Rescission of a contract in the law of contracts

Introduction The answer is yes, Big Banks President can rescind the contract under the following special circumstances. In the law of contracts, when a contract is rescinded, it means that the two parties to the contract have been relieved of their obligation in relation to the initial contract entered in the initial agreement.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Rescission of a contract in the law of contracts specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Mutual rescission In some cases, in the law of contracts, the two parties may be discharged from their obligations in an agreement to carry out a consideration either in terms of money or otherwise if before its performance, the two parties mutually agree to follow a new agreement after the completion of an initial agreement through mutual assent. In this case, both parties involved are relieved of their contractual obligations. This is possible even if the contract has express or implied instruction suggesting on the contrary. In this case, there are facts that must be alleged and proved beyond any reasonable doubt, whether the contract is oral or written. Form of the contract The form of the contract can either be written or oral, provided that the circumstances of the contract can be proved; the actions of the parties to the contract will not matter as they can be express or implied. The law of contracts on rescission prevails; regardless of the form of the contract provided, there is consideration and supporting circumstances as evidence. Assent All the parties to the contract must agree on the action to be taken through mutual agreement. This can only be evident when there is a meeting of the both parties. In some cases, one of the parties may repudiate the contract, and the second party impliedly takes the repudiation as a counter offer leading to a rescission of the contract. It should, however, be noted that this must be clearly expressed. Conside ration An agreement between the parties to rescind the contract must be supported by sufficient consideration in terms of an inducement with money or otherwise. Unless one of the parties to the contract carries out his/her part of the agreement, he or she must be adequately compensated without any favors. Operation and effect In the event that there is rescission of the contract, none of the parties will benefit from the deal and gain more than what he/she has invested in carrying out the contract. None of the parties should gain more from the contract in order not to get a higher financial position than what one originally had, prior to the contract.Advertising Looking for essay on business corporate law? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Intention of the parties to the contract.  Aim The direction of the contract will always be determined by the aim of entry in the contract by the parties to the contract. In the event that the aim of the contract has been accomplished by the parties, the contract may be made on the grounds of completion of the main objective of the contract. If Big Bank decides to take legal action against rescission of the contract, it will be very hard for Big Bank to convince the judge on its favor. This is because there is express immunity of System INC against contractual obligation. This is seen in the phrase (f) that excludes System INC from any contractual obligation in case of system omission by system INC. For example, â€Å"in no event will systems inc. Be responsible for special, reliance, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages arising out of any act or omission by systems inc. In connection with this agreement, even if systems INC.† This may complicate the ability of Big Bank to get legal redress in terms of receipt of damages. Conclusion There are 3 types of contract performance. One of them is a complete performance where both the parties completely carry out their contractual obligation. The advantage is that both the parties benefit from that as intended. Secondly, the substantial performance is where most of the work or payment is done by one of the party to the contract. In this case, the remedy is always the compensation based on the quantity of consideration. This essay on Rescission of a contract in the law of contracts was written and submitted by user Kiara Prince to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Mind and Author James Joyce Essays

Mind and Author James Joyce Essays Mind and Author James Joyce Essay Mind and Author James Joyce Essay Why doesnt Eveline Leave? Why doesnt Eveline Leave? The author James Joyce of the story â€Å"Eveline† never tells the readers the real reason why Eveline chose not to leave with Frank. One can only assume that she was afraid of being without her family, what she has known her whole life and the fear of the unknown. When she gets to the dock to board the boat it’s almost as if she is having a panic attack about the mere thought of leaving.Since the death of her mother and the promise she made to her mother to keep the family together now that she is gone. Staying at home with the family also means she has to stay with her abusive father. She does not get very much support or love from her father. Her life as it stands is full of all kinds of ups and downs. She is young lady who has the opportunity to escape to a new country with the love of her life and start all over. â€Å"She had consented to go away, to leave her home. Was that wise?She trie d to weigh each side of the question. † (Joyce, 2012, p. 420)The closer the time gets to boarding that boat the more fear starts to come across in the story. Her life has been so small and as the opportunity approaches to have a big and wonderful life, it gets scary in her eyes. She feels as though she will be betraying her mother’s last wishes if she were to decide to leave her family. Eveline is very tangled between her mind and heart. Both tell her something completely different to do.One says to stay and take care of the family; the other says get out while you can, enjoy your life and future adventures. Everyone deserves to be happy in their lives, but in the end Eveline chose a life of misery. She was the only piece in her family that was going to keep them all together. No one will ever know the real reason before her thinking but the way the story is written gives many hints to why she feels so strongly. References Joyce, J. (2012). Eveline. In J. Joyce, Introdu ction to Literature, pp. 420-423). Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins.

Various Models of Human Resource Management Essay

Various Models of Human Resource Management - Essay Example Guest Model is very similar to the Harvard model because of both advocates that superior individual and organizational performance is possible only through the integration of core activities of HR. HRM practices are at infancy in the developing economies like China, India etc. Therefore, according to HR professionals, the national factors may influence the HR practices in different countries, thereby, creating distortions in HR models. The four major factors, which are important in this regard, include national culture, dynamic business environment, industrial sector and national institutions.1 The process of formulating HR strategy consists of a few steps. In the first step, it is decided that who is involved in a process and how. In the second step, a business strategy is defined. In the third step, the business strategy is set in an HR context. In the fourth step, a SWOT analysis is done to analyze the problems in the business strategy in the HR context. In the next step, after identifying the priority changes the action plan implemented and outcomes are measured.2 This HR strategy process has been designed for the furniture industry and they are very similar to the bookish HR strategy formulation steps. For the formulation of corporate strategy, the participation of all departments of the organisation is very important because the corporate strategy is very interactive with functional strategy. An organization cannot develop its corporate strategy unless it knows the functional strategies such as HR strategy and capabilities of its departments. Therefore, when developing corporate strategy, the developers should get the feedback of HR people and their considerations should be focused very seriously. In 1997, Essar Steel Ltd realized the importance of HR strategy to develop business strategy therefore, Essar Steel developed their HR function based on their corporate strategy.

