A Brief Guide to the Sociology of Globalization

A Brief Guide to the Sociology of Globalization The sociology of globalization is a subfield within sociology that focuses on understanding the structures, institutions, groups, relationships, ideologies, trends, and patterns that are particular to a globalized world. Sociologists whose research lies within this subfield focus on how the process of globalization has shifted or changed pre-existing elements of society, new elements of society that may have evolved in response to globalization, and the social, economic, political, cultural, and environmental implications of the process. The sociology of globalization contains the study of economic, political, and cultural globalization, and importantly, examines the interplay of all three aspects, as they are all mutually dependent on one another. When sociologists focus on the economic aspects of globalization, they examine how the capitalist economy has evolved from a pre-globalization state. They research legal changes in the regulations of production, finance, and trade that either facilitated or are responses to the globalization of the economy; how the processes and relations of production are different in a globalized economy; how conditions and experiences of labor, and the value of labor, are particular to a globalized economy; how globalization changes patterns of consumption and distribution; and what may or may not be particular to the business enterprises that operate in a global economy. Sociologists have found that the deregulation of the economy that allowed for its globalization have led to a rise in insecure, low-wage, and unsafe work around the world, and that corporations have amassed unprecedented levels of wealth during capitalism’s global epoch. To learn more about economic globalization, see the work of William I. Robinson, Richard P. Appelbaum, Leslie Salzinger, Molly Talcott, Pun Ngai, and Yen Le Espiritu, among others. When studying political globalization, sociologists focus on understanding what has changed or is new about political institutions, actors, forms of government and governance, the practice of popular politics, modes of political engagement, and the relationships between them in a global context. Political globalization is intimately connected to economic globalization, as it is within the political realm that decisions about how to globalize and run the economy were and are made. Sociologists have found that the global era has wrought entirely new forms of governance that are global in scope (the transnational state), made up of organizations of heads of state or high-level representatives from many nations who determine the rules for global society. Some have focused their research on the implications of globalization for popular political movements, and have illuminated the role of digital technology in facilitating globalized political and social movements that reflect shared idea s, values, and goals of people all over the world (like the Occupy movement, for example). Many sociologists carve a distinction between â€Å"globalization from above,† which is globalization determined by the leaders of transnational corporations and the transnational state, versus â€Å"globalization from below,† a democratic form of globalization called for by popular movements. To learn more about political globalization, see the work of Josef I. Conti, Vandana Shiva, William F. Fisher, Thomas Ponniah, and William I. Robinson, among others. Cultural globalization is a phenomenon connected to both economic and political globalization. It refers to the export, import, sharing, repurposing and adapting of values, ideas, norms, common sense, lifestyles, language, behaviors, and practices on a global scale. Sociologists have found that cultural globalization occurs via the global trade in consumer goods, which spreads lifestyle trends, popular media like film, television, music, art, and material shared online; through the implementation of forms of governance borrowed from other regions that reshape everyday life and social patterns; the spread of styles of conducting business and of working; and from the travel of people from place to place. Technological innovation has a great impact on cultural globalization, as recent advances in travel, media production, and communication technology have brought wide-scale cultural shifts across the world. To learn more about cultural globalization, see the work of George Yà ºdice, Mike Featherstone, Pun Ngai, Hung Cam Thai, and Nita Mathur.

