Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Essay On Stem Cells - 794 Words

Engineers at Duke University just proved dead heart muscles in human patients can still be repaired. The fully functioning artificial human heart muscle developed was big enough to patch over damage usually seen in heart attack patients. Ilia Shadrin, a biomedical engineering doctoral student at Duke University, said the patch is a way to replace lost muscle with tissue made outside the body. Current therapies target to reduce the symptoms from the damage caused by the attack to the heart. However, they did not provide approaches to replace the muscle because once lost, it is dead, and it will not grow back on its own. Replacing the lost muscle A scar tissue that could no longer transmit electrical signals or contract often replaces the†¦show more content†¦The Duke University team’s creation is the first human heart patch to meet the two criteria. Nenad Bursac, a professor of biomedical engineering at Duke, said that creating individual cardiac muscle cells is quite common, but the creators should have focused on growing miniature tissues for drug development. It needed a lot of engineering ingenuity to scale it up to the size made by the team on the first time it has been done. Human pluripotent stem cells The cells for the heart patch, grown from human pluripotent stem cells, can become any type of cell in the body. By using different lines of human stem cells, the Duke University team has successfully made patches, including those taken from embryos and those artificially forced or induced into the pluripotent state. There are various types of heart cells grown from the stem cells, like cells for muscle contraction, those that provide the structural framework for heart tissue, and those that form blood vessels. The Duke University researchers placed the cells at specific ratios into a substance similar to jelly where it self-organized and grew into functioning tissue. To find the right combination of cells, nutrients, support structures, culture conditions, and growth factors to grow large, fully functional patches of human heart tissue, it took the team years of work. They sized up and engineered from scratch every container and procedure from scratch. After a little bit ofShow MoreRelatedStem Cells Essay1699 Words   |  7 Pageshas provided us with a hope for these diseases. This essay will address the issue of controversial research in stem cells. This technology offers hope to millions who are victims of a multitude of diseases and disorders. It can be used to regrow limbs, create organs, attack genetic diseases, treat malfunctioning bladders, etc. However, this same technology is also one of the most controversial debates in science today. If you type â€Å"stem cells research† into your Google search bar, you will most likelyRead More Stem Cell Essay1406 Words   |  6 Pagesothers. Research in the use of stem cells holds limitless possibilities in the medical field. Stem cells are the cells in our bodies that are in their primitive form. These cells have not yet become the type of cell they are destined to be, whether it be nervous tissue or another. However, even though stem cell research is a great new field, its progress is being limited by moral concerns and ethical questions. In order to let medicine reach its full potential, stem cell research should be legalizedRead MoreStem Cells Essay1530 Words   |  7 Pages Stem cells are used every day throughout the United States to help cure diseases and save lives. Stem cells can also be used to study labor defects so that future birth deficiencies can be prevented or reversed. Although as a college student starting a family may not be on your mind yet, it is always beneficial to educate yourself on current trends and new discoveries in stem cell research. Andres Travino and his wife were excited when their son Andy was born ten years ago. Andy prayed and hopedRead MoreStem Cell Essay1192 Words   |  5 PagesTOTAL WORD COUNT: 1201 Title: Effects between Lhx2 transcription factors and Lgr5 stem cells in hair regeneration after a wound in mice Introduction: As mammals, humans are supplied with hair to: provide warmth from the ambiguous climate, serve as protection from the sun’s ultra-violet radiations, and sense crucial, dangerous movements. Without a doubt, hair is a an overlooked vital aspect of daily life. At birth, hair follicles are developed and undergo a total of three phases: anagen, catagenRead MoreStem Cell Essay939 Words   |  4 PagesInduced Pluripotent Stem Cells and their use in Cardiac Regeneration Introduction Myocardial infarction (MI) is the leading causes of mortality and morbidity in the world. Ischemic heart disease, where the oxygen supply to the myocardium is restricted, is a common cause of an MI. Myocardial injury results in loss of cardiomyocytes (cardiac muscle cells) due to apoptosis, and the development of necrotic myocardium, eventually leading to heart failure. The formation of the necrotic myocardium causesRead MoreStem Cell Essay1061 Words   |  5 Pagestreated with the use of embryonic stem cells. Embryonic stem cells are cells derived from the undifferentiated inner mass cells of human embryo. In simpler terms, these cells have the ability of developing into any of the two hundred different cell types in our bodies. Unlike most of the cells in our bodies, such as heart cells or skin cells, which conduct a specific function, a stem cell does not have a specific function until it is specialized (Hogan). A stem cell that is becoming specialized willRead More Stem Cells Es say1128 Words   |  5 PagesEmbryonic Stem Cells â€Å"Embryonic stem cells...are in effect, a human self-repair kit,† (Christopher Reeve, activist – Larry King show). For the advancement of science, stem cells are infinitely valuable, especially when considering all the potential applications in the field of medicine. Stem cell usage is a very controversial topic, because most people think of abortions, cloning, and other negative topics when they hear the term stem cell. However I think those thoughts are because they don’tRead MoreEssay On Stem Cells1148 Words   |  5 Pagesan article and it’s about the genetic profiling of putative breast cancer stem cells from pleural effusions. The authors of this article used this opportunity and found out that pleural effusions were great opportunities to be able to study metastasis and for isolating stem cells. The doctors basically isolated the cancer stem cells(csc) and the non cancer stem cells(non-csc) and were able to derive how fast these stem cells were able to form. At the moment breast cancer is the leading cause cancerRead MoreStem Cells Essay1034 Words   |  5 PagesMesenchymal stem cells go on to develop into: connective tissue, like adipocytes, stromal cells or tenocytes; muscle tissues, from myoblasts into skeletal, cardiac and smooth muscle types; cartilage, which is created when an osteochondral progenitor cell develops into a chondroblast then a chondrocyte; or bone tissue, which is also developed from an osteochondral progenitor cell, into an osteoblast, then an osteocyte. Hematopoietic stem cells are what create all the different components of bloodRead MoreStem Cell Essay819 Words   |  4 PagesAdult stem cell are difficult to obtain and have a lower growth potential. Although they have a limited capacity to differentiate and they are compatible with adult tissue, you can only obtain a small amount of cells. An alternative would be obtaining stem cell from the umbilical cord, given the fact that are easily to obtain, they are compatible with other body tissue , they may have a limited capacity to differentiate but they are not a treat to the child life. Both these option offer a small amount

Sunday, December 15, 2019

Youth Policy Kazakhstan Free Essays

Introduction It is 8 o’clock in the morning. The alarm clock rings and everybody in the house wakes up. Kids get ready for school, adults go to work. We will write a custom essay sample on Youth Policy Kazakhstan or any similar topic only for you Order Now Only Almas is not in a hurry, it has been six months since he graduated from university and cannot find a job that suits him. While studying at university everything seemed so easy: â€Å"Graduate, find a good job, become rich†. However, in reality, getting a job came out to be not as easy as he expected. Youth unemployment is one of the problems in the world nowadays. The percentage of unemployed young people in Kazakhstan is equal to 28. 6% (â€Å" †, 2006). This means that the big portion of youth cannot find proper jobs. It is a recognized fact that unemployment is one of the dynamics through which the social condition of a country can be defined. First of all, how can â€Å"youth† be defined? Youth is considered as either a phase of life or as a social category. The phase of life refers to youth being the period between childhood and adulthood. In this report I will consider young people at the age of 20 to 24. Secondly, what is considered as â€Å"unemployment†? According to Investopedia (2012), unemployment is â€Å"when a person who is actively searching for employment is unable to find work†. According to the United Nations Economic Committee for Europe (UNECE, 2011), youth unemployment was one of the drivers of the worldwide financial crisis in 2008. Thus, a governmental youth policy is one of the main policy directions in which a lot of countries all over the world are trying to improve nowadays. The Republic of Kazakhstan is also in the list of these states. The attitude of the Kazakhstani government to young people is seen in the law â€Å"About governmental youth policy† ?581 from 7th of July 2004 (Kazahstanskaya Pravda, 2004). This law points out that youth are the future of the republic and this law is created to reduce the number of unemployed youth. According to the Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan (2003) the percentage of youth of the overall population was equal to 29. 1% in 2003 (cited in: A Social Portrait of Young People in Today’s Kazakhstan, 2006). This means that the youth is a significant fraction of the country’s population. Nowadays, young people face difficulties in receiving health service, good education, employment housing and other social issues. By providing support to this portion of the population and paying more attention to the development of youth policy, the Kazakhstani government could give the country an opportunity to build the basis for the brighter future for Kazakhstan. The main research question of this report is: What factors are contributing to youth unemployment? I will be investigating the reason young people cannot find jobs; despite the fact that the government is making everything they can to reduce the number of unemployed young people. As I am graduating soon this issue has a direct connection to me, so I also want to find out what can I do to avoid this problem. In order to answer the key research question I will follow the three research objectives. Firstly, as I have written in the previous paragraphs young people have a huge influence on the economy of any country. That is why I will analyze the current economic, social and political situation in Kazakhstan. Secondly, I will estimate the effectiveness of youth policy of the government in Kazakhstan. Finally, I will consider the opinions of young people on the issue of youth unemployment. The research project will consist of a survey and interviews. Questionnaires will be distributed among the alumni students of universities as Kazakhstan Institute of Economics, Management and Strategic Research (KIMEP), University of International Business (UIB), Kazakh-British Technical University (KBTU) and others. The reason I’m choosing exactly Kazakh-British Technical University (KBTU) and others. The reason I’m choosing exactly this kind of survey is that results are likely to be objective because of to the anonymity of the surveyed people. Moreover, through questionnaires I will be able to gather information from a significant amount of people in a short time. The surveys are planned to be held during the midterm break (October, 2012). The representatives of such governmental youth organizations such as KIMEP Students Association (KSA) and â€Å"Zhas Otan† Youth Political Party will be interviewed. I will interview them, as they know the problem from the inside: from the governmental point of view. Also, they are university graduates, so they can analyze the problem by combining the two different sides. Interviews are helpful, as during the interview I will be able to ask questions I’m interested in and find new information from the knowledge and experiences of the representatives. Interviews will also be held in October, 2012. The first paragraph of this report gives information on the general background of research problem and also identifies the main research uestion. Moreover, introduction includes the short description of the research methods. It also consists of the work plan. The second section addresses the literature review, which is based on the information collected from academic articles of Google Scholar databases, EBSCOhost, magazines, Kazakhstani newspapers, different Internet resources, and books. The third chapter covers the data and methodology informat ion. The next chapter focuses on the analysis of received data and its discussion. The last chapter is the conclusion. It summarizes the done work. The sources used and gathered are provided in the bibliography section. Each section is approximately from four to seven pages. References: Eshpanova D. D. Nysanbaev A. N. (2006). A Social Portrait of Young People in Today’s Kazakhstan. Russian Education and Society, 48, 75-96. Retrieved from EBSCOhost Database  «? ?  » 7 2004 #581 (Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan â€Å"about Governmental youth policy in the Republic of Kazakhstan† July 7, 2004, ?581). Kazahstanskaya Pravda, 158. (The problem of unemployment amoung young people). (2006). Zakon. Retrieved from http://www. zakon. kz/77840-obsuzhdeny-problemy-bezraboticy-sredi. html United Nations Economic Committee (2011). Men are more affected by rising youth unemployment in most UNECE countries. Retrieved 10, September, 2012, from: http://www. unece. org/statshome/news/newsyouth-uneployment-rate. html How to cite Youth Policy Kazakhstan, Papers

