Anti-Terror Laws - What Americ essays

Anti-Terror Laws - What Americ essays Anti-Terror Laws - What Americans Should Know Unaware to most people in the US, recently passed laws allow the government to watch them just about as much as they want. After the tragic terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001 there have been many laws passed to protect our nation from these terrible people. In the process of trying to protect us, the citizens of the United States, they have started to pry into our lives. Making some uncomfortable. Many people believe there are too many flaws and that these new laws can give the government too much access to our lives. The main laws that have passed include the USA Patriot Act, the Homeland Security Act, and a possible Domestic Security Enhancement Act, currently in draft form. I am not saying do away with these laws, but they should be revised, reconsidered, and then put back into place. Initially, the USA Patriot Act was passed by an overwhelming vote by the US Congress on October 26, 2001. This act was passed very quickly after the 9/11 attacks, it is considered a weaker version of the upcoming Homeland Security Act. This law allows the FBI to begin spying on American's that were considered a threat. There was judicial over-sight established in the 70's to stop this. Some of the FBI and CIA monitoring affect a lot of areas of typical American's lives. Internet usage can be spied on if a law enforcement agent believes that surveillance is "relevant" in an ongoing investigation. When a person signs on to the internet they send and receive "packets" of information and that creates what comes up on the screen and this is what a user interacts with. New government software named Carnivore is included in the expanded investigative powers included in this act. This software "sniffs" these packets for key words or e-mail addresses that have become deemed a threat by investigators. FBI now can obtain access to many sensitive documents about a person's life just by sta...

Walmart in the South

Walmart in the South Introduction Walmart’s success in Mexico can be attributed to its competitive cost-reduction strategy. The implementation of NAFTA helped to solve most of the problems that Walmart was facing. Part of the success comes from the new manufacturing companies that established in Mexico. The production of goods in Mexico reduced Walmart’s reliance on imports.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Walmart in the South specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Improved infrastructure played a role in enhancing the effectiveness of the firm’s logistics system. Walmart faces reduced growth in the U.S. market, and varied success in the international markets. There is a culture clash between subsidiaries’ managers and the group’s executives. The firm can use local brands to enter new markets. There is a greater opportunity if Walmart can exploit the unmet needs in the emerging markets. Analysis The implement ation of NAFTA helped to solve most of the problems that Walmart was facing (Daniles, Radebaught and Sulivan 365). Walmart is known as a low price retailer. Without NAFTA, Walmart was finding it hard to maintain low prices. A tariff rate of 10% made it difficult to compete with local firms (Daniles, Radebaught and Sulivan 365). It shows that Walmart relied on imports, before the formation of NAFTA. Walmart’s success can be attributed to NAFTA, which is based on imported goods. Part of the success comes from the new manufacturing companies. As a result of the new manufacturing companies, Walmart does not need to import some of the products. The tariff rate is 3% in the post-NAFTA era (Daniles, Radebaught and Sulivan 365). Walmart can obtain the goods at a free-tariff rate if they are manufactured in Mexico. The manufacture of goods in Mexico helped Walmart to avoid imports. Freight costs and tariffs are eliminated as a result of local production. NAFTA helped to reduce the cos t of imported goods. Part of the success comes from improved infrastructure. Better infrastructure has helped Walmart to solve the logistical problems that it encountered when it entered Mexico (Daniles, Radebaught and Sulivan 364). The firm was finding trouble to use its experience in logistics because Mexico lacked supportive infrastructure. The Mexican government and the private sector have been involved in improving infrastructure. Any American firm would have encountered similar logistical problems. Walmart’s central distribution centers have reduced part of the problem. The distribution centers provide a central location, which reduces the overall distance that goods need to be transported. It can be noted that Walmart’s competitive strategy provides its ability to succeed.