Korean Wave in China | An Analysis

Korean Wave in China | An Analysis Korean popular culture has become one of the most beloved pop cultures among Asian fans over the last 10 years. Asia is no longer dominated by American popular culture, and fans now are choosing what they consider to be more Asian. Many have recently come to prefer Korean popular culture, which they perceive to be fresh and trendy, as well as something that contains Asian values and sentiments. More and more people throughout Asia are choosing to watch Korean movies, listen to Korean popular music, follow Korean soap operas, and even travel to Korea to visit sites they have seen in their favorite Korean dramas. The sudden rise in popularity and the dissemination of Korean popular culture throughout Asia is new, unprecedented, and fascinating. This cultural flow in contemporary Asia is called the Korean Wave. Starting point of the Korean Wave in China The term Korean Wave refers to the phenomenon of Korean popular culture, disseminated primarily through the mass media and enjoying a broad popularity outside of Korea. It includes Korean-identified television dramas, movies, internet games, fashions, and popular music. It is unclear exactly when the term Korean Wave started to become popular among Asians, but public media began recognizing Korean popular culture in mainland China in 1997, when the Korean television drama Star Is in My Heart was broadcast in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and other Asian countries. The Chinese broadcasting company Phoenix TV, which broadcasts throughout Asia, showed this drama under its Chinese name, and the broadcast met with broad popular appeal, especially in mainland China. The drama caught peoples attention in part because its main actor, Ahn Jae-Wook, was particularly attractive to Chinese and Taiwanese women. Ahn Jae-Wook, therefore, became a symbol of the Korean wave in China. Following to Star Is in My Heart, Autumn Story, Winter Sonata, What Is the Love and many other drama fascinated people in China. Korea pop music has also taken a huge role of the Korean Wave from the beginning. Young dance music groups, H.O.T and Clone ignited the Korean Wave in China in 1999. Various radio stations in China began to create programs specializing K-pop. Moreover, it is known that the number of fans of H.O.T. was eight million only in China in 2002. Afterwards, at least 50 different Korean pop albums were produced in China, and more than three million albums in total were sold by 2002. Beyond simply consuming the media contents, Chinese teenagers repeated Korean pop songs and imitated Korean actors and singers fashion and hairstyle. In addition, Korean restaurants in China became popular among people who were enjoying Korean pop culture. Through the indirect experience of Korean food in television drama, people became familiar to it and such familiarity made people walk to Korean restaurants. As the effect of the Korean Wave, the national image of Korea was recognized as positive. As a result, Korean products raised their own value as well. Samsung mobile phones and LG air conditioners and microwaves took bigger portions at Chinese market as people demanded more of such products. Started with the drama, Star Is in My Heart, and Korean pop music sung by H.O.T and Clone in China, the Korean Wave outstretched to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, and other Asian counties. The Second Round of Korean Wave in Japan Even though people in most Asian countries showed deep interests in Korea pop culture, Japan, which is geographically the nearest neighbor, was not affected by the Korean Wave until Winter Sonata hit Japan. In 2003, the Korean drama, Winter Sonata, was first shown on Japanese television in twenty episodes. It captured 22% of the prime time viewing audience. In 2004 Winter Sonata had its second showing. This time it captured 24% of viewing audience. The key feature of the Japanese response to the Korean drama was that it was not just passively accepted. A demographic of Japanese viewers positively embraced the Korean drama, especially the television drama Winter Sonata and its Korean associations. There are the indicators that with some of the Japanese audience, Winter Sonata was elevated to cult status. For example, in 2003, the DVD of the series sold out within four hours of its release. Lead Korean actors from the series become celebrities in Japan. Indeed, in some newspapers the male leading actor, the Korean Bae Yong Joon, was addressed as Yon Sama, an honorific usually assigned only to royalty in Japan. At last count, Bae Yong Joon has some 50 websites devoted to him. During visits to Japan cast members were mobbed by their fans. Demand by fans for Winter Sonata merchandise has created an industry with an annual turnover in Japan and Korea worth 2.3 billion US dollars. The industry produces memorabilia such as clothing, ac cessories, jewelers, stationery, magazines, books, DVDs and supports fan clubs. Significantly this interest extended beyond the characters of Winter Sonata toward a more general interest in Korea. The tourist industry in Korea was affected by the Korean Wave. In 2004 Japan was the source of nearly half of Koreas 5.6 million overseas visitors, and was its major source of tourists though it is difficult to identify who of these came because of Winter Sonata. In 2006 Korean Air announced special film flights from Japan so that they could visit the Winter Sonata location sites. In 2006 NHK television media and publishers announced an increase of its annual sales of its Korean language textbook to 20,000 copies. Reasons why the Korean Wave became popular in Asia The good quality of cultural media comes to the foremost reason. According to the Chinese local analysis, Korean dramas have outstanding storylines, well designed characters, and sophisticated directing system. Plus, original background music (OST) are excellent as well. Whether Chinese or Taiwanese dramas repeat the obvious storylines making people already bored by watching only the first episode, Korean dramas own various styles and types of story raging widely. Their creativities in developing stories fuel peoples curiosities to see the next episode. Korea actors handsome appearance, stylish fashions and hairstyles, and outstanding acting abilities are said