Saturday, December 7, 2019

Road to Revolution Essay Example For Students

Road to Revolution Essay The Road to a Revolution The American Revolution was a major event, which resulted in America gaining its freedom from England, during the last half of the eighteenth century. From the very founding of each settlement, America promised people a new life in which one could live in happiness without being prosecuted. The founding fathers of America knew the potential the colonies had to offer to its people and chose to fght against the British for freedom. Many events had occurred that lead the colonies right to the moment they declared their independence. In 1754, the French and Indian War began, which resulted in the British taking control of North America. Its high expense laid the foundation for conflict that resulted in the choice to declare independence from Great Britain. After the French and Indian war ended in 1762, the Proclamation of 1763 was issued, which stated that none shall pass beyond the Ohio Valley, resulting in the colonies to be outraged. The settlers were in the midst of Pontiacs Rebellion, which were a series of raids from Indians. The Proclamation of 1763 caused the colonists to get angry, because hey could not protect themselves, since the British could not afford to build forts for the protection of the colonists. George Grenville became Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1763, and he allowed not only direct taxes, but indirect taxes as well. This lead to his choice on the creation of the Sugar Act and the Stamp Act. Grenville knew the colonies needed to find revenue, and charged taxes on molasses and all paper products used for official documents. The Sugar Act in turn regulated trade and did little to raise revenue, as planned. The Stamp Act resulted in many who resisted, and ell toa repeal in 1766. In 1765, the Quartering Act was introduced, which claimed that British troops could live in peoples homes if needed. Also in 1765, the British composed the Writs of Assistance, which allowed the British to look through any paperwork. Both the Quartering Act and Writs of Assistance left the colonists to feel used by the British, while also being left with no privacy. Another event in 1765 added to the growing tension between Great Britain and the Colonies. Colonists were attempting to dock at Ft. Johnson, South Carolina, and the British refused them. This aused the Colonists to take over the fort. The Townshend Acts were created in 1767, which was a British law that established a tax on all tea, glass, lead, paper, and paint imported to the colonies. This act also added to the tension growing between the Colonies and the British. The Townshend Acts lead the colonies to a boycott. Then in 1768, there was the Circular Letter which stated the colonies needed to unite against Great Britain. All these acts lead up to the Boston Massacre in 1770. Although only 5 died during this event, it was one of the first violent acts made against the British during this time f major changes imposed to the colonies. Also in 1770, the Townshend Acts were repealed, and lead toa boom in trade until 1771. In the following year, the royal Navvy ship Gaspee burned down, which resulted in Great Britain raising their fences against the Colonies. In 1773, England imposed a new tax on tea, which lead the Three ships containing tea arrived, where they were denied access to the dock, unless the revenue was repealed. The British ships wouldnt back down, which lead to a large crowd gathering, and anticipating their next move. Shortly after, 100 to 1 50 en disguised as Indians boarded the ships, while dumping hundreds of pounds of tea into the harbor. This event lead to the British closing the Boston Harbor, until all the wasted tea was paid for. .u1f848aa22707a4c50d0de0dc505a233b , .u1f848aa22707a4c50d0de0dc505a233b .postImageUrl , .u1f848aa22707a4c50d0de0dc505a233b .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u1f848aa22707a4c50d0de0dc505a233b , .u1f848aa22707a4c50d0de0dc505a233b:hover , .u1f848aa22707a4c50d0de0dc505a233b:visited , .u1f848aa22707a4c50d0de0dc505a233b:active { border:0!important; } .u1f848aa22707a4c50d0de0dc505a233b .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u1f848aa22707a4c50d0de0dc505a233b { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u1f848aa22707a4c50d0de0dc505a233b:active , .u1f848aa22707a4c50d0de0dc505a233b:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u1f848aa22707a4c50d0de0dc505a233b .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u1f848aa22707a4c50d0de0dc505a233b .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u1f848aa22707a4c50d0de0dc505a233b .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u1f848aa22707a4c50d0de0dc505a233b .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u1f848aa22707a4c50d0de0dc505a233b:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u1f848aa22707a4c50d0de0dc505a233b .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u1f848aa22707a4c50d0de0dc505a233b .u1f848aa22707a4c50d0de0dc505a233b-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u1f848aa22707a4c50d0de0dc505a233b:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Fences Vs A Lesson Before Dying EssayGreat Britain also altered the charter for Massachusetts, leading to Parliament gaining control of Massachusetts. The third act put in place was known as the Impartial Administration of Justice Act, which stated although the men were tried for the Boston Tea Party, they still had to be tried for court in Britain as well. The fourth act was the Quartering Act, and the fifth act was the Quebec Act. These five acts are what history calls the Coercive Acts, or the Intolerable Acts. In 1775, Massachusetts was declared to be in a constant state of rebellion against the British, and then lead to the Battles of Lexington and Concord, which mark the very beginning of the American Revolution. The colonies were refusing to be under the control of Great Britain, and lead to the declaration of independence of America. The British pushed the colonies too far with all the taxes and laws when the Colonists came to the New World to escape these restrictions.