Remote Sensing of the Coral Reefs Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Remote Sensing of the Coral Reefs - Coursework Example Coral reefs are productive ecosystem and diverse habitats in the world because of their economic and social importance including food provision, tourism among others. There is a high rate of global degradation of coral reefs and these calls for their sustainable management. Their reduction has fueled the local and international communities to come up with approaches of monitoring coral reefs. Ecology involves the study of organisms in the environmental surroundings which require spatially accurate data given the distribution of spices. In the past manual and field observation methods were used to gather ecological information. These methods were labor-intensive and time-consuming. As a result, remote sensing became widely incorporated in the ecological duties because of its large coverage, cost-effectiveness, and accuracy. This called for the venture into new technologies to enable easy and faster access to remotely sensed information in the management and monitoring of ecological sp ecies. The coral ecosystem is one of the important habitats in the world. Coral reefs play a significant role in checking the amount of carbon dioxide in the sea. Without them regulating the level of carbon dioxide in water could be difficult and many species on earth including human being could be at high risk. Although, that is the current situation in the world because people have destroyed the reefs due to the level of impurities in the water bodies this has resulted in global warming. They are also habitat to millions of fish species, source of employment, food provision, tourism attraction sites and protect the shores fro waves. In short, they are a source of livelihood to millions of people around the globe. This paper addresses landscape remote sensing approaches of mapping coral reefs.

Week4 presentation Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Week4 presentation - Assignment Example There are various reasons why it took a long period for the American constitution to be amended from 1870 to 1913. However, the main reason was the fact that senators were elected by governors indirectly instead of being directly elected to the senate by the United States citizens. This slowed down the amendment process since senators enacted laws that benefited themselves and governors who had elected them to the senate instead of protecting the interest of the ordinary American citizen. This can be proved by the fact that amendments to the United States of America constitution practically began after the amendment in 1913 where power to elect the senate was left to the American citizens. One reform that took the Christian approach in the United States of America between the late 19th century and 20th century is the 18th amendment that was adopted in 1919. This was a law reform that banned the sale, consumption, buying, and importing alcoholic beverages. This reform took a Christian approach since alcohol made people behave in an unethical manner. The second reform that was based on the Christian approach was abortion, which was enacted in many states. Christianity also prohibits abortion hence such a reform was supported by most citizens. The 19th amendment that was adopted in 1920 in the United States of America is a good example of American reforms that took the socialistic approach. This amendment provided for the right of women to  vote in any election involving the government. This is considered a socialistic approach since it meant that women would vote for people who would fight for their needs in the legislature hence good governance. Another example of a reform that took a socialistic approach was the17th amendment that provided that senators would be elected by citizens from their state. This provided good governance since it meant that

