US Empire Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

US Empire - Essay Example While this is the case, however, there have been instances where the United States has tended to take the wrong actions when it had the opportunity to use its massive leverage to help resolve the conflicts taking place in divided societies and its interventions in such conflicts have made some of the situations on the ground worse than they were before. The American military capability cannot be denied but its use in almost every conflict situation in the world is not advised because of the fact that not all conflicts can be resolved militarily. The foreign policy of the United States as it is currently is not compatible with the realities of the situation in the twenty first century because the times of wars of aggression are long past and an age of absolute global peace is fast approaching. The policy of taking sides in domestic conflicts in such situations as in Israel, Syria and Libya, instead of endearing the United States to the world as a global peacemaker, has ended up doing the opposite, earning this country a bad name on the global stage. It can therefore be said that the United States does not currently have the capability of resolving intrastate violence in divided societies and that in order for it to be able to do so, it has to have a massive overhaul of its foreign policy. The fact that the United States has been proven not to have the capacity for ending intrastate violence in the various societies in the world has created a situation where it is not trusted in matters of conflict resolution. This is mainly because in most of its interventions, it has consistently taken sides in local conflicts; a matter which has earned it many grievances from the excluded parties. There has developed a situation where it has become a necessity for the United States to change some part of its policies concerning interventions in intrastate conflicts so that it can easily bring such conflicts to a speedy end. Among the means which can be suggested is through the development of a strong neutral stance in such conflicts in order t o make the opposing sides feel comfortable with American intervention because taking sides more often than not alienates a part of the society; mostly against the power that is attempting to bring peace in the respective region (McGarry & O’Leary, 2007). The development of a strong diplomatic resume would help the United States a great deal when dealing with intrastate conflicts because there would be level ground for the conflicting sides to come to an amicable solution. This was seen in recent times in Kenya, where during the violence which erupted after the 2007 elections, the United States stepped up its diplomatic machine to ensure that peace was returned to this divided society. The swift intervention in this conflict by the United States government, led by the then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice helped in a massive way in the swift ending of the conflict and the return to normalcy in Kenya (Adeagbo & Iyi, 2011). Diplomatic means should therefore be a priority for the United States in its endeavor to foster peaceful societies all over the world. The capability of the United States as a global diplomatic force is among the greatest in human history and this can be used to great advantage in the resolution of intrastate conflicts all over the wor

Australian Taxation system Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Australian Taxation system - Essay Example There are also state governments which control taxation taking place in the several states that are in the country. The last system of government present in Australia is the local governments. According to Macfarlane in his book â€Å"Australian Monetary Policy in the Last Quarter of the Twentieth Century†, it is evident that Australia has low taxation rates (Macfarlane 1998). Despite lower taxation rates, the governments still struggle to control the taxation system. Several forms of taxation exist in Australia. These include personal income taxes, capital gains taxes, fringe benefits, taxes, customs duty taxes, corporate taxes and goods and services taxes just to name a few of all the existing forms of taxes. As testified in the sections of the Australian constitution, all individuals both working and non-working and also companies are forced to pay taxes to all the levels of government: the federal government, the state governments and the local governments. Among the natio nal duties that the Australian government accomplishes with the income generated from taxation include the offering of services to the public and paying the public servants. The federal government often collects taxes from individuals and companies through the Australian Taxation Office which is an organization that helps the federal government collect revenue which is further paid to the various states. Australia as earlier mentioned has several forms of taxation.... Income taxes are the backbone of the Australian economy since they are the most critical and important source of revenue for the federal government. Provides income tax revenue that the federal government uses to make or accomplish several important tasks. It is also important to note that income taxation in Australia is done on individuals with constant income. Thus, the individuals depending on the working generation which mostly comprises of the young children and older do not pay income tax. In the words of Cortese C and Glynn J, in his journal â€Å"Taxation and the Australian Superannuation System†, â€Å"personal income tax in Australia is done on individuals and not on groups, families, organizations or companies† (Cortese and Glynn). Another form of taxation is the goods and services tax. In this form of taxation, the federal government often imposes value added tax on goods and services offered and provided all over the country. Business people in Australia po sses retail shops, wholesale shops, hardware shops and even supermarkets. In these businesses, when an individual buys goods for example clothes, food or any other stuffs, there are tax imposed on him or her. Like in other countries, small business men and women sell their goods and services directly to their customers. When the customers purchase the goods, value added tax is imposed on them. Though tax on goods and services is not much as the personal income tax, it also acts as a source of revenue for the federal government in Australia. The income got from the goods and services taxation by the local government is later distributed to the state governments which the state governments use to run their duties. Consequently, corporate tax is another form of taxation in Australia.