Saturday, November 30, 2019

Kagemusha(Shadow Warrior) by Akira Kurosawa Essay Example

Kagemusha(Shadow Warrior) by Akira Kurosawa Essay Research Paper Shadow Warrior by Akira Kurosawa The film â€Å"Shadow Warrior† also known as â€Å"Kagemusha† was made by Kurosawa in the year of 1980. The film recounted the actual historical event about the death of a great samurai Shingen Takeda who was known as the head of Takeda family. The film started in the year of 1573 while all samurai families competed with each other and the final goal was to unite Japan as a whole. The period was also known as Sengoku period. The story began in Shingen’s place while his younger brother, Nobukado found a thief who looked almost exactly like his brother. The safety for the head of family was top priority during Sengoku period. Therefore, the using of substitute in order to confuse enemies was a common technique used in the battle field. The substitute is called Kagemusha in Japanese. The amazing part of the story is not the using of Kagemusha but the ability of the thief to pretend the real Shingen even he has been dead for more than 2 years. Shingen’s brother and his subordinates also played big roles in hiding the news of Shingen’s death. They tricked the alliance of Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu with Kagemusha for more than 2 years. We will write a custom essay sample on Kagemusha(Shadow Warrior) by Akira Kurosawa specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Kagemusha(Shadow Warrior) by Akira Kurosawa specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Kagemusha(Shadow Warrior) by Akira Kurosawa specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Oda Nobunaga was considered one of the smartest Lord and Tokugawa Ieyasu was the person who finally united Japan as a whole later in this period. They once suspected right after Shingen’s death but still could not find hard evidence to prove the Shingen was a Kagemusha. The ending of the movie was rather tragic and sad. While the Kagemusha fell of the Shingen’s horse, the secret was revealed. The Kagemusha was able to hide this secret from his wives and grandson and even became really closed to his grandson who was supposed to be Singen’s inheritor for the Takeda Family. Sadly, he could not hide this secret from a horse which only recognized his real master. The rumor about Kagemusha quickly spread out within the family. Later on, Shingen’s subordinates decided to hold a funeral for Shingen. Kagemusha was not a rumor anymore but a truth. Quickly, Shingen’s son Katsuyori Takeda inherited Takeda family’s army and attacked alliance of Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu. Shingen knew his son’s personality would lead Takeda Family into pieces so he named his grandson as his inheritor and his son as the guardian of the inheritor. However, Katsuyori was disappointed about Shingen’s ecision and want to show his ability badly. The first attack he held against alliance of Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu was saved by the Kagemusha but not the second time when he became the leader of Takeda Family. As an excepted ending, Takeda Family was defeated and the Kagemusha who simply influenced by Shingen’s will to protect the fa mily was shot on the battle field and died with sorrow and sadness. Kurosawa was a really successful director for war and action movies. He used pretty artistic approach to film a sequence of actions or a scene on the battle field. For example, he would use different camera angels to film the same sequence of action over and over with different character’s outfit or different usages of colors. This technique he used was to deliver different messages to the audience and to emphasize the quantity, or the quality, or the importance of this particular sequence. â€Å"Invoking imagery associated with the military codes of the samurai, he creates brilliant pictures of 16th-century warring feudal factions competing for predominance in a country in which the arts of war were highly developed. Few movies about medieval warfare have ever been so filled with magnificence in color and design as Kurosawas two history films of the 1980s. †(Manheim) Kagemusha was a historical movie, thus the use of different signs has historical background and meaning. â€Å"Wind†, â€Å"Woods†, â€Å"Fire†, â€Å"Mountain† mean different kind of army from Takeda Family. Since Takeda Family was known for their cavalry both â€Å"Wind† and â€Å"Fire† are cavalry teams which mean their cavalry teams are fast as wind and deadly as fire. Wood† represents infantry which is steady as woods. Finally, â€Å"Mountain† is Shingen himself who is always stable and can not be moved by others. These four signs are exclusive for Shingen himself or the head of family. During last battle fought by Shingen’s son and alliance of Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu, Kurosawa emphasized on these four sign heavily and tried to parallel different armies ’ action with the meaning of the signs. So we could actually feel the speed of the wind while Takeda Family’s cavalry was moving. The rows on rows of cavalry bewitching the world with noble horsemanship, the brilliant ensigns in their primary colors representing the different noble houses, the incomparable swiftness of the warriors in their movements and their swordplay, the peremptory long-distance shouts, the precision of the gunfire, the instantaneous obedience of the foot soldiers to their commanders: all bespeak the beauty, glory, and efficiency of an elegant warfare, even in defeat. â€Å"(Manheim)The heavy emphasis on the signs also showed us steps one by one how Takeda Family was defeated. Because the strong connection between these signs with the Takeda Family, while the Kagemusha found the flag with those 4 signs in the water we immediately understand Takeda Family was defeated totally with nothing left. One other great scene was when most of Takeda family’s army was defeated by enemy’s gunmen, the wound soldiers and horses lying on the ground struggled to die. â€Å"In Kagemusha he adds the very effective shots of dying horses to be a more absolute statement of wars absurdity than any death of the warrior could effect. (Manheim) The way he filmed the horses in silent slow motion was just terrific. It was a real pain to watch this part of the movie. The movement of the horses dying was so real and made u think if they actually wounded those horses during the making of the film or not. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to find any information regarding the condition of those horses but I hope they were doing fine after filming. In Kagemusha, we could f ind many different aspects of humanity and values. As I thoroughly watch the movie, many questions came into my mind. What’s the importance of selflessness? How could Kagemusha adapt his values and believes as Shingen’s? Those are pretty critical questions but Kurosawa seemed to reveals his answers in the film. â€Å"In his autobiography, Kurosawa remarks, â€Å"The Japanese see self-assertion as immoral and self-sacrifice as the sensible course to take in life†Ã¢â‚¬ (P203 Malpezzi) It was the power of traditional Japanese’s value and Bushido spirit to create a successful Kagemusha. In the beginning of the movie we could clearly identify the character of the thief who was selfish and rude. After the death of Shingen, we quickly discovered the sympathy inside the thief’s heart. He had a choice to just be himself instead of Shingen’s Kagemusha but he still chose to because he simply didn’t want enemies’ spies to find out the death of Shingen which might lead to the destruction of Takeda Family. Shingen’s brother, Nobukado had guide the Kagemusha fairly well through out those 2 years of period. He taught the thief every behavior of Shingen and he did praise the thief’s reaction if he did a good job on response emergency situations. The film makes us question: Is this heroic gesture still part of the act? Where does it come from, this apparent greatness of soul that finally requires in a counterfeit role an authentic death? Kurosawa implies that it issues from the depths of human nature itself. But if so, as the film makes clear, it hardly arises naturally. † (Cowan) Despite the traditional Japanese values, through intensive training and the influence of the environment, the thief was willing to give up his own values and become Shingen’s Kagemusha. Nobukado himself can understand what a Kagemusha feels as he is usually Shingen’s pervious Kagemusha. â€Å"For Nobukado the needs of society transcend those of the individual. Clearly he achieved oneness with the role he played, identity with his brotherhood; he assets, â€Å"The shadow of a man can never desert that man. † (P203 Malpezzi) Nobukado was basically nothing after his brother’s death. He has been his brother’s Kagemusha for so long that he has lost his own identity. Sadly, exactly same thing happened to the thief. People of Takeda Family discarded him like trash after his cover was blown and even soldiers threw rocks at him. And he still fought for Takeda family to the end without regret. The film showed us the power of tradition, culture and environment also makes people wonder what their own self identities are. I personally had a great pleasure watching this film since I do have the knowledge of Japanese history and I am very interested in watching Asian historical movies. The version I watched was with Chinese subtitle which took me a while to translate character’s name into English. My heart was pounding several times while watching this movie and those scenes were just beautifully done including Kurosawa showed a vast number of cavalry, the Kagemusha was kicked out of the family with soldiers throwing rocks on him and of course the ending scene. There aren’t many movies I could watch till all the credits of the films are played and the DVD is actually in the stop position. This film is something that would make you think about what’s important in your life and how do you identify yourself in different situation. It really took me a while to digest this beautiful work. I highly recommend anyone who hasn’t watch it yet to go ahead do so. But I do suggest that the more knowledge of Japanese culture and history you acquire the more joy you would get out of this film. Work Cited 1. Cowan, Louise The Necessity of the Classics.. Intercollegiate Review, Fall2001, Vol. 37 Issue 1, p3, 9p, 1bw 2. Malpezzi, Frances M. ; Clements, William M. The Double and the Theme of Selflessness in Kagemusha.. Literature Film Quarterly, 1989, Vol. 17 Issue 3, p202, 5p 3. Manheim, Michael The Function of Battle Imagery in Kurosawas Histories and the Henry V Films; Literature Film Quarterly, 1994; 22 (2): 129-35. (journal article)

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

How to decide if college is the right choice for you

How to decide if college is the right choice for you Get your degree if you want to succeed. This is pretty common advice for students who are trying to figure out what comes next in their lives. And education is always a good solution if you want to build knowledge and skills. Plus, a degree is usually a baseline requirement for more and more jobs out there, as many people find when they hit the job market with a high school diploma (or equivalent certificate) in hand. But a college degree is also a significant investment of time, money, and personal resources, so it’s more important than ever to make sure it’s the right choice for your own life. Is it worthwhile for everyone? And more importantly, is it worthwhile for you? Let’s look at the most important factors to consider as you decide whether or not to go for that college degree.Consider the debt†¦Any conversation about college these days has to involve the specter of staggering debt. Per CollegeData.com, the average price tag for a college education is $25,290 per year for a state college or university, and $50,900 for a private college or university. And tuition isn’t the only cost to consider: housing, books, and living expenses all factor in as well.Many students are able to make these ends meet with scholarships, grants, or working while they also attend colleges. But increasingly, students and their families are turning to student loans to cover college expenses. As of 2017, student loan debt is the second-highest consumer debt category, trailing only mortgage debt, per Forbes. The average student now carries $37,172 in student loan debt as they graduate and prepare to enter the workforce. Given that the average grad makes less than $50,000 per year to start, this can be a significant financial burden at the start of a career. And the default rate for student loans is 11.2%, suggesting that grads are not always able to cope with this debt as they move on after college.†¦but also consider the earning potential  W hile student load debt is becoming a significant national burden, it’s also seen as a kind of necessary evil when you look at how much college grads make vs. their counterparts who have a high school diploma or an incomplete college degree.According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, college grads experience significantly lower unemployment the more advanced their degrees become. College grads also earn more, on average: the median weekly earnings for someone with a high school diploma jumps from $692 to $1,156 if the person has a bachelor’s degree. To put it in even more concrete terms, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics, a bachelor’s degree (or higher) adds $15,000 per year in income.So is college worth it?If we’re going by the stats, then, frankly, yes. On paper, college graduates are likely to make more and experience a lower unemployment rate. But life is rarely so straightforward and easy checked off by â€Å"yes† or â€Å"no,† so let’s look at questions you need to ask yourself before you take this step.What are my goals?If you dream of becoming an accountant or a computer programmer, then these are fields that require specific expertise and academic credentials. If your ultimate goal is to work in retail management, then that’s a field where experience can trump an education credential on a resume. The first step in any â€Å"is college for me?† debate is figuring out what your ideal future holds.Can I achieve those goals in a non-traditional way?Here’s where alternative education programs become a crucial part of the dialogue. It may be that your target profession has specific education and certification programs that require less time and investment than a traditional college program, where you may be taking courses and meeting requirements that have nothing to do with your eventual profession. Allied health professions are a great example of this- man y healthcare positions require a degree (like registered nursing or anesthesiologist), but there are plenty of jobs in the field that do not (like optician or surgical technologists) and instead require a job-specific certification and on-the-job training.Trade schools can be a valid alternative to a four-year program, providing exactly the knowledge and expertise you’ll need for your career goals, and often for a more affordable price than you’d see at a traditional four-year school.What’s my financial plan?If you can afford to pay for college straight up, that’s fantastic! If you can’t, then you need to have a plan. Whether it’s Harvard or a trade school, you’ll have to account for the costs of your future educational path. Based on your eventual job goals, how much will you be able to afford to pay on the average starting salary for that job? Sites like Salary.com and PayScale.com are great for helping you play around with that kin d of math and determining what people are realistically making in your potential field.Can I find a less expensive way to build your college degree?Many students opt to start off their college career at a community college, taking core classes and then transferring to a four-year college to finish the degree. This has a couple of benefits: it’s less expensive than four years at a traditional college or university, may cut down on extra expenses like room and board if you can live at home, and also gives you time to decide whether you’re on the right path, education-wise. If you get to the end of a four-year program only to discover that you’ve made a huge mistake in your major or concentration, then you’ve wasted both your time and (likely) a lot of money. If you take the community college route to study phlebotomy and discover in the process that maybe you’re not destined to be a doctor because you can’t stand the sight of blood after all, you’ve saved yourself a very expensive revelation later on.The bottom line is that college is an asset for the average person, but it might not be worthwhile for you, the non-average person. It’s important to consider what your individual career goals are and whether you truly need the expertise and credentials that a four-year school can provide. You shouldn’t feel roped into getting an expensive degree just because everyone is telling you that you should. Instead, it should be a decision based on careful thought about what the college degree would mean for your professional life, your future finances, and your ability to commit to that four-year degree. After all, you’re unique, and your path to achieving your professional ambitions should be one that works for yourself- not anyone else.