History of Foreign and Security Policy

History of Foreign and Security Policy Defining Foreign and Security Policy from the Cold War to Present Today’s increasingly globalised community has seen more diplomatic and social evolution in the past half-century than the civilized world has seen in recent memory. The advent of multinational trade and military alliances such as the North Atlantic Trade Organization has increasingly intertwined security policies with foreign policies, which in turn entail more than just military alliances. Foreign subsidies by way of fiscal aid grants and weapons contracts warrant the need for nations to adopt solid, transparent foreign and security policies as the traditional global threat of warfare changes. The most notable examples for security and foreign policies as well as the need for a national and supranational governmental monitor are the United States and the European Union. The aforementioned two bodies share between them diplomatic ties to most every member of the international community. The onus of foreign and security policies becomes more apparent through examination of dipl omatically fragile and militarily-temperamental regions such as the Middle East, whose international agreements and regional alliances are the basis for subsequent American and EU policy, without which allies and trade partners would find little benefit from trade and security agreements. Foreign policy amounts to little more than a series of political guidelines and rules of engagement by which any country implementing it best gains at a certain point in time. Foreign policies are known to change radically from one year to the next; the Cold War is perhaps the greatest testament to the temporal nature of international relations and foreign policy. Robert John Myers notes in his US Foreign Policy in the Twenty-first Century how quickly Western countries changed their approach to the Soviet Union. Prior to 1945 â€Å"during the savage struggle of World War II, the primacy of the wisdom of political realism seemed to have been learned† by the Allies, who interlocked â€Å"inte rest, power, and morality in the councils of the principal Allied power†[1]; the USSR at the time was an indispensable ally against Germany and Japan. Much to the chagrin of their current political detractors, the Soviets were perhaps the most powerful ally America had in the war against the Axis powers, with borders spanning the heart of the Nazi regime and maritime waters bordering the Imperial Japanese. Foreign policy then had nothing to do with the civil liberties, democracy, and freedom of the press so touted today in the same countries that huddled together in opposition to Moscow during the Cold War. Prior to the partition of Germany at the close of the war, it was easily recognizable that â€Å"wartime cooperation to defeat the Axis was clearly important† and Allied foreign policy toward its Soviet contingent was one of camaraderie and mutual interdependence[2]. Once the war ended, however, the close ties between the powers dissipated and politically malignant a ntipathy filled the void. With a barely nascent United Nations absent as policy moderator, the US and the USSR led a series of proxy wars starting with â€Å"the attack by North Korea on South Korea on 25 June 1950,† marking â€Å"the limited cooperation [and mediation] that came to be expected from the UN in the security field†[3]. International mediation, which should have taken place given the alliance that transpired between the US, USSR, and Europe during WWII was all but gone in the years of reconstruction and the escalation of the Cold War. There are two points of speculation given the rise of the Cold War: the first is that the United Nations failed as an international mediator, and the second is that the United Nations was obsolete, serving only to keep other countries out of the periphery of the Soviet-American struggle for dominance. The difference between foreign and security policy during the Cold War was elementary. The American foreign policy toward the Soviet Union was one of mutual trade and sales, the development of which was speculated by many to be a financial insurance policy; if the two superpowers intertwined economically, the idea of armed struggle would be so financially devastating that neither side would be willing to continue along the path to war. American security policy was markedly different given the proxy wars fought in Korea, Vietnam, and the Middle East. Foreign policy essentially existed in the case of the Cold War to ensure that security policy would never be employed. The Cold War was a fascinating case of how foreign policy and security policy could run completely contrarian to each other. Any two given nations can foster amicable foreign policies in their approach to each other independent of a covertly hostile security policy as evidenced by the oft-shifting approach of successive American administrations to the Soviet behemoth. Jimmy Carter, for example, â€Å"forbade grain sales to the Soviet Union following the nation’s invasion of Afghanistan in 1979,† while â€Å"Ronald Reagan made the unpopular embargo an issue in the 1980 elections, reversing the policy after his election†[4]. The Reagan policy shift did not predicate a change in security policy, as the administration continued its support of Afghan mujahideen forces through arms sales and finance while continuing its agricultural trade with Moscow. It is now well-known that the UN was inconsequential in international mediation throughout the Cold War. This is not to say that an international or supranational regulatory body is not needed; in the case of the US and USSR, the absent (and perhaps powerless) UN was perceived as such because their collective power was dwarfed by the two superpowers. With no military or financial incentive, the question of the relevance of a supranational regulatory body in foreign and security policy is moot. Even today, American foreign policies often contravene UN resolutions with little or no repercussion due to the immense economic, political, and military might of Washington. While the Cold War ended relatively peacefully without UN intervention, the concept of an international body was not scorned by the US, which partnered with various countries to create the North Atlantic Trade Organization (NATO). It should be noted, however, that the US was an open advocate of NATO for the very reason tha t the UN was not potent enough a body to act on American will or on behalf of American aspirations. International mediation in this sense is needed for the monitoring of foreign and security policy; whether or not mediation will be effective in both sectors is quite another issue. Foreign policy can be monitored, policed, and even dictated by a supranational body as evidenced in the partition of Germany and the formation of the Eastern Bloc post-WWII. Security policy, however, is a point of major contention with any nation faced with the prospect of supranational control. Any nation with major investment (diplomatic or financial) abroad would be reluctant to cede jurisdiction of its own soldiers and sovereignty to an outside body, especially one such as the UN whose member list consists of nations antagonistic to one another. The irony here is that a multi-national group could have foreign and security policy power over a nation whose security policy is antagonistic to one or more members of the same international group. Israel, for example, would embark on an unprecedented leap of faith if it allowed the UN and its Arab members to mediate its security policy, all despite the fact that from the first years of its inception (1948-1967) the Jewish state relied o n the UN to justify its existence to the international community. The multi-faceted Arab-Israeli conflict is just one example of how unchecked world superpowers exerted their influence unchecked by the vigil of an international body. Prior to the fall of the Soviet Union, foreign policy was a much simpler venture as the world found itself functioning under the umbrella of just two superpowers, led by and acting under the auspices of either Washington or Moscow. The fall of Communism left a vacuum in the Middle East, as the now-extinct USSR had no allegiances to the Middle East in which it fought a series of proxy wars and conflicts with the United States. What transpired following