Addicted to Food? Essay

Obesity and overeating are growing problems in America today. In this article by Oliver Grimm, he cited studies that speculate that in 2000 112,000 deaths were caused by obesity. There is also evidence that up to 1/3 of the US population may be considered overweight or obese. These numbers are startling and the root of this problem is under intense debate and scientific inquiry.   This search by scientist has led to many discoveries and theories behind why some people are unable to control their eating habits or their weight. One question that this article attempts to address is â€Å"Is overeating and addiction to food similar to drug addiction and what role does body chemistry play?†. Hormones are the regulators of the human body. There is much current research being aimed at these chemicals within the body and especially how they affect brain chemistry and maybe even addictive behaviors. Dopamine is one hormone that has been examined in both drug addicts and obese individual. Dopamine produces a reward sensation in the brain when we get something we want or when we are surprised. There is some research that says that drug addicts and obese individuals tend to have fewer dopamine receptors in the brain. This may cause them to have the urge to continue consuming food or drugs beyond a normal need. With fewer receptors, the brain may continue to look for ways to sate itself. Research the author cited pointed to rats that were denied dopamine soon would not eat anything. Another chemical that may prove to be important in fighting the obesity epidemic and drug addiction is leptin. This hormone has been shown to curb hunger when it is released from adipose (fat) cells where it eventually reached the hypothalamus. Lab animals deprived of this chemical soon became obese. This hormone may provide a vital link in helping severely obese people control their eating. If individuals have a faulty feedback mechanism or a lack of production of leptin, this may cause them to want to eat more. Other areas to be explored are how certain parts of the brain react to addiction, satiety and pleasure. Areas of the brain that have been researched that Mr. Grimm examines are the amygdala and the orbitofrontalis(OFC).   The amygdale seems to have some involvement in our response to food or drugs when we are hungry for them. It does not seem to be activated as much when we have taken in food or drugs. The OFC is generally thought of as an area of the brain that helps us to maintain rational behavior and use good judgment. This area may be operating differently in addicts. The author says that diet, exercise and lifestyle are the best ways to live healthy and control weight. His view; however, is that all research cited shows. â€Å"the brain processes stimuli related to eating in much the same way that it does to other addictive stimuli†(Grimm, 2007).   For us to have a better understanding of why certain people find it so hard to control their weight we may have to look more at addictive behaviors and the research that has been conducted. â€Å"For all their differences, drug addiction and obesity seem to be two sides of the same coin.† (Grimm, 2007) 2)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   What are you being asked to believe in this article? In Mr. Grimm’s article we asked to believe that 9.1% of medical expenditures if for overweight and obese patients. We are also asked to believe that one-third of the US population may be overweight or obese according to studies. Overweight is defined a having a body mass index greater than 25. Simply put, body mass index is your weight divided by your height. We are asked to believe that obesity and being overweight are at epidemic proportions in this country. We are also being asked to believe that much of a person’s behavior when it comes to addiction and food consumption in obese individuals may be directly related to the person’s brain chemistry or factors affecting it. While the author agrees that there are many factors in a healthy lifestyle and behavior control, much of the article deals with research that says that hormones, brain function and chemical activity are huge contributors in how a person reacts to stimuli. Leptin and dopamine are seen as avenues that may lead to breakthroughs in the area of obesity. Areas of the brain such as the amygdala and the OFC are seen as possible areas that may lead to a better understanding of cravings and addictions. I believe that the main idea that the author is trying to convey is that drug addiction and food consumption are very closely related. We are asked to consider that a person who is obese may be in a similar predicament as a drug addict. The article says that drugs that help drug addicts may also help us to treat severe obesity. Again we are asked to parallel the two dilemmas and weigh their relevance to one another. It is hard for people to associate obesity with drug addiction, but Mr. Grimm would like us think otherwise and keep an open mind to the possibility of research in drug addiction that could lead to breakthroughs in obesity and weight management.

Blood Brothers Essay

Blood Brothers’ is the story of two twins from a poor family in Liverpool. One of them is given away and they are forced to live apart, but somehow fate always brings them back together. The play is built upon the theme of the superstition that if twins are separated at birth then they will die on the day that they discover that they are twins. This theme is reinforced throughout the play by the words of the narrator to keep the audience thinking about what will happen. The first time we see the theme of superstition is when the narrator first begins to speak and he says: â€Å"So did you hear the story of the Johnstone twins? †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. How one was kept and one Given away†¦.. Never knowing that they shared one name till the day they died†¦ † Willy Russell thought that the working class people were more superstitious in contrast with the middle and upper classes. I think this is because they were usually more religious than the upper classes. An example of there superstition is when Mrs Lyons places a pair of new shoes on the table and Mrs Johnstone says: â€Å"New shoes on the table’ take them off†¦. Never put new shoes on the table†¦.. You never know what’ll happen. † During the play Willy Russell explores class difference in great detail, showing how it can determine your chances further on in life. He also explores this theme in his other plays such as ‘Our day out’. In ‘Blood Brothers’ he does this by contrasting the backgrounds that the two boys are brought up in. Mickey, the twin who was kept, was brought up in a working class background with little money and spoke with a broad scouse accent and used slang terms. Whereas Edward was brought up in a family who had a car, a nice house and plenty of money. This meant that he would be able to get a good education and had many opportunities available to him in life. Throughout the play both women attempt to keep the twin apart, but somehow they always end up back together and ironically they make a pact to become ‘Blood Brothers’. Mickey and Edward are always trying to be like each other; Mickey wants to have a nice house, lots of money and a good education where as Edward wants to be able to do what he wants and not be spoilt like he is now. The playwright’s use of dramatic irony builds up drama and tension as the audience know that Mickey and Edward are really brothers and not just ‘Blood Brothers’. This makes the audience feel like they are part of the secret and helps them create a bond with the characters. This keeps the audience interested because they want to find out what is going to happen to them. The difference in class became more apparent during Edward and Mickey’s adulthood, when Eddie goes to university while Mickey is has to struggle to provide a living for his family. The playwright was quick to emphasise the high unemployment rate at the time the play was set and concerns that people faced. Because he was brought up by a single working class parent and had always struggled for money, Mickey lacked a father figure and this may have influenced his decision to help his brother, Sammy, during the robbery. Mickey’s role in the robbery triggers a huge change in his behaviour and also during his time I prison he becomes depressed and gets addicted to the anti-depressants he is prescribed, because of this Mickey’s wife, Linda, talks to Eddie and asks him for advice, and Mrs Lyons tells Mickey of this relationship because she wants them to argue and fall out so that they never find out that they are brothers. I think that at this point the audience would sympathise with Mickey because he has always had a bad life and know he has been told that his wife is seeing Edward. This event spurs Mickey on to seek revenge against Edward because he fells betrayed by him and Linda. An example if this is when Mrs Johnstone says to Linda:- â€Å"Mickey†¦ Mickey’s got a gun†¦ † Linda then realise where Mickey is going and she says:- â€Å"Mickey?†¦ Eddie?†¦ The Town Hall† One of the techniques that Russell uses to create drama in the play is by adding a narrator who intervenes several times during the events of the play. The role of the narrator is to emphasise the superstition of the twins and to keep the audience interested. An example of this is when the narrator sings: â€Å"Yes, the devil he’s still got your number†¦ he wants to speak to you†¦ seen him leanin’ on your door. † This builds up the drama because of Mickey’s unstable nature it will prepare the audience for events to come at the end of the play. Another example of this is when the narrator sings the song ‘madman’. As he repeats the lyrics over and over the suspense would build and also the theme of superstition is also repeated and reinforced. Also by using pulsating music the drama and tension is heightened. â€Å"There’s a man gone mad in the town tonight, He’s gonna shoot somebody down†¦.. Devil’s got your number†¦.. he’s callin’ you up today† This would remind the audience that there is a price to pay for separating twins; it will also reinforce the superstition of twins. I also think that it tells the audience that something important is going to happen. The final scene in the play is set in a very public place, the town hall, and there are councillors and other people there as well as Edward. This shows that Mickey’s mind is unstable and that he doesn’t care about the consequences of his actions because he fighting a private battle in public. This would also be used to heighten the drama in the final moments of the play. When Mickey enters onto the stage he has a gun held two handed because his hands are shaking so much. Then somebody stood next to Edward realise the reality of the situation and screams. This would add drama and tension to the scene and it would also show the audience that Mickey is a very real threat. For this final scene the use of stage directions is very important. Willy Russell has added pauses in areas of high tension so that the audience would be eager for the rest of the scene and the tension would grow, he also added pauses, along side the language and actions used by the characters in the play. By adding ellipsis into Mickey’s speech it would show the audience that he can’t even control what he is saying. He also uses the theme of guns throughout the play and I think this may have been a hint as to how the play ends. Mickey’s past encounters with guns and violence may be the reason he went so far over the edge that he threatened to shoot Edward. When Mickey and Edward were children they used to play shooting games, but know this is no longer a game. When Mickey tells Edward that he has stopped taking the pills I think that it is significant because it would tell Edward and the audience that Mickey is not thinking straight and that he is not in control of his action. It also shows that the only way Mickey can react is with violence. The use of dramatic irony throughout the play is one of the main themes but it is probably this scene where it is most important. The fact the audience know that Mickey and Edward are brothers is ironic because they don’t know themselves. It is also ironic that Mickey thought they were ‘Blood Brothers’ and has made the connection that they are both the sons of Mrs Johnstone. When Mickey says:- â€Å"Friends! I could kill you†¦ We were friends weren’t we? Blood Brothers, wasn’t it? Remember? † It would tell Edward and the audience that Mickey’s idea of a friend is built around a childish pact. The language Mickey uses is very basic and he talks in short sharp sentences. When Mrs Johnstone makes a dramatic entrance on to the stage she rushes to Mickey and Edward, who are stood just yards apart, and she tells them the truth about who they are, this is followed by the shooting of Mickey and Edward. The fact that Mickey and Edward are just yards apart would create drama because Mickey is out of control and has a gun and Edward is defenceless. When Mrs Johnstone had told her sons that they were brothers Mickey realises what sort of life he could have had and who he could have been. This made him feel uncontrollable rage towards his mother and this would have made the audience think that he may shoot Mrs Johnstone. By telling her two sons they were brothers Mrs Johnstone has caused both her sons deaths when she actually thought she was helping the situation. The final song and music would create a deep sadness in the audience and make them feel sorry for Linda and Mrs Johnstone’s loss. They would also be sad for Mickey who hasn’t had a very good life, they would feel sad for Edward because he hasn’t done anything to harm anyone and yet he gets shot. This would confirm in the audiences mind the superstition that if twins are separated they will die on the day they find out the truth. I think that will was successful in creating drama and suspense throughout the play but I think he could have increased the tension at the end of the play by introducing Mickey and Edwards real father into the scene and perhaps Linda getting killed by Mickey as well as Edward. By adding another character it may make the audience think that Mickey will become even more confused and this may lead to the death of other characters.