Friday, November 22, 2019

Black Heart Essay Research Paper A Small

Black Heart Essay, Research Paper A Small Price to Pay In the fresh Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, the mariner Marlow tells a large prevarication to Kurtz? s Intended. To Marlow? [ there ] is a contamination of decease, a spirit of mortality in lies # 8211 ; which is precisely what I hate and detest in the universe # 8211 ; what I want to bury? . He hates and detests those who lie but lowers himself to making it himself at the terminal of the novel. There are many grounds why he does this. Unlike the lies the Manager and the Brickmaker might state to foster their ain selfish dockets, Marlow? s one prevarication serves to protect Kurtz and his Intended every bit good as to forestall the jungle? s darkness and immorality from perplexing the state of affairs one last clip. Marlow prevarications because he knows that the truth would do more hurting and complication than it is deserving. He is ready to set this experience behind him and to travel on with his life and he makes it easier for himself and the Intended by stating a prevarication. At the terminal of the Heart of Darkness, Marlow betrays his ethical motives by stating a immense prevarication to Kurtz? s Intended in order to protect the Intended from the painful truth, to forestall the darkness of the jungle from holding a drawn-out consequence, and to go on his ain trueness to Kurtz and protect Kurtz? s repute that Marlow feels responsible to upkeep. The first ground that Marlow lies is to protect the Intended? s vision of Kurtz. She insists that she knew him the best and that Kurtz needed her. The Intended provinces, ? I # 8211 ; I entirely know how to mourn for him as he deserves? . She besides tells that she? believed in him more that any one on Earth # 8211 ; more than his ain female parent, more than # 8211 ; himself. He needed me! Me? ! Obviously Kurtz was really of import to her. She mourns for over a twelvemonth and still holds him as an graven image. To her Kurtz was a great adult male who? drew work forces towards him by what was best in them. . . . It is the gift of the great? . She neer learns about the savageness to which Kurtz had resorted in the isolation and darkness of the jungle. Marlow is non about to destroy the Intended? s image of Kurtz. When she asks what his concluding words were, Marlow responds by stating Kurtz spoke her name. If Marlow tells her the truth it would hold been much harder for the Intend ed to take emotionally. Alternatively, Marlow allows her to maintain her belief of what she thought Kurtz was. Marlow lies to the Intended to protect her from the wicked truth she may non be able to manage. He grounds, ? Hadn? T he said he wanted merely justness? But I couldn? T. I could non state her. It would hold been to dark # 8211 ; excessively dark wholly? . By non cognizing the barbarian Kurtz became, she may be able to travel on and complete her bereavement. Marlow besides lies to set the darkness of the experience behind himself. He no longer wants it to impact him. One of the grounds that Marlow goes to see the Intended in the first topographic point is to eventually derive a sense of closing from the experience. He had a demand to? give that [ memory ] up, excessively, to the yesteryear, in a manner # 8211 ; to give up personally all that remained of him with me to that limbo which is the last word of our common destiny? . Mar low garbages to allow the darkness and the immorality of the jungle maintain a drawn-out clasp over his life. If he would hold told the truth to the Intended it would hold caused farther complications. He would hold had to see the consequence the truth had on Kurtz? s intended and this may hold affected Kurtz emotionally. He has merely recovered from resentment associated with this experience. Possibly the turbulence of memories and feelings that would happen if he told the Intended the existent truth, would do him to one time once more dip into resentment. In order to forestall these complications from happening, he tells a small prevarication and this efficaciously stops the complications from taking topographic point. Finally, the primary ground Marlow lies because of his responsibility to Kurtz. By going his caretaker during his last yearss, Marlow develops a sense of duty when it comes to Kurtz. He promises to upkeep the great and human-centered repute that Kurtz has in Europe and allows no foreigners to recognize what the existent Kurtz had become. When covering with the Intended, Marlow avoids lying when he confirms to her that he died how he lived. He uses the Intended? s ignorance to short-circuit the truth because she has a positive position of Kurtz? s life. Marlow knows the existent truth but there is no demand to rectify the Intended. However, he is forced to lie when he slips up and tells the Intended that? I heard his very last words? . Marlow lies to protect Kurtz. If he would hold told the Intended that Kurtz? s last were? The horror, the horror? , this would be a breach of the duty that Marlow has to Kurtz. He would instead go against his ain ethical motives that tarnish Kurtz? s re pute. Marlow was carry throughing his duty to Kurtz that was induced by the immense trueness he developed to him during his expedition. A prevarication was a little monetary value to pay in order to protect Kurtz? s great yet false character. Even though Marlow despises prevarication, he feels that stating a little prevarication is better than leting the complications and realisations that the truth would convey. He maintains a stable state of affairs in respects to the emotional province of the Intended and protects Kurtz. Marlow helps himself by finishing the last undertaking he must carry through out of responsibility to Kurtz and eventually will be able to set the full experience behind himself. In order to carry through these positive results, he must state a prevarication in order to avoid the worst results. Marlow himself states, ? It seemed to me that the house would fall in before I could get away, that the celestial spheres would fall upon my caput. But nil happened. The celestial spheres do non fall for such a trifle. Would they hold fallen, I wonder, if I had rendered Kurtz that justness which was due? ? Marlow sees that through an undistinguished prevarication he keeps the worst from happening. Due to this, t he state of affairs remains stable and many people can eventually set this experience behind themselves and travel on. Marlow lies to protect the Intended, to forestall the darkness of the jungle from holding a drawn-out clasp, and eventually to protect Kurtz? s repute from the humiliation that would be caused by the exposure of the truth.

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Compare and contrast the views of Smith and Ricardo on the Essay

Compare and contrast the views of Smith and Ricardo on the determination and possible evolution over time of the natural rates of wages, profit and rent - Essay Example It is worth mentioning that the â€Å"natural prices† of the aforementioned criteria, i.e. profits, wages and rents are further examined to fluctuate in accordance with the varied circumstances in the job market scenario. According to the viewpoints of various economists, it has been noted that the â€Å"natural rates† of rent, profit and wages are likely to be continuously changing due to the presence of a huge number of buyers as well as sellers and also because of the increasing market competition. Subsequently, various theories have been developed in order to examine the determinants of production function in an economy which is further believed to steer the overall growth rate in that particular nation1. Among the commonly applied theories, the most influential and certainly the most debated theories have been the growth theory of Adam Smith and David Ricardo. In this paper, the views of two economists i.e. Adam Smith and David Ricardo upon the subject matter of the determination as well as the possible evolution over time of the â€Å"natural rates† of rents, wages and profits will be analysed and compared. Adam Smith, the world renowned economist and philosophist of the 1770s, stated that the conception of â€Å"natural rate† is principally described as the price which is offered to any particular commodity in order to yield a significant portion of revenue. As per the growth theory of Adam Smith, governments play an imperative role in the determination as well the possible evolution of the â€Å"natural rates† of wages, profit and rent over time. In this similar context, Smith strongly believed that the government of any particular nation must enforce effective contracts and simultaneously grant copyrights as well as patents for the purpose of promoting new inventions and innovative ideas which can assist in greater capital accumulation within the nation, resulting in the increased wealth of the economy and therefore influencing the

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Guest Lecture by Erin Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Guest Lecture by Erin - Essay Example Agile development stimulates robust and receptive planning, progressive development and delivery (Kruchten 352). Although the connection of cost, scope, and schedule still exists in the iron triangle model, the concept is turning out to be complicated and ineffective. Quality in the iron triangle is delivered through scope, scheduling and cost. In agile development teams are required to adjust and rework schedules without exceeding the project’s budget to provide the product. In the agile development methodology, value is incorporated in the project scope while, in the iron triangle of waterfall methodology, value is the result. With the realization that projects have strict timelines, and changes are inevitable, the agile development model utilizes constraints to reevaluate scheduling (Kruchten 354). Scheduling flexibility is limited in the iron triangle methodology. In the iron triangle, the scope of the project, schedule, and cost elements are used to evaluate the quality of the project. Cost structures in agile development are flexible to attain the required effect and quality. Agil e development is the best method to use for this project, it flexible, cost effective and allow for rapid improvements. There are numerous problems associated with the iron triangle model when developing real-life