to the best among Asian actors. Improved technology in film producing helps background settings and music to be wonderfully assimilated to each other. Camera walking and well designed composition of pictures improve overall quality of the video. The second reason is that the economic decline of Asia forced television producers to seek out products cheaper than Japanese and Western products. One of these was soap operas, the starting-point of the Korean Wave in Taiwan. The Korean Wave arose mainly because of the media liberalization that swept across Asia in 1990s, when the economic crisis made Asian buyers prefer the cheaper Korean products compared with Japanese and Hong Kong products. The primary producer of K-Pop Entertainment at Gala-TV in Taiwan told that the main reason that GTV began programming Korean soap operas was because of their cheap prices compared to Japanese products, and Korean soap operas were even cheaper than domestic ones. According to her, Korean soap operas were of much better quality then Taiwanese products, but were much cheaper, so GTV dubbed in Mandarin and aired the programs as if they were locally made soap operas. In 1999, GTV began buying old dramas from the Korean Broadcasting System under the considerations that it costs less than the domestic dramas and the quality of the Korean dramas could be guaranteed. GTV was informed that KBS had invested a huge amount of money in production. Indeed, Korea has long invested in dramas, and after 1993 it has encouraged the investment of private capital in the media industry. Therefore, to supplement domestic dramas, GTV introduced Korean dramas of low cost and good quality. Thirdly, Korean movies and TV dramas show virtue and kindness. In Korean movies and TV dramas, people are friendly, and families are harmonious. Juniors respect elders, elders cherish juniors. Lovers love dearly each other, and spouses care for each other. TV dramas of Korea still show the harmonious and pure-hearted feelings. Every one wishes to have a harmonious family and live in a harmonious society. First of all, such heartwarming stories attract wide age groups. It is appropriate for elementary school kids to elder grandma and grandpa to watch altogether. Most western dramas or movies contain suggestive scenes to express passionate love between lovers which made family members to be apart to watch them. However, all family members gather around and can watch Korean dramas or movies which mostly depict pure-hearted loves between friends, families, and lovers. Second of all, pure love between lovers especially attracted Japanese women. Winter Sonata which delivers the story of pure love between main characters evoked Japanese Womens memories of their first love. Since purity in love was already old-fashioned culture in Japan, women who watched Winter Sonata brought out their nostalgic feelings toward pure love. Husband and wife do not talk a lot because Japanese people do not directly reveal their emotions and feelings to others which were regarded as the most secret part of individuals. The actions, that spouses sincerely care for each other, stirred desires of Japanese women to be loved from their love directly and in a gentle way. Lastly, the family value commonly dealt in Korean drama evoked nostalgic feeling toward family among Chinese people. Through the Cultural Revolution and through the national campaign, One family, one child, large families were exterminated in China. Naturally, the older generations miss memories they had in large families. The older generations in China could be vicarious satisfaction as they enjoy Korea drama. Even though Asian countries are bound with the similar cultures and traditions, purity in love and family value were lost in Japanese and Chinese society. Pure-hearted feelings and harmonious aspects of Korean society reflected on drama played the significant role to promote the Korean Wave in two societies. First, cultural industry includes movie, broadcast, music, game, book, and concert at which people directly show their enthusiasm. Second, derivative products are products such as cosmetics, tour, accessories, clothes, mobile phone, home appliance, automobile, and food which are indirectly linked with the cultural contents. Automobile that one Korean star drove in drama or the place where the drama was directed are in this category. Third, ripple effect on national economy is that effect on the other economy as cultural industry and derivative products are exported. For example, if the cultural contents were exported and therefore if the mobile phone meets the great demand, the mobile phone company needs to employ more people to produce the phone. As a result, more jobs are created in domestic market. This is a ripple effect on national economy. Fourth, immeasurable effects is, as it says in its word, it is not measurable by numeric values or by statistics. It is invisible effect suc h as people who are big fan of Korean culture learning Korean language. Korean exports in cultural industry to overseas amount to eleven million dollars in 2007. It shows 11.3% of annual growth from 2005 to 2007. In the case of movie industry, the movie, in which Bae yong-Jun (Yon-sama) acted in 2005, was exported at a high cost to Japan. The success of this movie resulted out exporting 76 million dollars. However, the following year reported the exports of only 25 million dollars which fells 68%. The broadcast industry is especially strong in Japan than any other Asian countries. While the broadcast industries in Japan and China show fairly steady outcome, other Asian countries and non-Asian region suddenly consumed the doubled volume of Korean television dramas in 2006 compared to that of 2005. The game industry, which takes the biggest portion in the cultural industry, gradually increased it exports. Derivative products are not the cultural contents; however, they are closely related to the Korean Wave. The car appeared in drama or the cosmetics which Korea celebrities advertising are included in the realm of derivative products. Therefore, they are second biggest part in calculating the economic effects of the Korean Wave. Korean cosmetic brands such as The Face Shop and Misha rapidly grew in size in the international market and exported three hundred million dollars in 2005 and three hundred fifty million