Talent Management In Current Economic Conditions Management Essay

Talent Management In Current Economic Conditions Management Essay INTRODUCTION: The present global economy has not only created a complex but dynamic environment as well and the firms need to learn how to compete effectively and efficiently in order to achieve viable growth. (Briscoe et al, 2009 and Friedman, 2005).But one of the greatest obstacles for the success of an organization is due to shortage of workforces with needed enthusiasm and competencies. Even in the period of recession talent management practices have been put aside in order to cut cost. However it is at this time that the strategies of the company should be reassessed and practices of talent management should be encouraged. The organization needs to ensure, in order to have success, that they are having right people with the needed qualities at the right time and in right location. (U.S. Department of the Interior Office of Personnel Policy, 2001) In this essay I would be explaining the meaning of talent management, along with a history (in the appendix) and then I would be critically analyzing the importance of talent management in current economic conditions followed by a conclusion and the learning outcome. TALENT MANAGEMENT: There is no proper definition of talent management as each organization thinks differently. To some organization it is about managing the highly talented individuals having specialized skills which helps the organization to withstand the market and for the others it is about managing the talent i.e. all people have talent and it should be identified and then to train them as per the requirement of the organization. Most of the talent management decisions are done based on core competency of an organization and the skills required for the particular position. Thus talent management is basically a recruitment of people both internally as well as externally, developing them in line with the organizations current business goals, and then promoting and retaining those people for the future business goals. These all functional aspects are done by human resource department who work in line with the companys business goals. (Sundararajan, 2009) ROLE OF TALENT MANAGEMENT IN CURRENT ECONOMIC CONDITIONS: In the current economic downturn most of the organizations around the world have taken tough decisions in terms of managing their talent. Most of the companies has slashed jobs, reduced training and development budget on their staff and have put talent management programmers on hold or have cancelled. The HR professionals are put under pressure by the companies to cut cost. (Bersin, 2008) Even the demographics are considered to be an important for success of an organization and are also the main driver for talent management challenge. Nearly 70 million baby boomers are expected to stop working in U.S. in the next 15 years and only 40 million workforce are expected to retire in the similar period, thus creating a shortage of workers. (Adecco, 2008). All the above shows that how significant is talent management practices and the job which HR plays is a launch pad of talent mindset. But the companies, thinking of bright future prospects have taken a positive approach towards their business and also managing their talents in the  present economic downturn. The companies which have implemented well controlled talent management programs have not only helped the company to overcome short term business challenges but it has relocated the company to achieve long term success and growth. It also has helped the organizations to increase their profits by employing the right people at the right time. (Deloitte,2009). A recent survey conducted by Bersin Associates(2009) have shown that the organizations which have implemented talent management programs have achieved a 60% higher return as compared to the organization that have not implemented it. Thus the organizations have felt the importance of effective talent management processes and have focused more on retaining their highly skilled people and reviewing their systems to ensure that they have maximum return on inve stment. There is an important requirement of knowledge workers, in an organization, having precise skills which are developed through extensive learning and guidance. These workers have created an essential impact on the success of the company. (Jackson,Hitt and DeNisi, 2003). Most of the organizations require constant innovative products to satisfy the needs of the customer. These can be done only through the workforces of the company. This shows that how the talent management practice is crucial to success. Even most of the multinational organizations have felt the need of these workforces and for these they are moving to other countries to recruit and hire talent people. They always look out to enter into new markets as quickly as possible before their competitor does as this helps them to hire the best talent at best prices which helps the organization to remain competitive in this global environment.