the end of Moscow’s reign as a world superpower was the creation of several diplomatically independent states in the Middle East. Where Moscow once supported Syria, Egypt, and Iraq while arming said nations’ leaders, they found themselves increasingly dependent on other sources for trade and international subsidy such as the EU and the United States. The foreign policy then drove the security policy, baited by American and EU sponsorship acting independently of the UN. Today, Egypt, once the sworn enemy of Israel (whose cl osest international ally is Washington), receives America’s second-largest international aid package. This of course is contingent upon the maintenance of a lasting peace as well as other conditions detailed in the Camp David Accords of 1978. The UN and the EU’s parts in the conflict were minimal, as security policies of the two comprised of a minimal militaristic component and a far larger foreign policy component. Pinar Bilgin observes in Regional Security in the Middle East how the fragile Mediterranean â€Å"as an alternative spatial representation began to take shape from the 1970s onward largely in line with the development and changing security conception and practices of the European Union,† a group whose policies toward the region â€Å"have been shaped around three major concerns: energy security (understood as the sustained flow of oil and natural gas at reasonable prices); regional stability (understood as domestic stability especially in countries in geographically North Africa); and the cessation of the Israel/Palestine conflict†[5]. Unlike the US and USSR, whose motives will be examined later, the EU was interested solely in the protection of their economic preservation and the prevention of any armed conflict from spilling into their geographic vicinity. In addition to the Arab-Israeli crisis, EU Member States such as Italy, France, and Spain faced growing resentment in the Maghreb (Arab North Africa) as a corollary of imperial European rule. The EU’s policies were hence different from â€Å"non-EU actors [who] encouraged and supported the search for security within a Euro-Mediterranean framework†; the EU has almost â€Å"single-handedly sought to construct a Euro-Mediterranean Region to meet its own domestic economic, societal, and, to a much lesser extent, military security interests†[6]. The American and Soviet interest in the region was also one of economic, political, and security nature, bu t on a much larger scale. Buzan and Waever note in their Regions and Powers: The Structure of International Security how: â€Å"The United States and the Soviet Union were latecomers as major players in Middle Eastern regional security, though the former had long-standing oil interests there. The two superpowers were drawn into a pattern of regional turbulence that was already strongly active. Their interest in the region was heightened by the fact that, like Europe, the Middle East sat on the boundary between the spheres of communism and ‘free’ worlds. Stalin’s aggressive policy after 1945 had pushed Turkey and Iran into the arms of the West. Turkey became a member of NATO, and was thus fixed into the main European front of the Cold War. Until the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Iran fell increasingly under American sway, not only through corporate oil interests, but also as part of the loose alliance arrangements that connected American containment clients in Turkey, Iran, and Pakistan. To counter this US success right on its borders, the Soviet Union tried to play in the Arab world b ehind this front line, by establishing political and military links to the radical regimes and movements that sprang up in the Middle East during the 1950s and 1960s (Syria, PLO, Iraq, Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Yemen)†[7] The entire Middle East, ranging from Egypt to Iran, became what Buzan and Waever describe as a â€Å"third front in the Cold War, after Europe and Asia, and its oil resources tied it powerfully into the global economy†[8]. The Camp David Accords were especially important; while Israeli security policies remained virtually unchanged (the Israeli-Egyptian peace is frequently described as â€Å"cool† in comparison to Israeli-Turkish relations), their foreign policies shifted. The two acted under the auspices of the United States, signalling a significant achievement in the Cold War. Though the â€Å"crosscutting complexities of internal alignments in the Middle East† make it â€Å"difficult to trace a clear Cold War pattern of great power intervention,† the small gains and losses in war and political action were of huge consequence. With the 1978 signing of the Camp David Accords, the United States shifted its foreign policy in the Arab world successfully, sp litting allegiances in the Middle East to one drawn along Arab lines to one drawn along foreign policy lines. With Turkey and Iran (at least until Tehran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution) securely in the American camp, the Middle East was thus left only with Syria and Iraq in alliance with the USSR. Conflict in the Middle East was hence capitalized upon by the United States by way of foreign policy, which existed independently of the nations’ security policies. Foreign policies always shift more easily than security policies, as the former serve the interest of a nation’s economy and the latter are charged with the military protection of a nation’s sovereignty, diplomatic or otherwise. As evidenced by the Cold War, American policies in Iraq alone have shifted dramatically. Prior to 1979, for example, American foreign and security policies were in place to secure its interests (Saudi Arabia and Israel) from Baghdad. From 1979 to 1991, American foreign policies toward Iraq remained the same, but its security policies shifted to accommodate Iraqi military suppression of post-revolutionary Iran. From 1991 to 2003, both foreign and security policies shifted to those of aggression and financial seclusion. It should be noted that until 1991, these foreign policy shifts were executed at the whim of three American presidents. Iran followed the same path, with pre-1979 Tehran under Reza Shah Pahlavi serving as a vital blockage to Soviet expansionism. Following the Islamic Revolution of 1979, security policy was hostile toward and sought to exclude Tehran by funding Saddam Hussein. Foreign policy changed during the Contra Scandal, wherein American military leaders sold Tehran various munitions and weapons in direct subterfuge of Washington’s official military support of Baghdad; weapons were sold to a lesser evil (Iran) in order to fund covert operations in support of Nicaraguan right-wing guerrillas. Managua’s leftist-government was thought to be the latest expansion of Soviet influence and was hence a closer threat in physical proximity than the rise of the radical Islamic government of Tehran which was equally opposed to the Soviets at the time. All this transpired, again, without minimal monitoring by an international body. The greatest irony of the aforementioned events, however, is the perception of their respective successes and failures. America succeeded without international intervention in the pacification and dismantlement of the Soviet Union; however, today’s chaotic Middle East was a corollary, including the 9/11 attacks that changed forever the security and foreign policies of the United States. The current wars waged by America and what allies remain are again largely conducted without the support or monitoring by the UN or any other international body, and it remains to be seen how the future will unfold. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bilgin, Pinar. (2005) Regional Security in the Middle East: A Critical Perspective.London: Taylor Francis Routledge. Buzan, Barry and Ole Waever. (2003) Regions and Powers: The Structure ofInternational Security. Cambridge: Cambridge U P. Myers, Robert John. (1999) US Foreign Policy in the Twenty-first Century: TheRelevance of Realism. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State U P. Wilson, Ernest J. (2004) Diversity and US Foreign Policy: A Reader. New York:Taylor Francis Routledge. 1 Footnotes [1] Myers 1999, p. 98 [2] Ibid [3] Myers 1999, p. 98 [4] Wilson 2004, p. 127 [5] Bilgin 2005, p. 140 [6] Bilgin 2005, p. 140 [7] Buzan and Waever 2003, p. 198 [8] Buzan and Waever 2003, p. 197

