Friday, September 6, 2019

English Coursework on Miller Essay Example for Free

English Coursework on Miller Essay Alfieris speech at the beginning begins by introducing a lot of concepts which are explored upon later in the play. He begins with a speech on lawyers and the distrust that originates from it, You see how uneasily they nod to me? Thats because I am a lawyer a lawyer means the law, and in Sicily the law has not been a friendly idea. We can see later in the play that both Eddie and Marcus turn to the law for help, but the law lets them down, You mean to tell me that theres no law that a guy which he aint right can go to work and marry a girl and. These two parts of the play link to show us that the law will often clash with loyalty, and when something interferes with loyalty, one often has to turn to the law for help; however, the law may often deal with the problems too severely. We can see this by the drastic action that Eddie has to take to remove Rodolpho from the scene. However, the idea of justice is introduced. It is possible to deduce that the law governing Italy is not the law that is written as we can see from what Alfieri says about justice Justice is very important here and what Marco says about the law, All the law is not in a book, later in the play. This may be suggesting through authorial intention that something greater governed Italy than the written law, which controlled justice in its own right. We can see throughout the play what this other law may be: loyalty. One of the first major mentions of a sense of loyalty begins with Eddie, And they spit on him in the street, his own father and his brothers. This suggests that the law is secondary to loyalty within a family, and if the law is acted upon when there is a problem in a family, the loyalty is broken and the one who broke it is punished in another way. This is a premonition of what happens to Eddie later on. Eddie speaks his own fate in this small anecdote, He was crazy after, I tell you that, boy. At the end of the play, after Eddie has broken his loyalty, we see him grow crazier as Beatrice confirms, Hes crazy now, you know the way they get, what good is it! and we see in the stage directions, He is incensing himself and little bits of laughter even escape him as his eyes are murderous. This completes the anecdote, and suggests that the play was futile from the beginning and an inevitable turn of events towards the end of the play, making the play a tragedy. This is reinforced by Alfieris beginning speech, in which he says, heard the same complaint and sat there as powerless as I, and watched it run its bloody course. This also shows Alfieris futile attempts to help the situation and the inevitable bloody course towards the ending. As well as demonstrating the anecdote, Eddie may also represent affectionate emotions between members of a family. It could be interpreted that Eddie feels a love for Catherine, Hi Eddie! [Eddie is pleased and therefore shy about it ] near the beginning of the play. Miller maybe exploring the effects of such forbidden love, as it were, on a marriage. We can see the effects on Beatrice, When am I gonna be a wife again, Eddie? as Eddie fights his possible love for Catherine within him. Eddie tries his best to suppress his other feelings until he has to warp the past in order to cope with his relations with Beatrice by putting the blame on her, I want my respect, Beatrice what I feel like doin in the bed and what I dont feel like doin. This suggests that Eddie does not want this unwanted love for Catherine as he attempts to change history to cover it up and put it behind him. Beatrice reacts differently however in her discussion with Catherine, If it was a prince came here for you it would be no different. This suggests she is fighting against Eddie to get Catherine out of the house so that her relationship with Eddie can return to normal. Along with Catherines love for Rodolpho, this can show that love for another person can overcome a strong attachment with another and break bonds to allow the love to flourish, in this case, Beatrice is severing the ties between Catherine and her home. However he also has trouble letting go of Catherine, Hes stealing from me! . This quote suggests that he sees Catherine as his own personal property and not a woman of her own right. This idea of owning Catherine is reinforced by the way he is unable to stop giving her orders even when he was trying to right their relationship, Suppose I told her to go out. This suggests that Eddie does not fully understand the situation and cannot ever be trusted to ever completely understand the freedom he has to give Catherine. To focus more on his relationship with Catherine, we can see a protection around Catherine and a wish to hold her down as a baby which is shown in the first scenes. I think its too short, aint it? Through this Miller may be suggesting that if the one a person loves changes, the other will strive to keep that person as how they were even though they can never return. There is, however, a tenderness when it comes to critisizing Catherine, Yeah, its nice. This shows he cannot bring himself to hurt Catherine at the beginning and only wishes for her to feel good. However Eddie may be loving a Catherine that no longer exists, and so he strives to hold Catherine down, Youre a baby, you dont understand these things,. This will in turn hurt Catherine as she is unable to be free whilst continuing her relationship with Eddie. We can see how Catherine reacts to these restrictions Eddie places on her. She is upset by his disapproval of her skirt, [almost in tears because he disapproves] which suggests she has great respect for Eddies opinions about her. As Eddie exerts his dominance over her,Listen, I could tell you things about Louis which you wouldnt wave to him no more and she tries to get out of it [trying to joke him out of his warning], we can see this as another premonition as how she tries to get away from Eddie later in the play. Beatrice poses the question in her mind, Look, honey, you wanna get married, or dont you wanna get married? of whether she should break the bonds and be free, or stay with Eddie and never become a woman. At this point, Catherine is unable to decide I dont know B. and these quotes show us that she has not broken away the ties between herself and Eddie. However later on, her love for Rodolpho and to live her own life overcome her love for Eddie, Hes a rat! He belongs in the sewer! . This suggests that throughout the play we have seen Catherine become a woman from being a child, and Miller might be telling us, through the dramatic changes in her affections, that becoming a woman from a child is a traumatic experience for many. From this Miller has introduced most of the main ideas in the rest of the play from the scene at the beginning. Because they have been set in motion from the beginning, and are carried through right to the end, we get more of the idea of inevitability and tragedy within the play. What is more, because they reach fruition right at the end, they remind us of a cyclic pattern in which we are reminded of the beginning of the play. This suggests to the audience that the whole event was futile as it will do nothing to help such situations in the future.

