Language Is the Mirror of Society

Preamble: Sociolinguistics is the mirror of society. It is not presupposed. We have to mention some important feature and information to justify the comment. To prove this we should clarify some initial terms before discussing further. Sociolinguistics: Sociolinguistics is the study of the effect of any and all aspects of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context, on the way language is used, and the effects of language use on society. Sociolinguistics differs from sociology of language in that the focus of sociolinguistics is the effect of the society on the language, while the latter's focus is on the language's effect on the society. Sociolinguistics overlaps to a considerable degree with pragmatics. It is historically closely related to linguistic anthropology and the distinction between the two fields has even been questioned recently. It also studies how language varieties differ between groups separated by certain social variables, e. g. , ethnicity, religion, status, gender, level of education, age, etc. and how creation and adherence to these rules is used to categorize individuals in social or socioeconomic classes. As the usage of a language varies from place to place, language usage also varies among social classes. The social aspects of language were in the modern sense first studied by Indian and Japanese linguists in the 1930s, and also by Gauchat in Switzerland in the early 1900s, but none received much attention in the West until much later. The study of the social motivation of language change, on the other hand, has its foundation in the wave model of the late 19th century. The first attested use of the term sociolinguistics was by Thomas Callan Hodson in the title of a 1939 paper. Sociolinguistics in the West first appeared in the 1960s and was pioneered by linguists such as William Labov in the US and Basil Bernstein in the UK Society: A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Human societies are characterized by patterns of relationships (social relations) between individuals who share a distinctive culture and institutions; a given society may be described as the sum total of such relationships among its constituent members. In social sciences, a society invariably entails social stratification and/or dominance hierarchy. Insofar as it is collaborative, a society can enable its members to benefit in ways that would not otherwise be possible on an individual basis; both individual and social (common) benefits can thus be distinguished, or in many cases found to overlap. A society can also consist of like-minded people governed by their own norms and values within a dominant, larger society. This is sometimes referred to as a subculture, a term used extensively within criminology. More broadly, a society may be described as an economic, social, or industrial infrastructure, made up of a varied collection of individuals. Members of a society may be from different ethnic groups. A society can be a particular ethnic group, such as the Saxons; a nation state, such as Bhutan; or a broader cultural group, such as a Western society. The word society may also refer to an organized voluntary association of people for religious, benevolent, cultural, scientific, political, patriotic, or other purposes. A â€Å"society† may even, though more by means of metaphor, refer to a social organism such as an ant colony or any cooperative aggregate such as, for example, in some formulations of artificial intelligence. Language: The word â€Å"language† has two meanings: language as a general concept and â€Å"a language† (a specific linguistic system, e. g. â€Å"French†). Languages other than English often have two separate words for these distinct concepts. French for example uses the word langage for language as a concept and langue as the specific instance of language. When speaking of language as a general concept, several different definitions can be used that stress different aspects of the phenomenon. Language, The Social Mirror: Language is a multi-faceted phenomenon. For Chomsky, language is the human essence, a mirror reflecting the natural creativity of the mind. However, language, with its rich variation, can also be seen as a mirror reflecting the miscellaneous nature of the society or the distinct locality of a culture. In her book, Language, the Social Mirror (1982), Chaika states that language and society are so closely intertwined that it is impossible to understand one without the other (p. 1). The mutual dependence, mutual influence, and mutual shaping between language and society are inevitable. Similarly, language and culture are intimately interrelated. Instead of thinking of language and culture, Duranti (1997: 336-7), following Harry Hoijer (1953), suggests that we should think of language in culture. He further states, the linguistic system interprets all other systems within the culture. To expand this idea, we could say that language is in us as much as we are in language. This statement reminds us of linguistic relativity contained within the Whorfian Hypothesis, and at the same time suggests that language is a mirror of the society as well as culture . The following sections will look at language from a socio-cultural perspective, and point out the implications of this outlook on foreign language teaching. Language from a Sociocultural Perspective: In theoretical linguistics, uniformity is the norm; for a formal theory of language intends to reveal the regularity of forms and rules. Toward this end, linguistic data are limited to sentences (as the biggest linguistic units) taken from standard language. Generative Grammar is a perfect example of theoretical linguistics. By contrast, in the study of language in its sociocultural context, best represented by Sociolinguistics and Ethno linguistics, variation is the norm. As noted in passing, linguistic variation is better known as linguistic relativity. In the latest development of the discipline, there has been a pull-and-push tension between relativity and universality in the study of human language. In terms of degree, setting the chronological order aside, linguistic relativity is partly visible in Saussurean structuralism, quite visible in the Bloomfieldian school, highly idealized in the Humboldtian framework, strongly dominating in the Boasian tradition, and well established in the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. In our opinion, linguistic relativity is best captured by the neo-Bloomfieldian postulate: Every language is unique, structurally and culturally. Going back to the study of language in its sociocultural context, we believe that the most fruitful discussion of linguistic relativity should be related to linguistic universality. The notion of universality is very popular in the Chosmkyan school, but less popular in the Greenbergian school. The former, formulated in the theory of Universal Grammar, is essentially universality in micro-linguistics, mostly pertaining to abstract syntax. The latter, formulated in Universals and Typology (Comrie 1989), is universality measured across universal parameters in phonology, morphology and syntax, resulting in typologies across languages. While the approach in the former is more theory-driven and the approach in the latter is more data-driven, both the Chomskyan and Greenbergian schools are confined within the domain of context-free linguistics. Therefore, both types of universality are inadequate for the purpose of explaining linguistic relativity in context bound linguistics. To raise the matter of language and society we should discuss the relativity from linguistic perspectives. To the best of our knowledge, the most appropriate universal parameters to explain linguistic relativity are those proposed by Clark & Clark (1977: 516-17), a rather obscure reference since they are not theoretical linguists but scholars in Psycholinguistics. In fact, Clark & Clark do not give much elaboration to their parameters. Despite the marginal position of the following parameters in linguistic theory, they should prove very useful in explaining linguistic relativity. Universals in Human Language: a. Every language is learned by children. b. Every language is spoken and understood by adults easily and efficiently. c. Every language embodies the ideas people normally want to convey. d. Every language functions as a communicative system in a sociocultural setting. These universal parameters seem to be observation-based and hence empirically verifiable; and they are on par with the laymans definition of language, i. e. , language is a means of verbal communication. Not the structural feature but the functional nature of language is presupposed in each of these parameters. The question is: how do these universal parameters explain linguistic variation? Parameter (15) a implies that L1 acquisition is part of cultural transmission, or from the Chomskyan perspective the exposure of the LAD to primary language data. In acquiring their L1, children simultaneously acquire the sociocultural values. Parameter (15) b is true with mono-level languages, like Indonesian or English, but not necessarily true with multi-level languages, such as Balinese, Javanese, or Sundanese. It is observed that the mastery of Javanese varies considerably across speakers: all of them are fluent speakers of the ngoko low form, but not many of them, particularly among younger generations, are fluent speakers of the krama high form. The picture of prosperous society can be seen from this variation and the force is language. Parameter (15) c is universally true at the functional level, but variation occurs at the structural level and in the manner of conveying ideas. Parameter (15)d, like (15)c, is universally true with reference to a language as a whole communicative system, but languages vary structurally across cultures. The neo-Bloomfieldian postulate stated above (i. e. , every language is unique, structurally and culturally) modifies parameters (15)c and (15)d. Language as social network Language is a social phenomenon. Because language arises naturally and inevitably in all human groups, linguists study not simply the sounds, grammars and meanings of the world’s languages, but also how these languages function in their social settings. Many linguists believe that humans are genetically programmed to learn language, but it still takes social contact to turn on the switch that makes us talk. Because our social networks tend to be complex, we all use multiple versions of our native language. We may speak differently when we’re with friends, relatives or strangers; when we’re at home, in school or on the job. The context of communication — its purpose and audience — determines whether our words are spoken or written, formal or informal, full of slang or technical jargon, off-color, colorful, or colorless. The social context of communication also affects the degree to which our language approaches or avoids the norms of correctness that our speech community deems appropriate to the occasion. Social contact and social conflict both shape language. Relative changes in language due to social changes Social changes produce changes in language. This affects values in ways that have not been accurately understood. Language incorporates social values. However, social values are only the same as linguistic values when the society is a stable and unchanging one. Once society starts changing, then language change produces special effects. The use of language forms a closed loop, since it is modelled on the loop of projection and introjection. The difference between the two loops is simply that the psychological one is based on individual meanings and the linguistic one on social values. This link between language and social values is one of identity, but only as long as society is static or is evolving slowly. In a static society, the language is the society. Society is its language. The two are one. Language and society are two different systems since the structure within language centres on the static signifier whilst the structure within consciousness orientates on the dynamic signified. In times of stability the dynamic structure of consciousness is put on hold, so linguistic values and social values are one. However, as society changes so the dynamic structure gradually comes into the foreground. Perhaps it is more accurate to put this effect the other way around: as the dynamic structure of consciousness becomes accentuated, so society begins to change. Relative changes in society due to language changes: Language contains traditional values – this is what is implied in the ideas of social conditioning and social learning. In a static society, traditional values are unquestioned. Hence social learning takes the form of social conditioning. Social conditioning is the unquestioned or confused adherence to social norms, and occurs when society is taken to be self-referential. Society is the judge of its own needs. The only circumstance that normally breaks social conditioning in some degree is change. Therefore in a period of fast social change, chaos occurs as social norms are questioned, altered and perhaps even rejected. New norms are slowly generated. This chaos ensures that society can no longer be regarded as being self-referential. In this situation of chaos, language is grasped as being self-referential. Then language is no longer necessarily tied to social reality. In such times, values change as the values within language change and we may witness radical innovation in artistic genres. For example, the nineteenth century saw the focus on art for art’s sake, along with science for science's sake (neither art nor science were to be dependent of values external to themselves, such as social usefulness). Then the problem of grappling with the new possibilities of language produced the dense symbolism of Mallarme. In twentieth-century literary theory the text has become autonomous and self-contained, and/or the reader has acquired total freedom in his interpretation of the text. Language creates society: This relation is not apparent in static societies; it is easy to assume that society antedates language. Even ‘primitive’ societies are no exception. A ‘primitive’ society is one where language use is primitive, and indicates hunter-gatherer tribes – yet a tribe cannot be established until the necessary linguistic signs for authority are created. Society cannot be created until a group of people has some values in common. And values require a language to embed them and articulate them. It is language that brings people together and keeps them together. Language always precedes society. Even in small groups this relation holds: for example, in a political discussion group the people come together because they already have, or want to learn, a common political language. Some models to explain how language interacts with society: Features of society affecting language use and response may be (more or less): †¢ Static: e. g. thnicity, gender, class background †¢ Changing: e. g. education, age, social environment, attitudes and fashions †¢ Situational/contextual: e. g. immediate social situation (workplace, home, recreation, peer group, perceived formality of situation) In studying this wide field of language theory, we will find it impossible to have detailed knowledge of all