Postmodernism in Preciousness, Endgame, and The Simpsons Essay

Postmodernism in Preciousness, Endgame, and The Simpsons - Essay Example Lispector allowed the reader to be a part of the text in stating in the beginning of the chapter that: â€Å"And within the mist there was something precious. Which do not extend itself, did not compromise itself nor contaminate itself. Which was intense like a jewel. Herself† (102). Another textual example in the chapter is when Lispector described the reality after the character passed through her imaginative scenes. She described it as: â€Å"When suddenly everything became unimportant and more rapid and light, where her face revealed freckles, her hair fell over her eyes, and where she was treated like a boy† (105). The character disappeared, and the reader became a part of the text as the character’s environment became real again. Lastly, the presence of the reader appeared as she â€Å"dressed hastily and downed her coffee in one gulp. She opened the front door. And then she no longer hurried† (107). This is a manifestation of the duality of silence in Lispector’s work, which is a character of a postmodernist literary artist. This dual structure is a character of her fiction that adds tension to the texts while creating the contextual silence on her works (Fitz 421). In relation to playwrights, postmodernism can be defined as the manner of standing out from the current rules. In this manner, the playwright, along with the artist, works without following the rules because they create the rules while creating the piece per se (Counsell and Wolf 55). It deviates from the usual realism and is considered as an important part of the pre-World War II plays that manifest metaplays. With this on hand, one of the best examples of postmodernist play is the Endgame written by Samuel Beckett. According to Keshavarz, as a postmodernist play, the characters in the Endgame represent a natural form of sadness (140). He presents a modern status of a person who fears and leans on a goddess with bitterness, doubt and indifference. On the ot her hand, it represents the modernity of a selfless person who lacks the stability of his identity but still manifests social awareness. On the part of the audience, Beckett deviates the ideas and views of the audience from the formal work of dram and injecting postmodernism by bringing the audience in the middle of reality and real-play. He believes in the notion of metatheater that the world is a stage. In this manner, the audiences become characters of the play while experiencing the experience of the characters that they have chosen to be. It can be inferred that postmodernism, in the light of the Endgame, tries to eliminate the potential characters of modernism that alienates reality from theater, or vice versa. Therefore, the Endgame eliminates the rules of basic drama and theater and allows rebuilds it in a manner that the play can be grasp juxtaposition with life itself. The postmodernism manner in the Endgame can also be considered as a literary strategy by Beckett by destr oying the irony of a parody (Keshavaraz 140-142; Rahimipoor and Edoyan 102). In the light of television shows, one of the most popular and long-running postmodern shows is The Simpsons. One of the most explicit characteristics of

Is religion a choice or it's just a brainwashing Research Proposal

Is religion a choice or it's just a brainwashing - Research Proposal Example 173). For decades organizations and associations have been using pressure tactics and mind control in the name of religion. Through brainwashing an individual is forced into conversion, which not just violates the human rights, but also has negative psychological consequences. They realize the extent to which they had been under influence, when they exit or defect from the system. Free will in religion is essential to maintain human rights and dignity but the way things stand, religion is not a matter of choice. The concept of brainwashing originated from the communists with the intention of overpowering the free will of the victims or forcing them to become communists (Anthony 1999, p. 424). It was then applied by religious cults in converting people. Religious experiences and beliefs are caused due to hallucinations and delusions (p. 428). Anthony cites Abgrall who believes that brainwashing, mind control, mental handling, coercive persuasion, are all methods to replace the thinking process (p. 426). Hypnosis makes people highly susceptible to â€Å"suggestions† (p. 428) and the altered states of consciousness results in conversions based on overwhelmed will (p. 429). Even though America has rejected the brainwashing model, Robbins cites three shocking events where violence resonated – Jonestown, Synanon and Rajneeshpuram (Robbins, p. 171). How the court or the judges interpret law widely differs from psychological reality or how transformations or beliefs can be affected or influenced. This has been found in not one but series of conspicuous events. Evidences from France, Belgium and Geneva demonstrate that various techniques have been used to recruit members and retain them (Richardson and Introvigne, p. 147) although there are allegations that America has exported the concept of brainwashing to all other countries. A French psychiatrist compares conversion or brainwashing to seduction

Wildlife Tourism Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Wildlife Tourism - Research Paper Example Wildlife tourism can involve tours, experiences accessible in association with the accommodation of tourists, attractions at fixed sites, or it can come about as unguided meeting by independent travelers (Spenceley, 2012, pp. 85-88). Â  Wildlife tourism has several stakeholders. The first stakeholders in this sector are the visitors. They have an expectation of accessing experiences that are of affordable high quality. These experiences include interesting activities of wildlife watching and guided excursions. Some tourists would like to have opportunities to familiarize themselves with the local culture through interacting with the people inhabiting those areas (Benson, 2001, p. 132). Â  Another set of stakeholders in the tourism industry includes private and public sectors, such as traveling and bringing together industrial associations. This ensures that there is development in the wildlife sector. They also ensure the individual operators get maximum short-term profits. The third stakeholder is the host and the indigenous community. The indigenous community improves a minimal negative social effect of this sector. While capitalizing on profits from the local area, they ensure that there is no disruption on the local wildlife (Lovelock, 2007, pp. 152-156). Another role they play is trying to protect the environment together with the livelihood assets, at the same time minimizing the disturbance that might be encountered by the community, hence, disturbing the culture.