Conflict Theory

The several social theories that emphasize social conflict have roots in the ideas of Karl Marx (1818-1883), the great German theorist and political activist. The Marxist, conflict approach emphasizes a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical method of analysis, a critical stance toward existing social arrangements, and a political program of revolution or, at least, reform. Marx summarized the key elements of this materialist view of history as follows: In the social production of their existence, men inevitably enter into definite relations, which are independent of their will, namely relations of production appropriate to a given stage in the development of their material forces of production. The totality of these relations of production constitutes the economic structure of society, the real foundation, on which arises a legal and political superstructure and to which correspond definite forms of social consciousness. The mode of production of material life conditions the general process of social, political and intellectual life. It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness (Marx 1971:20). Marx divided history into several stages, conforming to broad patterns in the economic structure of society. The most important stages for Marx's argument were feudalism, capitalism, and socialism. The bulk of Marx's writing is concerned with applying the materialist model of society to capitalism, the stage of economic and social development that Marx saw as dominant in 19th century Europe. For Marx, the central institution of capitalist society is private property, the system by which capital (that is, money, machines, tools, factories, and other material objects used in production) is controlled by a small minority of the population. This arrangement leads to two opposed classes, the owners of capital (called the bourgeoisie) and the workers (called the proletariat), whose only property is their own labor time, which they have to sell to the capitalists. Economic exploitation leads directly to political oppression, as owners make use of their economic power to gain control of the state and turn it into a servant of bourgeois economic interests. Police power, for instance, is used to enforce property rights and guarantee unfair contracts between capitalist and worker. Oppression also takes more subtle forms: religion serves capitalist interests by pacifying the population; intellectuals, paid directly or indirectly by capitalists, spend their careers justifying and rationalizing the existing social and economic arrangements. In sum, the economic structure of society molds the superstructure, including ideas (e. g. , morality, ideologies, art, and literature) and the social institutions that support the class structure of society (e. g. , the state, the educational system, the family, and religious institutions). Because the dominant or ruling class (the bourgeoisie) controls the social relations of production, the dominant ideology in capitalist society is that of the ruling class. Ideology and social institutions, in turn, serve to reproduce and perpetuate the economic class structure. Thus, Marx viewed the exploitative economic arrangements of capitalism as the real foundation upon which the superstructure of social, political, and intellectual consciousness is built. (Figure 1 depicts this model of historical materialism. Marx's view of history might seem completely cynical or pessimistic, were it not for the possibilities of change revealed by his method of dialectical analysis. (The Marxist dialectical method, based on Hegel's earlier idealistic dialectic, focuses attention on how an existing social arrangement, or thesis, generates its social opposite, or antithesis, and on how a qualitatively different social form, or synthesis, emerges from the resulting struggle. ) Marx was an optim ist. He believed that any stage of history based on exploitative economic arrangements generated within itself the seeds of its own destruction. For instance, feudalism, in which land owners exploited the peasantry, gave rise to a class of town-dwelling merchants, whose dedication to making profits eventually led to the bourgeois revolution and the modern capitalist era. Similarly, the class relations of capitalism will lead inevitably to the next stage, socialism. The class relations of capitalism embody a contradiction: capitalists need workers, and vice versa, but the economic interests of the two groups are fundamentally at odds. Such contradictions mean inherent conflict and instability, the class struggle. Adding to the instability of the capitalist system are the inescapable needs for ever-wider markets and ever-greater investments in capital to maintain the profits of capitalists. Marx expected that the resulting economic cycles of expansion and contraction, together with tensions that will build as the working class gains greater understanding of its exploited position (and thus attains class consciousness), will eventually culminate in a socialist revolution. Despite this sense of the unalterable logic of history, Marxists see the need for social criticism and for political activity to speed the arrival of socialism, which, not being based on private property, is not expected to involve as many contradictions and conflicts as capitalism. Marxists believe that social theory and political practice are dialectically intertwined, with theory enhanced by political involvement and with political practice necessarily guided by theory. Intellectuals ought, therefore, to engage in praxis, to combine political criticism and political activity. Theory itself is seen as necessarily critical and value-laden, since the prevailing social relations are based upon alienating and dehumanizing exploitation of the labor of the working classes. Marx's ideas have been applied and reinterpreted by scholars for over a hundred years, starting with Marx's close friend and collaborator, Friedrich Engels (1825-95), who supported Marx and his family for many years from the profits of the textile factories founded by Engels' father, while Marx shut himself away in the library of the British Museum. Later, Vladimir I. Lenin (1870-1924), leader of the Russian revolution, made several influential contributions to Marxist theory. In recent years Marxist theory has taken a great variety of forms, notably the world-systems theory proposed by Immanuel Wallerstein (1974, 1980) and the comparative theory of revolutions put forward by Theda Skocpol (1980). Marxist ideas have also served as a starting point for many of the modern feminist theorists. Despite these applications, Marxism of any variety is still a minority position among American sociologists. Functionalism is the oldest, and still the dominant, theoretical perspective in sociology and many other social sciences. This perspective is built upon twin emphases: application of the scientific method to the objective social world and use of an analogy between the individual organism and society. The emphasis on scientific method leads to the assertion that one can study the social world in the same ways as one studies the physical world. Thus, Functionalists see the social world as â€Å"objectively real,† as observable with such techniques as social surveys and interviews. Furthermore, their positivistic view of social science assumes that study of the social world can be value-free, in that the investigator's values will not necessarily interfere with the disinterested search for social laws governing the behavior of social systems. Many of these ideas go back to Emile Durkheim (1858-1917), the great French sociologist whose writings form the basis for functionalist theory (see Durkheim 1915, 1964); Durkheim was himself one of the first sociologists to make use of scientific and statistical techniques in sociological research (1951). The second emphasis, on the organic unity of society, leads functionalists to speculate about needs which must be met for a social system to exist, as well as the ways in which social institutions satisfy those needs. A functionalist might argue, for instance, that every society will have a religion, because religious institutions have certain functions which contribute to the survival of the social system as a whole, just as the organs of the body have functions which are necessary for the body's survival. Functionalist theories have very often been criticized as teleological, that is, reversing the usual order of cause and effect by explaining things in terms of what happens afterward, not what went before. A strict functionalist might explain certain religious practices, for instance, as being functional by contributing to a society's survival; however, such religious traditions will usually have been firmly established long before the question is finally settled of whether the society as a whole will actually survive. Bowing to this kind of criticism of the basic logic of functionalist theory, most current sociologists have stopped using any explicitly functionalistic explanations of social phenomena, and the extreme version of functionalism expounded by Talcott Parsons has gone out of fashion. Nevertheless, many sociologists