(Schuler Jackson, 2009) The talent management programs are vital for an organization as it brings a greater long term benefits as compared to short term benefits. Thus the organization needs to have a long term mindset which is crucial in period of economic instability as it brings benefits to the organization than cutting cost in the short term. SHORTCOMINGS OF TALENT MANAGEMENT: As per Cappelli, the large corporations especially in U.S. talent management practices have become dysfunctional leading to the failure of its practices. The main two reasons for its failures are firstly the surpluses of employees during downturn leading to layoffs and reshuffle and secondly the lack of adequate talent resulting in talent crisis. (Cappelli, 2008) The talent management practices in U.S. were done in two ways that were equally ineffective and fruitless. The most regular practice done by the U.S. companies is that they never did anything nor made any plans to combat the crisis of talent. Thus whenever they require a new talent or any employee leaves the job, they relied on outside hiring to fulfill the gap of talent which proved to be costly.(Cappelli,2008) The second approach which is commonly used among older companies is that they relied on multifaceted and authoritative models of 1950 for forecasting and succession planning. This legacy system proved to be a great success when the business was predictable. But in the present economic conditions, where the environment is unstable and unpredictable, it was very tough to have a long term succession planning.(Cappelli, 2008) The companies could not forecast of how many employees would be staying with them once the development program was completed. Thus whenever an important vacancy occurs, the candidate identified as a successor may not be able to meet the needs of the job because of the unstable environment. The company then searches for the talent from outside to fill the gap. This outcome resulted to have a negative impact. Firstly the candidate feels betrayed as the succession plan creates an implicit promise and secondly the investment made in developing these candidates is wasted.  (Cappelli,2008) As per Cappelli, the survey conducted shows that nearly two third of the American companies are not doing any sort of manpower planning nor predicting how many employees are required and the advice they got was to return to the traditional practices of 1950s and create a long term succession plans. For implementing these plans they need to ensure that some sort of planning are done or else the company may have to depend on outside hiring to fill those gaps. The problems related to outside hiring is that it led to the problem of retention of current workers as they feel demoralized and also the cost of hiring a new employee is also very high. (Cappelli, 2008) IMPACT OF ECONOMIC CRISIS ON TALENT MANAGEMENT: Whenever an economic crisis occurs, the first and foremost which the organization does is to make deep reductions in cost by eliminating jobs and also eliminating any cost related to recruitment and professional development. Even the learning and development budget gets reduced. This results in two different scenarios: firstly the people get promoted without having necessary talent, knowledge or exposure to execute the roles effectively and secondly the studies have shown that the employees greatly value the growth of their own talent and thus plummeting the training and budget cost. This results in reduced self-esteem and act as a de-motivator for the employee and it also leads the employee to leave their job.(Insight Research, 2009) Most of the organizations have downscale their business by removing the workforces mainly due to global economic and financial conditions. The research conducted in the area of talent management have reflected that the impact of loss was not felt initially but later on it did make the organization to realize their mistake, when they had no employee with the required knowledge and skills to either foresee or solve problems that occurred. (Collins Mellahi,2009) Finally whenever a crisis occurs the managers shouldnt forget about talent management practices. They should take time to vigilantly re-evaluate their talent management strategy and make sure that they are using their largest talent their staff- as effectively as possible.