Health Psychology Master Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Health Psychology Master - Essay Example As Tudor (1996) states mental health should be seen as a 'positive concept', that must be seen as different from psychopathology. Good mental health is not only about not having difficulties which cannot be overcome, but also implies that the individual will develop in, an emotionally and intellectually, healthy way across their lifetime. These healthy skills will give the individual, child or adult, the strength to be able to manage when life's inevitable problems find them, as well as being able to form fulfilling interpersonal relationships (BMA, 2006; MHF, 2006). The term mental health covers a wide range of difficulties that individuals may encounter throughout their lives. These can range from everyday concerns, such as a homework deadline, to severe and crippling problems, such as depression (BMA, 2006). The ONS (2006) defines mental health disorders as a set of clinically recognised abnormal behaviour and symptoms, which cause the individual extreme distress and distortion to their everyday lives. These crippling problems cause great suffering for the individual, and severely affect their ability to function in everyday life. However, these disorders do not manifest over night. They are usually brought on slowly and have roots in childhood (Ahrons, 2004). Therefore, if British children are already suffering from mental health difficulties, then as an adult they will have a high chance of these problems continuing or reoccurring. As has been reported in the media (USAtoday, 2008; The Times, 2008; BBC, 2008) British society seems to be letting down their children, as they are reportedly 'the unhappiest children in Europe' (UNICEF, 2006). Other research has implied these same results (Alexander & Hargreaves, 2007; Porthouse, 2006). Research published in Porthouse (2006) stated that John Bradshaw has shown that British children were more unhappy than most of their European counterparts. This led to a flurry of research on the matter. Bradshaw's report (Porthouse, 2006) and later ones from UNICEF (2006) have suggested that Britain is one of the worst places for child health, that British teenagers have the second lowest score for their hopes and ambitions for their future careers and employment prospects. The UNICEF (2006) report covered six main dimensions including material wealth, family relationships and peer relationships, education, the child's subjective understanding of their well-being, all brought toget her to present an encompassing picture of British children's lives. Alexander & Hargreaves (2007) state that what was most striking from their research was the amount of agreement which the results showed, particularly in the main areas of 'educational purpose, curriculum and assessment, the condition of childhood and society, and the world in which today's children are growing up' (p.1). What was more striking though was the negativity and 'critical tenor' that these issues told the researchers. The researchers found repeatedly that the children felt under powerful or even extreme pressure from the schools they attended. However, Harris and Guten (1979) state an individual's health behaviour shows little consistency. They may go to the gym everyday to look after their bodies, and then eat fast-food burger on the way home. This makes applying theory difficult. In addition, health behaviour tends to change over periods of time, making conclusive assumptions of

Chessington History Essay Example for Free

Chessington History Essay Chessington Zoo was opened in July 1931 as a private venture by Reginald Goddard who invited the public to view his private animal collection. After the War Chessington soon became known for the different types of entertainment it could offer:- a circus, a funfair and a miniature railway as well as the zoo. Despite this in the early 1970s the attendance figures of over 800,000 began to decline. The Zoo was in need of further investment. In 1978 the Pearson Group bought Chessington and when they later bought Madame Tussauds, they put all their leisure interests together to form the Tussauds Group. 1981 saw the beginning of the planning for the transformation of Chessington. Six years and i 12m later the Park was ready. It was opened in July 1987 by H. R. H. Prince Edward. The opening coincided with the opening of the M25 which gives easy access to the Park from various parts of the country. Approximately 18m people live within a 2 hour drive of the Park. On 19th October 1998 it was announced that Pearson had sold the Tussauds Group to Charterhouse Development Capital for i 352m. The Tussauds Group Vision and Mission Vision: Entertaining People. Mission: To deliver real growth in profits to take Europes leading entertainment world-wide. The Marketing Department are a small team who work across both Chessington World of Adventures and Thorpe Park. It is the overall responsibility of the Marketing department to ensure that the brand identities of the two Parks are maintained in all communication both on and off the Parks. They do this through first identifying the brand identity, target market, and visual representation of the brand, i. e. the logo. For Chessington the target market is families with children under 12. Each year the marketing department will put together a marketing plan that covers the following areas: Product. Although almost without exception a new attraction is launched each year, and the main launch communication will focus on that, general communication about the rest of the Park is required. Theme Parks provide a whole day out for the family and its not just about the rides. The other attractions, places to eat, games, photography, the atmosphere, all play an important part in delivering a great day out. Pricing. There is a complex pricing structure for the Park which looks to maximise the revenue the Park can achieve with its targeted number of visitors. Marketing will review the pricing each year and along with the finance department look at how the budgeted targets can be achieved through the pricing matrix. Advanced sales are important to the business and for this reason tickets booked in advance are discounted, also those booked via the Internet are further discounted as this is a more efficient way for us to produce the tickets. Advanced tickets reduce the queues at admissions as visitors already have their tickets and can go straight in to the Park. Promotion. Promotion of the Park happens via a number of different communication channels. Advertising. This is generally broken down into two areas, the creative production of the advert and then the choice of where to place that advert, TV, Radio, Press etc. For the year 2002 communication for Chessington will focus on the new attraction, Hocus Pocus Hall. The main creative idea is all based around The New Adventure Starts Here. This new creative idea will be adapted for use on TV, Radio, Press and in Childrens comics, ie The Beano. Promotions. Promotions are very import in incentivising visitors to come to the Park. The incentive is generally either a Buy One get One Free mechanic or a discount off the full adult or child price. Chessington ran promotions on its own or in conjunction with the Tussauds Group, ie Tesco. Promotions can be run with a wide variety of partners, Esso, News of the World, KP Skips or solus via a direct mail campaign to surrounding homes. Public Relations. This area is all about getting positive exposure in the media, TV, Radio and Press. This is generally achieved through issuing Press Releases and conducting interviews with journalists. Measuring the Success. Throughout the year, how the Park is doing against its financial targets is constantly reviewed, but in addition Marketing conducts ongoing research into how the Park is performing on a daily basis. Questionnaires are handed out to visitors as they leave asking them to rank the rides experiences, eating places, how friendly and helpful the staff were, etc. This provides information on where things may be going wrong and how to put them right. New Media is a crucial area for involvement now and in the future. In addition to maintaining its own site: www. chessington. com, the Marketing department looks to exploit other opportunities for advertising, promotions and PR on other sites. Use of agencies. Chessington uses a wide variety of agencies as they bring different areas of expertise and experiences to the department. We use an advertising agency to create the TV, Radio adverts etc. and also for all the design work for the Gate Map. The space for the TV, Radio slots etc  is purchased by a Media Buying agency. We also use a Sales Promotion agency, PR agency and Internet design agencies. Corporate Hospitality makes it possible for businesses to entertain their guests at Chessington World of Adventures. Up to 3 000 corporate guests can be catered for at any one time. Education. An establishment like Chessington World of Adventures offers the opportunity for students studying the leisure industry, business or animals to visit the Park and find out more about their subject. For this reason, it is possible for groups to incorporate an educational talk into their visit. The Zoo enables guests to learn about the wildlife at Chessington World of Adventures. The Marketing Department ensure that the signage for the animals and around the Park are of a high quality and accessible by all the guests. Most often asked marketing questions Q Is the price of a new attraction affected by the viability of the ride? A Careful research is undertaken before a new attraction is bought. The attraction may be put in place to address a gap in guest numbers for a particular age range. The new attraction will encourage that element to visit the Park and therefore increase guest satisfaction.