Thursday, September 5, 2019

Bourdieus Theory of Capital, Habitus and Field

Bourdieus Theory of Capital, Habitus and Field How Useful are Bourdieu’s Concept of Field, Habitus, and Capital for Understanding Contemporary Social Theory? Introduction Pierre Bourdieu (1930-2002) developed his theory of cultural capital, with Jean-Claude Passeron, as part of an attempt to explain differences in educational achievement according to social origin (Robbins, 2005: 22-24): to show ‘that social exclusion is a continuous process’ (Ibid. p 23). In his theory, the cultural and social forms of capital are based on, without being determined by, the amount of economic capital possessed and thus hide or mask the way in which social hierarchies are reproduced. The three forms of capital combine, and are embodied, to produce an individuals habitus, or set of predispositions, whilst the field refers to the arena in which a specific habitus is realised or deployed. For Bourdieu, then, the concepts of capital, field and habitus were ultimately embedded in relations of power (Burkett, 2004: 236) and were part of a complex theory that sought to explain the way that social inequality is reproduced. Many have debated the usefulness of Bourd ieu’s theory to contemporary research (see, for example, Fine in Burkett, 2004; Tooley and Darby in Nash, 1999), while others have debated the degree to which he drew on the founding fathers of sociology, with some concluding that his theory of practice is ‘strongly Weberian’ (Keyes, 2002: 233), or that his concepts draw on the work of Durkheim (Camic, 2000). Here I attempt to asses the degree to which he drew on Marx, Weber and Durkheim when constructing the key concepts of capital, field and habitus, and the usefulness or otherwise of them to contemporary research. In the first section, I outline Bourdieu’s concept of Capital, demonstrating its role within his overall theory before showing the key ways in which his usage differs from that of Marx. Next I examine the debate surrounding the use of the concept within contemporary political science, notably in the work of Robert Putnam (1995). In the second section, I examine Bourdieu’s concept of Habitus, demonstrating its role within his overall theory of cultural capital, before showing the key ways in which his usage differs from that of Durkheim and Weber. Next, I examine the usefulness of the term by examining the debate surrounding its use in educational research in the work of Diane Reay (1995). In the final section, I outline Bourdieu’s concept of the field, discussing its role within his overall theory before finally examining its usefulness to those undertaking feminist examinations of the way that power is experienced as differentiated, especially within the reprodu ction of patriarchy (McNay, 1999). In the conclusion, I attempt to assess the overall usefulness of Bourdieu’s key concepts to the social sciences, arguing that he raided the concepts of the founding father but without having any ideological commitment to them; that his usage reflected his focus on them as tools of practical research. That, however, it is this practical focus that may have contributed to the difficulty experienced by those who now seek clarification as to their meaning. The Forms of Capital In this section I outline Bourdieu’s concept of Capital, demonstrating its role within his overall theory before showing the key ways in which his usage differs from that of Marx. Finally, I examine the debate surrounding contemporary use of the concept within political science, notably in the work of Robert Putnam (1995). For Bourdieu capital can be divided into different forms: social capital, cultural capital and economic capital. By social capital he refers to the network of ‘useful relationships that can secure material or symbolic profits’ (Bourdieu, 1986: 249): the amount of social capital that an individual can draw upon is thus the sum of the number of people in their network and the amount of capital so possessed. Bourdieu further divides cultural capital into three forms: ‘embodied’, ‘objectified’ and ‘institutionalised’: embodied capital is imbued during socialisation, and is ultimately tied to the social location of the individual (Nash, 1999: 185). Embodied capital represents ‘external wealth converted into an integral part of the person’ (Bourdieu, 1986: 244-5). Objectified capital refers to goods or artefacts – including paintings and sculptures which ‘are defined only in the relationship with cultural capital in its embodied form’ (Bourdieu, 1986:246): in other words, the goods themselves and the ability to consume them. Institutionalised capital refers to those academic qualifications which enable an individual to directly convert between cultural and economic capital: ‘a certificate of cultural competence which confers on its holder a conventional, constant, legally guaranteed value with respect to culture’ (Bourdieu, 1986:248). Thus, the different forms of capital are based upon, but not determined by, economic capital. We can see that Bourdieu’s use of ‘capital’ is very different from that employed by Marx. Whereas K arl Marx (1818-1883) had paid little attention to the cultural sphere, believing it to be little more than ‘false consciousness’, Bourdieu sought to use the language of Marx and economic theory (Robbins, 2005: 20) to develop a ‘marxisant’ (Moi, 2000: 322) theory of culture. Like Marx, for Bourdieu capital has the capacity to reproduce ‘in identical or expanded form’ (Bourdieu, 1986:241), becoming part of the structure of society that enables and constrains individual’s lives (Bourdieu, 1986: 242). However, Bourdieu’s use of the term may therefore be viewed as being closer to power (Bourdieu, 1986: 243) than as it was used by Marx. In Bowling Alone: the Collapse and Revival of American Community (2000)[1] Robert Putnam utilised the concept of social capital, transferring it from sociology into the realm of political science. Putnam argued that increasing individualism had led to the decline of community ties, political participation and therefore ‘good governance’ (Russell, 2005: 557). Putnam defined social capital as ‘features of social organisation such as networks, norms, and social trust that facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit (Putnam, 1995: 67). However, Putnams’ definition is very different from Bourdieu’s; whereas for Bourdieu social capital was held by the individual (Walters, 2002: 387), for Putnam it is a collective capacity (Ibid. p. 379). Further, within Bourdieu’s conception it would be difficult to see how there could be a reduction in social capital. William Walters (2002) argues that Putnam’s use of the concept differs from Bourdieu’s in that whereas Bourdieu argued that social capital is transferable with economic capital but not reducible to it (Bourdieu, 1986: 243) Putnam’s use is more liberal; he assumes ‘a self-maximising individual for whom associative activity can, under certain circumstances, be an investment’ (Walters, 2002: 379). Ben Fine argues, convincingly, that academia has been gripped by a ‘social