(Street,2008) CONCLUSION: The most novel way to manage the talent is to use the four values drawn from the operations of supply chain management .The two of them address the improbability in the demand side and the other two addresses the supply side. Make and Buy to Manage Risk: having too much of employees are expensive. So the best way to combat such problems is to develop less candidates than the future requirement and if there is shortfall of talent then it can be hired from outside. The organization must carefully review where to put their assets as some positions can be easily crammed by outside talent.(Cappelli,2008) Adapt to the uncertainty in Talent demand: the actual requirement of talent in future is uncertain and hence the company should employ the demand in shorter groups. Then these groups are selected in regular interval thus putting fewer burdens on the management and also the employees are given general common training to all, and then they are send them back to their jobs to specialize.(Cappelli,2008) Improve the return on investment in developing employees: In order to improve the ROI, the employees should be made to bear the cost of development which helps the employees to gain knowledge. It can also be that the employees may be asked to do work on certain projects on freely basis. And the most important part is to maintain the relationship with the former employees, so that when they return back to job they bring back your ROI in the form of skills.(Cappelli,2008) Preserve the Investment by balancing the Employee-employer relationship: the employees can leave the job if they find better prospects. The best way to retain these employees is to maintain a relationship by having him share the advancement decisions.(Cappelli,2008) BIBLIOGRAPHY: Brscoe, D., Schuler, R. and Claus,E.(2009), International Human Resource Management 3rd Edition, Routledge London.[ONLINE] Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6W5M-4XK321Y-1/2/814a88aaea2c415c71975e14a443484e?zone=raall. (Accessed on: Friedman, T.L., The World is Flat, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York. [Online]. Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6W5M-4XK321Y-1/2/814a88aaea2c415c71975e14a443484e?zone=raall. (Accessed on: U.S. Department of the Interior Office of Personnel Policy(2001), Workforce Planning Instruction Manual, Available at: http://www.doi.gov/hrm/WFPImanual.pdf. (Accessed on: Sundararajan(2009), Emerging Trends of Talent Management and Challenges of HRM ,[ONLINE] Available at: http://www.articlesbase.com/human-resources-articles/emerging-trends-of-talent-management-and-challenges-of-hrm-957837.html.(Accessed on: Bersin,J. (2008), Talent Management: State of the Industry, Human Resource Executive [Online], Available at: http://www.hrexecutive.com/HRE/story.jsp?storyId=98598263query=talent%20management.. (Accessed on: Tarique, I. and Schuler, R.S. (2009), Global Talent Management: Literature Review, Integrative Framework and suggestions for further research, Science Direct, [ONLINE], Available at : http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6W5M-4XK321Y-1/2/814a88aaea2c415c71975e14a443484e?zone=raall. (Accessed on: Adecco(2008), The next decades talent war, [ONLINE], Available at: http://www.dgfp.de/perdoc/document.php?id=81143. (Accessed on: Schuler, R.S., AND Jackson, S.E. (2009), The Global Talent Management Challenge: Drivers and HR actions for Attaining and Sustaining Global Competitive Advantage Science Direct, [ONLINE], Available at: http://www.dgfp.de/perdoc/document.php?id=81143. (Accessed on: Mellahi,K. and Collings, D.G.,(2009), The barriers to effective global talent management: The example of corporate elites in MNEs, Science Direct, [ONLINE], Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL_udi=B6W5M-4XJW048-2_user=8742368_coverDate=10/29/2009_rdoc=1_fmt=high_orig=search_sort=d_docanchor=view=c_searchStrId=1211489006_rerunOrigin=google_acct=C000009999_version=1_urlVersion=0_userid=8742368md5=4c47e726a2ba56294846ce945e8801ef. (Accessed on: Ready, D.A. and Conger, J.A. (2007), Make your company a talent factory, Harvard Business Review, [ONLINE], Available at : http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL_udi=B6W5M-4XJW048-2_user=8742368_coverDate=10/29/2009_rdoc=1_fmt=high_orig=search_sort=d_docanchor=view=c_searchStrId=1211489006_rerunOrigin=google_acct=C000009999_version=1_urlVersion=0_userid=8742368md5=4c47e726a2ba56294846ce945e8801ef. (Accessed on: Deolitte(2009), Balancing talent strategies in difficult times, Available at : http://rss.hsyndicate.com/file/152003927.pdf. (Accessed on: Bersin Associates And Centre for Creative Leadership Industry Study(2009), High Impact Succession Management, Available at: http://www.centerforcreativeleadership.com/leadership/pdf/research/HighImpactSuccessionManagement.pdf. (Accessed on: Jackson, S.E., Hitt, M.A. and DeNisi, A. (2003), Managing knowledge for sustained competitive advantage, [ONLINE], Available at: http://www.dgfp.de/perdoc/document.php?id=81143. (Accessed on: Cappelli, P.