continue to expect that by careful, objective scrutiny of social phenomena they will eventually be able to discover the general laws of social behavior, and this hope still serves as the motivation for a great deal of sociological thinking and research. RATIONAL CHOICE AND EXCHANGE THEORY {text:bookmark-start} {text:bookmark-end} SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM Symbolic interactionism, or interactionism for short, is one of the major theoretical perspectives in sociology. This perspective has a long intellectual history, beginning with the German sociologist and economist, Max Weber (1864-1920) and the American philosopher, George H. Mead (1863-1931), both of whom emphasized the subjective meaning of human behavior, the social process, and pragmatism. Although there are a number of versions of interactionist thought, some deriving from phenomenological writings by philosophers, the following description offers a simplified amalgamation of these ideas, concentrating on points of convergence. Herbert Blumer, who studied with Mead at the University of Chicago, is responsible for coining the term, â€Å"symbolic interactionism,† as well as for formulating the most prominent version of the theory (Blumer 1969). Interactionists focus on the subjective aspects of social life, rather than on objective, macro-structural aspects of social systems. One reason for this focus is that interactionists base their theoretical perspective on their image of humans, rather than on their image of society (as the functionalists do). For interactionists, humans are pragmatic actors who continually must adjust their behavior to the actions of other actors. We can adjust to these actions only because we are able to interpret them, i. e. , to denote them symbolically and treat the actions and those who perform them as symbolic objects. This process of adjustment is aided by our ability to imaginatively rehearse alternative lines of action before we act. The process is further aided by our ability to think about and to react to our own actions and even our selves as symbolic objects. Thus, the interactionist theorist sees humans as active, creative participants who construct their social world, not as passive, conforming objects of socialization. For the interactionist, society consists of organized and patterned interactions among individuals. Thus, research by interactionists focuses on easily observable face-to-face interactions rather than on macro-level structural relationships involving social institutions. Furthermore, this focus on interaction and on the meaning of events to the participants in those events (the definition of the situation) shifts the attention of interactionists away from stable norms and values toward more changeable, continually readjusting social processes. Whereas for functionalists socialization creates stability in the social system, for interactionists negotiation among members of society creates temporary, socially constructed relations which remain in constant flux, despite relative stability in the basic framework governing those relations. These emphases on symbols, negotiated reality, and the social construction of society lead to an interest in the roles people play. Erving Goffman (1958), a prominent social theorist in this tradition, discusses roles dramaturgically, using an analogy to the theater, with human social behavior seen as more or less well scripted and with humans as role-taking actors. Role-taking is a key mechanism of interaction, for it permits us to take the other's perspective, to see what our actions might mean to the other actors with whom we interact. At other times, interactionists emphasize the improvisational quality of roles, with human social behavior seen as poorly scripted and with humans as role-making improvisers. Role-making, too, is a key mechanism of interaction, for all situations and roles are inherently ambiguous, thus requiring us to create those situations and roles to some extent before we can act. Interactionists tend to study social interaction through participant observation, rather than surveys and interviews. They argue that close contact and immersion in the everyday lives of the participants is necessary for understanding the meaning of actions, the definition of the situation itself, and the process by which actors construct the situation through their interaction. Given this close contact, interactionists could hardly remain free of value commitments, and, in fact, interactionists make explicit use of their values in choosing what to study but strive to be objective in the conduct of their research. Symbolic interactionists are often criticized by other sociologists for being overly impressionistic in their research methods and somewhat unsystematic in their theories. These objections, combined with the fairly narrow focus of interactionist research on small-group interactions and other social psychological issues, have relegated the interactionist camp to a minority position among sociologists, although a fairly substantial minority. Bureaucratic Form According to Max Weber — His Six Major Principles Before covering Weber's Six Major Principles, I want to describe the various multiple meanings of the word â€Å"bureaucracy. A group of workers (for example, civil service employees of the U. S. government), is referred to as â€Å"the bureaucracy. † An example: â€Å"The threat of Gramm-Rudman-Hollings cuts has the bureaucracy in Washington deeply concerned. † Bureaucracy is the name of an organizational form used by sociologists and organizational design pr ofessionals. Bureaucracy has an informal usage, as in â€Å"there's too much bureaucracy where I work. † This informal usage describes a set of characteristics or attributes such as â€Å"red tape† or â€Å"inflexibility† that frustrate people who deal with or who work for organizations they perceive as â€Å"bureaucratic. Weber noted six major principles. 1. A formal hierarchical structure Each level controls the level below and is controlled by the level above. A formal hierarchy is the basis of central planning and centralized decision making. 2. Management by rules Controlling by rules allows decisions made at high levels to be executed consistently by all lower levels. 3. Organization by functional specialty Work is to be done by specialists, and people are organized into units based on the type of work they do or skills they have. 4. An â€Å"up-focused† or â€Å"in-focused† mission If the mission is described as â€Å"up-focused,† then the organization's purpose is to serve the stockholders, the board, or whatever agency empowered it. If the mission is to serve the organization itself, and those within it, e. g. , to produce high profits, to gain market share, or to produce a cash stream, then the mission is described as â€Å"in-focused. † 5. Purposely impersonal The idea is to treat all employees equally and customers equally, and not be influenced by individual differences. . Employment based on technical qualifications (There may also be protection from arbitrary dismissal. ) The bureaucratic form, according to Parkinson, has another attribute. 7. Predisposition to grow in staff â€Å"above the line. † Weber failed to notice this, but C. Northcote Parkinson found it so common that he made it the basis of his humorous â€Å"Parkinson's law. † Parkinson demonstrated th at the management and professional staff tends to grow at predictable rates, almost without regard to what the line organization is doing. The bureaucratic form is so common that most people accept it as the normal way of organizing almost any endeavor. People in bureaucratic organizations generally blame the ugly side effects of bureaucracy on management, or the founders, or the owners, without awareness that the real cause is the organizing form. Iron cage is a sociological concept introduced by Max Weber. Iron cage refers to the increasing rationalization of human life, which traps individuals in an â€Å"iron cage† of rule-based, rational control. He also called such over-bureaucratized social order â€Å"the polar night of icy darkness†. The original German term is stahlhartes Gehause; this was translated into ‘iron cage', an expression made familiar to English language speakers by Talcott Parsons in his 1958 translation of Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Recently some sociologists have questioned this translation, arguing that the correct term should be ‘shell as hard as steel' and that the difference from the original translation is significant. A more literal translation from German would be â€Å"steel-hard housing. Weber wrote: â€Å"In Baxter’s view the care for external goods should only lie on the shoulders of the ‘saint like a light cloak, which can be thrown aside at any moment. ‘ But fate decreed that the cloak should become an iron cage. † Weber became concerned with social actions and the subjective meaning that humans attach to their action s and interaction within specific social contexts. He also believed in idealism, which is the belief that we only know things because of the meanings that we apply to them. This led to his interest in power and authority in terms of bureaucracy and rationalization