capital fetish’ (in Burkett, 2004: 234): that the concept has been so stretched as to render it meaningless (Burkett, 2004: 238). However, the weakening of Bourdieu’s concept of capital has occurred since his death, and so reflects on contemporary theorists and not on the usefulness or otherwise of the concept itself. Habit: Habitus The forms of capital as outlined above combine to produce a persons habitus, or set of predispositions: in this section I first provide a brief summary of the use of habit/ habitus in sociological thought, before next outlining Bourdieu’s use of the term. I examine the concepts role within his schema and demonstrate how his conception draws, but differs from, the work of Durkheim and Weber. Finally, I examine the debate surrounding the use of the concept in educational research, notably by Diane Reay (1995, in Nash, 1999). Charles Camic (200) describes how the term habit was extensively used by the Ancient Greeks, and medieval scholars and theologians. During the 18th century it continued to be used by Enlightenment thinkers as diverse as Helvà ©tius, Acquinus, Rousseau and Kant (Camic, 2000: 329; Nash, 1999: 180-182) to describe a range of behaviour from those ‘virtually automatic’ actions to ‘more involved patterns of conduct’ (Camic, 2000: 327). W ithin the work of Durkheim the term assumed a central importance, concerned as he was with the development of the collective conscience, or secular moral code (Camic, 2000: 334). For Durkheim human action could be divided into two poles, with ‘reflection on the one side, and that of habit on the other side, with the latter pole being the stronger’ (Durkheim in Camic, 2000: 333). For Durkheim primary education was therefore benign, for here the child can be imbued with ‘the habitual basis of social morality’ (Camic, 2000: 33). Yet despite this assertion of the central role of habit in the social world, Durkheim assigned the study of it to psychology, and not sociology (Camic, 2000: 337). However, for Bourdieu social inequality, or differential access to the forms of capital, becomes part of the very bodies and predispositions of the individual via the habitus (McNay, 1999: 99). Marx argued that ‘men make their own history, but [†¦] they do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but under circumstances directly encountered, given, and transmitted from the past’ (Marx, 1852, quoted in Coates, 1990: 265): for Bourdieu, the individual is constrained by the amount and quality of cultural, economic and social capital that they possess: it is ‘discrimination embodied as dispositions’ (Nash, 1999: 177), it is thus a sociological concern. Further, whereas Durkheim’s conscience collective sought to explain the way in which meaning is given to emotional experiences (Shilling, 1997: 204) and so focuses on the collective, for Bourdieu the habitus is a possession of the individual (Nash, 1999: 182). For Weber, ‘custom’ designated that range of behaviour that is the ‘unreflective, set disposition to engage in actions that have been long practiced’ (Camic, 2000: 337): being both conformity with and the generator of social norms (Camic, 2000: 338). This is similar to Bourdieu’s ‘sociology of practice’: following Weber, Bourdieu believes that the purpose of the social sciences is to explain action, yet where Weber was more interested in the ‘larger social and cultural conditions under which general societal patterns of habitual action wax and wane’ (Camic, 2000: 341), Bourdieu remains tied to the individual, actual, practical affects of power and history (Bourdieu in Nash, 1999: 179). For Weber, habit falls at the border of meaningful action, and therefore outside of sociology (Camic, 2000: 345), for Bourdieu it is precisely the doxic nature of habit that renders it socially important. Diane Reay (1995) used habitus as a method when conducting fieldwork in the classroom (in Nash, 1999). For Weber, an ideal type is ‘a construct developed to make sense out of a chaos of facts’ (Keyes, 2002: 240). Likewise, for Bourdieu habitus helps us to make sense of ‘that part of practices which remains obscure in the eyes of their own producers’ (Bourdieu in Keyes, 2002: 240): it is a conceptual tool, something to ‘think with’ (Nash, 1999: 185). Roy Nash (1999) charts the difficulties that arise, when such a conceptual tool is utilised in practical research, but concludes that it is ‘worthwhile, just because to do so forces one to think’ (Nash, 1999: 185): the habitus ‘offers explanations’ (Nash, 1999: 185), by examining whether the habitus can explain social differences in education we have gained a deeper understanding of these inequalities. The concept of habit had previously been a ‘staple’ of weste rn social thought, from medieval times to the thought of Weber and Durkheim, but fell outside of sociology and into psychology due to the scramble to assert disciplinary boundaries (Camic, 2000: 355); Bourdieu sought to revive the concept as part of his search for concepts which would aid our understanding of the limits to individual action: it is ‘a conceptual tool for comprehending that the capacity to project forwards which people really posses is understandable as a function of their prior social condition rather than in terms of abstract mathematical models’ (Robbins, 2005: 26). In other words, habitus allows Bourdieu to mediate between agency and structure without relying on the atomised, rational individual of liberalism, instead situating the actor within extant power relations. The Field In the final section I outline Bourdieu’s concept of the field, discussing its role within his overall theory before finally examining its usefulness to those undertaking feminist examinations of the reproduction of patriarchy (McNay, 1999). The ‘field’ refers to the arena, or social context, in which a specific habitus may be realised; knowledge regarding the use of particular machinery may be of little use in the world of show jumping, but of uppermost importance to those involved in car manufacture. Likewise, maintaining a network of engineers would be of little use to those outside this specific field: society in total constitutes a field, and is ‘structured according to relations of domination’ (Peillon, 1998: 215), but also society is comprised by a range of distinct fields: Fields will vary according to how much autonomy they acquire from the entirety of the social field. An autonomous field is characterised by a high level of specificity: it possesses its own history; a particular configuration of agents operate within it and struggle for a distinctive stake; it induces its own habitus and upholds a distinctive set of beliefs. Such an autonomous field is highly differentiated and marked by sharp boundaries, beyond which the field ceases to have any impact on practice (Peillon, 1998: 215). Bourdieu recognised that academia is such a field and therefore is embedded in and reflects social relations. For Bourdieu, then, the field refers to the different arenas or social spaces in which capital is deployed or the habitus acts: ‘the embodied potentialities of the habitus are