Saturday, November 16, 2019

The Images of Women in Film Essay Example for Free

The Images of Women in Film Essay The two films being evaluated in this essay are Now, Voyager and Pretty Woman. Both movies tackle the stories of one lead character, a woman and her transformation from one type of personality – usually the underdog into another which is more successful. This common formulaic plot of an â€Å"ugly duckling† evolving to become a beautiful swan has often been used as a storyboard for romantic films since viewers usually identify with the character who at first seems like the loser, but in the end becomes the victor. The image of Charlotte Vale at the beginning of the film is that of a typical old maid in conservative clothes, flat shoes, without make-up, with glasses, and without any social life. Her appearance is clean and neat but very much old school. From her entry at the initial part of the film, she is portrayed as shy, reserved, unhappy, overweight, unattractive and insecure. She is often ignored by everyone, and even mocked by some of her relatives. She also hates her mother so much but she is helpless and afraid and feels that she has nowhere to go. As the movie unfolds, Charlotte’s character is transformed into a more sophisticated, elegant, modern and glamorous personality, whom everyone adores and likes. Now, she has a well-coiffed hair, wears more revealing outfits, walks comfortably in high-heeled shoes, puts on make-up and smiles more frequently. She becomes cheerful, endearing, sweet and charming, and she loses her previous timidity and stiffness. With her transformation, Charlotte gains confidence in her self, and becomes more capable of facing other people, thus gaining more friends. When reprimanded by her mother for her new looks, she was no longer afraid to answer her back, which even she was surprised to learn. She already knows what direction she wants to take and the good thing is, she already knew how to get there. It is notable that at first, a lot of people were surprised with Charlotte’s transformation but because the change was a positive one which suited Charlotte, the makeover was delightfully accepted by almost everyone but Charlotte’s mother. At first, Charlotte’s mother insisted that she should go back into her old clothes and drab image. However, since Charlotte stood her ground and never relented to her mother’s dictates – that is, after her therapy and cruise Charlotte’s mother gradually learned to accept what Charlotte liked, denoting that she earned the respect of the one person she despised the most. On the contrary, the image of Vivian as portrayed by Julia Roberts is that of a regular hooker or prostitute – flashy colors, thigh high boots, a lot of exposed flesh, heavy make-up, a wig, and chewing gum while talking. The first impression upon seeing her is that she is really part of the flesh trade because of her loud attire which is also sexy, seductive and attention-grabbing all at the same time. Vivian’s character cannot afford to be shy because she has to offer her wares to her clients, and she has to show some skin and have the ability to bargain with her clients so that she can arrive at a good price for her services. Her image is far from conservative because of this film’s setting (1990) and the nature of her occupation. With Edward’s help, Vivian later on becomes more learned as he exposes her to the more acceptable social mores of the upper classes of society. Vivian evolves to become a better character where she becomes chic, classy, refined and graceful – a change which further endears her to Edward. The modification is also well-liked by the people around her as Edward somehow manages to bring out more of Vivian’s natural beauty which further enhances her amiable character. From Edward, to the hotel manager, to the elevator boy, to the hotel staff every one of them was glad to see the way Vivian was revolutionized from a cheaply dressed hooker to a charming, elegant and respectable lady. She now wears hats, matching shoes and bags, well-coordinated outfits, matching color combinations and just sufficient make-up. She also begins to converse more politely, and in a soft and calm manner. With the outward personality of Vivian getting altered, Vivian also acquires more confidence in herself and the way she mingles with people. It is also interesting to note that Vivian readily accepted the change initiated by Edward because the manner with which he approached her on the subject was very encouraging, being very gentle and soft-spoken. Towards the end of the story, the character of Vivian also decides to give up her previous job for a more decent alternative since she feels that she has become a different person and that at this point, she cannot turn back. As regards the body parts focused on by these two films, in Now Voyager, the legs and hands of Charlotte were focused in the first part of the film when she was still being introduced into the sequence. The specific scenes showed her hands putting out a cigarette on a small platter then throwing away the butts in a garbage can, then carving on her ivory treasure boxes, and then later on, fidgeting as her condition was being relayed to the psychiatrist. Her legs and feet were also focused on in the same sequences as she went down the stairs, and then stops at the lowest step, then hesitates because she hears something unfavorable being said about her. The character of Charlotte were in some way depicted in these sequences because it brought to mind a confused and insecure character who tried to rebel by smoking cigarettes, escaping reality by carving, but is insecure and uncertain of her actions as shown by her fidgeting and unsure steps. Similarly, the body parts focused on in the film Pretty Woman in the introductory part of the film is 4 hands which look like they are playing a game. It turns out to be a magic trick using coins, and the camera is slowly panned up to the face of the woman on the right, who looks amazed at the man who performed the magic trick. The next scene showing body parts is again focused on the hands – one white hand giving a packet with some white substance, presumably drugs, to the two hands of a black man. And then, the body part of Vivian that is first shown is the back side of her hips with lace underwear, where the woman turns from her left side to her right side while lying on a bed. Next, her chest is focused as she fixes her blouse, then her arms and hands as she puts on her bangles, while she is dressing up to get ready for work. Her hands are again shown while she colors the faded parts of her boots with a black marker, then her boots and her right hand as she zips up the boot on her left leg. Her left eye is focused with her right hand holding the mascara. By the time Vivian gets to meet Edward for the first time, focus is made on her backside at the waist portion as she turns her back on Edward while standing outside the car. All these body parts scenes in one way or another sets the tone for the movie since it tackles business as represented by the coins, drugs as related to the illegal businesses on Hollywood boulevard and the subject of sex as depicted by Vivian’s sensual attire in a nocturnal red-light district setting. The partial focusing on body parts gradually introduced the main character of Vivian, in much the same way that Charlotte was initiated into the first sequences of the earlier film. Relating the aspects of characterization to each film, the width of the character of Charlotte had to be rich in order for her to be able to adopt Tina into her family and be able to cope with not having Jerry in her life. Charlotte also had to be strong like her mother to be able to manage their businesses and their household without any emotional crutch to support her or push her up. As regards the depth of her character, Charlotte has the traits of creativity as shown in the way she creates carvings on her ivory boxes. She is also a deeply emotional person, who is terribly passionate when it comes to love, although she knows how to repress it if need be. This was highly evident during the time when she knew she already felt something for Jerry, but was in self-denial because she did not want to get into a complicated situation. This, however, was changed eventually when he admitted her feelings for Jerry, and allowed her feelings for him to flow freely. Another depth of character seen in Charlotte is her compassion for children, especially for those whom she knows are undergoing situations which she had already gone through. This Charlotte presents in the way which she cared for Tina at the mental institution, and during the time she gave a party for her at her house. Regarding characterization length, as mentioned earlier, Charlotte is given the chance to reinvent herself as if she were a different individual. At first, she is hesitant to leave her comfort zone and feels insecure about the changes taking place in her life. However, as she notices the affirmative reception of people pertaining to her transformation, she is encouraged to continue with what she has set out to do. With this, she improves her personality and grows further as an individual. The film’s mise-en-scene contributed in large part to emphasizing the three aspects of characterization. The width of Charlotte’s character is shown in the clothes she wears. Charlotte’s clothes or the character’s costumes are customary of the rich people, the settings are also typical of high class social backgrounds as shown by the large house, the cruise ship, the theater and parties among others. Depth of character is illustrated by the emotions carried by Bette Davis in her character portrayal, which made the story even more realistic. Length of character is exhibited by the change in the way Charlotte carries herself – which is amply supported by the clothes and again by the acting prowess of the lead character. Some foreshadowing is used to show the influences of Charlotte’s mom on her character. Since the film is still in black and white, emphasis on the lighting was not much utilized in this type of movie. The background music was amply exploited to elicit empathy for the main character especially in highly dramatic scenes between Charlotte and her lover. Conversely, the width of Vivian’s character required for her to be poor so that she could effectively portray her desperation to earn a living. Vivian had to be street-smart yet appealing at the same time since it was her body that she had to sell. She also had to be alone or without a family, in order to develop a rationale for her character’s focus on having an income as a hooker because she had no other choice and not because she liked the job. Likewise, Vivian’s depth of character is effectively portrayed as one who can easily psyche up people. In a brief encounter with Edward’s ‘friends’, Vivian gets to assess the type of people Edward socializes with and comes out with the conclusion that Edward needed to have her in his life because they (his friends) were shallow. â€Å"No wonder you came looking for me,† Vivian deduces of the situation. Much like Charlotte, Vivian also had a lot of passion inside her for her love interest although much of it was also repressed at first. Later on, she manifests this and makes this known to Edward, but still she knew how to temper her emotions since she recognized from the start that she and Edward were really poles apart. And then with regards to character length, the journey taken by Vivian is her adaptation to the ways of the elite, as prescribed by her love interest in the film. Vivian initially decides to take this on as part of her work, but later on she imbibes the more wholesome character which she assumes, and eventually gives up on the old character that she was. Vivian grows as a person because she welcomes the change and becomes a renewed person since as the film ends, she decides to leave behind her previous profession and start making a new path for herself. The mise-en-scene in Pretty Woman was likewise extensively manipulated in the film. The change in the character is immediately apparent as Vivian becomes accustomed to her new surroundings and much of the plot deals with how she gradually blends in to what is acceptable to that social group. The disparity in the setting of Hollywood boulevard compared to the areas where Edward frequents is accentuated to point out the gap between the two characters – Vivian the hooker and Edward the rich billionaire. Much of the character’s depth and length is carried by Julia Roberts who gives an excellent portrayal in this film. The lighting was good, there were no extremely dim or very bright scenes. It is interesting to note that most of the dim scenes were only found in the initial part when Vivian was still a hooker, and during the time she was still part of Hollywood boulevard. Later on, the dim scenes were mostly the love scenes between Edward and Vivian. The background music was also appropriate with the sentimental scenes having soft soothing and sentimental tunes, while those wherein Vivian made some achievements had more spirited and lively songs. In terms of aesthetics, the two films can be labeled as reflective of the image of the woman in the specified period when the films were made. Women in general had to dress up more conservatively in the olden times and a liberated stance was only introduced later on. As regards film artistry, Now Voyager! has a deeper and more disturbing plot because it deals with issues like family relationships, possible mental illness and forbidden love among others. On the other hand, Pretty Woman’s plot is simpler but is more engaging because it capitalizes on the elements of love and sex which was not much emphasized in the earlier film. Perhaps this is due to the highly conservative values predominant during the earlier times, hence, the most tender love scenes which could be shown between the main characters in the earlier film was limited to kissing. In comparing the two films, women are given more freedom of choice in the later film, unlike the earlier one when parents had the right to dictate the direction of their children’s lives. In both films, the theme of love still tugs at the heart and is timeless. Viewers in the present can identify with the main character in one way or another especially when it comes to the context of love and the relationship between two people. As a whole, the two films illustrate how the character of the woman has evolved from the conservative one of yesteryears to the smarter and more liberated woman that she is now. Still, the one thing that is universal and eternally holds true is the theme of love and the woman who has the boundless capability to wield this passion. References Wallis, H. B. Rapper, I. 1942. Now Voyager. United States: Warren Bros. Ziskin, L. Marshall, G. 1990. Pretty Woman. United States: Touchstone Pictures.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Destalinization :: Russian Russia History

Destalinization Politics has always been about image. A good image leads to power, it's that simple. Sometimes it is hard to draw the line between a leader who is genuinely interested in improving the lives of his people and one that is interested in filling a few more pages of the already crowded History book. A good example of this is the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in its transition time between 1953 and 1964. The tyrannical rule of Joseph Stalin in the USSR was finally over, and the nation sought a new leader; after nearly a decade, one man, Nikita Khrushchev, rose up from the ranks with new ideas for the nation, and an extreme anti-Stalin campaign. But was he truly enraged at the way Stalin ruled or was he using this image in an attempt to capture the same power as his predecessor? The link between the two leaders goes back many years, to nearly the beginning of the communist annexation of Russia. Even today, we find ourselves asking if the politicians we vote for say they will make a r eform to actually help the people, or if they say it as an empty promise in a ploy to get elected or to gain power. Was Nikita Khrushchev a man for the people, or was he simply a puppet with motives unseen to the people that pulled his strings? Joseph Stalin ruled the USSR from 1929 until his death in 1953. His rule was one of tyranny, and great change from the society that his predecessor, Lenin, had envisioned (Seton, 34). Stalin put into effect two self proclaimed "five-year plans" over the course of his rule. Both were very similar in that they were intended to improve production in the nation. The first of these plans began collectivization, in which harvests and industrial products were seized by the government and distributed as needed. The government eliminated most private businesses and the state became the leader in commerce. Stalin also initiated a process called "Russification". (Great Events, 119)" Through this program, he ruled the minority nations of the USSR such as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan more strictly. This policy of expansion also helped Stalin seize a large portion of Poland, and it was done under the guise that it was to "enrich the nation." Stalin established a secret police force which was unyielding and went about it's business with an iron fist, bringing down dissenters, revolutionaries, and those that cheated in collectivization.