Disaster Prevention, Incident Response, and Relocation

Recently, there have been a lot of efforts being made by organizations and government agencies that focus on disaster prevention and mitigation. Disaster, as defined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (2007), â€Å"takes many forms — a hurricane, an earthquake, a tornado, a flood, a fire or a hazardous spill, an act of nature or an act of terrorism. † The advent of efforts that generally apply to environmental and natural disasters, as well as man-controlled disasters, has stirred many of us.In this light, this paper will also give an overview at the way disaster prevention, disaster incident response, and disaster relocation are being handled in the society, particularly in the technological aspect of the sourcing process. First, the concept of disaster prevention could be considered as a basic part of any research source since the idea of disaster preparedness had not been so new a concept.In this regard, a website made by an Ethiopian agency embarks on disast er prevention and preparedness. The site has the title Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Agency (DPPA), and it functions as a governmental commission that acts as an information board relegating to several important data for its audiences. Its main focus is on the humanitarian situation in Ethiopia.The sections in the homepage provide the categories of information and these include: the news section where news clips of related humanitarian activities are linked; public relations section wherein publications made by the DPPA are shown; livelihoods section presenting regional livelihood analyses; pledges and deliveries section which shows the status of responses to humanitarian appeal; and other categories that generally determine related information. The website serves as a database that does not merely show the programs of the DPPA but also the activities which characterize its endeavors.How disaster prevention is illustrated in the website is transcended more with the commission ’s activities rather than the information that individuals should look into in going in-depth at disaster prevention. The program lay out mentioned disaster prevention as looking into the root causes first in order to anticipate actions, in which the mechanism of Employment Generation Scheme was applied (DPPA, 2009); however, the mechanism seems to be a needs-based approach – giving relief (food) in exchange to the victims’ physical work. This somehow connotes unsustainability.Personally, I see the website as a mask for a marketing method to gain assistance from aid organizations. Second, carrying the concept of incident response is the website of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Mainly acting as a response unit, FEMA has several coordinating subgroups which specialize according to the varying forms of disasters. Among these coordinating groups are Emergency Response Teams, Federal Incident Response Support Teams, Hurricane Liaison Team, Urban Sea rch and Rescue Task Forces, Mobile Emergency Response Support, and many other categorizations.In the website, there is also a major part that includes the mechanism where incident response is applied. This mechanism is called modeling, and is considered as â€Å"essential element of [†¦] planning efforts [†¦] for different circumstances and data sets† (FEMA, 2007). Further, the website includes the specific actions that it does as a response unit. Some of these undertakings are centered on the development of mission assignments, and coordination with other concerned agencies.This website is indeed informational, although it could somehow appear to give out an information overload, but nevertheless, it serves its function in imparting knowledge about an agency’s incident response to disaster. The third website is a link on disaster relocation which is shown by the Laguna Beach City in California. It shows a government plan that aims to establish relocation whe n a disaster that requires an immediate evacuation occurs.Very simplistic does the plan seem, such that it states that â€Å"every family [must] designate an out-of-state contact to help coordinate family reunion plans† (City of Laguna Beach, 2006) when a major disaster strikes. The website visually looks like an advertisement for vacation places, but over-all, its content is simplistically relevant. To summarize, the three websites are shown in a much differentiated manner. The contents are highly regarded as informational, although the focus of the contents of each site does not necessarily revolve in the topic headings that they have.The website for FEMA is probably the most informational among the three since it gives a comprehensive lay down of the activities and the coordinating groups that are needed in its functioning. Disaster and its adverse effects could be mitigated by individual preparedness. The starting point in disaster preparedness is to â€Å"help your comm unity by [first] preparing yourself† (Canadian Red Cross, 2009). Meanwhile, web sources are commonly relied upon in times of disasters, so it is important that these sources are able to provide comprehensive information that would help people in facing such risky situations.

The American Involvement in the Politics of Middle East Essay

The American Involvement in the Politics of Middle East - Essay Example When Bush declared war on Iraq, experts say he was supporting the Jews. He wanted to assist the Israelites. High-ranking officials in Bush's administration were Jews. The officials took part in making the decision to invade Iraq. Iraq was Israel's chief enemy. They proved to be high economic competitors to Israel. It affected the economy of Israel because of these economic competitions. The war was like an activity of saving Israel . Saddam Hussein was not a major threat to America. He posed only a risk of launching a nuclear attack towards Israel. America did a wrong thing in capturing and executing Saddam. Bush wanted to prove that his administration was supporting the growth of Israel. He supported every action that Israel Prime Minister, Sharon, wanted to do. In many of his speeches, Bush reinstated his wish of a strong bond between the Jews and Americans. US had an opinion that the security of the world depends on the security of Israel. The US had strategic plans to fight terro rism in the Middle East, which posed a threat to Israel. Terrorism was a global menace. US viewed Israel as a strategic country to fight terror in Middle East. The Jewish state had planned war on Iraq long time ago. It all began in 1996 when Israel's government planned an attack on Iraq. The government of Israel put the strategy into a paper, and the respective authors of the document later became influential figures in Bush administration.US foreign policy is another issue that contributed significantly to the learning of the course.

Sports Laws Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Sports Laws - Case Study Example The question of whether a club is or is not private is usually left for courts to decide. The courts analyze elements like 'history of club' to check if the club was designed to be selective in membership. Usually the key points that courts take into consideration is 'exclusiveness of club in the selection of new members' and 'the use of club facilities by non members. However, according to a recent report, Golf clubs and other private members' establishments will no longer be able to ban women members from their bars or discriminate in any other way on gender grounds. Equality bill is all set to control golf clubs discrimination which means that private clubs with mixed membership could no more deal with women differently. The change is drafted in a government consultation paper aimed at rationalising the UK's complicated net of discrimination legislation. The paper, the discrimination law review which is being published, is aimed to improve discrimination legislation. Following are some of the past cases of discrimination: Case Study I: A professional female wrestler was refused license by a promotional company on the pretext that licensing with respect to the projected venue was subject to condition that forbade women from participating. She moved to court. Her claim of sexual discrimination was upheld by the industrial court. The licensing authority argued that the whole situation was an exception provided in the sex Discrimination Act 1975 s 51(1) and also that Local Government 1963 Act rendered them with the power to admit terms for granting license as it thought were proper and thus licensing authority's appeal was allowed accordingly. Case Study II: Ms petty practiced as Judo instructor and had British Judo Association's qualification as National Judo referee. In 1977 Ms Petty was stated by BJA that they had a policy which prohibited women from refereeing men at national level. Ms Petty moved to industrial tribunal under S13 of the SDA which banishes discrimination by bodies which alleviates engagement in sports. The industrial tribunal upheld Ms Petty's claims of discrimination. BJA in turn appealed to the EAT. However EAT upheld Industrial tribunal's judgment and found BJA had discriminated against Ms Petty and had acted in disregard of S13. Moving on to sports ethics, competitive environment in sports has led to tremendous performance pressures on athletes. They make use of performance enhancing drugs. Although the use of anabolic steroids enhances athlete's performance, they also pose some serious health risks. The consumption of such drugs is impermissible. Also the drug users create unfair pressure on other competitors. The re- regulation of sport is happening within complex surroundings of European regularity frameworks and international sports federations. The European Model of sport was published in 1998. The European commission maintains that in the future growth and maturation of sport, the special features of European model need to be realized fully. At European level, the European Court of Justice has understandably decreed that sports organizations can no more

Why teachers salary should increase Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Why teachers salary should increase - Essay Example While education takes up most of the childhood and teenage years, it benefits the whole adult life of a person. While education could really, and actually, happen anywhere, formal education within school settings is what really provides an individual with ammunition later on in life. One cannot disregard the significance of education in life. In fact, in today’s world, an individual is disregarded if without education. Education is not only there to increase one’s knowledge, but also to shape one’s character. It develops the rational aspect of a human being. Now, when one talks about education, one cannot help but think about teachers. This is because education is a teacher-driven industry. Without teachers, education will not be possible (Vedder 17-8). The important status of the teaching profession is the main reason why teachers’ salary should be increased. A higher salary for teachers would mean that existing teachers would feel more inspired as they g o about their daily teaching routine (Mishel and Roy 69). It could also mean that the teaching industry will be more able to attract the best and the brightest minds (Cunningham and Sperry 38). It will also mean that more potential teachers will be inclined to give the career more consideration, which could decrease teaching shortage (Vedder 7). More Inspiration for Teachers Work is all about motivation. While many people will say that a career is based on what one wants to do, at the end of the day, one would hope that what one wants to do is also something that would put food on the table, roof over the heads, and clothes on the back. In addition, it is not asking too much to include a reliable car to make lives easier, along with extra funds to indulge into leisure moments occasionally. It is true that several teachers are able to afford all these things without problems, but one cannot really claim that these things are acquired without many problems (Mishel and Roy 71-2). The t eaching profession should be able to offer such a salary that could at least ensure noble teachers that they could provide education to individuals without enduring a profession that will make them sacrifice some of their personal needs and wants. It is a well-accepted fact that motivated workers are more productive in their jobs. While this is not to say that money is the only source of motivation, removing the barrier of money issues would certainly help a lot in alleviating the situation of people involved in such â€Å"thankless† jobs (Mishel and Roy 75-6). Attracting the Best and the Brightest Minds Everyone has heard a story somewhere of a teacher who has left the profession to enter the corporate world, and the biggest reason stated has always been better paychecks. This is especially true among highly effective and intelligent teachers in the industry. It is understandable that people who have a big potential to really make it big in the better-paying corporate world would be enticed to switch professions. This is coupled by the additional attraction that corporate jobs could be less stressful, where one does not have to take the work back home. If teachers feel that their efforts are being recognized in the paychecks, there would be lesser chances of job switch. Furthermore, it could lessen, if not remove, the connotation that teaching is a thankless career. To do so could attract more brilliant students into the teaching industry (Cunningham and Sperry 38-9). This is not to say, though, that only average people are attracted to get into teaching. However, one cannot disregard the possibility that many highly effective and brilliant individuals who want to get into teaching would settle for better-paying jobs instead, even though they want to teach (Cunningham and S

Computer Network Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Computer Network - Essay Example This would make the Wi- Fi more effective by ensuring it spreads wider field through structures and different obstructions. Organizations that profit from shopper information transfers are not excited about the thought. As indicated by the Washington Post, Verizon, Intel, AT&T, Cisco, and others have suggested that the range should be issued to organizations as opposed to being utilized in the FCCs proposed arrangement. "We imagine that the range would be most valuable to the bigger society and to broadband organization in the event that it were authorized," an Intel official says. At the same time, Google and Microsoft have have their own ideas regarding the proposition. These propositions include prompt advantage to clients, free national web access that would make a country own brilliant organized gadgets, "a huge number of gadgets that will make the advancing Internet out of things."(Lee, Yi, Chong, & Jin, 2014). Presently, the advocates of both Google and Microsoft are part of the Wireless Innovation Alliance, which is a care group for the FCCs drive.This incorporates Dell and the New America Foundation. Google stands out to be the beneficiary if more individuals begin using its administrations to browse the web over extensive free Wi-Fi systems, or make any telephone and future calls through free administrations like Google Voice or Google Hangouts. Google has suggested that free mass Wi-Fi would start a blast in development. It is obvious that this will open a door for greater budgets that will offer room for advertisements through pursuit or in other imaginative ways. Faster internet and Wi-Fi across the nation means that people will experience the best live shows on the web, through Google Hangouts, which could incorporate promotions across the nation through broadcasts over that the Internet using tablets and cell phones(Niyato & Hossain, 2007). A proposition

The Boston Molasses Disaster Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

The Boston Molasses Disaster - Research Paper Example (Dodero, n.d). The Boston Molasses Disaster was of particular interest in lieu of this paper because it talked of an almost fictional sounding disaster that had wrecked Boston and claimed the lives of its people due to the negligence of USIA and its technicians who overlooked critical engineering procedures which resulted in the infamous disaster. The method and procedure this paper adopted was to study secondary research and develop a paper based on that, with help from the images and information from the newspapers available online from that time. As a result of this, it was found that USIA was to blame for the Boston Molasses Disaster and in a lengthy and costly legal trial that followed suit, they had to pay heavy damages to the victims of the disaster in compensation. In summation, it was discovered how this disaster changed future engineering and industry practices as a result of learning from the mistakes that had caused it in the first place. (figure 1.19) Table of Contents A bstract†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..2 Table of Contents†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦4 List of Figures†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.5 1. ... ............8 1.1.2. The Technology/Engineering Involved†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦11 2. The Investigation of the Boston Molasses Disaster†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦13 2.1 The Investigation†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦13 2.2 Findings†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦15 2.3 Recommendations†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.20 3. Impact on engineering practices†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚ ¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..22 4. Conclusion†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.24 5. Works Cited†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...25 List of Figures 1. Figure 1.1. Boston Post, Jan16, 1919. News about the Molasses disaster. http://www.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_library/4901511429/in/set-72157624622085789/ 2. Figure 1.2. firemen standing in sticky molasses in the aftermath of the disaster http://www.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_library/4945271178/in/set-72157624622085789/ 3. Figure 1.3. Cutting tank to search for dead bodies underneath. http://www .flickr.com/photos/boston_public_library/4944687913/in/set-72157624622085789/ 4. Figure 1.4. Damaged fire house as a result of the disaster. http://www.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_library/4944687945/in/set-72157624622085789/ 5. Figure 1.5. Site of the disaster showing lumberyard. http://www.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_library/4944687987/in/set-72157624622085789/ 6. Figure 1.6. Twisted elevated structure. http://www.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_library/4945271280/in/set-72157624622085789/ 7. Figure 1.7. Another shot of the damaged

