What Race and Ethnicity Means Essay Example for Free

What Race and Ethnicity Means Essay When I hear the word â€Å"race†, the first thing that I think of is a person’s skin color, facial features and the texture of their hair. Although I am colorblind, I can’t help but to think of this when I hear the word race. This is due to the fact that the majority of the time when we fill out an application or any paperwork of importance the question of race is raised. I’m not sure why it matters, your experience and education seems more important to me. It seems as if some people still want to separate us depending on the color of our skin. Being that there’s so many races mixing, there’s no such thing as a pure race. Race seems to be unimportant to me. Ethnicity is a word that I prefer and enjoy when speaking of culture. Ethnicity makes me think of everybody’s struggle dating back from their ancestors to the present. Where did your ancestors originate? Where did you come from? Ethnicity is ones background and cultural differences. For example just because I am considered black doesn’t mean that I am from Africa; which means that I will be considered an African American. I thought for years that I was an African American till an African man that I was friends with broke it down to me and gave me some knowledge to read. He is considered an African American because he’s from Africa and now resides in America. I am considered to be a black American because I’m from America. This is weird being that my ancestors were American Indians. Your ethnicity is the group that others place you. I do have my personal opinion on all of this and why America still tries to identify us by race. Since my opinion was asked I felt the need to tell the truth on how I feel. Race and ethnicity are important in America because some people in the government still strives for division and don’t want us to come together as one. It seems as if the government gets more powerful when we separate ourselves from each other. If we all were to come together I feel as if they would consider us as a threat.

Study On The Environment And The Event Industry Tourism Essay

Study On The Environment And The Event Industry Tourism Essay This report will focus on the environment in which GL events is currently operating. GL events started as a small company based in Lyon in 1978 providing furniture and stands for exhibitors. Through mergers and acquisitions, they have progressively evolved to become an important player in todays exhibiting and event world with 34 venues around the world, an event and exhibition full-organising service and a portfolio of 250 trade-shows in various industries (food beverage, sport leisure, health, etc.). Influencing all trends and being influenced by all trends, the exhibition and events industry is in the centre of it all. No company can succeed without being aware of the environment it is evolving in. In the exhibition and events industry, companies need to pay particular attention to details impacting not only its industry directly but also every other sector of activity as it would soon have repercussions on future events, exhibitions, product launches, etc. For this reason, a good PESTEL analysis for the industry needs to cover a broad range of issues and analyse many trends which may not influence events yet but could soon be a threat if companies do not react and stay in the times. This report will focus on a PESTEL analysis (Political, Economic, Social, Technology, Environment, Legal) of the exhibition and events industry conclude by establishing which factors GL events should most take into account going forward as they could be potential threats or areas of opportunities in the years to come. Political: There are two main political factors influencing the industry today. One is the increasing political pressures to make regulations and policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We will see in the environmental section that this trend started with consumer awareness but it is no longer just something the clients want to know more about, it has become an obligation. This has greatly impacted the transport industry, in particular airlines which found their image hit as people all around the world pointed to airplanes being a major source of pollution. This impacts the event and exhibition industry, especially at a time when various green technologies are evolving to permit meetings, conferences and even exhibitions to take place online (Long, 2009). This will be developed further in Environmental and Technology sections. The second is the increased globalisation and liberalisation of trade and deregulation (Dwyer, L and Edwards, D 2009). This is very important in terms of number of potential competitors and number of potential clients. Companies need to learn to evolve in a globalised economy, taking advantage of it by going to find new markets, possibly entering into partnerships with similar companies to widen market share and visibility. With this liberalisation of trade comes political pressure to have global higher standards of living. If you do not see your neighbours yard, you do not know that it is greener, when you break the fence, you find that it is. It is this situation that developing countries are finding themselves in today. Citizens all around the world can use internet to gain knowledge about how others are living and become envious. Because of this, countries want to attract foreign investment to boost local economies and gain wealth and higher standards of living. This creates oppo rtunities for countries not only to establish new and cheaper production lines but also to display their products in emerging markets. Last week for example, Apple launched the Iphone4 in China (AFP, 2010). Economy This last point brings us to analysing the economic trends and pressures impacting on the exhibition and events industry. Although the UNWTO 2002 forecasted world tourism to grow at a rate of 4.1% annually until 2020 (Dwyer L, Edwards D., 2009) due to rising wealth internationally, the exhibition and event industry has seen a slow in growth since 2005 but a rise in exhibition and event attendance (Biba E, 2008). This puts the industry in a rather awkward position. There are people coming to exhibitions but exhibitors have switched their approach towards events and exhibition. Indeed, especially with the recent crisis, the first expenses cut by organisations worldwide were