Monday, November 11, 2019

Deviance. Topic Questions

University of Wollongong Research Online Faculty of Arts – Papers Faculty of Arts 1993 What Is Hegemonic Masculinity? Mike Donaldson University of Wollongong, [email  protected] edu. au Publication Details Donaldson, M, What Is Hegemonic Masculinity? , Theory and Society, Special Issue: Masculinities, October 1993, 22(5), 643-657. Copyright 1993 Springer. The original publication is available here at www. springerlink. com. Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email  protected] edu. au Theory and Society, Vol. 22, No. 5,Special Issue: Masculinities, Oct. , 1993, pp. 643-657. What Is Hegemonic Masculinity? Mike Donaldson Sociology, University of Wollongong, Australia Structures of oppression, forces for change A developing debate within the growing theoretical literature on men and masculinity concerns the relationship of gender systems to the social formation. Crucial ly at issue is the question of the autonomy of the gender order. Some, in particular Waters, are of the opinion that change in masculine gender systems historically has been caused exogenously and that, without those external factors, the systems would stably reproduce. 1) For Hochschild, the â€Å"motor† of this social change is the economy, particularly and currently, the decline in the purchasing power of the male wage, the decline in the number and proportion of â€Å"male† skilled and unskilled jobs, and the rise in â€Å"female† jobs in the growing services sector. (2) I have argued that gender relations themselves are bisected by class relations and vice-versa, and that the salient moment for analysis is the relation between the two. (3) On the other side of the argument, others have been trying to establish â€Å"the laws of motion† of gender systems.Connell, for instance, has insisted on the independence of their structures, patterns of movement. and determinations, most notably in his devastating critiques of sexrole theory. â€Å"Change is always something that happens to sex roles, that impinges on them. It comes from outside, as in discussions of how technological and economic changes demand a shift to a ‘modern' male role for men. Or it comes from inside the person, from the ‘real self' that protests against the artificial restrictions of constraining roles.Sex role theory has no way of grasping change as a dialectic arising within gender relations themselves. † It has no way of grasping social dynamics that can only be seriously considered when the historicity of the structure of gender relations, the gender order of the society, is the point of departure. (4) This concern with broad, historical movement is linked to the question of male sexual politics. Clearly, if men wish to challenge patriarchy and win, the central question must be, who and where are the â€Å"army of redressers? (5) But  "the political project of rooting out the sexism in masculinity has proved intensely difficult† because â€Å"the difficulty of constructing a movement of men to dismantle hegemonic masculinity is that its logic is not the articulation of collective interest but the attempt to dismantle that interest. (6) It is this concept of â€Å"hegemonic masculinity† on which the argument for autonomy of the gender structures turns, for it is this that links their broader historical sweep to lived experience.Put simply, if the gender system has an independence of structure, movement, and determinations, then we should be able to identify counter-hegemonic forces within it; if these are not identifiable, then we must question the autonomy of the gender system and the existence of hegemonic masculinity as central and specific to it. On the other hand, if gender systems are not autonomous, then the question â€Å"why, in specific social formations, do certain ways of being male pred ominate, and particular sorts of men rule? † remains to be answered and the resistances to that order still remain to be identified.The political implications of the issue are clear. If there is an independent structure of masculinity, then it should produce counter-hegemonic movements of men, and all good blokes should get involved in them. If the structure is not independent, or the movements not counterhegemonic, or the counter-hegemony not moving, then political practice will not be centred on masculinity †¦ and what do we men do then, about the masculine images in and through which we have shaped a world so cruel to most of its inhabitants?Hegemony and masculinity Twenty years ago, Patricia Sexton suggested that â€Å"male norms stress values such as courage, inner direction, certain forms of aggression, autonomy. mastery, technological skill, group solidarity, adventure and considerable amounts of toughness in mind and body. † (7) It is only relatively recent ly that social scientists have sought to link that insight with the concept of hegemony, a notion as slippery and difficult as the idea of masculinity itself.Hegemony, a pivotal concept in Gramsci's Prison Notebooks and his most significant contribution to Marxist thinking, is about the winning and holding of power and the formation (and destruction) of social groups in that process. In this sense, it is importantly about the ways in which the ruling class establishes and maintains its domination. The ability to impose a definition of the situation, to set the terms in which events are understood and issues discussed, to formulate ideals and define morality is an essential part of this process.Hegemony involves persuasion of the greater part of the population, particularly through the media, and the organization of social institutions in ways that appear â€Å"natural,† â€Å"ordinary:' â€Å"normal. † The state, through punishment for non-conformity, is crucially inv olved in this negotiation and enforcement. (8) Heterosexuality and homophobia are the bedrock of hegemonic masculinity and any understanding of its nature and meaning is predicated on the feminist insight that in general the relationship of men to women is oppressive.Indeed, the term â€Å"hegemonic masculinity† was invented and is used primarily to maintain this central focus in the critique of masculinity. A fundamental element of hegemonic masculinity. then. is that women exist as potential sexual objects for men while men are negated as sexual objects for men. Women provide heterosexual men with sexual validation, and men compete with each other for this. This does not necessarily involve men being particularly nasty to individual women. Women may feel as oppressed by non-hegemonic masculinities, may even find some expressions of the hegemonic pattern more familiar and manageable. (9)More than fifty books have appeared in the English language in the last decade or so on m en and masculinity. What is hegemonic masculinity as it is presented in this growing literature? Hegemonic masculinity, particularly as it appears in the works of Carrigan, Connell, and Lee. Chapman, Cockburn, Connell, Lichterman, Messner, and Rutherford, involves a specific strategy for the subordination of women. In their view, hegemonic masculinity concerns the dread of and the flight from women. A culturally idealized form, it is both a personal and a collective project, and is the common sense about breadwinning and manhood.It is exclusive, anxiety-provoking, internally and hierarchically differentiated, brutal, and violent. It is pseudo-natural, tough, contradictory, crisis-prone, rich, and socially sustained. While centrally connected with the institutions of male dominance, not all men practice it. though most benefit from it. Although cross-class. it often excludes workingclass and black men. It is a lived experience, and an economic and cultural force, and dependent on soc ial arrangements. It is constructed through difficult negotiation over a life-time. Fragile it may be, but it constructs the most dangerous things we live with.Resilient, it incorporates its own critiques, but it is, nonetheless, â€Å"unravelling. † (10) What can men do with it? According to the authors cited above, and others, hegemonic masculinity can be analyzed, distanced from, appropriated, negated, challenged, reproduced, separated from, renounced, given up, chosen, constructed with difficulty, confirmed, imposed, departed from, and modernized. (But not, apparently, enjoyed. ) What can it do to men? It can fascinate, undermine, appropriate some men's bodies, organize, impose, pass itself off as natural, deform, harm, and deny. But not, seemingly, enrich and satisfy. ) Which groups are most active in the making of masculinist sexual ideology? It is true that the New Right and fascism are vigorously constructing aggressive, dominant, and violent models of masculinity. Bu t generally, the most influential agents are considered to be: priests, journalists, advertisers, politicians, psychiatrists, designers, playwrights, film makers, actors, novelists, musicians, activists, academics, coaches, and sportsmen. They are the â€Å"weavers of the fabric of hegemony† as Gramsci put it, its â€Å"organizing intellectuals. These people regulate and manage gender regimes: articulate experiences, fantasies, and perspectives; reflect on and interpret gender relations. (11) The cultural ideals these regulators and managers create and perpetuate. we are told, need not correspond at all closely to the actual personalities of the majority of men (not even to their own! ). The ideals may reside in fantasy figures or models remote from the lives of the unheroic majority, but while they are very public, they do not exist only as publicity.The public face of hegemonic masculinity, the argument goes. is not necessarily even what powerful men are, but is what susta ins their power, and is what large numbers of men are motivated to support because it benefits them. What most men support is not necessarily what they are. â€Å"Hegemonic masculinity is naturalised in the form of the hero and presented through forms that revolve around heroes: sagas, ballads, westerns, thrillers,† in books, films, television, and in -sporting events. (12) What in the early literature had been written of as â€Å"the male sex ole† is best seen as hegemonic masculinity, the â€Å"culturally idealised form of masculine character† which, however, may not be â€Å"the usual form of masculinity at all. † To say that a particular form of masculinity is hegemonic means â€Å"that its exaltation stabilizes a structure of dominance and oppression in the gender order as a whole. To be culturally exalted, the pattern of masculinity must have exemplars who are celebrated as heroes. † (13) But when we examine these bearers of hegemonic masculi nity, they seem scarcely up to the task, with more than just feet of clay.A football star is a model of hegemonic masculinity. (14) But is a model? When the handsome Australian Rules football player, Warwick â€Å"the tightest shorts in sports† Capper, combined football with modelling, does this confirm or decrease his exemplary status? When Wally (â€Å"the King†) Lewis explained that the price he will pay for another five years playing in the professional Rugby League is the surgical replacement of both his knees, this is undoubtedly the stuff of good, old, tried and true, tough and stoic, masculinity.But how powerful is a man who mutilates his body, almost as a matter of course, merely because of a job? When Lewis announced that he was quitting the very prestigious â€Å"State of Origin† football series because his year-old daughter had been diagnosed as hearing-impaired, is this hegemonic? In Australian surfing champion, iron man Steve Donoghue, Connell has found â€Å"an exemplar of masculinity† who lives â€Å"an exemplary version of hegemonic masculinity. † But, says Donoghue, â€Å"I have loved the idea of not having to work †¦.Five hours a day is still a lot