only ever realized in the context of a specific field’ (McNay, 1999: 109), further, each field is distinct and therefore operates according to its own logic (McNay, 1999: 114): knowledge of sociological theory would be of little use to our aforementioned show jumper. As it is deployed, therefore, habitus is both determined and generative as it is able to constitute the field from which it emerges (McNay, 1999:100); it is the ‘feel for the game’ that also reproduces the game (Bourdieu, 1990: 52) as each individual is positioned within the field by their possession of specific types of capital and their strategies so contribute to its reproduction. When comparing Bourdieu’s conceptualisation of the field with that of Foucault’s work on the body, Lois McNay (1999) finds that Bourdieu’s is the more developed as he is better able to theorize the differentiated nature of the constraints which act to limit the individuals ability to create their own identity (McNay, 1999: 95). For McNay, Bourdieu’s concept of the field is useful within feminist theory when considering the differences within women’s experiences of gender, as well as those differences between men and women (McNay, 1999: 114): ‘as a relational concept the field yields an understanding of society as a differentiated and open structure and provides a framework in which to conceptualise the uneven and non-systematic ways in which subordination and autonomy are realized’ (McNay, 1999: 115, my emphasis). For example, in relation to the production of knowledge this might explain the early marginalization of much feminist resear ch and the way it was the thought of a particular group of women – white, heterosexual, middle class women – that came to dominate second wave feminism, as opposed to the feminisms of other groups: in short, Bourdieu’s concept of the field enables us to consider the way that power is not a monolithic concept but is experienced differentially. Conclusion In conclusion, when assessing the overall usefulness of Bourdieu’s key concepts to contemporary research and theory it is important not to forget the intention of Bourdieu himself: Bourdieu intended capital, habitus and the field to be tools used to aid such empirical research (Peillon, 1998: 241) and not as constituent parts of a ‘grand theory’: he had no interest in ‘speculative philosophy’ (Robbins, 2005: 15). Bourdieus’ theory has been criticized as being essentialist and deterministic, however others have embraced its potential to explain the way in which such social inequality is reproduced (such as Reay, 1995 in Nash, 1999). Derek Robbins argues that Bourdieu had ‘no sympathy for the mystery of Durkheim’s conscience collective’ but was enough a product of the ‘Durkheimian legacy’ to wish to encourage a future society based on the positive unity of equality (Robbins, 2005: 19). For Robbins then, Bourdieu: regarded the discourses of the sciences as contrived language games which are alienated from natural culture. This did not cause him to be reductive or sceptical but it did cause him to deploy these discourses, varying them imaginatively, so as to isolate essences which are contingently changeable socially, geographically and historically (Robbins, 2005: 20). In other words, the language of the sciences were the tools that Bourdieu used in his practical attempt to construct a fairer world. However, it is this practical focus of his concepts that may have contributed to the difficulty experienced by those who now seek clarification as to their meaning, as he had varied their meaning to aid understanding of the particular instance under scrutiny. Having drawn on the work of the founding fathers of sociology – Marx, Durkheim, Weber – he felt no ideological commitment to these concepts, but instead felt free to move between discourses to better understand (Robbins, 2005: 20). Thus the concept of habit and/ or habitus that had been a ‘staple’ concept in western social thought, (Camic, 2000: 355) which Bourdieu sought to revive as part of his search for concepts which would aid our understanding of the limits to individual action. Keyes argues that Bourdieu’s use of habitus is as a Weberian ‘ideal typeâ⠂¬â„¢ (2002: 239), I argue that his use of capital and the field are as similar ‘ideal types’. His concept of capital may have been weakened, as Ben Fine argues, by academia’s subsequent stretching (Burkett, 2004: 238), however this weakening occurred after his death, and so should not reflect negatively on the usefulness of the concept. Indeed, it is this flexibility that renders it an appropriate tool. Finally, his notion of the field is useful when considering the differentiated affects of power: Bourdieu remains good to ‘think with’ (Nash, 1999: 185). Bibliography Bourdieu, Pierre (1990) The Logic of Practice, Cambridge: Polity Press. Bourdieu, Pierre (1986) ‘The forms of Capital’, Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education, Richardson, J (Ed.), London: Greenwood Press, pp241-258. Burkett, Paul (2001) ‘Book Review: Social Capital versus Social Theory: Political Economy and Social Science at the Turn of the Millennium’ by Ben Fine, London: Routledge, Historical Materialism, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 233-246. Camic, Charles (2000) ‘The Matter of Habit’, Pierre Bourdieu: Volume One, Robbins, Derek (Ed.), London: Sage, pp. 323-366. Coates, D (1990) ‘Traditions of Social Thought’, Social and Cultural Forms of Modernity, Anderson, J Ricci, M (Eds.), Milton Keynes: Open University Press. Keyes, Charles F. (2002) ‘Weber and Anthropology’, Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 31, pp. 233-255. McNay, Lois (1999) ‘Gender, Habitus and the Field: Pierre Bourdieu and the Limits of Reflexivity’, Theory, Culture and Society, Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 95-117. Moi, Toril (2000[1991]) ‘Appropriating Bourdieu: Feminist Theory and Pierre Bourdieu’s Sociology of Culture’, Pierre Bourdieu: Volume IV, Robbins, Derek (Ed.), London: Sage, pp. 314-341. Nash, Roy (1999) ‘Bourdieu, Habitus, and Educational Research: Is it all Worth the Candle?’, British Journal of Sociology of Education, Vol. 20, No. 2, pp. 175-187. Peillon, Michel (1998) ‘Bourdieu’s Field and the Sociology of Welfare’, Journal of Social Policy, Vol. 27, No. 2, pp. 213-229. Putnam, Robert (1995) ‘Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capital, An Interview with Robert Putnam’ in Journal of Democracy, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 65-78. Robbins, Derek (2005) ‘The Origins, Early Development and Status of Bourdieus Concept of ‘Cultural Capital’’, The British Journal of Sociology, Vol. 56, No. 1, pp. 13-30. Russell, Andrew (2005) ‘Political Parties as Vehicles of Political Engagement’, Parliamentary Affairs, Vol. 58, No. 3, pp. 555-569. Shilling, Chris (1997) ‘Emotions, Embodiment and the Sensation of Society’, The Sociological Review, Vol. 45, No. 2, pp. 195-219. Walters, William (2002) ‘Social Capital and Political Sociology: Re-imagining Politics?’ Sociology, Vol. 36, No. 2, pp. 377-397. Footnotes [1] New York, N.Y.: Simon Schuster.

