Importance Of Children In The Victorian Era - 1669 Words

The Belittled Little Ones of the Victorian Era Children of all classes during the Victorian era were seen but not heard. At the age of five, children were working to make a living during this time. Children during the Victorian era were raised and perceived as adults. In the story Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens wrote about a young orphan raised in a workhouse, where he was abused and overworked. Charles Dickens displayed in his literature how Victorian children were thrown around and were looked as nothing more than workers. He focused on this because he wanted to show how children were treated, and how people during that time did not see it as wrong. Charles Dickens revealed ways in which children in the Victorian era who were apart of the†¦show more content†¦Charles Dickens shows their lifestyle through his literature Oliver Twist and how the expectations the children lived under was supposed to result in the main goal of perfection. All children during the Victorian era could relate in a way. They all lacked relatio nships and social interactions with others. They also lived life in constant competition; either for food, work, or even popularity. Even though all the Victorians may not have lived the same lifestyle, they all wanted the same thing. The children in this time period were raised based by their social status. Many had no communication or did not know how to be affectionate due to the lack of attention, and interaction with family. Not having these basic skills caused many complications for the children such as hunger, isolation, and not having the knowledge of how to live life the proper lifestyle that was expected during the Victorian era . This made living hard, especially because family was so important during this time. Lower class children struggled to stay in homes and off the streets. During the Victorian era many children in the lower class were placed into a workhouse, because of the lack of money and basic necessities (Jordan 262). As children grew up in a workhouse, they lacked relationships with their family because of being abandoned or homeless. Not being raised by a family had a great affect on children in this era. VictorianShow MoreRelatedHow Class and Social Structure of the Victorian Era Is Reflected by the Literature of the Time1453 Words   |  6 Pagescountries in becoming a democracy and the uprising of societies against constricting governments. However during the Victorian Era, a structured hierarchical environment was not only accepted but was considered to be of the upmost importance in society’s continuous survival. Victorian Literature allows readers to gain a critical insight into the class and social hierarchy of the era, by outlining the extensive amount of guidel ines and restrictions applicable to each class and therefore how these affectedRead MoreThe Importance of Being Earnest Essay1439 Words   |  6 PagesA Trivial Comedy for Serious People Oscar Wilde mocked his audience while he entertained them. Perhaps his most loved and well-known work, The Importance of Being Earnest, satirises the manners and affections of the upper-class Victorian society. Satire is a literary tone used to ridicule or make fun of human vice or weakness, usually with the intent of changing or correcting the subject of the satirical attack. The play focuses on the elite, while making fun of the ludicrousness and extremityRead MoreThe Influence Of Society On Victorian Relationships1411 Words   |  6 PagesInfluence of Society on Victorian Relationships Afraid of rejection in the Victorian Era, men and women sought after relationships that agreed with the expectations set by society. Victorian literature satirized and underscored these expectations and their effects on individuals. During the Victorian Era relationships were not focused on the emotional aspect of marriage but rather growth in reputation and status. The characters in Oscar Wilde’s works, The Importance of Being Earnest and TheRead MoreCharacteristics Of Victorian Literature1437 Words   |  6 Pages Are the Victorians Romantics? Characteristics of Victorian literature are largely artists that are inspired by both the art that came before them and the event that occurred during the time that they were working. Victorian literature is largely characterized by the struggle of working people and the triumph of right over wrong, which do in part can be hard to decipher at times. This means that a piece of work can seem Victoria, but may not have been written in the Victorian era, or something canRead MoreFlatland : A Romance Of Many Dimensions813 Words   |  4 Pagesthe Victorian era. The novel Flatland refers to the Victorian era where at the time women were regarding as inferior to males and the family life was practically the only respectable career option for a woman. The man was the leader of the family and the wife was to teach the children and care for the house and her husband. Just before the time of the writing of Flatland girl’s schools were included under the Endowed Schools Act of 1869, but in comparison to their male counterparts Victorian femalesRead MoreThe Influence Of Victorian Society On Relationships And Marriage1642 Words   |  7 PagesThe Influence of Victorian Society on Relationships and Marriage Marriage was of utmost importance during the 1830’s to the 1900’s. The â€Å"ideal† relationship had been searched for by both men and women using the standards that the commonwealth had created. When reading Oscar Wilde’s â€Å"The Importance of Being Earnest† and associating it to society’s expectations for both genders throughout the Victorian era, people are depicted as being very effected and influenced by the set rules and boundaries.Read MoreVictorian and Edwardian Advertising 798 Words   |  3 Pagespainting. Later in 18th century, Victorian and Edwardian Britain left a big impact on the advertising industry, in where the advertising developed and increased dramatically ever since. The Victorian and Edwardian Britain reflected the social and economic changes in that era in term of the advertising method, the types of products advertised and the expansion of the advertising industry. Historical background of Victorian and Edwardian Britain The Victorian Era was the period of Queen Victorian’sRead MoreOscar Wilde s A Woman Of No Importance1057 Words   |  5 PagesOscar Wilde’s A Woman of No Importance, written and published in 1893, a witty melodrama that challenges morality, piety, and depicts gender inequalities in the Victorian Era. Critics deemed A Woman of No Importance as being on the, â€Å"weakest of the plays Wilde wrote,† 1 of the 19th Century because was described as being very shocking and unpleasant to theatergoers of this time for questioning the gender inequalities of the era. Moreover, this play is characterized as being a sentimental comedy whereRead MoreThe Lady Of Shalott By Tennyson And Goblin Market1464 Words   |  6 PagesThe Victorian age is a challenging era to outline. There was a handful of reasons on why it was such a challenging time. One of the main problematic topics was gender roles being very controversial. Men were looked at being intelligent and the leader of the family while women were the ones to care for the children and keep up on the domestic duties. While there were many women that accepted the typical gender roles, there were many women that were not accepting. In both poem, â€Å"The Lady of Shalott†Read MoreAnalysis Of The Poem The Angel Of The House 893 W ords   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"The Angel in the House† During the Victorian Era in 1837 the period that was ruled by Queen Victoria I, women endured many social disadvantages by living in a world entirely dominated by men. Around that time most women had to be innocent, virtuous, dutiful and be ignorant of intellectual opinion. It was also a time associated with prudishness and repression. Their sole window on the world would, of course, be her husband. During this important era, the idea of the â€Å"Angel in the House† was

Essay on Maywood Academy To Charter or Not to Charter

To my fellow community and all present here today, we are faced with a problem bigger than we thought it would be, either to go charter or not! What does charter mean to you? To me it means being isolated in a prison ruled by selfish stubborn officials that don’t take our education and our future seriously! Some of us might take it lightly while on others it has a huge impact. I, as a fellow student will not stand for this. I demand for my voice to be heard; not only for myself, but for others too. And together we will prevail. Maywood Academy gives a lot of opportunities too many students that want to succeed in life. With charter, all those opportunities will just go down the drain. Education is a precious thing and should not be†¦show more content†¦All they will do is just bring us down. Charter is treating our school like if we are something to fight over. We aren’t just plain anything, we are a community united. And this is our school! Let’s not be selfish and just think of our generation but the generations after us. Be fair and let them have the same opportunities as we did. But then again, how would I know that my classmates and I will have those future opportunities if we go charter. On the other hand, let us speak our mind and let us be. If we go charter, how will we know if our school will stay the same? Charter means semi-private and semi-public. But how do we know if it’s going to be more private than public. Right now Maywood Academy is part of our community and it is open to the public but if we go charter our school won’t belong to us but to a company that will have the rights to make the rules not knowing whether it will be good for us or bad. We shall not take that risk because we are doing well and if they make the rules there is a chance that they might bring us down. In private schools, special-ed kids aren’t accepted, so how do we know if special-ed kids will be accepted at our â€Å"new† school? Their futures will be lost too! Not only them but kids with problems concentrating in school. How would we know if teachers from charter will have the patience to teach them? If Maywood Academy goes charter there is a big risk of loosing half the staff members and many

To What Extent Did the Russian Economy Improve in the Period 1894 to 1914 Free Essays