dollars in 2007. Cosmetic brands are sensitive to their models; therefore, companies frequently change the models to the most popular one at the time. Interestingly, Korean cosmetic brands use male Korea celebrities who are at the center of the Korean Wave because, in this way, it is easier for companies to appeal to female Korean fans in overseas. This is the strategies Korea cosmetic companies are using to target the international market. In the case of clothes, clothes industry resulted out the exports of twenty-three million dollars in 2005; however, exporting volume has been gradually decreased to seventeen million dollars in 2007. Decrease in home appliance exports can be explained by the increasing supply of Chinese products with the developing qualities in China mainland. When the exports of clothes, accessories, mobile phone, and home appliances were decreasing, automobile industry stretched its competitiveness in the international market with the grow rate of 12.5%. Koreas developed technology in automobile production and positive image toward Korean automobile brand established such consequence. Abroad fans interest and familiarity to Korean food helped its industry internationally. The number of tourists is increasing from 2005 to 2007 with the growth rate of 3.5%. However, the number of tourists who visited Korea because of the Korea Wave is decreasing with the rate of -13.2%. Winter Sonata sensationally hit Japan in 2003. Thus, the rate of tourists, who came to Korea by the influence of the Korean Wave, in 2005 is comparatively higher than in 2006 and in 2007 as the aftereffect of Winter Sonata. As Japanese tourists who were deeply impressed by Winter Sonata increases after 2003, interesting thing happened in the streets in Korea. The shops near the locations appeared in Korean drama have Japanese explanations on each products. Moreover, the shop assistants in Myung-doing streets tout people in Japanese. They speak Japanese more than Korean to tout Japanese tourists. The decreasing number of tourists due to the Korean Wave does not mean that the Korean Wave has less impact on other cultures. Rather, people, who already visited Korea, would not make a second trip in near future. Therefore, it is quite natural that the number of people visiting Korea due to the Korean Wave gets smaller and smaller, regarding the huge impact of Winter Sonata in 2003. Instead, increasing number of tourists shows the general perception on the image of Korea is improving and it is ultimately the result of the Korean Wave. Therefore, I conclude that the Korean Wave yet fosters the tourism industry in Korea. Riffle Effects on National Economy Through the Korean Wave, Korean international economy was vitalized. Growing demands of Korean cultural contents from abroad have increased supplies, and therefore, Korean cultural industry has grown in a large scale. Numerous companies which create the cultural contents require more labor force as they extend their business. The Korean Wave not only vitalized the Korean economy but also opened the labor market to support industry. Considering the fact that companies, which directly or indirectly related to the Korean Wave, inevitably employ more labors, unimaginable number of people would come into the economic activities, relieving unemployment and boosting the national economy. The Korea Wave started with few dramas and pop songs now controls the whole national economy. Immeasurable effects Korean fans outside of Korea often learn Korean language and eat Korean food. More and more people have interest in Korean culture and favorable impression toward Korea. These sociological phenomena raise the power of Korea very softly everywhere in the world where the Korea cultural syndrome has hit. This is the Soft Power that Korean has. Conclusion The Korean Wave hit China in 1997 for the fist time and now its influence prevails all over Asia. By watching the same drama, by reading the same comic book, and by listing to the same pop songs, people have a strong sense of solidarity. Reflecting on my own experience, Asian teenagers become intimate to each other easily by sharing their cultural interests. In the fact that cultural contents take the large portion on students lives, there is nothing better which connects the students so tightly. They would forget the time flying away when they talk about their own favorite dramas and celebrities. The Korean Wave was directly connected to the domestic economy. Numerous cultural industries have expanded their influence in Asia and related manufacturing industry also has been thrived. The cultural industry established the average exports of 414,387 million Won from 2005 to 2007 and the derivative industry reached to the average exports of 2,204,567 million Won from 2005 to 2007. The whole economic impacts including the ripple effects during the past few years are tremendous in Korean domestic economy. There are several shortages of the Korean Wave that the Korean cultural contents overwhelmingly attract female but only mimic influence to male and that the current Korean Wave is not as sensational as the past few years. The Korean dramas and movies mostly deal with romantic love stories which women love and do not take action or thriller genres which men like. To embrace a broader range of people, Korean production companies need to develop creative and interesting scenarios in various genres. Plus, the economic effects are diminishing in many sectors of industry such as clothes, home appliance, and mobile phone. It is because there are recently no big contents such as Winter Sonata and Dae Jang Geum which rose fanatical boom about Korean media. The more efforts to create the high quality cultural contents enable to continue the glory of Korean Wave in 2004 and 2005. Asian countries and people have never gathered and shared the same cultural contents before as they do these days. Even though there are worried voices that Asian cultures are losing diversity in arts and culture, I valued more on the Korean Waves positive effects that connecting many countries and people in Asia in a close bound. I hope the unified the cultural market in Asia region would be the chance for cultural industries in each Asian countries to cooperative each other to create more developed cultural contents opening up new visas of the future.

