Profile of Amelia Bloomer

Amelia Jenks Bloomer, an editor, and writer advocating for women’s rights  and temperance is known as a promoter of dress reform.  Bloomers are named for her reform efforts.  She lived from  May 27, 1818, to December 30, 1894. Early Years Amelia Jenks was born in Homer, New York. Her father, Ananias Jenks, was a clothier, and her mother was Lucy Webb Jenks.  She attended public school there. At seventeen, she became a teacher.  In 1836, she moved to Waterloo, New York, to serve as a tutor and governess. Marriage and Activism She married in 1840. Her husband, Dexter C. Bloomer, was an attorney. Following the model of others including Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the couple did not include the wife’s promise to obey in the marriage ceremony. They moved to Seneca Falls, New York, and he became the editor of the Seneca County Courier. Amelia began writing for several local papers.  Dexter Bloomer became the postmaster of Seneca Falls, and Amelia served as his assistant. Amelia became more active in the temperance movement.  She also was interested in women’s rights and participated in the 1848 woman’s rights convention in her home town of Seneca Falls. The following year, Amelia Bloomer founded a temperance newspaper of her own, the Lily, to give women in the temperance movement a voice, without the domination of men in most temperance groups.  The paper started out as an eight-page monthly. Amelia Bloomer wrote most of the articles in the Lily.  Other activists including Elizabeth Cady Stanton also contributed articles.  Bloomer was considerably less radical in her support of women’s suffrage than her friend Stanton was, believing that women must â€Å"gradually prepare the way for such a step† by their own actions. She also insisted that advocating for temperance not take a back seat to advocate for the vote. The Bloomer Costume Amelia Bloomer also heard of a new costume that promised to liberate women from the long skirts that were uncomfortable, inhibited movement and dangerous around household fires. The new idea was a short, full skirt, with so-called Turkish trousers underneath – full trousers, gathered at the waist and ankles. Her promotion of the costume brought her national renown, and eventually, her name became attached to the â€Å"Bloomer costume.† Temperance and Suffrage In 1853, Bloomer opposed a proposal by Stanton and her collaborator, Susan B. Anthony, that the New York Women’s Temperance Society be opened to men. Bloomer saw the work for temperance as particularly important a task for women. Succeeding in her stand, she became the corresponding secretary for the society. Amelia Bloomer lectured around New York in 1853 on temperance, and later in other states on women’s rights as well.  She sometimes spoke with others including Antoinette Brown Blackwell and Susan B. Anthony.  Horace Greeley came to hear her talk and reviewed her positively in his Tribune. Her unconventional costume helped attract larger crowds, but the attention on what she wore, she began to believe, detracted from her message. So she returned to conventional women’s attire. In December of 1853, Dexter and Amelia Bloomer moved to Ohio, to take up work with a reform newspaper, Western Home Visitor, with Dexter Bloomer as a part-owner. Amelia Bloomer wrote for both the new venture and for Lily, which was now published twice a month at four pages. The circulation of the Lily reached a peak of 6,000. Council Bluffs, Iowa In 1855, the Bloomers moved to Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Amelia Bloomer realized that she could not publish from there, as they were far from a railroad, so she would not be able to distribute the paper. She sold the Lily to Mary Birdsall, under whom it soon failed once Amelia Bloomer’s participation ceased. In Council Bluffs, the Bloomers adopted two children and raised them.  In the Civil War, Amelia Bloomer’s father  was killed at Gettysburg. Amelia Bloomer worked in Council Bluffs on temperance and suffrage. She was an active member in the 1870s of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, and wrote and lectured on temperance and prohibition. She also came to believe that the vote for women was key to winning prohibition. In 1869, she attended the American Equal Rights Association meeting in New York, which was followed by the splintering of the group into the National Woman Suffrage Association and the American Woman Suffrage Association. Amelia Bloomer helped found the Iowa Woman Suffrage Society in 1870. She was the first vice president and a year later assumed the presidency, serving until 1873. In the later 1870s, Bloomer had cut back considerably on her writing and lecturing and other public work.  She brought Lucy Stone, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton to speak in Iowa. She died in Council Bluffs at age 76.