Health care should be free Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Health care should be free - Research Paper Example The government should provide a basic level of health care to all citizens and allow the affording to purchase quick, more efficient, or a higher quality service, though the quality of medical health services provided to the poor should be comparable to that available to the rich in any case. Countries in which the private health care has become the norm have a great number of citizens without insurance. Millions of people in the US either have no insurance or are underinsured because of a variety of reasons including lack of employment and poor economy. If the health care system is made free, people would not be denied the service just because they cannot pay for it. Everyone would have access to all kinds of medical services irrespective of the financial status. The government should establish a network of community health centers so that health care becomes accessible to all communities across the country (Zwegenthal et al, 2009, p. 4). Making the health care system free is a pote ntial way of bringing the overall costs of the health care down. Countries that have a public health care system instead of one that is sponsored by the state usually spend a much larger amount of their gross national profit over providing the health care. As a result of this, the free market system places the need for increased expenditure on the administrative costs. This increases the insurance premiums and raises the costs for the expenses paid out of pocket for the medication after meeting the insurance deductible. One way to resolve this issue is by using co-insurance and deductibles, but these mechanisms require the imposition of restrictions to ensure the provision of health care to the financial strained. â€Å"And since cost sharing can have an adverse effect on the health of the poor, these and certain other groups should be exempt from sharing the cost of care altogether† (Harris and Manning, 2007, p. 80). Making health care free is an important way of reducing th e cost of medical care since the competition would be eradicated under the single administration. Presently, because of the availability of a variety of health care plans, claims and procedures are often duplicated. Free health care system would save the time that is otherwise consumed in processing the claims, thus making the system more efficient. Free health care system can be administered more easily with lesser cost. The need for the employers to incur expenditures by providing their employees with insurance would be obviated. Placement of the health care system under the single administration would also obviate the need for contractual negotiations. It is noteworthy here that different free health care systems function differently. For example, the health care system in Canada is different from the health care system in the UK. Which out of a certain number of free health care systems are superior or inferior to the others is eventually determined by the consumers. The infant mortality rate of the US is high while the life span is shorter as compared to many countries around the world (Kongaika, 2013). This can partly be attributed to the fact that many Americans do not get the

Government impact on the Cherokee nation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Government impact on the Cherokee nation - Essay Example The federal government of the United States has always followed policies towards the Cherokee that were in the government’s best interest, occasionally supporting the group but more often oppressing them, whereas local governments were almost universally fought against the Cherokee Nation and allowed their slaughter. John Ehle in his Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation describes the contact between the Cherokee, other native tribes, the United States government and other European groups from the middle of the eighteenth century through the nineteenth century. He uses a narrative approach, attempting to connect the reader to the text by bringing out the character of historical people. In this way it reads half way between a historical fiction and a work of non-fiction, with elements of detail that would be possible to glean from historical documents such as a particular person having â€Å"soft hair, instead of the Idian’s more coarse, straight hair †1 followed immediately by factual and historical information about the languages and dialects spoken by the Cherokee people.2 It tries to take a balanced approach, spending as much time as possible focusing on both the Cherokee and American points of view, but occasionally indulges in elements of stereotyping, depicting all Cherokee men as tall, proud warriors or mystical shamans, for instance, removing a lot of the humanity that would connect the reader to the subjects of the book. This book makes excellent use of primary sources, providing long in text quotations for important documents and events, ranging from presidential proclamations to journal entries of people involved in those events. It also does an excellent job weaving historical information and information about Cherokee culture and practice throughout its narrative structure, both entertaining and informing in equal measure. Ehle also uses endnotes to add further historical explanation and outline sources of inf ormation; a full bibliography provides excellent material for further reading as well as understanding which elements of Ehle’s work are complete historical facts and which have been elaborated upon by the author. The relationship between the United States Federal government and the Cherokee nations shifted drastically between the 1776 and the middle of the nineteenth century, usually depending on the way the Cherokee could be useful or exploited by the government. As Ehle points out, members of the early federal government â€Å"fully intended to honor† both Cherokee land claims and any treaties that the Cherokees made with the government.3 In cases where white Americans violated the rights of Cherokee people, the federal government responded forcefully; in one case in 1792, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson signed a presidential proclamation offering a reward of â€Å"five hundred dollars† for the apprehension of a group of white Americans who â€Å"inva ded, burned and destroyed a town belonging to the Cherokee Nation.†4 When these measures proved less than completely successful, military officers were eventually used to apprehend people who had attacked a Cherokee group at a peace conference (along with the Federal government staff staying with them).5 Clearly, the US federal government once had the role of defending the Cherokee’s against the government’s own people and settlers, interacted with the Cherokee natio

The four basic health care system models Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The four basic health care system models - Essay Example Bismarck model that compiles to the Germany, France, Netherlands and other countries’ health care system is fairly similar to the American health care system that uses insurance policies to cover people’s health as a multi-payer model. Similarly, Bismarck model is strictly government run and non-profitable funded jointly by employees and employers (Boboc & TÃŒ §itÃŒ §an, 2014). Comparatively, Beverage model is a Britain, Spain and New Zealand oriented and nationalized health care that is financed and provided by the government. Beverage model focuses on the highest quality of services by controlling the sole tax payers and what the health providers can offer. In contrast, National Insurance Model contains some components of both Bismarck and Beverage models involving private-sector providers where the beneficiaries are able to negotiate for the services rendered at the best and affordable prices (Health Disparities Conference & Wallace, 2008). However, the health care cost within the national care model is regulated by the government especially adopted in Canada and South Korea. In contrast, The Out-of-Pocket Model is applied in most developing with disorganized health care systems to provide mass health care services. Unlike other health care models, the Out-of Pocket model is adopted in rural area of South America, China and Africa. Nevertheless, this kind of health care model does not provide health care for all citizens (Boboc & TÃŒ §itÃŒ §an, 2014). The future American healthcare system should combine the elements of both health care models to cover the health care from cradle to the grave for all American individuals. Similarly, the future American health system should centrally focus on preventive services directed towards improving health and driving down costs in long term where the United State citizens’ priorities and health concerns are invested in and

The U.S.A. Patriot Act Essay Example for Free

The U.S.A. Patriot Act Essay Abstract   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The protection of civil rights in the society requires thorough understanding of political, social, and economic conditions. Under certain political pressures some societal groups require special protection. However, with the desire to minimize the risks of foreign terrorism, privacy rights seem to lose their relevance in the legal system of the U.S. The U.S.A. Patriot Act   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The U.S.A. Patriot Act is the set of legal norms aimed at decreasing the risks of foreign terrorism in the U. S. The Acts provisions actually introduce amendments into numerous law enforcement, surveillance, and counter-terrorism legal norms to expand their legal borders, and to provide their broader application under the constant threat of terrorist acts.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The U.S.A. Patriot Act   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The U.S.A. Patriot Act is the document which requires detailed review in the light of privacy rights protection. In the process of reading the Act, one cannot but notice that in the attempt to protect the U.S. citizens from the threat of terrorism, the authors of the Act have actually created extremely unfavorable conditions for the equality and protection of the privacy rights. Although the Act openly states that â€Å"Arab Americans, Muslim Americans, and Americans from South Asia play a vital role in our Nation and are entitled to nothing less than the full rights of every American† (The U.S.A Patriot Act 2001, I:102), it also implies that privacy rights will hardly remain important when it comes to eliminating terrorism.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Title II of the Act is devoted to surveillance procedures, and significantly broadens the rights of the surveillance agencies. This Title is the key to discussing the issue of privacy rights as related to the U.S.A. Patriot Act. â€Å"Any investigative or law enforcement officer, or attorney for the Government, who by any means authorized by this chapter, has obtained knowledge of the contents of any wire, oral, or electronic communication, or evidence derived therefrom, may disclose such contents to any other Federal Law enforcement, intelligence, protective, immigration, national defense, or national security official† (The U.S.A. Patriot Act 2001, II:203). In this context, the U.S.A. Patriot Act not only fails to provide the exact criteria for such disclosure, but it also initially breaks the privacy rights of those, whose information is to be disclosed. Moreover, the Title II of the U.S.A. Patriot Act significantly expands the rights of juries, government’s attorneys, courts, and intelligence agencies in disclosing personal information which is otherwise prohibited (The U.S.A. Patriot Act 2001, II: 102).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Section 212 of the Title II of the U.S.A. Patriot Act refers to the right to disclose customer records â€Å"to a governmental entity, if the provider reasonably believes that en emergency involving immediate danger of death or serious physical injury to any person justifies disclosure of information† (The U.S.A. Patriot Act 2001, II:212). Again, we face the need to specify the criteria of such disclosure, and the legal criteria of determining the potential risks towards someone’s health or life. Without these criteria, the Act directly violates the privacy rights of the U.S. and non-U.S. citizens on the U.S. territory.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Conclusion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The U.S.A. Patriot Act was a legal attempt to produce sound counter-terrorist measures. However, as it has significantly expanded the rights of the law enforcement agencies, the Act has also failed to protect the basic privacy rights of those who may appear under the pressure of the Patriot Act’s provisions. This does not mean that the discussed Act loses its relevance. Under the threat of terrorism, legal provisions of the U.S.A. Patriot Act deserve attention and may serve the reliable instruments of eliminating terrorist risks. Yet, the U.S.A. Patriot Act will become legally correct only in case it provides specific criteria for each case of breaking the privacy rights and for determining the threats to ones health or life. References The U.S.A. Patriot Act. (2001). Retrieved March 02, 2008 from http://epic.org/privacy/terrorism/hr3162.html