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Walmart has continuously reduced prices as part of its competitive strategy (Daniles, Radebaught and Sulivan 364). Walmart relies on low prices to capture a larger market share. The ability to negotiate with suppliers for lower prices is Walmart’s competitive strategy. Walmart captured a large market share through acquisitions, which gave it a higher bargaining power over suppliers. Competitors collaborated to have a similar advantage. However, they are disappointed by Walmart’s continuous reduction of product prices. Walmart’s success in competitive pricing can be attributed to its strategy to gain a large market share, and collaborate with suppliers. Another American retailer would not have succeeded with a different strategy. Walmart’s strategy in reducing costs gave it a competitive advantage. Comerci and Soriana have combined their purchases to gain a higher bargaining power over suppliers (Daniles, Radebaught and Sulivan 365). Walmart’s main strategy is to reduce costs by working c losely with suppliers. Comerci and Soriana are forced to combine their purchases because they have lost their market share. Comerci and Soriana need a continuous improvement strategy to reduce cost. The firms need internal controls to reduce costs continually. If they can continually reduce costs, they will be able to match Walmart’s competitiveness. Walmart’s strategy in Mexico and Central America is to focus on cost reduction, and an efficient logistics system. The effectiveness of the logistics system has been used to support suppliers, and the distribution network (Daniles, Radebaught and Sulivan 364). Walmart segmentation makes it easier to target specific demographic groups. Bilateral agreements have reduced the tariff rates of imports from 49 countries (Daniles, Radebaught and Sulivan 365). Walmart has gained a wider range of option in countries from which it can import goods. NAFTA reduced tariff rates in North America making it easier for the firm to import pr oduct from the U.S. into Mexico. Geographical proximity has an impact on free trade agreements as it can be seen in the NAFTA agreement. It has an impact on the cost of freight. It affects the speed at which goods may be imported. When countries are located close together, goods take less time on board.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Walmart in the South specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Some of the challenges the firm may face as it expands include culture clashes, logistical problems, intense rivalry from local brands, and misunderstanding consumer preferences in different countries. Intense rivalry emerges when competitors copy Walmart’s pricing strategy. Misunderstanding consumer demand comes from entering new markets. Logistical problems are attributed to poor infrastructure, and different trends in new markets. Alternatives Enter new markets using local brands, and then convert to Walmart after some tim e (BDC par. 4) Walmart used the same approach in Mexico (Daniles, Radebaught and Sulivan 363). It can work in markets where people are loyal to local brands. The firm may also use local brands permanently. Advantages The firm can capture a large market share rapidly because it is able to benefit from the local brand. It provides time to win local brand loyalists, before changing to Walmart. It provides time learn and integrate new cultures. Disadvantages It may build the local brands instead of promoting Walmart as a brand. It may be necessary to have separate marketing programs to capture different brands, which may increase marketing costs. Find markets for products that can be made locally as new products Eyring, Johnson and Nair (par. 5) suggest that the best way to succeed in the emerging markets is to find unmet needs, and develop products to meet the needs. The firm can seek to find out why some products are not very successful, and find ways of increasing the attractiven ess of the products. Eyring, Johnson and Nair (par. 3) discuss that multinationals fail to succeed in emerging economies because most of them think that reducing costs is the only formula to succeed. Advantages New products in new markets have a potential for rapid growth in revenues. Customers in emerging markets have a tendency of trying new products (BDC par. 3). Disadvantages New products may need a lot of marketing to create awareness. New products may turn into slow moving stock. New products may need importation, which increases cost. Walmart can succeed by targeting the largest social class in a country Eyring, Johnson and Nair (par. 5) explain that when a company targets high-income earners in emerging economies, they may not be very successful. The reason is that high-income earners do not form a large part of the population in emerging economies. Advantages Middle-income earners are increasing in emerging markets. Revenues rely on the sale of basic commodities, which can get support from middle-income earners. Disadvantages The largest social class may have a low purchasing power, especially in emerging markets. The major difference between high-income earners and middle-income earners may be in the purchase of durables. Middle-income earners may purchase less of durable products than high-income earners. Walmart needs to update its automatic logistics system to recognize products with a high percentage of discounts, which they would not want to be reordered Advantage It will prevent reordering of products that do not maximize profits. Disadvantages It will be costly to regularly update the programmed system to match emerging needs. It will need verbal communication between managers of units, executives, and developers of the program. One of the ways of managing culture diversity is by managing the flow of information Nataatmadia and Dyson (581) discuss that knowledge sharing can applied down-upwards within an organization to improve mul ticultural understanding. Nataatmadia and Dyson (582) support written communication as opposed to verbal communication for communities where English is learnt in the classroom rather than from practice. Advantages Written communication creates time for better statements and understanding between members. Written communication gives time to non-native English speakers to understand the subject. Managers can learn new things about the people’s culture. Disadvantages Written communication may require support software such as intranet or internet. It involves additional cost. Written communication may reduce openness, which is necessary for sharing knowledge. The Arkansas executive can allow managers in individual countries to create their own organizational culture provided that they meet the firm’s objectives The organization can have only the core parts of its organizational culture standardized.