United Kingdom Political System

The United Kingdom is a unitary democracy governed within the framework of a constitutional monarchy, in which the Monarch is the head of state and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government. Executive power is exercised by Her Majesty's Government, on behalf of and by the consent of the Monarch, as well as by the devolved Governments of Scotland and Wales, and the Northern Ireland Executive.Legislative power is vested in the two chambers of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the House of Commons and the House of Lords, as well as in the Scottish parliament and Welsh and Northern Ireland assemblies. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The highest national court is the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. The UK political system is a multi-party system. Since the 1920s, the two largest political parties have been the Conservative Party and the Labor Party.Before the Labor Party rose in British politics the Liberal Party was the other major political party along with the Conservatives. Though coalition and minority governments have been an occasional feature of parliamentary politics, the first-past-the-post electoral system used for general elections tends to maintain the dominance of these two parties, though each has in the past century relied upon a third party to deliver a working majority in Parliament. The current Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government is the first coalition since 1974.With the partition of Ireland, Northern Ireland received home rule in 1920, though civil unrest meant direct rule was restored in 1972. Support for nationalist parties in Scotland and Wales led to proposals for devolution in the 1970s though only in the 1990s did devolution actually happen. Today, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each possess a legislature and executive, with devolution in Northern Ireland being conditional on participation in certain all-Ireland institutions.The United Kingdom remains responsible for non-devolved matters and, in the case of Northern Ireland, co-operates with the Republic of Ireland. It is a matter of dispute as to whether increased autonomy and devolution of executive and legislative powers has contributed to a reduction in support for independence. The principal pro-independence party, the Scottish National Party, won an overall majority of MSPs at the 2011 Scottish parliament elections and now forms the Scottish Government administration, with plans to hold a referendum on negotiating for independence. In Northern Ireland,the largest Pro-Belfast Agreement party, Sinn Fà ©in, not only advocates Northern Ireland's unification with the Republic of Ireland, but also abstains from taking their elected seats in the Westminster government, as this would entail taking a pledge of allegiance to the British monarch. The constitution of the United Kingdom is uncodified, being made up of constitutional conventions, statutes and other elements such as EU law. This system of government, known as the Westminster system, has been adopted by other countries, especially those that were formerly parts of the British Empire.The United Kingdom is also responsible for several dependencies, which fall into two categories: the Crown dependencies, in the immediate vicinity of the UK, and British Overseas Territories, which originated as colonies of the British Empire. The British Monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II, is the Chief of State of the United Kingdom. Though she takes little direct part in government, the Crown remains the fount in which ultimate executive power over Government lies.These powers are known as Royal Prerogative and can be used for a vast amount of things, such as the issue or withdrawal of passports, to the dismissal of the Prime Minister or even the Declaration of War. The powers are delegated from the Monarch personally, in the name of the Crown, and can be handed to various ministers, or other Officers of the Crown, and can purposely bypass the consent of Parliament. The head of Her Majesty's Government; the Prime Minister, also has weekly meetings with the sovereign, where she may express her feelings, warn, or advise the Prime Minister in the Government's work.According to the uncodified constitution of the United Kingdom, the monarch has the following powers: Domestic Powers The monarch appoints a Prime Minister as the head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, guided by the strict convention that the Prime Minister should be the member of the House of Commons most likely to be able to form a Government with the support of that House. In practice, this means that the leader of the political party with an absolute majority of seats in the House of Commons is chosen to be the Prime Minister.If no party has an absolute majority, the leader of the largest party is given the first opportunity to form a coalition. The Prime Minister then selects the other Ministers which make up the Government and act as political heads of the various Government Departments. About twenty of the most senior government ministers make up the Cabinet and approximately 100 ministers in total comprise the government. In accordance with constitutional convention, all ministers within the government are either Members of Parliament or peers in the House of Lords.As in some other parliamentary systems of government (especially those based upon the Westminster System), the executive (called â€Å"the government†) is drawn from and is answerable to Parliament – a successful vote of no confidence will force the government either to resign or to seek a parliamentary dissolution and a general election. In practice, members of parliament of all major parties are strictly controlled by whips who try to ensure they vote according to party policy. If the government has a large majority, then they are very unlikely to lose enough votes to be unable to pass legislation.The Prime Mini ster and the Cabinet David Cameron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (2010) The Prime Minister is the most senior minister in the Cabinet. She/he is responsible for chairing Cabinet meetings, selecting Cabinet ministers (and all other positions in Her Majesty's government), and formulating government policy. The Prime Minister is the de facto leader of the UK government, since s/he exercises executive functions that are nominally vested in the sovereign (by way of the Royal Prerogatives). Historically, the British monarch was the sole source of executive powers in the government.However, following the rule of the Hanoverian monarchs, an arrangement of a â€Å"Prime Minister† chairing and leading the Cabinet began to emerge. Over time, this arrangement became the effective executive branch of government, as it assumed the day-to-day functioning of the British government away from the sovereign. Theoretically, the Prime Minister is primus inter pares (Latin for â€Å"first among equals†) among his/her Cabinet colleagues. While the Prime Minister is the senior Cabinet Minister, s/he is theoretically bound to make executive decisions in a collective fashion with the other Cabinet ministers.The Cabinet, along with the PM, consists of Secretaries of State from the various government departments, the Lord High Chancellor, the Lord Privy Seal, the President of the Board of Trade, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Ministers without portfolio. Cabinet meetings are typically held weekly, while Parliament is in session Government departments and the Civil Service The Government of the United Kingdom contains a number of ministries known mainly, though not exclusively as departments, Ministry of Defense.These are politically led by a Government Minister who is often a Secretary of State and member of the Cabinet. He or she may also be supported by a number of junior Ministers. In practice, several government departments and Ministers have respo nsibilities that cover England alone, with devolved bodies having responsibility for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, (for example – the Department of Health), or responsibilities that mainly focus on England (such as the Department for Education). Implementation of the Minister's decisions is carried out by a permanent politically neutral organization known as the civil service.Its constitutional role is to support the Government of the day regardless of which political party is in power. Unlike some other democracies, senior civil servants remain in post upon a change of Government. Administrative management of the Department is led by a head civil servant known in most Departments as a Permanent Secretary. The majority of the civil service staff in fact work in executive agencies, which are separate operational organizations reporting to Departments of State. â€Å"Whitehall† is often used as a metonym for the central core of the Civil Service.This is because m ost Government Departments have headquarters in and around the former Royal Palace Whitehall. Legislatures The UK Parliament is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom (i. e. , there is parliamentary sovereignty), and Government is drawn from and answerable to it. Parliament is bicameral, consisting of the House of Commons and the House of Lords. There is also a devolved Scottish Parliament and devolved Assemblies in Wales and Northern Ireland, with varying degrees of legislative authority. UK ParliamentHouse of Commons It is a Sand-colored building of Gothic design with large clock-tower. Parliament meets at the Palace of Westminster British House of Commons The Countries of the United Kingdom are divided into parliamentary constituencies of broadly equal population by the four Boundary Commissions. Each constituency elects a Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons at General Elections and, if required, at by-elections. As of 2010 there are 650 constituencies ( there were 646 before that year's general election.Of the 650 MPs, all but one – Lady Sylvia Hermon – belong to a political party. In modern times, all Prime Ministers and Leaders of the Opposition have been drawn from the Commons, not the Lords. Alec Douglas-Home resigned from his peerages days after becoming Prime Minister in 1963, and the last Prime Minister before him from the Lords left in 1902 (the Marquis of Salisbury). One party usually has a majority in Parliament, because of the use of the First Past the Post electoral system, which has been conducive in creating the current two party system.The monarch normally asks a person commissioned to form a government simply whether it can survive in the House of Commons, something which majority governments are expected to be able to do. In exceptional circumstances the monarch asks someone to ‘form a government' with a parliamentary minority which in the event of no party having a majority requires the formati on of a coalition government. This option is only ever taken at a time of national emergency, such as war-time. It was given in 1916 to Andrew Bonar Law, and when he declined, to David Lloyd George and in 1940 to Winston Churchill.A government is not formed by a vote of the House of Commons; it is a commission from the monarch. The House of Commons gets its first chance to indicate confidence in the new government when it votes on the Speech from the Throne (the legislative program proposed by the new government). House of Lords The House of Lords was previously a largely hereditary aristocratic chamber, although including life peers, and Lords Spiritual. It is currently mid-way through extensive reforms, the most recent of these being enacted in the House of Lords Act 1999.The house consists of two very different types of member, the Lords Temporal and Lords Spiritual. Lords Temporal include appointed members (life peers with no hereditary right for their descendants to sit in the house) and ninety-two remaining hereditary peers, elected from among, and by, the holders of titles which previously gave a seat in the House of Lords. The Lords Spiritual represent the established Church of England and number twenty-six: the Five Ancient Sees (Canterbury, York, London, Winchester and Durham), and the 21 next-most senior bishops.The House of Lords currently acts to review legislation initiated by the House of Commons, with the power to propose amendments, and can exercise a suspensive veto. This allows it to delay legislation if it does not approve it for twelve months. However, the use of vetoes is limited by convention and by the operation of the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949: the Lords may not veto the â€Å"money bills† or major manifesto promises (see Salisbury convention). Persistent use of the veto can also be overturned by the Commons, under a provision of the Parliament Act 1911.Often governments will accept changes in legislation in order to avoid b oth the time delay, and the negative publicity of being seen to clash with the Lords. However the Lords still retain a full veto in acts which would extend the life of Parliament beyond the 5 year term limit introduced by the Parliament Act 1911. The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 outlined plans for a Supreme Court of the United Kingdom to replace the role of the Law Lords. The House of Lords was replaced as the final court of appeal on civil cases within the United Kingdom on 1 October 2009, by the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.Devolved national legislatures Though the UK parliament remains the sovereign parliament, Scotland has a parliament and Wales and Northern Ireland have assemblies. De jure, each could have its powers broadened, narrowed or changed by an Act of the UK Parliament. However, Scotland has a tradition of popular sovereignty as opposed to parliamentary sovereignty and the fact that the Scottish parliament was established following a referendum would make it p olitically difficult to significantly alter its powers without popular consent.The UK is therefore a unitary state with a devolved system of government. This contrasts with a federal system, in which sub-parliaments or state parliaments and assemblies have a clearly defined constitutional right to exist and a right to exercise certain constitutionally guaranteed and defined functions and cannot be unilaterally abolished by Acts of the central parliament. All three devolved institutions are elected by proportional representation: the Additional Member System is used in Scotland and Wales, and Single Transferable Vote is used in Northern Ireland.England, therefore, is the only country in the UK not to have a devolved English parliament. However, senior politicians of all main parties have voiced concerns in regard to the West Lothian Question, which is raised where certain policies for England are set by MPs from all four constituent nations whereas similar policies for Scotland or Wa les might be decided in the devolved assemblies by legislators from those countries alone.Alternative proposals for English regional government have stalled, following a poorly received referendum on devolved government for the North East of England, which had hitherto been considered the region most in favor of the idea, with the exception of Cornwall, where there is widespread support for a Cornish Assembly, including all five Cornish MPs. England is therefore governed according to the balance of parties across the whole of the United Kingdom. The government has no plans to establish an English parliament or assembly although several pressure groups are calling for one.One of their