Managing Financial Resources and Decisions Assignment - 2

Managing Financial Resources and Decisions - Assignment Example It summarizes all of the revenue and expense items of the firm and presents the final result in term of profit and loss, for a given period of time. Financial statements are prepared to present and record information regarding the financial position of a firm at a given point in time, to show performance of the firm during the particular period, and to depict changes in performance during that period. This information is used by the different users of financial statements to make their decisions. 5. Impact of Inflation:- Financial statements do not account for the impact of inflation hence â€Å"Cannot be a true reflection of growth where the economy is infected with a high level of inflation†. [IBP 2011] 7. Measurability:- Financial statements only record the information that is measureable and do not account for qualitative characteristics and assets and efficiency, competence of workforce and goodwill etc. suitable option available to Paul and Sarah’s. Moreover another benefit of using this option according to Boyneclarke .com is that â€Å"you relinquish no control over your business.† [http://www.boyneclarke.com/ resources/entry/sources-of-business-financing] so investing personal savings will also secure control of the partners on their business and will result in avoiding many managerial and regulatory complexities. Both of the partners Paul and Sarah can invest their personal savings at any agreed ratio into the business to finance its expansion. Paul and Sarah’s. They can add new partners into their business who can provide required financing, moreover if they succeed in adding a competent business partner then it can not only provide financing but also can provide business acumen and can help in administration. it is an equity investment so entails high risk, so venture capital organizations require high expected rate of return on their investment, as

The Elements of Drama Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Elements of Drama - Essay Example Antigone feels that although Creon is a man, he is weak than she is. This is illustrated in their conversation after burying Polyneices and she is taken to Creon. She literary tells him that she has the power to say no to what she regards as vile and does not have to count any cost of it. She regards Creon as just a ruler who is controlled by the rules just because he ascended to the throne but not because he believes in them. Creon will then have to execute her even if he does not want to in order to abide by the crown. Creon is thus terrified if his action but is unable to act contrary. Antigone reads his fear and proclaims that even if her nails are broken, her finger covered in blood and her arms are wounded, she will still remain a queen. Antigone is terrified at the thought of death but then she is ready to embrace her death as a martyr. As a feminist, Antigone faces many challenges with her sister. Her encounter with Ismene about the burial of Polyneices leaves her heartbroken. Ismene is a conservative girl who believes in the maintenance of the status quo. When Antigone tells her to join her and bury their brother, Ismene is keen to remind her that the king has ordered a decree against anyone who will be seen burying him. She tells her that their family has suffered enough and was not ready to undergo another tragedy. Ismene reminds her that they are now all alone and therefore should do well in submitting to the law and obey. To Ismene, women must not fight with men. There is a conflict in philosophies at this time and Antigone tells her sister off and vows not to take her help even if she comes begging to offer it. Antigone is determined to defy Creon’s decree and bury her brother even if alone. Antigone’s conversation with her sister Ismene is fundamental in the analysis of her feminist trait. Ismene questions the role of nature in their lives. She argues that even when pushed, it should not be

Of Mice and Men is a famous novel written by John Steinbeck Essay Example for Free