advertising and travel. Exhibitions and events being in the centre of this, the industry was hit and forced to react. The expectations from exhibitors will be looked into more fully when we look at the social aspects of the trend but the main ideas are that companies are looking to maximise their ROI (return on investment) (Kovaleski D, 2009) and minimise the perception of frivolous spending (trips, events, etc.) (Events Managers, 2010). In order to do this, companies are squeezing suppliers to get more value for money and investigating the return on investment of their events much more closely and looking at alternatives more then they did before. Companies are not so much cutting their exhibition and event spending so much as allocating it more carefully and with conditions of an assured return (Biba E, 2007). This has changed to job of the event organiser who needs to think of more in novative ways that the company can use to introduce their product. A leaflet handout at the exhibition is no longer sufficient, people want to be amused, entertained, really involved in the product (Furness V., 2007). Because of this, the industry is moving away from major events in favour of smaller, more intimate events where companies can really interact with potential clients (Biba E, 2007). Another aspect companies are putting under the microscope is how to measure ROI generated from social networking and e-marketing. Indeed, if an event is posted on Facebook, LinkedIn, various industry blogs and online magazines this all takes resources in terms of man-hours put into promoting the event on these new channels but how can a company measure that this was efficient? How can the event planner know that the Facebook invitation attracted the client and not some Email they receive every year which pushed them to look for a Facebook event? (Terrero R, 2009). Today, there is little way of knowing exactly what path a client took and what really convinced them to attend your particular event. Social Indeed, the main goals of events and exhibitions are brand awareness, brand preference and networking. Although brand awareness can be achieved through various communication mediums (advertising online, billboards, TV, etc.), it is not the way to create brand preference. Brand preference is achieved through interaction, experience of the brand with the client (Kovaleski D, 2009) and leads to better ROI for the company. This means that exhibition halls and event organisers are not expected to provide a massive attendance so much as a good promotional space and real, targeted potential buyers (Biba E, 2007). From the buyers perspective, they want to experience and know the brand as a whole. With globalisation came increased competition and consumers now have the possibility to buy from anyone anywhere around the world. The quality and price are no longer the only issues, people and therefore companies look at the triple bottom line. Its no longer just about economics but also the socia l and environmental benefits of a product or company. Clients dont want a coupon or a price comparison when they come to a product launch, they want to feel and experience the product for themselves (Dwyer L, Edwards D., 2009 and Furness V., 2007). There needs to be a real interaction between companies and clients. Companies want to build a rapport with their clients, want to become part of their lives. This has forced exhibition halls and event managers to re-think space use and create sections that are dedicated to sitting down in a relaxing atmosphere with a drink to discuss business more casually. The bottom line is still to get the client but the approach is much friendlier then boxed up in a meeting room (Kovaleski D, 2009). This also has an impact on stand design. Exhibitors are encouraged to pay more attention to details such as carpet colour as it has been shown that if the carpet colour of the stand is different from that of the exhibition hall, it may create a barrier and deter clients from approaching (Kovaleski D, 2009). Technology With the development of various technologies, companies have the opportunity to have a virtual event run along-side of the live event. This allows them more time to prepare the client for the interaction and pursue the relationship after the event (Furness V., 2007 and Kovaleski D, 2009). This phenomenon of virtual event is not only to accompany live events, there are now events using only virtual platforms, simulating a physical event on the online world. Platforms such as Second Life are being used by companies to reach potential clients without having to create an event in one physical place. This has the advantage, if not necessarily of price reduction, but to be able to reach clients who may not be prepared to travel to meet you. You can meet them where they are all at once (Biba E, 2008). Using 3D technologies, your virtual exhibition can be as simple as visitors being able to look around at the different stands and as complex as re-creating the event in a completely online wor ld (web chatter, 2010). This is not to say that virtual events will completely replace live events because, as we have seen, people still want to interact and know who they are dealing with but it certainly does replace certain live events already (Biba E, 2007). Another important aspect of the new technologies that the exhibition and event industry should be aware of is the democratization of the internet. This means two things. First, even small firms can bring competition to the large, well-established event organizers if they have good SEO (search engine optimization) and general web-marketing skills as they have equal visibility (Dwyer L, Edwards D., 2009). Second, through UGC (user generated content) anyone can post their feedback about their experience with a certain organizer and make it available to the world (Papathanassis A, Buhalis D, 2007). This is good news for companies who have good relations with their clients and suppliers but will be difficult for companies who were focusing on one-shot clients and therefore not paying much attention to details. The final aspect of technology refers to the traditional definition of technology, ie: the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry (Oxford Compact dictionary). Here we are referring to how to build ecologically friendly stands? What technologies can we use to handle the new products that now need to be used in order to create a green