main arguments is that MPs (and thus voters) from different parts of the UK have inconsistent powers. Currently an MP from Scotland can vote on legislation which affects only England but MPs from England (or indeed Scotland) cannot vote on matters devolved to the Scottish parliament. Indeed, the former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who is an MP for a Scottish constituency, introduced some laws that only affect England and not his own constituency. This anomaly is known as the West Lothian question.The policy of the UK Government in England was to establish elected regional assemblies with no legislative powers. The London Assembly was the first of these, established in 2000, following a referendum in 1998, but further plans were abandoned following rejection of a proposal for an elected assembly in North East England in a referendum in 2004. Unelected regional assemblies remain in place in eight regions of England. There are two main parties in the United Kingdom: the Conservative Party, and the Labor Party.There is also a significant third party, the Liberal Democrats. The modern Conservative Party was founded in 1834 and is an outgrowth of the Tory movement or party, which began in 1678. Today it is still colloquially referred to as the Tory Party and its members as Tories. The L iberal Democrats were formed in 1988 by a merger of the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), a Labor breakaway formed in 1981. The Liberals and SDP had contested elections together as the SDP–Liberal Alliance for seven years before.The modern Liberal Party had been founded in 1859 as an outgrowth of the Whig movement or party (which began at the same time as the Tory party and was its historical rival) as well as the Radical and Peelite tendencies. The Liberal Party was one of the two dominant parties (along with the Conservatives) from its founding until the 1920s, when it rapidly declined and was supplanted on the left by the Labor Party, which was founded in 1900 and formed its first government in 1924.Since that time, the Labor and Conservatives parties have been dominant, with the Liberal Democrats also holding a significant number of seats and increasing their share of the vote in parliamentary general elections in the four elections 1992. Conservatives; The Conservative Party won the largest number of seats at the 2010 general election, returning 307 MPs, though not enough to make an overall majority. As a result of negotiations following the election, they entered a formal coalition with the Liberal Democrats to form a majority government.The Conservative party can trace its origin back to 1662, with the Court Party and the Country Party being formed in the aftermath of the English Civil War. The Court Party soon became known as the Tories, a name that has stuck despite the official name being ‘Conservative'. The term â€Å"Tory † originates from the Exclusion Bill crisis of 1678-1681 – the Whigs were those who supported the exclusion of the Roman Catholic Duke of York from the thrones of England, Ireland and Scotland, and the Tories were those who opposed it.Both names were originally insults: a â€Å"whiggamore† was a horse drover (See Whiggamore Raid), and a â€Å"tory† (Tà ³raidhe) was an Ir ish term for an outlaw, later applied to Irish Confederates and Irish Royalists, during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Generally, the Tories were associated with lesser gentry and the Church of England, while Whigs were more associated with trade, money, larger land holders (or â€Å"land magnates†), expansion and tolerance of Catholicism.The Rochdale Radicals were a group of more extreme reformists who were also heavily involved in the cooperative movement. They sought to bring about a more equal society, and are considered by modern standards to be left-wing. After becoming associated with repression of popular discontent in the years after 1815, the Tories underwent a fundamental transformation under the influence of Robert Peel, himself an industrialist rather than a landowner, who in his 1834 â€Å"Tamworth Manifesto† outlined a new â€Å"Conservative† philosophy of reforming ills while conserving the good.Though Peel's supporters subsequently split from t heir colleagues over the issue of free trade in 1846, ultimately joining the Whigs and the Radicals to form what would become the Liberal Party, Peel's version of the party's underlying outlook was retained by the remaining Tories, who adopted his label of Conservative as the official name of their party. The crushing defeat of the 1997 election saw the Conservative Party lose over half their seats from 1992 and saw the party re-align with public perceptions of them.In 2008, the Conservative Party formed a pact with the Ulster Unionist Party to select joint candidates for European and House of Commons elections; this angered the DUP as by splitting the Unionist vote, republican parties will be elected in some areas. After thirteen years as the official opposition, the Party returned to power as part of a coalition with the Liberal Democrats in 2010. Historically, the party has been the mainland party most pre-occupied by British Unionism, as attested to by the party's full name, the Conservative & Unionist Party.This resulted in the merger between the Conservatives and Joseph Chamberlain's Liberal Unionist Party, composed of former Liberals who opposed Irish home rule. The unionist tendency is still in evidence today, manifesting sometimes as a skepticism or opposition to devolution, firm support for the continued existence of the United Kingdom in the face of separatist nationalism, and a historic link with the cultural unionism of Northern Ireland. Labor; The Labor Party won the second largest number of seats in the House of Commons at the 2010 general election, with 258 MPs.The history of the Labor party goes back to 1900 when a Labor Representation Committee was established which changed its name to â€Å" ­Ã‚ ­The Labor Party† in 1906. After the First World War, this led to the demise of the Liberal Party as the main reformist force in British politics. The existence of the Labor Party on the left of British politics led to a slow waning of energ y from the Liberal Party, which has consequently assumed third place in national politics.After performing poorly in the elections of 1922, 1923 and 1924, the Liberal Party was superseded by the Labor Party as the party of the left. Following two brief spells in minority governments in 1924 and 1929–1931, the Labor Party had its first true victory after World War II in the 1945 â€Å"khaki election†. Throughout the rest of the twentieth century, Labor governments alternated with Conservative governments. The Labor Party suffered the â€Å"wilderness years† of 1951-1964 (three straight General Election defeats) and 1979-1997 (four straight General Election defeats).During this second period, Margaret Thatcher, who became leader of the Conservative party in 1975, made a fundamental change to Conservative policies, turning the Conservative Party into an economic neoliberal party. In the General Election of 1979 she defeated James Callaghan's troubled Labor governme nt after the winter of discontent. For most of the 1980s and the 1990s, Conservative governments under Thatcher and her successor John Major pursued policies of privatization, anti-trade-unionism, and, for a time, monetarism, now known collectively as Thatcherism.The Labor Party elected left-winger Michael Foot as their leader after their 1979 election defeat, and he responded to dissatisfaction with the Labor Party by pursuing a number of radical policies developed by its grass-roots members. In 1981 several right-wing Labor MPs formed a breakaway group called the Social Democratic Party (SDP), a move which split Labor and is widely believed to have made Labor unelectable for a decade. The SDP formed an alliance with the Liberal Party which contested the 1983and 1987 general elections as a centrist alternative to Labor and the Conservatives. After some initial success, the SDP did not prosper (partly due to its unfavorable distribution of votes in the FPTP electoral system), and wa s accused by some of splitting the anti-Conservative vote. The SDP eventually merged with the Liberal Party to form the Liberal Democrats in 1988. Support for the new party has increased since then, and the Liberal Democrats (often referred to as LibDems) in 1997 and 2001 gained an increased number of seats in the House of Commons.The Labor Party was badly defeated in the Conservative landslide of the 1983 general election, and Michael Foot was replaced shortly thereafter by Neil Kinnock as leader. Kinnock expelled the far left Militant tendency group (now called the Socialist Party of England and Wales) and moderated many of the party's policies. Yet he was in turn replaced by John Smith after Labor defeats in the 1987 and 1992 general elections. Tony Blair became leader of the Labor party after John Smith's sudden death from a heart attack in 1994.He continued to move the Labor Party towards the ‘center' by loosening links with the unions and embracing many of Margaret Thatc her's liberal economic policies. This, coupled with the professionalizing of the party machine's approach to the media, helped Labor win a historic landslide in the 1997 General Election, after 18 years of Conservative government. Some observers say the Labor Party had by then morphed from a democratic socialist party to a social democratic party, a process which delivered three general election victories but alienated some of its core base – leading to the formation of the Socialist Labor Party (UK).Liberal Democrats; The Liberal Democrats won the third largest number of seats at the 2010 general election, returning 57 MPs. The Conservative Party failed to win an overall majority, and the Liberal Democrats entered government for the first time as part of a coalition. The Liberal Democrats were formed in 1988 by a merger of the Liberal Party with the Social Democratic Party, but can trace their origin back to the Whigs and the Rochdale Radicals who evolved into the Liberal Pa rty. The term ‘Liberal Party' was first used officially in 1868, though it had been in use colloquially for decades beforehand.The Liberal Party formed a government in 1868 and then alternated with the Conservative Party as the party of government throughout the late 19th century and early 20th century. The Liberal Democrats are heavily a party on Constitutional and Political Reforms, including changing the voting system for General Elections (UK Alternative Vote referendum, 2011), abolishing the House of Lords and replacing it with a 300 member elected Senate, introducing Fixed Five Year Parliaments, and introducing a National Register of Lobbyists.They also claim to champion of fairness and social mobility, notably in government where they have introduced legislation introducing a pupil premium – funding for schools directed at the poorest students to give them an equal chance in life – equal marriage for homosexual couples and increasing the income tax thresho ld so that no one will pay anything on the first  £10,000 they earn. Other parliamentary parties The Green Party of England and Wales gained its second MP, Caroline Lucas, in the 2010 General Election (the first MP was Cynog Dafis, Ceredigion 1992 who was elected on a joint Plaid Cyru/Green Party ticket).It also has seats in the European Parliament, two seats on the London Assembly and around 120 local councilors. The Respect party, a left-wing group that came out of the anti-war movement has one MP, George Galloway. It also has a small number of seats on local councils across the country. There are usually a small number of Independent politicians in parliament with no party allegiance. In modern times, this has usually occurred when a sitting member leaves their party, and some such MPs have been re-elected as independents.The only current Independent MP is Lady Hermon, previously of the Ulster Unionist Party. However, since 1950 only two new members have been elected as indepen dents without having ever stood for a major party: Martin Bell represented the Tatton constituency in Cheshire between 1997 and 2001. He was elected following a â€Å"sleaze† scandal involving the sitting Conservative MP, Neil Hamilton—Bell, a BBC journalist, stood as an anticorruption independent candidate, and the Labor and Liberal Democrat parties withdrew their candidates from the election.Dr. Richard Taylor MP was elected for the Wyre Forest constituency in the 2001 on a platform opposing the closure of Kidderminster hospital. He later established Health Concern, the party under which he ran in 2005. Current political landscape Since winning the largest number of seats and votes in the 2010 general election, the Conservatives under David Cameron are now behind the Labor Party now led by Ed Miliband. Their coalition partners have also experienced a decline in support in opinion polls.At the same time, support for the UK Independence Party has shown a considerable a dvance, with some polls now placing them in third place ahead of the Lib Dems. UKIP's growing strength was illustrated by the result of the Eastleigh by-election in which the party advanced by 24% to take second place from the Conservatives, less than 5% behind the Lib Dems who retained the seat. Local government The UK is divided into a variety of different types of Local Authorities, with different functions and responsibilities.England has a mix of two-tier and single-tier councils in different parts of the country. In Greater London, a unique two-tier system exists, with power shared between the London borough councils, and the Greater London Authority which is headed by an elected mayor. Unitary Authorities are used throughout Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. European Union Further information: European Movement UK, Euroskepticism in the United Kingdom, and Members of the European Parliament from the United Kingdom.The United Kingdom first joined the European Economic Comm unity in January 1973, and has remained a member of the European Union (EU) that it evolved into; UK citizens, and other EU citizens resident in the UK, elect 78 members to represent them in the European Parliament in Brussels and Strasbourg. The UK's membership in the Union has been objected to over questions of sovereignty,[27] and in recent years there have been divisions in both major parties over whether the UK should form greater ties within the EU, or reduce the EU's supranational powers.Opponents of greater European integration are known as â€Å"Euroskeptics†, while supporters are known as â€Å"Europhiles†. Division over Europe is prevalent in both major parties, although the Conservative Party is seen as most divided over the issue, both whilst in Government up to 1997 and after 2010, and between those dates as the opposition. However, the Labor Party is also divided, with conflicting views over UK adoption of the euro whilst in Government (1997–2010) , although the party is largely in favor of further integration where in the country's interest.UK nationalists have long campaigned against European integration. The strong showing of the euroskeptic United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) in the 2004 European Parliament elections has shifted the debate over UK relations with the EU. In March 2008, Parliament decided to not hold a referendum on the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon, signed in December 2007. [28] This was despite the Labor government promising in 2004 to hold a referendum on the previously proposed Constitution for Europe.