Of Mice and Men is a famous novel written by John Steinbeck Essay Of Mice and Men is a famous novel written by John Steinbeck; Steinbeck was born in 1902 in Salinas Valley, California and he set Of Mice and Men during the Great Depression. He based the storyline on his personal experiences and ventures. The novel was later adapted into a motion picture starring John Malkovich and Gary Sinise. This essay will examine various aspects of the film; the films treatment of the story, characterisation, camera work, symbolism, special effects and the use of music. The film does not follow the book exactly as several scenes from the novel have been edited to add climax and tension. For example some important aspects of the book have been changed. The first change is George and Lennie going into the boss house to meet him instead of the boss meeting them in the bunkhouse; George doesnt scold Lennie for talking in front of the boss when he strictly told not to say a word; George is introduced to Slim over dinner but in the book they first meet in the bunkhouse; George comes into Crooks room to get Lennie while in the book Candy joins Lennie and Crooks and they all discuss the dream, then even Crooks starts to believe in the dream and asks if he can be part of it. Some scenes from the book are not included at all, for example Curleys wife doesnt threaten Crooks in the film whereas in the book she threatens to frame Crooks for rape purely out of spite because the men reject her company. The hallucinations that Lennie has of Aunt Clara and the rabbit telling him how bad he has been in the last chapter of the novel are not portrayed in the film and when Slim and the other men console George after he has killed Lennie is not shown in the film either. Although some scenes have been cut from the original storyline others scenes have been added to the film. For example the opening of the film which shows the girl running in the red dress and the men chasing George and Lennie (this is only hinted at in the book); the train scene where George and Lennie jump on the train escaping to Salinas Valley and grabbing their work tickets in town; the work scenes which show the power of Lennies strength; Curleys wife talking to George alone in the barn; Curley practicing his boxing skills on his punching bag and George and Lennie speaking to Curleys wife after they have just left Crooks room. This treatment of the story shows us that not all scenes in a novel makes a good or interesting scene in a film so a novel can not just be filmed as it is, it often needs changing to make it a film the audience wants to watch. In film the director usually tries to bring a romantic element into the film to keep the audience guessing, will the couple get together or not? For example, there is an underlying sexual tension between George and Curleys wife in a couple of scenes. The characterisation is fairly faithful to the way they are described in the book. The way Lennie is portrayed is as a large, tall man with the strength of a giant. He is shown to be innocent like a child but as strong as an ox. The actor playing Lennie, John Malkovich matches Lennies description in the book, A huge man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes, with wide, sloping shoulders. Gary Sinise also fits Georges physical description, Small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp, strong features. He is shown to be the brains and Lennie the brawn. He is like the responsible father of Lennie, always taking care of him and trying to keep him out of trouble e.g. the scene where George gets Lennie out of Weed because he got into serious trouble for touching a womans red dress. Candy, the swamper, is faithful to his description in the book, A tall, stoop-shouldered old man and so is his character. Curley, the Boss son is described as, A thin young man with a brown face, with brown eyes and a head of tightly curled hair (hence the name) but the actor in the film has straight hair. However some characters differ from the way they are described in the book. In the book Slim, the jerk line skinner, is described as Prince of the ranchhe moved with a majesty only achieved by royalty and master craftsmen and he has a lot of authority and respect among all the ranch men in fact, His authority was so great his word was taken on any subject, be it politics or love. In the film his authority and respect doesnt come across as much as it does in the book. The actor playing Slim didnt look the way the reader would have imagined him, His long, black, damp hair straight back. His hatchet face was ageless. His hands, large and lean, were as delicate in their action as those of a temple dancer. Curleys wife is physically the same as how she is described in the book. However, the audience has more sympathy for her in the film than in the book because she doesnt threaten Crooks in the same vindictive, spiteful way. Her vulnerability is also highlighted when she is seen breaking down in tears after Curley has broken her records. In addition Crooks, the stable buck, (his nickname is derived from his crooked spine) is much more bent over then the audience would have expected. He is crueller than in the book e.g. he enjoys tormenting Lennie about George possibly not returning ever again therefore is seen to be quite malicious. The camera work is very cleverly done and emphasises certain aspects of the story very well e.g. the close up of Lennie crushing Curleys hand and the close up of Lennie breaking Curleys wifes neck, make the scenes more dramatic. The lighting affects the mood of the story like the semi-darkness in the barn when Lennie kills the puppy and the bunkhouse when Carlson takes Candys old dog to be shot display a sombre mood. The golden glow of the men playing horseshoes outdoors displays a happy and optimistic mood. There are also several interesting special effects used in the film to intensify the drama. For example the fight between Curley and Lennie is exciting to watch as you see the blood dripping from Curleys crushed hand, the killing of Curleys wife as she panics and he breaks her neck and the shooting of Lennie when George shoots him in the back of the head. Most scenes in the film symbolise things for different characters for instance the dark side of the mens lives when they are on the train and the light flickers symbolises an uncertain future ahead, violence could flare at any time. It could also symbolise a gloomy, depressing future. Scenes with a lot of light symbolise happier times, signs of hope or the men just enjoying life for a change. The rabbits symbolise the dream and a symbol for Lennie of a better life. The dead mouse symbolises death and a sense of foreboding (that something bad is about to happen). Music is a key element in any movie because it helps to build up tension e.g. the famous theme tune of Jaws or the music used in Physco as the person is being murdered the beat is set by every stab. Music also shows the mood and is there to accompany the action on screen e.g. when the men are chasing George and Lennie at the beginning of the film the music gets louder and louder. In contrast to this is the use of complete silence to set the mood e.g. when they are on the train and when they are hiding in the ditch. The silence can represent calm or tension. The music when they are discussing the Dream is very relaxing and soothing, which again reflects the mood. Overall the novel is a tragedy because you feel sympathy for George because he had to kill his friend who had become like a brother to him. The film relays the novel, keeping along the lines of the story but is still a film worth watching even if the audience has not read the book. This is because the director has altered and added scenes to include tension, drama and climax. People who have read the book would be satisfied that the characters and storyline follow the book almost to every aspect.

