An Individuals Identity Is Formed By Society Media Essay

An Individuals Identity Is Formed By Society Media Essay An individuals identity is formed by society in which media plays a predominant role. There is a daily interactive relationship between the subject and the object, that is, human agents and the conditions of their subsistence, respectively. Theories of the individual emphasize on differences between people and deem these differences as natural. Individuals are constituted as the possessors of positions throughout the effects of social relations. Alternatively, other theories of the topic concentrate on peoples general experiences in society through watching TV, surfing the internet or reading the newspaper. It is these general experiences that are the most significant way of distinguishing who we are. Thus, subject identity is a social construction, not an ordinary one. When we connect with the media, we act and are acted upon, use and are used by the system. Ideology is not precise, but implicit in images, structures, and sign systems evident in the media which task is to establish the individuals as subjects. We have social identities conferred unto us, mainly through the mass media. For example, take the popular medium of magazines. Magazines are an easy way of targeting the exact audience that has been set out to be. This is important as not only are individuals capable to choose which magazine they would desire to read but they are also capable of utilizing it to assemble their own identity. One of the most outstanding images found in magazines is that of the thin and beautiful model, numerous females would glance at these images as a source of inspiration as to what their bodies should look like and would think that they were inadequate if they do not look like the models featured. For example a perfume by Giorgio Armani called Sensi, saying that I sense, therefore I am and a model lying across a table giving the impression that one must need this perfume in their everyday life, and the emphasis on womens fragrance. Our society today has been affected in such a materialistic world that it is so easy for advertisers to promote any old debris and still be assured that consumers will buy into it, regardless of the cost of the product. The media has us brain washed very well, and know how and what to promote to us in a very effective way. It is through the modern media apparatus that people achieve a sense of identity. There is no doubt that contemporary media is a culture possessed with the self. Via the mass media we are told ways in which to develop the self. We buy books, read articles in the newspaper, and we watch lifestyle programs. The mass media supply us with the talent to transform, create, re-create and mass produce identity. The media permits us to transform the very way we think of ourselves, for that reason it allows us to become and be seen the way we desire to be. A popular contemporary medium for transformation is found in the ability of an individual to build a web page on the internet. It offers a unique opportunity to write ones self on a global stage and for the author to believe about their identity. Generating such pages offers an exceptional chance for self-presentations in relation to several dimensions of social and individual identity to which one chooses to allude. We seek to be as straightforward as we would like to present ourselves to the human race. This technology is greatly about viewing ourselves a certain way, as it is about having other people view us. By abstracting oneself onto a web page, one sets a target to which one must stand true. It is understandable that due to the contemporary media with which we engage it is more likely that instead of achieving, experiencing and learning our identity, we are more likely to purchase and use our identity. Since personality is largely a subject of outward behavior and appearance, individuals begin to use consumption as a means of creating a social self. Thus identity becomes constructed, rather then exposed and variable, rather than preset. A fundamental support in the construction of identity is fashion. The problem with this type of construction is that by dressing a certain way, the fashion industry offers a new you. In acquiring certain styles of fashion and particular brands, people consequently relate themselves with the meanings embedded in those goods. These modified meanings thereby become piece of the perceived self. It creates a fake ideology, a mask for one in which one can change who they are by means of changing the way they dress. For example, Jerry Seinfeld i s backing up American Express Michael, Paul Reiser wants you to use ATT, and Jordan is selling you Gatorade. Why do these famous stars emerge on commercials and show up in ads? The idea is to subliminally give the product traits that it never even deserves, like wealth, fame, and even success. When you see Michael Jordan drink that Gatorade and then go for a 360 slam-dunk, they desire you to think that, Hey maybe if I drink Gatorade, I can turn into as great a basketball player as Michael Jordan. Now when you see someone like Jerry Seinfeld with American Express, they want you to think, If somebody as prestigious and successful as Jerry Seinfeld adores American Express, then it MUST be a great card to have. Besides the less obvious, there is just the fact that someone needs a famous celebrity to present and sell their product, rather than some ordinary person who holds no social figure in society. Society and mass media are primarily split between different desires, interests, and engagements, and so is the subject. There is an essential lack between personal identity and identification with the mass media: a gap that prevents identification from ending up in a state of clean identity. Identity is a case of building and articulation because as individuals we do not have a definite position in our social structure. We create identity in relation to those surrounding us and much of the cause for our own uncertainty about our identity is because the nature of society is endlessly changing. As beings that innately desire to be accepted, the way in which other people view and judge us has become of great importance. Hence as individual we all try to be as well as manage to conform to the ideas extended by the media. This is due to the detail that there is a need to feel part of a group, a want to feel as though one belongs, and to improve ones identity in the eyes of others. Studies report that communication allows young people to facilitate social involvement and thereby make a recognizable identity. Contemporary society and mass media produces the end of the individual, and encourages conformity. The mass media are responsible for brain washing the people of the paradox, your identity is only individual when it is the same as everybody else. The media operates as a needle which injects attitudes, ideas, and beliefs into the