The Lottery Comparison of Tradition

Margaret Urquhart Professor Daniels ENC1102 15 March 2013 An Outrageous Tale Standing in line for hours, impatiently waiting for the front doors of our favorite stores to open, to be nearly trampled upon for discounted items, is a tradition we, as Americans, like to call Black Friday. Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, often regarded as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. To get people in the spirit, most major retailers open before the sun comes up and offers promotional sales to kick off the holiday shopping season.Americans consider â€Å"getting in the spirit,† by waking at the crack of dawn to pry items out of other people’s hands while at the same time getting pushed and shoved by crazy amounts of people on the same hunt. We call a tradition; a belief or behavior passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance that has origin from the past. Black Friday is the one tradition that I thought was the worst until reading â€Å"The Lottery,† by Shirley Jackson. Jackson uses irony to suggest an underlying evil, hypocrisy, and weakness of human kind.Jackson shows many important lessons about human nature in this short story including barbaric traditions in a supposedly civilized village, the community’s hypocrisy, and how violence and cruelty take place. â€Å"The Lottery† tells the story of an annual tradition in a small village, where the people are close and tradition is paramount. The Lottery is a yearly event in which one person in the town is randomly chosen, by a drawing, to be violently stoned by friends and family.The villagers don’t really know much about the lottery’s origin but try to preserve the tradition nevertheless; they believed that someone had to be sacrificed to insure a good crop. â€Å"Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon,† said Old Man Warner. The villagers allow an outdated tradition to run their liv es and control whether they live or die. The black box symbolizes death; the name of the â€Å"winner† to be stoned is drawn from the box at every lottery, it represents tradition in the fact that it is old and worn.It has been in existence seemingly forever and though there is talk of replacing it, the reader can infer that there will be no such change. The villagers are aware that the sacrifice is inhumane but none want to stand and voice their opinion because they are afraid of how it may affect their lives. â€Å"The lottery† has been practiced in this town for such a long time that it makes tradition so powerful, it’s like a force of nature, and the people of the village can’t imagine rebelling against it.The black box represents tradition in aspects to it being old; the characters mention that they did not want to get rid of the old box because it was made of splinters of the original box. The town is so focused on how things were and how things hav e always been that they cannot see any new or improved ways of living. Nevertheless, the lottery continues simply because there has always been a lottery. In â€Å"The Lottery,† the idea of hypocrisy is seen throughout the story. This theme is evident by the tradition of the lottery itself as well as the characters’ actions.The theme of hypocrisy is often attached to the idea of religion. Mr. Adams questions the traditions of the lottery and Mr. Summers says, â€Å"There’s always been a lottery,† and that it would be â€Å"nothing but trouble. † With these statements I feel that this tradition has been around for such a long time that if they were to get rid of it, in return it would turn the town upside down and the villagers wouldn’t know how to react to not having it. They keep the tradition alive yet they create nothing but trouble in determining who dies. The character Mrs. Hutchinson’s best friend, Mrs.Delacroix, is one of the f irst to casually discuss the lottery and in contrast she is the first to pick up a rock to stone her so called friend. Jackson’s use of such a tradition and these everyday characters demonstrates how hypocritical we are in society and is cautioning readers to questions those ideas set in stone. Shirley Jackson shows us that violence is a part of human nature, and that it can be disguised in many ways. The setting of the story is seemingly civilized and peaceful, while the stoning is a cruel and brutal act. This shows us that horrifying acts of violence can take place anywhere at any time, by ordinary citizens.Violence and cruelty are a major theme because we do not live in a â€Å"perfect† world where nothing bad ever goes wrong; there is violence and cruelty all around us. We see human cruelty in its worst form because there is no excuse for it. Jackson's example illustrates how mankind can become a victim to its own mindless traditions. For example, one child in the story was depicted this way: â€Å"Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example. †(Jackson 194) This quote shows how people are mindless followers just because everyone else is doing it.This strange tale is twisted in ways that show us so much about human nature and the way we are in society. The themes that are unraveled throughout the story are shocking, teaching us about human nature on a different level. People live by the term, â€Å"If everyone else is doing it, then I should too. † This shows how even though the tradition has been going on for so long, no one actually knows when it originated; they only continue it because it’s the tradition of the town. The violence and cruelty that comes into play is brutal in the sense that Mrs.Hutchinson’s friends were the first to stone her and not have any problem with it, which shows the hypocrisy of human beings. The people of the town disguise th e evil tradition of the lottery by following orders without asking any questions. Getting pushed and shoved in line for long hours for an item is a tradition that we should not have in America anymore, but still do because everyone does it. In the same sense, dying is drastically worse than getting pushed and shoved; they can’t stop the tradition of â€Å"The Lottery† because it’s what everyone in town does.