The Russian economy is universally declared to have been a thoroughly backward prior to 1890s therefore it is highly likely that there was economic improvement in the given period; however the extent of this is difficult to define due to the varying manifestations of economic improvement and the independence with which they may occur. The finance minister during this period was Sergei Witte, and to him the majority of the improvements are credited, yet the improvement was not universal. Whether this was him personally or simply a product the awful conditions which the Russian economy rose from is to be decided. We will write a custom essay sample on To What Extent Did the Russian Economy Improve in the Period 1894 to 1914? or any similar topic only for you Order Now In 1897, 82% of the Russian population were peasants, leading one to the believe that any economic improvement must be both partially caused by and result in improvements in this area. This is because generally the greater the economic improvement the greater the amount of people are involved in bringing it about and the greater the number of people it affects for the better. The situation in 1894 was a mass of peasants that owned small and mainly subsistence farms. This meant that they sold very little of their produce and therefore had very little money. This was bad for two reasons. Firstly if they sold little then the state would have very little to sell to other countries, meaning that no extra wealth was coming in to Russia. Secondly, if the peasants had little money than they would not be able to buy much. If we acknowledge John Keynes’ theory of demand as true, this lack of it can only be seen as a severe impediment to the Russian economy. To answer the question, one must therefore decide if either the peasants started producing enough to sell or if less people were peasants. There is evidence to suggest that between 1890 and 1910 there was an increase of 38 million tonnes of cereals produced. One could argue that this shows economic improvement because they were working the land more efficiently, and therefore selling more so getting richer, the extra wealth generated would be pumped into other areas such as manufacturing due to the rise in demand. In addition the extra grain acquired by the government could be sold to other countries, and this money could then be spent on industry, improving the economy. This theory is complemented by the fact that between 1897 and 1914 Odessa, the major gain exporting port, saw a rise in population from 403 thousand to 499 thousand, which would lead one to believe that more eople lived there because there was more work to be done because there was more grain to export. On the other hand it could be believed that this does not show an improving economy firstly because it 74 million tonnes in 1910 is actually a lot less per hector then more developed countries were able to produce. They were still poor in comparison with other countries s uch as England which had experienced the industrial revolution and therefore had more efficient farming. In addition it must be taken into account that the population of Russia was rapidly increasing at this time, it doubled between 1861 and 1914 to 130 million people, therefore this increase in food production would not have lead to a vast amount of either overseas income or surplus money because they needed to eat most of it. This argument would lead one to the belief that on both an international and internal scale the agriculture of Russia shows very little economic improvement. It is, however commonly acknowledged that a failing of Witte’s was his lack of action in the agricultural department. The fact that in 1914 four-fifths of the population were still peasants that we have already asserted helped very little towards an economic improvement puts into great doubt the scale of such an improvement. Nevertheless it is possible for large change to be implemented by few people therefore instead of passing judgement based only on Witte’s weakest area of economic reform the others must be examined. Transport is highly necessary for a good economy because it allows workers to move to where there are jobs, business to trade goods with ease and ideas to spread quickly. Witte was aware of this and therefore undertook a massive project of railway extension going from 19510 miles of track in 1891 to 43850 miles in 1913. This included the Trans-Siberian railway which stretched from Moscow to Vladivostok and was meant to encourage the migration of workers from remote area to the manufacturing centre. Unfortunately this project was a disappointment internally as east-west migration did not increase significantly, which perhaps in explained by the fact that in 1914 sections were still incomplete. One could argue that the smaller scale railways were just as important because they allowed peasants to move from the overcrowded agricultural land to the cities where they could benefit the economy by working in factories. This may have happened to a small extent however we have already concluded that the majority of the peasants stayed peasants, besides by law peasants had to gain permission from village elders to move , stifling the desired rural to urban migration and therefore economic improvement. It must therefore be decided that internally the transport revolution helped to improve the Russian economy to an unexpectedly small amount. However the railway system in its vastness attracted international attention that was to improve the economy in other ways. The Trans-Siberian Railway was seen by other countries as a symbol of Russian enterprise and advancing society; this positive attention encouraged them to trade with Russia, therefore bringing in money, which in the long term would create demand and subsequently improving the Russian economy. Figures to back this are those of the comparative industrial output which rose from 109. 5 in 1904 to 163. 5 in 1913. As four fifths of the population were virtually incapable of buying this, we can only assume that the excess was either sold abroad or used on the railways. This will have brought money into Russia, improving the economy. One must then decide if the benefits of the foreign trade and the kick starting of industry was worth the massive amount the railways would have cost the government. In the long term it must be considered so, as without both something and someone to trade with the Russian economy would have taken much longer to improve. In addition, although the intended benefits were not seen within the given period, they may have appeared later, if the country had not been disrupted by war. However in the given time span economic improvement due to the railway was limited to the sector of foreign trust and therefore sales. The actual production of goods is often a good indicator of the success of an economy. There is no doubt that this happened in the years 1894 to 1914. For example between the years 1890 and 1913 the annual production in millions of tons rose from 5. to 35. 4 in coal, 0. 89 to 9. 1 in pig iron and 3. 9 to 9. 1 in oil. This is proof that in the industrial sector there was economic improvement. However it is known that much of this improvement was state directed, which would be fine if it were not for the fact that this direction was financed heavily by overseas loans. This meant that though the economy did improve, it was not strong in the way the France and Britain’s were because it firstl y needed state intervention to keep it going and secondly could not finance itself. If the improvements in this period in the economy could be continued over another twenty years, then it is probable that the loans would have been paid off and state intervention no longer necessary to such a large degree, however in this time period such drastic improvements were not possible. Therefore it must be understood although the industrial part of the economy did improve in measurements such as output and turnover during the given time period, it did not stabilise in a way that would make it strong. The improvement of an economy is all comparative, as well as comparing the Russian economy to how it way at the start and finish of the given period we must also compare it’s improvement to that of other countries, so as to create a more contextual answer. Of the five great powers, Russia shows the least increase in national income between 1894 and 1913 at 50% however its growth in national product between 1898 and 1913 is the highest at 96. 8%. The latter figure shows that Russia’s production of goods had gone up by fa more than its rivals, showing that the economy defiantly improved. After our inspection of both the industrial and agricultural sides of the economy it is possible to say that this improvement was almost entirely in industry. Never the less this shows great economic improvement. On the other hand the fact that Russia’s national income had increased the least shows that the people of Russia were not richer in comparison with the rest of the world. This may be firstly explained by the great increase in Russia’s population. Although production may have increased, the profit from it had to be shared out between more people. Therefore as a country the economy had improved but for the individual it was hardy better. Although this is still economic improvement it is far more precarious as unhappy individuals may lead to economy damaging strikes such as the 3574 in Russia, in 1914. The fact that other countries such as Britain invested in Russian economy supports the idea that the country as a whole was improving economically, as these advanced countries would not risk their money otherwise. The reason for this was firstly the railways, as has been discussed but also the fact that in 1897, the Russian currency was put on the Gold standard. This gave it strength when exchanged with other currencies, again helping Russia in the international climate but making it harder for Russian inhabitants to buy anything as prices naturally increased. Although putting the Russian rouble on the gold standard helped to stabilise the currency itself, it was not so powerful a move as to stabilise the economy and in fact added to the instability by further decreasing home sales. Therefore the Russian economy was improving greatly in comparison with its rivals in overseas sales and production, but this improvement was limited by domestic instabilities that Russia’s rivals had to a much lower degree. In conclusion the Russian economy did improve greatly between 1894 and 1914 however this improvement was confined to a very small sector of the economy. That sector was industry on a national scale. On an individual scale this improvement of the economy amounted to very little, with wages not allowing a significant growth in home demand. The agricultural side of the economy also improved very little, meaning that by 1914 four fifths of the people were not involved in the economical improvements to any great extent. The fact that the economic improvement was restricted to one area meant that it was unstable. On the other hand, although it must then be assumed that this improvement was greatly superficial in 1914, Russia was starting from the very bottom and therefore it is unlikely that a vastly improved in all areas and stable economy was possible in 20 years. If Russia’s economical improvement was extended at that rate for another 20 years then it would have had time to both gain security and reach out into other sectors that were overlooked in 1914, such as light industry. Therefore it must be concluded that between 1894 and 1913 there was great improvement in one area of the economy, which, due to its confinement was superficiality in an economic overview, yet due to the awful conditions in which this improvement operated in, it must be deemed substantial. How to cite To What Extent Did the Russian Economy Improve in the Period 1894 to 1914?, Papers