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Advantage The subsidiaries can meet the organization’s goals without having a culture clash between managers and employees. Disadvantages Walmart’s organizational culture may be lost when each subsidiary is identified with a different organization culture. It may difficult to transfer the same success Walmart has in the U.S. to other countries if managers cannot adapt to Walmart’s organizational culture. Conclusion Walmart has the alternative to manage by objectives, and allow subsidiaries to form their own organizational cultures. Sharing knowledge can be used to reduce culture clashes between managers. Walmart continuously reduces prices, which may prevent competitors from catching up with its low price strategy. Competitive pricing may not always be successful. Exploiting the unmet needs is a formula that may work best in emerging markets. Recommendations The firm can enter new markets using local brands. Acquisitions are a good penetration strategy in ne w markets with strong local brands. Television advertisement provides a better coverage, but is very expensive. In the U.S., in 2011, it was about $110,000 on average for a 30-second ad (Crupi par. 1). They can be used in the early stages, before the firm reverts to other methods of advertisement. Later, the firm can scrap out advertisement costs, which can be used to lower the cost of products. BDC. Doing Business in Emerging Markets. 13 Jun. 2010. Web. Crupi, Anthony. In Their Prime: Broadcast Spot Costs Soar. 22 Jun. 2011. Web. Daniles, John, Lee Radebaught and Daniel Sulivan. International Business. 14th ed. 2011. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. Print. Eyring, Matthew, Mark Johnson and Hari Nair. New Business Models in Emerging Markets. 31 Jan. 2011. Web. Nataatmadia, Indrawati and Laurel Dyson. â€Å"Managing the Modern Workforce: Cultural Diversity and Its Implications.† Proceedings of the 2005 Information Resources Management Association International Confe rence. San Diego. May 15-18 (2005): 580-584. IRMA. Web.

Research paper on Ethnomusicology Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

On Ethnomusicology - Research Paper Example The CD is one that fuses the Turkish pop scene into a sense of both cultural traditions and modern techniques to create a contemporary style to the rich culture of history. The instrumentation which is used to complete this style includes mandolin, large percussion sections, violins, guitar and a pop beat for the background sound (Putomayo Presents 2011). Musical Style The musical style of both CDs follows the traditional format of the origins of the groups while carrying influences by the rock and Western style of music. The style is then combined with specific sounds that are able to show the content attributed to each area. The attempt made by both artist groups working toward a fusion sound. For instance, in the song, La Difference, there is a fusion of the African and Western instruments. Electrical guitar is used throughout the piece, as well as a background of piano. There is also a pop-rock beat that is used as a secondary part of the rhythm to create stronger movement. The s ong also uses the phrase â€Å"Love is Serabande† in the chorus. This combines the culture of English, French and African cultures, all which are known in the region that Keita has recorded. All of the CD songs follow this same influence, similar to the group of The Middle East. The musical style of Turkish Groove shows the same contemporary influences. The violin serenades and background, mandolin which is used and the strong percussion line are all a part of the Turkish traditional music. This is the strongest part of the songs that are played. This is combined with the Turkish singing that is attributed to singing in the Turkish language. However, there is a back beat that is... The approaches that are now being taken with music combine the concept of fusion with a cultural context. The individual experiences, political and cultural approaches all make a difference in how artists are expressing their music. However, this is combined with a fusion of sounds that are influencing the globe and changing the approach many have to music. More important, there is the ability to have universal themes that artists are interested in, all which are displayed with the individual and political tensions that the artists are aware of and which creates the main similarities used in the music. When looking at the artists of Keita and Putomayo Presents, it can be seen that cultural influences drive forward the music. However, the themes of ending war, re-looking boundaries and of finding peace remain the same for both groups.