viewers who as a defenseless mass have little choice but to be influenced. As an outcome identities are assembled from the material generated by the media. The mass media establishments do have the authority to set the agenda, to select, to frame, to classify and to define appropriate issues. Consequently, media communication is a prearranged activity, which frames the social reality in accordance with the dominant ideology. The meanings that are collected from the media do not have to be final but are open to refashioning and reshaping. Ultimately we only get to choose from a selected few issues which reflect the interests of capitalists and large corporations. It is from these narrow issues that an individual assembles their identity. Certain standards and ideologies are imposed unto us, with no opposing views to counteract their influence. Thus, we can only illustrate from the cultural collection accessible to us. Mass communication can influence cognitive change amongst individuals, mentally order and manage the world for us and also plainly create conflict or violence between people in society. Therefore, authorities or interest groups who have enormous control on media especially the government, newspaper and television program producers need a proper consideration for media use as well as being accountable for consequences. Evidently the modern media penetrates everything that we bump into in our everyday life. The author of Understanding Power the Indispensable Chomsky, Chomsky showed how the conventional press is run by the political economy and how the spectator is made into a pawn. The author constructs a propaganda model in which he exposes how the government exploits the media to implement control over the people. The mass media, therefore, is a business tool that is used to program the population. The spectator is told what kind of desire he/she must have. The messages we obtain are selective, diverse, and contradictory. It is through the magazines, television, news papers and the internet that, at its disposal, society has a great deal of resources accessible to them. There is no such thing as a set identity; it is negotiable and constantly being altered in order to keep up with the altering nature of society as identity is assembled in relation to others. The media supplies us with tools, allowing us to develop into the person we want to be, and fit in with those around us. In my opinion media is a reflection of society, not the other way around. So if we want to really deal with violence, we should to start with ourselves, not with the media that is basically showing us the world as it is. You cant blame TV and music for all the unconstructive things that people do. Its the persons responsibility to be interpreting the message the correct way. You cant deny the fact that media does project wrong images towards young people but its how they interpret the messages and act in response to them thats important. Parents should explain to their kids that most of the stuff on TV is fictional. The majority of us watch TV; but most for people, these messages and images do not elicit nor drive impulsive behavior. However, because media has a huge impact on society, whatever is displayed and conveyed has a great effect on people, especially on younger minds. I think that violence and sex on TV and in music is used as the lone scapegoat as crime arises. The crime can only be blamed on the individual. Eminem and Marilyn Manson have the right to speak what they wish, people have the right to listen or not listen. But, no one has the right to murder. And if someone does commit murder, I dont think music, or violence that they see or listen to can or should be solely responsible for their crime. Is censorship the response to the problem of violent entertainment? Should we tell people what they can or cant read or watch? The simple respond to this question is no, we cant censor violent entertainment. Because of freedom of speech but there is a fair ratings system which works most of the time. Rappers, writers, performers, and singers write based on their life and what has gone on in it. A rapper raps with reference to poverty, shootings, and robberies, why? Because thats what the majority of them lived through. Eminem raps about things that board his nerves. Why? Because he lives with those feelings and emotions. People who use these artists as reasons to be brutal are wrong. Music and TV do not commit crime its the society and the people themselves. Thus I believe that although the media plays an essential role in defining who we are and establishing our identities, it does not govern our actions. 1. Parenti, Michael. Inventing Reality- Politics of News Media: St. Oartins Press, 1993. 2. Chomsky, Noam; Mitchell, Peter. Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomsky, 2002. 3. Lorimer, Rowland. Mass Communication in Canada, 1996. 4. Kilbourne, Jean. Killing Us Softly. (Video)

gdp analysis :: essays research papers

U.S. Economic Outlook: 2005-06 GDP Analysis   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In order to ensure competent and accurate forecasts for both 2005 and 2006, I obtained GDP information from a few different sources. Accessing the information without having to register at a â€Å"nominal† fee was a bit interesting at times, but nonetheless I found a couple of sites that all forecasted GDP and all of it’s components within a tenth of a percent of each other.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The one I found easiest to follow and analyze was the TD Quarterly Economic Forecast that I accessed at their website, www.td.com/economics. According to information provided here and enclosed information from Reuter’s and Comerica, Real GDP growth is expected to tail off from about 4.4% in 2004 to 3.2% by the end of 2006. All three of these articles identified 2004 as the best year for our economy growth wise in the current business cycle by far. Consumer spending and business investment growth are predicted to decline pretty sharply over the next two years, while the housing / residential construction sector is expected to show negative growth. This, in itself may be an indication that there may be a reverse trend in the property / real estate market, bringing prices down and keeping that market honest. All of these forecasts are contributing factors to the predicted dip in both final domestic demand as well as final sales. Good news though is that export growth is expected to increase, which will reduce the amount of growth in imports, directly correlating to a drop in the nation’s unemployment rate. Increasing the number of jobs will infiltrate more money on the domestic front and eventually serve as a shot in the arm to a parched economy. All in all the U.S. economy is in pretty good shape and here to stay. Optimally, we would like to see this year and next build upon last year’s incredible figures and shoot consumer spending further through the roof.