(2008), Talent Management for the Twenty first century, Harvard Business Review,[ONLINE], Available at: Moodle of the University of Glasgow.(Accessed on: Insight Research(2009), Perspectives of talent management in challenging times, Available at: .http://www.accaglobal.com/documents/talent_management.pdf. ( Accessed on: Street, M.(2008), Talent management in a Recession , Available at: http://www.management-standards.org/client_files/Talent%20management%20in%20a%20recession.pdf. (Accessed on:

Kurt Cobain Essay -- essays research papers

Kurt Cobain A look Into the Life and Career of a Legend; A Proposal Kurt Donald Cobain was the lead singer/songwriter of the band Nirvana, until April 5 1994 when he committed suicide. Troubled by depression, chronic stomach problems, and an addiction to heroin, his ailments in his personal life showed through in his music. His music evolved from the hard "punk" sound of their first album, to the intelligent "tell all" tales of his fourth and final album In Utero. Through his music he changed an era of â€Å"lost souls†, to a generation with a vision of who they were. The songs he wrote and played captured the attention of the world, but also brought him the fame and fortune that led to his downfall. The pain and the hate of his life filled the lines, tough hidden under his sarcasm. He couldn't take the voices in his head that had plagued him all his life, that compiled with his dislike of the fame caused him to end his own life. The life that gave him no joy. The first time I heard Nirvana they changed my life. I was sitting in class and one of my friends tapped into the P.A. system. He hooked it up to his Walkman and started playing Smells Like Teen Spirit, Nirvana's first single. I was sitting in class day dreaming and suddenly I was pulled out of it by this amazing sound. A few seconds later the principal shut off the song, but by that time I was hooked. Later that day I went to the record store and bought their second fi...

Durkheim and weber

We link Durkheim with social fact, and Weber withVerstehen. Durkheim's writings led to functionalism while Weber's writing led to symbolic interactionism. Both were â€Å"Fathers† of sociology, and wrote mainly in the late nineteenth century. Both called for applying the scientific method to the study of society, and both wanted sociologists to be objective (although they had different ideas about objectivity). Both contributed to the sociological perspective. Both criticised Marx, but in different ways.The main difference between them was that Durkheim coined the term â€Å"social fact† o indicate that there were forces beyond the individual that affected their behaviour, while Weber said we needed to understand the meanings people put on their behaviour to understand society. The approach by Weber has developed into modern perspective of sociology called symbolic interactionism. Durkheim's study of suicide to show how rates of suicide differed between groups with diff erent social characteristics, although we do not have enough information to predict which individuals would commit suicide.Suicide rates are quite predictable, when based on specific social characteristics. Durkheim used this to explain â€Å"social fact. † The idea of seeing social facts as external to the individual was Durkheim's contribution. See â€Å"Inside or Outside? † In contrast, we see Weber'sverstehen as a â€Å"deeper understanding† (which is why we use the German term rather than the weaker English equivalent) of the society which we all carry within us. Although we might at first see these differences as mutually exclusive and un- reconcilable, Weber's â€Å"internal† approach and Durkheim's â€Å"external† approach, we must integrate these two perspectives.Modern sociology requires that you see them both as valid and operating simultaneously. Weber made other important contributions, eg to the study ot bureaucracy and to the factor of religious beliefs and values in social change. Similarly, Durkheim made many other contributions, such as differentiating between organic and mechanical solidarity, and explaining anomie. Weber's study of the rise of capitalism, and his thesis that it was caused by the rise of the Protestant ethic, can be used to contrast him with Marx.