social categories. We should, however, have a range of examples from different areas as shown above. We should also have a wide body of examples from a smaller range of categories – especially any on which we may be examined. We must be able to comment on language features (relevant to sociolinguistics) in these examples. Shirley Russell takes the first approach in Grammar, Structure and Style (OUP; ISBN 0-19-831179-6), looking in depth at gender, advertising and law only. George Keith and John Shuttleworth Living Language Hodder; (ISBN 0-340-67343-5) take the second – they do not identify any topic within the general subject area, but give copybook examples of how to â€Å"read† a text that embodies attitudes to society in its language use. Relationship between Education and Society To show the relation of sociolinguistics with society from educational perspective we should discuss the relationship between education and society. We have seen education in particular as a means of cultural transmission from one generation to another. The parents are the first teachers of the child and they still maintain an educative function throughout the early and formative years of the child. In most of the developing nations of the world, including Nigeria, parents are responsible for sending their children or wards to school. Since these nations are undergoing rapid socioeconomic and political changes, they witness special problems in evolving the appropriate education system, which will be able to produce the adequate manpower needs in all the segments of the society. Schools are established in many societies of the world so as to instill in the pupils those skill’s which will afford them the opportunity of taking their rightful positions in the society; but this function cannot be adequately accomplished without the assistance of the home because both the home and the school perform complimentary functions in the moral and intellectual development of the child. This means that the child cannot be educated in a vacuum or in isolation. Therefore, for a child to be educated there must be interaction between him and his physical and social environment. By this we mean that education is the development of personality. It is something which goes on both inside and outside the home and in the school. In other words, education is an activity of the whole community. This means that education is used in the transmission of the cultural values. One important implication of looking at education as the transmitter of cultural values is the fact that education can be influenced by the culture of the society in which it takes place. For this reason, one may infer that for a child to be educated, he must be influenced by his environment and, in turn, be capable of influencing it. And it is only by the concept of the continuous interaction of the individual and his society that the development of personality can be properly understood. We have noted above that education is a means through which the cultural values of a particular society are transmitted from one generation to another. Through this process, the society is able to achieve basic social conformity and ensure that its traditional values, beliefs, attitudes and aspirations are maintained and preserved. Clarks (1948) observed that a general knowledge and acceptance of the ideals and aims of our society is essential for all its citizens, and it must be achieved through education but in a form, which makes it compatible with freedom. So he reconciles the double purpose by saying that admittedly, the purpose of the educative society may be to make men conformable. But overmastering that must be the purpose to make men free. A society needs a stable and dynamic set of values and a, unified purpose. It is when this is ascertained that meaningful economic, political and social programmes can be embarked upon for ~he overall benefits of the citizens. To be a fully developed person in such a society implies full and creative membership of it with powers to change it. Ottaway (1980) contended that the transmission of culture still remains a vital function, and is not to be dismissed as merely conservative in the sense of being old-fashioned. He further observed that our children are potentially the society of the future, which still belongs to the non-social community, and education in this respect can be regarded as a socialization of the young. Education depends on the total way of life of a people in a society. This suggests that the type of education provided will differ from society to society. Besides, each society has her own norms, values and her own ideal persons who stand out clearly for the younger generations to emulate. Since all these societies are not the same, then it means that a man regarded as a hero in one society because of his contributions to educational development of the society may not be regarded as such in another society where education is not given priority in the scheme of their daily activities. It, therefore, implies that children have different people to emulate in different societies. It is logical to expect that the type of education given in each society will change from time to time as the society changes. Many writers have argued that education is one of the causes of social change in the society, but another school of thought is of the opinion, that educational change tends to follow other social changes, rather than initiate them. Ottaway (1980) observed that ideas of change originate in the minds of men; often in the mind of a single man. Exceptional individuals invent new techniques and propound new values for their society. These ideas arise from the impact of men on his culture, but do not change the culture until they are shared and transmitted by a social group. In his own submission, Boocock (1972) noted that societies undergoing rapid social change or modernization have special problems in adapting the educational system to the manpower needs of the world. They often suffer shortages of persons with special kinds of learning in engineering and other technical fields and may have difficulty in keeping persons with valuable skills once they have completed their education. Another area of the relationship between education and society is through the arrangement of the entire society into a hierarchical order that is, through the social structure in which education plays a prominent and significant role in fixing educated individuals into social classes. Ottaway (1980) observed that education is the process of preparing people to fit into this complex social structure and to play particular social roles as members of more than one institutional group. Individuals have to learn to be fathers or mothers, school teachers or civil servants, shopkeepers or priests. They have to learn to keep the law, to understand how they are governed and to be prepared to try and change the social moves when they see that they can be improved. Education as a social phenomenon is also concerned with the preparation of the child for his future occupation in life. This is one of the main economic functions of education and this is in the interest of both the society and the individual. Through education an individual knows the structure of the society and the different types of relationships that exist among those structures in the society. The child is taught how to perform different roles within the social structure in the society. These roles are inter-related. For example, the role of a father is a relational role; a father could be a son to another person. So education allows the child to perform his role adequately within the social structure in the society. In addition, the child is able to understand the network of inter-relationships among the different social institutions that make up the society. Also of importance are the different functions that are performed by each social institution in the society. Like an individual, each institution has definite functions to perform in the society and the functions of each institution differ from one to another even though they are complimentary. Another aspect of the relationship between education and society is in the area of social interaction. Social interaction may be defined as any relation between people and groups, which changes the behaviour of the people in the group. There is a need for social interaction by the child before he could acquire the culture of his society. This interaction in the society is therefore part of the child's education, provided that, that type of interaction brings about positive changes in the child's behaviour in a right direction as required by the educational system. One important point here is that the child has been taking part in group interaction long before he starts to attend school and the most common among these group interactions are within the family and the peergroup. These groups in which the child interacts give him the opportunity to learn from the wider circles in the society. From his social contacts, he learns his roles in different groups and this influences his personality development. Many sociologists have appreciated the relationship between education and society and have concluded that the two are so interrelated. That one cannot draw any line of demarcation between them. It has been observed that the educational system of any nation must be based on the needs and demands of the society and that any educational system that fails to meet the needs, aspirations and ambitions of the society is not relevant and is bound to fail. The educational system of any nation is concerned with, the transmitting of the cultural values of today to those who will live in the world of tomorrow, and contents of education must somehow strike a balance. Dubey et. al. (1984) observed that a good educational system, in all its full substance and ramifications, is related to the level of culture, industrial development, rate of urbanization, political organization, religious climate, family structure, stratification and other institutions of the total social system. Finally, education has to fulfill both the individual's needs and those of the society and must keep pace with other sub-systems in the society, as both variables are inter-related. Economy affects by language and society: By trying to detect evidence of the presence of the principle of linguistic economy in Early Modern English works, it was noted that most of the texts scrutinized and dealt with in this paper present the English language as a simple language to learn, made up of easy expressions and governed by few grammatical rules, which have undergone, in the course of many centuries, an ven more conspicuous simplification:  «the English Language is perhaps of all the present European languages by much the most simple in its form and construction This characteristic results from gradual linguistic changes, but it can also be traced back to the very nature of the English language and its speakers; English people are depicted as savers ( «we are a people very sparing of our wo rds, and even of our syllables »: White 1761:29), who avoid excessive efforts to communicate:  «we have a fondness for Abbreviations, and that fills our language with many Monosyllables » (Collyer 1735:68). Moreover, the monosyllabic nature of the lexicon is often underlined:  «monosyllables are very numerous in our English Tongue, that. s why it is an easy Tongue to write and to speak » (Aickin 1693:30). A lot of remarks concern the use of several abbreviations, or the lack of morphological endings that usually indicate syntactic connections, or again the purity and elegance of its construction, all aspects that indicate economy and saving as beneficial, almost peculiar characteristics of the language. Some of the most important aspects coming out of the analysis of the texts will be now considered and investigated, in order to emphasize the presence or the absence of the concept of economy in the observations collected; the related comments will be classified by linguistic levels. Conclusion: The whole discussion brought the vicegerency of language, society, economy, education, culture and so on among them. One is representative of another. Overall contributions make the society and sociolinguistics analyze the role of each individual element. We can strongly take apart to accept sociolinguistics as the mirror of the society. REFERENCES †¢ Wikipedia, the free world encyclopedia. †¢ Ronald Wardhaugh: An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. †¢ Becker, Alton L. 1995. Beyond Translation: Essays toward a Modern Philology. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press. †¢ Brown, Douglas H. 1994. Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy. New Jersey: Prentice Hall Regents. †¢ Brown, Penelope & Levinson, Stephen C. 1987. Politeness: Some universals in language use. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press †¢ Chaika, Elaine. 1982. Language the Social Mirror. London: Newbury House Publishers, Inc. †¢ Chaudhary, Nandita. 2004. Listening to Culture: Constructing Reality from Everyday Talk. New Delhi: Sage Publications. †¢ Chomsky, Noam. 1972. Language and Mind (Enlarged Edition). San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Publishers. †¢ Clark, Herbert H. & Clark, Eve V. 1977. Psychology and Language: An Introduction to †¢ Psycholinguistics. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers. †¢ Comrie, Bernard. 989. Language Universals and Linguistic Typology (second edition. ) The University of Chicago Press. †¢ Duranti, Alessandro. 1997. Linguistic Anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. †¢ Finochiaro, Mary. 1974. English as a Second Language: From Theory to Practice. New York: Regents Publishing Co. †¢ Blakemore, K. and Cooksey, B. (1981). A Sociology of Education for Africa. London: George Allen & Unwin. †¢ Boocock, S. (1972). An Introduction to the Sociology of Learning. New York: Houghton Mifflin. †¢ Clarke, F. (1948). Freedom in the Educative Society London: University Press. †¢ Dubey, D. L. et. al (1984). An Introduction to the Sociology of Nigerian Education. London: Macmillan. †¢ Durkheim, E. (1961). Moral Education, English Translation. London: Free Press. †¢ Havighurst, R. J. (1960). Education, Social Mobility and Social Change in Four Societies. Homewood, III: Dorsey Press. The assignment prepared and submitted by the following students:- |SL |Full Name |Batch |Full ID No. | |01 |Md. Harun-or Rashid |4th |BAEEM04081007 | |02 |S. M. Ahsanul Karim |4th |BAEEM04081004 | |03 |Khandakar Mahbul Alam |4th |BAEEM04081004 | |04 |Iqbal Hosen |5th |BAEEM05082004 | |05 |Arshadul Haque |6th |BAEEM06083001 | |06 |Kamruzzaman |6th |BAERM05082078 | |07 |Nazrul Islam |4th |BAERM01081004 | |08 |Md Abul Kalam Azad |7th |BAEEM07091013 | |09 |Md. Mahfuzur Rahman Hydar |8th |BAEEM08092003 | |10 |Md. Abu Taher |7th |BAEEM07091007 | |11 |Md. Niaz Morshed |7th |BAEEM07091060 | |12 |Md. Faruk Hossain |7th |BAEEM07091023 | |13 |Md. Mun-uddin |7th |BAEEM07091006 | |14 |Rafiqul Islam Akanda |10th |BAERM10101015 | |15 |Mohammad Mamun Miah |10th |BAERM10101046 | |16 |Md. Asad Ullah |10th |BAERM10101045 | |17 |Md. Rosul Amin |4th |BAEEM04081002 | |18 |Md. Ujjal Sheikh |6th |BAEEM06083005 | |19 | | | | |20 | | | | |21 | | | | |22 | | | | |23 | | | | |24 | | | | |25 | | | | |26 | | | | |27 | | | |