Unitary And Pluralistic Frames Of Reference Management Essay

Unitary And Pluralistic Frames Of Reference Management Essay Employee relationship is very important issue in the business world. Every manager must maintain a relationship with his employee to achieve the business goal. To maintain firm reputation and increase productivity employer maintain good employee relationship. A manager follows many approach or theory to maintain good relationship among the employees LO1: Understand the context of employee relations against a changing background Explain the unitary and pluralistic frames of reference (P1) Unitary frames Unitary frames which start from the values and assumption said that workplace conflict is not expected behave or relation between the manager and employee. A conflict starts from twos behaved or occurrence which felt effect on the other employee to commit further problem. Pluralistic frames In this frames the organization deviates firm into powerful and different sub-group. Each group has its own lawful loyalty and respect to their object and leader. The two main sub-groups in the Pluralist view are the management and trade unions. subscribing to different values and objectives. In the much organization pluralism represent as more suitable and perfect. This is also better to describe employment relationships. (Abbott, k. 2006) Evaluate how the changes in trade unionism in the 20th century have affected employee relations within the organization (P2) Very first of the 20th century the trade union becomes very powerful.in1901 the court decided that the trade union could be sued for damages if they held a strike this is mainly for the taff vale case. From 1923-1929 Britain face the conservative government. During that time general stick was held by the trade union. During the 1920s old industries like coal mining were declining. So in 1921 employers cut wages. In 1926 they proposed to cut wages and increase working hours. The miners leader A.J. Cooke said Not a penny off the pay, not a minute on the day. The miners went on strike and appealed to the other unions to help them. The result was a general strike from midnight on 3 May 1926. In that stick some general worker died. For which we observed May Day. Actually after that the trade union comes to form. These changes affected much on the employee relation. In the very first of trade union reform the relationship between the employer and employee was not good. But when the trade union come to the real form the employee relationship developed. (Nationalarchives, 2012) Explain the role of 4 main players in employee relations of an organization (P3) Some key employee play important role in the management of employee relation. Suppose the HR manager. Employee trainee, financial manager, CEO plays some key role in the employee relation. Role of HR manager in employee relation: human resource manager play some key role to manage the employee relation. For example a HR manager designs the job, making the work place planning etc. all of the planning he try to increase the candor, respect, responsibility by which the employee relation develop. Role of employee trainee in employee relation: by provide the proper training employee trainee ensure the proper employee relation. Role of financials manager: financial manager play a good role in controlling the employee relation. By providing proper knowledge about the need of relationship in finance he try to develop the employee relationship. CEO and employee relation: It is considered as a skill-set or a philosophy not as a management function. ECO considers it as a skill competences to achieve high performance. For the above reasons employer are tried to develop the employee relation. (Manaementstudyguide,2012) Why do you think the field of Industrial Relations has been replaced with the name Employee Relations over the years? Give examples to support your answer (M1) I think the term industrial relation replace by the term employee relationship. There are many reason for which the industrial relation replaced by the employee relation. The reasons are For the reforming of trade union and labor union come to form. In the 20th century the employee is consider as the core employee. The value of industrial relation cant maintain the better relationship. In the 20th century the relationship among the employee becomes essential. Industrial relation replaced by the employee relation because RE concept is much helpful to the firm Employee relation is easier to understand for the general employee. LO2: Understand the nature of industrial conflict and its resolution Explain the procedures an organization should follow when dealing with different conflict situations. There are some processes to dealing with the different conflict situation. Among them the causes identification, identify the way of solve and implication of that ways is main. This are describe below Identify the conflict causes: there are many causes for which a conflict arises in the organization some of them are Training management inefficiency Unfair treatment with the employee Poor communication system Risky working environment Unsolved problem of past Leader ship problem Harassment in organization etc Identify the way of solve conflict: this step sometime called managerial action to solve conflict. There are many types of action by which confect can remove from the organization. To solve the conflict negotiation is must be needed. Some ways to solve the conflict are Regularly review the job descriptions Developing the open opinion option Make the working place safety for the employee Listen to the employee problem By taking the employee recommendations Removing the harassment from the organization Creation proper opportunity for the employee Ways to implement the solving procedures: These solving procedures can implement in the organization by the following ways Make an conversation among the HR manager, manager and employee repetitive Take advise from the employee representative and overall employee line keep a record of relevant events: include dates and times, plus a description of what happened keep copies of anything relevant, letters, memos, emails, notes of meetings make a formal complaint Explain the key features of employee relations in a real life conflict situation of an of ford motor Employee relation means the body of concern to maintain the employee-employment relationship. It is very important for satisfactory productivity, employee motivation and business goal .it also necessary to solve and prevent different problem which arise from working place. Ford motor manages the employee relationship based on the Pluralist approach of employee relation (divided firm into many groups an each group has a unique identity) the employee relation depends on some feature those are given below: How the works are organize Acquisition skills and development of employee Compensation and pay processes and structures Security arrangements on employment and staffing Labor management issues By the above feature on employee relationship are maintaining by the ford motor to maintain the employee relation. Evaluate the effectiveness of procedures used in a conflict situation from real life organization Conflict in workplace means the lack of understanding between the employer and employee. For conflict the relationship among the employer and employee and employee to employee can destroy. Conflict in the organization is very harmful for the organization. It reduce employee relationship, decreases the productivity of firm, And create personal conflict. If there are any types of confliction the firm then the efficiency of employee reduce because conflict is one type of mental problem. Conflict create problem to achieve the goals of the organization. So it is very necessary to solve the conflict. In the real life there are many types of solving ways to solve the conflict from the organization. By the following procedure or using the following tool ford motor solve their organizational conflict which arises in the firm by some certain problem. Regularly review the job descriptions Developing the open opinion option Make the working place safety for the employee Listen to the employee problem By taking the employee recommendations Removing the harassment from the organization Creation proper opportunity for the employee Present findings from the reasons for conflict between British Airways Cabin Crew staff and management. How was the conflict solved and through which procedures? (M3). British airways are a famous airways industry in the world. This is one of the leading companies in the air way industry. But recently the3re was a problem between the cabin crew and management. This conflict arises from the facilities of employee issue. The crew said that they cannot get enough facilities like other company of this industry. But some specialist think there are some other problems behind it they this conflict arises from the following aspect Training management inefficiency Unfair treatment with the employee Poor communication system Risky working environment Unsolved problem of past Leader ship problem Harassment in organization etc However the British airline properly solved this conflict soon by appropriate negotiation with the cabin crews. LO3: Understand collective bargaining and negotiation processes Explain the role of negotiation in collective bargaining (P7) Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between the employers and employee union. This negation is based on the term and condition of the work mainly the wages, Workplace safety and working time. Negation plays some important role in the collective bargaining such as negotiation develops a sense of self respect and responsibility between the employer and union negation increase the productivity of the worker by the negation the freedom of employer decrease Effective collective bargaining machinery strengthens the trade unions movement It becomes easier for the management to resolve issues at the bargaining level rather than taking up complaints of individual workers. It is important for settling and preventing industrial disputes. A current conflict situation of any public or private organization in UK and give clear conclusions on the effectiveness of negotiation process between two parties (D1) There is conflict between the acas organization and its worker. For this conflict the employee stick against work. This conflict mainly occurs for some reasons the fist reason is dissatisfaction of employee. Other are Unfair treatment to employee Lack of equal opportunity Poor work opportunity Poor communication Increasing work load etc. But this problem solved soon by the grate roles of effective negotiation. For the negotiation the management listens about the employee dissatisfaction causes. Take the recommendation to solve the problem Then the negotiation manage to a conversation among the manager, hr manager and employee representative. In this conversation the manager take the recommendation of the employee representative to solve the problem. After knowing the causes of conflict the management took the proper stapes to solve the problem and at last they can able to solve it. A balance situation creates in the Acas organization only for the proper negotiation. ( Acas , 2012) Evaluate the impact of negotiation strategy of London Transport Association for conflict with Tube workers in recent times. (P8) There are two types of negotiation positive and negative. Both types of negotiation impact much on the London Transport agency. The success and failure of the London transport agency mainly depend on the impact of the negotiation. Recently there is a conflict between the tube worker and London transport agency. This conflict mainly based on the wages and safety work place. In this situation negotiation play an important rule to solve the problem. But the negotiation plays an important rule here. By the proper negotiation between the workers and management they come to a point where both parties interest maintained. LO4: Understand the concept of employee participation and involvement Evaluate the influence of the EU policies and directives on industrial democracy of workers within the UK (P9) There are many kinds of policies in the European Union to controls the business and organizational internal function. Such as trade policy, recruiting policy, environment maintain policy, human resource management policy, employee training policy, safety and healthy workplace policy and employee relationship maintain policy. All of this policies influence the industrial democracy of workers. Suppose the anti harassment policy make a women move freely in the workplace. They can join any workplace without mental problem like harassment problem. Trade policy is another derivatives of UN which indicate the degree of freedom af an organization. By this policy an organization involve in the international business. Safety and healthy workplace is n important policy of UN by which an industrial freedom and measured. If the workplace is safe for the employee the employee get more democratic right. Taking help from the answer to Question 4.1 produce a report for LCC and recommend how these EU policies can benefit the organization for long term. (D2) A report to LCC Introduction: EU policies influence the industrial democracy of workers. These policies must be beneficial for the firm and country. There are many kinds policies. Suppose the anti harassment policy make a women move freely in the workplace. They can join any workplace without mental problem like harassment problem. About the report: This report is about the policies of EU and its lacking About the EU policies: There are many kinds of policies in the European Union to controls the business and organizational internal function. Such as trade policy, recruiting policy, environment maintain policy, human resource management policy, employee training policy, safety and healthy workplace policy and employee relationship maintain policy Importance: Influence the industrial democracy of workers. Trade policy indicates the degree of freedom of an organization. By this policy an organization involve in the international business. Safety and healthy workplace Lacking: The policies make negative impact of firm. And create hinder on the way of business Recommendation: EU policies must be business oriented These policies must be beneficial for the organization The trade policy of EU must be helpful for the general people of the Europe. The policies must be ensure the safety of the employee It is very needed to create a safety and healthy workplace for the workers. This must be democratic for the employer. Compare 3 methods used to gain employee participation and involvement in the decision making process in organisations There are many process of employee involvement and participation among them delegation, communication, training and incentive, giving authority are more important. Delegation: this in process the supervisor gives responsibility to the subordinate to do any work with proper authority. This methods is more effective than others Giving authority method: Everyone likes power or be a member of authority. Giving power employee involvement can increase. This more effective than other methods Training: by training the employee evolvement can increase. This is a manual process of organization to increase the employee involvement. http://www.emeraldinsight.com/content_images/fig/1060120506003.png (emeraldinsight,2012) Assess the impact of human resource management on employee relations (P11). Human resource management is an important part of an organization. It is May called an integral part of employee relation. Without proper human resources management proper employee relation is not possible. Employee relation and organizational behavior both depend on the management of the people of the firm. Human resource management always focuses on the employee and organizational development. Major functions of human source management recruitment, training and development, workplace planning, performance management, quality assurance and job design etc. All of these functions impact much on the employee relation this impact are given below Training, development and employee relation: Employee training and development influence much on the employee relation. To maintain a good relationship among the subordinate is an important topic of employee training. So through the training the relation among the employee increases. Workplace planning and employee relation: employee relationship depends much on the workplace planning. By the work place planning same type of employee are engage in a particular job. So an understanding among them creates soon. Performance management and employee relation: by performance management the relationship among the employee can develop. When a management be aware about the performance then they force the employee to do the work perfectly and for this reason the employee want the support from the subordinate. And thus the relationship may develop. Job design and employee relationship: a job is design for the better performance of the employee. Job design increase the candor, respect, integrity, mutual understands which develop the employee relation. Stone, R. (1995) The impact of any 3 HR practices in improving employee relations in ford motor The impact of HR practice In employee relation of the ford motor are given below job design of ford motor and employee relation: when ford motor design a job for some particular employee the management of ford motor think about the competence of the employee and they also include some procedure through which the relationship among the employee can increase. Employee training of ford motor and employee relation: ford motor always gives the appropriate training to the new employee. They provide train about the work, about the employees responsibility about the organization and how to manage the industrial relation or employee relation. For this reason the relationship among the employee developed soon. Workplace planning of ford motor and employee relation: as ford motor is a word rewound organization it is very careful about the work place planning. Through the workplace planning this company insures the employee relation inside and outside of the organization Conclusion: At last it can be said that employee relationship is very important for the organization. By managing this relation organization can easily achieve its goals. To maintain this relation an organization must understand about the human resource management, employee engagement, employee performance management etc.

The Published Financial Statement Accounting Essay

The Published Financial Statement Accounting Essay Annual report and accounts consists of different elements. A financial statement contains the financial information which is communicated to various users depending on their needs. The users can be internal or external users. The importance of this information varies, depending on the needs of specific users but according to the framework, the publication of financial information serves to reflect and to provide a clear image of the financial situation and performance of the entity which will help them to make a financial decision. Thomas and Marie (2012, 55). Users need financial information to assess the way the company uses its liquidity to fund its operations and investment, to be informed about its financial position and the nature of its resources for daily transactions, to estimate or predict the circumstances that may affect them, to be informed about the extent to which the company follows the laws and regulations. Usually the performance information is represented on the in come statement, the financial situation is represented on the balance sheet, and the information about changes in financial position is supplied in the notes to financial statements. Financial statements are the principal means of communicating financial information to various users. The framework defines seven essential users (Jill and Roger, 2007) but in contrast, Peter and Eddie (2002p 3) state that there are internal and external users who already have a relationship with the firm in economic terms or those who are interested in a future relationship. Starting with managers, Petter and Eddie (2002.3) noted that managers need information to assist them to make the decision and adopt and strategy of planning for the future. Furthermore, the manager who has been put in charge of presenting financial statements also needs this information to be sure that the management style, strategy and planning adopted are beneficial to the financial performance of the company. The conceptual framework states that the employees are principally interested in the type of information which permits them of having a clear idea about the stability and the performance of the company that they work for (Thomas and Ward,56 2012). Employees need information in order to ensure the stability of their jobs in the future, and to measure their ability to determine if there is a chance of getting a higher pay or promotion, and other benefits. The Investors need information about management policy, performance, stability and financial position of the company as well as to assess the risk and benefits provided by the investment in order to make a decision. Also, they need information to help them choose the proper time for transactions like buying and selling. Thomas and Ward (2012:56) Lenders are always taking risks which is why they choose the contract with lowest risk the framework noted that they are interested in information about performance and economic stability of the company, and also the information about the situation of liquidity available in the present and the future, in order to ensure whether the borrower is able to meet the deadlines for the payment of their loans and the interest. (Thomas and Ward, 2012:57). Regarding suppliers and other creditors, Thomas and Maries said that giving a loan and outputting goods without immediate payment is the same. This is the reason, they will be interested in the information that will help them at the beginning to decide whether to engage with company or not, and also to study the duration and the amount of credit to offer. According to the framework, suppliers and other creditors are interested in information that enable them to know whether they will be repaid at due date. Yet Suppliers and others creditors are interested in engaging with the enterprise for a shorter period compared to lenders who are concerned about liquidity position and the supplier seeks to know if there is a growth within the company and compare it with these production capacities. Jill and Roger (200741) states that the customers are interested in the information that enable them to evaluate the performance and ability of the company to continue its business and to know their capacity to meet the requirements of quality, the quantity and time to provide goods and services depending on customer needs. Governments and their agencies are composed by the tax authorities, financial and organization like central bank that has authority of control and regulations. Principally, the information is used as basis for calculating dues and taxes that the company has to pay. It has noted that the government and their agencies are interested in information about profitability and how it is distributed, with the aim of determining the tax policy, as they need information on the conduct of activities of entities to adjust them. (Thomas and Ward, 582012) The public is also interested in information about the performance of the company in order to define the level at which the company is progressing and its impact on economic development and social environment. To ensure that the information is useful to users for decision making, four qualitative characteristics need to be present in the information. Understandability the user must understand the information directly but should have basic knowledge of accounting and the economy. Relevance information must meet the needs of users in order for them to make decisions and enable them to compare the events of different periods. Reliability information must be reliable to give a real image of transactions and other operations. Comparability the information has to be available for comparison over time to determine the situation and the economic performance. (Jill and Hussey, 422007) It is true that the financial information addresses different user groups under standard characteristics, but it still has limitations on the usefulness of the information. The financial statement is based on historical costs. That is to say it is only monetary operations but the declaration is not correct. Also, with regards to the intangible assets there is no possibility of measuring the values of all of them in the sector of accounting. For instance, human resources are also ignored in most financial statements, and the brand value of the company is not on the statements either. Inflation is not included in the present value and all the information are based on estimates, so there is no real value on which the user can rely on. The financial statement does not take into consideration any anticipated financial condition that can happen in the industry and market which might affect the performance of the company and the decision taken by the different users of the financial statement which contains only financial information and ignores the non-financial information which is not sufficient for certain users as the case of public and employees. In contrast, investors are more concerned than other users by information presented in the financial statement. To conclude, the company is obliged to communicate the information under financial quality standards that are useful to different users, which are a total of eight. They are; managers, investors, customers, suppliers and other creditors, employees, lenders, government, and the general public. The objective of this information is to reflect the performance, position and stability of the company for the user to make a good decision. Despite the quality and control, the rest information is still not reliable and useful for certain users to make a decision.

