nokia is in Redmond, the state of Washington. The company is able to develop, manufacture and sale personal computer gadgets, consumer electronics, and computer software (Slater, 2004). However, because of stiff competition from Apples, the company has also experienced a reduction in its market shares. Because of this stiff competition emanating from Apples, Nokia sought a strategic partner, who could help it, in the development of electronic and computer gadgets, that could help it achieve a competitive advantage over Apples and other companies such as Samsung. In the year 2011, Microsoft was able to enter into a pact with Nokia. Park (2014) explains that the method which Microsoft used in entering into a partnership with Nokia was through an acquisition. In 2013, the chief executive of Microsoft was

Human status in regards to Aristotle and Kant Research Paper

Human status in regards to Aristotle and Kant - Research Paper Example onal ideas of separation of mankind into various groups by the nature or in Gods will: Greeks and barbarians, elected and not elected, devout and not devout, civilized and uncivilized etc. The aspiration to prove the unity of the human race was always resisted by aristocratic, hierarchical, nationalist, racial, class and other theories. Understanding of mankind, and, therefore, the general concept of a person was finally developed only in the XIX century. All the second grade theories have one common feature: some part of mankind is recognized as superior. However, there classical theories, which allow us to understand the real essence of humans and their status in this world in the given work two views on humans’ status will be considered: the view of Kant and the view of Aristotle. German classical philosophy is presented by such thinkers as I. Kant, I. Fichte, F. Schelling and G. Hegel, who lived and worked at the end of XVIII - the first half of the XIX centuries. One of the main tasks of the German classical philosophy is to overcome the contradictions of XVII—XVIII centuries’ philosophy, which was expressed in opposition to rationalism and empiricism, exaggeration of a role of natural sciences and excessive optimism of Enlightenment. This movement is characterized by the revival of interest in history, art, mythology, as well as by the criticism of natural science direction in modern philosophy. All these are caused by a great interest to the problem of a person put in a new way. The German classical philosophy replaced an individual ideal of free identity of Renaissance by the collective ideal of free mankind expressed by the ideas of Enlightenment and the slogans of The Great French revolution. Protestantism is the religious fundamental of German classical philosophy. In Kants work there are two periods: critical and subcritical. During the subcritical period (1756-1770) the interests of Kant were mainly connected with logical problems and natural

350 chapter 9 Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

350 chapter 9 - Case Study Example Further still, Bellum uses the point of the desires of the union to be honored. According to her, giving the union four seats would mean a lot to them since they have been crying for a single seat. This would honor their cry and make them feel heard and appreciated. Arguably, if the management listens to the workers in an organization, the workers are likely to agree to the decisions of the management without mass action (Appelbaum and Hunter, 2003). In addition, Bellum has a point that the workers would never vote for a strike because they will always feel that their views are being represented. Since they chose the leaders, it means that they trust them to a point that they will feel that they are fully represented because they hold meetings to pass their desires (Appelbaum and Hunter, 2003). Bellum also uses the point of imagination by telling the chairman that there is no other organization in the U.S to implement that move. She promises to win the race even under financial

Does Music Influence Sexuality Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Does Music Influence Sexuality - Research Paper Example This paper will explore the question as to whether music, or indeed any other media art form, has the power to influence sexuality and bring about sexual expression in its audiences. Discussion Music, like any other art form, is eminently able to evoke emotions in us. That is why you find people moved to tears by violin concertos or entranced by the lifting spirit of trumpets and cymbals in a March composition. Music is a language by itself, but while it has the ability to thrill you or move you emotionally, I have hardly ever heard it being able to stir sexuality in the human mind or body. We may refer to a particular music video as sexy or provocative, but hardly rate its music as so. Take any video by Shakira, or Madonna, or Britney Spears for example. While people talk about it in hushed tones, and berate its sexually explicit content, few would say that the music itself was sexy. The oohs, aahs and other gushes of excitement are linked to our memories of what was transpiring in the videos of the particular song at that moment. It is the video that is sexy, not the music. The notion that sex sells has been used to sell everything from cigarettes to cars, so why leave out music. And right from the time that Queen created ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, the very first English music video, music videos became a more and more important art form. There was even a time when the music didn’t really matter, the videos did. You could have the crappiest music and lyrics, but if you had a good video, with handsome boys and sexy girls doing their thing without a second thought, you had the makings of a hit on MTV. Take Lady Gaga and her ‘Bad Romance’ video. I don’t think I could come up with a worse video if I searched for years. Yet she is a top selling artist, even more famous than Avril Lavigne or Taylor Swift, whose songs and music definitely have more merit. Let us now consider the argument often put forward by parents and politicians that sex and violence has been the mainstay of music videos for some time now. Most likely this started with videos by Madonna, or Prince, or Shakira, in which sexual content and contentions are the order of the day. Look, sex sells and while such videos have often been used by upcoming artists to increase their publicity and shock value, the effect is fleeting. That is because airplay is limited, and competition is fierce in the music industry. Right from the time Madonna burst on the music scene with Like a Virgin, she has been ‘using sexual innuendo to shock audiences’ (Streitmatter, 34). It is like monkey see, monkey do. If we take the lyrics of Shaggy’s ‘It Wasn’t Me’ or Pink’s ‘Fucking Perfect’ or Akon’s ‘She’s Getting Naked’, most of the 40 plus crowd will be shocked to hear the lyrics, much less see the songs on MTV. Yet most of us hardly react with a shrug. It’s all make-believe, w e say, and our kids should know that. But do they really? Let’s say some Lothario or super vixen wants to act this out in real life. Does it catch on, and how bad would it be? I would say the effect would be limited. No one wants to make a fool of themselves or be taken advantage of, no matter what they are doing in the music videos. I for one believe that music does not influence sexuality and sexual expression. There are many positive things that music can do to you. It can lift up your spirits, help you