Characteristics of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth Essay

I am writing about the play called Macbeth. Macbeth is a play written by Shakespeare based on the lines of a true story, about Macbeth changing his whole personality throughout the play. He has many obstacles on his way up, from being king. Lady Macbeth, started in the play, very brave cunning and immoral, and felt that Macbeth was too moral and good-willed. She forced him to do many things in order for him to gain the title in the throne. As she helped him however, she became very self-conscious and ended up killing herself through guilt. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth was brave and loyal to king Duncan, and Duncan thought greatly of him. Duncan quoted â€Å"Brave Macbeth- well he deserves that name† in; act 1 scene 2. He also quoted â€Å"The service and the loyalty I owe, / in doing it, pays itself†. In act 1 scene 3. In these quotations, it shows that Macbeth is known as brave- even others think he is. He does not expect to be paid; he only does things for loyalty. This shows that he is moral, and is polite to everyone and is popular and liked by pretty much everyone around him. However, Lady Macbeth feels he is too nice for his own good. Macbeth had strong moral values, and never agreed to murder someone in order to get himself a claim in the throne. Lady Macbeth quoted â€Å"do I fear thy nature, it is too full o’th’milk of human kindness†, in act 1 scene 5. This is showing that Macbeths own wife thinks he is too kind to do anything evil- the milk represents that he is natural and pure of heart, whereas Lady Macbeth is not, she is evil. At the end of the play, Macbeth seems brave, but too brave, almost insanely brave. Lady Macbeth does end up persuading Macbeth to kill Duncan, which turns Macbeth evil, and makes his own plans on killing other people, in order to make him self the highest and the place on the throne. Macbeth says â€Å"I have almost forgotten the taste of fears† in act 5 scene 5. This shows him to be over confident and does not fear anything. The witches’ predictions, which appeared at the beginning of the play, and gave, correct predictions every time, said that Macbeth cannot be killed by any man born of woman and when Burnham wood comes to his castle. This makes him feel that he cannot be defeated. His wife, Lady Macbeth, commits suicide as she became so full of guilt, but when he found out, he seemed that he doesn’t seem to care much about lady Macbeth as he says † She should have died hereafter†¦life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player/ That struts and frets his hour upon the stage† in act 5 scene 5. This seems to indicate that he does not care about anyone besides himself, and that he is selfish. He compares life to being in a theatre, he doesn’t think he is going to die, he’s like the actor, and thinks he knows exactly what is going to happen next. However, Macbeth is very wrong, as he comes face to face with reality, as Macduff and his army come to Macbeth’s castle, and Macbeth is told that Macduff is not born from woman, but he was a caesarean. Macbeth then becomes slightly worried. Macbeth still puts on a strong hard battle, but Macduff defeats him. Lady Macbeth At the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth was a lot stronger and evil than Macbeth. She was more like the man of them both, and she always tried to make Macbeth stronger. She said to Macbeth â€Å"Unsex me here/ and fill me from the crown to the toe top full/ of direst cruelty†. Here, she I trying to say, make me more manly- she is asking to be filled with cruelty, so she can make Macbeth to have the title of the throne. She is trying to show that she will do anything bad in order to fill her ambitions. She is not maternal. Lady Macbeth was very good at being misleading, as she acted innocent in front of Duncan, but behind his back, she was plotting to get Macbeth to murder him. She says to Macbeth, â€Å"look like th’innocent flower, but be the serpent uder’t†. She is saying to be like a deadly flower, looks innocent but will snap at any unpredictable and unexpected moment. The serpent represents evil and temptation; in which, Macbeth has to have. After Macbeth and herself finally murdered Duncan, she begins to feel very guilty and insecure. She had many nightmares of when she murdered Duncan. One night when she started sleep walking, in act 5 scene 1 she said † what will the hands ne’er be clean?†, she is still left with the stains of her actions. This shows her feminine side breaking through. She was being constantly reminded of when her hands were covered in blood; her dreams are showing her that she does not have a clean conscience. Lady Macbeth becomes very ill, and emotionally mental. She has many more nightmares, which shows a shadow of her old self. She quoted in one of her nightmares, â€Å"Old damned spot†¦Hell is murky. Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier and afeared†. She is here, cursing the blood; she now has anxiety over everything. She spoke in short sentences, showing her being not at all confident, creating a tense atmosphere. The use of repetition in questions to her husband when she slept talked showed her anxiety. Throughout the whole of this play, the two characters seemed to have almost switched placed. Macbeth grew courageous and confident after killing Duncan and felt he was undefeatable, while Lady Macbeth became disillusioned and emotionally mental, after her first murder encounter. Macbeth became too full of him self and felt he was â€Å"immortal†. The play created very tense and frightening atmospheres and had a strong storyline, which became clearer further on through the play.   