stand? Environmental We are now obviously diverging to the environmental issues around the exhibition and event industry. Indeed, it is becoming increasingly important for companies to be perceived as environmentally aware (Biba E, 2008). This presents a good opportunity in term of cost reductions as decisions such as travelling less can be explained as an environmentally gesture rather then cost-cutting in a bad economy (Events Managers, 2010). However, it presents a challenge for events and exhibition companies who now need to develop green stands made with ecologically friendly materials and production techniques and purchased from local suppliers to avoid pollution from transport (Biba E, 2008). Another aspect the exhibition and event industry will need to look at closely is the impact that global warming will have on their choice of venue and the viability of these choices with respect to client attendance and attractiveness (Dwyer L, Edwards D., 2009). Indeed, sunny destinations which are very pleasant to hold events at may be changed for the worse in the next 30-50 years while new destinations will establish themselves as more favourable climate-wise. Legal The final point we will view is the legal aspects that the industry needs to pay attention to. The policies regarding the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the liberalisation of trade have lead way to many legal documents and laws by countries around the world which need to be followed by event and exhibition organisers and by venues to make sure they are acting within the limits and scope of the law. However, an important legal issue is the terms and conditions put forward by events and exhibition planners and venues. First, with regards to particular cancellation fees, they need to protect themselves without being outrageously unfair to the potential client which is looking at cancellation fees and possibilities more closely since the crisis. Second, with respect to the inflexibility of minimum numbers, if venues hope to attract client, they need to consider the advantage of having one definite client with a contract who may not bring exactly 1000 participants versus one potential client who is still shopping around and may never sign (Event Manager, 2010). From this PESTEL analysis, we can draw several conclusions for GL events next step. First, it is clear that the new technologies, though they will not fully replace live events, are certainly complementing them and they are here to stay. GL events could take advantage of this by creating a network with all its venues. When one event is organised in Nice for example, they could offer the possibility of extending it via 3D conferencing tools to other of their venues around the world. This would increase the potential number of attendees who would not have to sit in front of a computer to enjoy the virtual event but would benefit also from meeting with others who are also in their geographical areas and enjoying the event virtually. People in China could enjoy the conference of the event taking place in Nice and have the opportunity to network with other people afterwards via video-conferencing and face-to-face with people who were also unable to attend the meeting. A second opportunity GL events could take advantage of is the growing importance of the perception of being environmentally friendly which pushes companies to invest in Green stands. Through their event organising service, GL events should try to develop the competencies to offer this possibility to their clients, if possible at a similar cost, to make sure they are in keeping (and even a little ahead) of their times. In these fast changing times, the opportunities are still up for grabs but will soon become threats if venues and organisers do not react quickly.

Stock Options With Fixed Exercise Prices

Stock Options With Fixed Exercise Prices Table of Contents (Jump to) 1 Introduction 2 Fixed Price Options versus Indexed Options 3 Case for Indexed Options 3.1 Compensation for Relative rather than Absolute Performance 3.2 Protection of Managers during Market Downswings 3.3 Reduced Expected Costs 4 Case against Indexed Options 4.1 Unpredictability 4.2 Difficulty in Controlling Compensations 4.3 Larger Deadweight Costs. 4.4 Tax Treatment 4.5 Reluctance of Managers 5 Reasons for Choosing Alternatives of Indexed Options 5.1 Requirements of Firms 5.2 Sensitivity of Payoff 6 Empirical Evidence 7 Conclusion 8 References 1 Introduction The principal-agent problem has long been a matter of discussion within organisational institutions. As a matter of fact, the owners of a limited company normally elect a Board of Directors to control the business’s resources on their behalf. However, conflict arises among these managers and shareholders due to their different objectives. As owners, shareholders would want to maximise profits while managers may want to maximise sales, build empire buildings and enjoy perks. To align the interests of both stakeholders therefore, compensation of managers should be linked with the firm’s performance. One way to do this is the introduction of options: fixed price options and indexed options. Basically, an option is a financial derivative representing a contract that gives the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell an underlying asset at a specific price on or before a certain date. An option, just like a stock or bond, is a security. Fixed price options and indexed options differ significantly from each other. For the purpose of this assignment, we will discuss how indexed options provide a better case compared to fixed price options. 2 Fixed Price Options versus Indexed Options Fixed price options whose exercise price is already agreed upon and will remain the same until expiration date. The option exercise price is usually set equal to the stock price at grant. When an executive is given a fixed price option as a means compensation, two situations can arise. If the share price rises above the exercise price, the executive gains. On the other hand, the executive receive absolutely nothing if there is a decrease in share price In contrast, an indexed option is a stock option whose exercise price is connected to a benchmark index, which may be a specific sector index or a broad market index. Indexed price options have unknown selling price when contract is being made, and the final price of the option depends on market status on the expiration date. A change in the absolute value of the share will have no effect unless thecompanyoutperformssomestatedindex suchastheSP500 or a group of peers. Then only, the optionwillbeexercised. 