The Passing Down of a Tribes Ancient Legends Essay example -- Tribal

The Passing Down of a Tribe's Ancient Legends Thesis: The Shaman’s job of passing down the tribe’s ancient legends are very important. I Shamans A. definition B. purpose 1. balance 2. success hunting 3. planting 4. cure sickness C. Usually males 1. post menopausal women 2. blood powers II passed down from generation to generation A. usually from memory 1. sand drawings 2. birch bark scrolls 3. paintings on rocks 4. animal hides B. children 1. eight-familiar stories 2. ten- know history III answer basic questions A. where do we come from B. where are we going C. how the world came into being D. how it was transformed E. guidelines of behavior F. tools of survival IV unknown how long been around A. possible nomadic ancestors from old world 1. Siberian land bridge 2. Migrated 3. Regional tales similar B. Environmental contributions 1. northeastern forest dwellers a. arctic hare b. wolf c. cedar tree 2. agricultural southerners a. Corn maidens b. Sacred mountains 3. coastal people a. aquatic animals b. sea birds c. ocean monsters V stories told in different ways A. told by fire B. Chanting 1. Netslik Inuit 2. Special powers VI special rites A. Maidu-lay down B. Cheyenne-smooth dirt C. Other-presents VII Special words A. Seneca- when the world was new B. Pima- they say it happened long ago C. Zuni answers D. Californian- order back to cave VIII Reoccurring themes A. Mother earth B. Humans and animals C. Animal teachers D. Plots 1. complex 2. humor 3. values IX equal with everything A. Share earth like family B. Man another animal X characters A. Animals 1. ravens 2. raccoons 3. foxes 4. beavers 5. blue jays 6. spiders B roles 1. helpers 2. meddlers 3. both C Coyote 1. respected 2. cunning 3. able to survive in all environments a. prairie b. woodlands c. mountains d. desert XI Crow Indians A Old man coyote B. Ducks 1. root 2. mud C. Empty island 1. root- trees plants 2. ducks 3. men 4. women 5. different animals 6. drum 7. songs 8. dancing D. Shirape 1.weapons 2. Different languages 3. war XII One animal A. Plains Indians-muskrat B. Inuit- raven with spear C. Californian –turtles, waterfowl D. Many- turtle XIII Seneca A. chief’s wife falls B. waterfowl catch C. frog gets dirt D. turtle spreads- landmass XIV Nez Perce A. Monster eats all ... ...ld be known as the wolf people, the Skidi Pawnee. The Wolf Star watched all this from the southern sky. The Pawnee call this star Fools the Wolves, because it rises just before the morning star and tricks the wolves into howling before first light. In this way the Wolf Star continues to remind people that when it came time to build the earth, he was forgotten.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After reading and learning about these creation legends I am intrigued. The shaman’s job of keeping and teaching the legends isn’t even their full job, but it’s important enough to be one. They have to remember and keep all of the customs that go with the story also. I think that they their way of teaching history is great. They all memorize the stories when they are very young and share them. These stories aren’t just history, they are also the guidelines for the children’s behavior. Bibliography Flaherty, Thomas H. The Spirit World. Virginia: Time Life Books, 1992. http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/5484/legend.html http://www.home.swipnet.se/~w-27834/wolf/myth3.html http://www.score.rims.k12.ca.us/activity/wappo/legend.html Leonard, Linda Schierse. Creation’s Heartbeat. New York: Bantam Books, 1995.

Tobacco and the College-Bound in the New Millennium :: Essays Papers

Tobacco and the College-Bound in the New Millennium Today’s high school and college age Americans will have to deal with the actions and attitudes of those involved in the current debate over tobacco use in America. As today’s and tomorrow’s smokers and non-smokers, we need to understand that aspects of our future are being decided now. What is at risk? Primarily at risk are two things: first, our health and welfare and that of our friends and loved ones, and second, individual liberty. Risks to Health and Welfare The negative health effects of smoking and other tobacco use are well known and documented by nearly every health-conscious organization in the United States. Cancer, heart disease, and most major pulmonary diseases top the list of the most painful and deadly reasons to quit and not to start. It’s estimated that more than one in six deaths in the United States is due to cigarettes alone. More than three million people die every year worldwide from smoking related diseases (Pringle, 44). Besides the mortality statistics are the millions of additional colds, canker sores, cases of chronic bronchitis and incredibly bad breath. Tobacco use is also incredibly financially taxing. Smoking just half a pack a day will cost over five hundred dollars a year if the smoker uses one of the most popular brands, and most young smokers do. Add to that national annual health care costs and lost work revenues totaling seventy billion dollars ($70,000,000,000), and damages from the 38% of accidental fires attributed to cigarettes, and the life-long cost of smoking is easily in the hundreds of thousands of dollars per American smoker (Pringle, 44). Besides the problems smokers cause for themselves, there are others to consider. Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), otherwise known as second-hand smoke, is not a significant risk for someone who is only exposed to a couple of hours a week in a neighborhood restaurant. It is, however, dangerous to family and friends who may allow themselves to be exposed for many hours a day so as not to inconvenience a smoker.

Marriage and Social Class Essay

Many cultures categorize their society according to wealth, power, education, religion, ethnicity and occupation. These differences usually draw the lines that not all are willing to cross for different reasons. In America, the consequences when crossing classes are usually implemented by an individual’s family and peers. If a person decides to date or marry someone of a lower class, the immediate concern would be if the person of a lower class is interested for monetary gain whereas, the person of a lower class may be concerned if they would be treated as an equal in the relationship. With these problems present the courtship or marriage could be domed from the beginning or made to work harder at leveling the playing field. I believe love in lower class groups build their foundation on love where relationships are concerned simply because high expectations are not placed upon them and they are free to love whomever their hearts desire. In the marriage market, characteristics such as income, education and occupation are key definitive qualities when looking for a perspective life long companion. In addition, the tendency of individuals to marry others with similar traits has important implications for social inequality, income redistribution and education. However, there is still little understanding about what generates this assertive matching. One possibility is that people like to follow horizontal preferences when choosing a spouse to share similar characteristics of their own. This approach is believed to provide the security of longevity in love. However, sometimes people will experience an attraction to someone outside their social class whether it’s above or below but not always follow through due to fear of failure or rejection from family and peers. According to Karl Marx, one percent of the population is considered upper class and their wealth is generally inherited. Members of this particular class are perceived as snobs by the lower classes because they tend to look down at anyone outside their circle. This group does not have to work but often serve as board of directors of major companies and they are careful to only socialize with peers of an elite group. In most cases, parents with young children are thinking ahead as to who would be a good match and what social events to come would provide excellent choices of companionship. Their expectations would be for their children to select a person of equal or greater than the wealth of their own. In many cases, if a selection of a lower class is the choice of an immediate family member there would be great consequences including releasing them from all or most of the family’s wealth. Some would perceive the choice as rebellious and some may feel that it’s simply true love. If a person is made to feel that options are limited it may be an act of rebellious. However, if they stumble across a person they feel a connection with and is able to communicate on a level of satisfaction than the ability to proceed should be encouraged. Too often, members of the upper class enter the union of marriage because it meet or exceed the expectation of family and peers and later become unhappy with their choice. When this happens, they are reluctant to free themselves in fear of what others would think. Women in most marriages of the upper class are unhappy because the husband is usually away from the home on extended stays for multiple reasons. To fill the void of their husbands’ temporary absenteeism, they will keep themselves busy with charities, hobbies and the children if they are not away in boarding school. Although the divorce rate is low for this class infidelity is high. Because this class is very much secluded from the others, persons on the outside believe they must be happy in love assuming the problems of the lower class would not be an issue due to their wealth. In fact, many of the same problems exist such as communication, loneliness and loyalty to name a few. However, the upper middle class makes up approximately ten percent of the U. S. population and are successful business people, executives and high ranking civil and military officials (Long 2010). This group acquires their wealth from investments, savings and little of their wealth is inherited. The possibility of marriage within these groups is very likely to have longevity, mostly because it is expected of them although happiness with their spouse may not last the duration of the union.

Deabte analysis Essay

The industrial Revolution occurred in Europe from 1750 to 1850. During this time there was also a huge increase in illegitimacy rate, which is the number of babies being born to unmarried women. The big question becomes, did the industrial revolution cause a sexual revolution or not? There are many historians and people with different views about topic. At the start of the industrial revolution there were close to zero babies being born the unmarried women and by the end in 1850 there was 1 in every 3 women having babies that weren’t married. There are two main points of view on this debate; one from Edward Shorter and the other from Louise Tilly, Joan Scott, and Miriam Cohen. Historian Edward Shorter states that the industrial revolution created many opportunities for women to work which he says led to a rise in the illegitimacy rate. He connects this to the sexual emancipation, or sexual freedom, of unmarried, working-class women. Historians Louise A. Tilly, Joan W. Scott, and Miriam Cohen counter that unmarried women started working during the industrial revolution to meet an economic need, not to gain personal freedom. They state that the rise in illegitimacy rates rose due to broken marriages and the absence of traditional support from family, community, and the church. With women starting to work this caused a change in people’s lifestyles. Shorter and Tilly, Scott, and Cohen both have a legitimate argument to if the industrial revolution was the cause of the sexual revolution. You raise the key issues here. It doesn’t need to be this long, but that’s OK. Edward Shorter agrees that women of the upper class in the nineteenth century underwent a female emancipation along with the slave emancipation, but he says that it doesn’t account for the women with families. Young, low status women underwent a radical movement in female emancipation in the late eighteenth century because of the involvement in the economy of the market place. This emancipation started with the young women of low status to older women of higher status. There were some general characteristics describing women during this time. There were many famous women making stands for women’s independence and rights, that it was hard to see the position of all women or the norms of women. One thing Shorter states is, except for the few  exceptions of famous women, most of them were still powerless and dependent. Female emancipation was all about becoming independent. Married women wanted household political power and a family where they have their own rights, sexual gratifications, and emotional freedom. Unmarried women started ignoring the strict views and opinions of parents and community to satisfy their personal needs. All women started disregarding outside controls for personal freedom and sexuality for individual self-fulfillment. Up to here is satisfactory, but more info than necessary and not completely clear. These changes may be linked to the economic changes towards capitalism, an economic system in which investment in and ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange of wealth is made and maintained chiefly by private individuals or corporations. Good. One change was that capitalism made subcultures of wage-earning people. These people began to create their own rules and standards on how to run their community. Some of the rules where sexual behavior, target family size, and new techniques for contraception and abortion. The new young people were sexually active and it became a social norm to have sex before marriage. Shorter thinks that some aspect of industrialism must be held accountable for the expressly permissive sexual content of the subcultures. Another change dealing with capitalism was the mentality of the market place. As women began working in the market place they began to bring the principles of the market place into other areas of their lives. Shorter believes that the labor markets were the most direct source of personal freedom. Capitalism’s metal habits of maximizing one’s self-interest and sacrificing community goals to get individual profit was what women learned in the market place and it’s what they wanted in all aspects of life including their family and their freedom. Lastly, the industrial advance along with capitalism removed many external controls upon female sexual freedom. As women were bringing home paychecks meant they contributed to the family’s resources and would be entitled to a greater voice in how these resources were used. This lead to women being more equal and the premarital sex codes became more permissive as her status  was completely dependent on the husbands. Shorter came to state that capitalism entitled a source for females to be independent and have sexual freedom. The low wage, young people started the involvement in the market economy. The prosperous women soon followed in the nineteenth century. For unmarried women capitalism meant personal and sexual freedom. Young women were able to go against parental controls with her sexual and emotional independence because she knew the market would still hire her and give her self-sufficiency, and if needed, would move her to a town where she could work. This lead to the absence of birth control and therefore illegitimacy. You say more than necessary in the first paragraph of this section; your explanation of the argument could be stronger.