footprints new :: essays research papers

We all know the story of Footprints In The Sand, it's been around for > > > > >a long time. The following is a new version of Footprints that I had > > > >not read before. I hope you enjoy it. > > > > > > > >FOOTPRINTS...A New Version > > > >Imagine you and the Lord Jesus are walking down the road together. > > > >For much of the way, the Lord's footprints go along steadily, > > > >consistently, rarely varying the pace. But your footprints are a > > > >disorganized stream of zigzags, starts, stops, turnarounds, circles, > > > >departures, and returns. > > > > > > > >For much of the way, it seems to go like this, but gradually your > > > >footprints come more in line with the Lord's, soon paralleling His > > > >consistently. You and Jesus are walking as true friends! > > > > > > > >This seems perfect, but then an interesting thing happens: Your > > > >footprints that once etched the sand next to Jesus' are now walking > > > >precisely in His steps. Inside His larger footprints are your smaller > > > > >ones, you and Jesus are becoming one. > > > > > > > >This goes on for many miles, but gradually you notice another change. > > > > >The footprints inside the large footprints seem to grow larger. > > > >Eventually they disappear altogether. There is only one set of > > > >footprints they have become one. > > > > > > > >This goes on for a long time, but suddenly the second set of > > > >footprints is back. This time it seems even worse! Zigzags all over > > > >the place. Stops. Starts. Gashes in the sand. A variable mess of > > > >prints. > > > > > > > >You are amazed and shocked. Your dream ends. > > > > > > > >Now you pray: "Lord, I understand the first scene with zigzags end > > > >fits. I was a new Christian; I was just learning. But You walked on > > > >through the storm and helped me learn to walk with You." > > > > > > > >"That is correct." > > > > > > > >"And when the smaller footprints were inside of Yours, I was actually > > > > >learning to walk in Your steps; followed You very closely." > > > > > > > >"Very good.

The Withch-hunt In Modern Europe :: essays research papers

THE WITCH-HUNT IN MODERN EUROPE By: Brian Levack The Witch-Hunt in Modern Europe by Brian Levack proved to be an interesting as well as insightful look at the intriguing world of the European practice of witchcraft and witch-hunts. The book offers a solid, reasonable interpretation of the accusation, prosecution, and execution for witchcraft in Europe between 1450 and 1750. Levack focuses mainly on the circumstances from which the witch-hunts emerged, as this report will examine. The causes of witch-hunting have been sometimes in publications portrayed differently from reality. The hunts were not prisoner escapee type hunts but rather a hunt that involved the identification of individuals who were believed to be engaged in a secret activity. Sometimes professional witch-hunters carried on the task, but judicial authorities performed most. The cause of most of these hunts is the multi-causal approach, which sees the emergence of new ideas about the witches and changes in the criminal law statutes. Both point to major religious changes and a lot of social tension among society. The intellectual foundations of the hunts were attributed to the witch’s face-to-face pact with the devil and the periodic meetings of witches to engage in practices considered to be barbaric and heinous. The cumulative concept of witchcraft pointed immediately to the devil, the source of the magic and the one most witches adored. There was strong belief then that witches made pacts with the devil. Some would barter their soul to the devil in exchange for a gift or a taste of well being. Many believed that these witches observed a nocturnal Sabbath where they worshipped the devil and paid their homage to him. They were also accused of being an organization known for its cannibalistic practices of infanticide incest. Another component of this cumulative concept was the belief of the flight of witches. The belief for this was contributed to by the assumption that witches took flight from their homes to goto nocturnal meetings without their absence from home being detected. The belief in â€Å"flying night witches† was shared by many cultures in the modern world. These women were referred to as strigae, which was one of the many Latin terms for witches. As the reader first opens the legal foundations of witch-hunting, one finds that historically it was a judicial process from discovery to elimination. Levack states that before the thirteenth century European courts used a system of criminal procedure that made all crimes difficult to prosecute.

2pac Shakur :: essays research papers

Tupac Shakur grew up around nothing but self-delusion. His mother, Alice Faye Williams, thought she was a "revolutionary." She called herself "Afeni Shakur" and associated with members of the ill-fated Black Panther Party, a movement that wanted to feed school kids breakfast and earn civil rights for African Americans. During her youth she dropped out of high school, partied with North Carolina gang members, then moved to Brooklyn: After an affair with one of Malcolm X's bodyguards, she became political. When the mostly white United Federation of Teachers went on strike in 1968, she crossed the picket line and taught the children herself. After this she joined a New York chapter of the Black Panther Party and fell in with an organizer named Lumumba. She took to ranting about killing "the pigs" and overthrowing the government, which eventually led to her arrest and that of twenty comrades for conspiring to set off a race war. Pregnant, she made bail and told her husband, Lummuba, it wasn't his child. Behind his back she had been carrying on with Legs (a small-time associate of Harlem drug baron Nicky Barnes) and Billy Garland (a member of the Party). Lumumba immediately divorced fer. Things went downhill for Afeni: Bail revoked, she was imprisoned in the Women's House of Detention in Greenwich Village. In her cell she patted her belly and said, "This is my prince. He is going to save the black nation." By the time Tupac was born on June 16, 1971, Afeni had already defended herself in court and been acquitted on 156 counts. Living in the Bronx, she found steady work as a paralegal and tried to raise her son to respect the value of an education. From childhood, everyone called him the "Black Prince." For misbehaving, he had to read an entire edition of The New York Times. But she had no answer when he asked about his daddy. "She just told me, 'I don't know who your daddy is.' It wasn't like she was a slut or nothin'. It was just some rough times."When he was two, his sister, Sekyiwa, was born. This child's father, Mutulu, was a Black Panther who, a few months before her birth, had been sentenced to sixty years for a fatal armored car robbery. With Mutulu away, the family experienced hard times. No matter where they moved-the Bronx, Harlem, homeless shelters-Tupac was distressed. "I remember crying all the time.