Effects of Facebook on Teens Essay

Facebook can be very dangerous for the lives of teens. Many teens of today say that Facebook is positive because it can improve communication between other teens, which is true, but the real stated facts about the site are that Facebook can cause psychological disorders, depression, and can affect grades in a negative way. Facebook can cause many psychological disorders. Two of the major disorders that are caused by Facebook are narcissism and anxiety. Narcissism is inordinate fascination with oneself. Narcissism can also negatively affect learning and grades for teens. Teens who use Facebook more often show more narcissistic tendencies while young adults who have a strong Facebook presence show more signs of other psychological disorders, including antisocial behaviors, mania, and aggressive tendencies. † (Albanesius) Narcissism is one problem that can be prevented if teens knew how to use Facebook in moderation instead of constantly using it every day. Another disorder caused by Facebook is anxiety. Anxiety is distress or uneasiness in the mind that is usually caused by fear of danger or possible misfortune. Anxiety can be caused by pictures, status updates, or even through messaging each other. Teens can also try to prevent anxiety by cutting down on their daily Facebook usage. Along with anxiety, depression can also be influenced by Facebook. Depression is being in a deep sadness where you think that nothing good is ever going to happen to you. Depression is another major disorder that is caused by excessive Facebook use. â€Å"With in-your-face friends’ tallies, status updates and photos of happy-looking people having great times, Facebook pages can make some children feel even worse if they think they don’t measure up. (Press) Teens can become depressed in many ways. Status updates are one of the things on Facebook that can cause teens to become depressed. If the status update is about a teen, and it is not a friendly post, the teen could become depressed because it could put them down. Photos on Facebook can also lead to teens becoming depressed. Photos could lead to depression in teens because a teen might see a picture of a happy couple and this could make the teen feel lonely and become depressed. Finally, messages could also make a teen depressed. Teens could become depressed from messages in many ways. One way is that if the messages are mean and directed towards the teen, the teen could be put down which would make them depressed. Also, the teen could become depressed if the person sending the message is bragging about something like a relationship or a sport. Depression can also cause teens to end up harming themselves A teen who becomes depressed because of a status update from one of their friends could become so depressed that they could end up harming themselves or even killing themselves. This could be prevented though if teens could cut down on the amount of time they spend on Facebook. â€Å"Facebook can be distracting and can negatively impact learning. Studies found that middle school, high school and college students who checked Facebook at least once during a 15-minute study period achieved lower grades. † (Daily 1) Facebook can negatively impact learning because teens could spend their time on the computer checking Facebook instead of studying and doing homework. Teens that spend more time on Facebook usually have lower grades than teens that control how much time they have on Facebook and how much time they study for. These teens have lower grades because they waste all their time on Facebook instead of studying. Teens are now checking Facebook during school hours which takes their attention away from learning and focusing on their education. However, some parts of society believe that Facebook improves communication skills of teens. Facebook can definitely improve communication between teens. Communication through Facebook improves the social part of a teen’s life. This can be achieved through posts on each other’s wall and they can also communicate through messages. Messages can help teens connect and could also help teens make new friends. The teens could start talking to other teens on Facebook which helps them make new friends through the chat portion of Facebook. Communication is improved because of the many applications on Facebook. Teens can connect through applications on Facebook, such as Words with Friends. Teens can improve their communication through apps because they can play against each other which help them connect through Facebook. This is a positive effect of Facebook that support that Facebook can positively affect teens. Facebook is a social networking site that has limited positive features for teens but overall it has many negative effects on the teens of today. Facebook can help improve communication between teens, however, Facebook can cause psychological disorders, depression, and the website can affect grades in a negative way.

Who were the two people who discovered Calculus Essay

Who were the two people who discovered Calculus - Essay Example The first person to come up with the calculus was Newton, owing to new historical findings (Sastry 3), moreover, he did this by developing standard differential algorithms, which were later expounded further by Leibniz after two decades (Sastry 3). This proves that Newton was the original inventor of the calculus although there have been accusations of plagiarism from Newton’s supporters towards Leibniz. However, it has been exposed that Leibniz arrived at calculus on his own independent efforts despite having his discoveries known later to the world after Newton’s. This makes Leibniz the second inventor of calculus, meaning that all of the philosophers made their own discoveries independently. Therefore, with this in mind, each scholar made his own discovery in his own respective place. Isaac Newton made his discoveries in London, but with constant correspondence with Leibniz due to clarifications that Leibniz required to explain his theories later (Sastry 3). Despite the accusation of plagiarism and propaganda against him, Leibniz made his discoveries in Germany. In conclusion, Leibniz and Newton made the discovery of the calculus, despite their independent studies and differences. For this reason, they are co-inventors of the calculus with controversial views and chronological airing of their findings. In conclusion, Leibniz and Newton made the discovery of the calculus, despite their independent studies and differences. For this reason, they are co-inventors of the calculus with controversial views and chronological airing of their

Creating an APA-Formatted Reference and In-Text Citation Assignment

Creating an APA-Formatted Reference and In-Text Citation - Assignment Example Create a reference and in-text citation consistent with APA guidelines for each of the following resources: 1. Book with two authors †¢ Authors: M. Neil Browne and Stuart M. Keeley †¢ Year of publication: 2000 †¢ Title of book: Critical Thinking: Asking the Right Questions †¢ City of publication: Upper Saddle River, NJ †¢ Publisher: Pearson Your answer: Browne, N., & Kelley, S. (2000). Critical Thinking: Asking the Right Questions. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. (Browne, 2000) 1b. Paraphrase the following direct quote and create a standard-formatted in-text citation using the previous book information: One approach to thinking is similar to the way in which a sponge reacts to water: by absorbing. The more information you absorb about the world, the more capable you are of understanding its complexities. Your answer: There are many different approaches to a process of thinking and in one of such, process of thinking is compared to the reaction of sponge to w ater. It absorbes water very quickly. The same with people , more knowledge they absorb about the world, the more their capability of understanding of it features and main complexities Create a reference and in-text citation consistent with APA guidelines for each of the following resources: 2. Journal article (magazine or newspaper) †¢ Author: Toni Rogers †¢ Date of publication: December 2004 †¢ Title of article: â€Å"Towards Conscious Self-Directed Learning†

Which habits of the mind you are going to set for yourself as your Essay

Which habits of the mind you are going to set for yourself as your highest personal goals for the rest of this semester - Essay Example Striving for accuracy will help me to set a goal in my mind and check the progress. This habit of mind will help to review the criteria, rule and confirm the works that are completed exactly matching the specification (Hyerle 76). This will help to get aware of the expectation of the faculties and standard that needed to be done to meet the requirement. This might take maximum effort and devotion but ultimate finished product will help me to succeed in this semester. Checking continuously on the goals that are set by me and finding out ways to improve and succeed in this semester. And to make sure that I am doing my best is concentrating on my aim and blocking everything else. Goals set by me might me higher, but this habit of mind can help me to improve constantly to find out best possible results for this semester. `This can be concluded that striving for precision and accuracy will help me to identify flaws, strength and weakness. Constantly correcting my work and flaws will help me to find out best possible result to achieve my goals for this

Marketing question Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Marketing question - Essay Example This is because customers could prefer buying commodities from his premises which could intern increase his sales volumes and returns revenue. The Wallmarts everyday pricing strategy was reported to be a successful pricing strategy and was adopted by numerous businesses in the United States. The strategy was applied by most business to consumer /goods such as tooth paste, toilet papers to mention just but a few of the products (Matthews, pp.1-2). Wallmarts everyday pricing strategy has been reported to have some disadvantage. Among that disadvantage include; low product quality perception. This means that customers may perceive that cheaper goods may mean low quality goods. Further, price reduction by Wallmarts could mean that sometimes the company may be forced to sell goods and services at a loss in order to remain competitive in the market. It has been discovered that Wallmarts everyday low pricing strategy may detriment its operations (Soderquist, p.211). This means that this strategy reduces Wallmarts profit margin. Therefore, instead of concentrating on everyday low pricing strategy Wallmarts should employ other marketing strategies such as segmentation, distribution and market expansion strategies to remain competitive (Cheng, paras.