Puberty Blues, By Film And My Own Society And Culture

When examining the 1980s film Puberty Blues, using techniques of content analysis and personal reflection, I have observed certain differences and similarities between the culture depicted in the film and my own society and culture. The subject of the film is the journey that two young people go on as they transition from adolescence into adulthood, I will be outlining what exactly that means. There are a number of societal concepts that have changed over time, these changes are clearly exhibited when comparing the culture of Puberty Blues to my own. One of these concepts is gender roles. In the film, gender roles are clearly defined, masculinity and femininity are two completely different sociatel constructs that must be followed. Gender roles provide the basis for the status quo, where boys are in charge and served by girls who are used and policed by boys. Girls behaviour is policed in that they cannot do anything that is strictly for boys, for example â€Å"Girls can’t surf!† and â€Å"Girl’s cant’ eat in front of boys† are two quotes from the movie that dictate how a girl must behave. Gender roles even transcend the social heirarchy, in that even the popular surfie girls are subject to being used by boys and told what to do. It even affects typical coming of age rites of passage, like when Debbie and Sue are drinking tequila and a boy goes â€Å"Tequila? Pretty strong stuff for a little girl.† It seems that to become a popular girl, you must assimilate into the feminine genderShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Movie Blue Is The Warmest Color 957 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"Blue is the Warmest Color† is one of the best films in my heart. I chose this film because it tells a special lesbian story and the story affected by society class a lot. Young love is always fresh and full of curiosit y and this story is full of non-normative sexuality. There are two main female characters Adele is more likely a simple traditional girl, she studies literature, thanks to the school education. Parental authority and constraints never get off her life. Her sexuality identity is normalRead MoreThe Impact of to Analyse Disney Movie and Understanding the Dominant Position in Children3134 Words   |  13 PagesConclusion----------------------------------------------------------------------- 10 7.0 Bibliography--------------------------------------------------------------------- 11 1.0 Introduction Socialization is a process of individuals become self-aware and learns the culture of their society. During the course of socialization, especially in the early years of life, children learn the ways of parent’s value, norm and social practices. Besides from parents, mass media plays an important role in shaping understanding of the worldRead MoreThe Impact of to Analyse Disney Movie and Understanding the Dominant Position in Children3142 Words   |  13 PagesConclusion----------------------------------------------------------------------- 10 7.0 Bibliography--------------------------------------------------------------------- 11 1.0 Introduction Socialization is a process of individuals become self-aware and learns the culture of their society. During the course of socialization, especially in the early years of life, children learn the ways of parent’s value, norm and social practices. Besides from parents, mass media plays an important role in shaping understanding of the worldRead MorePyschoanalytic Personalities Essay Notes9106 Words   |  37 Pagesintense; Adler resigned from his position as president of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society (as the group had come to be called) and ended all contact with it. The debates with the domineering Freud and other members of the group had, however, helped Adler think through his own emerging theory of personality. He soon started his own society, called the Society for Free Psychoanalysis (later changed to the Society for Individual Psychology). One of the central ways in which Adler’s views differedRead MoreCeramics: Pottery and Clay17443 Words   |  70 Pagesmanufacturing the base material and products is an integral part of Mediterranean history too. Pot making is one of humankinds first inventions and because of the durability of fired clay it remains one of the best records of the beginnings of culture. Even so the record fades the further back in time we look. The earliest known pot making dates to about 10,000 BC in parts of Asia with other evidence from the middle east dating to about 6,000 BC. Because of the difficulty in firing to higher temperaturesRead MoreSchool Violence9005 Words   |  37 PagesINTRODUCTION 1.1. Rationale School violence is not just an isolated issue that has now become a problem of the whole society. At all of schools have school violence? Different levels but both of urban and rural, plain and mountainous areas, the services related to school violence are on the rise. In every period of human life, the physical and psychological development and personality have their own rules. Adolescent teens but this is a very high stage of development of physical and psychological changes are