Fashion Essay

Fashion cannot survive without the media. Its success as both an art form and a commercial enterprise depends upon attention in the media. The media have played a vital role in shaping fashion into the complex cultural phenomenon it has become. Photography, and later film and television, have medialised fashion. Fashion has become an intrinsic part of today’s visual culture, and vice versa. Fashion magazines, glossies and women’s journals cannot exist without fashion, but fashion also cannot exist without these magazines. This chapter looks at visual culture and the ways in which fashion is ‘fashioned’ by the media. The first half of the chapter gives a theoretical background to understanding contemporary visual culture. The second half of the chapter provides an introduction to the many ways that media theory can be used to analyse and understand fashion. Visual culture Since the invention of photography, film, television, video, CD-Rom and the Internet, we have rapidly shifted from a written culture to a visual culture: ‘We live in a culture of images, a society of the spectacle, a world of semblances and simulacra’ (Mitchell 1994: 5). Contemporary visual culture is both ubiquitous and complex. The image no longer stands by itself, but is informed by multimedia; it is usually integrated with text and music. A fashion photograph comes with a caption or an accompanying text. A fashion show doesn’t work without music or a choreography of moving bodies. Apart from their multimedia aspect, images also circulate in a global media society in which all kinds of genres and media are mixed. Precisely because this visual culture is so dominant on the one hand and so complex on the other, we need theoretical tools in order to be able to understand images, including images of fashion. To do justice to the complexity of visual culture, it is necessary to pose questions on the basis of an interdisciplinary framework: questions about significance and ideology; identity and visual pleasure; technology and economy. Theoretical insight creates media literacy. We can thus acquire an attitude towards the media we use every day that has aptly been described by Laura Mulvey as ‘passionate detachment’ (1989: 26). Before supplying a number of analytical instruments in the second half of this chapter, I would first like to place visual culture within the framework of postmodernism. I Theoretical framework Postmodernity Although the term ‘postmodernism’ is often described as vague and indeterminate, there are definite ways in which it can be characterised. Here I make a distinction between a) postmodernity, b) postmodern philosophy and c) postmodernism as a movement in art and culture (Van den Braembussche 2000). First of all, postmodernity. Postmodernity refers to the age we are currently living in, particularly the information society that has arisen since the sixties. It is a question, then, of an historical period in which we live. The information society can be characterised as ‘postcolonial’: after the Second World War, the colonies in the Third World achieved independence at a fast rate. This society is also ‘postindustrial’: heavy industry has been replaced by the exchange of services. From the sixties onwards, these services have increasingly been characterised by information technology, set in motion by the advent of the computer. Science and technolo gy are indispensable and give shape to our society. While the industrial society still functioned largely around property (who has control of the means of production?), the information society is mainly about access (‘xs4all’: ‘access for all’) – access to information, that is to say, to knowledge. Postmodernity means a networked society in which everything and everyone is connected with each other via mass media such as television and the Internet. Another characteristic is globalisation. Globalisation has taken place with the media (you can watch CNN and MTV all over the world) and with capital (you can use cash machines anywhere in the world). And with fashion. Benetton’s multi-racial campaigns show the more benign face of globalisation, but, to be fair, they have also drawn attention to the more dismal effects of globalisation. Applying the characteristics of postmodernity to fashion, we get the following picture. In the past, fashion was dependent on fabrics like silk, cotton and cashmere – as well as inspiration – that the West imported from its colonies. In the seventies the Hippies came alongwith their renewed interest in non-Western clothing. With the deconstructivist fashion of Japanese designers like Yamamoto in the eighties, the first non-Western designers broke open the closed, elitist fashion world. Now they have been succeeded by other designers such as Hussein Chalayan, Xuly Bà «t and Alexander Herchovitch. With the Fashion Weeks i n India and Africa, fashion has become globalised. When we look at the  fashion industry, the picture is even clearer. Whereas the Dutch fashion industry was originally established here in Holland itself- in Enschede for example – it has now largely moved to low-wage countries in Asia or the former East Block. Look at the label in your sweater or trousers and most likely you’ll find ‘Made in Taiwan’ or something similar. Globalisation results in cheap clothing and enormous profits in the West, but also in protests against exploitation, such as against the Nikes made by small children in Pakistan. These abuses signalled the start of the No Logo and anti-globalisation movements. Postmodern philosophy Secondly, postmodern philosophy. Two notions are important here: ‘the end of the Grand Narratives’ and ‘the death of the traditional subject’. These words suggest that Western culture is going through a crisis. According to the postmodern philosopher Jean-Franà §ois Lyotard, Western culture is no longer able to tell any ‘Grand Narratives’, by which he is referring to the end of ideology. This implies that ideologies (‘isms’ like Marxism or Feminism, but also religions such as Christianity) can no longer provide modern man with a meaningful frame of reference. Ideology finds itself in a crisis of legitimatisation, no longer able to announce the truth or to proclaim a future utopia. This does not mean, of course, that everyone has given up their beliefs; on the contrary, we are actually seeing a return to ideology and religion. But, Lyotard argues, nobody can impose that belief or that ideology on others as the one and only truth. People who still try to inflict any kind of truth upon others are called fundamentalists nowadays. The end of the Grand Narratives is not just a negative process. For most people it is liberating to be freed from a one-sided, enforced truth. What’s more, it has led to a blossoming of‘small narratives’ in postmodern culture. Now that there is no one dominant truth, many people have the right and freedom to tell their stories, including those who previously had few opportunities to do so, such as women, workers, blacks, young people. You see the same development in art: there is no longer one dominant movement but a multitude of directions. And we see the same pluralism in fashion. No longer a ‘Grand Narrative’ dictated by a single fashion king, or even by just one city, but a multitude of perspectives coming from many designers, in various cities and different parts of the world. The end of the Grand Narrative also has consequences for the view of human subjectivity. The traditional notion of the individual is that he (it was almost always a he) represents an autonomous and coherent entity, endowed with reason. It was mainly psychoanalysis that put an end to this notion. According to Freud, the human being is not at all governed by his reason, but rather by his unconscious. And it was Marx who claimed that it is our class that determines who we are. We may think we are individuals, but in fact we are defined by our class, ethnicity, age, sexual preference, religion, nationality and so on – the list is endless. In fact, then, we are not really an autonomous and coherent entity. This is why postmodernism no longer refers to an ‘individual’ but to a ‘subject’. A subject, moreover, that is split, fragmented, splintered. As a piece of graffiti in Paris in the eighties put it, ‘God is dead. Marx is dead. And I don’t feel so good either†™. A more positive way of formulating this idea of fragmented subjectivity is by analogy with the network society: the subject, the self, always stands in relation to an other. Instead of being autonomous we are all incorporated in a fabric of complex and mobile relations. Our identity is to be found, as it were, on a node of communication cir cuits. The postmodern subject is thus characterised by a dynamic and a diversity that were alien to the traditional individual. This change in the position of the human being has had the same effect as the end of the Grand Narratives: many more people can now make a claim to subjectivity who were previously excluded, such as blacks, women and homosexuals. This can also be witnessed by the recognition of art and culture produced by women, people of colour, and artists from the so called ‘Third World’. This development has resulted in a much greater freedom in the formation of human identity. Just look at pop culture, where someone like Madonna assumes a different image with the regularity of a clock. Today you can play with your identity by gender bending, for example. Or by crossings with other ethnic cultures, such as Surinamese or Dutch Muslims who borrow elements from the American black hip-hop subculture. Fashion is an important component of the play with identity. I n earlier days it was your gender and your class that determined what you had to wear, and there were strict rules that were not so easy to transgress. These rules now only apply to the Queen. Everyone else stands in  front of the wardrobe each morning to determine which clothes match his or her mood: baroque, gothic, sexy, or maybe businesslike today after all? Postmodernism Thirdly, the term postmodernism as applied to art and culture. A crucial characteristic of postmodernism is the fading distinction between high and low culture. Over the course of the twentieth century the traditional notion of culture has been freed from its connection with elitist art. Scholars nowadays employ a broad notion of culture, based on Raymond Williams’s famous expression ‘culture as a whole way of life’ (1958). Here it concerns a view of culture as a practice within a social and historical context. The rigid distinction between high and low culture is no longer tenable. In any case, it was always largely based on the controversy between word and image in Western culture, where the word is seen as the expression of the superiority of the mind and the image as expressing emotion and the baser desires of the body. The shift from a textual to a visual culture means the image is no longer viewed in purely negative terms but is valued for all its positive powers and the experiences it evokes. Moreover, ‘high’ culture and ‘low’ culture cannot be unequivocally linked to particular disciplines (read: literature versus television). Every art form has its low cultural expression. Just think of the portraits of the gypsy boy with a tear running down his face or pulp romantic novels. ‘High’ is stepping off its pedestal: haute couture is influenced by street culture. ‘Low’ is upgraded and receives attention in newspaper art supplements or is exhibited in the museum. Advertising phot os from Benetton, computer art by Micha Klein and fashion photos by Inez van Lamsweerde have all been shown in Dutch museums. Dà ©mocratisation and commercialisation are also crucial to the discussion of ‘high’ and ‘low’. Increased prosperity and dissemination via the media have brought art and fashion to within almost everyone’s reach. The enormous numbers of visitors to major exhibitions testify to this, as does the ‘festivalisation’ of big cities. Culture is ‘in’ and is eagerly consumed in large quantities. Moreover, commerciality is no longer associated exclusively with low culture; it has penetrated high culture, as can be deduced from the weekly  top ten lists for literature, the piles of CDs of music by Bach and Mozart in the local supermarket, Audi’s sponsoring of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, or Karl Lagerfeld’s designs at H&M. Another postmodern feature is inter- textuality, which amounts to the idea that a text always refers to other texts. Every text is a web of quotations, borrowed words and references. This term d oes not, of course, simply represent a narrow view of text; images likewise ceaselessly refer to each other. Advertising spots refer to videoclips, which borrow from television series, which in their turn quote films, which are themselves based on a novel. And that novel refers again to a play by Shakespeare, and so on and so on. It’s an endless game. Madonna’s video clip ‘Material Girl’ refers for example to Marilyn Monroe’s song ‘Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend’ in the film ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’. In an advertisement forEstee Lauder perfume, the model walks through a digital field of flowers that is identical to the one Madonna walks through in hervideoclip ‘Love Profusion’. Nicole Kidman, in the commercial for Chanel No. 5, does a perfect repeat of her role in ‘Moulin Rouge’. Some directors, such as Baz Luhr- man or Quentin Tarantino, have made inter- textuality their trademark. A l arge part of the visual pleasure in contemporary culture is based on recognition: the more references you can place, the more clever you feel as viewer. Some theorists, such as Frederic Jameson, call the postmodern form of intertextuality a ‘pastiche’. A pastiche is a textual or visual quotation which merely repeats; sheer quoting is the name of the game. The reference has no deeper meaning because all historical connections are abandoned. This can also be found in fashion. If you look at a John Galliano creation you can recognise myriad quotations: from other cultures (ethnic prints), from other times (nineteenth century silhouette), from street culture (‘bag lady’ with shopping cart and plastic bags) and even from the circus (clown-like make-up). Everything is thrown into a big pile while elements are wrenched from their historical time and geographical context. A term often used in this connection is ‘bricolage’, which literally means making do. We’ve become a ‘cut & paste’ culture, where everyone can tinker about and scramble together their clothes and even their identity. Postmodern culture is thus characterised by pastiche and bricolage. It’s not always an easy matter to indicate the significance of this cultural phenomenon, but it does  make fashion playful and flexible, wi thout it being compelled into an overruling ‘Grand Narrative’. A final characteristic of postmodernism that I would like to discuss is the transition from representation to simulation. We have already seen that postmodern pastiche – quoting, borrowing and referring – does not necessarily have any deeper meaning. This is because postmodern culture no longer represents, but simulates. This process is dependent upon the role of media technology. 