The Unorganised Sector Issues And Concerns Essay Example for Free

The Unorganised Sector Issues And Concerns Essay Problems of Definition The bulk of the Indian labour force is employed in what is loosely referred to as unorganised sector. Most of them are neither organised nor hive any access to social security. Their employment is unprotected, their wages are extremely low, and a large section of them live under conditions below the poverty line. The developmental efforts by the state have done little to improve their living coalitions. This is a matter of concern not only for the trade unions but also for every rational person in this country. Defining the term unorganised sector is a difficult task indeed. Apart from the conceptual difficulties, the definition also depends on who is defining it and for what purpose. There are broadly three different usages of the term. Firstly, the government plan documents m-id demographic surveys extensively use the term. According to this usage, the unorganised sector is defined rather negatively, is comprising of the labour force that falls outside the organised sector. The organised sector is defined is the one covering labour force employed in all the enterprises in the public sector and only the non-agricultural establishments in the private sector employing 10 or more workers The criterion of 10 is derived from the Factories Act, which covers all the establishments employing 10 or more people. This definition though indicative of the structure of employment fails to qualify each sector, and therefore leaves many questions unanswered. It nonetheless serves the purpose of government planning and projections. Given the fact that unorganised sector accounts for more than 90% of the labour force in the country, the inadequacies of this definition as reflected in the statistical data, appear to be marginal, even though in actual terms the numbers may be very high. Another governmental source, which defines the unorganised sector, again for statistical and administrative purposes, is that of the Central Statistical Organisation. According to this definition, the unorganised sector includes all those unincorporated enterprises and  household industries (other than the organised ones) which are not regulated by any legislation and which do not maintain annual accounts or balance sheets. This definition also serves the limited administrative purposes, and does not qualify the sector. In any case, both the above definitions are based on the existing legal framework, whether concerning labour or business establishments, and are therefore liable to change with every change in legislation. Therefore, these definitions are hardly adequate tools for social analysis. The second source of definition of the term unorganised sector is literature in the economics discipline. Economists have tried to define this sector in terms of the organisation of capital, nature of products, technologies used (traditional or modern), the markets served (local or general) or the consumers of the products (rich or poor) The thesis has been that the unorganised sector is characterised by low technology that it caters to local markets and to consumers who come from the lower segment of the society. There are many difficulties with this definition too. Bannerji argues that attempts at clearly delineating the character of the unorganised sector have not been successful because such clear-cut demarcation is not universally valid. The exact combination of activities that actually exist in any one region at a given time, seem to be an outcome of the interaction of various factors such as complexity of the economy, the actual extent and distribution of control of investment resources and the technological choices available to that economy. Since the configuration of such factors is almost always specific to each situation, what is true of one country at one time, fails to apply to another Attempts to distinguish the two sectors on the basis of products, markets and technologies have a severe limitation, bec ause of the extensive linkages that exist between the sectors, very often the organised sector taking advantage of the low cost operation in the unorganised sector to manufacture its own products which are for general market. Moreover, bulk of the export goods are manufactured in tile unorganised sector through a systematic decentralisation of the production process and the putting-out system. The third usage of the term unorganised sector is by the trade unions and those concerned with labour. The attempt made by Nirmala Bannerji comes under this category of usage of the term. According to her, the unorganised sector usually consists of productive activities with  loosely formed groups bound by diverse types of informal working contracts. It includes a section of the self-employed, wage earners, family producers as also household workers. The significance of this definition is that it brings in the nature of employment relationship as the main factor that distinguishes organised from the unorganised sector. The unorganised sector consists of productive activities carried out by loosely formed groups which are bound by informal contracts. Even though Bannerji’s definition brings out the most imp ortant characteristic feature of the unorganised sector, from labours point of view, further exploration is required to get an insight into the complexity and the diversity of this sector. There are certain fundamental difficulties in using the existing categories of organised sector and unorganised sector for trade union purposes. Trade unions by their very nature are essentially concerned with protecting labour from exploitation and arbitrariness of whoever employs them. If labour Protection is taken is the basic criterion of the trade unions, then organised and unorganised cease to be homogeneous categories, because we find unprotected labour in both the sectors. Even though the unorganised sector accounts for the majority of them, even the organised sector has its own share of unprotected labour in the form of casual, contract, badli, and temporary workers whose employment conditions are similar to those in the unorganised sector. One may argue that the proportion of the unprotected labour in the organised sector is very marginal. This is however not true, because, during the eighties there has been a gradual decline in permanent employment accompanied by a sharp rise in the casual employment. A recent survey of seven major industries, commissioned by Friedrich Ebert Foundation in 1991, reports that during the eighties, in almost all the industries the proportion of casual and temporary employment has increased phenomenally, ranging between a quarter to nearly half of the total workforce. The National Sample Survey data also show a similar trend. According to this data, in the organised sector, the employment growth rate has declined from 2.48 per cent during 1977-78 1983 to 1.38 per cent during 1983 1987-88. In the organised manufacturing sector, particularly, employment had virtually stagnated during 1983- 1987-88. Given the above trends, from the trade union perspective, it would be fallacious to characterise organised sector as the protected sector, and the unorganised sector as the  unprotected sector. Apart from these conceptual difficulties, very often, among the trade union circles, there exists confusion between the terms unorganised sector and unorganised labour. Many use these terms synonymously, even though there is a