Advertising to Children Notes Essay

* Children cannot comprehend advertising messages due to their young age. * Children don’t understand persuasive intent until they are eight or nine years old and that it is unethical to advertise to them before then. According to Karpatkin and Holmes from the Consumers Union, â€Å"Young children, in particular, have difficulty in distinguishing between advertising and reality in ads, and ads can distort their view of the world. † Additionally children are unable to evaluate advertising claims. Beder, 1998) * Older children pay less attention to advertisements and are more able to differentiate between the ads and TV programs but they are also easy prey for advertisers. Around puberty, in their early teens, children are forming their own identities and they are â€Å"highly vulnerable to pressure to conform to group standards and mores. † At this age they feel insecure and want to feel that they belong to their peer group. Advertising manipulates them through their insecurities, seeking to define normality for them; influencing the way they â€Å"view and obtain appropriate models for the adult world;† and undermining â€Å"fundamental human values in the development of the identity of children. † Advertisements actively encourage them to seek happiness and esteem through consumption. (Beder, 1998) * Younger children often do not understand the persuasive intent of advertisements, and even older children probably have difficulty understanding the intent of newer marketing techniques that blur the line between commercial and program content. Calvert, 2008) * One key area in research on the effect of advertising on children has been analysis of age-based changes in children’s ability to understand commercial messages, particularly their intent. Before they reach the age of eight, children believe that the purpose of commercials is to help them in their purchasing decisions; they are unaware that commercials are designed to persuade them to buy specific products. The shifts that take place in children’s understanding of commercial intent are better explained using theories of cognitive development. Calvert, 2008) * During the stage of preoperational thought, roughly from age two to age seven, young children are perceptually bound and focus on properties such as how a product looks. Young children also use animistic thinking, believing that imaginary events and characters can be real. For instance, during the Christmas season, television is flooded with commercials that foster an interest in the toys that Santa will bring in his sleigh pulled by flying reindeer. Young children â€Å"buy in† to these fantasies and the consumer culture they represent. Preoperational modes of thought put young children at a distinct disadvantage in understanding commercial intent and, thus, in being able to make informed decisions about requests and purchases of products. (Calvert, 2008) * With the advent of concrete operational thought, between age seven and age eleven, children begin to understand their world more realistically. They understand, for example, that perceptual manipulations do not change the underlying properties of objects. More important, they begin to go beyond the information given in a commercial and grasp that the intent of advertisers is to sell products. By the stage of formal operational thought, about age twelve and upward, adolescents can reason abstractly and understand the motives of advertisers even to the point of growing cynical about advertising. (Calvert, 2008) * Increased use of the Internet to target children offers increasing opportunities for advertisers to convey their messages. * A new arena for advertising is the Internet. It is estimated that about four million children are using the Internet worldwide and this figure is bound to increase dramatically over the next few years. Beder, 1998) * As the enormous increase in the number of available television channels has led to smaller audiences for each channel, digital interactive technologies have simultaneously opened new routes to narrow cast to children, thereby creating a growing media space just for children and children’s products. (Calvert, 2008) * Newer marketing approaches have led to online advertising and to so-called stealth marketing techniques, such as embedding products in the program content in films, online, and in video games. Calvert, 2008) * Television has long been the staple of advertising to children and youth. Children view approximately 40,000 advertisements each year. The products marketed to children— sugarcoated cereals, fast food restaurants, candy, and toys—have remained relatively constant over time. But marketers are now directing these same kinds of products to children online. (Calvert, 2008) * Rapid growth in the number of television stations and online venues has also led advertisers to market directly to children and youth. Because children and youth are heavy media users and early adopters of newer technologies, media marketing and advertising campaigns using both television and newer media are efficient pathways into children’s homes and lives. Although television is still the preferred medium for reaching children and youth, marketers are exploring how to reach this age group online using cell phones, iPods, game platforms, and other digital devices. Banner ads, for example, which resemble