Saturday, August 31, 2019

A Literary Analysis of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

This paper analyzes   the novel Frankenstein. It is subdivided into two parts. The first part is a thematic analysis of the novel and the second part is a discourse analysis of the novel. Specifically it seeks to answer the following: what are the major themes of the novel; what are the discourses contained in and articulated by the novel?Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus is a famous novel by Mary Shelley. It was completed on May 1817, when Mary was just nineteen years of   age. It was made while she and her husband Percey Bysshe Shelley were on their summer vacation with Lord Byron in the Alps (â€Å"Frankenstein† ). With the best writers in England, Mary offered her contribution to the literary classics, the famous Frankenstein novel, which became famous in two genres: Science Fiction and horror (Milner, p.149).Thematic Analysis of FrankensteinThe novel Frankenstein is centered on four major themes: ignorance versus knowledge, injustice in world, in a feminist viewp oint—equality of men and women, and murders explained from the viewpoint of the murderers. Among many other themes, these four, in my opinion, are the major themes and therefore should be expounded.The novel was written in the early phase of the industrial revolution (â€Å"Analysis of Frankenstein†), that is, when science and technology was initially progressing. From this premise I can say that the novel is an attempt to criticize the existing social condition, that is to say, the novel criticizes the progress of science and the acquisition of knowledge. Shelley’s  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   use of the character Victor Frankenstein, the medical doctor who created a being more superior to the present race of men, explains my point. Even though Victor is knowledgeable enough to create life, he is still bounded by his imperfections. He created a killing monster instead—The Frankenstein Monster. This suggests that science could unravel the m ysteries of nature, but knowledge is still too dangerous for man to acquire. The novel suggests that knowledge is dangerous like when Victor discovered the mystery of life. knowledge is a monster.Furthermore, the novel suggests that some knowledge should be kept secret from men. Some knowledge do more evil than good, as the novel suggests. It says that ignorance is good. Knowledge is evil (â€Å"Remarks on Frankenstein†).The other title for Frankenstein, The Modern Prometheus, is suggestive of the theme of this novel. Prometheus is a mythological character who gave fire to men to keep them warm (â€Å"Prometheus gave fire to Men†). But Zeus punished Prometheus for doing so. Prometheus received an eternal punishment. In connection, the fire symbolizes knowledge. In the myth, knowledge is forbidden to men just like in the novel Frankenstein. The fire can warm, but it can also kill just as knowledge can. The novel criticizes the scientist most especially, in their empiric al quest for knowledge.The character of the Monster serves dual purpose in the novel, as far my first and second themes are concerned. First, the character is a concrete articulation of knowledge. It is the product of Victor’s study and experimentation. And so, it symbolizes the fruit of knowledge. In the novel, the monster was depicted as ‘ugly, abhorred, and disgusting’ and a killer. What does it say about knowledge? It suggests that knowledge is also ugly, abhorred and disgusting—a killer, too—a monster.The second function of the Monster character in the novel points at the second theme of the novel—injustice in the world. First instance is when Victor created a lone monster, without a companion. It lamented saying that â€Å"†¦Even Satan had his companions, fellow devils, to admire and encourage him; but I am solitary and abhorred† (Shelley, p. 130). This points out that there is injustice committed to the Monster. Secondly, V ictor denied the monster a companion when the monster pleads for it. It pleads:My vices are the children of a forced solitude that I abhor, and my virtues will necessarily arise when I live in communion with an equal. I shall feel the affections of a sensitive   being, and become linked to a chain of existence and events, which I am now excluded.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   (Shelley, 147)Instead of creating a lady monster, Victor destroyed every little chance that the monster have of waiting for his lady companion by destroying the monster he was about to give life to.Third, there is injustice in the world when the monster experienced ostracism because of its appearance. It was drawn by villagers away and was forced to live alone, and excluded from humanity (â€Å"Frankenstein†).The theme on equality between sexes, in my opinion, is evident in the novel when the Monster pleads Victor to create a lady monster. There was no hint in the novel that the monster will dominate the la dy monster because all it wanted was to have a companion whom ‘it shall feel affection to’ (p.147). The novel did not hint at the superiority of men over women, as far as the character of the monster is concerned.Lastly, the most obvious theme of the novel is murder. But in this case, there was no negative presentation of crime because the murders were explained from the viewpoint of the murderers. The murderers were presented to have logical reasons for committing the crimes [this is unique] (my emphasis). Let us take for instance the first murder case—the murder of   Victor’s brother.Although the novel may have presented a ‘shallow’ reason why the monster murdered Victor’s brother, that is, victor’s brother recited a litany of epithets to the monster, it somehow explained the reason behind the murder. The monster was too sensitive with its appearance that’s why it has over reacted to the epithets.Another murder was com mitted when Victor destroyed the lady monster he was about to give life to. Victor is also a murderer. His reason was that if he let the lady monster live, he will bring tragedy to the world by ‘producing a race of devils’. Victor’s course of action was paid for by the monster’s killing of Victor’s fiancà ©e—Elizabeth. It was the price Victor has to pay for his murderous act.One good point about this novel was that it has presented murder from the viewpoint of the murderer. Shelley has produced characters with realistic motives, that is, the characters were driven by logical reasons for committing the crimes. This is something good about this novel.In conclusion, the novel Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus was centered on four major themes: ignorance is good and knowledge is evil; injustice in the world; equality of men and women; and murders as explained from the viewpoint of the murderers.A Discourse Analysis of the novelDiscourse theo ry of Foucault can be applied to the Frankenstein Story. Foucault defines discourse as a way of thinking shared by a particular group of people at a particular place and time producing truth and power and controlling actions. It is a lived way of thinking deeply inculcated into individuals. Individuals become the subjects of discourses (Foucault, pp 21-30 ).Applying the theory of discourse, let us examine the discourses or ways of thinking which the story of Frankenstein articulate. What kinds of discourse are inculcated into individuals by the novel Frankenstein?Man as God and the Dawn of Scientific RevolutionThe story exemplifies man as a God. The giving of a life to an inanimate object is an act only reserved toa God. Yet in the story, man created life through Victor’s creation. It suggests an era where science has triumphed. It suggests that science could be a god, in this respect. It suggests that Science can offer man the impossible– that man can be a god.Just li ke in the literary text, the movie Shelley’s Frankenstein (dir. Branagh) explicates the dawn of scientific revolution. Below is an excerpt of the conversation between Clerval and Victor:Frankenstein:   Sooner or later, the best way to cheat death will be to create life.Clerval: Now, you’ve gone too far. There’s only one God, victor.Frankenstein: No, leave God out of this. Listen, if you love someone, they have a sick   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   heart, wouldn’t you give them a healthy one?Clerval: impossible.Frankenstein: No it’s not impossible, we can do it, we’re steps away. And if we can do   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   that, if we can replace one part of a human being, we can replace every part. If we can do   Ã‚  Ã‚   that, we can design life. We can create a being that will not grow old or sicken. One that   Ã‚   will be stronger than us, better than us, one that will be more intelligent than us, more civilized.†From the above, we can see that what was ‘impossible’ like a giving of a healthy heart, has become a possibility in the contemporary times. Heart transplant is a commonly practiced surgery these days. And it was made possible by science. The Frankenstein novel provides this transition.Even the creation of the monster symbolizes the triumph of Science. From this story of Frankenstein, we see that Science is like a God. Science can give life, too.Imperfect Beings and Unjust WorldIt is said that we can never be perfect like God. Whatever we do, we are still incomplete and imperfect. It is only God who is perfect. This way of thinking is also exemplified by the story of Frankenstein.Victor, a medical doctor and the creator of the monster, abhorred his very creation. In his attempt to create a being superior to human race, he had created a monster instead. This suggests that man, in his efforts, cannot create a being more superior to him. Victor has labored days and nights to create a being , yet a monster, instead, breathed to life. Even the monster itself abhorred his condition.Hateful the day when I received life! I exclaimed in agony. â€Å"Accursed Creator! Why did you ever form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust?†¦Satan had his companion, fellow devils, to admire and encourage him, but I am   solitary and    abhorred. (Shelley, p.130)Similarly, God created men in his own image and likeness, but then we are not like God who is perfect. More over, with imperfect beings came the imperfect and unjust world.Because of the grotesque appearance of the monster, the villagers attacked him. Everyone was disgusted by mere seeing the monster. Because of this, the monster too became malevolent to humans. It experienced injustice from the world.Remember, that I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam; but I am rather the fallen    angel whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed. Every where I see bliss, from which I alone   am irrevocabl y excluded. I was benevolent and   good; misery made me a fiend.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Make me happy, and I shall again   be virtuous (Shelley, p.100)Another form of injustice made on the monster is thru Victor’s destruction of the lady monster. The monster had promised to live in peace and live in wilderness with his wife, the lady monster. The monster said:My vices are the children of a forced solitude that I abhor, and my virtues will necessarily arise when I live in communion with an equal. I shall feel the affections of a sensitive   being, and become linked to a chain of existence and events, from which I am now   Ã‚   excluded (Shelley, p.147).It was injustice to give life to a being, and let it suffer without even a friend, a loved one,not even anybody.In conclusion, the novel Frankenstein articulates the following discourses: man can be a God through Science; man is always imperfect; and the world is unjust.ConclusionThe horror science fiction of Shelley entitled Frankenstein, as my arguments pointed out, is a critique of the existing social condition of Shelley’s time—that is—the onset of industrial and scientific revolution.The novel is centered on the four major themes, namely; ignorance is good and knowledge is evil; injustice in the world; equality of men and women; and murders as explained from the viewpoint of the murderers.Frankenstein also articulates the following discourses or ways of thinking: that man can be a god through Science, and that man is always imperfect just as the world is always imperfect.Indeed, the novel has shown us that knowledge and science can bring chaos to man.Works CitedFoucault, Michel. Archeology of Knowledge and the discourse on Language. Trans. Smith,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Sheridan A.M. USA: Tavistock Publication Limited. 1972Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, dir. K. Branagh (Tristar, 1994, 118 mins)Milner, Andrews. Literature, Culture and Society . London: UCL press, 1996Prometheus gave Fire to Men. No date published. A Hand-out in Mythology Class.Remarks on Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus; A Novel. No date published. April 21,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   2007.Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus. M.K. Joseph (ed) Oxford: Oxford   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   University Press, 1980