3 Case for Indexed Options 3.1 Compensation for Relative rather than Absolute Performance Fixed price options reward performance in absolute terms. If the share price increases, the executives are rewarded in spite of rising market trends being unconnected to managers’ performance. Executives are still rewarded if competitors’ or the market have performed better. Similarly, when the share price falls, no rewards are given even if the firm did better than its peers. On the other hand indexed options reward relative rather than absolute performance. Hence, executives do not enjoy windfall gains by luck in rising markets, but by their performance instead. Only if the company performs better than the market or its peers that the executives can cash in. The executives have therefore further incentives to deliver good performance. The example below gives a better idea of how indexed options actually reward relative performance. XYZ ltd.’s equity stock is currently selling for $100 per share when the market (benchmark) index is at a level of 1000. XYZ limited grants an option to its CEO which enables him to purchase an option consisting of 100000 shares at an exercise price of $100, but the same will move in line with the market in future. Taking a specific case, the CEO is given indexed options. The value of the option granted to the CEO under 4 various scenarios is shown in the table below. Value of Indexed Option under Indexed Options SHAREPRICE INDEX Rises Falls Outperforms the index Index: 1150 (by 15%) Exercise price: $115 (by 15%) Stock price: $120 (by 20%) Value of option: $500,000 Index:850 Exercise price: $85 (by 15%) Stock price: $90 (by 10%) Value of option: $500,000 Underperforms the index Index: 1150 (by 15%) Exercise price: $115 (by 15%) Stock price: $110 (by 10%) Value of option: $0 Index: 850 (by 15%) Exercise price: $85 (by 15%) Stock price: $80 (by 20%) Value of option: $0 Table 1 From Table1, indexed options only reward the CEO when the companies’ stock outperforms the market, even if indexes have increased or decreased. They have a fair way of rewarding CEOs; they do not reward under-performingexecutives nor do they penalize superior performers whenever the market index has increased or decreased in respective cases. This is a convenient way of keeping CEOs motivated and thus encourage them perform well in their duties of decision making for a company’s investment. In general, indexed options reward superior performance under all market conditions. However, if the same example is taken in the case of fixed price option, and that there is a 5% change in the share price, the scenarios will differ as follows: Value of Option under Fixed Price Options SHAREPRICE RISES Exercise price: $100 Share price: $105 (by 5%) Value of option : $500,000 EXERCISE OPTION FALLS Exercise price: $100 Share price: $95 (by 5%) Value of option: $0 NOT EXERCISE OPTION Table 2 As shown in Table 2, when the share price increases from $100 to $105, the option is exercised to the benefit of the manager. The latter receives a compensation of $ 500,000. In the reverse case, when the share price falls to $95, the shareholders gets no compensation. 3.2 Protection of Managers during Market Downswings In the case of fixed price options, executives are not rewarded when the market is declining because share prices are below the exercise price. However, indexed options can well reward managers in bearish markets as long as the decline in the company’s stock price is less steep than that of his peers. Indexed options reward better performers. 3.3 Reduced Expected Costs Traditional options plans reward employees as long as the share price is higher than the grant price. However, indexed options eliminates the possibility that managers can be compensated for share price movements that are unrelated to what they might have done. Thus it helps a firm to remove or lower undeserved compensations. A study by J. Angel and D. McCabe values that the expense of providing conventional options to executives at the 100 largest NYSE-listed companies is 41 percent more than the expense of providing options that take out market outcomes. The lower expected costs against future earnings of indexed options compared to fixed priced options can only be to the advantage of companies. 4 Case against Indexed Options The advantages of indexed options over fixed price options are flagrant in light of the above. However, the application of indexed options is still rare. They lag behind fixed price options in many ways. 4.1 Unpredictability Unlike indexed options, fixed price options brings predictability and certainty to a transaction due to the fixed exercise price. Through the characteristic of ‘all or nothing’, the manager will exercise, and therefore make money, if and only if the firm’s stock price is above the exercise price. 4.2 Difficulty in Controlling Compensations Budgeting and forecasting business costs are made easier using fixed value plans. They allow for firms to plan and control how much compensation to offer to employees. Retention risk, in particular concerning non- executive staff members, can be largely minimised when compensations are close to that offered by rival companies. Indexed options, on the other hand, can cause large discrepancies in compensations and the loss of key employees. 4.3 Larger Deadweight Costs An indexed option plan has a greater deadweight loss compared to a traditional option plan. This is because, with agency problems, where the interests of owners and managers do not always line up, there is the need to expose the managers to firm-specific risk to encourage a specific type of behaviour. However, this means that they are unable to diversify their portfolios to their full potential, exposing them to both systematic and unsystematic risks while compensating them only for the systematic portion of risk. Consequently, managers will always value their equity-based compensation at less than its market value. 