traditional billboard ads but market a product across the top of an Internet page, appear on most webpages. And â€Å"advergames† integrate products such as cereal and candy into online video games to sell products to youth. (Calvert, 2008) * Although television is still the dominant venue for advertising, marketers are exploring new ways to market to children and adolescents through online media and wireless devices, often using stealth techniques whereby consumers are immersed in branded environments, frequently without knowing that they are being exposed to sophisticated marketing campaigns. Marketers carefully analyze children and adolescents’ interest patterns, focusing on games for â€Å"tweens,† as well as communication software for teens. Tracking these patterns provides extensive information that marketers now analyze in aggregate form, but that can, in the future, be used for one-on-one relational marketing strategies directed at specific individuals. (Calvert, 2008) * Online interactive agents are a virtual form of stealth advertising. Marketers program robots, or bots, to reply? to surfers who initiate a conversation. Such bots are programmed to respond to users in a one-on-one relational way that builds brand loyalty, as for instance, with virtual bartenders who â€Å"talk† to those who visit their sites. These alcohol-related websites feature humor, games, and hip language to appeal to minors. (Calvert, 2008) * Many companies have realized that children, particularly tweens and teens, enjoy using technology for education, communication, and entertainment purposes. The Internet allows tweens and teens to become involved with, explore, and learn about products when and where they want to (Schumann and Thorson, 2007). * Some marketers suggest that the best way to engage children through the Internet is by the use of ‘viral’ or buzz marketing strategies that encourage children to email their avourite commercials and other product information to each other (Schumann and Thorson, 2007). As the Internet has continued to grow in prominence and commercial strength, concerns about this medium have grown accordingly, particularly as they relate to children and teens (Schumann and Thorson, 2007). * Typically, these concerns focus around issues of time spent on the Internet and its effect on intellectual and social development, the vulnerability of children to advertisers’ tactics and children’s access to inappropriate content (Schumann and Thorson, 2007). One of the concerns often voiced about children and Internet advertising is how much time children are exposed to advertising messages while online and also how much attention they pay to these messages (Schumann and Thorson, 2007). * Because exposure to Internet advertising is not regulated like advertising on broadcast television, there is concern about the amount of exposure that a child may have to advertising messages. On television, a single advertisement for a single brand may last 30-60 seconds before switching to another advertisement. On the internet, however, a child can spend hours on a single web site playing games, chatting to friends, catching up on product news, all while being continually exposed to a range of persuasive messages for that brand (Schumann and Thorson, 2007). * While television and other media have long been used to sell to children, the Internet presents some important differences. For example, television advertisers are asked to maintain a clear separation between content and advertising; Internet advertisers are not. And television advertisers are prohibited from using their corporate logos both as content and pitchmen at the same time; Internet advertisers face no such restrictions. As a result, Tony the Tiger has free rein among the games, quizzes and activities on Kellogg’s site, while on television he is restricted to station breaks (Carleton, 2000). * Today, children spend an estimated $130 million annually, and influence another $500 million in household purchases. And the Internet is a great place to reach those young consumers (Carleton, 2000). * Unlike traditional media, the Internet allows children and adolescents to access different kinds of content, and a specific characteristic is that this can be done in privacy, without the knowledge of parents (Marshall, 2010). * The most influential sources of information for children today making decisions and keeping contact with peers are media, meaning that children receive far more information from media than from parents and schools. This phenomenon has been called ‘the parallel school of media’, which means that children and adolescents will daily use up several hours on various media (Marshall, 2010). * Children can very quickly adopt and use new media technology and companies and advertising agencies are extremely innovative and creative when it is a question of targeting children with commercial messages (Marshall, 2010). * Children are targeted because of the amount of money they spend on themselves, the influence they have on their parents and because of the money they will spend when they grow up (three different markets). Young children are increasingly the target of advertising and marketing because of the amount of money they spend themselves, the influence they have on their parents spending (the nag factor) and because of the money they will spend when they grow up. (Beder, 1998) * Children represent three different markets. In addition to the direct money that children spend and the money they influence, children also represent a third major market and perhaps the most significant and that is the future market. Advertisers recognise that brand loyalties and consumer habits formed when children are young and vulnerable will be carried through to adulthood. (Beder, 1998) * In Australia, children under 18 have an average $31. 