Madcap CraftBrew and Bottleworks Company Case Analysis

As this case study begins, Madcap Craftbrew & Bottleworks, Inc. finds itself at the crossroads of having to make critical strategic marketing and promotional decisions regarding its Zebra beer brand.   In this paper, the situation will be evaluated in-depth, and courses of action will be chosen based on the analysis of the available data Problem Statement The problem facing Madcap at the present time is the fact that despite positive consumer feedback and strong results in test markets, the Zebra brand is not as profitable as it could/should be in order to generate sufficient revenues (Rosenthal & Twells, 1999). Primary Critical Issues Madcap has to contend with several primary critical issues, some of which are inherent in the craft brewing industry, as well as some that are unique to Madcap itself.   In summary, these issues are as follows (Rosenthal & Twells, 1999) : Microbrew drinkers are typically not brand loyal, making the development of a strong core market difficult Only a small percentage of beer drinkers are microbrew drinkers Beverage distributors usually do not like to stock large quantities of craft/microbrews in their retail locations, which results in less product available for sale, which keeps volume sales low The Zebra brand is not widely recognized, nor does a large marketing budget exist Current packaging characteristics (the painted bottle, imported from Mexico) have been causing production delays and prompting concerns from retailers who place a higher value on beers with paper labels on the bottles Zebra is priced lower than competitors such as Sam Adams, placing it in a lower perceived value category than competitors’ brews Evaluation of Alternatives Given the challenges posed by the microbrew industry itself, as well as the practical options available to Madcap, the following alternatives, and the viability of each, are as follows: Employ the new marketing strategy that has been successful in Bloomington test marketing efforts, which includes lower product pricing, more distributor incentives, and more advertising expenditures Continue with the current positioning and marketing strategy Proposed Course of Action The course of action that Madcap should take in this situation, from a strictly strategic point of view, is the employment of the Bloomington plan, with the exception of price adjustments.   This choice was made for several key reasons: first, the unconventional and volatile nature of the microbrew industry demands forward thinking and creative marketing; second, price point should be evaluated to avoid pricing the product in such a way as to lower its perceived value in the eye of the consumer.   These strategies hold the potential to achieve the desired goals of Madcap in the short and long term. References (Rosenthal & Twells, 1999) (Rosenthal D W Twells R W 1999 Madcap Braftbrew & Bottleworks Inc: Zebra Beer-It's Not All Black and White)Rosenthal, D. W., & Twells, R. W. (1999). Madcap Craftbrew & Bottleworks Inc: Zebra Beer-It's Not All Black and White. Richard T. Farmer School of Business Administration, North American Case Research Association.      

Etiquette and Sophistication

Sue Lees Eng. 0300 HCCS-Katy Center 4/4/2012 Definition Essay Elegance in Modern Society Sophistication is the quality of refinement a person acquires with the course of life. You don’t acquire this status, privilege, or superiority over night; it takes time. People are not born with this status. Sophistication is not necessarily wealth or materialistic items, as for displaying good taste, wisdom, and good manners. People who have highly developed in society and showing worldly experience and taste in matters of culture or fashion.People who have sophistication have good taste, whether it is in their clothes, hair styles, or accessories is always being watched by society. Their appearance is neat and fashionable; not to say the clothes are expensive. Their hair is styled to what is in for that season, year, decade with an elegant poise. The woman’s hairstyle is secure in place with no fly away hair. Men of this status tend to have neatly cut and shaved, trimmed mustache s and beards. Also, women of sophistication tend to have artificial nails as well as men’s manicures and pedicures for both gender.Good manners are another quality of sophistication. People who respect others and their feelings show signs of sophistication. Another example of good manners are showing respect to your elders. Table etiquette, not chewing or talking with mouth open, is a sign of good table manners. People with sophistication do not use slang words, they use proper English to pronounce words. Finally, people of a sophistication status have wisdom. Book smart people with a degree or certificate are known a sophisticated.Also, people who display signs of sophistication require street smarts, also known as common sense. Additionally, someone with sophistication should have the knowledge of technology in personal computers. In conclusion, sophistication might be described as the ability to cope gracefully in a situation, but in modern society it is a combination of q ualities, such as good manners, wisdom, and good taste. Reaching the qualities of sophistication that are mentioned takes a process that is learned with life’s experience, education, and the way to carry and present yourself with poise and elegance.

Russian and Iraqi Relations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Russian and Iraqi Relations - Essay Example Russia needed cold hard cash and Iran needed replacement arms. Munition sales were estimated at $1 billion in sales and 1992 registering even greater amounts. Russia was experiencing extreme pressure from the US to stop the sales and Russia did, to an extent, delay delivery of munitions. However, Russia stated that they viewed Iran as a friendly neighbour and needed to look after their own interests. Russia publicly agreed that they did not want to sanction any arms build up in the Middle East but the country was sure such was not the case in Iran. Tensions in Moscow began to rise as Iran began to interject itself into Azerbaijan shortly followed by visits to nine other states in the region. Regardless of this Russia signed a major deal to assist in the development of the Iran nuclear program. Relations continued to deteriorate and Russia, at this point, determined that it would honour its open arms contracts with Iran but would not enter into new contracts. However, contention remained between the US and Russia over the Russian involvement in the Iranian Nuclear Program. Moscow continually asserted that they were not supplying missile technology; however, despite Russia's unwillingness to assist with their missile project in July of 1998 Iran successfully test fired their first missile with the assistance of Pakistan, North Korea and China. Tensions of the nuclear program continued to grow and the strain began to be felt more and more on US/Russian relations. Another area of concern in the Mid East for the US was the possible resumption of relations between Iraq and Russia. The sanctions placed against Iraq were closely followed by the economic loss felt by Russia while bowing to western pressure. Russia held over $10 billion dollars of Iraqi debt which Iraq was at current unable to repay. Still Russia was eager to build solid relations in the Mid East region. As the author states Russia's motivation to build relations in the Arab world were to: "ensure Russia's national security; Prevent the spread of political and military fires in the Middle East to the increasingly unstable regions of the Caucasus and Central Asia; and make use of the potential in the Arab states t help solve Russia's economic problems." Russia did make headway in 1993 when it signed an agreement with Kuwait offering military cooperation which later led to $750 million in arms sales followed by UAE sales reported to be near $3 billion. However, arms sales were disappointing to the Russians in the Gulf area and they desperately needed hard cash. In April of 1993 the Russian parliament speaker Ruslan Khasbulatov sent an emissary to Iraq in an attempt to renew the relations the two countries has shared prior to the invasion of Kuwait. In secret meetings Iraq sought Russia's help in getting UN sanctions against the country removed. In exchange for the request to gradually lift the sanctions Iraq was to publicly assert the sovereignty of Kuwait. In the midst of these negotiations Iraq, much to the embarrassment of the Russians, sent its troops to the Kuwait border. However, maintaining their presence the Russian's continued to champion Iraq's cause by offering to oversee compliance by Iraq during the six month lifting of sanctions and again asserted that Iraq was prepared to

ASSUME YOU ARE PART OF THE SENIOR MANAGEMENT OF LARGE FIRM WITH A Research Paper

ASSUME YOU ARE PART OF THE SENIOR MANAGEMENT OF LARGE FIRM WITH A SPECIFIED NAICS(NORTH AMERICAN INDUSTRY CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM - Research Paper Example The Smithsonian Institute The Smithsonian Institute can be one of the best targets of the construction firm to present contracting opportunities. It was founded in 1846 and considered the world’s largest museum and research complex which consists a total of 19 museums and galleries, 9 research facilities and the National Zoological Park (About Us, 2011). There are a continuous researches conducted in the institute thus one of the best opportunity is to offer a construction of a new research building or facility complex. The Smithsonian Institute conducts research around themes such as atmospheric processes, ecosystem dynamics observing natural and anthropogenic environmental change on daily to decadal time scales, and defining longer term climate proxies present in the historical artifacts and records of the museums as well as in the geologic record at field sites (Principal Areas of Focus, 2008). Thus, as a firm who offers commercial and institutional building construction, w e can present to them a really good opportunity to add a facility to their institute. The New Line of Business Given the big opportunity to this very important client, we can also offer line of business to make the most out of the opportunity given to us. The firm could develop a new line of business such as supplying air conditioner and services to take advantage of the opportunity in the Smithsonian contract. Offering this new business line or product line, the firm should know the number of buildings and facilities that the Smithsonian Institute has. Providing a new recommendation of supplying air conditioner and services, the firm must collect data about the current electricity bill and consumption, history and present condition of the existing air conditioners of the institute, terms and condition with the present supplier, and contract price with the current supplier. The firm should know all these information to make sure that they can provide a really good marketing strategy such as giving a cheaper contract price, ensuring good and reliable air conditioners and speedy services, and the possible cost reduced when they acquire our new line of product or service. The firm must ensure that they can provide products and services at a very reasonable price. The firm is mainly responsible for responsible for the construction of commercial and institutional buildings and related structures, such as stadiums, grain elevators, and indoor swimming pools (236220Â  Commercial and Institutional Building Construction, 2011). The services provided by the firm will be a great opportunity for this new line of business. Each building needs proper ventilation. Almost all the buildings that we can see around us have air conditioners. Thus, a construction firm can introduce new line of business such as supplying air conditioner to each new building that the firm constructs. They can offer a cheaper contract price with the clients if they avail of the service. What can be better than constructing and supplying a nearly complete facility, a building with proper ventilation? Department of Homeland Security The Department of Homeland security has a vital purpose of keeping America safe and to secure the nation from the threats and any forms of terrorization. The department requires a lot of people responsible from aviation and border security to emergency response and even from cybersecurity in charged to a chemical inspector. One of the main goals of the

Aspect Hypothesis in Relation to Languages Essay

Aspect Hypothesis in Relation to Languages - Essay Example In addition to this, the types and sub types of aspect hypothesis will be established and for each, several examples of inherent, as well as, grammatical aspects in English and Arabic will be provided. A further explanation will be offered to clarify on why the chosen examples, in addition to, how these examples relate to each other.Considering the literal Arabic (Ø §Ã™â€žÃ™ Ã˜ µÃ˜ ­Ã™â€°, al-Fusha), the research of the findings of the research conducted by Barber indicates that the verb is constituted by two aspect tenses (532). These constituents include both the perfective as well as the imperfective. However, there are quite a number of controversial disagreements among the grammarians and, as such, they do not agree as to whether a distinction should be viewed as distinction in aspect or tense or even both. In English, what is considered as the past verb ((Ù Ã˜ ¹Ã™â€ž Ù…Ø §Ã˜ ¶Ã™Å , fi'l maadiy) is used to denote a particular verb (Ø ­Ã˜ ¯Ã˜ «, hadath), which was comple ted a long time ago or even in the near past (Barber 536). However, it indicates nothing regarding the relation of this event that took place in the past to the present status. One of the best examples to illustrate this is the phrase† he arrived† (ÙˆØ µÃ™â€ž", wasala). The phrase was a clear indication of the arrival occurring in the past (Ayres 29). However, it does not provide any sort of information regarding the present status of the person who has arrived (Altman 589). It may be that the person stayed around or he turned and left. In addition to this, the phrase does not indicate.