4.4 Tax Treatment So as to obtain favourable tax treatments, a company can grant incentive stock options. However, according to the 1994 US Code, this entails that the option price should be less than the fair market value of the stock at the time such an option is granted. In this case, it implies that the option price be fixed on the grant date. 4.5 Reluctance of Managers Managers are unwilling to accept a compensation plan based on relative performance. This is because in the case of fixed price options, when the stock market performs well, they reap high rewards for stock price performance unrelated to their own efforts. Managers are reluctant to forego the potentially huge rewards conferred by the bull market, especially when they estimate that a downturn is less likely to occur in the stock market. 5 Reasons for Choosing Alternatives of Indexed Options Besides, it should be noted that indexed options are not suitable in all cases. Some reasons are illustrated below and the corresponding alternatives are also suggested. 5.1 Requirements of Firms Compensation systems have the following functions: to compensate managers for completed work, to reduce principal-agent costs by more closely aligning managers interests with those of shareholders, and to retain the manager. Compensation that accomplishes one of these functions successfully may not carry out the other functions of a compensation system as effectively. Stock options, for instance, serve to align incentives. However, a firm where incentive alignment is not that important, would not be keen to use stock or stock options to compensate its managers. It would rather use cash compensation Cash avoids the deadweight costs that accompany any equity-based compensation plan. 5.2 Sensitivity of Payoff Indexed options do not work as expected in practice. Instead, their payoff tends to be highly sensitive to market price movements. As the market increases, the value of the variable-exercise-price option increases too. For example, Lisa Meulbroek of Harvard Business School shows that the estimated value of an option indexed to the SP 500 rises by 15% if that stock index rises by 15%. Clearly, indexing does not even achieve its aim; separating the general market movements from the movements in the value of the option. An alternative design that rewards managers only for performance and not for that is due to overall gains in the market or industry can be considered. Instead of using the firm’s stock as an underlying asset, an alternative design employs a performance benchmarked portfolio. Under this proposed structure, the value of the portfolio changes to reflect the firm’s performance, net of market and industry effects, while the exercise price remains fixed. (Meulbroek, 2001). 6 Empirical Evidence A brief empirical review will determine whether relative performance is compensated in practice. We also explore if indexed options are indeed better than fixed price options. According to Gibbons and Murphy (1990), chief executive officers are compensated upon relative performance. It was found that there is a positive and significant relationship between the remunerations of CEOs and the firm performance, but an inverse and significant one with the industry and market performance. On the contrary, Bertrand and Mullainathan (1999) report that CEOs are remunerated for market-wide and industry movements that they perceive as luck. However firms that are better managed reward their CEOs less for such market movements compared to other firms. Sloan (1993)’s also found that CEO compensation depends on earnings so as to help separate market movements from the reward. With regard to the effectiveness of indexed options, in their works titled â€Å"Indexing Executive Compensation Contracts† in 2013, Ingolf Dittmann, Ernst Maug and Oliver G. Spalt gave empirical evidence that indexed options provide incentives at a higher cost than conventional options. 7 Conclusion In light of the above, it is observed that stock options with fixed exercise prices do not properly link managers’ performance to compensation since they relate to absolute and not relative performance reward. Indexed options have higher incentive advantages over the fixed price option since it takes into account the skills of the executives. It is also highlighted that indexed options result in a lower compensation costs than equivalent fixed price options. Nevertheless, the drawbacks and suitability of indexed options should not be ignored either. As a result, a firm is well advised to properly weigh the costs and benefits of indexed options before applying them. 8 References Angel, J. and McCabe, D. (2002). Market-adjusted options for executive compensation. Global Business and Economics Review, 4(1), pp.123. Bebchuk, L. and Fried, J. (2004). Pay without Performance, The Unfulfilled Promise of Executive Compensation, Part III: The Decoupling of Pay from Performance. 1st ed. [ebook] Harvard University Press, p.24. Available at: http://www.law.harvard.edu/faculty/bebchuk/pdfs/Performance-Part3.pdf [Accessed 25 Sep. 2014]. Bertrand, Marianne, and Sendhil Mullainathan, (1999), Are CEOs Rewarded for Luck? A Test of Performance Filtering, (Princeton University, Mimeograph). Chandra, P. (2007). FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT. 1st ed. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill, pp.947- 949. Dittmann, I., Maug, E. and Spalt, O. (2013). Indexing executive compensation contracts. Review of Financial Studies, 26(12), pp.31823224. Gibbons, R. and Murphy, K. (1990). Relative performance evaluation for chief executive officers, Industrial and Labor Relations Review 43, 30-51 Meulbroek, L. (2000). Executive Compensation Using Relative-Performance-Based Options: Evaluating the Structure and Costs of Indexed Options. SSRN Journal, [online] 01-021. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.281028 [Accessed 21 Sep. 2014]. Mueller, D. (2012). The Oxford handbook of capitalism. 1st ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p.386. Schnusenberg, O. and McDaniel, W. (2000). HOW TO VALUE INDEXED EXECUTIVE STOCK OPTIONS. Journal of Financial and Strategic Decisions. Sloan, R. (1993). Accounting earnings and top executive compensation. Journal of accounting and Economics, 16(1), pp.55100. Stapledon, G. (2004). THE PAY FOR PERFORMANCE DILEMMA. 1st ed. [ebook] U of Melbourne Legal Studies Research Paper No. 83, p.6. Available at: http://www.pay-without-performance.com/Stapledon-Pay-for-Performance-Dilemma .pdf [Accessed 25 Sep. 2014]. Symes, S. (2014). Advantages Disadvantages of a Fixed-Price Contract. [online] Small Business Chron.com. Available at: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-disadvantages-fixedprice-contract-21066.html [Accessed 23 Sep. 2014].