Public defense Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Public defense - Essay Example East District of Virginia The East District of Virginia federal, public defender service was established in 2001. This service is organized and governed according to the Criminal Justice Act 18 USC Â § 3006A. The service provides adequate, legal representation for defendants in criminal cases. West District of Virginia The public defender service for the West District of Virginia appoints private attorneys, full time public defender attorneys, and pays for court ordered cases. The Circuit Judge reviews these cases. Public Defenders who are full-time are employees of the Public Defender Corporation. This corporation is organized at the Circuit Court level, a separate legal entity, and funded by the Public Defender Services. Conclusion The Virginia Public Defense System is designed to monitor the needs of indigent individuals and provides adequate, legal counsel for representation. The system that I would implement for the public defense system would ensure the proper legal counsel fo r defendants. I would ensure that the attorneys’ credentials are reviewed before assignment to a given case. Works Cited Virginia Indigent Defense Commission.

Ocado Supermarket Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Ocado Supermarket - Assignment Example 1997). By rewarding orders from a devoted warehouse, we can demonstrate almost live inventory on our webshop, enabling customers to decide from an assortment of groceries that are in fact in stock. By using exclusive logistics software and satellite direction-finding systems in our vans, we strive to deliver the correct goods at the right time (Rotorua, 1988). But what makes us truthfully divergent is the quality of our people. Everybody who works at Ocado has a liability to discover an improved way to do things. They use widespread sense instead of corporate manuals and, in all cases; they care enough to try to make a disparity. Ideally they would create from scratch, avoiding all the legacy issues of a customary business. Then business people would build a brand new service completely around your customers' requirements. They had made sure this service distribute Waitrose quality groceries, straight to customers' doors in the majority dependable way possible. They had staff that company by the brightest people in the industry and approve them to look following their customers (Rotorua, 1988). That is precisely what they have tried to do. We do make mistakes but we be familiar with they are changing people's habits with the magnificent expediency of being able to get what they want, when they want it. They have built this business to address the desires of busy people in the 21st Century, with no compromising on the devotion to customer care and service that people miss from the past (Cotterill, P.P. 1989, Pp. 36-42). If we analyzed then we come to know that Ocado was launched in corporation by Waitrose in January 2002 and their service is now obtainable to over 13.5 million household's crossways the South East, the Midlands, the North West and other lately the South Coast. If they register by Ocado they will even contact customer area. They will approximately surely know somebody who has shopped with Ocado. Ocado really can make dissimilarity Exceptional service Magnificent Waitrose food Extraordinary order accuracy Handy one-hour delivery slots Best website in the land No doubt, for Six Sigma to work in your service and deal areas, it is necessary that it is straight associated to customer contentment. Though Ocado do not use Six Sigma themselves, customer's imminent remains pertinent for Six Sigma professionals and anybody for whom excellence is key in today's business type of weather, as Ocado face near-identical confront. As the online grocery service operational in company by Waitrose, Ocado have become famed for their strange approach of putting customer service at the heart of their business strategy from their launch two years ago. Hear how the company has attained (Ocado environmental Report): - Buy-in crossways all company functions to the strategy of enchantment the customer - Management maintain for prioritising quality and service delivery higher than all else - Support for the business case for such a philosophy and the more resources that were

Summary of Critical Theory

Summary of Critical Theory The Central Claims of Critical Theory In order to understand the central claims of Critical Theory, it must first be defined. What is Critical Theory? Critical Theory first coined as such in 1937 is a name given to a series of new approaches to the study of culture, literature and thought that developed during the 1960’s primarily in France (Leitch, 2001). It refers to a series of pathways for intellectual inquiry that first emerged with the end of the 18th century European Enlightenment (mid 1600’s to late 1700’s) (Nowlan, 2001) in which the causes associated with it were legal equality, the right of ordinary Europeans to hold their rulers to account, the rule of law, transparent government, freedom of expression, the right of nations to self-determination and to freedom from colonial domination – and they are as relevant today as they were two hundred