Water Pollution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Water Pollution - Essay Example Sadly, perhaps with no thought of its great value, some people unknowingly, or even knowingly, contaminate sources of this precious commodity. In some instances, such contaminations have left behind irreversible damage to the already diminishing supply. At this point, it is worth saying that this vital yet often ignored resource is water. Water pollution is a major challenge facing the world today.  All life is dependent on water, implying that there can be no life without water. Although earth is largely covered with water, it is sad that only a small percentage can be consumed. USGS.gov report revealed that only 1% of the earth’s water can be consumed by humans, 99% of which is groundwater and only 1% being lake/river water. The unusable water is either saline, or frozen in ice caps/glaziers, or is ocean water. With only a small portion being consumable, it would be prudent that this meager resource is kept as safe as possible. This is sadly not the case. Every day the mea ger sources of consumable water are depleted, thanks to acts of pollution. Such pollution occurs with or without realization. Water pollution is defined as the addition of harmful foreign elements (pollutants) to consumable water. This presentation seeks to highlight the various causes of water pollution.  Water pollution refers to the contamination of water bodies such as rivers, lakes, aquifers, oceans, and groundwater. It occurs when pollutants are directly or indirectly discharged into water bodies without adequate treatment to remove harmful compounds.  In numerous parts of the world mainly the developing countries, water pollution is a widespread menace which has profound impacts on the aesthetic characteristics of the environment, the health of the consumers of the polluted water and the economic and social wellbeing the inhabitants of these areas in general.  

Substance use Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Substance use - Essay Example It appears that availability of opioids and subcultural factors are key in opioid use† (Encylopedia of Mental Disorders par. 19). In recent times, opioid abuse has increased through being given routine 30-day prescriptions for opioids as painkillers for illnesses requiring only a day or two for the pain to subside (Kluger par.2). 2. Give some examples of the use of hallucinogenic plants or drugs in connection with religious practices. The article on hallucinogens published in Medical Discoveries indicates that hallucinogenic plants or drugs have been used in connection with religious practices. (1) â€Å"Medicine men, shamans, and other spiritual leaders have used natural hallucinogens found in plants and mushrooms since ancient times, believing in their power to help contact the spiritual world or mystical beings for guidance in serving their people† (par. 4); (2) â€Å"In Mexico, mushrooms called Psylocybe mexicana, which contain the fungi psilocybin and psilocin, hav e been used in religious rituals since the time of the Aztec civilization† (par. 6); (3) â€Å"Peyote is the only psychedelic agent that has been authorized by the federal government for limited use during Native American religious ceremonies† (par. 7). 3.

ACT 23 The US Govenment and the Economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

ACT 23 The US Govenment and the Economy - Essay Example According to the model, C indicates consumption by consumers, X and M represent exports and imports respectively. The ‘I’ and ‘G’ represent government investment and government spending respectively. It is impossible to compute the GDP without considering the government’s investment in the public sector and its spending. Government’s investments take the form of gross capital formation and final consumption expenditure. For example, government investment in gross capital formation entails investing on projects that ought to derive future benefits to the public such as infrastructure. On the other hand, investments on final consumption entail purchasing goods and services that ought to satisfy the public’s immediate needs. The government’s spending forms the third component of the GDP model. Spending in this case refers to the act of obtaining and releasing money to the economy. Such a phenomenon is referred to as the fiscal policy. The government controls the monetary system through treasury bonds and bills. The government sells the treasury bonds and bills to the public to reduce the amount of funds in the economy. On the other hand, the government may buy the treasury bonds and bills from the public to increase the amount of funds in the economy. As such, the government controls the flow of money by trading on the treasury bonds and bills. The government’s role in the economy should not cease. In fact, its role ought to increase. This is possible through the monetary policy. The government has control over the flow of funds in the economy. In addition, the flow of funds in the economy dictates economic growth. However, such flow ought to be kept at a manageable level to avoid inflation or slow economic growth in the case of excessive funds and a deficit respectively. The government ought to apply stringent measures to control how commercial banks implement the monetary policy. The public ought to access funds at a

Globalization of the clothing industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Globalization of the clothing industry - Essay Example Moreover, movement of goods, services and capital has been made easy through globalization, and it has hugely influenced different sectors including the clothing industry. Globalization in the clothing industry is defined as the movement of textile products from one part of the world or location to the other through fashion, exhibition, apparel, showcasing or designing (Timmerman 3). It does not necessarily mean physical actions, but sharing of ideas or clothing from different parts of the world. There are numerous debates among scholars, countries, and investors on the beneficiaries and impacts of globalization in the clothing industry. Today, different fashions are available at the consumers doorstep due to globalization. Clothes produced by American firms are available in China, African and every corner of the world. In turn, it has negative and positive impacts on consumers, and domestic clothing industries. This paper will outline effects of globalization of the clothing industry on factories and employees in the United States, as well as on the consumers. Globalization of the clothing industry has provided opportunities for factories in the United States to outsource for cheaper labor from developing or emerging economies and countries. Many US clothing industries are outsourcing their marketing, manufacturing, and other duties to less developed nations, where the currency differences favor them (Timmerman 40). US companies find cheap labor because of outsourced services, and this makes them complete manufacturing at half the home or domestic price. Therefore, most US clothing companies have established manufacturing units in less developed nations such as China, Bangladesh, and India in order to produce goods at low prices. Many US factories have gained from globalization of the clothing industry, because they benefit from outsourcing thus gaining enormous profits. Similarly, globalization of the