but it is something that I enjoy that people are not telling me what to do. † This is not the right stuff. Nor are hegemonic men supposed to admit to strangers that their life is â€Å"like being in jail. † Connell reveals further contradictions when he explains that â€Å"Steve, the exemplar of masculine toughness, finds his own exemplary status prevents him from doing exactly what his peer group defines as thoroughly masculine behaviour: going wild, showing off, drunk driving, getting into fights, defending his own prestige. This is not power. And when we look to see why many young men take up sport we find they are driven by â€Å"the hunger for affiliation† in the words of Hammond and Jablow; we see the felt need for â€Å"connecte dness† and closeness. How hegemonic is this? (15) Homosexuality and counter-hegemony Let us, however, pursue the argument by turning now to examine those purported counter-hegemonic forces that are supposedly generated by the gender system itself. There are three main reasons why male homosexuality is regarded as counter-hegemonic. Firstly, hostility to homo- exuality is seen as fundamental to male heterosexuality; secondly, homosexuality is associated with effeminacy; and thirdly, the form of homosexual pleasure is itself considered subversive. (16) Antagonism to gay men is a standard feature of hegemonic masculinity in Australia. Such hostility is inherent in the construction of heterosexual masculinity itself. Conformity to the demands of hegemonic masculinity, pushes heterosexual men to homophobia and rewards them for it, in the form of social support and reduced anxiety about their own manliness.In other words, male heterosexual identity is sustained and affirmed by hatre d for, and fear of, gay men. (17) Although homosexuality was compatible with hegemonic masculinity in other times and places, this was not true in post-invasion Australia. The most obvious characteristic of Australian male homosexuals, according to Johnston and Johnston, has been a â€Å"double deviance. † It has been and is a constant struggle to attain the goals set by hegemonic masculinity, and some men challenge this rigidity by acknowledging their own â€Å"effeminacy. This rejection and affirmation assisted in changing homosexuality from being an aberrant (and widespread) sexual practice, into an identity when the homosexual and lesbian subcultures reversed the hegemonic gender roles, mirror-like, for each sex. Concomitantly or consequently, homosexual men were socially defined as effeminate and any kind of powerlessness, or a refusal to compete, â€Å"readily becomes involved in the imagery of homosexuality† (18) While being subverted in this fashion, hegemonic masculinity is also threatened by the assertion of a homosexual identity confident that homosexuals are able to give each other sexual pleasure.According to Connell, the inherent egalitarianism in gay relationships that exists because of this transitive structure (my lover's lover can also be my lover), challenges the hierarchical and oppressive nature of male heterosexuality. (19) However, over time, the connection between homosexuality and effeminacy has broken. The â€Å"flight from masculinity† evident in male homosexuality, noted thirty years ago by Helen Hacker, may be true no longer, as forms of homosexual behaviour seem to require an exaggeration of some aspects of hegemonic masculinity, notably the cult of oughness and physical aggression. If hegemonic masculinity necessarily involves aggression and physical dominance, as has been suggested, then the affirmation of gay sexuality need not imply support for women's liberation at all, as the chequered experience of wom en in the gay movement attests. (20) More than a decade ago, Australian lesbians had noted, â€Å"We make the mistake of assuming that lesbianism, in itself, is a radical position. This had led us, in the past, to support a whole range of events, ventures, political perspectives, etc. ust because it is lesbians who hold those beliefs or are doing things. It is as ludicrous as believing that every working class person is a communist. † (21) Even though there are many reasons to think that there are important differences in the expression and construction of women's homosexuality and men's homosexuality, perhaps there is something to be learned from this. Finally, it is not â€Å"gayness† that is attractive to homosexual men, but â€Å"maleness. † A man is lusted after not because he is homosexual but because he's a man. How counter-hegemonic can this be?Changing men, gender segmentation and paid and unpaid work Connell notes, â€Å"Two possible ways of working f or the ending of patriarchy which move beyond guilt, fixing your head and heart, and blaming men, are to challenge gender segmentation in paid work and to work in men's counter-sexist groups. Particularly, though, countersexist politics need to move beyond the small consciousness raising group to operate in the workplace, unions and the state. † (22) It is hard to imagine men challenging gender segmentation in paid work by voluntarily dropping a third of their wage packet.But it does happen, although perhaps the increasing trickle of men into women's jobs may have more to do with the prodding of a certain invisible finger. Lichterman has suggested that more political elements of the â€Å"men's movement† contain human service workers, students, parttimers. and â€Å"odd-jobbers. † Those in paid work, work in over-whelmingly female occupations -counselling, nursing, and elementary teaching are mentioned. In this sense, their position in the labour market has made them â€Å"predisposed to criticise hegemonic masculinity, the common sense about breadwinning and manhood. It can also be seen as a defence against the loss of these things, as men attempt to colonize women's occupations in a job market that is increasingly competitive, particularly for men's jobs.? (23) If we broaden the focus on the desegmentation of paid work to include unpaid work, more interesting things occur. While Connell has suggested that hegemonic masculinity is confirmed in fatherhood, the practice of parenting by men actually seems to undermine it. Most men have an exceptionally impoverished idea about what fatherhood involves, and indeed, active parenting doesn't even enter into the idea of manhood at all.Notions of fathering that are acceptable to men concern the exercise of impartial discipline, from an emotional distance and removed from favouritism and partiality. In hegemonic masculinity, fathers do not have the capacity or the skill or the need to care for chil dren, especially for babies and infants, while the relationship between female parents and young children is seen as crucial. Nurturant and care-giving behaviour is simply not manly. Children, in turn, tend to have more abstract and impersonal relations with their fathers.The problem is severely compounded for divorced fathers, most of whom have extremely little emotional contact with their children. (24) As Messner has explained, â€Å"while the man is ‘out there' establishing his .name' in public, the woman is usually home caring for the day-to-day and moment-to-moment needs of her family †¦. Tragically, only in mid- life, when the children have already ‘left the nest' †¦ do some men discover the importance of connection and intimacy. † (25) Nonetheless, of the little time that men spend in unpaid work, proportionally more of it goes now into child care.Russell has begun to explore the possibility that greater participation by men in parenting has led to substantial shifts in their ideas of masculinity. The reverse is probably true too. Hochschild found in her study that men who shared care with their partners rejected their own â€Å"detached, absent and overbearing† fathers. The number of men primarily responsible for parenting has grown dramatically in Australia, increasing five-fold between 1981 and 1990. The number of families with dependent children in which the man was not in paid work but the woman was, rose from 16,200 in 1981 to 88,100 in 1990.Women, however, still outnumber men in this position ten to one. (26) Not only a man's instrumental relations with others are challenged by close parenting, but so are his instrumental relations with himself. Men's sense of themselves is threatened by intimacy. Discovering the affection, autonomy, and agency of babies and children, disconcerted by an unusual inability to cope, men are compelled to re-evaluate their attitude to themselves. In Russell's study, the fathers who provided primary child care â€Å"constantly marvelled at and welcomed the changes that had taken place in their relationships with their children. (27) Even Neville Wran, the former premier of the Australian state of New South Wales whose most renowned political activity was â€Å"putting the blowtorch to the belly† of political opponents. said of fatherhood, which occurred in his sixties, â€Å"It's making me a more patient, tolerant, understanding human being. I'm a real marshmallow. † (28) The men who come to full-time fathering do not, however, regard themselves as unmanly, even though their experiences have resulted in major shifts in their ideas about children, child care, and women.In fact, one quarter of them considered these changes a major gain from their parenting work. This was despite the fact that these men's male friends and workmates were highly critical of their abandonment of the breadwinner role, describing them, for instance, as being â€Å"blud gers,† â€Å"a bit funny,† â€Å"a bit of a woman,† and â€Å"under the thumb. † (29) This stigmatism may be receding as the possibility of securing the children's future, once part of the father's responsibility in his relations with the â€Å"public sphere,† is becoming less and less possible as unemployment bites deeper. 30) Child-minders and day-care workers have confirmed that the children of active fathers were â€Å"more secure† and â€Å"less anxious† than the children of non-active fathers. Psychological studies have revealed them to be better developed socially and intellectually. Furthermore, the results of active fatherhood seem to last. There is considerable evidence to suggest that greater interaction with fathers is better for children, with the sons and daughters of active fathers displaying lower levels of sex-role stereotyping. (31) Men who share the second shift had a happier family life and more harmonious marriages .In a longitudinal study, Defrain found that parents reported that they were happier and their relationships improved as a result of shared parenting. In an American study, househusbands felt positive about their increased contribution to the family-household, paid work became less central to their definition of themselves, and they noted an improvement in their relationships with their female partners. (32) One of the substantial bases for metamorphosis for Connell's six changing heterosexual men in the environmental movement as the learning of domestic labour, which involves â€Å"giving to people, looking after people. † In the same sense that feminism â€Å"claimed emotional life as a source of dignity and self respect,† active fathers are challenging hegemonic masculinity. For hegemonic masculinity, real work is elsewhere, and relationships don't require energy, but provide it. (33) There is also the question of time. The time spent establishing the intimacy that a man may crave is also time away from establishing and maintaining the â€Å"competitive edge,† or the â€Å"public face. There are no prizes for being a good father, not even when being one is defined narrowly in terms of breadwinning. (34) Social struggles over time are intimate with class and gender. It is not only that the rich and powerful are paid handsomely for the time they sell, have more disposable time, more free