Wednesday, September 4, 2019

Strength Based Model Case Management Social Work Essay

Strength Based Model Case Management Social Work Essay A theory of service delivery that focuses on the individual strengths instead of weaknesses. This model is based on the understanding of the individuals deep internal resources and ability. The purpose of this model is to help survivors identify this strength and build life upon them. During the treatment, the clients must participate in the process of their recovery which controls the direction and pace of healing efforts. Each client helps his or her own plan for personal wellness. The plan is based on the clients psychological, medical, or legal needs. Together, the client and case manager regularly review the progress, discuss achievements and changes, and modify goals based on the clients evolving situation and needs. When a client is granted asylum, the case manager continues to provide assistance to satisfy the clients needs. This may include helping the client find information on educational or employment opportunities. Assessment: The strength based model focus mainly on developing and finding the clients strengths and abilities and makes a plan based on this. As this model considers the wellbeing of the clients, so the participation of the client in the treatment is very important. The client must figure out their needs of any aspects and give feedbacks of the current treatment. According to this point, the model is very adaptable to individuals as the diversity of their different situations. But this kind of model just encourage the client to live life as what they want and they can so the disability part has been left over which is very important in making progress. Planning: The strength based model needs a very detail and flexible service plan at the beginning which carried out mainly depends on the clients own abilities and needs because the client will live a life based on the plan. And the plan will be change over time because during the treatment the client and the case manager have to review the changes and progress that the client has met so the goals will be modified based on the reality and the process of achievement. Coordinating: The strength based models require a high standard of the coordinating between the client and the case manager. The case manager will give the client professional suggestions and make plans according to the clients condition which maybe not very consistent with the clients imagination and needs. But the client should be considerate since the accessibility and the efficiency. And the case manager should also have a regular contact with the client and be ready to make any changes to make sure the plan is always suitable and updated. Strengths and weaknesses of the strength based model: The strength of the strength based model is that it is easy to be carried out because it is based on the clients needs and ability so the client will be very cooperative during the treatment. And the psychological needs of the client are easily to be met so the confidence will be built to the client. It is very good to the clients mental health. Besides, the clients strengths are well maintained and developed. But the weaknesses of this kind of model are also obvious. It is because this kind of model only concerns about the strength so the weakness of the client has been ignored. But at many times the weakness plays the main role of whether the treatment is successful or not so the weaknesses cant be improved. Perspectives of the disability people: The strength based model is very practical for the disabled. Client empowerment is a central theme to this approach. To empower a client, the evaluation must be made to the disabled person and thus the achievable goals will be made along with the evaluation so a well-organized plan will be carried out to achieve the goals and the possibility of the success will hopefully be very high. Critics of the strength perspective suggest this is simply reframing problems in a better light. No one will succeed while being convinced that they will fail. Summary of the expected outcomes for the disabled: For the strength based model, the expected outcomes is that the mental health of the client is strengthened and many the disabled can joint well to the society like the normal people without much mental barriers. In addition, the client may develop certain advantages to a high level and gain some achievement better than normal person. But the disabled part cant be improved. Case management Model A collaborative process of assessment, planning, facilitation and advocacy for options and services which is aim to meet an individuals holistic needs through communication and available resources to promote quality cost-effective outcomes.Case Management has been used to a wide range of issues including community care for the aged, and people with disability and mental health issues; acute health settings; injury management and insurance related areas; correctional services; court systems; in the management of chronic health conditions; child and youth welfare; at risk populations in schools; managed care and employment programs. The case management model requires the organization deliver a range of services based on the comprehensive assessment that is used to develop a case or service plan. The plan is developed in collaboration with the client and reflects their choices and preferences. Case Managers provide the coordinating and specialist activities that flow from the particular setting, program and client population. However it is usual to identify the following process as core to Case Management: screening, assessment/risk management, care planning, implementing service arrangement, monitoring/evaluation and advocacy. Assessment: However the case management model is a bit similar to the strength based models as they both respect the needs of the clients. But the case management model focus on the hobbies of the client and encourage them to attend relative activities so that the purpose of treatment is achieved during the community time. So that this model is also based on the clients abilities in some degrees and can maintain the clients past lifestyle and an active mind and body as much as they can. But there will be many potential barriers hidden behind like the decrease of the clients health condition or the bad weather. So there will be many uncertain situations so the achieving of certain goals will require a long time and patience. Planning: Comparing with the strength based model, the case management model plan is relatively fixed because the clients hobbies and preference are stable. Based on this a long term plan is worked out and the plan will be seldom changed. But the plan is not very detail because its just an optional orientation. Coordinating: The case management requires coordination between the activity coordinator and the client as well as the relationships among different clients who participate in the activities. And the coordinator also has to consider the clients physical ability and other element like the economy and the climate and so on make sure the arrangement is made in advance. Strengths and weaknesses of the case management model: Like the strength based model, the case management model is also very easy to be executed since it is based on the priority of the clients to the activities according to their interests. This model is good for both the mental and physical development of the clients. But the weakness is that it is easy to be influenced by the uncertainty elements like the natural disasters and the clients health conditions and any personal issues of each part. Also this model cant be updated with the time going on along with the aging and the decrease of the clients health. So at the end, the client does maybe have no ability to participate or the quality of the participation is going down. Perspectives of the disability people: The strength based model is very practical for the disabled. Client empowerment is a central theme to this approach. To empower a client, the evaluation must be made to the disabled person and thus the achievable goals will be made along with the evaluation so a well-organized plan will be carried out to achieve the goals and the possibility of the success will hopefully be very high. Critics of the strength perspective suggest this is simply reframing problems in a better light. No one will succeed while being convinced that they will fail. Perspectives of the disability people: The case management model is widely used in our lives and its easy to be carried out. The perspective is that this model will be continuingly development and improved during the practice in reality. It will play a main role in the recovery or dealing with the disability problems. The potential ability and interests will be found during the process of the treatment so there will be a bright future of this model. Summary of the expected outcomes for the disabled: For the case management model, the clients life is fulfilled and interesting than before. Also this is very good for the psychological development like the strength based model. And it will be a big contribution to the arrangement of the arrangements of the physical therapy. But this model is not good for finding an occupation for the client and it is easy to make the client depend on others. Comparisons of the two models The strength based model focus mainly on developing and finding the clients strengths and abilities and makes a plan based on this. However the case management model is a bit similar to the strength based models as they both respect the needs of the clients. But the case management model focus on the hobbies of the client and encourage them to attend relative activities so that the purpose of treatment is achieved during the community time. Comparing with the strength based model, the case management model plan is relatively fixed because the clients hobbies and preference are stable but the strength based model is very flexible and keep changing with the clients condition. The two models also have difference with the coordinating part. The strength based models need a high level of coordinating between the client and the case management however the case management model requires a good relationship between the activity coordinator and the client as well as the relationship among cli ents. If the clients have mental goals we suggest that they choose the strength based model but if the client has the needs of physically requirement then wed better use the case management model for her.