Ap English- the Jungle by Upton Sinclair Essay Example for Free

Ap English- the Jungle by Upton Sinclair Essay The wedding between Jurgis and Ona is an epitome of the various problems in Packingtown. The way the saloon keeper took advantage of the couple is representative of the dishonesty and thievery from the surrounding society. The crowd stranded outside the wedding symbolizes the helpless and hungry inhabitants of Packingtown. When the newlyweds allowed these people into the wedding they quickly transformed into an â€Å"every man for themselves† perspective. In retrospect, the disregard for others that thrived in the society by not providing a money donation to the bride and groom was prevalent. The wedding demonstrates the struggle of Packingtown’s society as well as the future it forces upon its citizens. 2. Vivid Imagery: †¢Ã¢â‚¬Å"These bare places were grown up with dingy, yellow weeds, hiding innumerable tomato-cans, innumerable children played upon them, chasing one another here and there, screaming and fighting. † This excerpt describes the area in which the children would play. Sinclair uses words like, â€Å"dingy† to emphasize the situation in which the kids grew up in. â€Å"One wondered about this, as also about the swarms of flies which hung about the scene, literally blackening the air, and the strange, fetid odor which assailed ones nostrils, a ghastly odor, of all the dead things of the universe. † Here Sinclair depicts the horrible situations that people had to deal with when living in Packingtown. When Sinclair talks about the flies blackening the sky, the reader is able to make a mental image of how awful the conditions wer e. †¢Ã¢â‚¬Å"One with a swift stroke cut the throat; another with two swift strokes severed the head, which fell to the floor and vanished through a hole. Another made a slit down the body; a second opened the body wider , a third with a saw cut the breast-bone; a fourth loosened the entrails; a fifth pulled them out — and they also slid through a hole in the floor. † In this passage Sinclair gives the reader a grotesque image of the working areas in Packingtown. The crude images are very descriptive and add a sense of reality to the story. †¢Ã¢â‚¬Å"Little by little the scene grew plain: towering, black building here and there, long rows of shops and sheds, little railways branching everywhere, bare gray cinders under foot and oceans of billowing black smoke above. While describing the steel mill’s surroundings, Sinclair uses a metaphor to emphasize the environment around the building, â€Å"†¦oceans of billowing black smoke above. † †¢Ã¢â‚¬Å"†¦deafening thunder, and whistles shrieked warnings on all sides of him at once; where miniature steam-engines came rushing upon him, and sizzling, q uivering, white-hot masses of metal sped past him, and explosions of fire and flaming sparks dazzled him and scorched his face. † When describing the inner parts of the steel mills, Sinclair uses sensory words to grab the reader’s attention. Words like, â€Å"deafening†, â€Å"shrieked†, â€Å"sizzling†, â€Å"white-hot masses†, â€Å"dazzled† and â€Å"scorched,† add to the mental image portrayed when reading this passage. †¢Ã¢â‚¬Å"†¦by the stage, he saw the stage, he saw three giant caldrons, big enough for all the devils of hell to brew their broth in, full of something white and blinding, bubbling and splashing, roaring as if volcanoes were blowing through it—one had to shout to be heard in the place. †In this selection the author uses very descriptive language to increase the impact of the scene. â€Å"The devils of hell to brew their broth,† this statement is very intense and strong. It is showing the ways of the steel mill as a hell-like place. †¢Ã¢â‚¬Å"†¦there fell a pillar of white flame, dazzling as the sun, swishing like a huge tree in the forest. † This example shows how the author is able to use similes to validate the image. With his descriptive words the reader is able to picture the situation clearly. †¢Ã¢â‚¬Å" Out of regions of wonder it streamed, the very river of life; and the soul leaped up at the sight of it, fled back upon it, swift and restless, back into far-off lands, where beauty and terror dwell. † This passage is very dramatic. The way Sinclair masterfully creates an image of a â€Å"river of life† and â€Å"the soul leaped up at the sight† is incredible. He is able to give the reader a front row perspective when reading the section. †¢Ã¢â‚¬Å"So amid deafening uproar it clattered to and fro, growing thinner and flatter and longer. The ingot seemed almost a living thing; it did not want to run this mad course, but it was in the grip of fate, it was tumbled upon, screeching and clanking and shivering in protest. † In this passage the author uses personification to describe the steel mill workplace. When uses this literary term he leaves the reader with a strong image of the steel mill. He gives the ingot a personality and emotion. †¢Ã¢â‚¬Å"By and by it was long and thin, a great red snake escaped from purgatory; and then, as it slid through the rollers, you would have sworn that it was alive — it writhed and squirmed, and wriggles and shudders passed out through its tail, all but flinging it off by their violence. † This last quote adds to the personification of the ingot. The personification used here is a clear example of Sinclair’s mind thinking, and creativity. The words used here that add to the imagery are, â€Å"squirmed†, â€Å"wiggled†, â€Å"flinging. † All of these words create vivid imagery for the reader. 3. Sympathy: †¢Ã¢â‚¬Å"Then suddenly her eyes opened one instant. One instant she looked at him there was a flash of recognition between them†¦. she faded from him, she slipped back and she was gone. † In this passage Sinclair uses emotion to pull the reader in. He gives the readers a sign of hope when Ona opens her eye, then he crushes them down when saying she is gone. The reader feels the emotion that Jurgis is feeling when dealing with the death of his wife because of Sinclair’s way of making his words into reality. †¢Ã¢â‚¬Å"He clutched her hands, he shook her, he caught her in his arms and pressed her to him; but she lay cold and still—she was gone—she was gone! † In this passage Sinclair emphasizes the emotion of Jurgis by repeating his last few words. His use of alliteration adds an echo to an intense scene. †¢Ã¢â‚¬Å"He gripped his hands and set his teeth together—he had not wept, and he would not—not a tear! It was past and over, and he was done with it—he would fling it off his shoulders, be free of it. † In this passage Jurgis just found out about the death of Antanas. Jurgis does not want to deal with reality, so he ignores the fact that his son is dead. This makes the reader feel sympathy towards Jurgis in his attempt to evade the truth. †¢Ã¢â‚¬Å"It should go like a black, hateful nightmare, and in the morning he would be new man. And every time that a thought assailed him—a tender memory, a trace of a tear—he rose up, cursing with rage, and pounded it down. This passage is another example of Jurgis’ persistency. His urge to avoid the situation gives the reader an upfront perspective. †¢Ã¢â‚¬Å"There should be no more tears and no more tenderness; he had had enough of them—they had sold him into slavery. † This passage helps the reader understand the struggles that Jurgis has had to deal with while in Packingtown. †¢Ã¢â‚¬Å" So he went on, tearing up all the flowers from the garden of his soul, and setting his heel upon them. † This passage uses an emotional metaphor to enhance the reader’s point of view. Using flowers as Jurgis’ happiness, and saying that he has pulled them out and stomped on them, shows how depressed Jurgis is. †¢Ã¢â‚¬Å"Then, too, his health came back to him, all his lost youthful vigor, his joy and power that he had mourned and forgotten! It came with a sudden rush, bewildering him, startling him; it was as if his dead childhood had come back to him, laughing and calling! † This side of Jurgis is not recognized by the reader. His emotion here is so happy and excited that it gives the reader hope that Jurgis isn’t all bad. 4. Naturalism: â€Å"They had put him behind bars, as if he had been a wild beast, a thing without sense or reason, without rights, without affections, without feelings. † The author is comparing Jurgis to a wild animal. This is ironic because in Jurgis’ job he had to kill wild animals and enclose them. †¢Ã¢â‚¬Å"They could tell the whole hateful story of it, set forth the inner soul of a city in which ju stice and honor, women’s bodies and men’s souls were for sale in the market-place, and human beings writhed and fought and fell upon each other like wolves in a pit. † Sinclair compares people to fighting wolves. The beastly characteristics of wolves give the reader an image of hostility between people in society. †¢Ã¢â‚¬Å"He nodded to her, and she came and sat by him, and they had one more drink, and then he went upstairs into a room with her, and the wild beast rose up within him and screamed, as it has screamed in the jungle from the dawn of time. † This passage is interesting because it is comparing Jurgis to an animal in the jungle. And it is ironic because the jungle is the title of the book. 5. In chapter 21, Jurgis is struggling to find his sense of stability. There is an excerpt where Sinclair proves this by writing, â€Å"To a man whose whole life had consisted of doing one certain thing all day, until he was so exhausted that he could only lie down and sleep until the next day—and to be now his own master, working as he pleased and when he pleased, and facing a new adventure every hour! † This passage shows the reader that Jurgis is finding a new way of life and realizing that he doesn’t always have to follow what the norm is. In contrast to the way of Packingtown, Jurgis’ new way of life is free and pleasant. Another contrasting issue is how Jurgis starts the book as a strong headed man. He is working hard for his family and their needs. He is positive that America will help his family and only add to their happiness. By the end of the book Jurgis has no family. America took away the only two people in his life that he loved. He begins to lose trust in people and starts to slowly become a dark and hateful man. 6. Diction: â€Å"Just what,† answered the other, â€Å"would be the productive capacity of society if the present resources of science were utilized, we have no means of ascertaining; but we may be sure it would exceed anything that would sound reasonable to minds inured to the ferocious barbarities of Capitalism. The diction used here is describing capitalism as â€Å"ferocious barbarities. † Sinclair is straight to the point when defending his opinion of being against capitalism and for socialism. Vivid Imagery: It was a monster devouring with a thousand mouths, trampling with a thousand hoofs; it was the Great Butcher — it was the spir it of Capitalism made flesh. Upon the ocean of commerce it sailed as a pirate ship; it had hoisted the black flag and declared war upon civilization. In this passage Sinclair uses intense images to enhance his opinion on Capitalism. He only thinks of Capitalism as a bad way of life with no positives. When reading the passage the reader is able to see Capitalism as a ship, sailing on the ocean, and trying to corrupt society. Juxtaposition: The working-man was to fix his hopes upon a future life, while his pockets were picked in this one; he was brought up to frugality, humility, obedience, — in short to all the pseudo-virtues of capitalism. The destiny of civilization would be decided in one final death-struggle between the Red International and the Black, between Socialism and the Roman Catholic Church; while here at home, the stygian midnight of American evangelicalism —Sinclair puts his two opposing societies in the same paragraph to emphasize his point of view. 7. In the beginning of this book Jurgis saw the stockyards as a way to get a better life for him and his family. The stockyards were Jurgis’ backbone, the main supplier of survival. When the stockyards began to reveal the truth of society, Jurgis realized he was doomed. The stockyards developed into Jurgis’ enemy. They took over his life and began to control it. He was forced to work there in order to survive, even though it disgusted him and sometimes hurt him. In the book it says, â€Å"When Jurgis had first come to the stockyards he had been as clean as any working-man could well be. But later on, what with sickness and cold and hunger and discouragement, and the filthiness of his work, and the vermin in his home, he had given up washing in winter, and in summer only as much of him as would go into a basin. † This shows how Jurgis was dependent of the stockyards, and how the stockyards neglected his needs. 8. Upton Sinclair was trying to get sympathy for the workers in Packingtown. He wanted to show the public what conditions were like and how workers suffered. He also wanted to start a socialistic movement, where society would avoid capitalism and head for socialism. But he actually only made readers want to not eat manufactured food. His descriptive scenes showed the readers the true essence of a factory. His vivid imagery, instead of getting sympathy, started a food purity movement. This book influenced people to start the FDA (Food and Drug Administration). Part 2 QA: 1. Chicago 2. Buying the house 3. Phil Conner 4. Jack Duane 5. Prostitute. QUOTES: â€Å"I will work harder† – This quote is signifying constant determination that Jurgis possesses and his fear of failure. It’s significant throughout the entire book because he is always trying to make a better life for his family and loved ones and yet he continues to fail. â€Å"I did not want—to do it,† she said, â€Å"I tried—I tried not to do it. I only did it—to save us. It was our only chance. † – This shows the pure desperation of Ona’s family and their struggle to withhold a decent life. The author uses pathos to appeal to the reader’s emotion as he emphasizes their pitiful situation. In their oppressive society liberty and humanity are diminished. â€Å"It’s the second time they’ve sent me up on a trumped charge—I’ve had hard luck and can’t pay them what they want. Why don’t you quit Chicago with me Jurgis? † – This quote shows how Jurgis is ready to disregard morals and leave his life. He wants a different and better life. He is thinking about leaving Chicago and the cruel ways of the Packingtown. â€Å"When people are starving,† the other continued, â€Å"and they have anything with a price, they ought to sell it, I say. I guess you realize it now when it’s too late. Ona could have taken care of us all, in the beginning. † – This quote shows the desperation created in capitalistic system. In order to survive, the abandonment or morality and self-respect is necessary. People need to go with the system and evade original ideas. Sinclair also brings up Ona’s death to make the reader feel sorry for the family. â€Å"You know what to do about it—vote the socialistic ticket! † – This quotes juxtaposition to a paragraph that briefly displays some of the flaws in a socialistic community. It’s basically saying that socialism is the way to go. Essay Questions: 1. When people think of a jungle, they imagine struggle, hardships, a dog eat dog society, where the fittest flourish. The predator and prey in Packingtown also exemplifies the title. The ruthless winters and unsanitary conditions of Packingtown illustrate the primitive ways of a jungle. 2. No this book is not an effective piece of persuasive writing. Throughout the book Sinclair talks about the flaws of capitalism without any solutions. When socialism is finally brought up Jurgis is already starting to have a better life and doesn’t need socialism to save him. Therefore defeating the purpose. . This book should be taught in schools. Many pros of it are that it was written by an American. Also it accurately represents America at the time. Finally the main family live in America and has to deal with the struggle most families in America, at that time, had to deal with. In retrospect, the book contrast with traditional American values and beliefs. Also it pulls a negative quilt ove r the American system, portraying it as a desperate society that is in need of a change. Finally it refutes the American dream by showing death and depression in an â€Å"American family†.