Consumer decision of making across modern - MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Consumer decision of making across modern. Answer: Introduction This report will discuss about the consumer decision-making process of Sony. In addition, the primary and secondary target market of Sony will be determined and analyzed in terms of different segmentation aspects. The current perception of the consumers around the world regarding the products of Sony will also be discussed along with discussing the effectiveness of their advertisement on the perception of the consumers. In accordance to the identified factors, recommendations will be provided in order to have effective and ideal marketing mix of Sony. Company profile In the current business scenario, there are only a few business organizations, which are having huge brand presence and value across the world along with having a positive brand preference among the consumers. Among those certain brands, Sony is one of the leading one, which is having diversified product portfolio and have their market presence around the world. Sony was founded in Japan by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita in 7th May 1946 (Sony.net 2018). Sony is having their presence in different business sectors ranging from electronics, gaming consoles to entertainment including producing movies and music. They also have the leadership status in the market of semiconductor. Sony is having the presence in the financial and banking sector also. as of 2017, Sony is ranked at 105th in the Fortune Global 500 list of companies. Thus, Sony is one of the largest and profitable business corporations in the world. Product portfolio Among all the sectors earlier discussed, Sony is mostly popular in the electronics business having mobile devices, music devices, televisions and camera in their product portfolio. Sony is one of frontrunners in introducing advanced and innovative products in the market. They are known for the introduction of Walkman, which initiated the idea of portable music players in the market (Du Gay et al. 2013). Moreover, their camera is also well known and popular around the world. The mobile devices of Sony also went through different innovations in terms design, sound and camera. They first introduced the concept of swivel mobile phone in the market. However, with time, their entire product range went through modifications in terms of different aspects such as mobile devices of Sony were previously powered by Symbian and now they are powered by Android. Their televisions are previously having picture tube and now they are having LED panels. Marketing trend The product life cycle for Sony is varied and diverse due to their huge variety in product portfolio. They have introduced products in different sectors in different time period. Thus, some of their new products are in the growth stage and some of them are in the maturity stage. For instance, the life cycle of their walkman series is in the decline stage along with their televisions with picture tubes. On the other hand, the latest mobile devices introduced by Sony under the Experia range are in the growth stage. The LED panel televisions and music systems of Sony are in the maturity stage due to the reason that, Sony is having maximum market penetration in the market of music system. In the recent times, the competition for Sony is rapidly increasing in the electronics sector mainly from the rise of the cheap Chinese competitors. Moreover, other established players such as Apple and Samsung are also proving threat to Sony by introducing more updated products in the market. In terms of the mobile device market, Sony is facing losses and are trailing behind the major competitors. Figure: 1 Market share of Sony mobile Source: (Android Authority 2018) The above figure shows that Sony is trailing behind established players such as Apple and Samsung along with the Chinese brands. Thus, in this case, the effective determination of the requirement of the market along with the up gradation of the innovative features in their mobile devices is important. Figure: 2 Sales of Sony from their different business sectors Source: (Statista 2018) the above data shows that, Sony is fetching maximum revenue from their gaming and networking business followed by their financial sectors. The electronics business of them is rapidly decreasing in terms of generating revenue. Thus, it is important for them to identify the key barriers in their electronics business and implement steps in accordance to that. Marketing strategies of Sony Sony being one of the leading multinational corporations initiates extensive marketing strategies covering different sections and segments of the society. Sony electronics follow various distinctive and innovative marketing approaches in order to cater to more numbers of customers. In terms of the Porters generic strategies, Sony follows cost leadership and differentiation strategy rather than the focus strategy (Arnett and Wittmann 2014). This is mainly due to the reason that, the products of Sony covers both the higher end and mass market customers. Thus, economies of scale enable them to maintain the cost leadership along with providing multiple innovative and advanced features in their products to create the distinctive approach in the market. They also initiate the sponsorship of various sporting events such as sponsoring the FIFA world cup of 2010 and 2014. This helps them to attract and cover more numbers of customers at one go along with enhancing the brand identity around the world. They also have separate advertising campaigns for their products and they all are designed according to the preference and cultural pattern of the target market (Turco 2015). Identification of the target market As earlier discussed, Sony is having huge variety of products and covers different customer segments at different income sets and ages. Thus, the primary target market for Sony will also be huge ranging among different customer segments (Cross, Belich and Rudelius 2015). However, segmentation of the market comprise of different aspects. The following sections will analyze the primary target market of Sony in terms of different aspects. Demographics In terms of the demographic segmentation, the primary target market for Sony is the age group between 18 to 50 years of age. The target age group is huge due to the reason that, the mobile and music products will target the lower age groups. On the other hand, products such as televisions will attract the higher age group (Hamka et al. 2014). In terms of the income segments, the target market of Sony is the middle and higher class population. This is due to the reason that, they are having niche and higher end products targeted for the higher end customers. On the other hand, their mass market products will be affordable for the middle class customers. In terms of the family size, the primary target market for Sony will be everyone ranging from single individual to family man. Home music systems will target the family man and portable music system will cater to the single individuals. Psychographics In terms of the psychographic segmentation, the primary target market of Sony is the active and socially aware people. This is due to the reason that, the updated products being introduced by them in the market will attract these sections only rather than the traditionalists and conservatives (Gunter and Furnham 2014). However, the conservatives and the traditionalists are also the secondary target market for Sony due to the reason that, Sony is an age old company and there are certain loyal customers for them who are willing the products of Sony only. Behavioral In terms of the buying intentions, the primary target customers for Sony are the tech-savvy customers. This is due to the reason that, tech-savvy people will get attracted by the rapid change in the technology in the electronic products. Conservatives will not be interested to update themselves with the latest technologies (Yao et al. 2014). Moreover, the target customers for will be the quality centric with having the potentiality of heavy usage. The buying decision will be mainly based on benefits such as seamless operation and good after sales service. Recommended secondary target market From the above analysis, the existing target market of Sony is being discussed. However, from the above analysis, it can be concluded that, the age group above 50 and below 65 can be targeted with different product category. This is due to the reason that, in the recent time, customers having age above 50 are attracting more towards the technological products. Moreover, Sony is trailing behind their competitors in their existing target market; this new target segment will create business opportunity for them. Products such as user friendly mobile devices, televisions and home music systems will be the key to target this segment. Existing product mix strategy of Sony Product The products of Sony ranging from the televisions to the mobile devices are designed and loaded with latest technologies in order to the tech-savvy target customers. Moreover, the product range of Sony is being changed according to the current trend in the market. For instance, they introduced walkman series mobile phone when music in the mobile devices are accepted by the customers. Currently, Sony is selling Android powered Smartphone to cater the current trend and requirement of the market (Hsiao 2013). The products are made durable and long lasting in order to fulfill the expectation of the loyal customers and the behavioral aspects of them Price In order to target the middle and higher class customers, all the product categories of Sony are offered in different price segments. For instance, Sony Experia mobile devices are sold in mid price range and higher price range. Pricing is being initiated according to the latest technologies being loaded with the products. This enables them to push the older products by offering lower price. Place The primary target market of Sony is the middle age people and thus, online marketing is equally promoted along with the offline marketing. This helps them to cater to more numbers of customers at one go. The stores are also designed according to the taste and preference pattern of the target customers (Prashar 2013). Thus, initiation of the Omni-channel marketing is helping Sony to target both traditionalists and the tech-savvy customers (Fulgoni 2014). Promotion Promotional activities of Sony involves both online and offline mediums (Zhurkina, Ukhanova and Nikishin 2015). Promoting through offline medium such as sponsoring sporting events and with the help of the electronic media helps to target the largest sections of the target section. Online promotion helps to target the tech-savvy customers and the lower age target market (Hing et al. 2014). Consumer decision making process Brand perception For the contemporary business organizations such as Sony, consumer perception regarding the brand is important for enhancing the future business scenario. There are various modes and process by which, the business organizations tray to create positive perception among the target customers. Sony also initiates different policies in order to create the positive perception for their brands (Zenker and Beckmann 2013). One of the key activities promoted by them is the initiation of the corporate social responsibilities. This helps them to have positive implications on the perception of the customers. The current perception of the customers regarding the brand of Sony is the manufacturer of gaming consoles, mobile devices, music players, televisions and camera with having relatively higher price point compared to their competitors and with having attractive designs. Brand expectation Consumers opting or buying the products of Sony have the motivation for having branded products, which will enhance their social status. In addition, customers are also motivating towards the fact that the products of Sony will be of higher quality and will be durable. Thus, the chance of disputes will be less and the customer service will also be favorable. The anticipated returns for the customers from the Sony products are to have long lasting and durable products with having latest and user friendly features. Consumer decision making process Need recognition Identification of the need for the consumers is generally originated from internal and external sources. Internal sources for need generation for Sony products are the need to have a technologically updated product from an established brand (Maity and Dass 2014). External sources include advertisements of the products and communicating the benefits of using the products to the potential customers (Mortimer and Pressey 2013). Information search The next step involves the search for the information regarding the products in the markets. In the case of the products from Sony, customers can derive the information from online as well as from the offline mediums. Social media is one of the key sources for deriving information for the products. Evaluation of alternatives Information search lead to the identification of a few alternatives (Aruldoss, Lakshmi and Venkatesan 2013). Evaluation of the alternatives is being done by the customers regarding the offered features, price, design and utility. Sony are having huge variants of their products are having higher potential to get selected. Purchase The final decision is the purchasing of the most effective one from the available alternatives (Sallam 2014). The more positive impact of the Sony will be on the customers, the more will be the probability to get selected. Effectiveness of the advertisement of Sony As discussed earlier, Sony is having extensive policy of advertising their products involving different mediums. Advertisement plays the key role of communicating the benefits of the products to the customers. In the case of Sony, distinctive approach and design of the advertisements helps to gain the attention of the customers. Moreover, the approach of the advertisements for Sony is designed according to the local taste and preference pattern of the target market. The approach of the advertisement of Sony is more informative and thus, it helps in maximizing the interest of the customers. Moreover, it is also to be noted that, the advertisement of Sony is customer centric. This is due to the reason that, their advertisement communicates the benefits to be gained by the customers. Another key attribute of the advertisements of Sony is that, they are being designed according to the local taste and cultures of different locations around the world. This helps them to target the customers effectively. On the other hand, the personalization attribute initiated by them in the case of the home gadgets, while they use their global promotional approach for their mobile devices. Recommendations As discussed earlier, customers above the age of 50 should also be targeted. This will help to reduce the dependency on the over competitive existing target market of them. Moreover, the competition is also lower in the older age group. Thus, Sony will have more untapped to grow their business. The product should be made more affordable due to the reason that though Sony is having mass market models, but still they are expensive compared to their competitors. Thus, in order to compete in the market, they need to reduce the price further. In this case, it is being recommended that, Sony should benchmark some of their competitors and offer their products accordingly. If the pricing of their products can be well aligned with the quality being offered by them, then the market opportunity will be high for Sony. Electronic products of Sony are having latest technologies but they always acts as late mover in the market. Thus, their products should be updated with latest technologies more frequently in order to tap the market effectively. In the case of their mobile devices, there are various technologies that are not being used by their competitors but not be them. Thus, Sony should initiate the strategy of early bird in proving new technologies. Sony should have their offline stores in the tier II and tier III cities in order to tap those markets. This will reduce the dependency on the tier I markets. Moreover, major sections of the tier I and tier II cities especially in the developing countries are untapped. Thus, it will be a huge opportunity for Sony. The promotional activities should be aligned with the social media. This will help to change the approach of the promotion according to the determination of the market trend. Moreover, initiation of the social media marketing will also help them to enhance their brand value and loyalty among the customers. Thus, in the current business scenario, it is important for them to maintain the favorable brand image in the market. Conclusion Thus, from the above discussion, it can be concluded that, in the recent time, Sony is facing the issue of increased competition in the market. Thus, the revenue generation of them is rapidly reducing. This report discussed about the existing target market of Sony along with the recommended target market strategies. Customer perception regarding the branding of Sony is also being discussed in this report. Moreover, various recommendations are provided according to the customer purchase behavior of Sony products. Reference Android Authority. (2018).Why is Sony's mobile business in the red?. [online] Available at: https://www.androidauthority.com/sonys-mobile-business-struggles-528720/ [Accessed 9 Jan. 2018]. Arnett, D.B. and Wittmann, C.M., 2014. Improving marketing success: The role of tacit knowledge exchange between sales and marketing.Journal of Business Research,67(3), pp.324-331. Aruldoss, M., Lakshmi, T.M. and Venkatesan, V.P., 2013. A survey on multi criteria decision making methods and its applications.American Journal of Information Systems,1(1), pp.31-43. Cross, J.C., Belich, T.J. and Rudelius, W., 2015. How marketing managers use market segmentation: An exploratory study. InProceedings of the 1990 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference(pp. 531-536). Springer, Cham. Du Gay, P., Hall, S., Janes, L., Madsen, A.K., Mackay, H. and Negus, K., 2013.Doing cultural studies: The story of the Sony Walkman. Sage. Fulgoni, G.M., 2014. Omni-Channel Retail Insights and The Consumer's Path-to-Purchase.Journal of Advertising Research,54(4), pp.377-380. Gunter, B. and Furnham, A., 2014.Consumer Profiles (RLE Consumer Behaviour): An Introduction to Psychographics(Vol. 5). Routledge. Hamka, F., Bouwman, H., De Reuver, M. and Kroesen, M., 2014. Mobile customer segmentation based on smartphone measurement.Telematics and Informatics,31(2), pp.220-227. Hing, N., Cherney, L., Blaszczynski, A., Gainsbury, S.M. and Lubman, D.I., 2014. Do advertising and promotions for online gambling increase gambling consumption? An exploratory study.International Gambling Studies,14(3), pp.394-409. Hsiao, K.L., 2013. Android smartphone adoption and intention to pay for mobile internet: Perspectives from software, hardware, design, and value.Library Hi Tech,31(2), pp.216-235. Maity, M. and Dass, M., 2014. Consumer decision-making across modern and traditional channels: E-commerce, m-commerce, in-store.Decision Support Systems,61, pp.34-46. Mortimer, K. and Pressey, A., 2013. Consumer information search and credence services: implications for service providers.Journal of Services Marketing,27(1), pp.49-58. Prashar, A., 2013. Drivers of store choice in an evolving market: An empirical study.International Journal of Advancements in Research Technology,2(8), pp.195-202. Sallam, M.A., 2014. The effects of brand image and brand identification on brand love and purchase decision making: the role of WOM.International Business Research,7(10), p.187. Sony.net. (2018).Sony Global - History. [online] Available at: https://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/CorporateInfo/History/ [Accessed 9 Jan. 2018]. Statista. (2018).Sony sales by business segments 2012-2017 | Statistic. [online] Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/297533/sony-sales-worldwide-by-business-segment/ [Accessed 9 Jan. 2018]. Turco, D.M., 2015. The influence of sponsorship on product recall and image among sport spectators. InProceedings of the 1995 World Marketing Congress(pp. 8-12). Springer, Cham. Yao, Z., Sarlin, P., Eklund, T. and Back, B., 2014. Combining visual customer segmentation and response modeling.Neural Computing and Applications,25(1), pp.123-134. Zenker, S. and Beckmann, S.C., 2013. My place is not your placedifferent place brand knowledge by different target groups.Journal of Place Management and Development,6(1), pp.6-17. Zhurkina, L.S., Ukhanova, J.A. and Nikishin, A.F., 2015. Promotional activities in trade and different ways to improve them.Austrian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, (5-6), pp.157-158.