1963 Amsterdam (NED) In 2003 the magazine American Photo put together a list of the 25 best photographers in the world. That list contained one Dutch name: Inez van Lamsweerde. Both an artist and a fashion photographer, she has ignored the dividing line between art, fashion and commercial work from the very beginning. And successfully. Her work is shown in many glossies such as The Face, Vogue and Arena Homme Plus (editorials and advertising campaigns) as well as in international museums and galleries. Her signature is clearly recognisable in both areas. Inez van Lamsweerde once said in an interview that she was obsessed with beauty. It’s always people she photographs – or recreates, to be precise. Her digitally altered creatures are alienating. Too smooth, too clone-like, too impersonal to be fully human. She often bases her work on ideal female images from the mass media and the body culture in connection with gene technology, surgery and bodybuilding, the manipulation of the body, identi ty and sex. In the series ‘Final Fantasy’ (1993) three-year-old girls posed coquettishly in satin underwear but with the mouths of adult men superimposed on their faces. The cloyingly sweet eroticised tot turns out to be a child demon. The series ‘The Forest’ V995†²) shows mWd-manneted passwe men vjWV women’s hands, and the women in ‘Thank You Thighmaster’ (1993) are really mutants who resemble mannequins, without body hair and with a neutral skin surface where nipples and genitals are supposed to be. The camera doesn’t lie? You certainly hope it does. Many models in Van Lamsweerde’s fashion photos are hyperstylised, exaggerated stereotypes, perfectly beautiful, without irregularities and without individual features. They move in a hyperrealistic setting in which the whole effect sometimes suggests the work of Guy Bourdin (for example, see the series ‘Invisible Words’ in Blvd 2,1994). But her oeuvre is more versatile than that of the old master, so it is also less likely to be  related to a certain time period. Inez van Lamsweerde graduated from Amsterdam’s Rietveld Academy in 1990. That same year she got her first photography assignment, the results of which appeared in Modus. In 1992 she received the Dutch Photography Prize as well as the European Kodak Prize (gold in the categories Fashion and People/Portraits). Since the early nineties she has been working almost entirely with her husband, Vinoodh Matadin. Today Van Lamsweerde and Matadin live and work chiefly in New York. The most recent developments in their work suggest a preference for less reconstructed photographs. In 2002 they took nine black-and-white photos of the members of the theatre group ‘Mug met de Gouden Tand’ (Mosquito with the Gold Tooth). In 2003 they produced a nude calendar for Vogue. All without digital effects. Literature: Hainley. Bruce. ‘Inez van Lamsweerde’, Art- Forum, October 2004. Inez van Lamsweerde ‘Photographs’.Deichtor- hallen Hamburg: Schirmer/Mosel. 1999. Jonkers. Gert. ‘Inez en Vinoodh’, Volkskrant Magazine, 22 February 2003. Kauw op het lijf. Rotterdam: Nederlands Foto Instituut. 1998. Schutte, Xandra. ‘Perverse onschuld’, De Groene Amsterdamer, 10 September 1997. Terreehorst. Pauline. Modus: Over mensen mode en het leven. Amsterdam: De Balie. 1990. Illustration: Inez van Lamsweerde. Devorah and Mienke. 1993 In the old conception of art, with Plato or Kant for example, a work of art refers to something deeper or higher beyond reality. Every work of art is unique and hence irreplaceable. As early as the 1930s Walter Benjamin argued that the role of the work of art was changing because of reproductive technologies. With the invention of photography and film (and later television and the Internet), any image can be reproduced infinitely. A copy of Rembrandt’s ‘The Night- watch’ always remains a copy of a famous, original painting, whereas a copy of Man Ray’s photograph of Kiki as a violin has no original. In the age of mechanical reproduction the distinction between original and copy therefore disappears, and with it what Benjamin calls art’s ‘aura’, namely that which makes a work of art unique and original. For fashion, reproductive technology initially meant an  enormous stimulus, since images of designs could be disseminated via the mediums of magazines and television. But in fashion, too, the copy has now overtaken the original design. A day after the fashion shows in Paris or Milan, the photos are already on the Internet and six weeks later H&M can sell replicas in their shops. In Pop Art, Andy Warhol played with the idea of the copy by producing silk-screened images of cans of Campbell soup or icons like Marilyn Monroe. Another example of the loss of aura is the disappointment all of us may feel when visiting Da Vinci’s ‘Mona Lisa’ or Vermeer’s ‘Girl with the Pearl Earring’ in the museum. We’ve already seen so many reproductions in books, films, on mugs, towels, with moustache and beard, or as a doll, that the original is hardly a match for these. Only if you actually succeed in experiencing the painting in the silence of the museum (but can you ever with all those tourists around you?), you may still find the original aura. In the seventies, Jean Baudrillard went a step further than Benjamin by claiming that not only art but also reality is changing under the onslaught of the media. He argues that the ubiquity of the media turns reality into a simulacrum, a copy of a copy. The simulacrum abolishes the difference between ‘being’ and ‘appearing’. Think of someone pretending to be sick – this person actually starts to display signs of sickness, so that it is no longer clear what is real and what is fake. It’s the same with postmodernism: our culture is so thoroughly ‘medialised’ that our experience is determined by the media. Media do not reflect reality, but construct it. Or to put it differently: media do not represent reality, but simulate it. We all know this phenomenon from our own experience. When we’re on holiday in Greece, for example, we exclaim that the sea is as blue as on the postcard. Our experience is determined by an image, in this case the postcard. If we’re on safari in Kenya, it seems as though we’ve landed in a National Geographic TV programme. And when we say to our beloved ‘I love you’ we can’t help feeling we’re acting in a soap. Umberto Eco therefore says that we are assuming a permanent ironic attitude in postmodern times. We can no longer innocently say ‘I love you’, because we’ve already seen and heard it a hundred thousand times on TV. The words have lost their meaning as well as their authenticity. But what we can do, according to Eco, is say it with irony: ‘As Ridge in â€Å"The Bold and the Beautiful† would say, I love you’. While reality shows on television try to simulate life as much as  possible, life itself has become one big reality show, in which being and appearance can no longer be separated. In art and in fashion we can see a longing for authenticity, as a nostalgic reaction to the culture of simulacra. People want something ‘real’ again in a postmodern culture in which the dividing line between real and unreal has become wafer-thin. The question, however, is whether such authenticity is still possible. Such is the power of the simulacrum that the media have created. Now that I have given an outline of postmodernism as a frame within which fashion functions, it is time to look more closely at instruments that can be used to analyse images. These analytical methods all come from poststructuralism, the theory underlying postmodernism. II Analysis The semiotic sign Poststructuralism was informed in the sixties by semiotics, psychoanalysis and Marxism. Poststructuralism is also referred to as ‘the linguistic turn’, since language formed the model for the development of these theories. De Saussure’s writings on semiotics helped to develop a structuralist analysis of the ‘grammar’ of any system, whether a myth, advertisement, film, fashion or novel, as in the work of the anthropologist Là ©vi-Strauss, the early Barthes or the film semiotician Metz (Sim 1998). The central idea that language is paradigmatic for meaning is followed by virtually all postmodern philosophers. According to the psychoanalytical theories of Lacan, even the unconscious is structured like a language. Although some philosophers pointed out that language and signification are fundamentally unstable, as in the deconstructionism of Derrida, or in Lyotard’s postmodern loss of ‘Grand Narratives’, text remains the central focus in poststructuralism. Everything in fact is interpreted as ‘text’, including image, music or fashion. While semiotics initially concentrated on literature, scholars soon started focussing on the field of popular culture, such as architecture, fashion, music, sport, women’s magazines or the video clip – to mention a few examples at random. Semiotics is the theory of ‘signs’ (from the Greek ‘semeion’, meaning sign). A sign is the smallest element that carries a meaning. Language is the system of signs that we are most familiar with, but traffic signs or, as Barthes has shown, fashion are also sign systems. A  sign consists of a signifier (in French, signifiant), the material carrier of meaning, and the signified (in French, signifià ©), the content to which reference is made. The letters and sound of the word ‘dress’ form the signifiers, which refer to the content of a concrete dress. Signifier and signified, form and content, together create meaning. The relationship between signifier and signified is almost always arbitrary; there is, after all, no reason why something is called a dress in English, a ‘jurk’ in Dutch, and a ‘japon’ in French. A sign always refers to something in reality. The first meaning of a sign is denotative; it is the meaningyou can look up in the dictionary. But things seldom have just one meaning; most signs have many secondary meanings. These are called connotations. In that case, the denotative sign, the signifier and the signified form a new entity, a new signifier for a new connotative sign, as in the following diag ram: SIGNIFIER| SIGNIFIED| CONNOTATION| SIGNIFIER| SIGNIFIER| DENOTATION| A well-known example is the red rose. At the denotative level it is simply a flower with leaves and thorns. In order to become a sign of love, the denotative meaning of the flower must become in its turn a signifier. The sign then forms the basis for a connotative, second meaning: love. Why? Because it is agreed upon in our culture that the rose, especially the red rose, symbolises love. An Amnesty International poster adds a third meaning to this well-known symbol by surrounding the thorns with barbed wire and placing the words ‘violence ceases where love begins’ halfway up the stem. The flower thus becomes a symbol of love and non-violence, while the thorns stand for violence. (Please read the table from the bottom up). SIGNIFIER: red rose as love| SIGNIFIED: thorns with barbed wire love| SECOND CONNOTATION: love is the reverse of violence| SIGNIFIER: red rose| SIGNIFIER: red rose| FIRSTCONNOTATION: My love for you| SIGNIFIER:rose| SIGNIFIER: Flower with thorns and lea ves| DENOTATION: Flower of the species Rosa| The multimedia image is an extremely complicated sign and can convey meaning in many ways. A still image, such as a fashion or advertising photograph, has the following signifiers: * perspective (camera position: angle, distance) * framing * photographic aspects such as exposure, rough grain, colour or black and white * composition or ‘mise-en-scene’ of what is depicted: setting, costume, make-up, attitude and actions of the model, etc. * text: caption or legend A moving image, such as film, television commercials, video clip or fashion show, has, all of the above aspects, plus even more signifiers: * movement of the models or actors; choreography * camera movement (pan, tilt, dolly, tracking) * editing * sound (dialogue, added sounds like creaking door) * music Any analysis requires us to briefly check all these elements, since they influence the meaning. Only then can you determine the denotation and the connotations. A close- up has a different effect than a long shot. Camera movements direct the viewer’s gaze. Quick editing evokes tension. Music creates atmosphere, as does lighting. This type of formal analysis soon reveals that the image is never simply a copy or a reflection of reality, even though what the camera records is real. Yet so many technological and aesthetic choices enter into the registration that reality is always moulded and constructed. The aim of analysis is to make this construction transparent. Digital images A formal analysis can be deepened even further by using the semiotics of C.S. Peirce, an American who developed his theories at the same time in the early twentieth century as De Saussure in Switzerland, without their being aware of each other. Peirce’s semiotics is used more often for analysing images because he focuses less on text than De Saussure does. Peirce argues that there are three sorts of relationships between the signifier and the signified: iconic, indexical and symbolic. An iconic relationship means that there is a similarity or resemblance between the signifier and the signified. An example of an iconic relationship is the portrait: the image (the signifier) resembles that which is portrayed (the signified). An indexical relationship presumes an actual connection between signifier and signified. A classic example is smoke as the signifier of fire, or the footprint in the sand as the signifier of the presence of a man on an ‘uninhabited’ island. The symbolic relationship corresponds to what De Saussure calls the arbitrary relation between signifier and signified: the red rose is a convention, based on an agreement. Yet this remains a moot point, because the rose has an iconic relation to the female sex organ. It is this resemblance that has probably led to the rose becoming a symbol for love. All three relationships apply to the mechanically reproducible image, like the photograph or film. An image is always iconic since that which is depicted shows a resemblance to the signifiers: every photograph is a portrait of a person or an object. Something that is photographed or filmed is also always indexical: there is a facturelationship, since the camera records reality-with the camera you prove that you’ve been somewhere (‘I was here’; the visual proof that tourists bring home as their trophy). Finally, the image, like language, has symbolic meanings, which are created through an interplay of the many audiovi sual signifiers mentioned above. Digital technology has put the indexi- cal relation under strain, because we can no longer know with certainty whether an image is analogue, and thus standing in a factual relation to reality, or digital, made in the computer without an existential relation to reality. Digital images thus create confusion. In semiotic terms: they maintain the iconic relation, for they look just like photographs and display a similarity between signifier and signified. But digital images are no longer indexical. This is what happens in Diesel’s ‘Save Yourself’ photo series. We see tiny models who look like people (iconic relation), but all the same seem unreal. Their skin is too smooth, the postures too rigid, the eyes too glassy. We suspect soon enough that the image has been digitally manipulated, which disturbs the indexical relation – these are not