Social Issues Essay Example for Free

Social Issues Essay 1) What social issues do I feel strongly about? I feel strongly that the minimum wage should be raised because the lower class will be able to provide for themselves and their families.The government feels the lower your class, the lower the cost of living , which is not necessarily true. I think that it’s more expensive to live in a lower class area.For example in Dayton,Ohio, the cost of living is â€Å"low† as opposed to Atlanta,Georgia, and the high expense of living. At the wage it is at they will never be able to rise out of the poverty stricken levels. It seems like the cost of living and food is steady rising but the pay is slowing rising. Companies are making millions and even billions and its employees are barely able to make a decent living, while the higher ups need to take a pay cut. Employees who make minimum wage have a much higher stress load and are at the crossroads between paying the light bill or putting food on the table. Then you have the higher ups who seems to only have to decide where they want to go for vacation or what new car or house to buy. 2) How do I go about solving personal problems? When I need to solve a personal problem I try to first figure out what is causing the issue and what I can do to eliminate it. If that doesn’t help I seek help from family and friends who have the same issue or issues. I try to find someone who has experience and ask them what they have done to help them out. I also seek help from professional doctors, therapists, instructors and or counselors. I understand that some problems will not go away on their own or overnight so I make sure to not get overwhelmed. It was suggested that I take it one problem , one step and one day at a time. I have also learned that writing in journal or notebook has helped as well. I believe that listening to music and meditating are also great ways to reduce stress and solve problems. A lot of people tend to use violence as away to escape there problems. I on the other hand am totally against violence unless its really called for. When I feel overwhelmed, frustrated, angry,  stressed and hurt, it cause anxiety to kick in fullest extreme. 3) Do I readily seek help from others when I need it? I do not always seek help from others when i need it because I have found that a lot of people tend to give their personal opinions versus helpful advice. I do however seek help from a few individuals when every other option hasn’t helped or worked out. It depends on the issue and the person in whom I am asking. For example if I was in a situation and I needed advice I would probably sit and think of ways of figuring it out for at least three days before I would even consider seeking additional help. It’s not so much that I’m independent. I dont mind receiving help , I just rather be able to say I did this on my own. Some individuals end to feel that they are better than you when you seek help from them. 4) Which of my values would I like to change? I would like to change my focus and my ambition for my youngest son to go to college because I want that to be his decision.I do not want my focus and what I want for him to drown out his own focus or dreams in life. Of course, I want him to do well and excel in life but I want him to make his own decisions and choices so he does not resent me when he gets older. As his mother it is easy to want to plan his life, career choice, mate, house car, etc etc but I understand that he will be an adult and make his own choices and all I can do is raise him to be a respectable young man and teach him good home values. Also as his mother , I can be a positive role model for him. Some mothers tend to get angry with their children , when they see them doing the same behaviors they were showing. As my son gets older i wont do things around him, that i wouldnt want him doing as a man. I do know he will do what he feels is best for him. I just have to accept that my focus and ambition is to be the b est mother I can be for him.

Timber Products Corporation Case Study

Timber Products Corporation Case Study Lawler uses an effective strategy when entering the contracting process. He begins by setting a meeting with Richardson and Bowman for briefing on exact nature of services they require from him. He then analyzes the information given and gives his potential employers three different course of actions which they should take regarding a decision to hire him. He proposes recommending someone else, using his consultancy skills or receiving assistance from his students. Richardson and Bowman opt for the third alternative. Lawler also opts to develop an independent investigation of the plant in order to disclose the issues facing it as opposed to relying on the management to provide information on the same. He uses his students judgment skills together with his personal skills to analyze the perception of the problem from both the employees viewpoint and the consultants viewpoints. This information forms the basis of developing a report. This independent report forms gives recommendations which may solve issues facing the plant. Lawler is also careful to discuss the issues of payment with the management. He decides to charge them for three consultancy day every week in addition to expenses occurred in visits to the plant with his students. 3. Do you think Lawler faces any resistance in getting the manager and supervisor to support this effort? Why or why not? If yes, what can be done to reduce any resistance? (10 points) I think that Lawler faces challenges as far as the supervisor and manager are involved in supporting his efforts. This is due to the fact that he is an outsider to the company and these employees may be suspicious of his intentions. Employees are usually suspicious of intentions of third parties who they may view to be a threat to their careers. They are aware that there are certain weaknesses present in the plant and they may not cooperate fully for fear of being implicated in the shortcomings. In addition, recommendations are usually made at the end of the report by Lawler. The supervisor and manager are unsure of recommendations which may be made, which they may view to be a threat to their careers. Many employees also oppose organizational change due to uncertainty associated with it, which is another reason the supervisor and manager may not be cooperative for fear of change which will result as a basis of the report developed by Lawler. 4. List the problems that Richardson and Bowman see in the plant (do not include your own opinions). (5 points) There are various problems which are seen in the plant according to Bowmans and Richardsons views. One of the major problems regards safety. Employees are seen to be working in unsafe working environments where they are exposed to injury. A while back, one employee was fatally injured when working and this led to several employees quitting work in frustration. This is a problem which Bowman and Richardson aim at solving. Another problem involved employee motivation. Bowman was under the impression that employees had low morale and that they needed a motivation course to boost their motivation levels. Another problem involved the authoritative rule which was employed by one plant manager. Bowman needed advice regarding the issue of authoritative leadership by the plant manager. Richardson and Bowman hoped to use Lawlers expertise to solve these challenges facing the plant. 5. Using the open systems framework, discuss each of the following elements as related to the information in this case: (5 points for each, 35 points) A. Inputs Inputs in this case are organizational change, teamwork, motivation and human resource management. These inputs are likely to change the perception which employees have on their facility and increase their motivation levels. However, they should be involved in the process if they are to achieve the goals set. B. Outputs The output in this case is increased safety records, improvement in employee motivation and effective leadership by managers. The organizational changes effected will trigger change among organizational players and these outputs will be achieved. C. Each of the design components These will be classified into human process interventions, techno-structural interventions, human resource management interventions and strategic interventions. Human process interventions should involve team building. Techno-structural interventions should involve total quality management. Human resource management intervention should involve analyzing employee welfare, remuneration and their training. Finally, strategic intervention should involve culture change where change is effected in leadership, communication and teamwork. 6. Discuss how the elements of the system fit together or do not fit together. Use this analysis as the basis to identify problems you see in this facility. (20 points) In order to achieve higher employee motivation, employees should be effectively remunerated and trained. This forms the basis of the first problem since the system does not fit together. In the facility, employees are not effectively trained and they work for longer hours hence low morale. In order to achieve a clean safety record, employees should have safety clothing and equipment. These elements do not fit since in the plant, employees do not have access to these clothing and equipment and the ones present are of low quality. It is therefore difficult to achieve a good safety record hence the fatality in the plant. In order for an organization to enjoy effective leadership, the democratic leadership style should be employed. In the case study, the authoritative style is used and hence the system does not fit and forms the basis of the leadership problems facing the plant. The management should implement changes which will be discussed below in order to ensure that the system compo nents fit and organizational goals are met. Some of these changes include human process interventions, techno-structural interventions, human resource management interventions and strategic interventions. 7. Chapters 9 and 12 through 22 present OD interventions. Which interventions do you believe are applicable in this case? Explain. (15 points) There are several OD interventions which should be applied in order to solve the issues which arise in the case. These will be classified into human process interventions, techno-structural interventions, human resource management interventions and strategic interventions. Human process interventions should involve team building where employees should be taken to a serene environment where they can interact with each other and with their managers. This will improve their motivation and communication with top leadership. Techno-structural interventions should involve total quality management. This is the improvement of all processes in the fir to achieve goals of all stakeholders. When TQM is implemented, safety issues and leadership will improve since the goals of all stakeholders will be taken into account. Human resource management intervention should involve analyzing employee welfare, remuneration and their training. When employees are well trained, remunerated and their welfare improved, they will have high motivation levels thereby solving the problem of low morale. Finally, strategic intervention should involve culture change where change is effected in leadership, communication and teamwork. This will motivate employees and they are likely to give higher output. 8. Lawler has employed you as on OD practitioner to assist with this project: A. Who should be involved in the initial feedback meeting? (5 points) The initial feedback meeting should involve the two organizational leaders who hired Lawler to undertake investigations into the issues facing the plant. It should also involve Lawler and the OD practitioner. All other parties should be involved in later stages in order to safeguard the investigations and prevent sabotage or interference in the investigations by employees and manager who may oppose organizational change. B. How should Lawler describe the sources of the information? (hint: issues of confidentiality) (5 points) Lawler should not disclose the individual sources of information and should present them as employees and managers. This is due to the importance of confidentiality in such a process. Confidentiality is the major factor which enabled Lawler to gain trust from employees and receive feedback on various issues. If their identities are given away, they may not be cooperative in future. The management may also sabotage the process through intimidating employees who are perceived to have given adverse details or comments. C. Write an outline of the feedback session Dr. Lawler will use to make the presentation (15 points) a) The first stage involves conveying a meeting with Bowman and Richardson, the OD practitioner and I. This meeting should be convened at a time which is convenient to all parties involved and it should be held in a confidential location. b) The second stage is providing a summary of the report developed. This report should dwell on different issues facing the plant from the perspectives of both the employees and consultants. Individual names of employees and managers who provided the information will not be disclosed. c) The third stage is providing a diagnosis of the problems facing the plant. These problems which range from safety issues, poor leadership from the plant manager and low employee morale will be discussed in detail. Evidence in support of the same will also be provided. d) The fourth stage is providing recommendations on steps which the management should take to deal with the challenges experienced. These will range from increase in employee remuneration and decrease in working hours to increase motivation, improvement in safety equipment and clothing as well as applying other non-financial means of motivation. e) The fifth step is explaining the various stages of implementing these changes. There is also the need to involve employees and managers in this process in order to ensure effectiveness. Employees and managers who totally oppose the changes should be sacked since they will be barriers to achievement of these goals. f) Finally periodic evaluations should be done to ascertain the effectiveness of the changes. The management will be encouraged to user tools such as employee feedback to assess whether the changes have achieved goals intended including improvement of safety, leadership and increase in employee motivation. D. How do you think meeting participants will react to the information presented? Can anything be done to temper or diffuse these reactions? (5 points) Participants are likely to embrace the report developed since they hired Lawler to develop solutions to problems they experienced. The initial meeting with four members is likely to beg for time to discuss the report and is not likely to reject the findings. However, managers and employees may reject findings owing to the normal opposition to organizational change earlier discussed. The management should hold dialog with employees and managers to sensitize them on the benefits of the report in order for them to embrace it and participate in implementing the recommendations.