substantial difference between the two. While the former refers to the unorganised part of the industry or the whole economy, the latter refers to workers who are not organised as trade unions. It is true that the bulk of the labour force in the unorganised sector is not organised, but at the same time there are also unorganised workers in the organised sector. Similarly, there are also some workers within the unorganised sector, as we shall see, who are organised as trade unions. From a purely trade union point of view, it may be more appropriate to use the terms protected sector and unprotected sector which cut across both organised and unorganised sectors. However, it would be impossible to totally discard the terms that are currently in use because the entire edifice of the statistical data is built on this foundation. Nonetheless, it would be useful to be aware of the inadequacies of the existing categories. One needs to be, particularly, careful while interpreting the official data. Labour in the Unorganised Sector Keeping the above mentioned definitional problems in view, let us now examine the salient features of the labour force in the unorganised sector as reflected in the official data. According to 1991 census, the total labour force in India is estimated to be 317 millions. Out of this, the organised sector employs only 26.8 millions (8.5 %), while the unorganised sector employs as many as 290.2 millions, (91.5 %) (See Chart 1 and Table 1). Pension scheme for agricultural labourers all over the country. As discussed earlier, the distinction between these two sectors is very crucial from the point of view of employment relationship. It is not clear from the census data whether the figures for the organised sector employment include the casual / contract workers also. If it does, then the proportion of the protected labour will be less than 8.5 per cent. While the majority of workers in the organised sector hive regular salaried jobs in the registered factories and service establishments, the workers in the unorganised sector are either self-employed or work as casual wage labourers in a wide range of sectors both non-agricultural and agricultural. The crucial distinction between the sectors is the nature of employment relationship. Going by Bannerji’s definition cited earlier, the unorganised sector includes agricultural labourers, construction workers, forest workers, fish workers, beedi workers, workers in smal l and tiny industrial units, powerloom and handloorn workers, self-employed workers, domestic workers and so on. If we use the term unprotected sector, then the list also includes all the casual / contract workers employed in the organised sector. Technically, labour laws do not differentiate between organised and unorganised sectors. However, in practice, they provide ample opportunities to the employers and their contractors to deny basic rights to certain categories of workers. As we shall see later, there are certain structural problems, which make, it difficult for workers to assert their rights. In the organised sector, for instance, the production strategies such as subcontracting, ancillarisation, etc., are essentially geared to by-pass the protective legislations. As a result, over the years, the proportion of casual and contract labour has  been increasing in almost all the industries in both private and public sector. An important characteristic feature of the unorganised sector is that it employs a large number of women. The relative proportion of female workers is very high in this sector. As shown in Table 1, only 4.2% of the total female workers (as defined in Census) are in the organised sector. The corresponding percentage for male workers is 10.2%. The difference is rather striking if we look at the absolute figures. As against 23 million male workers there are only 3.8 million female workers in the organised sector. That is, for every six male workers there is only one female worker. In contrast to this, in the unorganised sector, there are 86.8 million women workers against 203.4 million male workers. That is, there is one woman worker for every two and odd male workers. Table 2 shows the sex distribution in both the sectors. In the organised sector, women constitute 14.2%, whereas in the unorganised sector they constitute 30%. In terms of wages and earnings, there exists a substantial difference between the organised and the unorganised sectors. Table 3 shows the aggregate figures for the year 1981. Out of the total annual income of Rs.87,840 crores, the self-employed workers earned Rs.44,719 crores (50.9%,) while the wage and salary earners earned Rs.43,121 crores (49.1%). Within the wage earners category, the organised sector accounted for Rs.24,850 (28.3%) while the unorganised sector accounted for Rs.18,271 crores (20.8%). If we look at overall sector-wise figures by combining self-employed and the wage earners in the unorganised sector, we would get the broad picture of earnings in the unorganised sector in contrast to those in the organised sector. The unorganised sector accounts for 71.7 per cent of the total earnings in comparison to 28.3 of the organised sector. The organised sector workers, even though account for only nine-tenth of the total workforce, earn more than one-fourth (one third according to the latest figures) of the nations total wages and incomes. The figures of the average annual income per worker bring out the contrast between the sectors more sharply. While the organised sector worker earned Rs.10,851 per annum, the wage earner in the unorganised sector earned Rs.2,482 and the self-employed person earned Rs. 3,549. If we take the average of the unorganised sector as a whole, the figure would be much lower. These figures are for the year 1981, and the present figures in actual terms may be relatively higher. Issues and Concerns The primary concern regarding labour in the unorganised sector is that most of them live below the poverty line. Their access to the basic necessities of life such as food, clothing, shelter, education, health and other forms of social security is extremely poor. One of the major reasons for this is that they are not organised. They lack organisations which can effectively represent their issues and problems at the national level. The established trade unions in the country, including the left unions, have completely neglected this sector. This is reflected in the membership figures of the central trade union organisations. According to the latest verification of membership conducted by the central government in 1990, the membership of the top five unions is around 10 millions, which is roughly around 3 per cent of the total working population in the country. Even though this includes both the organised sector as well as the unorganised sector, the proportion of the latter is very in significant. For example, according to 1980 figures, the INTUC, which at that time was the largest union, had only 15 unions in the agricultural sector with a membership of 25,931, which is slightly more than one per cent of its total membership of over 22 lakhs. Similarly, CITU hid only 14 unions with a membership of 2,212, which is less than one per cent of its total membership of over 3 lakhs. There are, of course, certain structural difficulties in organising workers in the unorganised sector. Unlike in. the organised sector, the existing conditions are not conducive to the functioning of trade unions. In the organised sector, that is, in large factories and other establishments, collective  bargaining institutions are well developed and trade unions are accepted as legitimate organisations representing workers. In other words, the means of struggle for better wage and working conditions are institutionalised. This is however not the case with the unorganised sector. The following are some of the problems at the very fundamental level in this sector. 