Friday, August 30, 2019

Bertrand and Cournot Competition Comparison

Within the realm of industrial economics, a central focus is on equilibrium in oligopoly models, and the questions arise of how the firms would find the equilibrium and whether they will choose it. The efforts of this essay are devoted to a discussion of Court and Bertrand models of competition, two fundamental single-period models that form the basis for multi-period models (Friedman, 1977).Firstly the essay will give an introduction to the properties of the Court and Bertrand models of intention and examine their implications to the relationship between structure and performance. Then it will theoretically address the question that when and how we can choose either of these two models to better describe a market, and empirically distinguish between two models by giving example industries that behave according to each. Finally the essay will draw a conclusion.Oligopoly theory abstracts from the complexity of real-life corporate strategy, and concentrates on Just one or two strategic variables (Davies et al, 1991). Court (1838) takes the view tat the firm ¤ass strategic variable is squatty or output. In contrast, Bertrand (1883) takes the view that the firm ¤ass basic strategic variable is price. In order to capture the distinction between the Court and Bertrand framework, we will consider the simplest case of homogeneous products.First, given positive market share, firms in Court market have the market power to price higher than their marginal costs. Second, the market power of a firm is limited by the market elasticity of demand. The more elastic demand, the lower the price-cost margin. Furthermore, given that all the firms are price takers, firms with lower marginal cost will have greater markets shares. Then what is the implication for the relationship between structure and performance guarding the industry as a whole?Turning to this aspect, summing the average price-cost margin follows summing individuals firms over all n firms weighting each firm ¤a ss margin by its share of the market, Where H denote Heralding index, which is one of the most widely accepted measures of concentration. If we use concentration as the measure of industry structure and price-cost margin as the measure of performance, we can see that in Court competition, the less elastic is demand, and the larger is the Heralding index, the greater aggregate margin in the Court Nash equilibrium.Also, the market power (Unmans, 1962)), this indicates the importance of barriers to entry. In 1883, Bertrand criticized Court ¤ass work on several counts. One of these was that if the strategic variable is price rather than quantity, Court ¤ass logic results in an entirely different outcome (Friedman, 1977). In the Bertrand framework each firm directly controls the price at which it sells it output, and the demand for its output will depend on the price set by each firm 3 and the amount that they wish to sell at that price.This model is driven by the assumption that the firm that charges the lowest price can capture marginal cost in the market, it can charges a price I pi? ±ii = I pi? ±ii pi? ±ii pi? ±ii pi? ±0  ¤00 I poi pipe, where c] is the marginal cost the entire market (Walden and Jensen, 2001). Given this assumption, if firm I has the lowest of the firm that has the second lowest marginal cost in the industry, and I poi pipe represents a number that is infinitesimally greater than O. Then firm I will capture the entire market.In the case that each firm face an identical marginal cost, each firm will set its rice pi equal the marginal cost, and yields a competitive equilibrium. The discussion about Bertrand framework tells a very different story of the relationship between structure, conduct, and performance from the Court-Nash equilibrium. First, only the most efficient firm will survive the competition and become the monopolist, the other firms will exit the market. Second, if all firms face the identical marginal cost, with tw o or more firms the competitive outcome occurs, large numbers (which is the case in Court competition) are not necessary.Clearly, there is a big difference whether the strategic variable is price or quantity. Therefore, what criteria do we have for choosing between Court or Bertrand model to describe a market? A common argument for the Court model is more appropriate is that it captures the intuition that competition decreases with fewer firms, while the prediction of the Bertrand model  ¤00 a zero price-cost margin with two or more firms, or only one firm exists as the monopolist  ¤00 is implausible.In the world, examples like many consumer goods markets have shown that it is hard to find all consumers want to buy from the firm charging the lowest price, and small price hangs by a firm lead to small changes in its sales and in the sales of its rivals (Friedman, 1977). Also, it is often argued that the choice of Court and Bertrand lies in the relative flexibility of prices and o utput. In the Court framework, once chosen, outputs are fixed, while the price is flexible.In the Bertrand framework, however, firms set prices while output is 4 quantities (Davies et al, 1991), and therefore the Court framework is preferred to the Bertrand framework. An influential work coloring this view is Krebs and Chainman (1983). In their two-stage model, firms choose capacities in the first tags, and compete with price as in the Bertrand model up to the capacity chosen in the first stage. The resultant equilibrium turns out to be equivalent to the standard Court model.There do have some industries where firm ¤ass behavior is consistent with the intuition of Bertrand model. In the American airline industry, many major carriers follow a policy of pricing near marginal cost on routes on which it faces competition (Walden and Jensen, 2001). They fear that if their fares are even slightly higher than the competitor, they will lose virtually the entire market share. However, Bran der and Ghana (1990) also found evidence that the pricing behavior of American Airlines and United Airlines between 1984 and 1988 were close to the Court model ¤ass prediction.In addition, Await (1974) found that in the Japanese flat-glass industry the two duopolistic behave according the the Court competition. In conclusion, this essay has compared and contrasted the main properties of Court and Bertrand models of competition, clearly the two models tell completely different stories of oligopolies competition as well as the relationship between structure and performance. The essay has also discussed when and which of the two oodles are expected to be better describe a market, both theoretically and with empirical examples.

Expressing Teen Identity by Using Slang: Attitudes and Opinions Towards the Slang of Teenagers