A Cultural Approach to Communication Essays

A Cultural Approach to Communication Essays A Cultural Approach to Communication Essay A Cultural Approach to Communication Essay A Cultural Approach to Communica0on CLA1201 SemA 2012 Department of Media and Communica0on City University of Hong Kong Recap of Last Week’s Lecture ? We discussed the psychological e? ects of media on the audience ? The media e? ects research tradi0on draws from psychology and sociology ? It is generally quan0ta0ve (i. e. , using numbers and formulas to represent knowledge) and scien0? c (i. e. , lab experiments. ) ? But there are some limita0ons to this approach. Cri0que of the â€Å"E? ect Approach† ? The â€Å"effect approach† (or scienti? c approach) of communication research –? Reduces â€Å"cultural questions† to measurable and veri? ble categories –? Depends on â€Å"rigidly objectivity† –? Serves advertisers and media organizations primarily –? Narrowly focuses on audience individual behavior, ignoring questions like â€Å"where are media industries taking us† –? Refuses to place the research in a broader social and historical context ? Instead, historical and cultural approaches should be used to focus on the long-range effect of mass media. Di? erent Methods: Cultural Studies vs. E? ect Studies ? The â€Å"cultural approach† often uses methods such as audience ethnography and textual analysis, which has previously been used primarily in humanities (e. . literary studies). ? The â€Å"effect approach†, or generally understood as the â€Å"communic ation studies†, uses methods such as survey research, content analysis and experiments. Origin of the Cultural Approach ? Originated in Europe, where an interpretive approach (as in literary criticism) is preferred to a scienti? c approach. ? In? uenced by Marxism: mass media operate primarily to justify and support the existing power at the expense of ordinary people –? Old-fashioned Marxists believed people were oppressed by those who owned the means of production, or the base. –? Neo-Marxists believe people are oppressed by those who control the culture, or the superstructure. ? Its goal is to bring about change in government media policies or even fundamental change in media and cultural systems. The Frankfurt School ? It emerged in the United States in 1930s when a group of scholars escaped to US from Nazi Germany, where Hitler effectively used mass media to control the minds of the public. The Frankfurt School (Cont. ) ? These scholars analyzed products of mass culture within the context of cultural industries and focused on features of –? Commodi? cation –? Standardization –? Massi? cation ? They believe cultural industries provide legitimation for capitalism and serve to integrate individuals into mass culture through â€Å"false consciousness†. Frankfurt School scholars were the ?rst to: ? Comment on the role of â€Å"cultural industries† in the functioning of modern societies –? Agents of socialization (positively presenting social norms) –? Mediators of political reality –? Maintaining the status quo and legitimating dominant power ? Systematically analyze and criticize mass-mediated culture But†¦ Its distinction between high and low culture, and preference for high culture over low culture shows an elitist bias. –? Seeing mass culture as monolithic, duping a mass of consumers –? An idealistic view of â€Å"authentic art† Adorno and Horkheimer The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction, Walter Benjamin BBC Modern Masters Series: Andy Warhol Nor does the distinction recognize that audience may be active, may have their own reading of a text or even become a producer Or give adequate attention to the actual production process of media and their interaction with other social institutions. Bri0sh Cultural Studies:1960s and onwards ? â€Å"The Birmingham School† arose in 1960s when political upheaval swept through Britain. –? A class-based system and widespread inequality –? Mass media tried to integrate the working classes –? In? ow of ethnic population from diverse backgrounds –? Americanization of pop culture –? Feminist movement and Civil Rights movement Characteris0cs of Bri0sh Cultural Studies ? Like the Frankfurt School, British cultural scholars believe mass media may further the will of the dominant class and may oppress subordinate class, gender, race, and ethnic strata. ? Different from the Frankfurt School, they argue audience can resist and struggle against domination. –? Media texts do not have â€Å"transparent† meaning. Texts have different layers of sign systems that audience may interpret differently from media producers. –? Audience is no longer passive. Audience with different social and political orientations decode messages differently. ? Removing â€Å"high vs. low† cultural distinction and embracing popular cultural forms like television and pop music. From Week 2 Slides: How are