Social Stratification and The Movie Sweet Home Alabama Essay -- essays

Social stratification as defined by Brinkerhoff et al. is â€Å"an institutionalized pattern of inequality in which social statuses are ranked on the basis of their access to scarce resources† (Brinkerhoff et al. 152). By scarce resources, many people have to deal with poverty and having a lack of money to buy the things they need in their lives. Social class is defined as â€Å"a category of people who share roughly the same class, status, and power and who have a sense of identification with each other† (Brinkerhoff et al. 155). Your social class has to do with your socioeconomic status along with the power and connections you have. Social mobility on the other hand is â€Å"the process of changing one’s social class† (Brinkerhoff et al. 153). The change in a social class is something that is shown in every day life and the media. It is the American Dream to move upward in society. The movie Sweet Home Alabama is a prime example of social mobility in the main character. The main character Melanie Carmichael left her small town Alabama home and achieved an impressive upward social mobility. She began her life as a daughter of a respectful working class family to become a world famous fashion designer in New York City. At the beginning of the movie, Andrew, the mayor’s son, proposes to Melanie. She says yes, but before she can marry him, she has to clear up a not so final divorce with Jake, her high school sweetheart she left behind. Melanie is now caught between two classes and two cultures, the working class that she grew up in and the upper class she has now placed herself in. As the film continues, her dilemma will require her to acknowledge and reconnect with her mother who lives in a trailer park while sti ll trying to impress h... ...ust they be bigger and stronger to fulfill the requirements of this job? A structural functionalist would believe that woman are dependent on men. That Melanie should have had to marry Andrew in order to survive and be upper class. The fact that Melanie was able to move upward in society all on her own as a woman is something that a structural functional theorist would completely disagree with. Sweet Home Alabama is a Cinderella story line with a little twist. I believe that once you look into things sociology can be found everywhere. Social movement and social mobility is found in everyday life. Melanie is just one example of how people move up in class. Gender inequalities and sexism are another hot topic that this movie not so openly shows. Sexism in this movie is more behind the scenes but once brought up is rather evident just as it is in everyday life. Social Stratification and The Movie Sweet Home Alabama Essay -- essays Social stratification as defined by Brinkerhoff et al. is â€Å"an institutionalized pattern of inequality in which social statuses are ranked on the basis of their access to scarce resources† (Brinkerhoff et al. 152). By scarce resources, many people have to deal with poverty and having a lack of money to buy the things they need in their lives. Social class is defined as â€Å"a category of people who share roughly the same class, status, and power and who have a sense of identification with each other† (Brinkerhoff et al. 155). Your social class has to do with your socioeconomic status along with the power and connections you have. Social mobility on the other hand is â€Å"the process of changing one’s social class† (Brinkerhoff et al. 153). The change in a social class is something that is shown in every day life and the media. It is the American Dream to move upward in society. The movie Sweet Home Alabama is a prime example of social mobility in the main character. The main character Melanie Carmichael left her small town Alabama home and achieved an impressive upward social mobility. She began her life as a daughter of a respectful working class family to become a world famous fashion designer in New York City. At the beginning of the movie, Andrew, the mayor’s son, proposes to Melanie. She says yes, but before she can marry him, she has to clear up a not so final divorce with Jake, her high school sweetheart she left behind. Melanie is now caught between two classes and two cultures, the working class that she grew up in and the upper class she has now placed herself in. As the film continues, her dilemma will require her to acknowledge and reconnect with her mother who lives in a trailer park while sti ll trying to impress h... ...ust they be bigger and stronger to fulfill the requirements of this job? A structural functionalist would believe that woman are dependent on men. That Melanie should have had to marry Andrew in order to survive and be upper class. The fact that Melanie was able to move upward in society all on her own as a woman is something that a structural functional theorist would completely disagree with. Sweet Home Alabama is a Cinderella story line with a little twist. I believe that once you look into things sociology can be found everywhere. Social movement and social mobility is found in everyday life. Melanie is just one example of how people move up in class. Gender inequalities and sexism are another hot topic that this movie not so openly shows. Sexism in this movie is more behind the scenes but once brought up is rather evident just as it is in everyday life.