Tuesday, September 3, 2019

The Jonestown Massacre: Jim Jones Essay -- mass suicide, church

Have you ever heard the term, â€Å"Don’t drink the Kool-Aid?† or â€Å"You have drank the Kool-Aid.†? Well, †Drinking the Kool-Aid† means you have done something that others have told you to do or did yourself. This saying comes from the cult society led by Reverend Jim Jones, named Jonestown. Jonestown was a small community in the jungle of Guyana, South America. After getting word of people coming to investigate the society, Jones had committed a mass suicide by poisoning Kool-Aid and giving it to the people of Jonestown. A cult society is an organization that basically disguises itself as a religion. In a cult, they normally perform rituals. There are usually many people in these societies. In Jim Jones’s cult, there were at least one thousand people in this community. Jim Jones was the notorious cult leader of the Peoples Temple. Jones was born on May 13, 1931 in Crete, Indiana. He was a self-appointed pastor from a church in the Midwest. Jim had been popular for always wearing dark glasses, black suits and slicked-back hair, which made a splendid impression on the pulpit of the churches he had preached at or had been to. He then, in the mid-1960s, moved his congregation to California to, what he had wished, avoid the start of a nuclear war. Then, in 1974, he moved his people to Guyana after he was faced with financial abuses, criticism, and church beatings. Guyana, South America is South America’s monarch. It is located on the northern border of South America and is also part of the Anglophone Islands. After Jones and his flock moved to this country, he started a cult. He named this the Peoples Temple.They were located in the jungle of Guyana. In this community, Jones proclaimed that all men, except for him, were homosexual. He... ...s already small portions of food and horrible tasks given to those who didn’t obey Jim Jones. Also, Reverend jones clearly didn’t mind the fact that he was forcing more than nine hundred people to commit suicide, a third if them children. Being me, I feel like the way Jim Jones treated these people, and the way he led this cult compound was completely wrong. I feel like Peoples Temple was a humungous mistake. I also feel truly sorry for those who lose friends and family in this horrible event and for those who went through this. Although this is all over the Jim jones Massacre will forever be remembered and never be forgotten. Works Cited â€Å"Inside the Jonestown Massacre.† CNN.com/US. 13 November 2008. â€Å"Jim Jones Biography.† Bio.. 15 May 2014

Monday, September 2, 2019

Racism Revealed: Hurricane Katrina Essays -- Personal Essays Natural D

Hurricane Katrina struck the city of New Orleans, Louisiana on August 29th, 2005. The events that followed would leave the whole nation in shock until this day. One of the major topics of discussion after this disaster was whether or not the government's slow reaction time had anything to do with the fact that New Orleans is sixty-seven percent African American. As helicopters circled a wasteland that was once a major tourist attraction, the racism of the Deep South, thought to be extinct, proved it was only dormant. The same racism against African Americans that could be seen on Bourbon Street in the months prior to the hurricane reared its ugly head once more in Gretna, LA and was pointed out on live television by rapper Kanye West. In February of 2005, Georgian Southern University student Levon Jones died of suffocation after being detained on the ground by three white bouncers at a Bourbon Street bar. Black leaders have blamed Jones' death on the widespread racist policies in the French Quarter." Their claims are based on a survey sponsored by the city of New Orleans in which it was revealed that fifteen of twenty-nine Bourbon Street bars "discriminated against Blacks by charging phony cover charges, gouging on drink prices and enforcing unequal dress codes." Almost five months after Jones's death, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) held a march to protest the racist policies of business owners in the French Quarter. This proves that racism against African Americans did exist in New Orleans prior to Hurricane Katrina. After Hurricane Katrina was done wreaking havoc on the Gulf Coast, victims of the hurricane from New Orleans sought food and shelter in the neighboring to... ...cuation Route." Nicholas Riccardi. September 18th, 2005 pg. 25 Document URL: http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=0&did=898116091&SrchMode=1&sid=3&Fmt=3&VIns t=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1128370496&clientId=10762 Proquest Document ID: 898116091 3. Chicago Tribune. "Racism charge in slow flow of relief supplies." September 6th, 2005 pg. 9 Document URL: http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=0&did=892613891&SrchMode=1&sid=6&Fmt=3&VIns t=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1128370816&clientId=10762 Proquest Document ID: 892613891