Are British Prime Ministers as powerful as sometimes claimed? Essay

It can be argued that Prime ministers are almost omnipotent in the political system in the UK, this is due to the shear variety of powers in-which the prime minister holds, and the prerogatives that are taken advantage by the prime minister. However, checks on powers in the UK means that the prime minister is not as power as they appear, moreover, they are not separable from the UK political system, henceforth, they are controlled and limited within the system they are part of, thus, more often than not, prime ministers are less powerful then sometimes claimed.However, prime ministers are as powerful as they appear due to the multiple sources of power they control within the UK. Mainly, the prime minister has a vast amount of power as they are part of both the executive branch of government and the legislature, due to the fusion of powers in the UK political system, this means that they can create law and then use their representation in the legislature to force through the law. More over, prime ministers have many prerogatives that were granted to the queen as the head of state. This was seen in 2003 when Tony Blair used his prime ministerial powers to declare war on Afghanistan. Hence, due to the extensive variation in their powers, prime ministers are as powerful as they claim, as all parts of the government are open to their control, though prime ministers are not always able to exploit all these powers, but the power is there for prime ministers to take. Hence, in the sense of variety, prime ministers are as powerful as they seem. Contrastingly, prime ministers powers are very dependable, and in many cases, the extent to a prime ministers powers depends on the size of their party’s majority in government. This was portrayed by the weak prime ministerial control of Harold Wilson in 1974, when his minority Labour Party took government for all of seven months and achieved nothing. Thus, a prime ministers power is little if their party is not in a powerful position in government. This has been observed more recently with Cameron’s proposed reforms of the NHS, however, with only a 76 seat majority (provided by the coalition with the liberal Democrats), there has been incredibly slow progress, even with Cameron’s constant campaigning and push for the implement of the reforms. Hence, prime ministers are not as powerful as  sometimes claimed as they have little control over proceedings of government by themselves, it is only when they are accompanied by a strong position in parliament by their r epresented party that their objectives can be achieved. Thus, the power of a majority party on government is sometimes mistaken and thought of as a prime ministers power, thus making them appear more powerful than they are, Nevertheless, prime ministers are powerful in the sense they dominate political agenda within government. Since Thatcher’s domination of the political agenda of the privatisation of public businesses in the 1980’s other prime ministers have displayed their power in the same way. Cameron has dominated the political agendas since 2010 with his policy of the Big Society, which has been the centre piece for his leadership, thus it is constantly referee to throughout both the government and the media. In this case, prime ministers are as powerful as they claim, as they are the leaders in government, hence the political agenda is fully controlled by what they as leader wish to tackle most in government. Prime ministers set the tone for their leadership, they have the ultimate decision on the political agenda country and thus have a powerful image and position as all those in government, to some extent, must follow their lead; even if they wish to debate against the political agenda, thus they cast power over all those involved in government and parliament. On-the-other-hand prime ministers, like all people are confined by the events that take place around them, this they are not that powerful as these events define the extent to which they can achieve their aims. For instance, Brown’s power became very limited over the countries economics after the credit crunch of 2008, meaning that prime ministers are not as powerful as sometimes claimed because it is the events in-which impact their reign that control the extent of their power. Even when times were good during Blair’s leadership, and the economic boom of the 2000’s, Blair was only able to invest heavily in education and public services due to the fact times were economically good, not due to the fact he had power as a prime minister. Thus, a prime ministers power is dependable and elastic throughout their reign. Prime ministers do not have a set power, and cannot be as powerful as  sometimes claimed unless all the factors within government are in their favour, thus prime ministers are not as powerful as sometimes claimed. However, in the aspects in which a prime ministers have power over, such as cabinet, they do dominate and are as powerful as they appear. Both Thatcher and Blair dominated their cabinets during their time as prime ministers. Blair called cabinet meetings when he saw fit and developed the idea of â€Å"kitchen cabinet† in which he would select small groups of advisors, and even then it was mostly to inform them of his ideas on a policy, and to inform the members what was needed of them to achieve these ideas. Moreover, Thatcher dominated cabinet with such strength that it lead to the resignation of Geoffrey Howe in 1990, as he felt she dominated cabinet too much, or in other words, was too powerful for the good of the government. Hence, prime ministers are incredibly powerful in the sense that they can completely control the aspects of government in which they have some form of power in, and therefore in these aspects, much like cabinet, prime ministers are as powerful as somet imes claimed, if not more powerful. Contrastingly, power is these aspects of government are limited as they are still parts of government, hence this power can be weakened or even nullified by these aspects of government. It is these aspects that lead to the removal of Thatcher by her own party, and cabinet especially, in 1990. Blair also suffered a similar fate in 2007 as he was removed from power by his Labour Party. Therefore, though prime ministers do have these powers in government, it is the government which checks these powers and limits them massively. Thus, though prime ministers may appear to have limitless power in aspects of government, this power is hard to attain and sustain throughout their time as leaders. The powers are very often constructed by opposition parties in government and disagreements in cabinets. Hence a prime minster is not as powerful as sometimes claimed as their power is forever limited by factors outside of their control, mainly those also involved in government. Therefore to conclude, though prime ministers have a large variety of power, and in some cases can exert incredible amounts of power to dominate these  aspect, as a whole prime ministers are not as powerful as they appear. It is the checks and balances on these powers that make sure that the facade of a prime ministers power remain as such. The UK democratic system was created to prevent tyranny by a monarch, thus it also stops the over exertion of power by a prime minster; to prevent the same tyranny. Additionally, regardless of how much power one prime minster has, their power is an elastic model throughout their reign, reaching points of omnipotence and weakness, depending on factors that are mostly out of a prime ministers control. Moreover, a prime minster remains the first among equals, but these combined equals in cabinet and parliament have the closer to nullify a prime ministers power, it is for these reasons that prime ministers are not as powerful as sometimes claimed.