Impact of Cytosine Methylation on DNA-Free-Samples for Students

Question: Discuss about the Impact of Cytosine Methylation on DNA. Answer: Translating a sentence In the sentence In addition, mCpG dinucleotides can be recognized by a specific class of proteins, the methyl-CpG domainbinding proteins, some of which can recruit histone deacetylases and are thought to promote local chromatin condensation (Yin et al. 2017), the authors is explaining the indirect effects of DNA methylation on transcription. Certain proteins such as methyl-CpG domainbinding proteins behave as structural protein and recognize and bind to mCpG dinucleotides, which in turn recruit different histone deacetylases and cause chromatin condensation and finally suppressing gene transcription. Aim of the paper The aim of the paper Impact of cytosine methylation on DNA binding specificities of human transcription factors (Yin et al. 2017) is to examine the mechanism by which methylation of the cytosine affect the binding of transcription factors to the DNA. CpG methylation has both direct and indirect effects on the transcription. The methylation of cytosine causes change in the structure of the DNA, which in turn can prevent the binding of many transcriptional factors to their recognition motifs (Schbeler 2015). This paper analyses the binding of different transcription factors to their DNA sequences. It is a systematic analysis of all the different possible DNA sequences where the transcription factors can bind and hence determining its effect on gene expression. Annotating a figure Source: Yin et al. (2017) In the left panel of the above figure, the author is systematically analysing the affinity of different fragment of transcription factors towards CpG methylation with the help of SELEX technique sensitive to methylation. Different colours are used to indicate different fractions. The mechanism is explained with the help of HOXB13gene as shown in the right panel. It explains the structure of the HOXB13gene and its affinity towards CpG methylation. Predicting conclusion From the introduction of the paper, it is possible to deduce what the author is trying to conclude. This provides a clear idea to the reader of the work of the author. As given in the introduction, one can understand that the author is analysing the effect of the methylation of cytosine on the binding of transcription factors to DNA. However, it is not possible to deduce whether such methylation process has positive or negative effects on the DNA. Hence, it helps to capture the interest of the reader till the last page of the article (Cremers and Mauw 2012). Designing an experiment In the present paper, the author has explained the effect of cytosine methylation on the binding of transcription factors. CpG methylation is widely observed in prokaryotes and eukaryotes (Capuano et al. 2014). However, the effect of methylation on other nucleotide bases is still unknown. I will employ the same methods such as bisulphite sequencing and SELEX method as used by the author to determine the methylation status on other nucleotides and its effects. The comparison of the result obtained by the author with the result of my experiment will help to understand the reason behind the affinity of methylation towards 5' position of cytosine. References Capuano, F., Mu?lleder, M., Kok, R., Blom, H.J. and Ralser, M., 2014. Cytosine DNA methylation is found in Drosophila melanogaster but absent in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, and other yeast species.Analytical chemistry,86(8), pp.3697-3702. Cremers, C. and Mauw, S., (2012). Introduction, inOperational Semantics and Verification of Security Protocols, Springer, Berlin Heidelberg, 1-7. Schbeler, D., 2015. Function and information content of DNA methylation.Nature,517(7534), p.321. Yin, Y., Morgunova, E., Jolma, A., Kaasinen, E., Sahu, B., Khund-Sayeed, S., Das, P.K., Kivioja, T., Dave, K., Zhong, F. and Nitta, K.R., (2017). Impact of cytosine methylation on DNA binding specificities of human transcription factors.Science,356(6337): p.eaaj2239.

Thomas Stearns Eliot Essays (215 words) - T. S. Eliot,

Thomas Stearns Eliot T.S. Eliot was born in 1888 in St. Louis, MO. He is described as one of the most distinguished literary figures of the 20th centurey. Eliot studied at Harvard, the Sorbonne, and Oxford. In 1914 he established residence in London. After working as a teacher and a bank clerk, he began a publishing career; he was assistant editor of the Egoist (1917-1919) and edited his own quarterly, the Criterion (1922-1939). In 1925 he was employed by the publishing house of Faber and Faber, eventually becoming one of its directors. His first marriage, to Vivien Haigh-Wood was troubled and ended with their separation. His early poetical works-Prufrock and Other Observations (1917), Poems (1920), and The Waste Land (1922)-express the anguish of modern life and the isolation of the individual, particularly as reflected in the failure of love. The Waste Land compelled imediate critical attention. In his later poetry, notably Ash Wednesday (1930) and the Four Quartets (1935-1942), Eliot turned from spiritual desolation to hope for human salvation. He became Anglo-Catholic in 1927. Eliots plays include Murder in the Cathedral (1935), The Family Reunion (1939), The Cocktail Party (1950), The Confidential Clerk (1954) and The Elder Statesman (1959). His complet poems and plays appeared in 1969 and his letters in 1988. Thomas Stearns Eliot died in 1965 in London. Biographies

Sexual-Orientation Discrimination essays

Sexual-Orientation Discrimination essays Most workplaces have written business policies that are discussed frequently and openly and are expected to be followed. But unfortunately with this specific issue that is not always the case. A workplace issue can only be an issue if there are rules and regulations specifically stating the difference between right and wrong pertaining directly to the issue. When it comes to discrimination due to sexual orientation most states have yet to pass laws making it illegal to not-hire or to fire on the basis of sexual preference. Even when a company has a clear policy on sexual orientation discrimination, in most cases it seems the rules are being broken unintentionally due to lack of education on the issue. One of the first steps that need to be taken is to change what is currently wrong in todays corporations policies. The Human Rights Campaign Foundation made an effort to take the first step in August of this year. They did what is called a Corporate Equality Index, which polls corporations on policies that affect their gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees, consumers, and investors (Human Rights Campaign, 1). This poll is done to help the general public so they can better decide where to shop, work, and invest their money according to the companys policies. The results were based on whether companies had actual written policies on sexual orientation, offered health insurance to their employees same-sex partners and whether they decline to engage in activities that would undermine the goal of equal rights (Human Rights Campaign, 2). The most interesting part of this poll is the final criteria for the companies sore: whether or not they were willing to change their policies if they did not score well. It was amazing to find out that 92 % of the companies rated either did include these criteria in their companies policies or were willing to change accordi...