years ago (Glendening, 2003). Critical theory questions and challenges that which seems obvious, natural and simple in the world around us â⠂¬â€œ the conviction that what is, or what is in the process of becoming, or what appears to be, or what is most commonly understood to be, or necessary and inevitable – it does not accept any of this (Nowlan). The Frankfort School is the name given to a group of German Jewish intellectuals associated with the Institute for Social Research (Institut fur Sozialforschung) founded in 1923. Their work was an attempt to integrate psychoanalytic insights and the domain of culture into a Marxist analysis of twentieth century societies. The group composite was that of thinkers such as Horkheimer, Adorno and Marcuse (Agger, 1993). According to these theorists a â€Å"critical† theory may be distinguished from a â€Å"traditional† theory according to a specific practical purpose: a theory is critical to the extent that it seeks human emancipation, â€Å"to liberate human beings from the circumstances that enslave them† (Horkheimer, 1982, 244). Theories aim to explain and transform circumstances; critical theories provide the descriptive and normative bases for social inquiry aimed at decreasing domination and increasing freedom in their forms. A clarification is given to what is not clearly understood or is questionable. Theories arise in many ranges – anthropology, film, religion, linguistics and political science – and even family lifestyle. Critical theory is not a system, nor it is reducible to any fixed set of proscriptions (Bronner, 2002). Today, social theory is in crisis because of growing dissatisfaction with the dominant methodologies and conceptions of social theory and research. The 1960’s is when Stephen Eric Bronner became interested in critical theory as new theoretical paradigms emerged that questioned prevailing quantitative, empiricist, and positivist conceptions of social theory. But where did the central claim of critical theory begin? Since the Frankfort School was the first Marxist-oriented research center affiliated with a major German university directed by Carl Grunberg, it tended to be empirical, historical, and oriented toward problems of the European working class movement. Works by Karl Korsch, Georg Lukacs and others also had works published in its journal Archiv fur die Geschichte des Sozialismus und der Arbeiterbewegung. Grunberg retired in 1930 and Max Horkheimer became the director. Under Horkheimer, the Institute sought to develop an interdisciplinary social theory which could serve as an instrument of social transformation publishing a journal Zeitschrift fur Sozialforschung (1932-1941) that contained a wholesome collection of articles and book reviews. These compilations detailed social theory and defined any misconceptions of their meaning. Horkheimer, upon assuming his position as Director, delivered an inaugural address on January 24, 1931, entitled â€Å"The State of Social Philosophy and the Tasks of an Institute for Social Research (Bronner and Keller 1989: 25-36). Within the contents of the text, he defines social philosophy as an attempt to elucidate the â€Å"fate of human beings, insofar as they are parts of state, law, economy, religion, in short, with the entire material and spiritual culture of humanity. He criticizes Kant for grounding social philosophy in the experience and faculties of the particular individual (Ibid: 33) and praises Hegel’s theory as an improvement but yet questions speculative metaphysics and their tendencies to celebrate a higher transcendental sphere of Being and meaning over concrete existence. (ibid:38-39). Horkheimer continued to defend the importance for critical social theory and envisaged a program of supra-disciplinary research which would investigate current social an d political problems. Philosophers, sociologists, economists, historians, and psychologists would be united in and ongoing research community who would do together what in other disciplines one individual does alone in a laboratory, which is what genuine scientists have always done: namely to pursue the great philosophical question using the most refined scientific methods; to reformulate and to make more precise the questions in the course of work as demanded by the object; and to develop new methods without losing sight of the universal (ibid:41). Hence we see the first steps toward the formation of critical theory in the making. It is impossible to characterize the â€Å"Frankfort School† as a whole since its work spanned several decades and involved a variety of thinkers who later engaged in sharp debates with each other. Rather, one should perceive various phases of Institute work: 1) the empirical-historical studies of the Grunberg era; 2) the attempts in the early to mid-1930’s to establish a materialist supra-disciplinary social theory under Horkheimer’s directorship; 3) the attempts to develop a critical theory of society during the exile period from about 1937 to the early 1940’s; 4) the dispersion of Institute members in the 1940’s and the new directions sketched out by Horkheimer and Adorno; 5) the return of the Institute to Germany and its work in Frankfurt during the 1950’s and 1960’s; 6) the development of critical theory in