Genetic Engineering: Monsatos Roundup Ready Soybeans :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

Roundup Ready Soybean (RRS) is "an intelligent solution in favor of the environment," claims Monsanto, the agricultural chemical company that makes genetically engineered RRS (Greenpeace). Likewise, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) claims "it [Roundup Ready Soybean] does not require premarket approval" and "the special labeling [of it] is inappropriate" (Whitmore). Nowadays we can find information about genetically modified food anywhere. However, many people have been poorly informed about genetic engineering. This is because developers of genetically engineering and the U.S. government put pressure on public information. In other words, they only give good information to the public and hide unpleasant facts. It seems that genetically engineered foods have nothing different from natural ones, and are not harmful. However, genetically engineering is dangerous. Because more than half the farmers will no longer be able to make their living; secondly, the very merits of genetical ly engineering are dangerous; lastly, there are no laws which protect our right. First, I am opposed to genetically engineered food because half the world's farmers can no longer make their living. This is because they will not be able to afford to buy seeds (Edwards 22). Up to the present, farmers could gather seeds up from the crop and replant them next year. However, many genetically engineered seeds are made to grow only one growing season. Melvin Oliver, who works in the USDA's (US Department of Agriculture) laboratory in Lubbock, Texas, and invented genetically engineered seeds, claims that genetically engineered seed is "a way of self-policing the unauthorized use of American technology" (Edwards 22). Monsanto also insists that "because Roundup Ready Soybeans are patented, their responsible use is different from that of other [ general ] soybeans" (Monsanto). But these claims only show one-way thinking which mainly aims at the profit of companies. If farmers have to buy the seeds every year, poorer farmers will no longer be able to buy them. What is worse, this might be dangerous with regards to the environment. If most of the farmers buy these seeds, natural seeds will disappear. What if companies go bankrupt and can not make the seeds that cannot be replanted next year? Farmers will not be able to make crop and we will surely have nothing to eat. Developers cannot assure that this will never happen. Moreover, the price of genetically engineered seeds will become higher. At first, these seeds will be cheaper than general ones to encourage poorer farmers to buy them.

Pros and Cons of the Death Penalty

The death penalty has pros and cons. Some of the pros of the death penalty are that it frees more space for incoming prisoners, therefore we can pay less taxes. The amount of space taken from prisoners who have a life sentence take up to much space and the death penalty would prevent that from happening. The cost of the death penalty is dramatically lower then the cost of the sentence â€Å"Life Without Parole† JFA [Justice for All] estimates that life without parole cases will cost $1. million-$3. 6 million more than equivalent death penalty cases. There is no question that the up front costs of the death penalty are significantly higher than for equivalent life without parole cases. There also appears to be no question that, over time, equivalent life without parole cases are much more expensive†¦ than death penalty cases. Opponents ludicrously claim that the death penalty costs, over time, 3-10 times more than life without parole.The death penalty would possibly make p eople afraid to commit a felony because they might be punished with the ultimate punishment†¦ Death. The cons of the death penalty are many, and often talked about more then the pros. Some of the cons consist of accidental sentencing, believing in human morals, there is more pre-trial time, more experts, twice as many attorneys, two trials will have to be conducted instead of one. One for sentencing, and one for punishment. There will be a series of appeals in which the inmates will have to be kept in a high security ‘death row’.In my personal opinion I think that the death penalty is important because it will lower the cost of our taxes because we will not have to pay as much to hold life sentencing inmates, which will improve the economy, I think that if the consequence for a serious felony may be death the crime rates will decrease, I also believe that it will make our streets safe and will allow us to create more jobs because there will need to be more law enfo rcement jobs that will be needed such as attorneys, judges, experts, etc.