1. Employment regulation In the unorganised sector the primary issue is regulation of employment. This is a very difficult task for unions to achieve. The employment contract is unwritten and informal. Workers are at the mercy of the employer. Giving an appointment letter is unheard of in this sector. By making the very employment relationship informal, the employer keeps himself out of the statutory obligations. Workers in order to make any legal claim have to first identified the employer and establish the employment relationship. Quite apart from these legal problems, since workers depend on the employer who may be a contractor or a middleman or the principal employer himself, for their sustenance, they dare not take recourse to legal action. This problem is more acute in the case of migrant workers, for instance, in the construction industry. Another means of bypassing a formal employment relationship adopted by trader-merchant-manufacturer is to utilise the home-based family labour. The so-called self employed workers in beedi, carpet, handloom, coir, hosiery and a host of other industries, come under this category. The trader-merchant-manufacturer or his middlemen provide the raw material to the home-based workers and collect the semi-finished or finished goods which they market themselves. The price that the workers get for their value-addition is very low and equivalent to wages, and their living conditions are no better than the wage labour. So, the self-employed who constitute nearly 56 per cent of the total workforce in the country are not really self-employed in the true sense. In the absence of a formal employment relationship the established trade unions, which are more used to functioning in the organised sector where all that they have to do is submit charter of demands and negotiate a reasonable bargain for the workers, find it extremely difficult to fight for workers in the unorganised sector. Trade union work in the unorganised sector is much more demanding and relates to certain structural changes of very fundamental  nature which requires struggle at various levels. The means and strategies to be adopted for achieving these changes also differ very much with those that are adopted in the organised sector. The following are the three different levels at which the trade unions in the unorganised sector have to fight. †¢ Grass-root Level †¢ Labour Courts †¢ Political Level At the grass-root level, as mentioned earlier, it is very difficult to identify a single, consistent employer to deal with. As a deliberate strategy, contractors keep changing from time to time in order to avoid any legal binding. Also, at times, workers themselves move from one workplace to another. In certain cases such as domestic workers, unions have to deal with multiple employers who are not concentrated in one place but scattered all over. Given such a wide variation and the fluid state of employer-employee relationship, unions in this sector have to evolve innovative strategies to fight for the basic rights of their members. The second level of struggle is in the labour courts. Since the employer-employee relationship in this sector is not institutionalised, the disputes invariably end up in litigation. For instance, in case of contract workers in the organised sector much of the trade union work involves fighting court cases, which demands not only determination on the part of the unions but also resources. This is one of the major reasons why the unions of the workers in the organised sector turn a blind eye to the plight of the contract and casual workers. The third and the most important level of struggle is at the political level for policy changes and enactment of protective legislation by the government. This requires the unions to have a wider support base coupled with political campaigns. 2. Lack of trade union consciousness In this sector the very idea of trade union organisation is new. Due to their insecure employment situation, workers are not always forthcoming to participate in the union activity. The unions have an extremely difficult task of gaining the confidence of workers to begin with, and then convincing them -about the importance of dealing with their employers collectively  rather than as individuals. 3. Struggle for legitimacy In the unorganised sector, the basic struggle of the trade unions is for legitimacy of their own existence and freedom to function as trade unions. They are confronted with hostile employers whose basic advantage in operating in the unorganised sector is its unregulated employment and availability of cheap labour. Since trade unions by their very nature fight for regulation of employment, better wages and social security measures, they strike it the very root of this advantage. This results in a bitter conflict in which very often the trade unions are at the receiving end. Given such hostility to any form of trade union activity in this sector, the union activists have to find various means of obtaining legitimacy. Where hostility is very high, the activists function only as a voluntary organisation. As the situation improves they start functioning both as a voluntary organisation as well as a trade union simultaneously. Since, by definition, these two types of organisations have different legal status the activists function as either, depending on the need and circumstance. Such a strategy is essential in order to continue the organisational effort in a hostile environment. 4. Issues related to development policy Trade unions in the unorganised sector are confronted with not merely employment and wage issues, but also are forced to raise certain fundamental issues related to developmental policy. This is so because, in various sectors, such as fisheries, forestry, agriculture, etc., the workers directly depend, on natural resources for their livelihood. Governments development policy has a direct bearing on their lives. For instance, the forest workers, who have for generations lived in forests and enjoyed certain customary rights over forest resources, are now confronted with modem developmental agencies such as state corporations which have drawn boundaries within the forest area depriving them of their traditional rights, and in many cases even displacing them. The local people depend on forests for fuel, fodder, and material to build their houses. The forest corporations which were created with the explicit purpose of directly taking up commercial activity related to forest resources, and thereby replacing  the middlemen who had been exploiting the forests, have, in reality, deprived the local peoples access to the forests. Another example is that of fish workers living near and around Chilika Lake located in Orissa on the eastern coast. Thousands of fish workers for generations hid depended on this lake for their livelihood. But now, with government leasing out the lake to private entrepreneurs for developing prawn culture for export, these workers have been debarred from fishing in the lake. Such issues, related to the governmental policy can be taken up only at the national level, which means that there should be a national level organisation to represent the interests of the unprotected workers in the unorganised sector. Today, unfortunately, such an organisation does not exist. 