60 to spend each week and they influence more than 70 per cent of their parents’ clothes and fast food purchases. (Beder, 1998) * Both the discretionary income of children and their power to influence parent purchases have increased over time. (Calvert, 2008) * The affluence of today’s children and adolescents has made youth a market eminently worthy of pursuit by businesses. Calvert, 2008) * Evolution of a child consumer. (Beder, 1998) – From age 1: Accompanying Parents and Observing. Children are taken with their parents to supermarkets and other stores where all sorts of goodies are displayed. By the time a child can sit erect, he or she is placed in his or her culturally defined observation post high atop a shopping cart. From this vantage point the child stays safety in proximity to parents but can see for the first time the wonderland of marketing. – From age 2: Accompanying Parents and Requesting. Children begin to ask for things that they see and make connections between television advertising and store contents. They pay more attention to those ads and the list of things they want increases. At the same time, the youngster is learning how to get parents to respond to his or her wishes and wants. This may take the form of a grunt, whine, scream, or gesture–indeed some tears may be necessary–but eventually almost all children are able on a regular basis to persuade Mom or Dad to buy something for them. – From age 3: Accompanying Parents and Selecting with Permission. Children are able to come down from the shopping trolley and make their own choices. They are able to recognise brands and locate goods in the store. At this point the child has completed many connections, from advertisements to wants, to stores, to displays, to packages, to retrieval of want-satisfying products. For many parents this is a pleasing experience. Ditto for the marketers, for it signals the beginning of the child’s understanding of the want-satisfaction process in a market-driven society. – From age 4: Accompanying Parents and Making Independent Purchases. The final step in their development as a consumer is learning to pay for their purchases at the checkout counter. – From age 5: Going to the Store Alone and Making Independent Purchases. – By the age of eight children make most of their own buying decisions. * Integrating a variety of different theoretical perspectives, Patti Valkenburg and Joanne Cantor advanced a developmental model? of how children become consumers * In the first stage (birth to two years), toddlers and infants have desires and preferences, but they are not yet true consumers because they are not yet truly goal-directed in their product choices. During the second stage (two to five years), preschoolers nag and negotiate, asking for and even demanding certain products. At this point in their development, young children do not understand the persuasive intent of commercials; they focus on the attractive qualities of products and cannot keep their minds off the products for long. These developmental characteristics make them extremely vulnerable to commercial advertisements. By the end of this stage, children replace whining and throwing tantrums to get a desired product with more effective negotiation. In early elementary school (five to eight years), children reach the stage of adventure and first purchases. They begin to make clearer distinctions between what is real and what is imaginary, their attention spans are longer, and they make their first purchases outside the company of their parents. * In the final stage (eight to twelve years), elementary school children are attuned to their peer groups’ opinions. Their critical skills to assess products emerge, and their understanding of others’ emotions improves considerably. In the later years of this stage, interest shifts from toys to more adult-like products, such as music and sports equipment. Although children’s consumer behaviors continue to develop during the adolescent years, the foundation is laid in these early years with a progression from simple wants and desires to a search to fulfill those desires to making in- dependent choices and purchases to evaluating the product and its competition * (All Beder, 1998). The ability of elementary children to recognize both traditional online advertising such as banner and button ads and embedded advertising that is part of advergames seems to be limited. With only about a third of the children able to accurately identify advertising, a large percentage is left unable to identify advertising content. * Children’s culture is increasingly dominated and defined by market interests, as advertisers, children’s industries, and other producers of consumer goods clamour to capture the hearts, minds and pocketbooks of this profitable demographic. * The creation of online communities and spaces for children and youth has thus become a growing and lucrative endevour for many media, toy and food