Expressing teen identity by using slang:attitudes and opinions towards the slang of teenagers Introduction One of the most significant elements which people notice while meeting with someone is the person’s language. As Trudge (2000:2) points out, the manner in which we use our language has a great importance while â€Å"establishing social relationship and while conveying information about the speaker†. Ethnic background, gender, education, social class, age and many other aspects may influence the way we talk.And the way we talk may influence other people’s perception about us. Language in the society also differs in the formality levels. When talking about any specific kind of a language we use the term language variety. The variety of the language which is used in a particular situation is called style. Styles are mainly characterized by the vocabulary differences, but also by syntactic ones. Styles range on the scale from very formal to extremely informal. V ocabulary which is at the extremely informal end of the continuum is known as slang. 1] Some people might think that slang is only a young people issue. However the truth is that all of us use some kind of slang, and this usage is influenced by many factors. It is obvious that slang creates barriers between people or groups of people. So if you do not want someone, who is not a member of your group, understand what are you saying, you may use a particular slang, which is inherent only for your group. Using slang may also be part of a person’s identity.Therefore the main task handled in this paper is to examine the use of slang among teenagers and the sources they are influenced by. This essay presents a view on teenage slang as a means of expressing their identity. It also includes society perspective and opinions on the adolescent use of slang. The teenage language was for a long period under-represented in language corpora. In order to repair this, a very comprehensive teen age language corpus, the Bergen Corpus of London Teenage Language (COLT, 2002), was created.This large material is focusing on the spoken language of teenagers between 13 to 17 years in London. It consists of five hundred thousand words and it is a part of the British National Corpus. [2] As a basis for my arguments I will be mainly using corpus compilation, analysis and findings named Trends in Teenage Talk published in 2002 by Anna-Brita Stenstrom, Gisle Andersen and Ingrid Kristine Hasund, because as it consider the teenage slang language, it is the most relevant corpus for this essay. Slang and teenage languageIt is hard to give a definition of slang, because there is a difficulty of distinguishing it from jargon (special vocabulary used by particular profession), colloquialisms (special use of vocabulary according to geographical region), usage of vague terms (statements with unclear message) or neologism (new coinages or senses of words or phrases). Definitions do, however, ex ist, and the online Oxford English dictionary (2012) classifies slang into the three types: The first type consider slang as the special vocabulary used by any set of persons of a low or disreputable character; language of a low and vulgar type.Another definition is that it is the special vocabulary or phraseology of a particular calling or profession; the cant or jargon of a certain class or period. And finally the last one says that it is the language of a highly colloquial type, considered as below the level of standard educated speech, and consisting either of new words or of current words employed in some special sense. Slang is natural part of each language. It is the non-standard vocabulary usually connected with particular group of people. When discussing slang, we should consider its history and development.Slang has its origin in the middle of the 18th century. In that time slang was seen as a low level language, since it was used primarily by criminals, revelers and drunk en people in pubs. Later on slang became regarded as a specific vocabulary of certain professions, like printers, poets and even lawyers or doctors. During the beginning of the nineteen century slang begins to be seen as a highly colloquial part of almost any language. [3] Moreover as the online Oxford English dictionary demonstrates, the word slang appeared in the connection with the language of youngsters for the very first time in 1818, when Sir J. T.Coleridge was recorded to have stated the following: †Two of the best [students] come to me as a peculiar grinder (I must have a little slang)†. [4] This connection appeared as well in William Makepeace Thackeray’s novel Vanity Fair: â€Å"He was too old to listen to the banter of the assistant-surgeon and the slang of the youngsters. †[5] This fact proves that the importance of the adolescent talk has been seen as an important variety of language for a relatively long period. As well as human language also slang is continuously changing its form and vocabulary and not all of the expressions have to disappear as its generation grew up.On the one hand there are new slang words springing up and on the other hand old ones are dying. This means that the slang expressions used by teenagers may sometimes overlap the barriers of a particular group and become more widely used. Some of the slang expressions may absorb into the English language and become part of Standard English. Types of slang As I stated previously it is hard to distinguish slang from other types of informal language. Linguists therefore tend to use different terms when describing types of slang.Slang is generally divided into general slang and specific slang. While general slang is used among all people without the need to be a member of an exact group, mainly to avoid conventions; specific slang is used with a purpose to show that a person belongs to a specific group and has a loyalty with other members of this group. It se ems obvious that teenager's slang belongs to the specific one. In the Norwegian study Trends in teenage talk Stenstrom, Andersen and Hasund (2002: 65) stated that adolescent talk do not include only general slang, but also vague (E. . â€Å"stuff like that†, â€Å"lots of†), vogue (words which already exists in the language, but become fashionable for a short period of time[6]), proxy (the usage of a verb â€Å"go† or â€Å"be like† instead of the quotation), small words (E. g. â€Å"you know†, â€Å"sort of†, â€Å"yeah†, â€Å"like†), taboo and swear words; which he described with a term â€Å"slanguage†. In the next section I will look at these features of â€Å"slanguage†. Teenage talk Before we start to talk about teenage language in depth, we must define the word teenager. The word teenager firstly appeared in 1941.Earlier on expressions like puber, adolescent, teen, farrow or teener were used to refer to a young person between the ages of 13 and 19. [7] The teenage years might be viewed by some as the most difficult period in a person’s life. It is typical that society views them as rebellious, sloppy, messy and imprecise. And this view is also reflected on their language. The rebellion might be seen in a use of slang words and new expressions in order to shock, the imprecision in the lack of grammar, sloppiness in amount of fillers like â€Å"like† or â€Å"um† and messiness in their handwriting.They are to some extent expected to act like adults, however, they might still be treated as children. Sometimes even parents may not understand their children language, so that their attitude towards their slang use might be negative. However, the present generation of teenagers is not the first to have these kinds of informal expressions. Each generation uses a language composed of informal words and phrases or a special own way of using a standard vocabulary. Everyone use different kind of language in different situations, so that adolescents will not use the same language while speaking with their parents as they do with their friends.The only reason of using this slang in front of their parents might be to keep them out of the loop. And this generally happens while they are talking about sex, drug or ethnic issues. Although many of these slang expressions are harmless and teenagers are using them just to be on the same boat as they peers, parents should be aware of this slang, so they can avoid some unpleasant situation. Teenage age is the part of life when most people do not yet know what to do with their life.That is one of the reasons why many teenagers are trying to find their place and identity by joining some social groups, which they can feel connected with. They usually feel a need to become members of some subcultures that relate to their own attitudes and interests. Some subcultures have their own private language code, which helps it s members to support their values, attitudes and uniqueness even more; in other words slang language. As already mentioned, apart from general slang, teenagers also use other characteristic linguistic features known as â€Å"slanguage†.One part of the teenage slanguage is vogue expressions. Vogue words are already existing words like â€Å"massive†, â€Å"paranoid† or â€Å"reckon†, which have become trendy in teenage talk, but they tend to lose their popularity in a short time. It might also be words like â€Å"wicked† or â€Å"sad† used in a different new way: a) Sad drinking habits = secret drinking in a boarding school[8], and b) A wicked pair of ragamuffin trousers, wicked rap, wicked music[9]. As Stenstrom, Andersen and Hasund (2002: 86-89) states another fashionable feature in teenage language is the usage of vague words.Some classic examples of vague words are: lots of, stuff like that, kind of, for ages, and so on, and whatever. Vag ue words are used instead of the adequate words in talk. The reason for using them is to take up the talk to a more colloquial level and fill the gaps in a sentence. These words occur in adults talk as well. The example of vagueness we can see in this conversation: Tommy: and they like wanna see like how we talk and all that. [You know] Regina: [Yeah] Tommy: rastafarian style and all[10] According to Chanell (1994: 197) vague words do not have a function of fillers without meaning.They are used for purpose to contribute the communicative message. Vague words are discussed with two interesting features in COLT (2012: 105;106): a) The research showed that usage of vague words is more frequent among adults than teenagers. However this finding might be quite inaccurate, because adults in COLT conversations mainly appear in the position of teachers and they might adopt the language means of their students to get more closed to them; and b) COLT study find that it is not possible to assoc iate the use of vague words with a specific gender or social background.Another trend in present teenage language is the usage of proxy phrases. It is the way of using verbs such as â€Å"go†, â€Å"say†, â€Å"be like† to substitute verbs of quotation. By using these verbs they can report to some situation or conversation and meaning can be also influenced by the tone or mimicry. In the corpus I have found following exmples: a) It was like sort of, she just went (banging noise), and just fell over and I just†¦ [11], and b) Well what I tried last weekend, not quite crying but I did a sort of moody sort of thing, I di= I was really quiet and I just gnored everyone and I was like really like, you know, didn't say a word. [12] According to Stenstrom, Andersen and Hasund (2002: 165) other typical feature of teenage talk are small words, which can be divided into hedges, empathizers and tags. The usage of invariant tags namely â€Å"yeah†, â€Å"eh†, â€Å"okay†, â€Å"right†, and â€Å"innit† is one of the most frequent feature in teenage slang. Empathizers are used to evoke sympathy between speaker and listener. An example of this is â€Å"you know†. By hedges are considered expressions like â€Å"just like† or â€Å"sort of†. Their purpose is to make speech sounds more or less unclear or fuzzier.Another feature of slanguage is a vocabulary which is considered as forbidden because of its offensive character known as taboo words. Taboo words are usually connected with sex, death, excretion or the human body. Slang taboos are used to replace the regular synonyms. Examples of these might be â€Å"take the piss out of† (make fun of), â€Å"screw up† (ruin), â€Å"to be pissed† (to be drunk). Teenage age is generally seen as an age of rebellion. Adolescents want to shock not only with their style of music, clothing, entertainment, but also with the talk style.That is the reason why they have favored the use of taboos. Just like taboos swear words are also considered as a part of forbidden language, which should not be spoken out loud. Although what sets them apart from taboos, might be their acceptance. If person use a swear word in some relevant situation, for example hurting oneself, as a relief, than it might be more acceptable. For example in the Czech republic is not forbidden to curse â€Å"kurva† if you hurt yourself. The purpose of swearing is quite obvious, it can come out of surprise, or anger or it may be used when people want to upset someone.Teenagers usually use some swear words when talking to their friends to look â€Å"cool†. In a recent study by Stenstrom, Andersen and Hasund (2002:64), it has been found that swearwords can be used as intensifiers to put more emphasis on adjective or adverb (extremely, fucking crap), abusives to refer to a person you are talking with (you dickhead/sod/motherfucker) or expletives expressing strong feelings, or serving as an oath or curse (for fuck’s sake, shit). Reasons for using slang British lexicographer Partridge (1993) pointed out a good deal of reasons for using slang.These were: to have fun by using playful expressions; to be different by using new expressions; to make your talk seems more witty, inventive and humorous; to be picturesque; to draw attention; to escape from cliches, or to be brief and concise; to enrich the language; to be solid, concrete or abstract; to strengthen or reduce your statement; to soften unpleasant situations; to reduce or disperse the seriousness of a conversation; to entertain the audience; for a social purposes to induce either friendliness or intimacy; to show that one belongs to a certain school, trade, profession or social class; to not be understood by others; to show someone that he or she is not a part of a group. For instance Stenstrom (2002:16) provides an example that shows how someone is not a part of a group. He gave a tape recorder to few teenagers, so they could record their daily conversations. The following is a transcription of one of these conversations: Johnny: We can’t have a squeak in this room. Get out. Brett: I’m not a fucking squeak, I’m just in a choir. Bradley: /laughing/ Yeah, precisely Rick: /laugh/ Ah that just shows your ignorance dunnit really? Yeah I’m a member of that one. Johnny: Shows my ignorance?Brett: Yeah if you weren’t ignorant you’d know there’s four parts to a choir and not just one castrate section. Johnny: And you’re in the Castro section? Brett: /laugh/ No I’m not. Johnny: With a laugh like that you’ve gotta be. Rick: Actually I tell you one good thing about being in this choir yeah, I’m in this little choir tonight, chamber choir yeah, which is only about, which is only about like eight or nine people yeah? Bradley: Oh so you’re the creme de la choir As we can see Johnny is using the slang word â€Å"squeak† when speaking about Brett and, who are members of the school choir. By this he means that they have mutating voice, while singing in the choir and he is also making a fun, that they are castrated.An important aspect of adolescence is to be perceived as â€Å"cool† or accepted by one’s peers. Because being â€Å"cool† also usually means being popular, and popularity is connected with higher social status. Teenager’s desire for being part of a group, and also being a popular member of a group, may by many be considered one of the most important matters in this point of their life. Teenagers have a tendency to favor unique styles of music or clothes. They choose own friends and places where they like to spend their free time. And they also tend to use specific language. So that the usage of particular phrases, words and slang expressions might be seen as an identity marker for them.The aims of young people are to be independent and free, so that they may use rather informal language than formal, to express their positive or negative attitudes towards other people or situations. Nevertheless at the same time they should be aware about choosing right language, while talking with different people. If they are not capable to choose right way to talk for example with older people, then there is no surprise they might be perceived cheeky, rude or less intelligent. Sources and factors influencing teenage speech Compared with the past days, when the society was not influenced by the mass media, the talk of teenagers is very different today. It is mainly affected by the pop-culture. Most teenagers have access to the same music, films, TV shows, and advertisements and especially they have the connection to the internet.Before the introduction of mass media such as internet, television or radio, slang varied mostly according to the regions you lived in. However in present days as there is a poss ibility to access the world via these electronic medias, adolescents share same or very similar culture. The reason why are these sources included to this essay is that they are influencing adolescent’s language and at the same time they help to spread this language quickly and easily. According to editor of the Oxford English Dictionary Jesse Shaidlower, technology has been one of the biggest drivers of new vocabulary for centuries. [13] There is no doubt that the internet is a great source of influence on the English language.In 2010 there were made an experiment by Salzburg academy about the addiction on media including internet. They asked students in ten universities around the world not to use internet, phone, email or any media for 24 hours. The results were comparable with withdrawal symptoms from drugs or alcohol. [14] We can see that most of the adolescents are addicted to the social pages like Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin, therefore their language is influenced by these social networks. Abbreviations like â€Å"LOL† (laughing out loud), â€Å"OMG† (Oh my God), â€Å"FB† (Facebook) or â€Å"BTW† (By the way) appear on internet pages every day and sometimes you can hear them in a normal spoken language as well.Also there is a grammar issue, because while chatting in the internet grammar is usually missing so the message like this can easily appear: â€Å"BTW hope u r F9 2day. † (By the way hope you are fine today. ) Teenagers tend to save time by reducing proper words to acronyms or symbols. We may say that Net Lingua is slang used among the internet at emails, social networks, online games, etc. We can also find many slang expressions which comes from TV shows, films or advertisements. For example according to Tagliamonte (2005) TV-show Friends popularized the usage of intensifiers such as â€Å"so† and â€Å"very as a means to emphasize some point of view. Another example is the popularization of th e greeting â€Å"Wassup? which is the colloquial pronunciation of the phrase â€Å"What's up? †. It became popular after the screening of the commercial campaign for Budweiser beer in 1999. [15] This phrase was also used in one of the episodes of a popular TV show How I Met Your Mother named Trilogy Time. Another element which influences the adolescent talk is the music they listen to. Most of them prefer main-stream music like pop, pop-rap or pop-rock or hip-hop music. And mainly hip-hop music is the one which has been influencing the English language already for some time. Hip hop renew and usurped already existing words like â€Å"cool†, â€Å"soul†, â€Å"chill†, â€Å"swing† and many other. ConclusionThis assignment has given the overview of lifestyle and speech among today's teenagers and it has find out why teenagers tend to use particular slang to express their identity. Moreover it served the main sources, which influences adolescentsâ₠¬â„¢ language like internet, television or music. It also mentioned the question if the use of slang may leave a bad impression on people they talk with. It was not easy to write about slang, because there are so many sources considering this topic. So that I chose to write about the group I thought uses slang the most, about teenagers. Firstly I tried to explain the term slang, show its origins and development.I have found that for the first time slang appeared in connection with teenagers in 1818. This work showed that above the general slang, adolescents’ talk also include vague, vogue, proxy, small words, taboo and swear words. According to Stenstrom, Andersen and Hasund (2002: 65) this typical vocabulary can be described with a term â€Å"slanguage†. This essay has shown teenagers use the slang to express positive or negative attitudes towards people or situations. On the one hand they use it to support their values, attitudes, and uniqueness and to show their sym pathy for someone. On the other hand they use it to draw the attention, shock, to show the rebellion or antipathy.Perhaps the most important aspect in the life of a teenager is to be perceived as cool. This essay showed that the way teenagers use their language can make them either popular for their peers or outsiders. References: ABC News (2011). OMG! The OED [Hearts] A Few New Words. [ONLINE] Available at: http://abcnews. go. com/US/omg-oed-words/story? id=13220816#. UIgSOsVrit8. [Last Accessed 24 October 12] Ayto, J. , Simpson, J. (1993), The Oxford Dictionary of Modern Slang. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Battistella, E. L. (2005), Bad Language: Are Some Words Better than Others?. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Channel, J. (1994), Vague Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Eckert, P. (1989).Jocks and Burnouts: Social identity in the high school. New York: Teachers College Press. Green, J. (1988), The Slang Thesaurus. London: Penguin Books. Jelinkova, H. (2011), Slang Used among British and Czech Teenagers. Zlin: Tomas Bata University in Zlin. Oxford University Press (2012). slang, n. 3. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www. oed. com/view/Entry/181318? isAdvanced=false&result=3&rskey=tyORJE&. [Last Accessed 16 October 12]. Oxford University Press (2012). teenager, n. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www. oed. com/view/Entry/198559? redirectedFrom=teenage. [Last Accessed 17 October 12]. Partridge, E. (1933). Slang To-Day And Yesterday. London: William Press.Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change (2010). Unplugged: Living without the media. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www. salzburg. umd. edu/salzburg/new/news/unplugged-study-goes-global. [Last Accessed 30 October 12] Stenstrom, A. B. , Andersen, G. , Hasund, I. K. (2002), Trends in Teenage Talk: Corpus Compilation, Analysis, and Findings Studies in Corpus Linguistics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing. Tagliamonte, S. A. , Roberts, Ch. (2005), So weird; so cool; so innovative: The us e of intensifiers in the television series Friends. American Speech. 80. 3: 280-300 Thackeray, W. M. (1999), Vanity fair: A Novel Without Hero. New York: Modern library. The New York Times (2012).Young Women Often Trendsetters in Vocal Patterns. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www. nytimes. com/2012/02/28/science/young-women-often-trendsetters-in-vocal-patterns. html? _r=2&emc=etal. [Last Accessed 24 October 12]. Thorne, T. (2005), Dictionary of Contemporary Slang. London: A & C Black Publishers Ltd. Trudge, P. (2000), Sociolinguistic: An Introduction to Language and Society. (4th ed. ). London: Penguin Books. ——————————— [ 1 ]. Trudgill (2000) 83. [ 2 ]. Stenstrom, Andersen, Hasund (2002) 2. [ 3 ]. Ayto, Simpson (1993) 5. [ 4 ]. OED (2012) http://www. oed. com/view/Entry/181318? rskey=ncdjjC&result=3#eid [ 5 ]. Thackeray (1848) 390. [ 6 ].Stenstrom, Andersen, Hasund (2002) 65. [ 7 ]. OED (2012) h ttp://www. oed. com/view/Entry/198559? redirectedFrom=teenager. [ 8 ]. Stenstrom, Andersen, Hasund (2002) 42. [ 9 ]. Stenstrom, Andersen, Hasund (2002) 45. [ 10 ]. Stenstrom, Andersen, Hasund (2002) 86. [ 11 ]. Stenstrom, Andersen, Hasund (2002) 128. [ 12 ]. Stenstrom, Andersen, Hasund (2002) 117. [ 13 ]. ABC NEWS (2011) http://abcnews. go. com/US/omg-oed-words/story? id=13220816#. UIgSOsVrit8 [ 14 ]. Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change (2010) http://www. salzburg. umd. edu/salzburg/new/news/unplugged-study-goes-global [ 15 ]. Winn (2008) http://www. trendhunter. com/trends/ultra-viral-political-videos-wassup-2008