Juvenile delinquency and foster care Research Paper

Juvenile delinquency and foster care - Research Paper Example The dearth of studies of the effects of foster care, particularly its long-term effects, has been pointed out in the literature by several authors (Fanshel & Shinn, 2003; Geiser, 2001; Madison & Shapiro, 2001; Prosser, 2003; Wolkind, 2003). A recent review of research into fostering concluded that there is a lack of even the fundamental knowledge â€Å"about the intrinsic value of foster care itself† (Prosser, 2003, p. 31), and that the need to assess its long-term effects that was stressed by earlier reviewers (Dinnage & Kellmer Pringle, 2002) continues.If it is accepted that long-term effects can be defined as those effects of fostering that manifest themselves in the personal and social functioning of former foster children as adults, then only four studies appear to have been ever published on this subject in the professional literature. Further, only one of these was concerned with an inferential analysis of specific parameters of fostering (Meier, 2001). The parameters w ere age of child at placement and the number of different foster homes experienced by the child, and were found to be unrelated to the â€Å"social effectiveness† and â€Å"sense of well being† of the subjects as adults. The other studies indicated that, among children in state care, those who are fostered have the least convictions as adults (Ferguson, 2001); that fostering of boys who present a high risk of delinquency does not prevent their deviance as adults (McCord, McCord & Thurber, 2004); and that adults who were fostered in childhood have a somewhat higher incidence of marital breakdown.

London Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

London - Essay Example However, temperatures below -20 degrees centigrade have been noted in the past one decade, but their accuracy is yet to be validated (Anderson, p. 27). The city has a cluster of activities, ranging from streets to places of entertainment. It is also a city with numerous economic activities since it is considered as a manufacturing center with a good industrial network. People working in the city engage in both official and casual activities. Examples of those who engage in official activities include teachers, lawyers, doctor and bankers. On the other hand, the casual workers include craftsmen, builders and wood choppers (Burling, p. 207). London has a rapidly growing population. The population has hit more than seven million over the past one decade. People are originating from all parts of the world to live in the city (Boulton, p. 105). They have come with different lifestyles and colorful festivals. That is why London is considered as a multicultural city since the Roman times. Currently, about a quarter of the city’s inhabitants are members of ethnic minorities. With the diverse culture of its inhabitants, London has a variety of dishes. These dishes include delicacies such as dosa deli, churros Garcia, grilling Greek and the orange buffalo (Lawley, p.

Performance management and control Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Performance management and control - Essay Example Every day, 8 hours are spent producing the soaps, and the producer can produce Yellow soaps at the rate of 40 per hour, and the Blue soaps at the rate of 80 per hour. Each of the Yellow soaps attracts a profit of $5 and $3 for the Blue soap. We are going to use linear programming technique to find out the number of Yellow and Blue soaps that should be produced in order to maximise the profits. 1. The selling price can be increased; however, care should be taken so this strategy does not lead reduction in sales volume. If the selling price is increased without affecting the sales volume significantly, then the contribution sales ratio is increased directly. 2. Reduction of variable costs per unit can lead to a better contribution sales ratio. This can be achieved by acquiring inputs at cheaper prices; for example by buying in large qualities in order to enjoy quantity

Drug cartels and drug trafficking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Drug cartels and drug trafficking - Essay Example Prices of heroin and cocaine have decreased substantially in the past two decades, indicating greater availability (Lyman, 2010). The efficacy of international narcotics control policies remains a major issue. Millions of Americans purchase illegal drugs, spending roughly $60 billion yearly in multiple illegal markets (Barton, 2007, 18). These drugs are damaging to the user’s overall wellbeing, productivity, decision-making capacity, and health. Furthermore, the U.S. illegal drug market makes massive profits. These profits generate resources needed by global drug trafficking organizations to successfully dodge and fight with law enforcers, to break through legal economic sectors, and, in certain cases, to defy the power of the state (Erlen & Spillane, 2004). Computed in terms of dollar value, four-fifths of the total illegal drugs purchased in the U.S. come from foreign countries, as well as majority of the marijuana, heroin, and cocaine, as reported by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in 2002 (Barton, 2007, 19). According to Hinojosa (2007), the methamphetamine market, as stated by the DEA, is supplied mostly from Mexican and U.S. laboratories while majority of †˜designer’ drugs, unlawfully traded psychotherapeutic drugs, and hallucinogens comes from the U.S. The drug industry is highly profitable and a major source of international criminal operations. As stated in a 2002 report by the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), more or less 930 tons of cocaine may have been manufactured in South America in 2001 (Barton, 2007, 19). A 2002 investigation by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime calculated the total profit of the illegal drug market in the Caribbean at $3.3 billion (Barton, 2007, 19). Not much is known about the circulation of profits from illegal drug trade, but foreign drug cartels hold substantial power over general