Comparing Sexuality and Power in Dracula and Buffy the Vampire Slayer E

Comparing Sexuality and Power in Dracula and Buffy the Vampire Slayer    At first glance, Joss Whedon's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," the hour-long TV series which premiered in 1997 and is now in its third season, bears little resemblance to the book which started the vampire craze -- Bram Stoker's Dracula, published a century earlier. And yet, looks can be deceiving. Although the trendy -- and often skimpy -- clothing and bandied about pop-culture references of "Buffy" clearly mark the series as a product of a far different culture than that of the Victorian England of Dracula, the underlying tensions of the two texts are far similar than one might think. Beneath the surface differences in the treatment of their heroines, the two texts converge in similarly problematic anxieties about gender and sexuality. Unlike other latter-day adaptations of the vampire legend -- such as films like The Hunger and Anne Rice's Interview with a Vampire novels -- which actively shatter accepted tenets of vampirism, such as the danger of sunlight or crosses to vampires, "Buffy" relies heavily on the guidelines for vampirism established by Stoker in his novel. In "Buffy," as in Dracula, vampires can be killed by direct sunlight and harmed by holy water and crucifixes (Golden 125). When, for instance, Buffy's crucifix necklace touches her vampire boyfriend Angel's chest, it leaves a burn-mark similar to that left on vampire-defiled Mina Harker's forehead by application of a Holy Wafer in Dracula ("Angel;" Stoker 302). And unlike the sympathetic portrayals of vampires advanced in Rice's novels and in the 1960s soap opera "Dark Shadows," the vampires shown are not good or even human. They are, in the words of Buffy's Watcher Giles "demon at the c... ...sitive depiction of their sexual relationship. For Mina, however, renunciation of Dracula's evil must include the renunciation of her own physical needs and desires. The roles played by social mores and conceptions of gender and sexuality are, in the end, more than incidental. Indeed, the difference between Victorian England and 1990s America causes the subtle -- but significant -- valuation of the connections between good and evil and women and sexuality in two in many ways similar texts. Works Cited Golden, Christopher and Nancy Holder. The Watcher's Guide. New York: Pocket Books, 1998. Leatherdale, Clive. Dracula: The Novel and the Legend. East Sussex, England: Desert Island Books, 1985. Stoker, Bram. Dracula. New York: Signet, 1992. Whedon, Joss, creator and executive producer. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Twentieth Century Fox Television, 1997.

Discuss the Relationship Between Persuasion and Attitude Change.