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Compensation and Benefits Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Compensation and Benefits Paper - Essay Example For example, the same job might have different structures, meaning that the levels that the organization uses are diverse. In this case, the levels used by the organization determine the organization structure, since the different people report to different managers. In the example of software engineers in the Phoenix area, the type of job structures is best exemplified. In this case, there are three different job structures for the same occupation, each job structure attracting a different salary. The first job structure is Software engineer 1, which is the lowest level in the field. This job structure attracts an average salary of $58,001 (Salary.com, 2011), and from the job description, requires up to 2 years of experience in a similar position. An individual in this position is always under immediate supervision, and cannot exercise independent judgment in the job. The second job level is a software engineer 2, who makes an average salary of $73,539 (Salary.com, 2011), and is a l ittle higher than the software engineer 1. This job level requires between 2 and 4 years of experience, performs more tasks that the first job level. This employee reports to one manager, and is usually not under immediate supervision. ... The information described above can be used in the development of a pay structure in a simple way, since the factors that determine pay are already evident. The description of three job levels above indicates that two factors that determine the pay structure in an organization. The first factor is the experience that an individual possesses (Ranken, 2010). The educational level is usually constant, since an individual is expected to possess minimum qualifications before consideration for the job is done. In this case, the first level, which earns the lowest salary, possesses the least experience, and the third job level possesses the highest job experience. This indicates that the development of a pay structure should be dependent on the experience that an individual possesses. From the above information, it is also evident that the development of a pay structure is also dependent on the level of independence that an individual is accorded in an organization (RAnken, 2010). For examp le, a first level engineer is accorded the least level of independence, therefore, it is to be expected that the pay grade will be the lowest. Conversely, the third level engineer is accorded the highest level of independence; therefore, the pay grade is the highest. Benefits Benefit Description Value Reason for benefit Social Security Social security is a contributory program made by all employers to a government fund for the retirement, medical aid, and disability fund for employees. The employees are assured that they will get retirement benefits and medical care at the moment they retire. Required by law Disability Disability benefits are not mandatory since they are already covered by social security. This benefit is

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Health Care System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Health Care System - Essay Example Even as the range of benefits has broadened, the program still contains what some see as gaps and others regard as areas in which private and state programs need to be strengthened. Either way, most people agree that long-term care represents a contingency for which most are psychologically and financially unprepared. Some suggest that the list of Medicare benefits should be expanded to include payments for nursing homes and other long-term care services. Social Security consisted of two sets of rules. One set governed the payroll taxes, and the other set described the benefits to which workers were entitled. Both the level of taxes and the amount and types of benefits changed over the years. In 1965, legislators raised the tax level and established a major new type of benefit. By adding hospital insurance to the array of Social Security benefits, they launched Medicare. In addition to the original retirement benefits for workers over 65, the new benefits included payments to the wives and children of retired workers and to the widows and children of workers who died before age 65. After 1939, therefore, Social Security included benefits to a worker's survivors (Ruskinm 2009). The second milestone occurred in 1950 when Congress decided to raise the tax rate, and, updating benefit levels for price changes in the 1940s, to increase substantially the level of payments to retired workers and the survivors of workers. Social Security--tha t is, the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program--is by far the largest American social insurance program, with the greatest impact on individuals and families. In 1992, for example, 132 million American workers and their employers paid Social Security taxes and about 41 million Americans received Social Security benefits each month (Peltz, 2008). As living standards improved, more Americans expected to retire, and retirement became widely perceived as a period of earned leisure. State welfare programs for the elderly provided real competition to the Social Security program in the 1930s and 1940s but declined as a threat to Social Security in the 1950s. Medical care became increasingly desirable as a good to consume in the 1940s and 1950s, and the supply of private health insurance increased exponentially in these decades (Ruskinm 2009). Modern Health Care System Medicare and Medicaid programs are based on early insurance programs and plans improved and redesigned by the government. Even so, many indirect infusions of general revenues are made into the program, including the revenue produced from treating a portion of Social Security benefits as taxable income. The second proposal would put Social Security financing on a pay-as-you-go basis. In this approach, Congress collects, through payroll taxes or some other means, only the amount of money necessary to sustain the program on a current basis. This approach, however, has the benefit of keeping taxes low, avoiding the difficult problem of how to preserve the supposed surpluses in the program (Staff 2009). This approach has the disadvantage of leaving the future to take care of itself, arguably bequeathing large burdens to future generations (Staff 2009). The government does not permit this activity to occur in

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Motivation Theory Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Motivation Theory - Dissertation Example Bearing the aforementioned in mind, the extent to which motivation techniques and schemes positively impact upon both individual employee behaviour and teamwork is an important area of study, especially as markets become more and more competitive. Indeed, as markets become increasingly competitive, successful employers are paying more attention to their human resource management by developing incentive programs in an attempt to keep their employees motivated and thus maximise their work productivity. The factors which incite employee motivation, and the extent to which bonus and various other incentive schemes do so, especially within the context of work teams are the focus of this dissertation. As was briefly touched upon in the preceding, a motivated workforce is the backbone of a successful organisation; an organisation which is both able to satisfy its strategic objectives and pose as a strong market competitor in an ever-increasingly competitive global market space. It has tradi tionally been assumed that bonus schemes motivate employees on both individual and team levels but empirical evidence suggests that bonus schemes are not as powerful or as strong a motivator as has been suggested. It is within the context of the stated that the rationale of the study may be found: the determination of the factors which incite both individual and team employee motivation towards greater productivity, commitment and dedication. Needless to say, the identification of these factors has far-reaching consequences for both organisations and the economy as a whole.