Classical Conditioning Essay Example for Free

Classical Conditioning Essay It is a continuous challenge living with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and I’ve suffered from it for most of my life. I can look back now and gently laugh at all the people who thought I had the perfect life. I was young, beautiful, and talented, but unbeknownst to them, I was terrorized by an undiagnosed debilitating mental illness. Having been properly diagnosed with PTSD at age 35, I know that there is not one aspect of my life that has gone untouched by this mental illness. My PTSD was triggered by several traumas, most importantly a sexual attack at knifepoint that left me thinking I would die. I would never be the same after that attack. For me there was no safe place in the world, not even my home. I went to the police and filed a report. Rape counselors came to see me while I was in the hospital, but I declined their help, convinced that I didn’t need it. This would be the most damaging decision of my life. For months after the attack, I couldn’t close my eyes without envisioning the face of my attacker. I suffered horrific flashbacks and nightmares. For four years after the attack I was unable to sleep alone in my house. I obsessively checked windows, doors, and locks. By age 17, I’d suffered my first panic attack. Soon I became unable to leave my apartment for weeks at a time, ending my modeling career abruptly. This just became a way of life. Years passed when I had few or no symptoms at all, and I led what I thought was a fairly normal life, just thinking I had a â€Å"panic problem. † Then another traumatic event retriggered the PTSD. It was as if the past had evaporated, and I was back in the place of my attack, only now I had uncontrollable thoughts of someone entering my house and harming my daughter. I saw violent images every time I closed my eyes. I lost all ability to concentrate or even complete simple tasks. Normally social, I stopped trying to make friends or get involved in my community. I often felt disoriented, forgetting where, or who, I was. I would panic on the freeway and became unable to drive, again ending a career. I felt as if I had completely lost my mind. For a time, I managed to keep it together on the outside, but then I became unable to leave my house again. Around this time I was diagnosed with PTSD. I cannot express to you the enormous relief I felt when I discovered my condition was real and treatable. I felt safe for the first time in 32 years. Taking medication and undergoing behavioral therapy marked the turning point in my regaining control of my life. I’m rebuilding a satisfying career as an artist, and I am enjoying my life. The world is new to me and not limited by the restrictive vision of anxiety. It amazes me to think back to what my life was like only a year ago, and just how far I’ve come. For me there is no cure, no final healing. But there are things I can do to ensure that I never have to suffer as I did before being diagnosed with PTSD. I’m no longer at the mercy of my disorder, and I would not be here today had I not had the proper diagnosis and treatment. The most important thing to know is that it’s never too late to seek help. [1] In the early part of the 20th century, Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936) was studying the digestive system of dogs when he noticed an interesting behavioral phenomenon: The dogs began to salivate when the lab technicians who normally fed them entered the room, even though the dogs had not yet received any food. Pavlov realized that the dogs were salivating because they knew that they were about to be fed; the dogs had begun to associate the arrival of the technicians with the food that soon followed their appearance in the room. With his team of researchers, Pavlov began studying this process in more detail. He conducted a series of experiments in which, over a number of trials, dogs were exposed to a sound immediately before receiving food. He systematically controlled the onset of the sound and the timing of the delivery of the food, and recorded the amount of the dogs’ salivation. Initially the dogs salivated only when they saw or smelled the food, but after several pairings of the sound and the food, the dogs began to salivate as soon as they heard the sound. The animals had learned to associate the sound with the food that followed. Pavlov identified a fundamental associative learning process called classical conditioning. Classical conditioning refers to learning that occurs when a neutral stimulus (e. g. , a tone) becomes associated with a stimulus (e. g. , food) that naturally produces a specific behavior. After the association is learned, the previously neutral stimulus is sufficient to produce the behavior. As you can see in the following figure, psychologists use specific terms to identify the stimuli and the responses in classical conditioning. Theunconditioned stimulus (US) is something (such as food) that triggers a natural occurring response, and the unconditioned response (UR) is the naturally occurring response (such as salivation) that follows the unconditioned stimulus. The conditioned stimulus (CS) is a neutral stimulus that, after being repeatedly presented prior to the unconditioned stimulus, evokes a response similar to the response to the unconditioned stimulus. In Pavlov’s experiment, the sound of the tone served as the conditioned stimulus that, after learning, produced the conditioned response (CR), which is the acquired response to the formerly neutral stimulus. Note that the UR and the CR are the same behavior—in this case salivation—but they are given different names because they are produced by different stimuli (the US and the CS, respectively). Classical Conditioning Before conditioning, the unconditioned stimulus (US) naturally produces the unconditioned response (UR). Top right: Before conditioning, the neutral stimulus (the whistle) does not produce the salivation response. Bottom left: The unconditioned stimulus (US), in this case the food, is repeatedly presented immediately after the neutral stimulus. Bottom right: After learning, the neutral stimulus (now known as the conditioned stimulus or CS), is sufficient to produce the conditioned responses (CR). From Flat World Knowledge, Introduction to Psychology, v1. 0, CC-BY-NC-SA. Conditioning is evolutionarily beneficial because it allows organisms to develop expectations that help them prepare for both good and bad events. Imagine, for instance, that an animal first smells a new food, eats it, and then gets sick. If the animal can learn to associate the smell (CS) with the food (US), then it will quickly learn that the food creates the negative outcome and will not eat it next time. Module 13 /The Persistence and Extinction of Conditioning After he had demonstrated that learning could occur through association, Pavlov moved on to study the variables that influenced the strength and the persistence of conditioning. In some studies, after the conditioning had taken place, Pavlov presented the sound repeatedly but without presenting the food afterward. As you can see, after the initial acquisition (learning) phase in which the conditioning occurred, when the CS was then presented alone, the behavior rapidly decreased—the dogs salivated less and less to the sound, and eventually the sound did not elicit salivation at all. Extinction is the reduction in responding that occurs when the conditioned stimulus is presented repeatedly without the unconditioned stimulus. Although at the end of the first extinction period the CS was no longer producing salivation, the effects of conditioning had not entirely disappeared. Pavlov found that, after a pause, sounding the tone again elicited salivation, although to a lesser extent than before extinction took place. The increase in responding to the CS following a pause after extinction is known as spontaneous recovery. When Pavlov again presented the CS alone, the behavior again showed extinction. Although the behavior has disappeared, extinction is never complete. If conditioning is again attempted, the animal will learn the new associations much faster than it did the first time. Pavlov also experimented with presenting new stimuli that were similar, but not identical to, the original conditioned stimulus. For instance, if the dog had been conditioned to being scratched before the food arrived, the stimulus would be changed to being rubbed rather than scratched. He found that the dogs also salivated upon experiencing the similar stimulus, a process known as generalization. Generalization refers to the tendency to respond to stimuli that resemble the original conditioned stimulus. The ability to generalize has important evolutionary significance. If we eat some red berries and they make us sick, it would be a good idea to think twice before we eat some purple berries. Although the berries are not exactly the same, they nevertheless are similar and may have the same negative properties. Lewicki [1] conducted research that demonstrated the influence of stimulus generalization and how quickly and easily it can happen. In his experiment, high school students first had a brief interaction with a female experimenter who had short hair and glasses. The study was set up so that the students had to ask the experimenter a question, and (according to random assignment) the experimenter responded either in a negative way or a neutral way toward the students. Then the students were told to go into a second room in which two experimenters were present, and to approach either one of them. However, the researchers arranged it so that one of the two experimenters looked a lot like the original experimenter, while the other one did not (she had longer hair and no glasses). The students were significantly more likely to avoid the experimenter who looked like the earlier experimenter when that experimenter had been negative to them than when she had treated them more neutrally. The participants showed stimulus generalization such that the new, similar-looking experimenter created the same negative response in the participants as had the experimenter in the prior session. The flip side of generalization is discrimination—the tendency to respond differently to stimuli that are similar but not identical. Pavlov’s dogs quickly learned, for example, to salivate when they heard the specific tone that had preceded food, but not upon hearing similar tones that had never been associated with food. Discrimination is also useful—if we do try the purple berries, and if they do not make us sick, we will be able to make the distinction in the future. And we can learn that although the two people in our class, Courtney and Sarah, may look a lot alike, they are nevertheless different people with different personalities. In some cases, an existing conditioned stimulus can serve as an unconditioned stimulus for a pairing with a new conditioned stimulus—a process known as second-order conditioning. In one of Pavlov’s studies, for instance, he first conditioned the dogs to salivate to a sound, and then repeatedly paired a new CS, a black square, with the sound. Eventually he found that the dogs would salivate at the sight of the black square alone, even though it had never been directly associated with the food. Secondary conditioners in everyday life include our attractions to things that stand for or remind us of something else, such as when we feel good on a Friday because it has become associated with the paycheck that we receive on that day, which itself is a conditioned stimulus for the pleasures that the paycheck buys us. Module 13 /The Role of Nature in Classical Conditioning Scientists associated with the behaviorist school argued that all learning is driven by experience, and that nature plays no role. Classical conditioning, which is based on learning through experience, represents an example of the importance of the environment. But classical conditioning cannot be understood entirely in terms of experience. Nature also plays a part, as our evolutionary history has made us better able to learn some associations than others. Clinical psychologists make use of classical conditioning to explain the learning of a phobia—a strong and irrational fear of a specific object, activity, or situation. For example, driving a car is a neutral event that would not normally elicit a fear response in most people. But if a person were to experience a panic attack in which he suddenly experienced strong negative emotions while driving, he may learn to associate driving with the panic response. The driving has become the CS that now creates the fear response. Psychologists have also discovered that people do not develop phobias to just anything. Although people may in some cases develop a driving phobia, they are more likely to develop phobias toward objects (such as snakes, spiders, heights, and open spaces) that have been dangerous to people in the past. In modern life, it is rare for humans to be bitten by spiders or snakes, to fall from trees or buildings, or to be attacked by a predator in an open area. Being injured while riding in a car or being cut by a knife are much more likely. But in our evolutionary past, the potential of being bitten by snakes or spiders, falling out of a tree, or being trapped in an open space were important evolutionary concerns, and therefore humans are still evolutionarily prepared to learn these associations over others. [1] [2] Another evolutionarily important type of conditioning is conditioning related to food. In his important research on food conditioning, John Garcia and his colleagues [3] [4] attempted to condition rats by presenting either a taste, a sight, or a sound as a neutral stimulus before the rats were given drugs (the US) that made them nauseous. Garcia discovered that taste conditioning was extremely powerful—the rat learned to avoid the taste associated with illness, even if the illness occurred several hours later. But conditioning the behavioral response of nausea to a sight or a sound was much more difficult. These results contradicted the idea that conditioning occurs entirely as a result of environmental events, such that it would occur equally for any kind of unconditioned stimulus that followed any kind of conditioned stimulus. Rather, Garcia’s research showed that genetics matters—organisms are evolutionarily prepared to learn some associations more easily than others. You can see that the ability to associate smells with illness is an important survival mechanism, allowing the organism to quickly learn to avoid foods that are poisonous. Classical conditioning has also been used to help explain the experience of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as in the case of P. K. Philips described at the beginning of this module. PTSD is a severe anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to a fearful event, such as the threat of death. [5] PTSD occurs when the individual develops a strong association between the situational factors that surrounded the traumatic event (e. g. , military uniforms or the sounds or smells of war) and the US (the fearful trauma itself). As a result of the conditioning, being exposed to, or even thinking about the situation in which the trauma occurred (the CS), becomes sufficient to produce the CR of severe anxiety. [6] Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): A Case of Classical Conditioning Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) represents a case of classical conditioning to a severe trauma that does not easily become extinct. In this case the original fear response, experienced during combat, has become conditioned to a loud noise. When the person with PTSD hears a loud noise, he or she experiences a fear response despite being far from the site of the original trauma. From Flat World Knowledge, Introduction to Psychology, v1. 0.  © Thinkstock. PTSD develops because the emotions experienced during the event have produced neural activity in the amygdala and created strong conditioned learning. In addition to the strong conditioning that people with PTSD experience, they also show slower extinction in classical conditioning tasks. [7] In short, people with PTSD have developed very strong associations with the events surrounding the trauma and are also slow to show extinction to the conditioned stimulus.