Religion in Ancient China Essay

The earliest information found about religion in ancient China is during the Shang Dynasty and so religion in the Xia dynasty remains unknown. Religious beliefs and rituals were prominent during the Shang Dynasty. The most significant deity was Shang Ti, Ti meaning ‘Deity Above’ or the ‘Lord on High’. He ruled as a supreme god over all the other gods and spirits. The gods and spirits were believed to symbolize objects found in nature; the sun, the moon, the wind, the rain, everything from mountains and rivers to the stars in the night sky. Ti is believed to have punished those who disobeyed or offended him and rewarded those who pleased him. It is said that Ti formed a noble court in heaven consisting of all deceased worthy ancestors. The Chinese’s belief in family harmony was associated to belief in the afterlife. The ancestors who were considered commendable served Ti, helping him govern the world. Ancestors were also worshipped and were said to act a mediators between the gods and humankind. It was thought that if ancestors were appropriately honoured, respected, and provided for, they would promote the family’s prosperity. A favour or grievance to a member of the family was considered a favour or grievance to the ancestors; consequently, people were reluctant to offense or harm descendants of a powerful family. It was believed that in the afterlife they would live in a celestial court in many ways similar to their earthly courts. Each Chinese family was expected to have an ancestral shrine in the centre of their home to honour and venerate their ancestors. Sacrifice to the gods and the ancestors were also a major part of the Shang religion. When a ruler died, slaves and officials were sacrificed with them in order to guarantee that their afterlife would be the same or similar as their life on earth. People were also sacrificed in smaller numbers when significant events, such as the founding of a palace or temple, took place. Along with their deceased ancestors, the Chinese had people on earth who acted as mediators between the celestials and the human race. Priests were among these intermediates and were responsible for a number of tasks including reading prayers and overseeing sacrifices and funerals. An augur is another type of mediator, responsible for asking gods questions on behalf of humans using various practices of foretelling to unearth the answers. The use of oracle bones was the most notable form of divination. The augur would ask the question, punching holes into the bone, usually the shoulder-bone from an ox, and in some cases the shell of a tortoise. The bone would then be held over a fire, until cracks appeared. These cracks would be made more evident by rubbing ink over the bone. The augur could now read the cracks and determine the answer of the god. Records of the questions and answers of readings were engraved on the bone. Questions on these oracle bones included issues of weather, warfare, agriculture, hunting, childbirth, and sacrifice. In reflection with their agricultural nature, the ancient Chinese use to honour the local deities of soil in order to increase the fertility of earth and to promote the growth of crops. Over time, this practice of earth worship began to dwindle and the veneration of Heaven increased. Divination was considered the only way to determine the requests and future actions of the ruler of Heaven who was also seen as a kind of ancestral figure. The Chinese were animistic and so believed that nature had many spirits. Good spirits, referred to as shen, and bad spirits, referred to as gui, were both thought to dwell in Heaven and Earth. The sun and the rooster were believed to have authority over the gui. This concept of shen and gui later influenced the formation of the yin and yang concept. The people of ancient China believed that there were two contrasting forces abiding in everything in nature; that is yin and yang. This concept was thought to be formed with the influence of the shen and gui concept from earlier ancient China. Yin is characterized as slow, soft, yielding, diffuse, cold, wet, or tranquil; and is associated with water, earth, the moon, femininity and nighttime. Yang, on the other hand, is fast, hard, solid, focused, hot, dry, or aggressive; and is associated with fire, sky, the sun, masculinity and daytime. During the time of the Eastern Zhou, religion in China underwent an evolution. The early gods were forgotten and replaced with ideologies that worked as both philosophies and religions. A phenomenon called the ‘Contention of a Hundred Schools of Thought’ took place in ancient China. Schools and philosophers flourished around this time and it was dubbed an era of great cultural and intellectual expansion in China. The four most prominent schools of thought that evolved during this epoch were Confucianism, Taoism, Mohism, and Legalism. Confucius was born 551 BC and grew up to become one of the most influential philosophers in Chinese history. Confucianism is a composite philosophy of moral, social, political, philosophical, and quasi-religious thought. He built his philosophy around five virtues: compassion, morality, decorum, wisdom and honesty. Compassion was considered the cornerstone, symbolizing loyalty, filial piety, patience and benevolence. He also believed that everyone should be in harmony with one another and establish a society ruled by standard etiquette and conduct. A legendary philosopher by the name of Laozi is believed to have established the religious philosophy of Taoism. The ‘forces of nature’ is the central belief behind the concept of Tao, which is literally translated as â€Å"the path† or â€Å"the way. † Taoism is in many ways the contrary of Confucianism, focusing on the individual within the natural realm rather than the individual within society. It also focuses on the affiliation between humanity and the cosmos, vigour and long life, and wu wei, that is action through inaction, which is said to create harmony with the Universe. Mo Di or Mozi was another Chinese philosopher form the Eastern Zhou period. He was strongly opposed to the teachings of Confucianism and Taoism. Mohism was based on the idea of universal love, ‘everyone is equal before heaven’. Mozi believed that everyone should practice communal love in order to create a heaven on earth. He also believed that an individual’s perception should be the basis of human cognition and not imagination or logic. Mozi advocated abstinence, and therefore opposed music, regarding it as excessive and a waste of resources which could instead be used to help those in need of basic necessities such as food, water and shelter. He even opposed elaborate funerals also regarding it as a waste of money which could be used in more useful matters. He also advocated pacifism thus disapproving of offensive war, only accepting aggressive action to defend the weak. Legalism, while the term itself was invented in the Han dynasty, was one of the major doctrines followed during the Contention of a Hundred Schools of Thought. It was established by Han Feizi and Li Si and theorizes that the human race is evil and in order to prevent this evil causing chaos, laws need to be put in place. Legalism wasn’t concerned with the nature or purpose of life, not even the welfare of the public; rather it sought the states prosperity and military aptitude. Out of these four philosophies, only Confucianism and Taoism are considered religions by scholars, as only they contain spiritual elements. Confucianism and Taoism both became part of what is now known as The Three Doctrine. Buddhism is the third doctrine however it was imported from India and flourished during Imperial China.