Enemy of the People :: essays papers

Enemy of the People â€Å"An Enemy of the People†, a play written by Henrik Ibsen, is about a small town on the southern coast of Norway and how it perceives and accepts truth. The town is governed by Peter Stockmann and doctored by his younger brother, Thomas. The main conflict flares up between these two siblings and then spreads throughout the town as they both try to do best by the â€Å"community.† Dr. Thomas Stockmann is a public-minded doctor in a small town famous for its public baths. He discovers that the water supply for the baths is contaminated and has probably been the cause of some illness among the tourists who are the town's economic lifeblood. In his effort to clean up the water supply, Dr. Stockmann runs into political cowards, sold-out journalists, shortsighted armchair economists, and a benighted Citizenry. His own principled idealism exacerbates the conflict. The well-meaning doctor is publicly labeled an enemy of the people, and he and his family are all but driven out of the town he was trying to save. This is an early dramatization of something we know better a century later: the difficulty of translating medical scientific knowledge into political action. Ibsen's well-intentioned blustery doctor heroically fails. This is partly because the local democratic processes are quite cynical (powerful people prevent him from getting his information to the citizens). Dr. Stockmann also suffers from a professional blindness that keeps him from understanding how anyone could possibly disagree that his scientific "truth" (he uses the world frequently) requires rebuilding the town's waterworks. He is a classic case of virtue-based ethics sacrificing outcome for principle. This play addresses many social issues. It ties in family, truth, righteousness, community, and politics. It really demonstrates how one issue can have many â€Å"truths† to it and how different people, even within ones own family, can see the same thing in total different perspectives; and in doing that act out against one another in an attempt to prove that one’s own perspective is the â€Å"right† or only one. In human nature, we are not one to compromise. We see so many things as one way or another, right or wrong; rarely do we seek to find the common ground between the two. In this play, common ground is never found, and in the end leaves a family broken up and a society left to wonder.

Slavey Then And Now :: essays research papers

Slavery: Then and Now When we think about slavery many things come to our mind. There are many different ways one can describe slavery. If you were to look it up in a dictionary it would say that a slave is â€Å"one who is owned and forced into service by another,† this was the definition given in the Webster’s Dictionary. But then again if you were to look it up in the Oxford Dictionary the definition given here is of one who is an â€Å"obsessive devotee.† On the whole slavery can have different meanings to different people. The meaning of slavery has a different meaning today than it did years ago. As Alex Haley wrote, slavery was difficult to explain years ago because it was going on at the time. Today when someone says the word slavery more than half of the people would think of plantations and people being forced to work the land and being mistreated. But what do you say to a little child who comes up to you and asks you want slavery is? In today’s society we can take the word slavery and put it to the modern days. Would one say that slavery only existed years ago when plantation owners would buy people to force them to do hard labor and mistreat them, or would one mention about the slavery that goes on in today’s society? What about the people who are forced to do hard labor like many years ago? Many people do not realize it but indeed we do have modern-day slavery. What is today’s modern day slavery? There are several things that can be put into today’s slavery. This is one problem that is often over looked in today’s society. It may not have as much impact as it did years ago, but if we stop and think about it, this problem is still as harsh and crude as it was years ago. I would think that up to some extent the problem has grown now because it is in fact often overlooked. For example in Sudan, as a result of an Islamic vs. Christian civil war, women and children that are mostly black and Christian are captured in raids. They are later sold as chattel slaves in â€Å"modern day slave markets†. Now the question that I have is, â€Å" Does a human life have a price?† Well according to these people it does, and the price that they decided to put on a human life has been as low as fifteen dollars.

Rose’s Breast Cancer in Jane Smileys A Thousand Acres :: Smiley Thousand Acres Essays

Rose’s Breast Cancer in A Thousand Acres Pete, representing erratic male rage in the novel, has a history of abusing Rose. This climaxes when he breaks her arm. It follows a terrible logic that since male rage hurts her body, so does her own, the impetus of which is provided by the patriarchal system. Ginny's description of Pete fits Rose equally well, with an anger that "would be quiet, but corrosive, erupting at odd times" (31). Rose's breast cancer symbolizes the way she is literally consumed with anger (the cancer eats at her flesh, consuming her body). Anger is the only way she knows to deal with her father, her husband, men and the system they represent: "We're not going to be sad. We're going to be angry until we die. It's the only hope."(354) She doesn't see that anger is destructive, that anger is in fact why things have turned out the way they have. She is continually reminded of the toll her anger takes on her body, as her arm unconsciously strays to the lost muscles under her other arm, by the lost breast. Nevertheless, she ignores the signs, anger has become a part of her body. The fact that this act resembles a posture signifying an attempt to contain her heart -her overflowing anger- suggests this, as does the fact that she especially does this when she is angry: "She pushed her hair back with her hand, then put her fist on her hip, defiant. Except that on the way down, her fingers fluttered over the vanished breast, the vanished muscles." (151) Her body, then, enacts her strategy. If you can't beat them, join them. If the system is based on egocentricity, cruelty, coldness and rage, then those will be her weapons. When Jess backs out of farming their land, she says: "When it came right down to building on something that we had, it scared him to build on death and bad luck and anger and destruction" (352). The underlying assumption of her statement is that it is impossible to challenge all the death and destruction, so one might as well turn it to one's own advantage. This strategy, ironically, turns her into what the patriarchy has accused hers and Ginny's intertextual counterparts -Regan and Goneril- of; an inhuman half-man. When she reigns supreme over the thousand acres, she has turned into her own worst nightmare: her father.