President Obama Health Care Plan: ” What It All Mean for Us”

More than a week after President Obama signed the sweeping new health care law, which eventually provides insurance coverage for 32 million uninsured American, many of us are still scratching our head (Parker). What just happened? And how and when will we start feeling its effect? Effective this year, in six months, children with preexisting condition cannot be denied health care. In 2014, Medicaid will cover individual up to 133 percent of the poverty levels (Landau and Parker) also, in 2014, insurance companies will not be able to deny adults with preexisting conditions coverage or charge them higher premium.Some adult won’t likely qualify for Medicaid under the 2014 rules (4). More immediately however, they will benefit from the expansion of funding for community health center, which offer free and reduced-cost care. While the biggest change will not take effect until 2014 some important provision will begin as early as June, the question that everyone want to know is †Å"How soon will the new law help me† (Obama Plan). The answer depends on your age and reason for not having insurance.If you can’t afford or don’t qualify for insurance because of a preexisting Medicaid problem (1). You may be eligible for a new federal â€Å"High risk† pool to be offered by the end of June (2). The federal plan is expected to offer more affordable coverage than the existing state plan and will not impose the same income restriction as Medicaid (Obama Plan). The new plan will begin immediately to close the Medicare â€Å"donut hole†, by giving you 50 percent discount on brand-name prescription drug for senior who qualify.It will end insure practice of charging different premium or denying coverage based on gender, and will limit premium variation based on age. The new bill will provide new tax credit on a suding scale to individual and families that will limit how much of their income can be spent on premium. People with nongroup pl an may see increase, but more than half the enrollees in nongroup plan will qualify for federal subsidies, lowering cost for middle and moderate-income families on average by about 60 percent (Obama Plan 7 ).And also this year tax credit as high as 30 percent of premium will be available to many small businesses, which offer health coverage to employee. The President plan will also cap out-of pocket expanse and will prohibit insurance companies from imposing annual or lifetime caps on benefits payments. Under the new rule companies generally can’t rescind a policy for a minor application error. Many people look at this as a better law for health care.Better for all American families; like there are now no more worries about if you will be coverage because you don’t have insurance or if you worried about losing your job and now have no money to pay for your child Medicare bills. This plan will protect all that qualify for better health care. Although there are still peo ple that feel that this isn’t much and that feel we have went from a full plan with a small deductible and great prescription coverage to a plan now that is basically a high-deductible plan. But I feel that it’s a winner.

Free Essays on Four Elements Of Promotion

Four Elements Of Promotion Advertising: Advertising involves paid, nonpersonal communication through various media with the purpose of informing or persuading communication through various media with the purpose of informing or persuading members of a particular audience. Advertisings main objectives for marketers to inform, persuade, and to remind. Advertising falls into two broad categories, which are, product advertising and institutional advertising. Sales Promotion: Sales promotion is marketing activities other than personal selling, advertising, and publicity that enhance consumer purchasing and dealer effectiveness. Sales promotions encourages interest from salespeople and consumer for both new and mature products, help introduce new products, encourage trial and repeat purchases, increase usage, neutralize competition, and reinforce advertising. Sales promotion complements advertising, and marketers often produce their best results when they combine the two. Public Relations: Public relations are an efficient, indirect communications channel through which a firm can promote products, although it serves broader objectives than those of other components of promotional strategy. It is the firm’s communication and relationships with its various publics, including customers, employees, stockholders, suppliers, government agencies, and the society in which it operates. Personal Selling: Personal selling is an interpersonal influence process that involves a seller’s promotional presentations conducted on a person to person basis with the buyer. Personal selling is a primary component of a firm’s promotional mix in certain, well defined conditions: 1. Consumers are geographically concentrated. 2. Individual orders account for large amounts. 3. The firms markets goods and services that are expensive, technically complex, or require special handling. 4. Trade ins are involved. 5. P... Free Essays on Four Elements Of Promotion Free Essays on Four Elements Of Promotion Four Elements Of Promotion Advertising: Advertising involves paid, nonpersonal communication through various media with the purpose of informing or persuading communication through various media with the purpose of informing or persuading members of a particular audience. Advertisings main objectives for marketers to inform, persuade, and to remind. Advertising falls into two broad categories, which are, product advertising and institutional advertising. Sales Promotion: Sales promotion is marketing activities other than personal selling, advertising, and publicity that enhance consumer purchasing and dealer effectiveness. Sales promotions encourages interest from salespeople and consumer for both new and mature products, help introduce new products, encourage trial and repeat purchases, increase usage, neutralize competition, and reinforce advertising. Sales promotion complements advertising, and marketers often produce their best results when they combine the two. Public Relations: Public relations are an efficient, indirect communications channel through which a firm can promote products, although it serves broader objectives than those of other components of promotional strategy. It is the firm’s communication and relationships with its various publics, including customers, employees, stockholders, suppliers, government agencies, and the society in which it operates. Personal Selling: Personal selling is an interpersonal influence process that involves a seller’s promotional presentations conducted on a person to person basis with the buyer. Personal selling is a primary component of a firm’s promotional mix in certain, well defined conditions: 1. Consumers are geographically concentrated. 2. Individual orders account for large amounts. 3. The firms markets goods and services that are expensive, technically complex, or require special handling. 4. Trade ins are involved. 5. P...