various directions by Fromm, Lowenthal, Marcuse, and others who remained in the U.S.; 7) the continuation of Institute projec ts and development of critical theory in Germany by Jurgen Habermas, Oskar Negt, Alfred Schmidt, and others in the 1970’s and 1980’s; and finally 8) contributions to critical theory by a variety of younger theorists and scholars currently active in Europe and the United States. Kellner believes that a crisis of critical theory emerged with its fragmentation after World War II. Social theory stopped developing despite some empirical research projects and sustained meta-theoretical analyses be certain of its members, especially Adorno (Kellner, 1989). He believes that critical theory provides the most advanced theoretical perspectives within contemporary social theory from the 1930’s through the early 1960’s; new socio-cultural developments since then have rendered obsolete some of its theses concerning on-dimensional society, the media, technology, and so on. In particular, critical theory has not continued to theorize new technologies, new developments in the media, changes in socialization practices, and new cultural developments. This is surprising as earlier contributions were precisely in these areas (Wiggershaus, 1986). Adorno did a great deal of work in social theory in the 1950’s and 1960’s, as well as turning out an incredible profusion of texts in the areas of literary criticism, cultural critique, philosophy, and aesthetics. His work turned from supra-disciplinary research to philosophical reflections (Kellner, 1989). Herbert Marcuse argued that Marxism had degenerated into a rigid orthodoxy and needed concrete experience to revivify the theory and that it neglected individual’s problems. He was concerned about individual liberation and well-being in addition to social transformation. The intentions of his writings were of great interest, yet many were unpublished and unknown (Kellner, 1984). The theory of hegemony by Antonio Gramsci reserves a place for the intellectuals in society. Men find themselves born in a process independent of their will, they cannot control it, they can seek only to understand it and guide their actions accordingly was noted to be economic determination by Marx. Gramsci was concerned to eradicate economic determinism to develop its explanatory power with respect to super-structural institutions. His holdings were that class struggle must always involve ideas and ideologies, ideas that would make the revolution and also that would prevent it. He stressed the role performed by human agency in historical change: economic crises by themselves would not subvert capitalism. He was more â€Å"dialectic† than â€Å"deterministic†: he tried to build a theory which recognized the autonomy, independence and importance of culture and ideology (Strinati, 1995). The works in the last decade relative to critical theory has followed Habermas in attempt to develop a more adequate philosophical aspect of critical theory (Heinemann, 1986). A deficit of social research and elaboration of new theoretical perspectives has come about with contributions from members of the postmodern camp who attempt to theorize the impact of new technologies, the media, and other socio-cultural developments (Kellner, 1988 and 1989). The focus on democracy as the location for cooperative, practical and transformative activity continues in the work of Jurgen Habermas, as does the attempt to determine the nature and limits of â€Å"real democracy† in complex pluralistic, and globalizing societies. Habermas’ work is concerned with rethinking the tradition of critical theory and German social philosophy. He has advanced that tradition in distinctive ways. His rationality consists not so much in the possession of knowledge and thus primarily concerned with the consistency and conten of one’s belief’s, but rather in â€Å"how speaking and acting subjects acquire and use knowledge† (Habermas, 1984). Rationality, freedom and justice are not just theoretical issues to be explored and debated. Habermas’ entire work aims to defend and continue the enlightenment project against the challenge of Weber’s instrumental rationality, Horkheimer and Adorno’s earlier critical t heory and Nietzscheanism in the forms of post-structuralism as presented by Foucault and Derrida and the postmodernism of Lyotard. The reconciliation of the competition of claims of the reason of the life and the world are contributions of Habermas to contemporary and social theory. His account and his answers are not complete, but raise questions without losing the hope of continued research (Rasmussen, 1990). People create conditions and deal with them. Their opinions influence the thoughts of others. In his theory, Habermas fails to incorporate or appreciate gender and racial inequality. Habermas’ calls for particular â€Å"reconstructive sciences,† whose aim it is to render theoretically explicit the intuitive, pre-theoretical know-how underlying such basic human competences as speaking and understanding, judging, and acting. It is not certain if Habrmas’ theories are built on a conception of the world in which essentialist characteristics (middle class, white, males, or class) dominate. Historically discourses of rationality and progress