How to Cite a Book in AGLC Referencing

How to Cite a Book in AGLC Referencing How to Cite a Book in AGLC Referencing As a legal referencing system, AGLC has specific rules for citing cases and legislation. But what about other sources, like textbooks? These are known as secondary sources. And while you can cite them, the rules are a little different. Here, we look at how to cite a book with AGLC. Footnote References for a Book in AGLC AGLC indicates references using superscript numbers (e.g., 1, 2, 3) in the main text of your essay. These numbers point to a footnote, where you will need to provide full source information. To cite a book, for instance, you would need to include the following information in the first footnote: n. Author’s Name, Title of Book (Publisher, Edition, Year) Pinpoint. In the above, edition only applies if the book has more than one published version, while â€Å"pinpoint† refers to the specific page(s) cited. For instance: 1. Rory McJudge, Knowing the Law (NexusLexus, 2nd ed, 2014) 534. Here, we’ve included â€Å"2nd ed† to show that we’re citing the second edition. And the â€Å"534† at the end shows we’re citing page 534 of the source. If a source has four or more authors, meanwhile, simply name the first author followed by â€Å"et al† to indicate that other names have been excluded. Repeat Citations in AGLC To save duplicating information if you cite a source more than once, AGLC uses a shortened footnote format for repeat citations. The rules for this depend on whether you’re citing the same source twice in a row or returning to something after citing a different source: For consecutive citations of the same source (i.e., two or more citations in a row), use the Latin term â€Å"ibid,† which means â€Å"in the same place.† For non-consecutive citations, give the author’s surname and a bracketed cross reference to the first citation (e.g., â€Å"n 1† = first footnote). If you’re referring to a different part of the same text in either case, you should also give a new pinpoint reference. In practice, then, repeat citations of a source would look something like the following: 1. Rory McJudge, Knowing the Law (NexusLexus, 2nd ed, 2014) 534. 2. Ibid. 3. Navigation Act 2012 (Cth) s 14. 4. McJudge (n 1) 454. 5. Ibid, 243-244. Here, citations 2 and 5 are consecutive citations (i.e., they refer to the previously cited book). Citation 4, meanwhile, is a non-consecutive repeat citation of the book from footnote 1. If citing more than one source by the same author, moreover, you can use a shortened version of the title in non-consecutive citations to show which source you are citing. Books in an AGLC Bibliography As well as citing books in footnotes, AGLC requires you to add all sources to a bibliography at the end of your document. Books go in the first section (i.e., Articles, Books and Reports), listed alphabetically by author surname. The information you need to include here is similar to the first footnote, but with the author’s names inverted, no pinpoint reference, and no full stop: Surname, First Name/Initial, Title of Book (Publisher, Edition, Year) Thus, the bibliography entry for the book cited above would be: McJudge, Rory, Knowing the Law (NexusLexus, 2nd ed, 2014) If a source has more than one author, you should only reverse the names of the first person listed. And as with footnote references, sources with four or more authors should use â€Å"et al† after naming the first listed author to show that other contributors have been excluded. Hopefully, this post has cleared up the basics of citing a book in AGLC. If you need any help checking the referencing in a document, though, we can help.

Social networking and employee identities Essay

Social networking and employee identities - Essay Example For example, when used for recruitment purposes social networking sites may fail to meet all the necessary security requirements. In the workplace, where social networking is often used for promoting the communication between employees, similar security problems have appeared. The risks of social networking in regard to a particular security issue, the identity of its users, are explored in this paper. Reference is made, especially, to the identities of employees, as users of the social networking sites. The literature review related to this issue verifies the extensive use of social networking sites, as a tool of communication, in the workplace and the involvement of these sites in the hiring process. Also, the studies published in this field indicate the failures of social networking sites to offer to their users full protection of their identities. 2. Social Networking and Employee Identities Social networking sites are extensively used in the workplace. In the past, employees acc essed these sites just for entertainment reasons (Timm 2010). Today, social networking sites are officially used in the workplace for a variety of purposes: a) for improving the communication between employees in various organizational departments, b) for helping to the sharing of documents and other material between employees; the performance of e-mail in regard to such service can be low as problems in the central servers of the e-mail providers are common; c) for developing critical organizational activities; reference should be made, as examples, to the marketing and recruitment processes (Timm 2010). On the other hand, the benefits of social networking for organizations cannot be doubted. Indeed, social media can help businesses to improve their market image, to increase their customer base and to improve their communication with their customers (Society for Human Resource Management 2012). In addition, through social media employees are able to share their ideas and their conc erns in regard to the tasks assigned to them (Society for Human Resource Management 2012). However, in firms where employees use social media, the exposure of IT systems to various threats is quite high (Society for Human Resource Management 2012). The disadvantages of the use of social media, as related to the workplace could be described as follows: a) increased risk for ‘virus attacks and online scams’ (Society for Human Resource Management 2012), b) potential damages on organization’s reputation, a problem that usually results from the negative comments of employees in social networking sites (Society for Human Resource Management 2012) and c) decrease of employee performance; such problem exists in case that employees spend a lot of time ‘in updating their online profile’ (Society for Human Resource Management 2012). According to a survey published in 2011, currently a high percentage of employers, about 48.3% allow to their employees the use of social networking sites in work, even for non-business use (Fisher 2011, Figure 1, Appendices). It should be noted that a percentage of 25% of employers, a rather high percentage, prohibits any access to social media in work if the use is not made for covering business needs. On the other hand, a high percentage of employers, about 70.7% prefer to adjust the IT systems in the workplace so that the access to social networking