5. Lack of visibility Lastly, the workers in the unorganised sector lack visibility at the national level. In contrast to workers in the organised sector, their working conditions and problems hardly ever become subjects of national debate. This is best illustrates by the fact that the primary focus of the New Economic Policy is the organised sector. The question of exit policy has generated a great deal of debate, and become a politically sensitive issue. It is a different matter whether the government is genuinely concerned about the retrenched workers in the organised sector. The point is, in the unorganised sector, which employs more than 90% of the total workforce in the country, redundancies and retrenchments are a daily affair. Ironically, this issue has never merited a debate or discussion either in the media or in the trade union establishments. Source:Unprotected Labour in India – Issues and Concerns by Sarath Davala (ed.) Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, 1994, pp:1-13.

Cultural Imperialism Is A Very Old Phenomenon Media Essay

Cultural Imperialism Is A Very Old Phenomenon Media Essay During the past five hundred years, European countries colonized southern countries in the name of spreading Christian civilization to the primitive people in other parts of the world, as well as securing resources and workers for economic production. As cultural imperialism occurs, it is said to be for the own good of the other, conquered civilization, to spread universal values, rights and standards of development. The United States are currently not the only cultural imperialists, but the spread of American values in the entire world is at the leading edge of a wave of spread of Western goods and consumerist culture. Today, the phenomenon might take a different form, as it is a lot more subtle and less brutal than the European colonization: it is being done in the name of freedom of the market and freedom of expression. There are two sides and two major views on the ongoing process. Some consider the propagation of the American culture as unavoidable and beneficial to the world, for some American cultural imperialism is a threat to other cultures. I will try to review both of them to make a better and more reasonable assumption. People who do not see the hegemony of American culture as a threat, state that through the media, the United States is spreading some universal values and human rights. To some authoritarian countries, it spreads ideas of freedom of expression, democracy, equality, and rights concepts that should be, in some peoples opinion, universal. Universality of some values may be possible human nature is not that different from one culture to another, and many values are shared across cultures. However, the majority of the worlds cultures undervalue women and children in practice if not in ethos. Finally, the majority of the worlds people, regardless of the names given to governmental regimes by those with authority, continue to live without real participatory democracy. American ideals of equality, freedom, and democracy now available in the world may give more freedom to women, children, and to minorities in all cultures, and will promote anti-racist, anti-sexist or anti-authoritarian mess ages and regimes.   Irving Kristol, in The emerging American Imperialism, presents imperialism as an unintended consequence of market expansion rather than a conscious goal: one of these days, the American people are going to awaken to the fact that we have become an imperial nation. But he later argues that it is not something unintentional, but that in fact many nations have facilitated and welcomed American cultural values along with American products and ways of life: it happened because the world wanted it to happen. To him, the American missionaries live in Hollywood, which is different from the Old European imperialism, which was based on bureaucratic colonial governments and resource extraction.   Christopher Dunkley, in American Cultural Imperialism: No Bad Thing says that America provides some of the best available anywhere in the world. One of the reasons that American series are so successful in the world is that thanks to its immigration policies, the US has a population with a mixture of Anglo Saxons, Scandinavians, Asians and so on that provides American broadcasters with a domestic audience which is, to all intents and purposes, international. Please the American audience and you can guarantee you will please the world. Some theories of globalization see, instead of cultural imperialism, the movement of products and ideas from across national and cultural borders in ways that produce real changes in cultures like that of the United States. In 1994, MacQuail wrote in his book Mass Communication Theory that not only was United States influencing other cultures, but other cultures were also influencing the US: While one-way flow may be evident in terms of information flows on an information theory quantitative estimate, the reality is that as media technology and economies become more intertwined, this seemingly one-way flow reverses itself into a two-way flow in which what sells abroad influences what Americans see at home. In that perspective, we can talk about an interpenetration of cultures instead of the invasion of American culture in the world. Language is another consideration when speaking about cultural imperialism. English is indeed the language of business, higher education, diplomacy, the Internet, science, popular music, entertainment and international travel. The importance of learning English is not just a political or economic issue4. Logically and arguably, the world needs to have one kind of universal language at a basic level. Economically, having a central language could prove as a great advantage when companies can use the same computer programs in one language. As of 2006, an estimated 1 billion people speak English  5. There has been a greater desire to learn English since the Internet has made such a big impact on the world. The reality is that language and cultural barriers and misunderstandings can get in the way of effective communication and create complications in the work world. With the aid of having a universal language, work can be done more efficiently, safer, and with fewer complications than when there is the factor of a language barrier. For international companies, which have branches all over the world in hundreds of different countries with different languages, this universal language could mean a whole new level of production and growth, and in essence, raise the standard of living for many. Richard Pells states that the effectiveness of the English language as a mass communicator has been essential to the acceptance of the American culture. Unlike other languages, the simpler structure, grammar, and use of more concise sentences in the English language, are all advantageous for the composers of ad slogans, cartoon captions, newspaper headlines, and movie and TV dialogue. English, Pells says, is thus a language exceptionally well suited to the demands and spread of American mass culture10.   The American cultural imperialism as a threat to other cultures We should not forget that the differences in cultures make the world a rich and diverse place. Every individual of each country should have the right to express his or her own culture. A cultural uniformity would lead to the extinction of cultures and it would definitely represent a great loss.   