Consumer decision of making across modern - MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Consumer decision of making across modern. Answer: Introduction This report will discuss about the consumer decision-making process of Sony. In addition, the primary and secondary target market of Sony will be determined and analyzed in terms of different segmentation aspects. The current perception of the consumers around the world regarding the products of Sony will also be discussed along with discussing the effectiveness of their advertisement on the perception of the consumers. In accordance to the identified factors, recommendations will be provided in order to have effective and ideal marketing mix of Sony. Company profile In the current business scenario, there are only a few business organizations, which are having huge brand presence and value across the world along with having a positive brand preference among the consumers. Among those certain brands, Sony is one of the leading one, which is having diversified product portfolio and have their market presence around the world. Sony was founded in Japan by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita in 7th May 1946 (Sony.net 2018). Sony is having their presence in different business sectors ranging from electronics, gaming consoles to entertainment including producing movies and music. They also have the leadership status in the market of semiconductor. Sony is having the presence in the financial and banking sector also. as of 2017, Sony is ranked at 105th in the Fortune Global 500 list of companies. Thus, Sony is one of the largest and profitable business corporations in the world. Product portfolio Among all the sectors earlier discussed, Sony is mostly popular in the electronics business having mobile devices, music devices, televisions and camera in their product portfolio. Sony is one of frontrunners in introducing advanced and innovative products in the market. They are known for the introduction of Walkman, which initiated the idea of portable music players in the market (Du Gay et al. 2013). Moreover, their camera is also well known and popular around the world. The mobile devices of Sony also went through different innovations in terms design, sound and camera. They first introduced the concept of swivel mobile phone in the market. However, with time, their entire product range went through modifications in terms of different aspects such as mobile devices of Sony were previously powered by Symbian and now they are powered by Android. Their televisions are previously having picture tube and now they are having LED panels. Marketing trend The product life cycle for Sony is varied and diverse due to their huge variety in product portfolio. They have introduced products in different sectors in different time period. Thus, some of their new products are in the growth stage and some of them are in the maturity stage. For instance, the life cycle of their walkman series is in the decline stage along with their televisions with picture tubes. On the other hand, the latest mobile devices introduced by Sony under the Experia range are in the growth stage. The LED panel televisions and music systems of Sony are in the maturity stage due to the reason that, Sony is having maximum market penetration in the market of music system. In the recent times, the competition for Sony is rapidly increasing in the electronics sector mainly from the rise of the cheap Chinese competitors. Moreover, other established players such as Apple and Samsung are also proving threat to Sony by introducing more updated products in the market. In terms of the mobile device market, Sony is facing losses and are trailing behind the major competitors. Figure: 1 Market share of Sony mobile Source: (Android Authority 2018) The above figure shows that Sony is trailing behind established players such as Apple and Samsung along with the Chinese brands. Thus, in this case, the effective determination of the requirement of the market along with the up gradation of the innovative features in their mobile devices is important. Figure: 2 Sales of Sony from their different business sectors Source: (Statista 2018) the above data shows that, Sony is fetching maximum revenue from their gaming and networking business followed by their financial sectors. The electronics business of them is rapidly decreasing in terms of generating revenue. Thus, it is important for them to identify the key barriers in their electronics business and implement steps in accordance to that. Marketing strategies of Sony Sony being one of the leading multinational corporations initiates extensive marketing strategies covering different sections and segments of the society. Sony electronics follow various distinctive and innovative marketing approaches in order to cater to more numbers of customers. In terms of the Porters generic strategies, Sony follows cost leadership and differentiation strategy rather than the focus strategy (Arnett and Wittmann 2014). This is mainly due to the reason that, the products of Sony covers both the higher end and mass market customers. Thus, economies of scale enable them to maintain the cost leadership along with providing multiple innovative and advanced features in their products to create the distinctive approach in the market. They also initiate the sponsorship of various sporting events such as sponsoring the FIFA world cup of 2010 and 2014. This helps them to attract and cover more numbers of customers at one go along with enhancing the brand identity around the world. They also have separate advertising campaigns for their products and they all are designed according to the preference and cultural pattern of the target market (Turco 2015). Identification of the target market As earlier discussed, Sony is having huge variety of products and covers different customer segments at different income sets and ages. Thus, the primary target market for Sony will also be huge ranging among different customer segments (Cross, Belich and Rudelius 2015). However, segmentation of the market comprise of different aspects. The following sections will analyze the primary target market of Sony in terms of different aspects. Demographics In terms of the demographic segmentation, the primary target market for Sony is the age group between 18 to 50 years of age. The target age group is huge due to the reason that, the mobile and music products will target the lower age groups. On the other hand, products such as televisions will attract the higher age group (Hamka et al. 2014). In terms of the income segments, the target market of Sony is the middle and higher class population. This is due to the reason that, they are having niche and higher end products targeted for the higher end customers. On the other hand, their mass market products will be affordable for the middle class customers. In terms of the family size, the primary target market for Sony will be everyone ranging from single individual to family man. Home music systems will target the family man and portable music system will cater to the single individuals. Psychographics In terms of the psychographic segmentation, the primary target market of Sony is the active and socially aware people. This is due to the reason that, the updated products being introduced by them in the market will attract these sections only rather than the traditionalists and conservatives (Gunter and Furnham 2014). However, the conservatives and the traditionalists are also the secondary target market for Sony due to the reason that, Sony is an age old company and there are certain loyal customers for them who are willing the products of Sony only. Behavioral In terms of the buying intentions, the primary target customers for Sony are the tech-savvy customers. This is due to the reason that, tech-savvy people will get attracted by the rapid change in the technology in the electronic products. Conservatives will not be interested to update themselves with the latest technologies (Yao et al. 2014). Moreover, the target customers for will be the quality centric with having the potentiality of heavy usage. The buying decision will be mainly based on benefits such as seamless operation and good after sales service. Recommended secondary target market From the above analysis, the existing target market of Sony is being discussed. However, from the above analysis, it can be concluded that, the age group above 50 and below 65 can be targeted with different product category. This is due to the reason that, in the recent time, customers having age above 50 are attracting more towards the technological products. Moreover, Sony is trailing behind their competitors in their existing target market; this new target segment will create business opportunity for them. Products such as user friendly mobile devices, televisions and home music systems will be the key to target this segment. Existing product mix strategy of Sony Product The products of Sony ranging from the televisions to the mobile devices are designed and loaded with latest technologies in order to the tech-savvy target customers. Moreover, the product range of Sony is being changed according to the current trend in the market. For instance, they introduced walkman series mobile phone when music in the mobile devices are accepted by the customers. Currently, Sony is selling Android powered Smartphone to cater the current trend and requirement of the market (Hsiao 2013). The products are made durable and long lasting in order to fulfill the expectation of the loyal customers and the behavioral aspects of them Price In order to target the middle and higher class customers, all the product categories of Sony are offered in different price segments. For instance, Sony Experia mobile devices are sold in mid price range and higher price range. Pricing is being initiated according to the latest technologies being loaded with the products. This enables them to push the older products by offering lower price. Place The primary target market of Sony is the middle age people and thus, online marketing is equally promoted along with the offline marketing. This helps them to cater to more numbers of customers at one go. The stores are also designed according to the taste and preference pattern of the target customers (Prashar 2013). Thus, initiation of the Omni-channel marketing is helping Sony to target both traditionalists and the tech-savvy customers (Fulgoni 2014). Promotion Promotional activities of Sony involves both online and offline mediums (Zhurkina, Ukhanova and Nikishin 2015). Promoting through offline medium such as sponsoring sporting events and with the help of the electronic media helps to target the largest sections of the target section. Online promotion helps to target the tech-savvy customers and the lower age target market (Hing et al. 2014). Consumer decision making process Brand perception For the contemporary business organizations such as Sony, consumer perception regarding the brand is important for enhancing the future business scenario. There are various modes and process by which, the business organizations tray to create positive perception among the target customers. Sony also initiates different policies in order to create the positive perception for their brands (Zenker and Beckmann 2013). One of the key activities promoted by them is the initiation of the corporate social responsibilities. This helps them to have positive implications on the perception of the customers. The current perception of the customers regarding the brand of Sony is the manufacturer of gaming consoles, mobile devices, music players, televisions and camera with having relatively higher price point compared to their competitors and with having attractive designs. Brand expectation Consumers opting or buying the products of Sony have the motivation for having branded products, which will enhance their social status. In addition, customers are also motivating towards the fact that the products of Sony will be of higher quality and will be durable. Thus, the chance of disputes will be less and the customer service will also be favorable. The anticipated returns for the customers from the Sony products are to have long lasting and durable products with having latest and user friendly features. Consumer decision making process Need recognition Identification of the need for the consumers is generally originated from internal and external sources. Internal sources for need generation for Sony products are the need to have a technologically updated product from an established brand (Maity and Dass 2014). External sources include advertisements of the products and communicating the benefits of using the products to the potential customers (Mortimer and Pressey 2013). Information search The next step involves the search for the information regarding the products in the markets. In the case of the products from Sony, customers can derive the information from online as well as from the offline mediums. Social media is one of the key sources for deriving information for the products. Evaluation of alternatives Information search lead to the identification of a few alternatives (Aruldoss, Lakshmi and Venkatesan 2013). Evaluation of the alternatives is being done by the customers regarding the offered features, price, design and utility. Sony are having huge variants of their products are having higher potential to get selected. Purchase The final decision is the purchasing of the most effective one from the available alternatives (Sallam 2014). The more positive impact of the Sony will be on the customers, the more will be the probability to get selected. Effectiveness of the advertisement of Sony As discussed earlier, Sony is having extensive policy of advertising their products involving different mediums. Advertisement plays the key role of communicating the benefits of the products to the customers. In the case of Sony, distinctive approach and design of the advertisements helps to gain the attention of the customers. Moreover, the approach of the advertisements for Sony is designed according to the local taste and preference pattern of the target market. The approach of the advertisement of Sony is more informative and thus, it helps in maximizing the interest of the customers. Moreover, it is also to be noted that, the advertisement of Sony is customer centric. This is due to the reason that, their advertisement communicates the benefits to be gained by the customers. Another key attribute of the advertisements of Sony is that, they are being designed according to the local taste and cultures of different locations around the world. This helps them to target the customers effectively. On the other hand, the personalization attribute initiated by them in the case of the home gadgets, while they use their global promotional approach for their mobile devices. Recommendations As discussed earlier, customers above the age of 50 should also be targeted. This will help to reduce the dependency on the over competitive existing target market of them. Moreover, the competition is also lower in the older age group. Thus, Sony will have more untapped to grow their business. The product should be made more affordable due to the reason that though Sony is having mass market models, but still they are expensive compared to their competitors. Thus, in order to compete in the market, they need to reduce the price further. In this case, it is being recommended that, Sony should benchmark some of their competitors and offer their products accordingly. If the pricing of their products can be well aligned with the quality being offered by them, then the market opportunity will be high for Sony. Electronic products of Sony are having latest technologies but they always acts as late mover in the market. Thus, their products should be updated with latest technologies more frequently in order to tap the market effectively. In the case of their mobile devices, there are various technologies that are not being used by their competitors but not be them. Thus, Sony should initiate the strategy of early bird in proving new technologies. Sony should have their offline stores in the tier II and tier III cities in order to tap those markets. This will reduce the dependency on the tier I markets. Moreover, major sections of the tier I and tier II cities especially in the developing countries are untapped. Thus, it will be a huge opportunity for Sony. The promotional activities should be aligned with the social media. This will help to change the approach of the promotion according to the determination of the market trend. Moreover, initiation of the social media marketing will also help them to enhance their brand value and loyalty among the customers. Thus, in the current business scenario, it is important for them to maintain the favorable brand image in the market. Conclusion Thus, from the above discussion, it can be concluded that, in the recent time, Sony is facing the issue of increased competition in the market. Thus, the revenue generation of them is rapidly reducing. This report discussed about the existing target market of Sony along with the recommended target market strategies. Customer perception regarding the branding of Sony is also being discussed in this report. Moreover, various recommendations are provided according to the customer purchase behavior of Sony products. Reference Android Authority. (2018).Why is Sony's mobile business in the red?. [online] Available at: https://www.androidauthority.com/sonys-mobile-business-struggles-528720/ [Accessed 9 Jan. 2018]. Arnett, D.B. and Wittmann, C.M., 2014. Improving marketing success: The role of tacit knowledge exchange between sales and marketing.Journal of Business Research,67(3), pp.324-331. Aruldoss, M., Lakshmi, T.M. and Venkatesan, V.P., 2013. A survey on multi criteria decision making methods and its applications.American Journal of Information Systems,1(1), pp.31-43. Cross, J.C., Belich, T.J. and Rudelius, W., 2015. How marketing managers use market segmentation: An exploratory study. InProceedings of the 1990 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference(pp. 531-536). Springer, Cham. Du Gay, P., Hall, S., Janes, L., Madsen, A.K., Mackay, H. and Negus, K., 2013.Doing cultural studies: The story of the Sony Walkman. Sage. Fulgoni, G.M., 2014. Omni-Channel Retail Insights and The Consumer's Path-to-Purchase.Journal of Advertising Research,54(4), pp.377-380. Gunter, B. and Furnham, A., 2014.Consumer Profiles (RLE Consumer Behaviour): An Introduction to Psychographics(Vol. 5). Routledge. Hamka, F., Bouwman, H., De Reuver, M. and Kroesen, M., 2014. Mobile customer segmentation based on smartphone measurement.Telematics and Informatics,31(2), pp.220-227. Hing, N., Cherney, L., Blaszczynski, A., Gainsbury, S.M. and Lubman, D.I., 2014. Do advertising and promotions for online gambling increase gambling consumption? An exploratory study.International Gambling Studies,14(3), pp.394-409. Hsiao, K.L., 2013. Android smartphone adoption and intention to pay for mobile internet: Perspectives from software, hardware, design, and value.Library Hi Tech,31(2), pp.216-235. Maity, M. and Dass, M., 2014. Consumer decision-making across modern and traditional channels: E-commerce, m-commerce, in-store.Decision Support Systems,61, pp.34-46. Mortimer, K. and Pressey, A., 2013. Consumer information search and credence services: implications for service providers.Journal of Services Marketing,27(1), pp.49-58. Prashar, A., 2013. Drivers of store choice in an evolving market: An empirical study.International Journal of Advancements in Research Technology,2(8), pp.195-202. Sallam, M.A., 2014. The effects of brand image and brand identification on brand love and purchase decision making: the role of WOM.International Business Research,7(10), p.187. Sony.net. (2018).Sony Global - History. [online] Available at: https://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/CorporateInfo/History/ [Accessed 9 Jan. 2018]. Statista. (2018).Sony sales by business segments 2012-2017 | Statistic. [online] Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/297533/sony-sales-worldwide-by-business-segment/ [Accessed 9 Jan. 2018]. Turco, D.M., 2015. The influence of sponsorship on product recall and image among sport spectators. InProceedings of the 1995 World Marketing Congress(pp. 8-12). Springer, Cham. Yao, Z., Sarlin, P., Eklund, T. and Back, B., 2014. Combining visual customer segmentation and response modeling.Neural Computing and Applications,25(1), pp.123-134. Zenker, S. and Beckmann, S.C., 2013. My place is not your placedifferent place brand knowledge by different target groups.Journal of Place Management and Development,6(1), pp.6-17. Zhurkina, L.S., Ukhanova, J.A. and Nikishin, A.F., 2015. Promotional activities in trade and different ways to improve them.Austrian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, (5-6), pp.157-158.