Strategic Management - BBC Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Strategic Management - BBC - Essay Example The corporation has indeed been trying hard to come up to the expectations by implementing changes from time to time. BBC provides a wide range of programs and services, including television, radio, webcasts, interactive applications with programmes serving, national, local, children’s, educational, language interests. SWOT Analysis Strengths ï‚ § BBC is on the broadcasting horizon since the days Radio was invented, i.e. it is the first corporation to make use of ‘Broadcasting’ technique. ï‚ § Even in today’s market driven dynamics, BBC has maintained a unique identity of serving the interests of public broadcasts over and above the interests of advertisers and stakeholders. ï‚ § It has a strong infrastructure with 10 TV channels, 10 radio channels and runs 33 radio language services around the world. ï‚ § The staff strength of around 27, 000. ï‚ § Since it was the first one having started the broadcasts, therefore the inherent advantage of being the first one off the block will remain always with BBC. ï‚ § It earns its operating finances from the licenses paid by the households. ï‚ § The corporation has the backing of the government. ï‚ § BBC Resources is one of the largest production facilities in the UK offering services which include studios, outside broadcasts, post production, design, costumes and wigs. ï‚ § BBC Training provides courses, tailored training and consultancy services to help individuals and companies working in broadcasting and related industries. ï‚ § BBC caters to a wide range of viewers across the globe with services like BBC America, BBC Canada, BBC Japan, BBC Food, BBC Kids (Canada), BBC Prime BBC World, Animal Planet, People+Arts, UKTV, UK.TV (Australia) The ability to do truthful introspection and admit its shortcomings. Weaknesses Functioning of the corporation is being criticized in the public domain for quite some time now. In the recent past, BBC has tried to incorporate too many changes with limited success. Many of the steps have invited sharp reactions from different quarters. Its share of viewership/ audiences is on a downslide for quite a while now. With the high percentage of repeat broadcasts it appears there is dearth of talent in the corporation. Though BBC is an autonomous broadcasting corporation, yet in the recent past it has been mired in controversies on account of its overtly pro-government stance particularly for handling the stories of Iraq war and West Bank stories. Differences between different departments within the corporation Its dependence on the License fee as the main source of financing the operations. Opportunities Onset of digital technology in the field of terrestrial as well as satellite broadcasting. In fact, BBC Radio pioneered the world's first national digital radio service in September 1995. Corporation sees the need for improving the role of governors, which will help the corporation in managing the affairs more impartially. New editorial policy makes the corporation to improve the quality of editorials and the news content. Large number of BBC fans all across the globe. The corporation can provide them with quality content and truthful analysis, to make way for increasing the number of listeners/ viewers. BBC's urge to come of the London centric mould by shifting some of its offices outside London. This will provide the corporation better and wider perspective. The web space provides a hunting ground for catering to almost all segments