companies. This article provides a critical analysis of one such online community called NeoPets, whose premise is that users create or adopt a virtual pet to nuture. * Acquisition of currency (called ‘NeoPoints’), gained by playing various games, exchanging or selling items, filling out marketing surveys, and entering contests and games of chance, allows for the purchase o pet food and other virtual consumer products. * Neopets is part of a landscape of global, youthful, digital entertainment products that have emerged with the Internet and technological convergence. In its few years of operation, 16 million users have created Neopets. According to promotional material, Neopets is one of the fastest growing Internet youth communities. * The neopets site generates revenue through a strategy it calls ‘immersive marketing’, a scheme similar to product placement in films. Food manufacturers and entertainment giants have thus flocked to neopets, eager to reach this youthful market through insinuation of their brand in games and activities on the site. * Neopets generates a substantial part of its revenue by providing market research and consumer studies of its users. The neopets website exemplifies the new ‘children’s digital media culture’- a culture which fosters deepening levels of intimacy between marketer and children by dissolving traditional barriers between ‘content and commerce’. * In neopia, products and brand names are integrated within the many games and features that are part of the rich content on the site. Advertisers and entertainment companies such as Walt Disney, McDonalds and Mattel have flocked to Neopets, eager to reach the tween and teen market. * The majority of neopets users are under 18 years of age, with 39% below the age of 12 and 40% between 13-17 years old. Neopets conforms to modern conventions found in Saturday-morning cartoon series, comics, children’s advertising and product design: the use of a brightly coloured palate, with a predominance of primary and secondary colours, and highly-stylized ‘bubbly’ graphics. * Immersive advertising directly integrates a sponsor’s product or service into the activities available with in the site. Advertisers hope that immersive advertising campaigns will encourage children to play with the products, thus enabling them to later identify their brand. As children and youth continue to expand their access and presence on the Internet, they adopt participatory roles in the creation of online content and contribute in meaningful ways to online environments, including games and communities. * As children are sucked into the commercial marker in an increasingly competitive cradle-to-grave branding strategy, neopets strategy of immersive advertising amidst a fantastical community concerned with the ethos of acquisition and entrepreneurialism as entertainment provides a salient example of ‘childhood as a cultural space constituted by consumerism’. Neopets global marketing strategy of cross-media licensing and integrated marketing is a blatant example of branding children’s media environments. Slapping consumer culture onto children’s culture means we are denying children a degree of autonomy and agency in creating their own spaces.

Paint Your Wagon

Paint Your Wagon (1969) is a musical movie adaptation of the stage play musical of the same title by Lerner and Lowe. The movie is set in California during the gold-rush era and stars the Lee Marvin as Ben Rumson, Clint Eastwood as â€Å"Pardner† (Julio in the stage play) and Jean Seaberg as Elizabeth. The movie details how a small tent-city (No-Name-City) becomes suddenly populated when Ben (Marvin) discovers gold in the soil. The story is complicated by the arrival of other characters such as the Mormon with two wives – one of which he auctions off (Elizabeth) to Ben.A love triangle forms when Ben leaves to kidnap seven â€Å"French tarts† from a neighboring town and leaves Elizabeth in the care of Pardner. The two eventually fall in love and comes up with a strange arrangement of sorts through Elizabeth’s convincing argument that if a man can have two wives, surely a woman can have two husbands. Everything bodes well until the gold starts to dwindle and in desperation, Ben and the other miners decide to mine under the buildings believing that gold is dropping through the floorboards.This eventually leads to the destruction of the town, the abandonment of the settler’s and Ben’s renewed search for prospective land. The movie offers a (musical and colorful) window into the phenomenon known as the North-American western frontier that occurred as a result of North-America’s newly attained independence and the formation of the United States. The movie, through its comical portrayal of the gold-rush, demonstrated the Laissez-faire or free trade trend of modern American economics.This is demonstrated by the free and unregulated movement of settlers of the town of No-Name-City who are all looking for gold. The economy during this time was one of risk taking and speculation, which accounts for the migrant behavior of settlers and prospectors, risking resources traveling through the great plains of America in search of fortune and lands to reclaim (Effects of the American Frontier). Another aspect of the frontier era that the movie offers a window to is in the area of Politics and social tolerance.The movie offers a glimpse on Frontier