Monday, August 26, 2019

International Business Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

International Business Management - Assignment Example The implications of these strategies are recommended to future managers for implementation in the organizational policies for getting competitive advantage in the market. Introduction This assignment is about the position of competitive advantage attained by Procter and Gamble and the study of the various approaches and strategies that have been adopted by the organization to rise to a competitive leadership position in the market. The topic is worth to be studied as it would enable us to validate the theories of the competitive advantage with the real example of Procter and Gamble. The implication of these strategies which are namely innovative strategies, cost leadership strategies, differentiation strategy and operation efficiency could be linked to the recent developments in the business of Procter and Gamble. Due to the innovative strategies, Procter and Gamble has been able to restructure its business process and operations and they have been able to track the demand and needfu l to be done to meet the customer needs (Barner, 1991, p.102). Along with that operational efficiency has been attained supported by the cost effective production. These features put Procter and Gamble in a relatively superior position in the market which was reflected in increased acceptability of its products that has driven the business growth (Mullen and Stumpf, 1987, p.38). The review of literature on the topic has been presented followed by the detailed analysis and findings on the strategies adopted by Procter and Gamble for gaining competitive advantage. Literature Review The diamond model was proposed by Michael Porter in 1985 which highlights some of the drawbacks of the theory of comparative advantage. According to this theory, the nations and the business houses focus on the growth of productivity for gaining competitive advantage. In order to attain growth in productivity, the cheap labour that is available could be utilized by the forces of production. Figure 1: Diamon d Model The model has analysed the notion of competitiveness using six broad factors discussed as follows: Factors conditions include capital resources, physical resources, infrastructure and human resources. The demand conditions prevailing in the domestic market can contribute to create competitiveness for the companies when there is pressure from the domestic buyers to innovate new and differentiated products from that of the competitors. The supporting industries are important for the innovation purposes since they are cost effective and can contribute in the upgrading process whereas the government can contribute to the above determinants by influencing the supply conditions as well as demand conditions. The diamond model reduces the high degree of emphasis on the availability of natural resources inside the geographical boundaries which brings out the limitations of the theory of comparative advantage (Stupmf and Dunbar, 1990, p.22). According to the founder of this theory and many other experts, the competitive advantage could be attained by the organizations due to building up unique capabilities that help them to outperform their competitors (Peteraf, 1993, p.185). The various ways in which the companies have attained competitive advantage in the market are due to the access gained to specialized resources of production.

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Business Assignment about leadership as a business strategy

Business about leadership as a business strategy - Assignment Example Center of discussion in this paper is leadership as one of the best strategies that can assist the companies on the pathway towards growth and success. There are different types of leadership styles that can be practiced by the organizational leaders. A leader can be defined as the person who is capable of influencing and monitoring a cluster of people towards the attainment of common goals. A leader can also be examined as such person who has numerous followers. Furthermore, a leader requires performing his duties well and capable of showing proper path to his group members so that the goals can be achieved. He must be able to convince the followers to follow his path as well as reward them for doing so. Leaders who are focused upon their principles and values tend to be successful at larger scale. There are majorly seven principles that need to be followed by the leaders to be successful. They are accepting accountability, continuation of learning through practice, sincerity, antic ipation of the results, admiration for individuals and families, leading with integrity and establishment of the goals. There are theories presupposing that as the group tends to mature, the leaders are capable of varying his or her leadership style. However, there are leaders who may not change and therefore have a preferred leadership style. There are situations when the leaders may require adapting their leadership style so that they can fit any given situation. Therefore, it is significant for the leaders to be self-aware.... During the times of tough competition and other challenges, the company was engaged in preparing a model that demonstrates the way automakers as well as the CEOs of the company needs to handle the harsh conditions and do the needful. It had been noticed that Mulally was trying to integrate constancy of purposes along with lucidity and teamwork in managing culture at Ford Motors (Yale School of Management, 2010). It was Alan Mulally who had accelerated the company’s restructuring plan. Under his leadership, the huge losses incurred by the company along with the falling market have been reversed, thereby ensuring that the company had a strong balance sheet. It can be noted that it was under his leadership that Ford Motors was successful at selling off Aston Martin, Land Rover as well as Volvo (Yale School of Management, 2010). The esteemed Taurus brand had been revived and the company was capable of expanding the Lincoln brand under the leadership of Alan Mulally. Furthermore, t he stakes held by the company in Mazda was withdrawn. Ford Motors was capable of delivering high quality products which were fuel efficient, elegantly designed and safe. The strategies were so developed by Alan Mulally that the company was successful in meeting the needs and demands of the customers by making complete utilization of the resources. This led to full year profit as noted in 2009 and in the first quarter of 2010. The sales of the company surmounted for all types of products and the best thing to notice is related to the fact that the sales of the company was capable of earning triple to the overall growth of the industry (Yale School of Management, 2010). It had been

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Global warming Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Global warming - Research Paper Example The planet’s temperature is constantly rising, and the trend has continued over the years. Globally, the average surface temperature has increased much in some degrees, and this is basically the effect of the greenhouse. Naturally the earth’s temperature depends on the amount of energy entering and leaving the planet. But when that later like blanket has been formed, the incoming energy from the sun gets absorbed and as a result, the earth warms. With the absence of this layer, the energy from the sun is therefore reflected back into the space, there will be no warming effect. Due to the fact that this energy has been reflected back, the earth experiences a cooling effect. Balancing of the energy leaving and entering the earth’s surface has been over a long period of time changed by both human and natural factors (Houghton, 2004). This has brought; variations in the sun’s energy reaching the earth’s surface, changes have occurred in the reflectivity of earth’s surface and that of the atmosphere. It has also caused major changes in the greenhouse effect, which has considerably affected the amount of heat that is retained in the earth’s atmosphere. ... And when all these challenges dawns at once, human beings and other living organisms have no chance rather to be exposed climate related health effects, increased risks of illnesses and more death that are as a result of extreme heat and heat waves from the sun (Have, Agius, & Unesco.2006). There is no short cut to curb these climate related problems. The only way out is to act now and try if we can reduce our carbon emissions in to the atmosphere, plant more trees, slow down the pace of global warming. And to the next generation, we should pass on to them a healthier and a safer world. The main goal of environmental policy is to ensure that the environment is protected for the future generation. The regulations are created to ensure that there is a great control of disposal of hazardous waste into the environment and to increase the quality of water and air which circulates in the atmosphere. When all these are taken into control, to a greater extent, it is going to balance the amou nt of energy entering and leaving the earth surface. It will also boost the reflectivity of the earth’s surface and that of the atmosphere which in turn brings the cooling effect to the earth. It will considerably bring to control the climatic change that results into greenhouse effect that determines the amount of heat retained in the atmosphere. Different governments in the world have written and established various policies (Robbins,et al.2010). These rules and regulations have to a lesser extent helped to curb the problem of global warming that has claimed the lives of innocent citizens, deteriorated world economies and destruction of properties due to earth quakes.

Friday, August 23, 2019

How Social Media is Changing the Role of Journalists and Journalism Essay

How Social Media is Changing the Role of Journalists and Journalism - Essay Example The journalists were also required to interview expert sources in order to gather more information on the issues to report about. From the views of the expert sources, the public could be able to make informed decisions on the issues raised by the experts before they compile a report to the public. This is usually called the agenda setting. The journalists in the discharge of their duty to enlighten the public are guided by certain codes of conduct. They have to avoid issues that can wreck havoc or raise them in a rational manner. The journalists also have to censor provocative content to the public before their news story could be broadcasted in the mass media. They also have to ensure that their sources are credible and free from speculations and rumors. They moderate the news contents as they receive them before letting them out to the public domain. However, following the current trend of the social media, there has been an increasing tendency of the social media to act as the jo urnalists. One would expect to receive news through the mass media reported by journalists, but instead, most of the world news is now spreading through the social media that how the mass media would do its work. The news spread by mass media covers longer distances within very short time spans and reach more people than if it could have been dispersed by the mass media. This research therefore, is aimed at discussing and finding out the extent to which the social media is changing journalism and the work of the journalists at large. Journalism could be losing relevance and may become obsolete with time. This could be so as the social media are taking a faster step in assuming all the duties and responsibilities of journalism of receiving and dispersing news to the whole world. They are able to share the news globally making the social media the new mass media reaching billions of people all over the world. For many years, before the advent of the social media, there used to be a lo t of trust in the reputable sources of news and journalism as a career was highly regarded in all societies. It came to pass that human beings, born with lots of ability to invent and innovate, came up with easier ways to allow people to socialize and communicate with the whole world just through an interface. Thus, social media, has been rebranded to give it different purposes where people find it very easy to get there and disperse or receive news about the latest happenings all over the globe. Something, for instance, could take place this instance in America, but before the journalists could get access to the news in order to report it officially, someone in Africa who is connected to a friend in America through the social media shall have received the news through the media. Other instances include advertisements through the social media. Several companies have found a large audience base through the social media platform. This is where many young stars and some of the old peop le take much of their time to socialize with their friends all over the world. Therefore, this opportunity has been taken up by companies to at least promote their companies to their audiences through making advertisements on the social media page. Social media and public opinion The journalists through the mass media such as the radio and television have always had to control and moderate public discussions. The social media has enabled everyone with an account to act as their own moderators. Habermas notes that â€Å"