Free Essays on Kashmir War

FROM THE PRECIPICE OF WAR TO THE PATH OF PEACE: A SYMPOSIUM ON KASHMIR CONFLICT QUEST FOR THE RATIONAL SOLUTION TO THE KASHMIR DISPUTE IN THE DIRECTION OF STABLISHING A LONG LASTING PEACE BETWEEN INDIA AND PAKISTAN The state of Jammu and Kashmir as it is officially called has been one of the oldest unresolved disputes in the post second world war era. The claim over this picturesque Himalayan state has been the bone of the contention between India and Pakistan, the two of the largest countries of South Asia. Both these countries were carved out of the former British India in 1947 and since then both of these neighboring countries have fought three wars over the disputed region. The Kashmir dispute is highly complex web of conflict of interests involving in both the countries. And what adds to this complexity is the highly heterogeneous composition of the regional, linguistic and religious demarcation of the people of the state. Even though the state is predominantly Muslim, it also has a substantial Hindu and Buddhist minority. The state has three major geographical regions. The largest of all is the Ladakh, which is a Buddhist majority part of the state with a Shiite minority. The Ladakh is the least populated of all the three regions. It is followed by Jammu, which is predominantly a Hindu majority region with a substantial Sunni minority. The smallest in area but the most populous part of the state is the Kashmir, which is an overwhelmingly Muslim. And on top of this, the state is unevenly divided among India, Pakistan and China. Roughly two-thirds of the state lies under the control of India and the rest is divided between China and Pakistan. The political significance of the state and the possible consequences of the dispute can also be gauged from the fact that apart from the India and Pakistan, it is also strategically located at the crossroads of the Muslim majority Xinjiang province of China, the new Islamicaly... Free Essays on Kashmir War Free Essays on Kashmir War FROM THE PRECIPICE OF WAR TO THE PATH OF PEACE: A SYMPOSIUM ON KASHMIR CONFLICT QUEST FOR THE RATIONAL SOLUTION TO THE KASHMIR DISPUTE IN THE DIRECTION OF STABLISHING A LONG LASTING PEACE BETWEEN INDIA AND PAKISTAN The state of Jammu and Kashmir as it is officially called has been one of the oldest unresolved disputes in the post second world war era. The claim over this picturesque Himalayan state has been the bone of the contention between India and Pakistan, the two of the largest countries of South Asia. Both these countries were carved out of the former British India in 1947 and since then both of these neighboring countries have fought three wars over the disputed region. The Kashmir dispute is highly complex web of conflict of interests involving in both the countries. And what adds to this complexity is the highly heterogeneous composition of the regional, linguistic and religious demarcation of the people of the state. Even though the state is predominantly Muslim, it also has a substantial Hindu and Buddhist minority. The state has three major geographical regions. The largest of all is the Ladakh, which is a Buddhist majority part of the state with a Shiite minority. The Ladakh is the least populated of all the three regions. It is followed by Jammu, which is predominantly a Hindu majority region with a substantial Sunni minority. The smallest in area but the most populous part of the state is the Kashmir, which is an overwhelmingly Muslim. And on top of this, the state is unevenly divided among India, Pakistan and China. Roughly two-thirds of the state lies under the control of India and the rest is divided between China and Pakistan. The political significance of the state and the possible consequences of the dispute can also be gauged from the fact that apart from the India and Pakistan, it is also strategically located at the crossroads of the Muslim majority Xinjiang province of China, the new Islamicaly...

Outline the polices that enable older people to remain at home as much Essay

Outline the polices that enable older people to remain at home as much is posible - Essay Example The objective of dignity to elders can be achieved only if the policies emphasise the concept of enabling older people to remain in a homely environment as much as possible, to usher in the safety and general welfare of senior citizens. The UK has been a pioneer in drafting many such policies that seek better avenues to channelize appropriate alternatives and resources for the elderly people, as discussed below. Though the concept of taking care of the elderly has existed even in the earlier civilizations, in the form of shelter for the old and community care centres, the idea of specific policies and laws to govern them began to manifest their presence from the beginning of the 19th century. The succeeding years after Second World War (WWII) saw the advent of demographic changes with a sharp rise in life expectancy and fall of fertility rates, with an unprecedented increase in the population of older people. The modern welfare state carried forward the policies and laws for the old and aged and institutionalized them. The prevailing â€Å"Poor Law† (Public Assistance following Local Government Act, 1929) (Thane 2009) where power was designated to public assistance committees of local council has given way in the 70s, 80s and subsequent years to the present policies, the focus shifting to enabling elderly peope to remain and be cared for at their homes. The spotlight being on the need for older people to stay at home for as long as possible (Department of Health, 1989), the White Paper on Community Care (1989) discussed about the society deliberating to see the roles of State, community, families and individuals in the rehabilitation and development of â€Å"independence, self fulfilment and participation (of elder) with assurance of care and dignity of who are most frail and vulnerable† (Leeson 2003). The resultant NHS and Community Care act-1990 has encouraged the development of community care provisions and implementation where present policies for older and disabled people should promote healthy independence, more carers, modernize and integrate service, provision of individual needs centred services, a feeling of belonging in the community, and a sense of money value. â€Å"Such policies rely high on availability of unpaid, informal typical family care from inside the community† (Harper and Leeson, 2002) and â€Å"current service models of distribution of specific factors in existing family care† (Leeson, 2004). Since the 90s, these policies and laws have undergone a sea change, with revisions and modifications of existing policies and besides implementing to new measures seeking to help community care, like â€Å"Disability Living Allowance from 1992’; the Carers (Recognition and Services) Act, 1995; the Mental Health (Patients in the Community) Act, 1995; the Disability Discrimination Act, 1995; the Community Care (Direct Payments) Act, 1996† (House of Commons Health Committee: Social Care 2008-09) etc which have enabled the local authorities to make payments to disabled people to assist them in buying community services according to their needs. The

Academic Pressures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Academic Pressures - Essay Example Stress could begin at very early childhood years and continues into later years depending upon the life’s situations. Psychologists as well as academic professionals have identified that many students undergo immense stress even during schooling, which intensifies as the challenges increase with academic advancement. More often, teenagers and/or adolescents in high school and early college years are most prone to academic pressures because of the rapid shift in their curricula, studying atmosphere, competition as well as biological changes in the growth process. Academic pressures begin with stress caused by parental expectations, peer pressure, competition, strict timelines, difficult curricula etc. These factors are meant to induce learning, inculcate discipline and help students achieve their academic curricula within set timelines. On the other hand, all these or each of these stressors significantly impact students’ memory and thinking ability. As Hales stated, â⠂¬Ëœbecause of stress’s impact on memory, students with advanced skills may perform worse under exam pressure than their less skilled peers’ (63). In general, academic pressures tend to crush the inherent abilities of teenage students.