Australian Literature Is a Miror to Australians Essay Example

Australian Literature Is a Miror to Australians Essay Example Australian Literature Is a Miror to Australians Essay Australian Literature Is a Miror to Australians Essay Australian literature is a mirror to Australians How has the composer of your set text revealed aspects of Australian Culture Why Australians literature looks like a portrait of Australians. This mean to Australians that are literature is like a reflection that you can see in a mirror and that is very important to Australians. This is important and many Australians think that this is showing through Oodergoo Noonuccal poetry about why it is so important to Australians and how she says it also a strong way. These are showing through her poems Municipal Gum and Understand Old One. The reasons why I chose these poems is because in Municipal Gum she is comparing life in the city to the life in the country by doing this is has added a tree and in understand old one she is saying to her ancestors that if you were here now you could see how this country is now is so busy, not as peaceful as it used to be. Australian literature looks like a portrait of Australians this is how we look like in Australian just one big mirror of people that we believe is special to us. The composer has revealed the aspects of Australian culture is how the aboriginals when through their struggle with stolen identity , loss of culture and also their old life and then their new life, she has also discovered the white men settlement and how this has had a big impact on the lives of aboriginals. In Oodergoo poem Municipal Gumâ„ ¢ she is talking about a Gumtree in the middle of the city and not in the nature where it belong with her tribe we who this because of the quote on page 20 in the cool world of leafy forest halls and the wild birds calls this is referring to where to the tree belongs. In this poem she is comparing the new and the old world of the Aboriginals. The new world for the aboriginals is the hard black bitumenâ„ ¢ and the old world of living in the forest full of bird calls. The Gumtree represents the Aboriginals and their existence. The use of Juxtaposition in the poem is the life of living in the city and living in the country and also simile of describing the cart horse as castratedâ„ ¢ (broken) In the poem understand old one she is talking to one of her ancestors about the what the white peopleâ„ ¢ have done to Australia quote on page 26 what if you came back now she is explaining this to her ancestors about Australia and how busy it is. Australia is represented in this poem as towering stone gunyasâ„ ¢. There are quote in the poem of how she talks about Australia now the city roaring, towering stone gunyas, planes in the sky over swarms of cars just like things frantic in flight. The use of alliteration frantic and flightâ„ ¢ and also juxtaposition of the new Australia and the old Australia how Australia was peaceful and now it full of frantic and flight. Both of these poems are very strong and emotional, her poems are both similar in a way that they are both juxtaposed because in one poem she is talking about the life in the city and the life in the country and in understand old one the new Australia and the old Australia. Both of these poems are in a way very strong as she is explaining her life living in Australia.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs essays

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs essays On March 21, 1998, I attended a ballet of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the Etherredge Center. The ballet began at 7:30p.m. and lasted almost two hours, but the time went by so quickly because the dancers were so captivating in their performance. Two of the performers were students at the University of South Carolina in Aiken, but most of the other girls were still in high school. The first dance of the evening was performed to a song composed by Prokofiev. The piece lasted four movements as the dancers changed back and forth between each movement. During the first movement of the song, all of the dancers came on the stage at one time to perform. The music was fast and in the major key. The woodwinds were playing and produced a light, airy sound. In the next movement only two dancers remained on the stage. The music became very soft and smooth flowing. The third movement was medium loud as the strings played, and then the piece became slow using staccato notes on the woodwinds. The final movement was fast as the violins were heard playing a loud playful sound with fast repetition. All of the dancers returned onto the stage for the ending as the piece came to a close. The second dance was done to a piece composed by Morsheba. The entire song was performed using only drums. There were soft echoes of voices heard in the distance as the dancers formed a circle. They were dressed in black as the danced on a slightly lit stage. They seemed to be performing a ceremonial or ritual dance like the Indians used to appease their gods. The piece ended with the fast, loud beating of the drums as the dancers fell to the floor. After the first two songs were finished, the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs began. The narrator spoke first and told about the birth of Snow White and what her wicked stepmother was planning to do to her. The evil Queen was the first one on stage. She danc...