Dramatic Changes in the U.S. Intelligence Community Essay

Intelligence services of any country play a vital role in its security as well as in support of its national interests. The U. S. Intelligence Community (IC) today is a federation of about 16 separate governmental agencies (United States Intelligence Community, 2009) that monitor information worldwide and domestically in pursuance of America’s national interests. The IC has undergone fundamental changes since WWII, the 1970s and in the aftermath of September 11, 2001 attacks and the Iraq war 2003. Each of these fundamental changes in policy, organization and practice has had a profound impact in the workings of the IC. This essay examines the effects of the successive reforms carried out within the IC focusing on the above mentioned three periods of dramatic changes. The precursor to the Intelligence Community was the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) which was formed during the Second World War to coordinate the intelligence gathering and espionage activities of the single service intelligence services. After the Second World War, the U. S. government sought to change the predominant army orientation of the OSS. The National Security Act of 1947 established the Central Intelligence Agency that took over the functions of the OSS and charged it with collection of national security intelligence but no â€Å"police, subpoena, law enforcement powers or internal security function (Theoharis & Immerman, 2006, p. 156). † The aim here was to curtail the inflated powers that the OSS had gathered during the war time years. However, the reality of the Cold War forced the US government to promulgate â€Å"the NSC 4A of December 14, 1947, and NSC 10/2 of June 18, 1948 (Theoharis & Immerman, 2006, p. 158)† giving the CIA mandate to conduct covert operations. Thereon, the mandate of the CIA was increased to include sabotage, support of indigenous anti-communist elements and kill and depose leaders from Cuba to Chile (Kinzer, 2008, p. 210). The 1949 Central Intelligence Agency Act authorized the agency fiscal independence outside the domain of public scrutiny and administrative controls. The organization was also exempted from having to make public the roll call of its employees or where they were being employed. So the powers of the agency were vastly increased and congressional oversight reduced. Through the sixties into the early 70s, the CIA was at the forefront of covert war across the globe, undermining the Soviets and in the process becoming a law unto them self. Thus when Dr Muhammed Mossadeq of Iran nationalized British Petroleum, it was the CIA which helped the British to overthrow his government to establish Reza Pehalavi as their puppet (Paul, 2003, p. 14). In Iraq too, US intelligence services recruited in 1959, Saddam Hussein to take part in assassination of Iraqi Prime minister Qasim who was poised to hurt American oil interests in Iraq. Within the United States, the CIA was involved in hunting out communist supporters under McCarthyism that led to the arrests and incarceration of hundreds of Americans under trumped up charges. These internal actions of the IC made the community most unpopular with politicians across the spectrum. Nixon initially distrusted the agencies but soon saw their utility leading to a series of successful covert operations that helped in winding down the Vietnam War, Coup de etat in Chile, engagement with China and containment actions across the globe against Soviet expansion. Nixon later misused the CIA in getting the agency to obstruct FBI investigations into the Watergate scandal (1972). In Africa, the CIA carried out covert operations to oust Soviet influence. In the period right up to the early 70s, the IC was involved predominantly in conduct of a secret foreign policy and the administration then started having misgivings about the efficiency of the organization with its excessive focus on clandestine operations (Louis, 1987, p. 103). Therefore, in 1973, the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI), James Schlesinger decided to reform the agency to make it more accountable and efficient. â€Å"He fired two thousand officers (Louis, p. 103)† and compiled a report on the (mis)doings of the agency in conducting political assassinations worldwide, and indulging in illegal surveillance of thousands of US citizens who had opposed America’s involvement in the Vietnam War. Though this report was supposed to be secret, it was leaked to the media that led to a series of investigations into the workings of the CIA by the senate (Church Committee), the House of Representatives (Pike Committee) and the administration of Gerald Ford (Rockefeller Commission) in 1975, which in turn led to the distancing of the CIA from its linkages with domestic politics. This also led to a formation of the Presidential Oversight Board at the White House and the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in 1977 to maintain oversight on the workings of the IC. President Ford â€Å"banned assassination plots against foreign leaders and tightened CIA and NSC approval procedures for the use of covert actions (Jeffreys-Jones & Andrew, 1997, p. 182)†. President Carter further tightened the accountability of the IC. The technicalization of the IC under the stewardship of Admiral Turner vastly increased the agencies ability to remotely eavesdrop on the global community but downplayed HUMINT leading to glaring weaknesses in intelligence collection in the field that led to the bombings of American embassies in Kenya, Uganda and the 9/11 attacks. The Intelligence Oversight Act of 1980 brought in more accountability in the workings of the IC, which included advance intimation to the Congress in case the IC was to be tasked for covert operations. In the Reagan years, the IC was actively involved in ousting the Soviets from Afghanistan. The IC played a pivotal role in supplying the Mujahidin arms and ammunition to defeat the Soviets. The Reagan administration, on many occasions willfully bypassed the Oversight Act as Vice Admiral Poindexter; Reagan’s NSA stated that â€Å"he had bypassed the intelligence committees in the Iran-Contra Affair to avoid outside interference (Jeffreys-Jones & Andrew, p. 189)†. This led to the 1991 Intelligence Oversight Act which required the President to give a written order for any covert operation. The various measures to instill accountability, and reduce the scope of its power hobbled the agencies which became too ‘gun-shy’ (Coll, 2004, p. 424) and failed spectacularly in detecting the 9/11 attack plan launched by the Al Qaeda. The 9/11 report clearly indicted the intelligence services for their failure to detect the formation of a coherent group like the Al Qaeda and its intent to attack symbols of American power within America (Kean & Hamilton, 2004, p. 341). The report pointed out to the deficiencies in strategic analysis against Al Qaeda, lack of imaginative thinking and the lack of coordination between the various intelligence agencies. The 9/11 report recommended sweeping changes to restructure the IC starting right at the top by replacing the position of Director of Central Intelligence with National Intelligence Director (Kean & Hamilton, 2004, p. 411) to oversee national intelligence centers and have the power to approve and submit nominations of individuals who would head CIA, DIA, FBI intelligence office and so on (Kean & Hamilton, 2004, p. 412). Since 9/11, the role of the IC in covert operations had increased vastly especially under the Republican watch, where greater leeway was given to the IC to carry out targeted killings using predator drones across Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The embarrassment of the false Iraqi WMD dossier, regret for which was proffered by then Secretary of State, Colin Powell (Shulman, 2008, p. 107) dented the IC’s image and there have been renewed calls for strengthening congressional oversight over the workings of the IC. The Obama administration has shown greater sensitivity towards adhering to the democratic tenets of oversight and following the rules set by the National Security Act in that the new CIA Director Leon Panetta, on first information, shut down a secret CIA mission to kill Al Qaeda leaders which was being executed without congressional approval (Hess, 2009). In conclusion it can be reiterated that the US IC has been undergoing dramatic changes since the Second World War mostly as a reaction to the changing circumstances. The reforms after Second World War were initiated to bring about better coordination, accountability and oversight by the government into the workings of the IC. The reforms in the seventies were a direct reaction to the excesses committed by the IC and to check their indiscretion and bring greater control over their objectionable operations. 9/11 gave a severe jolt to the American administration and the reforms that were then initiated came as response to the event as also a genuine feeling for the need to better harness the skills of the IC. Post Iraq War 2003, the clamor for oversight has increased as it was being felt that the agencies had deliberately misled the government by giving faulty intelligence that led to the Iraq war. On the whole, the drive to initiate reforms in the IC has been more reactive in nature rather than being proactive for dealing with future threats. Works Cited Coll, S. (2004). Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden. NY: Penguin. Hess, P. (2009, July 15). House Lays Groundwork for CIA Probe. Retrieved July 21, 2009, from Washington Post: http://www. washingtonpost. com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/14/AR2009071401648. html Jeffreys-Jones, R. , & Andrew, C. M. (1997). Eternal Vigilance? : 50 Years of the CIA. NY: Routledge. Kean, T. H. , & Hamilton, L. (2004). The 9/11 Commission Report. Washington D. C. : Supt. of Docs. GPO. Kinzer, S. (2008). All the Shah’s Men. NY: Wiley. Louis, G. (1987). The New American State: Bureaucracies and Policies Since Worl War II. Baltimore: JHU Press. Paul, J. A. (2003, November). Oil Companies in Iraq. Retrieved July 6, 2009, from Global Policy Forum: http;//www. globalpolicy. org/component/content/article/185/40586. html Shulman, S. (2008). Undermining Science: Suppression and Distortion in the Bush Administration. Berkeley: University of California Press. Theoharis, A. G. , & Immerman, R. H. (2006). The Central Intelligence Agency Under Scrutiny. Westport: Greenwood Publishing. United States Intelligence Community. (2009). Members of the Intelligence Community. Retrieved July 21, 2009, from http://www. intelligence. gov/1-members. shtml