politics through the portrayal of how the settlers of No-Name-City keep order. The movie demonstrates how the political system can be individualized, with people and leaders dealing with situations as they are encountered and making the best of the situation (Effects of the American Frontier). Social tolerance in the movie is demonstrated in the way that cultures and races can freely mix in the settlements formed in the movie (e. g. the mixing of Mormons, Americans, French etc. ).This is highly representative how the frontier era was highly racially and culturally tolerant. Lastly the movie also offers a glimpse into the stature of women during the frontier era. This is demonstrated through the character of Elizabeth. Though in the beginning of the movie her charact er was marginalized, even reduced to mere property (through the auctioning) she establishes that women are somewhat equal in status with men when she manages to convince the two male protagonists that she too can also avail of â€Å"privileges† reserved for men in the way that she too can have two husbands.This is reflective of how, during the frontier era women were treated as practically equals since in the wild west, with nature offering constant challenges to the settling population, women were expected to perform roles similar to those of men (Effects of the American Frontier). Work Cited â€Å"Effects of the American Frontier. † Cyberessays. com. 11 December 2008

Free Essays on Al Capone - Chicago

Al Capone: His Treatment of the Chicago Public â€Å"Is it better to be loved or feared?† Calagero asks Sonny, a fictional crime boss, in Chazz Palmentari’s â€Å"A Bronx Tale†. Sonny goes on to tell Calagero that both are necessary to keep control, and also that he treats his men well. One thing Sonny does point out, however, is that he doesn’t treat his men too well or else they wouldn’t need him anymore. Both of these ideas must have been sparked by Al Capone’s control of Chicago during the roaring twenties. Capone was not only labeled â€Å"Public Enemy #1† by the press, but also somewhat of an American Hero by the average Chicago citizen. â€Å"I give the public what the public wants† Capone once told a reporter. This may have been true in some sense, but using the word â€Å"give† doesn’t give the true essence of what this man did to society. For a person to be considered a true hero they must, by definition, display four main personality traits: strength of character, integrity, selflessness, and an unfaltering courage. Now I’m sure that you could twist each of these around until you could easily relate them to what Capone did, but the fact of the matter is he wasn’t an American Hero. He was nothing more than a mob boss who broke the law, corrupted city officials and turned â€Å"The Windy City† into â€Å"Sin City†. Furthermore, the truth is he never helped the public, he merely took their money and used a small percentage of it to open up things such as soup kitchens just to make it look like he was helping them. Capone was born in 1899 in Brooklyn, New York. He was the fourth of nine children born to Gabriele and Teresina Capone, and the first of them to be both born and conceived in the United States. There was nothing out of ordinary in the Capone household. Gabriele was a barber, working normal hours and spending time with his children when not at work. Teresina, besides taking care of her nine chil... Free Essays on Al Capone - Chicago Free Essays on Al Capone - Chicago Al Capone: His Treatment of the Chicago Public â€Å"Is it better to be loved or feared?† Calagero asks Sonny, a fictional crime boss, in Chazz Palmentari’s â€Å"A Bronx Tale†. Sonny goes on to tell Calagero that both are necessary to keep control, and also that he treats his men well. One thing Sonny does point out, however, is that he doesn’t treat his men too well or else they wouldn’t need him anymore. Both of these ideas must have been sparked by Al Capone’s control of Chicago during the roaring twenties. Capone was not only labeled â€Å"Public Enemy #1† by the press, but also somewhat of an American Hero by the average Chicago citizen. â€Å"I give the public what the public wants† Capone once told a reporter. This may have been true in some sense, but using the word â€Å"give† doesn’t give the true essence of what this man did to society. For a person to be considered a true hero they must, by definition, display four main personality traits: strength of character, integrity, selflessness, and an unfaltering courage. Now I’m sure that you could twist each of these around until you could easily relate them to what Capone did, but the fact of the matter is he wasn’t an American Hero. He was nothing more than a mob boss who broke the law, corrupted city officials and turned â€Å"The Windy City† into â€Å"Sin City†. Furthermore, the truth is he never helped the public, he merely took their money and used a small percentage of it to open up things such as soup kitchens just to make it look like he was helping them. Capone was born in 1899 in Brooklyn, New York. He was the fourth of nine children born to Gabriele and Teresina Capone, and the first of them to be both born and conceived in the United States. There was nothing out of ordinary in the Capone household. Gabriele was a barber, working normal hours and spending time with his children when not at work. Teresina, besides taking care of her nine chil...