Empowerment is an unrealistic concept. Discuss Essay

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Personal Experience: A Caring Occurrence The purpose of this reflective paper is to reflect on a personal experience in which you cared for someone. Using Johns model (Johns 2006), the reflection will explore how the personal experience reflected a caring occurrence. Reflection is the appearance of experiential knowledge and as nursing students; we should begin to use reflection as our experience in the nursing field accumulates. It is both justified and recommended that Carpers work be incorporated into reflective practice since it was a key figure in widening knowledge in nursing (Heath, 1998). Reflective practice incorporates Carpers (1978) ways of knowing personal, ethical, aesthetical and empirical knowing into an individuals reflection. Reflection is a personal understanding of self and in the development of self, reflecting on relationships and interactions between two or more people. As a nurse, the relationship is between the nurse and the client, and sometimes involves the clients family as well. The experience in which I cared for someone occurred in the fall of 2009. As part of my Gr. 12 Ethics and Morals Religion Class, it was required that for an eight week period, we spent a period of our time, once a week at a retirement home with our assigned adoptive grandparent. The purpose of this assignment was to spend time with an older adult, engage in communication, participation, and enjoy the time spent with the older generation and learn from them. So once a week, I made my way to the retirement home and spent an hour and a half with my adoptive grandparent Blanche. I planned ahead of time activities that she might like to take part in such as a puzzle, a walk, a craft, or baking. Once I got there, I would ask her what she would like to do and we would go from there. Each time I went there, she had a different story to tell me; her life as a young farm girl, her teenage years, and the love of her life, her career as a teacher, her family and journeys she had been on. Each st ory had its own personal meaning to her and I sat there attentively and listened, asked probing questions and comments. As her adopted grandchild, it was my duty to entertain her, keep her spirits up and encourage her. The one week when I went there, she had physiotherapy so I could not spend much time with her on a personal level, but more of a team of caring individuals to support her, and encourage her through her therapy. Although this situation does not exactly relate to a medical need for caring for someone, I still managed to care for an individual on a personal, face-to-face encounter. This experience also helped me to learn how important the elderly patients are. When I experienced this caring situation, I was feeling worried and nervous at first. I was unsure what to expect prior to meeting my adoptive grandparent. I was worried about the fact that my grandparent might not have liked me, or would be extremely quiet and held back. Since this was one of the first times I would be put in an experience like this, I just did not know what to expect. After the first two weeks, I became more comfortable in my surroundings and each week I would then look forward to my visits with Blanche. After I became comfortable, I was happy and opened up more towards Blanche. The purpose of this experience achieved a new found friendship with a member of the older generation. It gave me the opportunity to care for an individual at the retirement home who did not have many visitors, so I became her weekly visitor and spent quality time with her and card for her in a special way. This experience helped me achieve a better respect for the elderly and enhanced my ab ility to relate to them on a personal level. Knowledge that may have informed me would be the calling for a special person who cares for the spirituality of others. Nursing is a caring profession that is honoured as the spiritual, spirit-filled practice (Vance, 2003). A caring occasion becomes transpersonal when nurse and client together with their unique life histories and perception become a focal point, in which the moment is greater than the occasion itself (Watson, 2008). The experience shared between the two becomes a deeper pattern in life. The caring moment is being in the moment. Fully present, open to other people, compassion and connection. Reflection of practice allows the nurse to observe decisions made and bring to the open the knowledge that has formed from practicing skills. Nursing students can enhance multiple ways of knowing and their understanding of caring through the process of reflecting on caring encounters (Schaefer, 2002). The foundation of nurse care is the wisdom in knowing and understanding that les sons are learned by one another to become more human in learning the identity of ourselves with others. When I cared for Blanche on a weekly basis, I acted for the best with the values that I had at the time. Although I had not dealt with many elderly patients prior to this experience, I still knew the values I had and gave Blanche my utmost respect. I treated her with the same respect that I would have liked to be treated if the positions were opposite. Caring as a nurse means the innermost of nursing, without prejudice and aims at prioritizing the patients suffering and needs (Gustafsson et al., 2007). Nursing care is the process aimed at responding to patients needs without reasoning. Quality care is the element to caring. When a nurse is caring for someone, it is best that they are not bias towards the patient, nurses should treat all patients equally, meaning not giving certain patients more attention, unless their critical situation demands it of them. This situation connects with a previous experience in which I worked at a retirement home for a few weeks in the summer. This position mainly had me as house cleaning but in the evening when everything was done, it allowed me to interact with the residents. I talked to them, played games and took them for a stroll outside. The experience in which I cared for Blanche was more connected and personal in terms of the one-on-one time I was able to spend with her. The idea of reflection is caring science learning, learning and developing a personal knowledge of caring as an art (Gustafsson et al., 2007). This helps to establish the substance and quality of caring in regards to the patient. Factors that constrain my responding in new ways is my personal confidence level, with a variation of the knowledge of my experience, which I will hope to gain from working side-by-side with experience nurse practitioners. This also relates to my level of involvement, if I increase the questions I ask if I am in doubt, I will gain more knowledge of the situation. This will also offer clarification and a deeper level of thought in regards to the situation. When I was caring for Blanche, at first I was not very confident and a little hesitant to introducing myself to a complete stranger and spending time with her once a week. After participating in this learning of a life lesson, I gained so much from it. I have more confidence in my ability to communicate with strangers; I have stepped outside the box I built up around myself and have become a more confident, strong, communicative leader. Although I may still be a little hesitant about situations, that is normal. A fear of the unknown or hesitation is another constraint to responding in new ways. This unknowing is an awareness that as a nurse does not and cannot know or understand the client when they first meet (Heath, 1998). Knowing the clients information or background prior to meeting with the patient will help make the situation a little more comfortable. Mixed groups may possibly enhance the development of skills of reflection (Heath, 1998). Working together as a team will help form and ensure actions are for the best. As a team, all sides are valued and reflection is more in-depth and has different vantage points. As a student nurse, insights that I have gained from this reflection is that my experience will grow and I can begin to understand the details of what experienced nurses know. It may only be a small portion, but I can build an understanding for the knowledge expert nurses have and benefit from it. A powerful insight is recognizing the unknown, and as a nurse, I can learn to remain alert to the clients individual viewpoint of the situation. This can best be done by listening to the client and establishing a truthful, open, working relationship, without the state of unknowing. Nurses need to be aware of the lack of empirical knowledge (Heath, 1998). This will promote an awareness to learn, research and increase practical skills. Guided reflection is a journey of self-inquiry and transformation (Johns, 2006). Reflection helps one realize their ability to care, learn and gain experience on past situations, learn from mistakes so they do not happen again. Reflection is awakening of the se lf (Johns, 2006). Did I act or be the best I could be with Blanche? I personally feel that I did the best job I could with the knowledge I had at the time. After learning about nurse- client therapeutic communication, I feel that maybe now, if I were to go back and relive the experience, I would be have a better relationship with her and gain more knowledge and become an even better adopted grandchild. I would ensure that the relationship would be more purposeful and contain a position of trust and a unique responsibility to maintain a therapeutic relationship. What would I have done differently if I was able to relive this experience to improve and make the most of this experience for both myself and Blanche? If I were to relive this experience, I would change the direction of advancing the best outcome and interest for Blanche. I would give her more attention, make more time in my schedule to spend time with her and take pleasure in the time spent together. Just because I may understand something, d oes not mean that I could change the outcome, it just means I am on my way to changing and becoming a more determined nurse. Understanding something is the first step towards changing. As John (2006) states, usually negative feelings such as anger, guilt, frustration and sadness draw our attention to the experience. These negative feelings draw specific attention because they seem disturbed and usual taken-for-granted awareness for feelings. In my situation while I was caring for my adopted grandparent, this was not the case. If anything, it was the opposite. The feelings that drew my attention to this caring situation were happiness, thoughtfulness, joy, and understanding. The smile I saw every time I walked into Blanches room and glow in her eyes every time she saw us. Our weekly visits to her brightened her days and made her feel young again. I appreciated being with her, giving her my time, my attention and my skill as a person of todays generation. It takes practice first and then reflection (Johns, 2006). It is best to practice the skills needed first, make sure they are understood and demonstrated them properly and then reflect on the occasion and what went right and what went wrong and improve the situation for the next time.

A Critical Interpretation of Hans Kung?s Historical Analysis of the Dev

A Critical Interpretation of Hans Kung’s Historical Analysis of the Development of the Hierarchical Church   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The beginnings of the Christian church are shrouded in mystery. With the lack of evidence about that time in history, it is hard to draw conclusions of any type. However, the historical analyst, Hans Kung, has written a book to shed some light on the subject. In this book, Kung discusses his opinion on the development of the early church, and its hierarchical structure. In the following paper, I will address two of the chapters of Kung’s book, â€Å"The Beginnings of the Early Church† and â€Å"The Early Catholic Church†. The points that I will focus on are: The makeup and persecution of the early church community and why it was that way, and how, according to Kung, the founders of Catholicism went against how Jesus wanted the church to be governed by establishing a hierarchy.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Christian church, according to Kung, began at Pentecost. When the Holy Spirit came to the apostles and told them to go out and preach the teachings of Jesus it meant that the apostles could claim an identity separate from Judaism. The majority of the first Christians were Jews from Jerusalem that believed that Jesus was the Messiah promised to the Jews in the Hebrew Testament and they believed in the resurrection. â€Å"The earliest Christian community did not want in any way to part company with the Jewish community or nation, but to remain integrated into Judaism.†(P. 13). The differences in the beliefs of the Jews and the Jewish-Christians naturally created a separation in the two groups. When the Christian disciples started going out and preaching their faith to people, the Roman Empire saw them as a threat to their power and decided that Christianity would have to be stopped. Because Christianity and Judaism were one, the two most effective ways to persecute the Christians was to execute their leaders, and to destroy the Jewish places of worship. After the Romans burned the Temple of Jerusalem for the second time, a council of Pharisees decided that the Christians were to be excommunicated from the Jewish temple.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  If not for the early connection to the Jewish faith, the Christian religion would never have established as a major religion. The idea of having one God, called monotheism, was too radi... ... what they thought, there would be no extravagance in the lives of the church officials. Likewise, if the church truly believed in what Jesus taught, they would not be shunning the participation of women in the church; rather, they would be embracing all the people that truly wished to participate in the vocation of a priest or any position in the church for that matter.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In conclusion, the early Christian church had its problems in who was accepted into the new faith and why they were persecuted for it. This was because, during the height of the Roman Empire, any group of people that could be dangerous to Roman ideology would not be tolerated, and the Romans would attempt to put a stop to it. These persecutions of the Christians, however, strengthened, not weakened the Christian church to a point that there would be no way to disperse the community of believers. The main reason that the church stayed together like it did was because of the early establishment of a hierarchy, which, while Kung speculates, would not be the way that Jesus would have wanted the church to be governed, worked in establishing the Christian community into a world religion.