Thursday, August 22, 2019

In-depth literature review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

In-depth literature review - Essay Example (p. 17) One of the main strategies of the British fashion industry is the market differentiation. Here, companies that comprise the industry tend to specialize in a sector: menswear, ladieswear, children’s wear, knitwear, lingerie, street fashion, designerwear or accessories (scarves, ties, hats and gloves). At present, there is a governmental agency in the UK called the Standard Industrial Classification that provides a mechanism for gathering statistics and supplying information about an industrial grouping and in defining a market. Also, along with information from trade bodies such as the British Clothing Industry Association, data are utilized to make comparisons among competing countries comprising an industry. This is based on the idea that in the international market has become so saturated that the advantage of the ‘globalness’ itself has been essentially nullified. (Gamble, 2003, p. 346) Now more than ever, it is harder and harder to become a top-level fashion house in various global cities and so greater premium on specialization is evident. Paul de Gay (1997), in his book Production of Culture/Cultures of Production, explored this further as he argued that a comprehensive understanding of fashion in clothing can only be approached through an exploration of the mutually constitutive rhythms of production and consumption, hence mapping the multiple worlds where fashion is produced and consumed is definitely a must. (p. 8) Interestingly, Bruce, Moore and Birtwistle (2004) added that the majo rity of British fashion consumers prefer to buy the diffusion lines of clothing. (p. 160) In the book called, The National Fabric: Fashion, Britishness, Globalization, Alison Goodrum argued that British fashion is precariously poised amidst a clutch of conflicting narratives, representations and ideologies. For her, there is a

Henri Fayol Essay Example for Free

Henri Fayol Essay Henri Fayol (Istanbul, 29 July 1841 – Paris, 19 November 1925) was a French mining engineer and director of mines who developed a general theory of business administration that is often called Fayolism.[1] He and his colleagues developed this theory independently ofscientific management but roughly contemporaneously. Like his contemporary, Frederick Winslow Taylor, he is widely acknowledged as a founder of modern management methods. Biography Fayol was born in 1841 in a suburb of Istanbul, Ottoman Empire. His father (an engineer) was appointed superintendent of works to build the Galata Bridge, which bridged theGolden Horn. [1] The family returned to France in 1847, where Fayol graduated from the mining academy Ecole Nationale Superieure des Mines in Saint-Etienne in 1860. In 1860 at the age of nineteen Fayol started the mining company named Compagnie de Commentry-Fourchambault-Decazeville in Commentry as the mining engineer. In 1888 he became managing director, when the mine company employed over 10,000 people, and held that position over 30 years until 1918. By 1900 the company was one of the largest producers of iron and steel in France and was regarded as a vital industry.[1] Based largely on his own management experience, he developed his concept of administration. In 1916 he published these experience in the book Administration Industrielle et Generale Publications[edit] Books, translated 1930. Industrial and General Administration. Translated by J.A. Coubrough, London: Sir Isaac Pitman Sons. 1949. General and Industrial Management. Translated by C. Storrs, Sir Isaac Pitman Sons, London. Articles, translated, a selection 1900. Henri Fayol addressed his colleagues in the mineral industry 23 June 1900. Translated by J.A. Coubrough. In: Fayol (1930) Industrial and General Administration. pp. 79–81 (Republished in: Wren, Bedeian Breeze, (2002) The foundations of Henri Fayol’s administrative theory) 1909. L’exposee des principles generaux d’administration. Translated by J.D Breeze. published in: Daniel A. Wren, Arthur G. Bedeian, John D. Breeze, (2002) The foundations of Henri Fayol’s administrative theory, Management Decision, Vol. 40 Iss: 9, pp. 906 – 918 1923. The administrative theory in the state. Translated by S. Greer. In: Gulick, L. and Urwick. L. Eds. (1937) Papers on the Science of Administration, Institute of Public Administration. New York.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