meanings created and Shared? â€Å"Elephant† The Triangle of Meaning c-o-w† (Signifier) a farm animal (Signified) he animal itself (R) The Triangle of Meaning 1.? Signi? er: the sign/word/picture itself e. g. , â€Å"c-o-w† 1.? Referent: the object or external reality being referred to, e. g. , the physical cow in the farm 2.? Signi? ed: the conventional meaning, e. g. a farm animal, produces milk, etc. The process of interaction among these 3 elements so as to create meanings is called signi? cation. Encoding/Decoding Model (Stuart Hall) ? Dominant Reading ? Negotiated Reading ? Oppositional Reading http://users. aber. ac. uk/dgc/Documents/S4B/sem08c. html ? Financial Times China: Financial Times China: ? Grass Mud Horse†: Internet resistance art wiki-entry:  · Green Dam Girl ? (Song of Grass Mud Horse) What Is â€Å"Worth† Studying? ? Previously studies in humanities focused on highly regarded works of art such as poems, painting and ? lms. ? Now cultural scholars turn to less elite forms of culture: fashion, tabloid magazines, pop icons, rock music, hiphop, soap operas, TV dramas, shopping malls, advertising, reality TV, professional wrestling, etc. ? Scholars try to make sense of the â€Å"taken-for-granted† everyday life and media culture, which they believe can provide insight into broader meanings of society. Textual Analysis ? Highlights the interp retation of cultural messages (books, movies, TV programs) ? Instead of looking for replicability and objectivity of data, textual analysis looks for meanings in rituals and narratives. ? TV: The Most Popular Art (Horace Newcomb)! –? why certain TV programs and formats became popular (e. g. comedies, westerns, mysteries, soap operas, news, sports) –? â€Å"The task for the study of popular art is to ? nd a technique through which many different qualities of the work – aesthetic, social, psychological – may be explored†. (Newcomb, 1974) Audience Studies ? Focuses on how people use and interpret text (cultural content) ? It differs from textual analysis in that the subject of study is now â€Å"audience† instead of â€Å"text†. It explores audience? relation to the text. ? It often combines audience ethnography with some form of textual analysis as methods. Assessing Cultural Studies ? While cultural studies avoid cutting up the culture into high and low, popular and elite, and manage to bring race, gender, and class issues into research focus; ? They suffer from too narrow a focus on cultural text and audience reception, overlooking the production process and the arger political-economic context of media production. ? The celebration of audience freedom in interpreting texts may be carried to far, to the point as if audience alone may produce meaning. Some related schools of thoughts or tradi0ons within â€Å"cultural studies† ? Communication as Rituals? /Construction of Reality ? A ritual view of communicatio n is directed not toward the extension of messages in space for the purpose of control, but toward the maintenance of society in time; not the act of imparting information but the representation of shared beliefs. (James Carey, 1975, p. 18). Communication as Rituals? Construction of Reality? Communication is a process of creating culture ? â€Å"Communication is a symbolic process whereby reality is produced, maintained, repaired and transformed† (James Carey, 1975). The Lippmann- ­? Dewey Debate Walter Lippmann John Dewey Produc0on of Culture Studies how economic and other factors in? uence the way culture is produced, ? nding out rules and routines that govern cultural production (see more in Lecture Two) Entertainment Production News Production Poli0cal Economy Studies ? Political economy studies examine interconnections among economic interests, political power, and how that power is used. ? Major concerns include: –? Increasing concentration of ownership: control of media by fewer and fewer organizations –? Catering to â€Å"what the public want† rather than â€Å"what they need†; the bottom-line is money rather than democratic expressions Ownership and Concentration ? Hori zontal integration ? Vertical integration ? Internationalization ? Multi-sector and multimedia integration Sing Tao Group To summarize, we looked at ? Dominant schools in cultural studies –? Frankfurt School (originated in USA) –? Birmingham School (originated in Britain) ? Changing interest –? A macro-level analysis of popular culture encompassing political economy, texts, and audience, sustained by a â€Å"high culture vs. low culture† divide (Frankfurt School) –? Studying more diverse forms of popular culture; subcultures; as well as issues of identity politics (Birmingham School and onwards) ? Major approaches –? Audience studies (Audience engagement with texts) –? Textural analysis ? Related schools in cultural studies –? Communication as rituals (construction of reality) –? Production of Culture –? Political Economy