Business Structure Of Burger Kings Brand Commerce Essay

Business Structure Of Burger Kings Brand Commerce Essay Burger King is one the fast food chain which is abbreviated as BK, it is operating almost all over the world with its headquarter in Florida, United States. The first store was opened over the piece of Insta Broiler. This equipment was so much popular for cooking burgers. In 1953, BK began as a franchise chain in Jacksonville, a place in Florida. In 1955, where this franchise was facing a financial problem, it was then purchased by David Edgerton and James McLamore and then it was named as Burger King. Burger King is operating in 73 countries with over 12000 outlets, of which 66% holds in US and 90%, has been runned by the private owners. It became a Corporation in 1959, and this is where when all the franchisees purchase the right to open stores and operate it. Initially, when the company started they use to sell burgers, French fries, soft drinks and ice creams. Then later in 1957, BK introduce Whopper which turns out to be the signature for them and they adopted the motto as The Home of Whopper, (Mouw, 2007). Theoretical Background The development of new ventures makes the way for most individuals to come up with an idea and develop it by generating a product or service (Gyamfi and Tontoh, 2007). According to (Morse and Mitchell, 2006), the new venture development can be competitive in the market because many activities are involved in creating a business. Barringer and Ireland (2006) said that the establishment of new ventures gives the society globalization, job creation and innovation. Different scholars and institutions have proposed many ways of developing new ventures from different angles. Moreover, many entrepreneurs have established new ventures competitively without any external influence. Wickham (2004) defined an entrepreneur as a manager which carries out a particular activity; an individual which possesses a personality, psychology and personal characteristics and an agent that adds the value to the society. Sarasvathy (2001) found the dependency of a venture issue on an individuals past knowledge, the experience of its formation, culture and his other distinctive achievements. According to Timmons (1999), the development of a new venture involves the vital factors team, opportunity and resources that are seen to be in a corresponding process. Although there are numerous ways for venture creation, there are also various failures and even it does not become successful in the long run for the few ones (Gyamfi and Tontoh, 2007). Gilkerson and Paauwe (1998) showed that most businesses fail because the choice of business opportunity was poor. Gartner (1988) suggested that entrepreneurship depends on your action and not on your identification. This has generated the interest of looking at business planning process in new venture development. It is important to know about the variables or considerations in developing the new ventures that makes the process feasible or practical and this is what has been presented in the report in accordance with the opinions of different authors (Bhave, 1994). Discussion Business planning is an important aspect that needs to be considered to fulfil the plans for a new venture or renewing an existing venture. It serves as a method to achieve the desired goals (Gyamfi and Tontoh, 2007). According to (Davidsson, 2003), a good planning process provides a good approach of having a niche in the market. It also gives you a process view of entrepreneurship. He believes that it is impossible to take a business in one decision or one act from its non-existence to existence in one step. Therefore, in creating a business, entrepreneurs have to do a number of activities sequentially. Business planning helps in finding the competitive advantage of the operation by finding, describing and refining it (Stan et al., 2003). Profit (2007) says that the planning process gives very good steps needed to reach the goals that have been set for the future. It describes the opportunities, business strengths and a road map for continuous improvement. As the growth and success of a business lies in creating a road map for it but many entrepreneurs, having the knowledge of it, do not have a good planning process (Profit, 2007). This makes it difficult to start up ventures successfully (Gyamfi and Tontoh, 2007). Harper (1991) noted that as many novices do not hesitate to position and elaborate themselves well in the market so the trial and error methods have been unfavourable for them. Profit (2007) suggested that the requirement of an entrepreneur can be accomplished by analyzing the business issues and refining the goals from a good planning process. Timmons (1999) clarifies that it is important to take a decision about the investment of time and effort because some ideas may not lead to business or success. One should also size up about the existence of potential business. Therefore, a good planning method helps one to get confidence, test ideas and see the flaws in his business to avoid the waste of resources and to take the right steps forward (Gyamfi and Tontoh, 2007). In fact, for every 100 ideas presented to investors in the form of a business or proposal of some kind, usually just I or 2 or 3 get funded. Over 80% of those rejections occur in the few hours; another 10 to 80 get rejected after the business plan has been read carefully (Timmons, 1999). Theoretical Spheres The development of a new venture has been discussed by many authors in entrepreneurship. The theories from three experts of business administration, in a sequential mode, have been chosen to make the report more exigent and practical. These are of Hult et al. (1991), Stan et al. (2003) and Profit (2007). Opportunity Analysis of Burger King SWOT Analysis After the goals have been set by managements, it is their responsibility to analyse the companys current position. And to evaluate the position of the organisation, the management use SWOT analysis. This helps the upper management to plan and compare the internal organisation strengths and weakness with the opportunities and threats which are external to the organisation. This helps the management to fulfil the objective which they have stated in the mission statement. Main core competencies of the company are the main strength of the organisation in which they are best at. It is the strength which the customers values and pays for it and which the competitors lacks of. Companys faces problem when they know their weaknesses and did not work on it, the environmental threats will probably molest the weaknesses of an organisation. And these weaknesses can be overcome if they avail the opportunities which can create value to the firm (Marke, 2006). Burger King Strengths Burger King or BK is a worldwide brand which everyone knows about. It attracts all type of customers such as sex, race, age, income etc. It is one of the largest fast food ham burger restaurants (FFHR) in the world It not only distribute in US, it has many franchises situated around the globe. Weaknesses The main weakness of the BK is that they have operated mainly in US; almost 65% of their operations are in United States. BK has not focused on their brand name very well, it relies mostly on franchisees which are carries their brand name along and any mistake by them will decrease the Goodwill of the organisation. BK has the menu which is unhealthy and it does not appeal to the consumers. They brand their products less likely than their competitors such as McDonalds etc. Opportunity BK should develop a new product which can attract customers in the breakfast as well. BK is called the House of Whopper so they should emphasise their brand focusing mainly on Whopper Virgins. They should expand their business in countries like India, Malaysia, and Kuwait etc. Where there is an emerging market. Threats The main threat of BK is that they have to face a healthy competition with McDonalds, KFCs and other restaurants. BK menu is healthy food which the consumers dont prefer much, they should change their habits to attract customers diverting to healthy food. It may affect the profit margins of BK, when the labour cost rises. Source: (Kurtz, 2008) Environmental Analysis It is critical to indentify the variables which can affect the supply and the demand of the products and services by analyzing the macro environment. Whenever there is a change in the environment or the place where the company is operation, it has an impact on the organisation as well. So there are possible criterias which the analyst has to check which can have the effect on the organisation. And these can be Political, Social, Economical and Technological factors. PEST analysis examines the impact of the factors which can affect the business. If Burger King opens its new Venture in Pakistan, they can first analyse the factors which can affect their business or they think that if it is feasible to open up a chain in Pakistan. Burger King PEST Analyses Political: This includes the regulations imposed by the government in the country where they are operating. This relates to the elections, law of employment, environment laws, war, terrorism, governing body, and its structure. These are the factors which the burger king has to analyse before opening their chain in Pakistan. The political condition of Pakistan is not stable at the moments, there are lots of suicide attacks but they can still open a franchise in the popular city such as Karachi and in those areas where the security is high. Economic: It is the level of spending the local government does, taxation, growth of the country, unemployment, rates such as interest and inflation. Country such as Pakistan is one of the developing countries. This country has seen the growth but the interest rates and the inflation rates has been double in over few years but people living there are more keen to have fast food restaurants and a places like these so that there can be an increase in the economy. Social Factors: Social relates to age, gender race etc. It is the standard of living which the people adopt. Technological Factors: These factors are the inventions, research and development and information systems. In Pakistan, investments in terms of social and technological will increase the competition and requires a lot of investment. BK can invest in salads, and low fat food but again there will be a danger for moving away from its identity. It can be good economic purposes of changing their policy to sell high calorie menus because there are few costs which are attached to it. Investments in terms of technology can give an advantage over its competitors such as McDonalds. They can open up a call centre which can be centralizing where the customers can place their orders online. This will increase speed of the customer services and will cut the staff cut. After analyzing the current situation in Pakistan with the help of macro environmental analysis, we can conclude that opening a chain of Burger King, it will not be difficult for them to make money because there are so many restaurants today who have lock their suppliers and the largest companies which are already operating in Pakistan such as McDonalds have the high bargaining power and are able to bare cost such as advertisement. BK can invest more on the products and technology, they can advertise heavily on their new products so that they can attract more customers towards themselves, (Mowen, 2001). Porter 5 Forces Model Porter 5 forces model deals with factors that is outside the industry that influence the environment of competition. A firm has to know about the industries in which it is operating and should know how to compete in the market. It the forces from the competition can be drive. Competition can be created by the interaction of 5 forces which is the threat of new entrants, the power of suppliers, the power of buyers and the threats of substitute. The threats of new entrants are very high because of the fact that it does not require high investment to open up a small restaurant. But BK can advertise heavily on the advertisement where by the customers can only buy the burgers for them. Burger King appears to be in the list of those industries that have the recognized brand with all their benefits are linked with new customers so that they can attract. Supplier power: for the burgers, the ingredients require are just meat, buns and soft drinks, which can be supplied by any of the supplier and there are other supplies which also provide the services such as restaurants premises including the equipment and staff. Golden state foods started supplying McDonalds but now they are supplying the beef and other products to KFCs and BKs as well. There should always be an upper hand on the supplier by the firm. Burger King has a large number of franchised outlets almost 89%. Since after the increase in franchise for BK, they have the limited control over the franchisees and that is the main reason why there are experiencing problems in removing their supplier again and again, Bk seems to be unhappy with the supplier every time. There is a low buying power in the burger industry. It depends on the customers and their taste to which burger to want to have. There is low switching cost and lots of substitute available so the buyer power has increase. As we all know that there are so many substitutes available, there is lots of restaurant and therefore the threat of substitute is relatively very high. And this is the reason why the fast food restaurant like McDonalds and BK do more branding in order to attract more customers. Competitive Rivalry in the burger restaurant is high because there are so many restaurant but we look for the differentiation, BK promotes its burger as the tastiest burgers because it is flame grill. Differentiation is only weapon in this industry, and those customers who have realized the taste can reduce the competitive rivalry (Kurtz, 2008). Competitors Analysis Analysis of the competitive is very important and useful in the sense that the company should know how their rivals are operating and performing. This evaluation is very critical for the use of strategy formulation. A company has to identify the factors both the external as well as the internal to the organisation which can impact the forces. These factors can affect the companys objective and the goals because on these factors they can change their strategy. When KFC came in to the market, they follow the initiates of Burger King and follow the price cut strategy; it was named as the Big King competitor to the Big Mac. When Burger King came to know about this strategy they responded by: BK lowering the prices and cutting the cost on their standardize menu based on burgers, fries and soft drinks. Revenue and growth for BK are the mixture of their strategy but in the late 1990s, the volume was falling especially in US which cause their market share to decline as well. BK boosts their volume by cutting the prices and behaves accordingly to the competitors. They then use their resources and capabilities to turn into a financially strong company. The strategy used by KFC get an aggressive response from Burger King but the burger market in the world today faces a lot of competition between Burger King, McDonalds and KFCs. Source: (Youngman, 1998) Strategic Analysis For the strategic analysis it is very important to define the industries broadly, there should detailed analysis on the competition through which they can focus on the markets that are drawn narrowly in terms of both the products and geography. In the strategic analysis, the process of industries which has many dimensions is divided into segmentations. In an industry, sub markets can be differentiating through Segmentation. A company can sometimes avoid competition if they change their strategy into the segmentation. Burger King has maintained its sales by selling more Whoppers. They analyse probability at the level of customers individuality. Through Segments, key success factors can be differing. In the restaurant industry such as Burger King and McDonalds, the success of an industry can be analyse by segmenting the customers of the fast food and the luxury restaurant, (Grant, 2005). Conclusion Recommendations When the company have enough resources to utilize to its capability, the company just focus on those products for the customers demand more. After the success in the domestic market, company tries to exploit in the international market. But first they will analyse the factors which can affect them in operating in that country. They have to understand the objective that has been set by the competitors and looking into it they should make their own international strategy. There will be an effect on the market share, if the competitor is a large company, this can be a threat to the company who is entering into the market.