Sunday, September 1, 2019

Midterm Exam Business Valuation and Stock Valuation Essay

It is generally more expensive to form a proprietorship than a corporation because, with a proprietorship, extensive legal documents are required. (b) Corporations face fewer regulations than sole proprietorships. (c) One disadvantage of operating a business as a sole proprietorship is that the firm is subject to double taxation, at both the firm level and the owner level. (d) One advantage of forming a corporation is that equity investors are usually exposed to less liability than in a regular partnership. If a regular partnership goes bankrupt, each partner is exposed to liabilities only up to the amount of his or her investment in the business. (2) (TCO G) A security analyst obtained the following information from Prestopino Products’ financial statements: Retained earnings at the end of 2009 were $700,000, but retained earnings at the end of 2010 had declined to $320,000. †¢ The company does not pay dividends. †¢ The company’s depreciation expense is its only non-cash expense; it has no amortization charges. †¢ The company has no non-cash revenues. The company’s net cash flow (NCF) for 2010 was $150,000. On the basis of this information, which of the following statements is CORRECT? (Points : 10) (a) Prestopino had negative net income in 2010. ( b ) Prestopino’s depreciation expense in 2010 was less than $150,000. (c) Prestopino had positive net income in 2010, but its income was less than its 2009 income. (d) Prestopino’s NCF in 2010 must be higher than its NCF in 2009. (e) Prestopino’s cash on the balance sheet at the end of 2010 must be lower than the cash it had on the balance sheet at the end of 2009. Which of the following is most likely to occur? (Points : 10) (a) The required rate of return for an average stock will increase by an amount equal to the increase in the market risk premium. (b) The required rate of return will decline for stocks whose betas are less than 1. 0. (c) The required rate of return on the market, rM, will not change as a result of these changes. (d) The required rate of return for each individual stock in the market will increase by an amount equal to the increase in the market risk premium. (e) The required rate of return on a riskless bond will decline.