Functionalism, Conflict, and Internationalism Essay Example for Free

Functionalism, Conflict, and Internationalism Essay The three theories I plan to discuss are Functionalism, Conflict, and Internationalism with education. The need for these theories is what actually makes the system in education work, with the teachers, parents, school boards and committees the institution of education continues to function. The first theory is Functionalism and is about the study by Lawrence Kohlberg. It has been forty-three years since Lawrence Kohlberg published his doctoral dissertation characterizing six stages of moral development and fourteen years since his death. During this period, much has been written that has discredited stage theory and the overarching use of justice as a first principle of moral development. Yet Kohlbergs evolving moral theory continues to be used as a theoretical basis for moral development research and to influence teacher education. While some educators have dismissed Kohlbergs approach as wooden and fossilized, it continues to be central to what teachers know about, and how they think about, moral development. 2] Indeed, one author suggests that every psychology textbook published in the last quarter-century touches upon Kohlbergs work. [3] This consistent message, coupled with continued public talk about character development and moral education in schools, makes it likely that Kohlbergs stage theory continues to influence classroom practice, consciously and unconsciously, across the United States, Henry, (2001). By exposing the structural-functionalist roots of Kohlbergs theory, this essay raises concerns about the application of Kohlbergs ideas in the classroom. Fundamentally, Kohlberg focuses on individual development, a universal conception of justice, and universalizability do not translate well to the institutional-level application that he hoped his Just Community Schools would provide. What Kohlberg failed to realize was that a collection of individuals using a Functionalism, Conflict, and Interactionism in Education universal conception of justice in consistent ways across situations (morally mature individuals by Kohlbergs standards) did not necessarily create a moral community. In a moral community, the degree to which individuals have grown along a continuum of moral development should not be of greater importance than the ability of community members to work together to detect and solve moral problems. Henry, (2001) Foundational to the Just Community model was Kohlbergs belief that schools were important locations for the socialization of children into broader society. School was a childs first formal introduction into society at large. By going to school the child learns to fill the expected public roles of a member of his society (LKA, 21). Part of the power of schooling was the teaching of lessons necessary for successful life outside of school. In particular, Kohlberg stressed that students needed to gain an increased awareness of themselves in categorical terms. [7] In other words, he and his colleagues claimed that students needed to learn the categorical expectations to which they would be held publicly accountable and that school had an important function to play in teaching these lessons: [T]he child has to learn to be one among a crowd of peers in a classroom that is run by a relative impersonal authority figure who gives orders a power to wield praise and blame. What the child learns about how to handle the crowds, the praise, and the power will, from this point of view, give shape to her public morality: her conception of how one ought to act to get along and even prosper in the public domain (LKA, 21). Functionalism, Conflict, and Interactionism in Education These statements make it clear that Kohlberg saw schools as important locations for gradually imbuing children with the expectations they would meet as adults, Henry, (2001). While Kohlberg was focused on the individual the theory of functionalism doesn’t work. It works as a whole at a much larger level, the macro level, the institution of the schools. These system need function to run and for student to learn. With this in place there would dis-function children would not be able to learn and through the learning they learn how to enter into society and act accordingly in their roles into adulthood. The theory of Conflict in regards to education they are there, but one that comes to mind is the quality of the education that is given to students today. All the students are not looked at the same, if they come from a poor family or a minority family they are not thought of as equal in intelligence as the white middle to higher class of student. According to Conflict Theory, society is: A struggle for dominance among competing social groups (classes, genders, races, religions, etc. ). When conflict theorists look at society, they see the social domination of subordinate groups through the power, authority, and coercion of dominant groups. In the conflict view, the most powerful members of dominant groups create the rules for success and opportunity in society, often denying subordinate groups such success and opportunities; this ensures that the powerful continue to monopolize power, privilege, and authority. You should note that most conflict theorists oppose this sort of coercion and favor a more equal social order. Some support a complete socioeconomic revolution to socialism (Marx), while others are more reformist, or perhaps do not see all social inequalities stemming from the capitalist system Functionalism, Conflict, and Interactionism in Educational (they believe we could solve racial, gender, and class inequality without turning to socialism). However, many conflict theorists focus on capitalism as the source of social inequalities. The primary cause of social problems, according to the conflict perspective, is the exploitation and oppression of subordinate groups by dominants. Conflict theorists generally view oppression and inequality as wrong, whereas Structural-Functionalists may see it as necessary for the smooth running and integration of society. Structural-Functionalism and Conflict Theory therefore have different value orientations but can lead to similar insights about inequality (e. g. , they both believe that stereotypes and discrimination benefit dominant groups, but conflict theorists say this should end and most structural-functionalists believe it makes perfect sense that subordinates should be discriminated against, since it serves positive social ends). Conflict theory sees social change as rapid, continuous, and inevitable as groups seek to replace each other in the social hierarchy, McLeod, (2004). In contrast to Structural-Functionalists, who argue that the most talented individuals occupy the highest positions, conflict theorists argue that dominant groups monopolize positions of power, maintaining power from generation to generation and keeping subordinate groups out. Also in contrast to Structural-Functionalists, who argue that the most important positions in society are the best rewarded, conflict theorists argue that dominant groups get inordinate power to define which positions are socially rewarded. Highly-paid positions are not necessarily most important for society, they argue, but keep power in the hands of the privileged and powerful, McLeod, (2004). If conflict theory really see social change coming than that may mean the educators of this country may be starting to focus on the student and their intelligence instead of their financial status or race. Functionalism, Conflict, and Interactionism in Education The last theory Interactionism theory views society as the product of individuals interaction with each other. Through the process of socialization, people learn values, attitudes, and actions that they deem to be correct. People are exposed to a set of reinforcements to maintain or change those views and actions. Learning theory helps explain why people view others in particular ways, such as who is good and who is bad. Our views may have little to do with objective reality. Learning theory may also explain the process in which people come to engage in behaviors that others find problematic, such as embezzling or prostitution. As Sutherland (1940) notes, people learn the motivations, beliefs, and actions to engage in behaviors that some may find problematic. Labeling theory explores how people socially construct reality. People in positions of power and authority have the ability to label an activity as problematic or acceptable; people in lower social positions are less likely to persuade others to stick with their definition of the situation. This is why elites are able to define a situation that benefits them as good, while others may regard it as troublesome. It also helps explain why people in lower classes are more likely to be perceived as the cause of problems, and why elites escape that definition. The reality of any social situation depends on how people define it. For example, when college students drink alcohol, is it partying, is it normal, is it binge drinking, is it alcohol abuse, are they a social drinker, a problem drinker, do they use it or abuse it? We may wish to determine how we will label the alcohol consumption based on when they drink, with whom they drink, how much they drink, what they drink, and what they do when they are drinking. Is the drinking a personal problem, a campus problem, or a social problem? These distinctions areFunctionalism, Conflict, and Interactionism in Education determined arbitrarily through the process of labeling. Functionalism, Conflict, and Interactionism Functionalism, Conflict, and Interactionism underlying conditions probably existed for a long time before it was identified as an issue. The disagreement over whether something is a problem, how much of a problem it is, what and who caused it, and how it should be addressed is all a product of social construction created through the process of interaction, Vissing, (2011). I believe that between parents, teachers, students and the communities if they would allow each of themselves to be treated as people, students and human beings the educational process would be easier and more pleasurable experience and a happier and healthier environment. I know that is an impossibility but if were something even a few people would work at it may change the educational field a little bit at a time. To bring these three theories together to have a functional system, bring students in as one instead of the higher class and more social and control the groups of kids and the way they stand against each other there might be a chance to bring our education back on line and educate the students the way they should be educated and ready for the world after high school.