The Influence Of Political Environment Of Business Politics Essay

The Influence Of Political Environment Of Business Politics Essay Two basic philosophies are in existence all over the world viz democracy and totalitarianism. In its pure sense,democracy refers to a poltical arrangement in which the supreme poer is vested in the people. Democracy may manifest itself in any of two fundamental manners. If each individual is given the right to rule and vote on every matter,the result is pure democracy which is not,however,workable in a complex society with a large constituency. Hence,the republican form of organization follows wherby the public in a democratic manner,elect their representatives who do the ruling. In totalitarianism also called authoritarianism,individual freedom is completely subordinated to the power of authority of the state and concentrated in the hands of one person or in small groups which is not constitutionally accountable to the people. Societies ruled by pressure clique-political,economic,military or by dicataor plus most oligarchies and monarchies belong to this category. The doctrine of fascism and erstwhile Russian communism are examples of this. The political environment includes factors such as the characteristics and policies of the poltical party,the nature of the Constitution and government system and government encompassing the economic and business policies and regulations. these factors may vary considerably between different nations,provinces of the same nation and also over the time. Example Despite his pragmatic views, dynamism and the dream of 21st century India, Prime minister Rajiv Gandhi could not introduce any far reaching changes even with the candid mandate that overwhelmed him in the election of 1984. But the Congress government under narsimha Rao did it in 1991 and the successive non congress government have carried further the economic liberalization. Why? The changing global scenario,particularly the developments in the communist countries provide the answer. There was considerable differences between the Rajiv era and 1991. Rajiv Gandhi who assumed office in 1984 had given great hopes to the teeming millions of India. No wonder,the congress party led by the young prime minister who promised to mould India for the 21st century was given a thumping victory by the grief stricken electorate. Rajiv who was well aware of the damages done by the unpragmatic regulations was eager to radically reform the economic regime. Hence,many in India and abroad naturally expected that he would introduce far reaching reforms. But alas,the great expectations were belied soon as he succumbed to what he thought or was made to believe was political prudence. The word socialism was still dominant on the political surface. The leftists were severly opposed to even minor economic liberalization and deregulations. To speak against socialism or public sector was regarded as sin. Many in the congress party who thought that socialism and public sector still had a magic spell thought it was still necessary to swear by these ideas which were in favour of deregulation and privatization could be more than those who opposed it,the latter was very vociferous and therefore a determinant force. In short what was thought to be political expediency prevented even Rajiv from making any major departure from the old regime and therefore dogmatism continued to dominate pragmatism. And what started with the big bang ended with a whimper. Of course, Rajiv carried further forward with a little more vigour,the policy of piece meal economic liberalization started since the early 1980s. These have had favourable effects. These measures were however quite insufficient to rejuvenate the economy. The political system under democratic dispensation like ours comprises of legislatures,executive out government or judiciary. Legislature Out of the three, legislatures is the most powerful political institution vested with such powers as policy making,law making,budget approving,executive control and acting as a mirror of public opinion. The influence of legislature on business is considerable.it decides such vital aspects as the type of business activities the country should have, who should owe them, what should be their size of operations, what should happen to their earnings and other related factors. Executive or government Also caleed the state,the term government refers to à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the centre of political authority having the power to govern those it serves. More or less a similar meaning is given by E.V.Schneider when he described government as that institution by which men everwhere seek to order society,that is, to control the structure and functioning of society. The founder of our constitution proved for the federal set up with powers being divided between the national and the state government. The powers and functions of the central and state government are described in the constitution. Judiciary Judiciary determines the manner in which the work of the executive has been fulfilled. It sees to it that the exercise of executive authority conforms to the government rules laid down the legislature,it may declare that particular order issues as ultra vires. It also settles the relationship between private citizens and on other hand between citizens and the government. The power of judiciary is of dual type:- The authority of courts to settle legal disputes and, Judicial review-the authority of the courts to rule on the constitutionality of legislation. It is the power of judiciary to settle down the legal disputes that affects business considerably. Disputes between employer and employee, employee and employee and public and employer and government are often referred to courts for settlement and their verdicts are sought. As far as second one is concerned the judiciary gets activated when the legislature passes laws which are repugnant to the constitution and when the executive implements the enactment approved by the legislature in a manner opposed to the requirements of the legislation. In other words courts of justice protects the citizens from unlawful acts passed by the legislature and arbitrary acts done by the executive. Forms of government http://stutzfamily.com/mrstutz/WorldAffairs/typesofgovt.html capitalist government Capitalism  is an  economic system  which is based on  private ownership. It produces goods with and services for profit motive.  Other items central to capitalism includes  competitive markets,  wage labor  and  capital accumulation.There are numerous variants of capitalism, including laissez-faire,  welfare capitalism  and  state capitalism. Capitalism is considered to have been applied in a variety of historical cases, varying in time, geography, politics, and culture.  There is general agreement that capitalism became dominant in the  Western world  following the  demise of feudalism.Competitive markets may also be found in market-based alternatives to capitalism such as  market socialism  and  co-operative economics. Economists,  political economists  and  historians  have taken different perspectives on the analysis of capitalism. Economists usually emphasize the degree to which  government  does not have control over markets (laissez faire), as well as the importance of  property rights. Most political economists emphasize private property as well, in addition to  power  relations, wage labor,  class, and the uniqueness of capitalism as a historical formation. The extent to which different markets are free, as well as the rules defining private property, is a matter of politics and  policy. Many states have what are termed mixed economies, referring to the varying degree of  planned  and  market-driven  elements in a states economic system. A number of political ideologies have emerged in support of various types of capitalism, the most prominent being  economic liberalism. Types of economies There are many variants of capitalism in existence. They vary by country and region in their institutional makeup and by their economic policies. The common feature of all these forms of capitalism is that they are based on production for profit, market-based or mixed-market allocation of resources, and that they are structured upon capital accumulation. The dominant forms of capitalism are listed below: Mercantilism Mercantilism is a nationalist form of early capitalism that came into existence approximately in the late 16th century. It is characterized by the intertwining of national business interests to state-interest and imperialism, and consequently, the state apparatus is utilized to advance national business interests abroad. An example of this is colonists living in America who were only allowed to trade with and purchase goods from their respective mother countries (Britain, France, etc.). Mercantilism holds that the wealth of a nation is increased through a positive balance of trade with other nations, and corresponds to the phase of capitalist development called the  Primitive accumulation of capital. Free-market capitalism Free-market capitalism refers to an economic system where prices for goods and services are set freely by the forces of supply and demand and are allowed to reach their point of equilibrium without intervention by government policy. It typically entails support for highly-competitive markets, private ownership of productive enterprises.  Laissez-faire  is a more extensive form of free-market capitalism where the role of the state is limited to protecting  property rights. Social-market economy A social-market economy is a nominally free-market system where government intervention in price formation is kept to a minimum but the state provides significant services in the area of social security, unemployment benefits and recognition of  labor rights  through national  collective bargaining  arrangements. This model is prominent in Western and Northern European countries, albeit in slightly different configurations. The vast majority of enterprises are privately-owned in this economic model. State capitalism State capitalism  consists of state ownership of the means of production within a state. The debate between proponents of private versus state capitalism is centered around questions of managerial efficacy, productive efficiency, and fair distribution of wealth. According to Aldo Musacchio, a professor at Harvard Business School, it is a system in which governments, whether democratic or autocratic, exercise a widespread influence on the economy, through either direct ownership or various subsidies. Musacchio also emphasises the difference between todays state capitalism and its predecessors. Gone are the days when governments appointed bureaucrats to run companies. The worlds largest state-owned enterprises are traded on the public markets and kept in good health by large institutional investors. Corporate capitalism Corporate capitalism is a free or mixed-market economy characterized by the dominance of hierarchical, bureaucratic corporations, which are legally required to pursue profit. State-monopoly capitalism was originally a  Marxist  concept referring to a form of corporate capitalism in which state policy is utilized to benefit and promote the interests of dominant or established corporations by shielding them from competitive pressures or by providing them with subsidies. Mixed economy A mixed economy is a largely market-based economy consisting of both private and public ownership of the means of production and  economic interventionism  through macroeconomic policies intended to correct  market failures, reduce unemployment and keep inflation low. The degree of intervention in markets varies among different countries. Some mixed economies, such as France under  dirigisme, also featured a degree of  indirect economic planning  over a largely capitalist-based economy. Most capitalist economies are defined as mixed economies to some degree.