The Influence of Humanity on Education and Women

The age of Enlightenment put forth the importance of humanism and reason, concepts that creates a balance between humanity's innate tendency to experience emotions while at the same time, cultivating a rational view of experiencing sensations and interactions around him/her. Indeed, discourses that were created and published in the 18th century reflected the use of reason in order to elucidate the nature of human beings. Enlightenment discourses,' in effect, provide an important insight into the humanism and reason that dwells inside the human mind. These important concepts of the Enlightenment were shown in the works of Mary Wollstonecraft and Jean Jacques Rousseau. Both being proponents and believers of the principles reflective of the Enlightenment, they expressed their views of how humanism and reason influenced their position about the role of women and feminism, and their relationship with education. In Wollstonecraft's â€Å"Vindication of the rights of women,† the author utilized reason as a tool to argue her point about the history of women's suppression when it comes to achieving quality education and fair regard with men in the society. Rousseau, meanwhile, in his work entitled â€Å"Emile† (or â€Å"On Education†), asserted that neither women nor men were suppressed or antagonized against each other, whether the comparison is on their rights, social status, and even privileges such as attaining education. He provided the ‘opposite face' of Wollstonecraft's argument of women suppression in society through their lack of education. Given these descriptions of the works of Wollstonecraft and Rousseau, this paper posits that the works of the authors share a similarity and difference that pertains to the issue of women's equality in attaining education and education in general. This paper argues that using both humanism and reason as foundations for their arguments, Wollstonecraft and Rousseau similarly believed that education must be achieved by all, although education in itself must not be confined to formal education, but to formative education done by the society as well. However, both differed in expressing their opinion concerning women's roles and feminism. Wollstonecraft believed that women had been suppressed and not given the privilege to acquire good formal and formative educations, while Rousseau believed that women were not hindered by society to receive education, and they can do so if they only willed themselves to achieve it. Presentation, analysis, and discussion of these arguments are supported with texts from Wollstonecraft's â€Å"Vindication of the rights of women† and Rousseau's â€Å"Emile. Wollstonecraft and Rousseau presented similar arguments when they discussed the issue of how society should develop and implement education for children and the youth. Both acknowledged the fact that formal education is important, although its state (in the 18th century) leaves more to be desired; in fact, they cited the deficiencies that formal education can have to people's learning and intellectual and moral development. They believed that formal education must include formative education, which means people must not only learn through accumulation of facts and information in schools and educational institutions, but also learn through constant interaction with other people. The youth must learn not only from within the walls of the classroom, but in the real world as well. Rousseau expressed his strong belief in formative education in â€Å"Emile. † In fact, the creation of the discourse itself was meant to critique and analyze the state of formal education as Rousseau observed it during his time. One of his critiques against formal education is that it tended to provide knowledge that is ‘quite limited,' even â€Å"censored† for the students. In expressing his disagreement against â€Å"censored† material used in teaching students, he stated, â€Å"[t]he literature and science of our century tend to destroy rather than to build up. When we censor others we take on the tone of a pedagogue†¦ In spite of all those books whose only aim†¦ is public utility†¦ the art of training men-is still neglected. Books and instructional materials are only useful as aids towards learning, but if these educational materials are â€Å"censored† and created in order to suit the institutions' needs rather than the students', then the â€Å"training of men† is forfeited. What results is a society where children and the youth depend on education to provide its learning knowledge, taking for granted ‘lessons' learned in real life, such as knowledge that comes out from daily interaction with other people and learning lessons from their everyday experiences in the outside world. Apart from the censorship in the educational material taught to students, Rousseau also cited the seemingly lack of imagination in the educational system. By ‘imagination,' he meant that people have become heavily dependent on information and knowledge already extant in the society in all kinds of discipline. Gone is the drive to discover new things in the natural and social environment, which makes human knowledge and most importantly, intellectual development, stagnant. Learning and knowledge accumulation must be a process in which students must think â€Å"out of the box,† an idea that should have been supported because this is what led to the age of Enlightenment. Without humanity's imagination and drive to learn more about the world they live in, perhaps the age of Enlightenment and Scientific Revolution Rousseau's society was benefiting from would not happen. He explicated in better terms his idea of thinking â€Å"out of the box† in the following passage from â€Å"Emile†: By freely expressing my own sentiment I have so little idea of claiming authority that I always give my reasons. This way people may weigh and judge them for themselves. But while I do not wish to be stubborn in defending my ideas, I think it my duty to put them forward†¦ Propose what is feasible, they repeatedly tell me. It is as if I were being told to propose what people are doing already, or at least to propose some good which mixes well with the existing wrongs†¦ Wollstonecraft had similarly expressed Rousseau's