Courtly Love Conventions in Troilus and Creseyde Essay -- Troilus Cris

Courtly Love Conventions in Troilus and Creseyde  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   From the beginning the reader knows that "Troilus and Criseyde" is both a romance and a tragedy, for if the name of the poem and the setting of doomed Troy are not enough of a clue, Chaucer's narrator tells us so explicitly. This is a tale of:    The double sorwe of Troilus to tellen, ... In lovying, how his aventures fellen Fro wo to wele, and after out of joie2    This waxing and waning of Troilus' and Criseyde's happiness in love allows Chaucer to explore the different manifestations of love in his contemporary society, and what the costs of loving might be. In particular, Criseyde's fear of love, and betrayal of Troilus' love, raises the question: who is allowed to choose to love?    Yet despite the readers' foreknowledge of a tragic ending, Chaucer's skill is in exploring this theme, while making the outcome of the story seem anything but fixed. He "directs our responses and controls the narrative situation,"3 so that we are in constant anticipation. One scene in particular strikes me as a powerful example of Chaucer's ability to evoke this feeling of uncertainty and infinite possibility suddenly coalescing into the next inevitable movement of the plot.    In a relatively short passage in Book II (lines 876-931) Criseyde makes the symbolic decision to love, despite her concerns about the power games involved with 'true' or courtly love. She "wex somwhat able to converte"4 her fears into love of Troilus.    This scene is made up of what appears to be a simple convergence of four important elements: Antigone's song of true love, and her certain and convincing belief in true love (as opposed to mere passion - "hoot"... ...Cambridge University Press, 1986) pp. 213-226. This from p. 213. 4. Benson, Book II, 903, p.501. 5. Benson, Book II, 892, p.501. 6. David Aers, "Criseyde: Woman in Medieval Society," The Chaucer Review 13 (3) (1979), 177-200. This from p. 180. 7. Benson, Book II, 872, p. 501. 8. Benson, Book II, 874-875, p. 501. 9. Benson, Book II, 887, p.501. 10. Benson, Book II, 891, p. 501. 11. Benson, Book II, 894, p. 501. 12. Benson, Book II, 922, p. 502. 13. Aers, p. 186. 14. Benson, Book II, 922, p.502. 15. Benson, Book II, 930, p. 502. 16. Eugene Vance, "Mervelous Signals: Poetics, Sign Theory, and Politics in Chaucer's Troilus," New Literary History 10 (1979), 293-337. This from p. 328. 17. Aers, p. 180. 18. Aers, p. 181. 19. Benson, Book II, 903, p. 501. 20. Benson, Book II, 890-891, p.501.