Discuss the relationship between persuasion and attitude change. The procedure of changing attitudes to then furthermore change behaviour has led psychologists to develop research into the topic of how persuasion takes place. The Hovland-Yale model was initially developed to persuade the American public for more support in the last stages of WW2. It was learnt that in order to persuade effectively, the need was to focus on who and what. Principally the content, the audience and the communicator.It was found that the most effective sources were experts as they had more credibility than non-experts, but also popular and attractive sources were more effective than unattractive sources. Bochner & Insko asked students to suggest how much sleep was needed, before showing them two different sources of information – an expert and a non-expert. Students were more persuaded by the expert even when it conflicted with their own beliefs. Another finding from the model found that messages a re more effective if the audience feels that their main purpose is not to persuade.Also, if a message contains a moderate level of fear it becomes more successful. McGuire also found that there was a primacy effect in messages. His research found that when he was trying to persuade students to join a course, he was more persuasive if he gave the positive points first. The final factor involved in the Hovland-Yale model is audience factors. It was seen that moderately intelligent audience members were more easily persuaded and when aiming at high intelligence audience members, it would be more effective to present both sides of the argument.The Elaboration-Likelihood model focuses on the message itself and splits this into two sections. Whether the audience focuses on the main content of the message or if they focus on other factors such as the communicator giving the message. Petty et al. called this the central and peripheral route. The central route audience members focus on the q uality of the arguments and are motivated to think about the message. It’s been suggested that this has a lasting attitude change.The peripheral route is quite the opposite as audience members are not motivated to think about the message and they focus on the peripheral tools (such as music, celebrities, colour) rather than the arguments presented. Attitude change through the peripheral route is temporary. The Hovland-Yale model has good research support for all three factors involved in the model. Morton et al. found that children had more favourable attitudes after being given information from an expert (doctor) than a parent. Lewis et al. ound that fear arousing messages were effective in the short-term, but messages containing humour were more effective in the long-term. However, Fechback et al. found that high fear level was most effective in messages which disputes McGuire’s findings. However, McGuire’s findings can also be explained another way to show su pport. If following the basis of the psychodynamic approach, messages using high fear arousal may trigger defence mechanisms such as denial or repression in audience members, suggesting moderate fear level is the most effective.Research also supports the key points of the Elaboration-Likelihood model. A psychologist supports the claim that the central route is more effective for high need-for-cognition audience members. Models have heavily relied on laboratory based research, which causes us to question the ecological validity. However, real-life application has occurred and found that when students were exposed to a fact-based or emotion-based health campaign, the higher NC individuals were more influenced by the central route (fact-based) and the lower NC were more persuaded by the peripheral route (emotion-based).Although both models are heavily supported by research, many research studies have involved students which brings problems of generalisation. Students have an age, wealt h, and education status which is not typical of the general public. In addition, experimenters have exposed participants solely to their stimuli, whereas in the real world, we are exposed to thousands of media forms everyday; thus lacking in mundane realism.

The Referral Rate At Bank X From The Existing 6 % Down

FINDINGS DISCUSSION Within this section the Author intends to present the results of implementing the research methodology as developed in the earlier section accompanied with discussion and interpretation of the findings on how they address the research question (How to lower the referral rate at Bank X from the existing 6% down to industry average levels). The required information was collected via quantitative and qualitative methods of research using primary and secondary data. This information was then collated within tables so that a comparative analysis can be conducted to arrive at findings. The findings will be discussed by comparing top 5 banks against each other on key aspects of online security and customer experience. An†¦show more content†¦The remaining questions were developed keeping in mind the qualitative aspects of the research. Questions 4 11, address exploration of types and categories of online fraud risks including where it is committed. The majority of the remaining qu estions 5, 6, 7, 8 as well as 11 were developed to elicit information on processes and practices used by banks to detect, prevent and respond to acts of fraud in online banking transactions resulting in unauthorised payments. The identification of whether Anti-Money Laundering processes are separate from general fraud risk management processes is covered in question 9. Question 10 addresses how the correlation of advancement in fraud risk management technology has impacted the increase or reduction in referral rates for unauthorised payments. The banks’ operate in a very competitive environment and whereas safety and security in online banking is a major area of concern to the customers they also want convenience and speed from their banks in conducting these transactions. Question 12 13 were developed to address the overall satisfaction of the customer in this area. According to the methodology plan, the first step was to pilot test the questionnaire with Bank X and an external bank with respect to its structure and the feasibility of the contents in receiving a positive response. The contacts within the two pilot banks after checking with relevant departments responded with feedback that conveyed their concern