sentiments concerning formal education. In expressing her views about education (in general), she focused on the effect that intellectual development from schools have over the moral development of the students. Rousseau, on one hand, had not expressed explicitly his desire for an moral, alongside intellectual, development for humanity's youth. Wollstonecraft, on the other hand, had been more than explicit in expressing her desire for moral development as an individual goes through intellectual development. In â€Å"Vindication,† she expressed concern that the public and private education systems are focusing too much on the intellectual development of the individual, and might, over time, experience greater knowledge and learning without a strong and firm moral character. By emphasizing on moral and intellectual developments, Wollstonecraft strove to put a balance between the humanism and reason, the pillars of the Enlightenment that helped promote intellectual and social progress in human societies. Her fears of escalating moral degeneration for the future of 18th century society was expressed in her discourse, where she declared, †¦ children would be entirely separated from their parents, and I question whether they would become better citizens by sacrificing the preparatory affections, by destroying the force of relationships that render the marriage state as necessary as respectable. But, if a private education produces self-importance, or insulates a man in his family, the evil is only shifted, not remedied. By claiming that â€Å"evil is only shifted, not remedied,† Wollstonecraft meant that formal education does not prepare people for the knowledge that would become more important and useful in real life. This knowledge is not the wide expanse of information that one knows, nor the deep understanding of a discipline or study, but rather, the knowledge that one has in having the best judgment and manner of interacting with other people. Moral development, in effect, was considered more important than intellectual development because it is through a healthy psyche that humanity is able to move forward and leave the ways of the ‘primitive human. ‘ This primitive being is one who is not able to control his emotions and desires, seeking and pursuing these at the detriment of other people's lives and welfare. With social progress in mind, Wollstonecraft proposes that education or intellectual development is not the sole key to it, but morality reigning in human societies as well. Wollstonecraft and Rousseau expressed their similarities in the belief that moral development is just as important in attaining intellectual development. However, when it comes to discussing role of women in the society and feminism, the authors have different perspective toward these issues. Wollstonecraft's view of women and feminism is more radical and attempts to break the status quo (i. e. , the perceived dominance of males over females). Rousseau, meanwhile, sought to establish the fact that in general, men and women are equal in that they complement each other's differences. Thus, for him, their differences are nature's way of creating a balanced whole and harmony in the society. Wollstonecraft's views were apparent in her discussion of education, where, after criticizing education in general, she applied the issue of the achievement of formal education in the context of the women's sector and feminism. In her discussion of moral development as an essential factor in developing intellectual growth, she argued that women's lack of opportunity to achieve formal education also resulted to their lack of moral growth. This means that because they were not exposed to ideas that would encourage the development of a moral character, women were left to act and behave attitudes and character that they deemed as ‘right' and ‘pleasing' to the society. She expressed dismay over women's lack of privilege in education, both moral and intellectual, relegated her to the low and weak status in the society: No, it is indolence and vanity-the love of pleasure and the love of sway, that will rain paramount in an empty mind. I say empty emphatically, because the education which women now receive scarcely deserves the name. For the little knowledge that they are led to acquire, during the important years of youth, is merely relative to accomplishments; and accomplishments without a bottom, for unless the understanding be cultivated, superficial and monotonous is every grace. This passage reflected the fact that the perpetuation of a patriarchal society in the 18th century was due to many factors, which included the tolerance of women's lack of privilege to develop themselves intellectually and morally. If women will not understand the repercussions that education can have in their lives, they will remain as â€Å"indolent† individuals possessing an â€Å"empty mind†-individuals who remain unchallenged and unknowing because they lack the knowledge to survive in a world where survival not only depended on physically, but intellectually and morally as well. Rousseau offered an opposing opinion to Wollstonecraft's feminist ideals. In â€Å"Emile† (Book Five), he made it clear that â€Å"[t]o cultivate the masculine virtues in women and to neglect their own is obviously to do them an injury. Women are too clear-sighted to be thus deceived. When they try to usurp our privileges they do not abandon them. But the result is that being unable to manage the two, because they are incompatible, they fall below their own potential without reaching our's and loose half their worth. † This assertion reflected how women, in their desire to be equal in skills and knowledge as men, weaken themselves in the process, for they were not able to cultivate their own skills and knowledge. Attaining equality with men by aspiring for their characteristics is abandoning one's self and acquiring the identity of the other, thereby creating confusion and guilt. The woman is then left feeling weak because she had abandoned her true, strong self. It is through this point that Rousseau was able to explicate how males and females are equal in that they complement each other: one draws strength from the other, and become weak when they try to be not their true, strong selves.