However, the American culture is intruding on most cultures in the world, in many cases threatening their existence. Superman, Spider-man, and Batman replace local heroes; Pepsi and Coke replace local fruit drinks; and trick or treat begin to replace Dia de los Muertos. Perhaps more insidious, to compete with American cultural imports, local varieties and products begin to mimic American products. All the exportation of goods and information from the United States to the entire planet contributes to the exportation of the American culture.   We know that the United States is the leader in exporting its information. One problem is that the United States sells its information and media products so cheaply that it is impossible for the whole world to compete. The American producers budget to cover their costs within the US market and can consequently sell at unbeatable prices internationally. A consequence is that it is much cheaper to buy, for example, a blockbuster Hollywood movie made in the United States than to make a less expensive local production in another country. As a famous movie director George Lucas says, the United States is a provincial country with a culture that has invaded the world via Hollywood. As long as there has been a talking Hollywood, Hollywood has had a huge impact on the rest of the world. Lucas points out that people in other countries are troubled by what they see as US culture squashing local art and cinema. The motivations behind American cultural imperialism parallel the justifications for U.S. imperialism throughout history: the desire for access to foreign markets and the belief in the superiority of American culture. Though the United States does boast the worlds largest, most powerful economy, no business is completely satisfied with controlling only the American market; American corporations want to control the other 95 percent of the worlds consumers as well. Many industries are incredibly successful in that venture. According to the Guardian, American films accounted for approximately 80 percent of global box office revenue in January 2003. And who can forget good old Micky Ds? With over 30,000 restaurants in over one hundred countries, the ubiquitous golden arches of McDonalds are now, according to Eric Schlossers Fast Food Nation, more widely recognized than the Christian cross. Such American domination inevitably hurts local markets, as the majority of foreign industries are unable to compete with the economic strength of U.S. industry. Because it serves American economic interests, corporations conveniently ignore the detrimental impact of American control of foreign markets. It is easy enough to convince Americans of the superiority of their culture, but how does one convince the rest of the world of the superiority of American culture? The answer is simple: marketing. Whether attempting to sell an item, a brand, or an entire culture, marketers have always been able to successfully associate American products with modernity in the minds of consumers worldwide. While corporations seem to simply sell Nike shoes or Gap jeans (both, ironically, manufactured outside of the United States), they are also selling the image of America as the land of cool. This indissoluble association causes consumers all over the globe to clamor ceaselessly for the same American products. In recent years, American corporations have developed an even more successful global strategy: instead of advertising American conformity with blonde-haired, blue-eyed, stereotypical Americans, they pitch diversity. These campaigns-such as McDonalds new international Im lovin it campaign-work by drawing on the United States history as an ethnically integrated nation composed of essentially every culture in the world. An early example of this global marketing tactic was found in a Coca Cola commercial from 1971 featuring children from many different countries innocently singing, Id like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony/Id like to buy the world a Coke to keep it company. This commercial illustrates an attempt to portray a U.S. goods as a product capable of transcending political, ethnic, religious, social, and economic differences to unite the world (according to the Coca-Cola Company, we can achieve world peace through consumerism). Today, the spread of American culture goes through every communication medium: 90% of the information available on the Internet is in English, CNN is seen in 120 countries, Stephen King is the number one best seller in the world. Obviously, there is already a process of cultural uniformity going on, and this can be seen as a great loss.   More recently, Viacoms MTV has successfully adapted this strategy by integrating many different Americanized cultures into one unbelievably influential American network (with over 280 million subscribers worldwide). According to a 1996 New World Teen Study conducted by DMBBs BrainWaves division, of the 26,700 middle-class teens in forty-five countries surveyed, 85 percent watch MTV every day. These teens absorb what MTV intends to show as a diverse mix of cultural influences but is really nothing more than manufactured stars singing in English to appeal to American popular taste. If the strength of these diverse American images is not powerful enough to move products, American corporations also appropriate local cultures into their advertising abroad. Unlike Levitts weak multinationals, these corporations dont bend to local tastes; they merely insert indigenous celebrities or trends to present the facade of a customized advertisement. MTV has spawned over twenty networks specific to certain geographical areas such as Brazil and Japan. These specialized networks further spread the association between American and modernity under the pretense of catering to local taste. Similarly, commercials in India in 2000 featured Bollywood stars Hrithik Roshan promoting Coke and Shahrukh Khan promoting Pepsi (Sanjeev Srivastava, Cola Row in India. BBC News Online). By using popular local icons in their advertisements, U.S. corporations successfully associate what is fashionable in local cultures with what is fashionable in America. America essentially samples the worlds cu ltures, repackages them with the American trademark of materialism, and resells them to the world. Compounding the influence of commercial images are the media and information industries, which present both explicit and implicit messages about the very real military and economic hegemony of the United States. Ironically, the industry that claims to be the source for fair and balanced information plays a large role in the propagation of American influence around the world. The concentration of media ownership during the 1990s enabled both American and British media organizations to gain control of the majority of the worlds news services. Satellites allow over 150 million households in approximately 212 countries and territories worldwide to subscribe to CNN, a member of Time Warner, the worlds largest media conglomerate. In the words of British sociologist Jeremy Tunstall, When a government allows news importation, it is in effect importing a piece of another countrys politics-which is true of no other import. In addition to politics and commercials, networks like CNN also present foreign countries with unabashed accounts of the military and economic superiority of the United States. The internationalization of television news, while unquestionably a crucial aspect of the processes generally lumped together as globalization, seems paradoxically to be the least well examined, yet most alluded to, aspect of the globalization phenomena. (Paterson, C. Global television news services, Media in Global Context: A Reader, Oxford University Press:1997, p.145). As Paterson points out in his article, few people actually seem to know that most television broadcasters buy international news from transnational news agencies like Rauters, Worldwide Television News and Associated Press Television. Or as Paterson puts it: since television is the major force in shaping how Europe and America see the world, and is becoming so in the rest of the industrialised world and much of the developing world, then the images selected by these few television journalists of similar training and background, are absolutely crucial determinants of how people world-wide perceiver other nations and global issues.  