Investment theory- The concept of Duration Essay

Investment theory- The concept of Duration - Essay Example However, those with good mathematical understanding are made to understand the concepts behind bond duration through some proven mathematical formula, and this imply the correlation between changes in the bond values and the fluctuations in the interest rates. There are two basic applications of the duration principles and these greatly vary with the kind of risk involved as well as the investment strategy put in place. Duration could be used as a measure of bond values persistent investors or those willing to take deadly business risks. Such investors are known to embrace active business strategies and benefit from the anticipated alterations or fluctuations in the interest rates due to changes in the bond durations. However, for non risk takers, duration act as a tool of protecting bond values from certain fluctuations due to fluctuations in the interest rates. Bond protection in this case is kind of a assurance that the bond value is likely to remain stable irrespective of changes in the prevailing interest rates, hence it encourage investors to buy certain bonds as they are not scared of changes in interest rates. Majority of financial analysts assumes that the graph of bond prices verses interest rates is flat, meaning there is major effects of fluctuations in the interest rates on bond prices, and this is not correct as various mathematical formulas can be employed to certify this. ... This method applies the basic mechanical principles to verify the relationship between duration and changes or fluctuations in bond prices. Various sketches of a flagpole could be used to give different visuals to represent the differences in bond durations, which is also associated to the changes in center of gravity of various physical objects (flagpoles). Each object has a single center of gravity, and the same principle is applied to explain the single accumulation of bonds’ value after certain duration. Stable objects tend to have a lower center of gravity and the same applies to stable bonds or rather those with stable values which tend to have a shorter duration. This concept could also be explained using Macaulay duration formulae which is weighted average of maturity bond , attained from this formula = [?tCFt/(1+k)t]/ ?CFt/(1+k)t , where D is the Macaulay duration, t is time period in months or years, n is the maturity periods, K is the prevailing market interest rate s, CF is the cash flow. The formula is an indication that bond duration is subject of four basic factors namely; bond maturity (n), coupon size (C), value of each bond (M) and the prevailing interest rates in the market (k). However, changes in M are usually not included in the analysis in major occasions. The above formula would work well with students with different majors in mathematics or those with deep mathematical understanding. For students with poor mathematical understanding, the concepts of bond durations could be demonstrated using various images of flagpoles. Bond maturity could be represented with the length of the flagpole; the flagpole diameter represents the annual coupon

The Pros and Cons of the No Child Left Behind Act Essay

The Pros and Cons of the No Child Left Behind Act - Essay Example Yet, along with the greater emphasis put on student performance has come nationwide accountability and the unethical measures that school districts have implemented to meet the new federal guidelines. The NCLB Act was designed primarily to aid poor, minority, and immigrant students by implementing testing standards and assuring no child was falling through the cracks and being left behind. To support this effort, the bill appropriated $650 million to be used by the states to instruct English language learners. This was a 50% increase in funding for these efforts over previous years (Crawford). In an era when education funding has suffered from so many cutbacks, the additional funding was a decided benefit for schools, especially with high immigrant populations. However, the new formula used to distribute the money resulted in the least populated states, such as North Dakota and Alaska, receiving a reduction in funding. This has resulted in fewer English Learner programs for Native Americans that are enrolled in public schools in these states (Crawford). The NCLB Act requires that all students be tested at regular intervals to measure their progress in Math and English. School district funding and administrative control are dependent on acceptable results of this testing. This approach is well intentioned and can benefit the student by holding the schools accountable to their purpose, teaching the students. While the results of this testing have been unimpressive for the general student population, it has benefited students in the lower grades that are enrolled in an English Language Learner program (National Center for Educational Statistics). While forcing the schools to produce results, especially among the most challenged students, the Act has also had unintended consequences in this area. Because school funding is based on these results, districts have been anxious to exploit loopholes that may exempt many students from the testing requirements. During the most recent reporting period it was reported that the scores of two mill ion students were omitted due to technicalities. These were the poorest performing students and it can be inferred that they were minority and immigrant students, the ones that NCLB was written to protect. (Bass, Dixon, and Feller). The NCLB has given the education system uniform guidelines and standards that can be used to compare our past performance and gauge the success of our schools. It helps to identify which programs work and which ones fail. The goal of testing all students fairly is a great advantage if implemented correctly. However, when school funding, bonuses, and school control depend on the results of these tests, it becomes known as High Stakes Testing. Teachers are put in a position to "teach the test" at the expense of other equally important material. Measuring student progress may become meaningless under the current guidelines as Armein and Berliner report, "... the harder teachers work to directly prepare students for a high-stakes test, the less likely the test will be valid for the purposes it was intended". It has also been reported that Latino students have been encouraged to drop out of school to avoid taking the test in a school's effort to raise overall test