time, more control over how they use their time, but the gender dimensions of time use within classes are equally compelling. No one performs less unpaid work, and receives greater remuneration for time spent in paid work, than a male of the ruling class.The changes that are occurring remain uncertain, and there is, of course, a sting in the tail. Madison Avenue has found that â€Å"emotional lability and soft receptivity to what's new and exciting† are more appropriate to a consumer-orientated society than â€Å"hardness and emotional distance. † Past television commercials tended to portray men as Marlboro macho or as idiots, but contemporary viewers see men cooking, feeding babies, and shopping. Insiders in the advertising industry say that the quick and easy cooking sections of magazines and newspapers are as much to attract male readers as overworked women.U. S. Sports Illustrated now carries advertisements for coffee, cereal, deodorants, and soup. According to Judith Langer, whose market-research firm services A. T. & T. , Gillette. and Pepsico among others, it is now â€Å"acceptably masculine to care about one's house. (35) The â€Å"new man† that comes at us through the media seems to reinforce the social order without challenging it. And he brings with him, too, a new con for women. In their increasing assumption of breadwinning, femocratic and skilled worker occupations, the line goes, women render themselves incomplete.They must -‘give up† their femininity in their appropriation of male jobs and power, but men who embrace the feminine become â€Å"more complete. † (36) And if that isn't tricky enough, the â€Å"new men† that seem to be emerging are simply unattractive. Indeed, they're boring. Connell's six changing heterosexual men in the environmental movement were attracted to women who were â€Å"strong, independent, active. (37) Isn't everybody attracted by these qualities? Gay men find â€Å"new men† irritating and new men are not too sure how keen they should be on each other, and no feminist worth her salt would be seen dead with one.The ruling class: Really real men? If the significance of the concept of hegemonic masculinity is that it directs us to look for the contradictions within an autonomous gender system that will cause its transformation, then we must conclude it has failed. The challenges to hegemonic masculinity identified by its theorists and outlined above seem either to be complicit with, or broader than, the gender syst em that has apparently generated them. I can appreciate why Connell is practically interested in and theoretically intrigued by arguing against the notion of the externality of gender change. Both experience and theory show the impossibility of liberating a dominant group and the difficulty of constructing a movement based not on the shared interest of a group but on the attempt to dismantle that interest. † (38) (My emphasis). The key is the phrase â€Å"constructing a movement. † It is only a system which has its own dynamics that can produce the social forces necessary to change radically that system. But Connell himself has written that gender is part of the relations of production and has always been so.And similarly, that â€Å"social science cannot understand the state, the political economy of advanced capitalism. the nature of class, the process of modernisation or the nature of imperialism, the process of socialisation, the structure of consciousness or the p olitics of knowledge, without a full-blooded analysis of gender. † (39) There is nothing outside gender. To be involved in social relations is to be inextricably â€Å"inside† gender. If everything, in this sense, is within gender, why should we be worried about the exteriority of the forces for social change?Politics, economics, technology are gendered. â€Å"We have seen the invisible hand;' someone wittier than I remarked, â€Å"It is white, hairy and manicured. † Is there, then, some place we can locate exemplars of hegemonic masculinity that are less fractured, more coherent, and thus easier to read? Where its central and defining features can be seen in sharper relief? If the public face of hegemonic masculinity is not necessarily even what powerful men are, then what are they necessarily? Why is it â€Å"no mean feat to produce the kind of people who can actually operate a capitalist system? (40) Even though the concept â€Å"hegemony† is rooted i n concern with class domination, systematic knowledge of ruling class masculinity is slight as yet, but it is certainly intriguing. One aspect of ruling class hegemonic masculinity is the belief that women don't count in big matters, and that they can be dealt with by jocular patronage in little matters. Another is in defining what â€Å"big† and â€Å"little† are. Sexual politics are simply not a problem to men of the ruling class. Senior executives couldn't function as bosses without the patriarchal household.The exercise of this form of power requires quite special conditions – conventional femininity and domestic subordination. Two-thirds of male top executives were married to housewives. The qualities of intelligence and the capacity for hard work which these women bring to marriage are matched, as friends of Anita Keating, the wife of the Prime Minister of Australia, remarked, by â€Å"intense devotion †¦ her husband and her children are her life. â €  Colleen Fahey, the wife of the premier of New South Wales, had completed an 18-month part-time horticulture course at her local technical college, and she wanted to continue her studies full-time. But my husband wouldn't let met,† she said. â€Å"He said that he didn't think it was right for a mother to have a job when she had a 13-year-old child †¦ I think if I'd put my foot down and said I'd really wanted a career, he'd have said, ‘You're a rotten mother leaving those kids. † (41) The case for this sort of behaviour is simply not as compelling for working-class men, the mothers and the wives of most of whom undertake paid work as a matter of course. Success itself can amplify this need for total devotion, while lessening the chances of its fulfilment outside of the domestic realm.For the successful are likely to have difficulty establishing intimate and lasting friendships with other males because of low self-disclosure, homophobia, and cut-throat com petition. The corporate world expects men to divulge little of their personal lives and to restrain personal feelings, especially affectionate ones, towards their colleagues while cultivating a certain bland affability. Within the corporate structure, â€Å"success is achieved through individual competition rather than dyadic or group bonding. The distinction between home and work is crucial and carefully maintained. For men in the corporation, friends have their place outside work. (42) While William Shawcross, the biographer of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, found him â€Å"courageous† and â€Å"charming,† others close to Murdoch described him as â€Å"arrogant,† â€Å"cocky,† â€Å"insensitive, verging on dangerous,† â€Å"utterly ruthless,† and an â€Å"efficient Visigoth. † Murdoch himself described his life as â€Å"consisting of a series of interlocking wars. Shawcross also found that Murdoch possessed â€Å"an instinctive feel for money and power and how to use them both;' had a â€Å"relentless, unceasing drive and energy,† worked â€Å"harder and more determinedly† than anybody else, was â€Å"sure that what he was doing was correct†, â€Å"believed that he had become invincible†, and was driven by the desire â€Å"to win at all costs. † (43) And how must it feel to know that you can have whatever you want, and that throughout your life you will be looked after in every way, even to the point of never having to dress and undress yourself?Thus the view that hegemonic masculinity is hegemonic insofar as it succeeds in relation to women is true, but partial. Competitiveness, a combination of the calculative and the combative, is institutionalised in business and is central to hegemonic masculinity. The enterprise of winning is life-consuming, and this form of competitiveness is â€Å"an inward turned competitiveness, focussed on the self,† creating, in fact, an in strumentality of the personal. (44)Hegemonic masculinity is â€Å"a question of how particular groups of men inhabit positions of power and wealth, and how they legitimate and reproduce the social relationships that generate their dominance. † (45) Through hegemonic masculinity most men benefit from the control of women. For a very few men, it delivers control of other men. To put it another way, the crucial difference between hegemonic masculinity and other masculinities is not the control of women, but the control of men and the representation of this as â€Å"universal social advancement,† to paraphrase Gramsci.Patriarchal capitalism delivers the sense, before a man of whatever masculinity even climbs out of bed in the morning, that he is â€Å"better† than half of humankind. But what is the nature of the masculinity confirming not only that, but also delivering power over most men as well? And what are its attractions? A sociology of rulingclass men is long overdue. Footnotes 1. M. Waters. â€Å"Patriarchy and Viriarchy: An Exploration and Reconstruction of Concepts of Masculine Domination. † Sociology 7 (1989): 143-162. 2. A. Hochschild with A. Machung. The Second Shit: Woking parents and the Revolution at Home (New York: Viking. 989): 257. 3. M. Donaldson, Time of Our Lives: Labour and Love in the Working Class (Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 1991). 3. R. Connell. â€Å"Theorising Gender,† Sociology, 19 (1985): 263; R. Connell, â€Å"The Wrong Stuff: Reflections on the Place of Gender in American Sociology. † in H. J. Gans, editor, Sociology in America (Newbury-Park: Sage Publications 1990), 158; R. Connell, â€Å"The State, Gender and Sexual Politics: Theory and Appraisal† , Theory and Society 19/5 (1990): 509-523. 5. Connell. â€Å"Theorising Gender,† 260. 6. R. Connell, Which Way is Up? Essays on Class, Sex and Culture (Sydney: George Allen and Unwin, 1983), 234-276. 7.T. Carrigan, B. Connell. and J. L ee, â€Å"Toward a New Sociology of Masculinity. † in H. Brod. editor. The Making of Masculinities: The New Men's Studies (Boston:. Allen and Unwin), 75. 8. R. Connell. Gender and Power: Society, the Person and Sexual Politics (Sydney: Allen and Unwin. 1987), 107; Carrigan. Connell and Lee, 95. 9. Carrigan, Connell. and Lee. â€Å"Toward a New Sociology of Masculinity. † 86: Connell, Which Way is Up? 185. 10. Connell, Which Way is Up; Connell. Gender and Power; R. Connell, â€Å"A Whole New World: Remaking Masculinity in the Context of the Environmental Movement,† Gender and Society 4 (1990): 352-378: R.Connell. â€Å"An Iron Man: The Body and Some Contradictions of Hegemonic Masculinity,† in M. Messner and D. Sabo, editors, Sport, Men and the Gender Order (Champaign. Ill. : Human Kinetics Books, 1990): Connell, â€Å"The State, Gender and Sexual Politics†; Carrigan, Connell and Lee, 86; R. Chapman. â€Å"The Great Pretender: Variations in the New Man Theme. † in R. Chapman and J. Rutherford. editors. .Male Order: Unwrapping Masculinity (London: Lawrence and Wishart. 1988) 9-18; C. Cockburn. â€Å"Masculinity, the Left and Feminism. † in Male Order:103–329; P. Lichterman. Making a Politics of Masculinity,† Comparative Social Research 11 (1989): 185-208; M. Messner â€Å"The Meaning of Success: The Athletic Experience and the Development of Male Identity,† in The Making of Masculinities:193-2 10; J. Rutherford. â€Å"Who's That Man'? † in Male Order, 21-67. I I. Connell, Which Way is Up: 236, 255, 256. 12. Connell, Which Way is Up: 185,186,239. 13. Connell, â€Å"Iron Man,† 83, 94. 14. Connell, â€Å"Whole New World,† 459. 15. D. Hammond and A. 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