have sided with men over women (Stanley and Pateman, 1991). Certain valuable elements are cited of by Selya Benhabib (1986) that can provide basis for a wide-ranging normative critique of contemporary society. An excerpt from Critical Theory and Society: A Reader: â€Å"essay is a stylistic vehicle with its inherently unfinished quality is the logical form for generating anti-systemic claims and fostering the existence of reflexivity† perhaps best describes the logic that inspired Bronner and Kellner to publish this book. Within is a collection of seminal essays, many appearing in English for the first time, which provides an excellent overview of the critical theory developed by the Frankfurt School. An essay is a short work that treats of a topic from an author’s personal point of view, often taking into account subjective experiences and personal reflections upon them (Wikipedia). What better way can a criticism be announced than through an essay? Personal opinions are relished because they may have something within their contents that was not seen by others. In the essay Le Prix Du Progress by Max Horkheimer exemplifies the nature of discussions that were presented to the early theorists. A French physiologist, Pierre Flourens, was disenchanted with the use of chloroform. He states his belief, and cites his reasoning. The essay ends with Horkheimer’s comments. Somewhat in the form of an editorial for a newspaper, but yet an answer is given. A concern was presented – a problematic thought was answered. Another famous essay by Theodor Adorno elaborates on Culture Industry Reconsidered. In it Adorno explains the term culture industry, corrects inconsistencies from a prior publication and remarks on the term â€Å"mass culture† (from â€Å"The Culture Industry: Selected Essays on Mass Cuture† London: Routledge, 1991). In Critical Theory and Society: A Reader are included the works of Horheimer, Erich Fromm, Lowenthal, Pellock, Herbert Marcuse, to mention a few. The time realm of critical theory displays evidence that modern culture needs to redefine the conclusions of its predecessors. The understanding of theories, imply that they have to be updated continually to include new circumstances. Modernization has to be critiqued to include the changing of the times. We should be concerned with something other than uncovering the past. Instead we should reinvigorate the present, salvage the Enlightenment legacy, and contest those who would institutionally freeze its radicalism and strip away its protest character (Israel, 2001). The inclusion of the way people act and why they act can begin with critical theory of family. Family history provides an example of some of the theoretical deficiencies as in social scenes. The family is attacked and defended with equal vehemence. With a dominant empiricist tradition, historians have come to the field of family history without a clear sense of what the significant questions are. They have not self-consc iously theorized the family as a field of investigation. Instead they began by adopting the conventional wisdom of sociology which, goes back for Federic Le Play (L’Organisation de la famille selon le vrai modele signale par l’histoire de toutes les races et de tous les temps –Paris, 1871), and saw a broad change in the family from an extended form of the Middle Ages to a nuclear form of modernity (Shorter, 1975). From the family come the leaders of the world. Understanding distinct family structures enables an outline to the future tasks of its members. The tendency of Marxist social theorists is to view the family as a dependent variable, a secondary structure, unintelligible in its own right, which will change after the revolution. The family is an intelligible as a structure (Morgan, 1975) composed of race, religion, gender, which impose these factors towards their beliefs. From a â€Å"Gramscian† perspective the mass media have to be interpreted as an instrument to spread and reinforce dominant hegemony – or they can be used to spread counter-hegemonic ideas too. â€Å"Pop culture and the mass media are subject to the production, reproduction and transformation of hegemony through the institution of civil society which cover the areas of cultural production and consumption. Hegemony operates culturally and ideologically through the institutions of civil society which characterizes mature liberal-democratic, capitalist societies. These institutions include education, the family, the church, the mass media, popular culture, etc. (Strinati, 1995: 168-169). From Strinati’s point of view the main problem with Gramsci’s ideas is the same as the the Frankfurt School’s theories and Althusser’s work: their Marxist background. The framework does not allow history to contradict the theory, and the interpretation of reality becomes rather elementary. Critical Theory offers an approach to distinctly normative issues that cooperates with the social sciences in a nonproductive way. Its domain is inquiry into the normative dimension of social activity, in particular how actors employ their practical knowledge and normative attitudes from complex perspectives in various sorts of contexts. It also must consider social facts as problematic situations from the point of view of variously situated