Humanities of Hamlet Essay

The humanities, like most academic disciplines, face questions of popular and public perception. The sciences, for instance, increasingly attract challenges, sometimes of dubious validity, from passionate advocates of so-called ‘deep ecology’ outside the academy, and from postmodern science studies within it. Educationists worldwide face growing discontent with the quality and character of public education. Anthropologists fend off endemic charges of political incorrectness while struggling with the possible demise of their discipline. The fine arts have become inured to occasional ugly public confrontations and persistent bland dismissal by majority opinion. The humanities, it seems, are not alone in feeling the need to clarify their relations with the public. Some of the needed elucidation is trivial, but deserving of wide public dissemination, debate and consideration: for instance, the vocational contribution of the humanities is often misunderstood. Other matters are more fundamental. They have to do with understanding the value of the humanities in relation to the cultural formation of human beings. In South Africa the humanities stand in particular need of winning broader public acceptance and support because they are repositioning themselves in what is in significant respects a new country. Internal scrutiny and revision need to be accompanied by renewal of public understanding, both with regard to potential recruits to the disciplines (students and their parents, for instance) and in terms of the value placed on the humanities by employers and decision-makers in society. Vocationalism Let us begin with the trivial. It is often said that the university is the natural home of those who seek answers to the big questions. Well, here are some big questions: The science graduate asks, ‘Why does it work? ’ The graduate in accounting asks, ‘How much will it cost? ’ The management graduate asks, ‘When can you have it ready? ’ The humanities graduate asks, ‘And will it be French fries or a jacket potato? ’ The apocryphal charge here is that the humanities are all very well, but they don’t put supper on the table. They don’t lead to satisfying and lucrative careers. This is a very common public perception, especially in South Africa where the newly enfranchised middle classes are keen to  consolidate their financial position, while those who anticipate the pressure of redress and affirmative action policies want blue-chip international career qualifications to protect them from policy-weighted competition. How valid is the perception? Confronting the issue in their own particular context, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada set out to demonstrate to society at large, and those who carry weight in the central economy in particular, that the humanities are in fact a good social investment. The Council commissioned a well-respected economist from the University of British Columbia, Robert Allen, to study the impact of investment in the Social Sciences and Humanities on the country’s economic viability in the global arena. He produced two reports (Allen 1998, 1999), and some of his key findings were as follows: Graduates in humanities and social sciences readily find jobs and generally earn high incomes (according to data obtained from Statistics Canada) The unemployment rate among university graduates in humanities and social sciences aged 25-29 is significantly lower (5.8%) than the unemployment rate among graduates of technical, vocational or career programs (findings based on 1991 census data) Most graduates in humanities and social sciences are employed in a professional or managerial capacity (50-80%). That is compared to 60% of counterparts with university degrees in commerce and 23-35% of individuals with technical or vocational diplomas Cost-benefit analysis shows the rate of return to society as follows: Education (10%) Social sciences (9%) Engineering (7. 9%) Humanities (7. 8%) Maths and the physical sciences (7.4%) All university programs analysed in the report in terms of their costs and benefits yield a social rate of return that exceeds the real interest rate in Canada today. These economic analyses were accompanied by other measures. For instance, in support of the findings, a meeting of 15 chancellors of universities in the province of Ontario issued a statement on the value of the Liberal Arts: The liberal arts and sciences must continue to be a seminal part of Ontario’s higher education. This is a practical idea as well as a philosophical one. A number of recent studies have clearly underlined that a well-rounded, general education – learning to think, to write and to express one’s ideas clearly – is as valuable to future employability as technical or technological training. (http://www. trainyourbrain. ca/english/supporters/chancellors. html) Perhaps carrying more weight in relevant quarters than the views of the chancellors (which might, of course, be interpreted by sceptics as merely selfserving conservatism), was an associated statement put out by 30 CEO’s of leading Canadian Hi-tech companies in which they affirmed, ‘We stand with the chancellors of Ontario’s universities. Their document urges: Yes, this country needs more technology graduates, as they fuel the digital economy. But it is impossible to operate an effective corporation in our new economy by employing technology graduates alone. We have an equally strong need for those with a broader background who can work in tandem with technical specialists, helping create and manage the corporate environment. A liberal arts and science education nurtures skills and talents increasingly valued by modern corporations. Our companies function in a state of constant flux. To prosper we need creative thinkers at all levels of the enterprise who are comfortable dealing with decisions in the bigger context. They must be able to communicate – to reason, create, write and peak – for shared purposes: For hiring, training, managing, marketing, and policy-making. In short, they provide leadership. (http://www. trainyourbrain. ca/english/tools/ceo. html) Clearly, these CEOs are no apologists for irrelevancy, ‘fuddyduddy-ism’ or aristocratic, leisure-class values. They are arguing in the best interests of their companies, as part of a concerted campaign to counter popular misperceptions concerning the value of the humanities to the Canadian economy. What about South Africa? This is no doubt heartening for advocates of the humanities; but that was Canada, this is South Africa. In the years immediately following our transition to democracy, Canada was ranked first in the United Nations’ Global Human Development Ratings: South Africa stood at ninety-third (Africa Institute 1996: 24). 1 Might there be grounds for comparison? Would similar findings emerge here? The late Jacob Bronowski, well-known for his contributions to the public understanding of science, put forward with admirable lucidity his view that the kind of society humanity seeks to create is identical with one which enables the work of science (and the arts) to proceed. He writes: As a set of discoveries and devices, science has mastered nature; but it has been able to do so only because its values, which derive from its method, have formed those who practise it into a living, stable and incorruptible society. Here is a community where everyone has been free to enter, to speak his mind, to be heard and contradicted – – The society of scientists is simple because it has a directing purpose: to explore the truth. Nevertheless, it has to solve the problem of every society, which is to find a compromise between man and men. It must encourage the single scientist to be independent, and the body of scientists to be tolerant. From these basic conditions, which form the prime values, there follows step by step a range of values: dissent, freedom of thought and speech, justice, honour, human dignity and self-respect. Our values since the Renaissance have evolved by just such steps. (74-75) Let us accept, for the sake of argument, Bronowski’s idealistic description of science and the community of scientists, and fully acknowledge the tremendous achievements of science, associated with the pursuit of these values. For all its omissions and exclusions, the kind of society portrayed by Bronowski is attractive both to those who adhere to creative exploration as a primary human motivation (mainly the well-to-do), as well as those for whom the increasingly widespread satisfaction of basic human needs is of primary importance. Yet can it plausibly be argued that the stable, ordered society science needs to make its optimal impact will result primarily from a concentration on science or, more mundanely, on maths, science and technology in general public education? Science (as opposed to scientists) has very little to say about how human life should be lived, even by implication. Secondly, the serious pursuit of scientific knowledge has always been a minority undertaking, and the delicious puritanism celebrated by Bronowski is undermined at every point by human nature. Truth-seeking is compromised by self-aggrandisement, lack of initiative, cultural dissonances, wayward appetites, untoward psychological complexities, sloth, factionalism, poverty, dogmatism and stupidity – all the regrettable variations that complicate (and embellish) human experience. Material progress alleviates some of these features and aggravates others, but in all societies, the true scientific proclivity is a minority interest, even among those equipped merely to make use of scientific findings, and who rely on them in their daily work and other interests. Bronowski has, in important respects, got it wrong. Science depends for its very survival upon the creation of a society which respects the values of science and permits them to thrive, and that can only be a society in which the values of the humanities have taken root, are constantly reviewed and renewed, and are shared by the overwhelming majority of the citizenry. It could plausibly be argued that this country needs the humanities even more than a society like Canada. Consider, as one example, the AIDS crisis in South Africa: the belated response to the situation, the culpable delays, the fatuous controversy over antiretrovirals and their provision to sufferers. Is this crisis the result of scientific failure? No, the science is there. The crisis has been the result of poor leadership, political obfuscation, power-plays, cultural regression, lack of social integration and poor, under-trained governmental bureaucracy. Similarly in the local government environment: it is not paucity of maths and science education that challenges programme delivery; it is the poverty of middle-order leadership, the inability to delegate effectively, the lack of initiative and capacity in ordinary civil and bureaucratic functions. The planning is often in place, but the general level of education and its social orientation is inadequate to make effective use of it. In addressing such shortcomings a key misapprehension is the assumption that because the country is desperately short of scientists and technologists, maths and science must be an absolute priority in our schooling system. This is to mistake the part for the whole. The fact is that many children – not only South African children – because of innate disposition, home background or poor education, are light-years from the possibility of attaining a marketable competence in maths or science2, yet they may be highly intelligent and suited to a great many useful, even exalted, functions in government and the economy. Given good teaching, they can learn to think well and searchingly about deep issues that plague contemporary society. It does not take profound mathematical understanding to read a balance sheet, or even to lead a large corporation. Statistical projections, financial control and scenario-planning are service functions, not necessarily leadership tasks. Yet the myth is steadily propagated that mathematical intelligence, more so even than scientific literacy, is what South Africa needs. This is a harmful distortion. Of course we need mathematicians and scientists, as many as we can produce, but unaided they will not be able to deliver the kind of society in which we all want to live. There are no scientific solutions to the problems of underdevelopment and civic education, only important ancillary contributions. Science functions optimally in a democratic, relatively stable and wealthy society. On its own, science is powerless to create such conditions. These conditions are attained and sustained, not through science, but in societies that are absorbing at depth the lessons of the humanities. People want to believe that because science and technology are integral to modern developing economies, such economies will develop if only sufficient emphasis is placed on maths and science in the education system. In fact, the sequence has to be reversed. The conditions of stable governance, effective bureaucracy, adequate infrastructural maintenance, basic skills development, and responsible social services are pre-conditions for the adequate functioning of a scientific and technological culture. Well-educated scientists obviously acquire and exercise their civic imaginations in support of such conditions, but it is more than likely that the products of an education system that marginalizes or travesties the humanities will fail both science and society. The upshot of this realization, if decision-makers could be persuaded to look it in the face, implies, not a down-grading of the emphasis on science and technology, but a much closer and more concerned look at what teachers in schools and universities are doing with the humanities. Successful socio-economic and cultural development requires a conscious balance between the sciences and humanities, and it is far from certain that humanities education in South Africa is sufficiently strong and healthy to carry its share of the burden. Here we come to the second challenge. Do humanities practitioners in South Africa have adequate answers to the questions society is implicitly (and sometimes explicitly) putting to us? Can scholars in the humanities explain their contribution to the public good? Vocationalism in the university Let us start by considering the humanities in the universities. This after all is where much of the understanding that gradually works its way through the schools and into society originates. One of the first things advocates of the humanities would need to make clear to interrogators is the character of a university education as distinct from a purely vocational one. It is not the existence or otherwise of a more or less direct linkage to specific career opportunities that determines whether or not such an education can be described as vocational, but the character of the education undergone. The distinction may be characterized as follows. A vocational education transmits a particular range of knowledge, ideally in its current, up-to-date state, in a mode designed to relate it most nearly to a context of application in society. So, accounting studies emphasize principles and best practice in relation to the legal and policy framework pertaining today, and the present state of the South African business and corporate environment. It is of course possible to teach accounting at different levels of complexity, finesse and specialization, but there is little incentive to move the subject away from its severely practical orientation. PhDs in accounting are rare. With management, the situation shifts slightly, in that a range of management theory will normally be explored, emanating from diverse situations, and whose applicability becomes very much a matter of contextual judgment. It is certainly possible to earn a PhD in management studies, but the subject matter is likely to edge towards issues that belong in the social sciences and humanities proper. The paradigmatic qualification in business studies is the MBA, a programme designed to develop cutting-edge managers and business leaders for different contexts, and among the entry requirements is typically a substantial period of