SMTP Security via Opportunistic DANE TLS

SMTP Security via Opportunistic DANE TLS SUJANA MAMIDALA ABSTRACT This paper provides an insight about a protocol designed for SMTP transport, which offers downgrade resistance. This protocol deploys as security for Domain Name System (DNS) Authentication of Named Entities (DANE) based Mail Transfer Agents (MTA). To a client who uses authenticated and encrypted transport layer security (TLS), using this protocol provides a support to the Internet email and allows incremental transition. This paper talks about a new connection security model for Message Transfer Agents (MTAs). Message Transfer Agents are responsible for the transfer of electronic mails to other computers. This connection model is based on a fact that the received end server is chosen indirectly using DNS (Domain Name System) Mail Exchange (MX) Records. This paper talks about the SMTP channel security and analyses why the current security model is inefficient and the need for a new model to protect Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) traffic. This paper elaborates on various other aspects such as Mandatory TLS security and DANE authentication and various operation considerations that are required are discussed. 1. Introduction Simple Main Transfer Protocol (SMTP) states a new connection security model for Message Transfer Agents (MTAs). Key features of inter-domain SMTP delivery inspire this model; in precise the fact that the endpoint server is selected indirectly via Domain Name System (DNS) Mail Exchange (MX) records and that with Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) to Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) SMTP the use of Transfer Layer Security (TLS) is generally opportunistic. SMTP Channel Security With HTTPS, Transport Layer Security (TLS) engages X.509 certificates allotted by one of the various Certificate Authorities (CAs) hustled with famous web browsers to allow users to authenticate their secure websites. Before we specify a new DANE TLS security model for SMTP, we will explain why a new security model is needed. In the procedure, we will discuss why the similar HTTPS security model is insufficient to protect inter-domain SMTP traffic. The sections described below are the four main key problems with applying the traditional PKI to SMTP protocol that is tackled by this specification. Since the SMTP channel security approach is not clearly explained in either the receiver address or Mail Exchange (MX) record, a new signaling mechanism is wanted to specify when channel security is possible and should be used. The publication of the Transport Layer Security (TLSA) records will permit the server operators safely signal to the SMTP clients that the TLS is available and must be used. DANE TLSA makes this possible to simultaneously determine which endpoint domains support the secure delivery via TLS and tells how to verify authenticity of associated SMTP services, affording a path forward to the ubiquitous SMTP channel security. STARTTLS downgrade attack The Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is a single hop protocol in multi hop store and forward the email delivery procedure. SMTP envelope recipient addresses are not transport addresses and safety agnostic. Unlike Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and its related secured versions, HTTPS, where the use of (TLS) Transport Layer Security is signaled via URI scheme, transport security policies are not directly signaled by the email recipients. Certainly, no such signaling can work well with this SMTP since TLS encryption of SMTP protects the email traffic on a hop by hop basis while email address can only express end to end policy. SMTP relays employ best-effort opportunistic security model for TLS with no mechanism existing to signal transport security policy. A single SMTP server TCP listening end point can serve both the TLS and the non-TLS clients; the use of this TLS is negotiated via SMTP STARTTLS command. The client is supported by the server signals TLS over a clear text SMTP connection, and, if client also supports the TLS, it may negotiate TLS encrypted channel to use for the email transmission. An MITM attacker can easily suppress the server’s indication of TLS support. Thus pre DANE SMTP TLS security can subvert by simply decrease a connection to clear text. The TLS security features, such as use of PKIX, can stop this. The invader can simply disable the TLS. Insecure server name without DNSSEC The records abstract next hop transport end point with the SMTP DNS (MX) Mail Exchange and allow the administrator to specify set of targets server to which SMTP traffic should be pointed for given domain. Until and unless PLIX TLS client is vulnerable to MITM attacks it verifies that servers certificate binds public key to a name that match one of the clients reference identifiers. Servers domain name is the natural choice of reference identifiers. However, server names are taken indirectly via Mail Exchange records with SMTP. The Mail Exchange lookup is susceptible to MITM and DNS cache destroying attacks without DNSSEC. Active attackers can forge the DNS replies with the fake mail exchange records and can send email to servers with the names of their selection. Therefore, secure proof of SMTP TLS certificates matching server name is not conceivable without the DNSSEC. One could try to harden the TLS for the SMTP against the DNS attacks by using envelope receiver domain as a situation identifier and needful each SMTP server to have a confidential certificate for envelope recipient domain rather than mail exchange hostname. Unfortunately, this is impractical as third parties that are not in a position to obtain certificates for all the domains they serve handle email for many domains. Deployment of (SNI) Server Name Indication extension to TLS is no cure, since SNI key organization is operationally inspiring except when email service provider is also fields registrar and its certificate issuer; this is hardly the case for email. Since recipient domain name cannot be used as SMTP server orientation identifier, and neither can the mail exchange hostname without the DNSSEC, large scale deployment of authenticated transport layer security for SMTP needs that the DNS be safe. Since SMTP protocol security depends on DNSSEC, it is important to point out that consequently SMTP with the DANE is most traditional possible trust model. It trusts only what must be important and no more. Adding any other trusted actors to the mixture can only reduce the SMTP security. A sender might select to more harden DNSSEC for selected high value getting domains, by organizing explicit hope anchors for those domains in its place of relying on the chain of trust from root domain. Sender policy does not scale Transfer systems are in some cases openly configured to use the TLS for mail directed to designated peer domains. This needs sending MTAs to be organized with appropriate subject names digests to expect in accessible server certificates. Because of heavy administrative burden, such statically configured SMTP secure channels are used rarely. Internet email, on other hand, requires regularly contacting new domains for which the security configurations cannot be reputable in advance. Abstraction of SMTP transport end point via DNS MX records, often across society boundaries, limits the use of the public CA PKI with the SMTP to a minor set of sender configured peer domains. With the little opportunity to use the TLS authentication, transfer MTAs are rarely configured with a complete list of trusted CAs. SMTP services that support STARTTLS often deploy X.509 certificates that are self signed or distributed by a private CA. Identifying applicable TLSA records DNS considerations DNS errors, bogus and indeterminate responses SMTP client that implements the opportunistic DANE TLS per specification depends on the integrity of the DNSSEC lookups. This section lists DNS resolver requirements needed to avoid the downgrade attacks when using the opportunistic DANE TLS. SMTP clients shadowing this specification SHOULD NOT distinguishes between insecure and indeterminate. Both insecure and indeterminate are handled identically in either case invalidated data for query domain is all that is and can be available, and verification using data is impossible. In what shadows, when we say the word insecure, we also include DNS results for the domains that lie in portion of DNS tree for which there is no appropriate trust anchor. With the DNS origin zone signed, we expect that validating resolvers used by Internet facing MTAs will be configured with the trust anchor data for root zone. Therefore, indeterminate domains should be rare in rehearsal. A security aware DNS resolver MUST be able to determine whether given non error DNS response is secure, insecure, bogus or indeterminate. It is expected that the most security alert stub resolvers will not signal an indeterminate security position in the application, and will sign a bogus or error result instead. If a resolver does signal an indeterminate security status, SMTP client MUST treat this as a bogus or error result had been returned. DNS error handling When an error or bogus or indeterminate prevents an SMTP client from defining which SMTP server it should attach to, message delivery MUST be late. This naturally includes, for example, the situation when a bogus or indeterminate response is faced during MX resolution. When several MX hostnames are obtained from popular MX lookup, but a later DNS lookup failure stops network address determination for a given MX hostname, delivery may continue via any lasting MX hosts. When the particular SMTP server is firmly identified as delivery destination, a set of DNS lookups must be done to find any linked TLSA records. If any DNS queries used to trace TLSA records fail, then SMTP client must treat that server as inaccessible and MUST NOT deliver messages via that server. If no servers are nearby, delivery is delayed. Stub resolver considerations A note about domain name aliases, a query for domain name whose ancestor domain is a DNAME alias returns the DNAME RR for ancestor domain, along with the CNAME that maps query domain to the consistent sub domain of target domain of domain name aliases. Therefore, when we speak of CNAME aliases, we indirectly allow for the likelihood that alias in question is the result of ancestor domain DNAME record. Therefore, no explicit support for DNAME records is wanted in SMTP software, it is enough to process resulting CNAME aliases. DNAME records require special processing in validating stub resolver library that checks integrity of the joint DNAME plus CNAME. When a local caching resolver, rather than the MTA itself handles DNSSEC validation, even that part of DNAME support logic is outside MTA. TLS discovery Opportunistic TLS with the SMTP servers that advertise TLS care via STARTTLS is topic to an MITM downgrade attack. Also some of the SMTP servers that are not, in fact, the TLS capable mistakenly advertise STARTTLS by evasion and clients need to be ready to retry clear text sending after STARTTLS fails. In contrast, the DNSSEC legalized TLSA records must not be published for the servers that do not support the TLS. Clients can safely understand their existence as a promise by the server operative to implement the TLS and STARTTLS. SMTP client may organize to require DANE verified delivery for some destinations. We will call such a configuration as mandatory DANE TLS. With mandatory DANE TLS, distribution proceeds when secure TLSA report are used to establish an encrypted and authenticated TLS channel with SMTP server. MX resolution In this we consider next hop domains, which are subject to MX resolution and also have MX records. TLSA records and its associated base domain are derived disjointedly for each MX hostname that is used to effort message distribution. DANE TLS can validate message delivery to intend next hop domain only when MX records are obtained firmly via a DNSSEC validated lookup. MX records must sort by preference; MX hostname with worse MX preference that has TLSA records MUST NOT preempt MX hostname with better preference that has no TLSA records. In other words, stoppage of delivery loops by following MX preferences must take priority over channel safety considerations. Even with 2 equal preference MX records, MTA is not obligated to choose MX hostname that provides more security. Domains that need secure inbound mail delivery have to ensure that all of their SMTP servers and their MX records are organized accordingly. Non-MX destinations It describes algorithm used to locate TLSA records and related TLSA base domain for an input domain not subject to MX resolution. Such domains include: Each (MX) mail exchange hostname used in message delivery attempt for an original next hop endpoint domain subject to the MX resolution. Any superintendent configured relay hostname not related to MX resolution. This often involves configuration set by MTA administrator to handle some mail. Next hop target domain subject to MX resolution that has no MX records. In this case domains name is implicitly and also its sole SMTP server name. TLSA record lookup Each candidate TLSA based domain is in turn prefaced with service labels of form _._tcp. Resulting domain name is used to release a DNSSEC query with query type set to TLSA. For SMTP, destination TCP port is usually 25, but this may be dissimilar with the custom routes stated by MTA administrator in which case SMTP client MUST use appropriate number in the _ prefix in place of _25. For example, candidate based domain is mx.example.com, and SMTP connection is to port 25, TLSA RRset is gained via DNSSEC query of form: _25._tcp.mx.example.com. DANE authentications It describes which TLSA records are appropriate to SMTP opportunistic DANE TLS and how to use such records to authenticate SMTP server. With opportunistic DANE TLS, both TLS support implied by the occurrence of DANE TLSA records and verification parameters needed to authenticate TLS peer are found composed. In contrast to protocols where exclusively the client sets channel security policy, authentication via this protocol is predictable to be less prone to linking failure caused by mismatched configuration of client and the server. TLSA certificate usage The DANE TLSA defines number of TLSA RR types via mixtures of three numeric parameters. Rest of TLSA record is certificate association data field, which stipulates full value of a certificate. The parameters are: TLSA Certificate Usage field, the selector field and matching type field. Certificate usage DANE-EE (3) Authentication via certificate usage DANE-EE (3) TLSA records includes simply checking that servers leaf certificate equals the TLSA record. In particular, the requisite of server public key to its name is built on the TLSA record association. The server MUST be considered authenticated even if none of the names in certificate matches client’s reference identity for the server. Similarly, expiration date of server certificate MUST be ignored; validity period of TSA record key requisite is dogged by validity pause of the TLSA record DNSSEC signature. Certificate usage DANE-TA (2) Some domains might prefer to evade operational complexity of publishing the unique TLSA RRs for each and every TLS service. If domain employs a mutual issuing Certification Authority to create the certificates for the multiple TLS services, it might be simple to publish issuing authority as the trust anchor (TA) for certificate chains of all the relevant services. TLSA query domain for each and every service issued by same TA may then be set to CNAME alias that points to common TLSA RRset that matches TA. For example: example.com. IN MX 0 mx1.example.com. example.com. IN MX 0 mx2.example.com. _25._tcp.mx1.example.com. IN CNAME tlsa211._dane.example.com. _25._tcp.mx2.example.com. IN CNAME tlsa211._dane.example.com. tlsa211._dane.example.com. IN TLSA 2 1 1 e3b0c44298fc1c14. Certificate usage PKIX-TA (0) and PKIX-EE (1) SMTP clients cannot, without trusting on DNSSEC for safe mail exchange records and the DANE for STARTTLS care signaling, perform server identity proof or stop STARTTLS downgrade attacks. Use of PKIX CAs offers no additional security since an attacker is capable of compromising the DNSSEC is free to replace any of PKIX-TA (0) or the PKIX-EE (1) TLSA records with the records bearing any suitable non PKIX certificate usage. Certificate Matching SMTP client must use the TLSA records to authenticate SMTP server when at least one usable â€Å"secure† TLSA is found. Through SMTP server messages must not be delivered if the authentication fails, otherwise SMTP client is vulnerable to the MITM attacks. Server key management Before employing the new EE or TA certificate or public key, two TLSA records MUST be published, one matching currently deployed key and other matching new key is scheduled to replace it. Once a sufficient time has elapsed for all the DNS caches to expire previous TLSA RRset and related signature RRsets, servers may be organized to use new EE private key and associated public key certificate or may service certificates signed by a new trust anchor. Once the new public certificate is in use, TLSA RR that matches retired key can be removed from the DNS, leaving only RRs that matches certificates in energetic use. Digest algorithm agility The DANE TLSA specifies a many number of digest algorithms; it does not specify protocol by which SMTP clients and TLSA record publishers can agree on strongest shared algorithm. Such a protocol will allow client and the server to avoid exposure to any deprecated weaker algorithm that are published for the compatibility with fewer capable clients, but should be unnoticed when possible. Mandatory TLS security MTA implementing this protocol might require a stronger safety assurance when sending e-mail to the selected destinations. Sending organization may need to send the sensitive e-mail or may have regulatory responsibilities to keep its content. This protocol is not in the conflict with such a necessity, and in fact it can often simplify genuine delivery to such targets. Specifically, with the domains that publish a DANE TLSA records for their mail exchange hostnames, a sending MTA can be arranged to use receiving domains DANE TLSA records to authenticate consistent SMTP server. Authentication via the DANE TLSA records is simpler to manage, as changes in receivers expected certificate things are made on the receivers end and dont need manually conversed configuration changes. With the mandatory DANE TLS, when the no usable TLSA records are found, message distribution is delayed. Thus, the mail is only sent only when an authenticated TLS channel is recognized to the remote SMTP server.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Racism in US Criminal Justice System