agents. In conclusion, Kellner feels that in order to find a way out of the contemporary crisis of social theory, it must develop new perspectives. Critical Theory should be responded to with theoretical analyses of developments within the capitalist economy and of changes in class stratification, the labor process, new technologies, the media, and politics. The central claims of critical theory should be emphasized by those who wish to revitalize it in an attempt to politicize it with new social movements and existing political struggles to buil d a better society. The development of both its â€Å"analysis of the present situation and a new politics is in order to become once again the cutting edge of radical social theory† (Kellner, 1989). Critical theory enables the development and refinement of the ability to engage in comments as critics, through movements encompassed around incomprehensible situations of society. All productive and concerned citizens should be the empowered critical agents that are able to question, challenge and contribute toward the progress of transformation of the prevailing status quo within the communities, societies, and cultures that are worked in to help maintain and reproduce every day. In relation citizens should not only be inescapably interested, but also vitally important as participants to opinionate on theory (Nowlan). BIBLIOGRAPHY Agger, Ben. 1993. The Discourse of Domination: From the Frankfurt School to Postmodernism. Northwestern University Press. January. Bronner, Stephen Eric. 2002. Critical Theory Its Theorists. Routledge Publishers: 2nd Edition. April. Bronner, Stephen Eric and Douglas Keller. 1989. Critical Theory and Society: A Reader. New York and London: Routledge. Glendening, Marc. 2003. Visions for a democratic Europe. Brussels, December 12. Habermas, J. 1987. The Theory of Communicative Action. Volumes 1 and 2. Boston: Beacon Press. Heinemann, Benhabib, Seyla. 1986. Critique, Norm, and Utopia. New York: Columbia University Press. Horkheimer, M, 1982. Critical Theory. New York: Seabury Press. Israel, Jonathan. 2001. Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and theMaking of Modernity 1650-1750. Oxford University Press. Kellner, Douglas. 1984. Herbert Marcuse and the Crisis of Marxism. London and Berkeley: Macmillian and University of California Press. 1988. Postmodernism as Social Theory: Some Problems and Challenges,† Theory, Culture Society, Vol. 5: 240-269. 1989. Critical Theory, Marxism, and Modernity. Cambridge and Baltimore: Polity Press and John Hopkins University Press. Leitch, Vincent B. et al. (eds), The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism (New York/London: W.W. Norton, 2001. Morgan, D.H.J. Social Theory and the Family. London, 1975. Nowlan, Bob. Introduction: What Is Critical Theory and Why Study It? University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. September 21, 2001. Stanley, L and Pateman, C. 1991. Feminist Interpretations and Political Theory. Cambridge: Polity. Rasmussen, D. 1990. Reading Habermas. London: Blackwell. Shorter, Edward. The Making of the Modern Family. New York. 1975. Strinati, Dominic. 1995. An Introduction to Theories of Popular Culture. Rouyledge, London. Wiggershaus, Rolf. 1986. Die Frankfurter Schule. Munich: Hanser. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essay

Significants Of Soviet Unions First Atomic Bomb :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1949, the Soviet Union exploded their first atomic bomb. This event was so significant because it began the great arms race. The arms race in effect was the beginning of the Cold War. The events that led up to and followed the soviets first atomic bomb changed the United States of America forever. Everything from the fear of Russia launching a nuclear attach to paranoia of espionage.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Julius and Ethel Rosenburg fired up the C.I.A.’s paranoia of espionage. They were both married and joined the Communist party in 1939. They later dropped out so they would be able to help their party in 1942. They did this so they could get jobs at U.S. Army Signal Corps. This is were they got their information that they gave to the Soviet Union. They apparently passed on classified info on the construction of the atomic bomb. Info that would have taken the Soviet Union many more years to learn on their own.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The explosion of the first atomic bomb by Russia started an arms race between the Soviets and the United States. This was a time when the Soviets and Americans where trying to out due each other in the production of defensive or offensive weapons. Each one tried to come out with bigger bader weapons than what the other had. Most people blame the race on the U.S. but the threat of a Soviet attach was very real. Therefore the U.S. is intitled to outdo them any way they can.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The cold war was then brought about. The cold war reached its peak in the 1960’s, when an American U-2 spy plane got photos of Soviet missle sites in Cuba. When this was discovered. The fear of an nuclear war became feared. America was hanging by a sting on wheather or not they should act or not.