Communication Research and Advertising Essay

1 MAIN ISSUE Content analysis of different creative concepts and their characteristics applied in eight selected advertisements found in two publications – weekly magazines – Drum and You of July 11, 2013. 1.1Main issue criteria Creative concepts applied in the advertisement will play a meaningful role whether the campaign succeeds or not. Pictures, text and captions are but some of the few items that are used to structure the advertisement. In other instances, advertisers use unique payoff lines which enable them to be a cut above the rest. 1.1.1Nature of research The research approach is both qualitative and quantitative. The use of narrative data on the study prompted the adoption of qualitative approach. The quantitative approach came as a result of a data that was counted and numerically measured. 1.1.2Time dimension The nature of the research is cross-sectional. The study is conducted through the use of July 11, 2013 editions of Drum and You. Both are weekly magazines. Therefore research findings are limited to the abovementioned period. 1.1.3Action Exploratory and descriptive studies are used to determine characteristics of creative concepts used in selected advertisements for the research project. see more:pta meeting narrative report 1.1.4Issue The issue at hand is to look at creative concepts used by various advertisers from the selected advertisements published in the July 11, 2013 editions of Drum and You. 1.1.5Method A content analysis of two publications – Drum and You – and promotional messages carried through the use eight selected advertisements. 2RESEARCH CRITERIA Every study conducted has to meet research criteria. It had to be relevant, researchable, cost-effective and should not violate acceptable ethical standards. 2.1Relevance Drum and You form part of the print media which remain vital component of mass communication. Advertisers also used these platforms to reach out to the target market. As a result of that, the research issue is relevant and meets the criteria for communication research. 2.2Researchability Every newspaper and magazine carries various advertisements. Advertisers pay for the space booked in the publication. The study will therefore be easily conducted due to the growing number of businesses that used these platforms to promote their goods and services. Every advertisement has atleast a creative concept. 2.3Feasibility Drum and You have been readily available. There were other daily and weekly newspapers to choose from. The same goes about magazines; there were weekly and monthly magazines which were available at a reasonable cost. One has chosen these two publications as they were already in the collection. They form part of researcher’s regular weekly and monthly read. Decision to choose the two publications was somehow influence by the content they offer. The other one carries women issues while the next one is for soccer enthusiasts. 2.4Ethical acceptability Advertisements used will be acknowledged in the ‘sources consulted’ section. The same will apply about publications that carried them, Drum and You. 3EXTENT Two publications have been chosen to conduct the research; they are July 11, 2013 editions of Drum and You – both are weekly magazines. The study analyses creative concepts applied in the advertisements. 3.1Brief background of the publications It is imperative to know about the publications used for the study. In this research we use popular weekly publications. 3.1.1Drum Drum is a family magazine mainly aimed at black readers and contains market news, entertainment and feature articles. It was established in 1951 as â€Å"African Drum† by former test cricketer and author Bob Crisp and Jim Bailey. In 2005 Drum was described as the first black lifestyle magazine in Africa. Drum’s heyday in the 1950s fell between the Defiance Campaign and the tragedy at Sharpeville. This was the decade of potential Black emergence, the decade when the Freedom Charter was written. The aim was to promote an equal society. The Nationalist government responded with apartheid crackdowns and treason trials. Drum was a â€Å"record of naivety, optimism, frustration, defiance, courage, dancing, drink, jazz, gangsters, exile and death†. The magazine described the world of the urban Black; the culture, the colour, dreams, ambitions, hopes and struggles. The backbone of the magazine was crime, investigative reporting, sex (especially if across the colour line) and sport. This was fleshed out by imaginative photography. The formula worked and made for compulsive reading. Each issue of Drum was read by up to nine people, passed from hand to hand on the streets, in the clubs or on the trains. It became a symbol of Black urban life. About 240000 copies were distributed each month across Africa. This was more than any other African magazine. 3.1.2You You is a South African family magazine which is aimed at demographically diverse South African English-speaking readers of different ethnicities with coverage on current events and â€Å"interesting people†. It has two sister magazines: Huisgenoot (aimed at White and Coloured Afrikaans-speaking readers) and Drum. The You magazine was launched in 1987 by Nasionale Pers, which later became Media24. You is published in Cape Town. The publication covers human interest articles, celebrity news, both local and international current affairs. 3.2Geographical boundary The study will be conducted in Bloemfontein, Free State. The researcher is based in the Free State capital hence the reason for the study to be conducted in the area. 3.3Nature of the time dimension This is a cross-sectional study which will be conducted through the use of Drum and You – July 11, 2013 editions. Drum has variety of advertisements targeting general society, from body lotions to luxury vehicles. You on the other hand had advertisements such as education, men’s health promotions and cellphones. The study will be conducted between July and September 2013. 3.3.1Motivation for choice of time Both copies of Drum and You have been purchased a few weeks after one has registered for the course – Communication Research (COM3706). Advertisements which met basic requirements for the assignment were readily available. This is the main reason why the choice of time is relevant to pursue the study. 4POPULATION According to Van Rensburg (2010:150) a population can be defined as the entire group of persons or set of objects and events the researcher wants to study. 4.1Target population According to Du Plooy, GM (2009:109) target population is the actual population to which the study is used to generalise results. The population for the study has to be all the newspapers and magazines from which various advertisements were reviewed before a final decision was taken by the researcher. Eventually two publications – Drum and You – were identified. Four advertisements have been selected from each publication. Both copies have carried many other advertisements but the assignment’s requirement is to select just four of them from a copy. The researcher has gone through weekly and weekend newspapers. They included Sowetan, Daily Sun, The Citizen, The New Age, Mail & Guardian, City Press and Sunday Times. On the other hand magazines included KickOff, Move, Real, Soul, True Love, Drum and You. 4.2Accessible population In this regard, the accessible population is the publications from which the sample will be drawn for the study. Drum and You are conveniently available for the researcher to identify advertisements that will be analysed for research purposes. 4.3Population characteristics Advertisements comprise various creative concepts to make sense of the meaning and messages conveyed to the target market. Therefore various population parameters have been used to achieve advertisers’ goal with the published promotion. In the study, we have seen how pictures, punchy headlines, well-designed texts, among others, were used to draft different creative concepts. Below is the list of four population characteristics that one reported about in the research findings. âÅ"“ Colour codes applied âÅ"“ Headline âÅ"“ Photographs âÅ"“ Body copy âÅ"“ Text visuals 4.4Units of analysis The smallest units that were analysed for the study, among others, include well-designed texts to differentiate certain products from that of their competitors. Pictures of the advertised products were also attached. In Drum, DSTV, Rajah, Playtex and Edgars advertisements have been identified for the research. On the other hand, in You the researcher has identified advertisements of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), Samsung, Dermalex and Regal Pet Health. Various eye-catchers have been applied in the advertisements used for the study. Subheadings were punchy, but we cannot confirm if they were indeed factual. Headlines and pictures seemed to complement each other. So far, headings that promised customers benefit appeared to work the best. One has analysed pictures and graphics used, slogans, text applied, including headlines used in the advertisement. The abovementioned elements form a backbone in making sense of creative concepts. 5ASSUMPTIONS Lingerie designers use young, beautiful ladies in their promotional campaigns to drive the message home that their underwears will make them look stunning and energetic. Advertisers use slogans to catch the attention of consumers and thus ensuring that they easily recall their products. And more importantly, they were able to differentiate them from those of their competitors. Amplification creative concept becomes a must when advertisers promote expensive goods such as cars. Brand names are repeated more than once in the advertisements and this is done through the use of well-designed texts, logos and pictures. 5.1Sub issues Do lingerie designers use young and gorgeous ladies to promote their wears? Do advertisers use slogans to get the attention of consumers in order to ensure that they recall their products and not confuse them with those of their competitors? Is an amplification creative concept a must when advertisers promote expensive goods such as cars? Do brand names get repeated more than once in the advertisements through the use of well-designed texts, logos and pictures? 6GOAL and OBJECTIVES The study seeks to investigate practical issues which are creative concepts used in advertisements. 6.1Nature of the goal The nature of the research is applied goal. The researcher has investigated how creative concepts can be more effective in the advertisements. The study is more practical as one had to cut advertisements from both Drum and You magazines before they could be converted into soft version via the use of a scanner. 6.2Relationship of goal to the main issue By its own nature applied communication research is descriptive and explorative. This is also the case with the study the researcher is persuading. The explanatory objective is as a result of practical exercises to be conducted throughout the course of the study. The descriptive objective is as a result of determining how creative concepts will be applied in the selected advertisements from Drum and You. 7RESEARCH QUESTIONS Does the use of young models in lingerie effective to attractive customers and connect them with the benefits of the advertised underwears? Can advertisement deliver the good message to the intended audience even if the slogan was not applied to the optimum use? Why is it so vital to use amplification creative concept over others when promoting expensive goods such as vehicle? What is the role played by headlines, pictures and copy text in conveying the advertisement message? 8THEORETICAL APPROACH The theory that is applicable for the study will be explained through both connotative and denotative. Some of the creative concepts used are attached to literal meaning while others are figurative. For instance, some beauty products claimed that they will enhance the skin of young ladies and they will appear more attractive than ever before after using their lotions. The use of young models offered the literal meaning as one could easily associate with what was seen on the photo accompanying the advertisement. Pond’s and Johnson’s African Nurture are case in point in this regard. Figurative meaning, for example, can be seen in the Toyota Etios advertisement. The words such as, ‘Take your smile for a test drive’. It was a figurative expression that one will be happy to drive the car and the testimony of that can be found in the test drive. 8.1What each creative concept mean Pink is the feminine colour. The Pond’s and Johnson’s African Nurture advertisements made use of the colour as they promote women’s beauty products. The happy looking ladies, who have been used as the faces of these products, somehow, were a sign of the benefit that comes with their use. The promise of benefit was one of the fundamental creative concepts. The ladies were used as a proof to the claim that was made by the advertisers that their products will do wonders for the users. Another colour that was used by the advertisers was yellow. The denotative meaning of the colour was happiness. The Toyota Etios advertisement promised users some excitement as they will be smiling. The yellow colour was used extensively in the background of the advertisement. The same colour yellow was used heavily in yet another Johnson’s African Nurture advertisement. We have seen a group of young gorgeous ladies, mostly dressed in yellow dresses, overjoyed after using the beauty-enhancing product. A factual approach was applied that one can hammer on was in the SuperSport advertisement of HD-PVR Decoder. Action pictures of footballers such Orlando Pirates striker Benni McCarthy and Chelsea forward Fernando Torres have been used to back up the story. Over and above watching high definition pictures on television, viewers will have the benefit of watching best football matches in Europe – the live coverage of Barclays Premier League, Spanish La Liga, German’s Bundesliga, South Africa’s Premier Soccer League and the UEFA Champions League matches. Slogans on the other hand form a vital component. The advertisements of Peugeot, Toyota and Pond’s were among those that have used this creative concept to back up their brands. A detailed explanation of the new Toyota Etios summed up the use of amplification creative concept in the advertisement. Users were informed in not so many words about the benefits of the car and which features have been installed. Both the Johnson’s African Nurture advertisements were loaded with the appeal creative concept. They were specifically targeted at African women. The SuperSport advertisement provokes curiosity while it also had the slogan on, â€Å"World of champions†. They urge readers and â€Å"welcome them to the next level†. It was a metaphor used to urge readers to use HD PVR Decoder for better and quality television pictures. The Scorpion Legal Protection advertisement urged the consumers to take action by enlisting their legal services from as little as R39. Clients were also provided with an sms number for further clarity. A classic example of the use of brand name in the advertisement was visible in the Peugeot promotion. It was repeated with words and pictorially with the logo emblazoned. 9RESEARCH DESIGN The research design is both qualitative and quantitative. 9.1Qualitative design The design is relevant as the study will identify and examine various creative concepts used on eight selected advertisements. Effectively this also serves to examine elements that distinguished various advertised products from those of their competitors. Creative concepts remain fundamental muscle of each advertisement. The critical aspect in this regard is the fact that the design is all about analysing content from, among others, pictures, texts, messages used from selected advertisements for the purpose of the study. The study will go further to analyse data by comparing findings from all identified advertisements. The researcher will look at the similarities and differences spotted on the selected advertisements. The comparative analysis comes as a result of explanations of similarities and differences found in eight selected advertisements which prompt the study. This, after having realised how various advertisers use creative concepts in getting messages across. 9.2Quantitative design The researcher will count the number of creative concepts applied in each an every single advertisement selected. The figures will be presented on the tally sheet. The tally sheet will show in detail which advertisement that has used many creative concepts compared to others. However, we cannot make a claim directly that there was a common and obvious creative concept appearing most often or less often in any advertisement. 9.3Inductive reasoning This was applicable as the researcher has interpreted the collected data for the study. For example, the use of certain colours such pink and purpose would best be aligned with femininity. This was the reason why Playtex has resorted to these colours for their advertisement. 9.4Deductive reasoning The researcher looks on how general assumptions related to the advertisement messages are applied. For instance, creative concepts remain the lifeblood of each an every advertisement. 9.5Methods and techniques to collect qualitative data The researcher will read and look intently on how advertisements are crafted. How the graphics, pictures, headline texts and words, among others, are put together in building creative concepts and eventually producing the advertisements. We get to understand the meaning even though connotative and denotative messages are delivered to draw the attention of the readers. One had to understand the style and language used and its relevance to the advertisement. The researcher looks on how certain colour codes are applied to ensure certain advertisements live to the theme of the promoters. 9.6Methods and techniques to collect quantitative data Content analyses of various advertisements as well as inferential statistics of the number of creative concepts used were fundamental in this regard. As outlined earlier, the outcomes to this fact had been presented in the tally sheet as appeared in the data analysis section. 10CONCLUSIONS 11SELF-ASSESSMENT AND REFLECTIONS Learnt Skills Shortcomings Outcomes SOURCES CONSULTED Barker, R & Angelopulo, G. 2009. Integrated Organisational Communication. Cape Town: Juta. Du Plooy, T. 2001. Communication research. Only study guide for COM306D. Pretoria: University of South Africa. Du Plooy, GM. 2009. Communication research: Techniques, methods and applications. Cape Town: Juta. Fourie, PJ (ed). 2009. Media Studies Volume 3: Media content and media audiences. Cape Town: Juta. Johnson’s African Nurture advertisement. 2012a. Real, August: 2. Johnson’s African Nurture advertisement. 2012b. Real, August: 47. Koekemoer, L (ed). 2005. Marketing Communications. Cape Town: Juta. Peugeot advertisement. 2012. KickOff, August: 5. Pond’s advertisement. 2012. Real, August: 51. Reid, J & Van Heerden, M (eds). 2009. Media studies: media content and media audiences. Only study guide for COM303A. Pretoria: University of South Africa. Scorpion Legal Protection advertisement. 2012. KickOff, August: 22. SuperSport advertisement. 2012. KickOff, August: 83. Toyota advertisement. 2012. Real, August: 111. University of South Africa. 2012. Department of Communication Science. CMNALLE. Important guidelines and Information regarding your studies: University of South Africa. University of South Africa. 2012. Department of Communication Science. Communication Research. Tutorial Letter 101/2012: Semesters 1 and 2: University of South Africa. University of South Africa. 2012. Department of Communication Science. Communication Research. Tutorial Letter 102/2012: Semesters 1 and 2: University of South Africa. University of South Africa. 2012. Department of Communication Science. Communication Research. Tutorial Letter 103/2012: Semesters 1 and 2: University of South Africa. Van Rensburg, GH. 2010. Research in the social sciences. Only study guide for RSC2601. Pretoria: University of South Africa. Vaseline advertisement. 2012. KickOff, August: 17. SELF-ASSESSMENT AND SELF-REFLECTION The researcher has learnt about effective techniques of how to collect research data, analyse and interpret for both the research proposal and the final study. One has also been able to identify and solve research problems. Important skills earned from the study were to understand how advertisements can use more than one creative concept to convey the message to the users. The concepts used completed each other and pointed out to different angles of the final output. It goes without saying that one has managed and was able to interpret print advertisements accurately. To get to understand subproblems and underlying assumptions in the research study and how to formulate relevant research questions. In addition to that, the researcher is now able to craft relevant research designs that are appropriate for investigating the main research problem. A notable shortcoming of the study was that it could not address all the problems identified as the advertisements were already been printed. But could only make certain inputs. Due to the changes in the market, researchers were prompted to always come with the ways and ideas of overcoming these challenges and gauging the emotions of consumers.