practice. This stipulation is there to ensure adequate integration of theory and practice in the educational process. Law has the potential to move fully into the university paradigm, in that practical legal training can be (and, depending on the level of qualification, should be) supported by rigorous emersion in the history and philosophy of law. In fact, it would be difficult to conceive of adequate legal practice emerging from an academic culture divorced from the humanities. It should be apparent, then, that while many popular career options can be placed along a continuum running between the poles of the narrowly vocational and the so-called purely academic, it is always the degree of emphasis placed on the ‘other-than-vocational’ component that qualifies the programme for inclusion in the domain of true tertiary study. When we turn to the core disciplines comprising the humanities, the connection with a specific profession or career is weak or absent (unless transmission and extension of the discipline itself comes to be counted as such). True, there is often a loose affiliation between the humanities and vocations such as librarianship, teaching, advertising, writing and publishing, but the connection is not intrinsic or necessary. This fact in itself can be problematic, because students whose thinking is constrained by the vocational paradigm, whether through the influence of parents or other social  pressures, will tend to define the value of a humanities degree solely in terms of particular vocational outcomes. ‘Text’ versus ‘language’ If then, humanities undergraduates are not preparing directly for a vocational career, what are they doing? And why aren’t they preparing directly for a career? I want to answer, first, in terms similar to those proposed by Michael Oakeshott (1967: 308-312). The paradigmatic distinction is that between knowing a text and learning a language. A university discipline expresses a particular mode of enquiry, one ‘language’ in the array of languages that makes up the intellectual capital of humanity. Each particular language of enquiry is embodied in a vast array of performances in these languages – good, bad and indifferent – performances that we might call ‘texts’. Vocational education exhausts itself in knowing particular texts, and these texts are chosen because they are current and relevant in the world of practice and application. Learn the text, become expert in it, and you’ve attained the end of vocational education. Once you leave the educational institution – let’s hope it doesn’t call itself a university – you may lack experience (though, as has been indicated, many vocational programmes strive to incorporate work experience so as to minimise this gap), but you are, or should be, ready to perform the text or texts you have learned, this time in the workplace arena. Because of the rapidity of social change, your text, or range of texts, will soon become redundant, out-of-date, and then you must learn additional texts. You trained in servicing VWs, now you must learn Renaults. You learned to programme Fortran and Basic, now you must master C++ and XML. You studied Management by Objectives, now you must re-shape your style to fit transnational corporate policy. You will gain broader experience, you will always be learning, but what you will be learning is text after text after text – and thoroughly necessary and rewarding the experience may well prove to be. The point of higher education from the outset is to learn the language. In higher education, texts are studied not simply for their own sake, but for what we can learn from this study about the mode of enquiry of which they are a good example. In other words, texts are treated as emblematic of some aspects of the language, and we choose the particular texts we study as part of a higher education because they are in a proper state to yield insight into the language they exemplify (Oakeshott: 314). Our object of study is not only the text but the language, and, usually at graduate level, we go on to reach towards a language of languages, which we might call philosophy. The ‘swerve’ from higher education The distinction between ‘text’ and ‘language’ on which I am harping, is rather mysterious and fascinating. Consider this. In order to appreciate, say, Hamlet, I must know the language. In order to know the language, I must read Hamlet. The apparent circularity is embarrassing, and the sort of thing that tends to compromise the humanities in the eyes of the uninitiated. M. A. K. Halliday explores the distinction between text and language – and it is fundamental to the mission of the humanities in general no less than Halliday’s particular discipline of linguistics – by means of an illuminating analogy: – – – the analogy whereby language is to text as climate is to weather is useful to think with. It reminds us that these are not two different things, or rather what we call ‘climate’ and what we call ‘weather’ are the same phenomenon seen from different angles, or different moments of time, and so it is with language and text – – – much misunderstanding has been caused by counterposing these two terms, with language and text being treated as if they were different orders of reality. He goes on to point out a significant limitation to the analogy: Like all analogies, it’s very partial. It’s an abstract tool for thinking with, not a strict proportion, because semiotic systems are not like physical systems. In particular, an instance of a semiotic system carries value; instances of physical systems do not. Of course you may prefer one kind of weather to another, but that’s got no relevance whatever to the status of an instance of that weather in relation to climate: it’s just something to be observed and measured like any element. But a text has its own value, not necessarily, in fact, probably not usually, fixed and determinate – – – And the relation of the discourse value to the underlying system is in fact highly complex. I refer to this as the ‘Hamlet factor’. (Halliday 2001, transcr. Kilpert) A good teacher of the humanities must know the language the text under discussion instantiates, and must be able to move the student from reading ‘text’ to exploring ‘language’, to reveal the distinctiveness of text in relation to the homologies and contrasts available in the language. Some texts disturb, redefine, modify the language in which they are formed. They have a perennially evolving afterlife. In the broad historical perspective of cultural ‘climate’ they remain instances of ‘weather’ that are of intrinsic and perennial interest. This is what Halliday means by the ‘Hamlet factor’. Indeed, not altogether coincidentally, to the best of my knowledge, Hamlet is the only literary work to have a fully-fledged academic journal devoted to its study. 3 Ignorance of the distinction between text and language, and all that it implies, is symptomatic of the kind of confusion that influences well-intentioned but ignorant tertiary institutions to swerve from true higher education towards reductive vocationalism disguised as higher education. What can philosophy do that society values? Aha! – ‘critical thinking’. Right, let’s forget about philosophy and teach critical thinking. What useful outcome can we expect from the literature student? Aha! – ‘communication skills’. Right, let’s forget literature and teach communication skills. And so the reduction goes on, relentlessly impoverishing the tertiary environment, the individual student and society, in the name of relevance, vocationalism, contextualised learning, public accountability (in the shallowest of senses) and all the other misnomers that disguise a lack of educational understanding. Why we still need the humanities today Each of us is born into a relatively narrow life-world. This is as true for those fortunate few who enter upon the human scene embraced by sheltered luxury as it is for the many who expend their years in poverty, far from the seats of wealth, power or influence. Moreover, the character of the world as it impinges on the individual is changing rapidly, everywhere. (This statement is probably valid even for those who strive most to avoid the world, such as those who spend their time in religious retreat. ) What this suggests is that ordinary means of social transmission, where values, attitudes and judgments are passed from generation to generation within the family, or from mentor to ‘apprentice’ in society, are no longer adequate or may prove so only in the most exceptional of cases. These processes may still be necessary, indeed fundamental, to individual human development, but they cannot be sufficient. Rapid technological change and the shifts in values that result, increasing mobility, population growth, the communications and information revolutions, the differential impact of social change on pre-established world views – in fact all the cliches of the globalizing world – add up to an uncertain field of potential experience for the individual. The resources of the family, even in optimal or exceptional circumstances, are insufficient to interpret, let alone adequately to evaluate, this complexity, especially since it is increasingly likely that the individual’s activities and proclivities will shift to arenas and predicaments beyond the experience of the senior generations. This is where the educational potential of the humanities becomes such a powerful resource. By exposing students to detailed study of particular artifacts – works of literature, examples of fine art, philosophical systems, political  prescriptions, musical compositions, social theories – we avail them of the opportunity to form and test their own judgments, to challenge received opinion, to argue positions within a community of informed discussion and debate, to think and re-think their views in the company of major artists and diagnosticians, each of whom has put their work forward for exactly this purpose, namely, to help shape and re-shape human beings. The power of critical thought, trained and developed in this manner, is central to the formation of a creative democratic citizenry anticipated, for example, in South Africa’s White Paper of 1997. 4 As a society, we need the formal space of the humanities in which to engage with a full range of estimates concerning human potential, past and future. In the course of such studies students will also, no doubt, learn to think clearly and write well, but this is incidental. The mission of the humanities is to mould human identity and purpose in relation to changing times and circumstances. No other field of enquiry, not science, not sociology, not established religion, can meet this imperative need quite as well. Some will claim never to have felt such a need, or to have abandoned it for ‘the real world’ after fleeting initiation at school or university. For these, the humanities are so much frippery, a merely decorative intellectual surplus, or shallow entertainment which ignores the imperatives of the way the economic world works. Such people intend to stick to the ‘text’ they inherit, and perform it unthinkingly to their own best advantage. The abject misery of thousands, though it seems melodramatic to say so, comes to rest on the shoulders of those who have reached this conclusion. The founding impulse of the humanities To counter such views from a fons et origo, we might go back to a period before the Romans, before Plato even, to the founding moment of the humanities. It is commonplace to acknowledge, as do scientists and everyone other than proponents of ethno-science, that science arose once only on planet earth, among the ancient Greeks (Wolpert 25). 5 It is less commonly acknowledged that the western humanities, too, rose at a particular moment among the Greeks, though in all probability similar moments passed unrecorded in other cultures. The originary impulse is expressed (or invented) during Socrates’ famous discourse in the Apology, as recorded and fictionalized by Plato: If I tell you that this is the greatest good for a human being, to engage every day in arguments about virtue and the other things you have heard me talk about, examining both myself and others, and if I tell you that the unexamined life is not worth living for a human being, you will be even less likely to believe what I am saying. But that’s the way it is, gentlemen, as I claim, though it’s not easy to convince you of it. (Apology 38a, trans.Nussbaum 1) ‘The unexamined life is not worth living for a human being’ (emphasis mine): ‘that’s the way it is. ’ This is the bald standpoint of the humanities expressed in a nutshell, and it is not the easiest position to justify to defenders of the status quo, either inside or outside the academy. Let’s look at some of the issues. Why was Socrates on trial for his life? He was teaching that the young ought to devote time and intelligence to finding satisfactory arguments to justify their beliefs, rather than simply following those of their parents and the civic authorities. Not even the gods were to be exempt from rational enquiry. Aristophanes, in his comedy The Clouds, viewed Socrates as dangerously subversive of orthodox education, which he took to be a process whereby the young are indoctrinated in the traditions and values of their culture, as is the case in traditional societies everywhere. In other words, for Aristophanes education meant learning the text of your society. Not so with Socrates. He wanted people to study the language of humanity, though he recognized that this was no easy matter. We are back to the relation between ‘text’ and ‘language’? Socrates held that by systematically questioning text, probing it from all possible perspectives, exploring alternatives, we may by degrees arrive at the language, or at least important elements of it. It is important to stress, ‘from all possible perspectives,’ because Socrates was also an early advocate of truly democratic learning. He was willing to engage in philosophical discussion with anyone and everyone, in the hope that they might know more than he did, or contribute something uniquely valuable. Plato, by contrast, wanted to restrict radical questioning to an elite who, through philosophical investigation, would gain access to timeless truths, enabling its members to rule justly over the masses. Here we have the origin of the tension between the humanities as a source of elite leadership – the Platonism of government and corporate management – and the humanities as a democratic investigation of human meaning and value. 6 Socrates was utterly serious in his claim for intensive rational enquiry as essential to discovering a true mode of living, the good life. The unexamined life is fit only for something less than a human being. Those who unthinkingly follow tradition, who defend and reproduce text uncritically, are trapped in what Wittgenstein might call a ‘form of life’ (241). Plato likened it to living imprisoned in a cave, pursuing a troglodyte existence ruled by convention and fear of the unknown (Republic Book 7). It is interesting to speculate that the tame Platonic ‘puppet show’ may have primitive origins in the image of early humans huddled in solidarity round a fire, the cave walls patterned by flickering shadows, their shapes shifting and unaccountable, while outside lie unknowable dangers, not to be faced in the dark, and largely indecipherable within the cave despite the artificial fire-light. It is a potent representation of fear. Those venturing forth on the intellectual scramble to seek the source of the shadows (to find truth) must be prepared to risk themselves on two counts: first in view of what they might find outside, and second on account of what their fellow humans might do to hold them to the text that currently governs behavior in the cave. Those leaving the enchanted circle may not return. Those remaining have to learn to tolerate the courageous quest of those who ‘go beyond,’ and to deal with the emotional disturbance and communal risk involved. We know what happened to Socrates. We worry that today’s South African society, focused wholly on instrumental programmes directed to immediate ends, will not have the courage, vision or knowledge to support the quest.