Compensation Decisions Essay

As a human resource manager, most people believe that our job is only to fix problems within the workplace or terminate employees who are not performing up to the standards of the company. Without knowing fully exactly what the position entails, this misconception will continue. Today I will be sharing a small yet important process that falls into the hands of the human resource manager. This process is the hiring process. It is a process that involves several steps to ensure that the company retains the best candidate possible to fulfill the position which is being offered. Within the hiring process fall several key components that help to ensure that the candidate will fit in with the structure of the company. Included in this process are recruiting, hiring, evaluating, and compensation. Each step has additional factors which play a part in the overall process. I will be breaking down the process by categories, and explaining in depth exactly what goes into selecting the future employee. To begin, as with any search we must first decide exactly what we are aiming to achieve. In order to narrow down the selection, as a department we must come up with key question that identify what qualities we are looking for to fulfill the position. This process can be easily accomplished by creating a task analysis. A task analysis will help to determine exactly what needs to be completed within the new position. A complied list of assignments that need to be fulfilled will help to create the job analysis. Once the task  analysis is completed, a job analysis can be formulated. With any job analysis, we aim to select the right candidate to ensure that the company’s goals will be reached. A job analysis consists of creating the job summary, identifying essential job functions, listing required knowledge, as well as experience an education, and identifying equipment needed to fulfill the position, and environmental factors. All of these components help in the process in selecting the ideal candidate. Creating a job analysis is harder than it seems. As the human resource manager, this step needs to be carefully considered, since if it is not done correctly can lead to deviance in the workplace. In an article Employee Deviance as a Response to Injustice and Task-Related Discontent, the author suggests that deviance in the workplace starts do to an injustice in task assignment which employees feel they are not treated fairly in assignments, and further they deviate from their assigned tasks. (Zoghbi-Manrique-de-Lara, 2010) Believe it or not but workplace deviance stems from a poorly written job analysis, and a job description that is not detailed enough to fully explain the associated tasks that the position requires. With this being said, a properly written job analysis can combat these issues before they begin. Once the analysis is complete, and the job description is written, we move ahead to recruitment. This process ensures that the proper candidates are selected based on qualifying information from the job description. This step helps to eliminate any persons that may not fit the qualifications of the position, as well as the needs of the company. Recruitment can be critical since many factors need to be considered. One factor would be how you chose to recruit for the position. For this position we as a department chose to recruit online by using various websites, such as Monster.com. This made the application process simple, since the candidates are able to apply at their convenience and it elevates setting aside time for both the candidate and the company to have applications accepted on site. This form of recruitment also helps the human resource department in selecting the candidates that host the qualifications that are required to fulfill the position. Recruitment strategies often help to determine if the candidates selected posses the proper skills set and knowledge that is needed to perform the job to the best of their ability. I must agree that recruitment is a tricky part  of the process. Having individuals present themselves on paper and recruiting them in person is a tough decision to make, and one that can impact the entire working environment as a whole. Once the recruitment selection has been completed, crucial factors come into pay such as compensation and evaluations. Compensation is offered upon employment, yet after an evaluation is completed, compensation can be adjusted based on performance. With the current recession, compensation decisions can be challenging, yet need to be expressed in order to keep costs down, while still retaining qualified employees. As stated in the article, Compensation Challenges, â€Å"If key business generators perceive their compensation to be inadequate, or their company to be at risk of floundering, they may take their business skills and leave† (Cotterwjan, 2009). This serves to be true, so compensation is a critical key in retaining employees. If not compensated to what the employee feels is adequate than the risk factor of the employee leaving becomes an issue. This will create more spending to recruit, and costs to train another individual for the position. That in itself does not help to cut cost but just the opposite and raises them. One way to make sure that compensation decision making is done correctly, author of Show Them the Money†¦Really! suggests that in a recession what you pay still matters. Alexander suggests that instead of undercutting now to save money, ultimately you will pay more. (Alexander, 2009) Once the economy starts to change, you will be forced to shell out more money for higher paying salaries to maintain the employees that you have, or replace the ones that have left. This holds true with any profession, even though at the current time the employers have the upper hand because people outnumber the available positions, as the market starts to change, the people will relocate to a higher paying position with another company. Deciding what compensation should be should be weighed on certain factors such as experience, knowledge of the field and qualities that they bring to the company. It should not reflect the current economy, since that is always changing. When deciding the compensation for the team for this assignment, I asked myself the same two questions that were asked in the article Learning and the Form of Compensation which were, â€Å"Firstly, do employers learn more quickly about workers who are paid for performance than  about those who are not? Secondly, d oes learning about performance pay workers depend on the specific form of performance pay?† (Hoon, 2013) After carefully reading the evaluations of the employees I thought about the previous questions. What did I really know about the evaluations in front of me? I was only able to take what was presented and compensate according to their reviews. This makes it very difficult for a human resource manager to approve any increases since what a supervisor may feel is warranted, human resources may not be able to support the increase without knowing fully what that employee brings to the table. Since in bigger businesses, the human resource department is not familiar with the backgrounds of the employees, than it becomes the responsibility of the direct supervisor to relay any pertinent information in the evaluation to support their decisions. Since starting this assignment, I would have to say that I was unaware of all the work that goes into the entire process and how many little things can affect the outcome if not done correctly. As a employee it seems easy to state that there is a new position available, but if that position is not described correctly the entire process could prove to be costly for the company, and not beneficial considering all the time and effort that is set forth in the entire process. Not only is the process time consuming, it lays out the guidelines for the position, and what is expected for the future employee. Without the proper guidelines, this process would not be as effective as it is today. Reference Alexander, J. (2009). Show Them The Money†¦.Really! Business NH Magazine , 33. Cotterwjan, J. D. (2009). Compensation Chellenges. Law Practice: The Business Of Practicing Law , 47-49. Hoon, B. (2013). Learning and the Form of Compensation. Journal of Labor Research , 79-98. Zoghbi-Manrique-de-Lara, P. (2010). Employee Deviance as a Response to Injustice and Task-Related Disconnect. Psychologist-Manager Journal , 131-146.