Some of these major news corporations are more closely allied with Rupert Murdoch, and Rupert Murdoch is widely believed to have used his print and broadcast news holding in Britain to bolster Thatcher and Thatcherism (Bagdikian:1989, found in Paterson, C. Global television news services, Media in Global Context: A Reader, Oxford University Press:1997 p.154). Commercialisation gives further reason for concern about international news. The tabloidization regarding printed media, and overflow of clichà ©s in television, as Paterson points out, is principally a process of dumbening down news, and putting emphases on news concerning sports and stars etc. which may perhaps have further impact on peoples political perception (or maybe lack of it). This trend rises questions about consumerism in the west, and what impact this may have on a global scale. But why is it happening and with such success?  cultural imperialism is understood in the terms of the imposition of one national culture upon another and the media are seen as central to this process as carriers of cultural meanings which penetrate and dominate the culture of the subordinate nation. (Barker, C. Global television, Blackwell Publishers: 1997 p.183)  . In conclusion media have speeded up the connection between cultures and thereby started to erase the boundaries of space, and even more profound boundaries of nations and government ensuring free flow of information and influence. The fact that America arguably is in the centre of this development rises concerns about which influences and the voice of whom we are hearing. The homogenisation thesis involved, as posed by many theorists, is both seen as an advantage and a reason for concern. This concern perhaps mainly because of the threat of American cultural imperialism and a consequent loss of diversity, and the possible immense power of position for whom leads this trend because of what seems to be an ability to override governments. The capitalistic nature of media prevents any revolt against the almost monopolistic position the western world has on globalisation via media, and there seem to be no authority that can intervene in this process preventing a monopoly. So however roman tic the idea of cultures being brought closer together is, there are also power struggles and the possibility to exploit this development, which American officials openly admit to be attempting.   The rise of English as an international language of trade and politics has been one of the strongest vehicles for the transmission of American culture. The place of English in the world has crystallized in the past decades you can read signs in English in every capital, and fluency in English has become a taken-for-granted prerequisite for upper-level positions in international trade and politics. While the forces leading to the rise of an international language differ greatly from cultural imperialism, it would be difficult to separate the two. As English becomes a global language, it becomes clear that language and culture cannot be separated. The AP National Writer journalist Anthony Ted says every one from the French to the Indonesians worry that where English goes, America will follow. Scholars Nye and Owen admitted that it is the goal of the United States to have English as the international language: It is in the economic and political interests of the United States to ensure that, if the world is moving to a common language, it be English; that if the world is becoming linked by television, radio and music, the programming be American; and that, if common values are being developed, they be values with which Americans are comfortable. According to them, not only it is intentional, but also it is a developing reality. If this spread of values, language, and information is purely because of economic and political interest for the United States, the well-being of other cultures and their freedom of expression are not taken into consideration except instrumentally can they be bought and sold for a profit, or can they be used to political advantage to the profit and advantage of the US.   Not all social critics see the Americanization of the world as a negative phenomenon. Proponents of cultural imperialism, such as David Rothkopf, a former senior official in Clintons Department of Commerce, argue that American cultural imperialism is in the interest not only of the United States but also of the world at large. Rothkopf cites Samuel Huntingtons theory from The Clash of Civilizations and the Beginning of the World Order that, the greater the cultural disparities in the world, the more likely it is that conflict will occur. Rothkopf argues that the removal of cultural barriers through U.S. cultural imperialism will promote a more stable world, one in which American culture reigns supreme as the most just, the most tolerant, the most willing to constantly reassess and improve itself, and the best model for the future. Rothkopf is correct in one sense: Americans are on the way to establishing a global society with minimal cultural barriers. However, one must question whet her this projected society is truly beneficial for all involved. Is it worth sacrificing countless indigenous cultures for the unlikely promise of a world without conflict? Around the world, the answer is an overwhelming No! Disregarding the fact that a world of homogenized culture would not necessarily guarantee a world without conflict, the complex fabric of diverse cultures around the world is a fundamental and indispensable basis of humanity. Throughout the course of human existence, millions have died to preserve their indigenous culture. It is a fundamental right of humanity to be allowed to preserve the mental, physical, intellectual, and creative aspects of ones society. A single global culture would be nothing more than a shallow, artificial culture of materialism reliant on technology. The attempt by UNESCO to regulate a more equal flow of communication between the North and the South, to protect cultural diversity and to protect countries from cultural imperialism unfortunately resulted in the withdrawal of the United States because it did not correspond to its financial interests. Since 1984, which is the date of the American withdrawal, UNESCO keeps trying to influence and give recommendations to governments, but it has no power over the main country that owns most of the communication flow in the world: the United States of America.