Racism in US Criminal Justice System The biggest offense in the U.S. criminal justice system is that it is an institution based on racial disparity in which African-Americans are openly beleaguered and penalized in a much more destructive manner compared to white people.  This paper is an attempt to learn the degree of racism followed by the criminal justice system of America. The paper also attempts to make use of relevant literature to outline statistics for certain crime records that have been associated criminal injustice. American society is turning out to be more ethnically and inexpensively polarized. Many poor and minority citizens pledge to the prejudice theory that the criminal impartiality exists. A recent Gallup poll showed that virtually two third of the African-Americans interviewed believed that the law system is assembled against them. Many civil rights support groups have the same opinion, but many conservatives refuse that the organization is racist (Rubin, 2006). Information on race is accessible for each phase of the criminal justice system starting from drugs, police stops, taking into custody, bailing out, legal court  representation, selection of jury members, courtroom trials, prison term, imprisonment, parole and liberty.  It is very evident in America that a policeman stops you on a highway for no reason whatsoever asking you to prove your identity and ask you where you are from (Riles, 2006). Very often your car and your belongings are searched. It is common policy that they believe your racial identity is blamed for your reason to be a criminal and anyone who looks like them is stopped or interrogated with further questions. If they are accused of a certain crime, then it is probable that your representing lawyer will only give you a few minutes and will convince you to plead guilty. If you argue over yourself being innocent, then you will get to stay in prison for some months. Racism has been prominent since the days of African slavery. It is likely that all the information and proofs provided are against you, especially if you are an adolescent. The rate of incarceration for your ethnic group is seven times that of the common populace, most of whom concur with the police that your type are tending to create violence and commit crime (Cole, 1999). People like you are arrested, convicted and killed by the police more often than those in the general population. One in every third person from your ethnicity and skin color, especially in the age group of 20 to 29 is in jail or on parole or trial. In universities, almost 100 graduates are arrested each year. You are not living in some oppressive misery (Cole, 1999). All this is because you are an African American residing in the United States, a so called home liberalists and bravery. Law enforcement officials universally claim that targeting of Black and Latino drivers is not done, but the stories of African-American and Mexican men prove otherwise. Attorney Christopher Darden, one of the prosecutors in the O.J. Simpson trial says in his book that he is stopped about five times a year. Many men of color find similar experiences, from Ohio to Florida to New Jersey to California (Allen, 1999). An African-American Miami policeman was stopped on Route 4 in Florida, where it seems that the police have decided that all Black men are likely to be drug runners, despite the fact that it is estimated that nationally Blacks are equal to only 13 percent of drug offenders. Undeniably, the Orlando Sentinel acquired recorded tapes of at least 1,100 stops in a single Florida County and revealed that while Blacks were only five percent of all drivers transiting from there, they were 70% of those blocked and the rest were not even bothered to be stopped (Goodale, 2005). In Maryland, one African-American lawyer and his family were blocked on Interstate 95 after departing from a funeral. When they prosecuted, a central court ruled that the Maryland state police had to disburse $50,000 and had to split information on the race of motorists blocked and searched. They found that African-Americans were 75% of those stopped and searched, although they made up only 17 percent of the motorists (Goodale, 2005). A professor of law at Georgetown University, David Cole marshals plenty of evidence that Americas criminal justice system is racially biased. And yet many others have done that before him. What is more important and commonly available in literature to date, is the argument that it is only by denying basic rights to poor and black Americans that the more prosperous white minority can itself enjoy the constitutional protections of which Americans are so proud. Certainly America is not the only country whose system of criminal justice is marred by racial or economic biases. Drug policies comprise of the most important factor causative to racial indifferences in criminal justice. Federal laws against cocaine are a basic example of institutional discrimination. Under the present law, crimes concerning crack cocaine are penalized much more harshly than those concerning powder-cocaine (Goodale, 2005). But the United States is supposed to be different (Neugebauer, 2000). It is a society founded on the idea of equality before the law, where such idealism has always been taken seriously and comprised a central part of its self-image. In a careful explication of Supreme Court judgments and a description of how the criminal justice system actually works, it makes a persuasive case that on the streets or in the nations police stations and courtrooms, constitutional protections so cherished by the majority barely exist for most poor or black Americans. Over the past 40 years, the Supreme Court has grandly defended the principal of a race- and income-neutral system of justice. Every defendant, including the indigent, is entitled to a competent lawyer, the court has said. The exclusion of jurors on racial grounds is forbidden (Cole, 1999). The police cannot use race as a criteria for stopping, investigating or prosecuting someone. Race-based sentencing is, of course, totally unacceptable. But in a series of decisions the court has also made it virtually impossible to prove the existence of such practices on appeal, and so they permeate the criminal justice system. For instance if we look at Ohio traffic incident. After hearing a most recent case, government requests the judge to accept that the Ohio State Highway Patrol intentionally goals African-American drivers for narcotics search. When there is no odd traffic or climate situations, policemen on traffic easily manage but not halt vehicles on interstate main streets for racing when they are only passing at the pace restricted to two miles per hour. (Ratner Jason, 2001) After hearing similar testimonies as above, the Congressional Black Caucus presented a legislation to halt particular races, aiming at of Black and Latino motorists. Already approved by the House, it was waiting for Senate activity at the end of the last conference. The Traffic Stops Statistic Act of 1998 was conceived to assemble the facts and numbers to display that racial aiming at does exist (Nolan, 1997). It needs the United States advocate general to perform a study of such halts and to topic a report to Congress on them. The clues apparently displays that African-Americans are being regularly halted by policeman easily because they are Black. It is precisely this sort of unjust remedy that directs minorities to distrust the lawless individual fairness system (Rubin, 2006) For example, the court has accepted that the death penalty is applied in a racist fashion (blacks who kill whites receive it far more frequently than anyone who kills a black) (Travis, 2000). But it has demanded that racial bias be proven in each individual case, something that is almost always impossible given that judges and juries rarely express such biases overtly. The exclusion of blacks from juries is a recognized practice of prosecutors across the country. And yet the court has steadfastly upheld prosecutors right to reject jurors without giving any reason for doing so, virtually endorsing the practice. The court has set the standard for competent defense attorneys so low that even lawyers who have fallen asleep during death-penalty trials have qualified, and the court has done nothing about the financial strangulation of public-defender programmes, denying most of those accused of a crime a proper legal defense (Goodale, 2005). Police regularly sweep through poor neighborhoods stopping and searching whomever they like. Yet the court has repeatedly refused to require the police to advise people that, according to the Fourth Amendment to the constitution, everyone has a right to refuse a search unless the police have a warrant or have arrested them for a crime. So most poor people, intimidated and wary of the police, believe they have no choice but to submit (Brown, 1998). The court has permitted police so much prudence in deciding as to who will be stopped and searched that most African-Americans are despairingly familiar with the act of being stopped for driving because they are black, a crime of which white Americans are supremely not aware of. Most white people, especially the better-off, are simply not treated this way by the police. If they were, there would be a public outcry (Agamben, 1998). It is impossible to imagine the majority ever tolerating the statistics being reversedthe incarceration rate for whites being seven times that of blacks, for example. It is conceded that it is probably impossible ever to eradicate completely the advantages the economically better-off enjoy before the law. And given the number of blacks in jail, racial profiling can seem like a rational strategy for the police. First, such discrimination is itself pushing many young black men towards crime and has seriously alienated the black community (Cunningham, Herie, Martin, Turner, 1998). After all, the vast majority of black people stopped by the police are innocent of any crime. Second, the better-off majority can only enjoy sweeping constitutional rights because these are denied to the poor and black minority. If everyone had the same level of legal protection against search and seizure, the police would probably find it impossible to do their job. Nevertheless, if the United States is ever to live up to its noble ideals, it must find an answer to both these dilemmas. But first it must recognize the scale of the problem. We love to symbolize our societys commitment to equality with classical icons like Lady Justice, with her blindfold and neatly balanced scales. And we resonate with pride to the words Equal Justice under Law emblazoned over the portico of the Supreme Court. But reality shatters these illusions in the criminal justice system. The commitment to equal criminal justice in America is a mile wide and an inch deep (Cole, 1999). Discrimination on the basis of economic class also pervades the criminal-justice system. In 1964, New York Times columnist Anthony Lewis wrote a powerful book called Gideons Trumpet. Lewis celebrated the courage of Clarence Gideon, who was found guilty of a felony he did not commit, and who pleaded to the Supreme Court in a handwritten petition for an attorney to help him in his appeal (Lewis, 1964). Lewis also celebrated the generosity of Abe Fortas, later to become a justice, who argued Gideons cause before the court without a fee, and persuaded the court that the Sixth Amendment right to counsel must be extended to everyone in jeopardy of losing their liberty through a felony conviction. Lewis could not write such a book today (Lewis, 1964). What are the costs of inequality in our criminal-justice system? It is argued persuasively that people obey the law primarily because they think it is the right thing to do, not because they fear punishment. Where a community accepts the social rules as legitimate, the rules will be largely self-enforcing. Citing a 1995 Gallup poll that found that 77 percent of blacks and 45 percent of whites think that the system treats blacks more harshly than whites, it is evident that severe costs flow from this erosion of confidence that the criminal justice system is fundamentally fair (Allen, 1999). Where a community views the law as unjust, enforcement is subverted. Police find it more difficult to get leads, prosecutors find witnesses more reluctant to testify, and jurors may engage in nullification (Agamben, 1998). According to the Bureau of the Census, approximately 30 million African Americans live in the United States, comprising about 13 percent of the countrys population (Neugebauer, 2000). What is more? African-Americans commit a notably large proportion of those crimes that people fear most-heightened stabbing, theft, rape, and assassination. Disproportionate black criminality has consistently been revealed by official statistics of arrest and incarceration rates. And while these reports undoubtedly contain methodological biases that make any evaluation of black crime a precarious undertaking, Kennedy correctly points out that victim surveys (which typically involve ordinary citizens with nothing to gain by lying), as well as careful criminologists of various ideological stripes, corroborate the official statistics. They are the largest racial/ethnic minority. However, blacks, particularly young black men, perpetrate a percentage of street crime that is strikingly disproportionate to their percentage in the population. Kennedy states that in 1992, for example. 44.8 percent of all persons arrested for violent crime were black (Rubin, 2006). Racial differences relate not only to patterns of felonies but at every step of the criminal justice system as well. From incarceration to detention, from judgment to imprisonment, blacks are targeted in great numbers, a proportion incomparable to their entire number in US population. As Cole observes: The country is already at a point where three out of every four black males will be arrested, jailed, and acquire a criminal record by age 35 (Cole, 1999). Looking further, the arrest statistics are even more dismal. Data from 1990, for example, indicate that 28.9 percent of all arrests in the U.S. involved African-Americans. In 1992, there were over 14 million arrests nationally; five million of them were black males (Miller, 1996). Turning his attention to delinquency, Miller cites a 1994 study of juvenile detention decisions which indicates that, even after controlling for the influence of offense seriousness and such social factors as single-parent home. African-American youths were more likely than white youths to be detained at each decision point in the criminal justice system (Miller, 1996). In short, black teenagers are more likely to be handled formally, to be waived to adult court, and to be adjudicated delinquent. One important irony that Tony points out is that even as the black proportions of serious violent crimes remained essentially stable since the early 1980s, disproportionate incarceration rates of African-Americans have grown steadily worse, especially since Ronald Reagan became president. Conclusion Racial bias studies never completely take into account all of the legitimate factors that determine how an ease is handled, consequently, these unmeasured factors might explain a racial disparity if the factors are ones on which the races differ. Given the small disparity in the first place, such unmeasured factors become potentially important. Another questionone that frequently arises in racial bias studies that combine or aggregate samples from different states and different countiesis whether black defendants were more heavily represented in jurisdictions where sentences were possibly tougher, not just for blacks, but for whites as well. If so, combining the jurisdictions would create the appearance of a sentencing disparity even when no disparity actually exists. Because Americas races are scattered differently across jurisdictions, and jurisdictions sentence differently from one another, aggregating has an effect that is easily mistaken for racially disparate sentencing.