actual shots of real people. The tension between the iconic and the indexical relationship draws attention to the tension between real and unreal. And this creates a symbolic meaning. Together with the text, the photographs comment ironically on our culture’s obsession with remaining foreveryoung. Sometimes the digital manipulation is immediately clear, as in this picture of Kate Moss as a cyborg: a cybernetic organism. Because this is clearly an impossible image of a half human / half machine figure, we don’t get confused about the indexical status of the photograph. Its  symbolic meaning is immediately apparent, which here too represents a comment on the artificial ideal of beauty. It is typical of digital photography to create images of people that are like cyborgs, since many art and fashion photographs in today’s visual culture explore the fluid borders between man, machine and mannequin. Looking and being looked at I: the voyeuristic gaze Fashion is deeply involved with eroticism and sexuality. To analyse this we can turn to psychoanalysis, which determines how we shape our desires. The most classic model for desire is the Oedipus complex, which regulates how the child focuses its love of the parent onto the other sex and projects feelings of rivalry onto the parent of the same sex. This is more complicated for girls because they at first experience love for the mother and later have to convert this into love for the father, while the boy can continue his love for the mother without interruption. The Oedipus complex is particularly applicable in stories, in both literature and film, but in the fashion world it actually plays no crucial role, and so I won’t be going into it any further here. More relevant to fashion is the eroticism of looking. According to Freud, any desire or sexuality begins with looking, or what he calls scopophilia (literally the love of looking). The desiring gaze often leads to touch and ultimately to sexual activities. Although it has a rather dirty sound to it, scopophilia is a quite ordinary part of the sexual drive. Film theorists were quick to claim that the medium of cinema is in fact based on scopophilia: in the darkness of the movie theatre we are voyeurs permitted to look at the screen for as long as we like. There is always something erotic in watching films, in contrast to television which does not offer the same voyeuristic conditions since the light is on in the living room, the screen is much smaller and there are all sorts of distr actions. Laura Mulvey (1975) was the first theorist to draw attention to the vital role of gender in visual pleasure. The active and passive side of scopophilia (voyeurism and exhibitionism respectively) are relegated to strict roles of men and women. As John Berger, in his famous book Ways of Seeing, had already argued, ‘men act and women appear’, or rather, men look and women are looked at. According to Mulvey, this works as follows in classical cinema. The male character is watching a woman, with the camera  filming what the man sees (a so- called ‘point of view shot’). The spectator in the movie theatre thus looks at the woman through the eyes of the male character. The female body is moreover ‘cut up’ into fragments by framing and editing: a piece of leg, a breast, the buttocks or the face. The female body is thus depicted in a fragmented way. We can therefore say that there’s a threefold gaze that collapses into each other: the male charac ter, the camera and the spectator. Mulvey argues that the film spectator always adopts a structurally male position. It is important to realise that the filmic means, such as camera operation, framing, editing and often music as well, objectify the woman’s body into a spectacle. In Mulvey’s words, the woman is signified as ‘to-be-looked-at-ness’. At the same time the filmic means privilege the male character so that he can actively look, speak and act. Mulvey takes her analysis even further with the help of psychoanalysis. The voyeuristic gaze upon the female body arouses desire and therefore creates tension for both the male character and the spectator. Moreover, the woman’s body is disturbing because of its intrinsic difference from the male body. Freud would say the female body is ‘castrated’, but we can put it somewhat more neutrally: the female body is ‘different’. In a society dominated by men, women are the sign of sexual difference. In most cultures, it is (still?) the case that the woman-as-other, namely as other than man, endows sexual difference with meaning. Otherness, strangeness, difference always instils fear. The otherness of women incites fear in men at an unconscious level and this fear needs to be exorcised through culture, in film or art. According to Mulvey, this happens in cinematic stories in two ways. Firstly, through sadism where the female body is controlled and inserted into the social order. Sadism mainly accompanies a story and acquires form in the narrative structure. The erotic gaze frequently results in violence or rape. Nor is it accidental that in the classic Hollywood film the femme fatale is killed off at the end of the movie. No happy end for any woman who is sexually active. Only in the nineties is she allowed to live on at the end, like Catherine Trammell in ‘Basic Instinct’, or in television series like ‘Sex and the City’. The second way of exorcising the fear evoked by the female body is through fetishism. In that case the female star is turned into an image of perfect  beauty that diverts attention from her difference, her otherness. The camera fetishises the woman’s body by lingering endlessly on the spectacle of female beauty. At such moments the film narrativ e comes momentarily to a hold. Although Mulvey’s analysis dates from the seventies, her insights are still of considerable relevance for fashion today. The spectacle of fashion shows is almost totally constructed around looking at fetishised female bodies. Models have taken the place of film stars as the fetishised image of perfected femininity. Many fashion reportages make use in one way or another of the sexu- alised play of looking and being looked at. However, some things have changed since the time of Mulvey’s analysis. Feminist criticism has indeed counteracted women’s passivity in recent decades, and now we often see a more active and playful role for the female model. Not only is the woman less passive, but both fashion and other popular visual genres such as video clips have turned the male body into the object of the voyeuristic gaze. Now the male body too is being fragmented, objectified and eroticised. This is happening not only in fashion reportages but also on the catwalk. It may be interesting for students of fashion to take a closer look at how the male body is visualised, how passive or active the male model is, and how the gaze is supported by filmic or other means. Ethnicity also plays a role in the game of looking and being looked at. Stuart Hall (1997) and Jan Nederveen Pieterse (1992) have produced an extensive historical analysis of the way that coloured and black people are depicted in Western culture. Stereotypes are abundant, as in the image of the exotic black woman as Venus or the black man as sexually threatening. There are still very few black models in the fashion world. Again, it may be useful for students of fashion to analyse how ethnicity is visualised because of this long history of stereotyping. Does exoticising the model, for example, emphasise ethnicity? Or does it involve an actual denial of ethnic difference? This happens for example in fashion photos of Naomi Campbell with straight golden hair, or wearing blue contact lenses. Here, the black model has to conform to the white norm of ideal beauty. Looking and being looked at II: the narcissistic gaze So far I have been talking about looking at the other, but psychoanalysis also has something to say about looking at yourself. As a baby you are hardly conscious of yourself, because that self, or in psychoanalytical terminology the ego, still has to be constructed. A primary  moment in ego formation is what Jacques Lacan has called the mirror phase. A second important moment is the aforementioned Oedipus complex in which language plays a major role. The mirror phase, however, precedes language and takes place in the Imaginary, the realm of images. When you’re between six and eighteen months, and so still a baby, you’re usually held in your mother’s arms in front of the mirror. In identifying with its mirror image, the child learns to recognise itself in the mirror and to distinguish itself from the mother. This identification is important for the construction of the child’s own identity. For Lacan, it is crucial that this identification is based on the mirror image. He argues that the mirror image is always an idealisation, because the child projects an ideal image of itself. In the mirror the child sees itself as a unity, while it still experiences its own body as a formless mass with no control over its limbs. Th e recognition of the self in the mirror image is in fact a ‘misrecognition’. The child is actually identifying with the image of itself as other, namely as a more ideal self that he or she hopes to become in the future. Just check how you look at yourself in the mirror at home: in fact you always look at yourself through the eyes of the other. According to Lacan, this is in a certain sense man’s tragedy: we build our identity on an ideal image that we can never live up to. In his eyes, then, we are always doomed to failure at an existential level. We can take the mirror very literally (it is striking how often mirrors feature in films, videoclips, advertisements and fashion photos), but we can also interpret the process more metaphorically. For instance, the child sees an ideal image of itself reflected in the eyes of its adoring parents who put him or her on a pedestal: for your parents you’re always the most beautiful child in the world. And rightly so. When we’re older we see that ideal image reflected in the eyes of our beloved. We need that ideal image in order to be able to form and sustain our ego. It’s a healthy narcissistic gaze that is necessary for our identity. That ego is never ‘finished’, however; it has to be nurtured and shaped time and time again. And this is helped by internalising ideal images. The analysis of the mirror phase has been applied to many phenomena within visual culture. The film hero or heroine functions as the ideal image with which we identify ourselves. In the fashion world it’s the models. In fact you could designate visual culture as a whole in this way: pop stars, models and actors all  offer us opportunities for identifying with ideal images. Fan culture is largely based on this narcissistic identification. There’s another side to it, of course. In a culture in which youth, fitness and beauty are becoming more and more important, the ideal image becomes ever more unattainable. Many people are no longer able to recognise themselves in that prescribed ideal image and are extremely dissatisfied with their appearance. That then leads to frustration and drastic measures like plastic surgery, or to ailments like anorexia and bulimia. In that case the narcissistic gaze in the mirror falls short of expectations. Looking and being looked at III: the panoptical gaze So far we have mainly been concerned with analysing the desiring gaze: the voyeuristic look at the other (the desire to ‘possess’ the other) and the narcissistic look at oneself (the desire to ‘be’ the other). It is also possible to make a more sociological analysis of the play of looks in society. This brings us to the historian Michel Foucault, who has made a thorough analysis of how power works. Instead of seeing power as something that the one has and the other lacks, he argues that in modern culture power circulates in a continual play of negotiation, conflict and confrontation, resistance and contradictions. Changes regarding power are reflected in language. Whereas you were a victim in earlier days, now you’re an expert of experience. In this way you give yourself a certain power, namely the power of experience, even if that experience is unpleasant. One way of shaping power in our modern culture is by means of surveillance, or what Foucault calls the ‘panoptical’ gaze. He derived this from the architecture of eighteenth-century prisons which had a central tower in a circular building with cells. A central authority, out of sight within the tower, could observe every prisoner in every cell. The prisoners were also unable to see each other. The panoptical gaze means that a large group of people can be put under constant guard and scrutiny, while they cannot look back. In this way, says Foucault, they are disciplined to behave properly. Today the role of surveillance and monitoring has been taken over by cameras. Everyone knows there are security cameras ‘guarding our and your property’ in the street, in stations and supermarkets, in buses and trams and in museums. The knowledge that we are constantly and everywhere being watched by an  anonymous technology perhaps gives us a feeling of security (or the illusion of security). What is more important is that the panoptical gaze disciplines us to be orderly citizens. A large degree of discipline emanates from constant observation. Just as with Lacan’s mirror phase, we can interpret the panoptical gaze more metaphorically. It is not only security cameras that are creating a panopticum, but also the ubiquitousness of media such as television and the Inte rnet. Crime watch programmes show us images from surveillance videos in order to catch ‘villains’, while reality programmes reveal how our fellow citizens commit traffic offences. Satellites orbiting in space keep a permanent eye on us. Mobile telephones are normally equipped with GPS (Global Positioning System) and always know where we are to be found. When I was on holiday in Italy, my mobile phone sent me messages like ‘you are now in Pisa, where you can visit the Leaning Tower’ or ‘you are now in Piazza Signoria in Florence; did you know that Michelangelo’s David†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ and so on. For a moment I was that little girl again who knows that God is always watching over her. But divine omnipresence has now been replaced by an anonymous, panoptical gaze. Our surfing behaviour on the Internet and our purchasing behaviour in the supermarket are registered in the same way. We can bring these three ways of seeing together. With the voyeuristic gaze we discipline the other; we all know that secret look which we use to approve or disapprove of someone at a glance. With the narcissistic gaze we discipline ourselves, through the wish to fulfil an ideal image. By internalising the panoptical gaze we discipline our social behaviour, as well as our bodies. Fashion plays an important role in this complicated play of gazes. You only have to wander around any school playground or look around you in the street to realise how fashion determines whether someone belongs or not, what the ideal images are, and how groups keep an eye on each other, disciplining each other as to ‘correct’ clothing. Through clothing I can make myself sexually attractive for the voyeuristic gaze of the other. 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