Self-esteem and Impression Management

Consideration of a person’s perspective â€Å"self† and the processes used to determine behaviors is one element of social psychology. Some of the processes and theories are: impression management, social tuning, social comparisons, mindsets, and intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. This work will examine the basic premises of each of these along with personal examples provided by the author. Impression Management Impression management is the use of conscious or subconscious behaviors by a person to manipulate the others’ opinions about them.This can be done in a variety of ways including showering others with praise and compliments and giving gifts with the motivation of developing a favorable opinion of the giver. Adolescence is a phase of life that is particularly susceptible to impression management. When I was twelve years old, my family was transferred from inner city St. Louis to a tiny town of 2,000 people in northeast Arkansas. This town was very elitist and there was very little inroad for â€Å"new kids† to find a place of belonging. Almost exclusively, the junior high students had been classmates since kindergarten, and their social in-groups were intact.There was one girl who reached out to make me feel welcome, and her name was Laura Beth Williams. She had long, curly, strawberry blonde hair, and wore the cutest clothes. Her dad owned a local nursery and she had four sisters. She invited me to sit at her lunch table, told me where to go at lunch time, and gave me insight about teachers and classes. I was so grateful to her that I wanted to do something nice in return, and I also wanted the other students to think well of me and to consider including me too.One day I took a turquoise ring to school with the intention of giving it to Laura Beth to show my appreciation. As I thought of what I might do, and the possible responses of my classmates, I was so excited. Then, my excitement incited something that would be my demis e. Instead of simply presenting the perfectly lovely piece of costume jewelry, my mind began to create a much more elaborate scenario that snowballed to catastrophe. When we got to our first hour study hall, I made a big deal of making certain that several people saw my ring.As they asked, I told them that my maternal grandfather was a full-blooded Native American (he actually was), and that he had given me this gorgeous piece of turquoise jewelry which I wanted to give to Laura Beth as thanks for her help and welcoming manner. As I had hoped, the class was impressed and I knew my status was immediately elevated in this new social group. All was well until one of the boys asked to see the ring. As he examined it, I heard an ominous snicker before he loudly announced, â€Å"Hey, Gina, is your grandpa’s name Chief Avon? † Naturally, I was mortified and began to cry and repent about fabricating the story.What is interesting is that from that time forward, the students wer e much more helpful and welcoming. That was the day that I learned a valuable lesson about lying and trying to impress other people. According to Segev, Shoham, and Ruvio (2013) found that being self-conscious can be positively related with gift giving in adolescence. Adolescents value peer relationships and may give gifts as a way to ensure that they have friends. Social Tuning Social tuning is the tendency for human beings to be more attracted to the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of their own social group.This gravitation toward similar knowledge, customs, and beliefs is one element of the development of culture. My daughter, Nikki, is a typical 20-something American young woman. She has grown up with many of the niceties and luxuries of our country and as most of us are, is a bit spoiled. When she was 22, Nikki answered a call to serve as a teacher-missionary in an orphanage in Honduras. She went to language school in Nicaragua and spent two years teaching elementary students in the mountains near Tegucigalpa. Upon her return to the U. S., Nikki would often lapse into Spanish, especially when she got nervous or excited, and she loved to go to the Mexican restaurants in town. She said it â€Å"felt more like home†.It has been two years since her return, and now Nikki no longer breaks out in Spanish, and she doesn’t frequent Mexican restaurants as often. Although living in Honduras for over two years did not make Nikki a Honduran, social tuning began an enculturation process. A 2010 study actually showed that there is a psychological and cognitive tendency for people to be more prominent within one’s in-group.The study specifically explored words, paintings, and time pressure. Not only did the study explore reactions to stimulus among those who shared cultural similarities, but the researchers found that the cognition and psychological reaction was lessened when the participants thought that the other participants were unlike them. So cial Comparisons Human beings naturally compare themselves to other human beings, both individually and corporately. This phenomenon is called social comparison, and it can be either positive or negative.For example, if a person who has had three speeding tickets is comparing their driving record to the driving records of other people, they may feel good about their driving if they have fewer accidents or tickets and bad about their driving skills compared to the person who has never had an accident or a ticket. The comparison actually does not change the person’s driving ability, only their perception of their driving ability. Recent research demonstrates that it is the quality rather than the frequency of social networking experiences that places individuals at risk for negative mental health outcomes.However, the mechanisms that account for this association have yet to be examined. Accordingly, this study examined whether the tendency to negatively compare oneself with oth ers while using Facebook leads to increases in depressive symptoms, and whether this association is mediated by increases in rumination. A sample of 268 college-age young adults completed an initial online survey and a 3-week follow-up. Path analysis was used to test the hypothesized model, wherein negative social comparison on Facebook was predicted to be associated with increases in rumination, which, in turn, was predicted to be associated with depressive symptoms.The model controlled for general social comparison to test the specific effect of social comparison on Facebook over and above the tendency to engage in social comparison in general. Results indicated that the hypothesized mediation effect was significant. In sum, in the context of social networking, negatively comparing oneself with others may place individuals at risk for rumination and, in turn, depressive symptoms. Findings increase understanding of the mechanisms that link social networking use to negative mental h ealth outcomes and suggest a continued emphasis on examining the specific proces Self-esteem and Impression Management Consideration of a person’s perspective â€Å"self† and the processes used to determine behaviors is one element of social psychology. Some of the processes and theories are: impression management, social tuning, social comparisons, mindsets, and intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. This work will examine the basic premises of each of these along with personal examples provided by the author.Impression ManagementImpression management is the use of conscious or subconscious behaviors by a person to manipulate the others’ opinions about them. This can be done in a variety of ways including showering others with praise and compliments and giving gifts with the motivation of developing a favorable opinion of the giver. Adolescence is a phase of life that is particularly susceptible to impression management. When I was twelve years old, my family was transferred from inner city St. Louis to a tiny town of 2,000 people in northeast Arkansas. This town was very elitist a nd there was very little inroad for â€Å"new kids† to find a place of belonging. Almost exclusively, the junior high students had been classmates since kindergarten, and their social in-groups were intact.There was one girl who reached out to make me feel welcome, and her name was Laura Beth Williams. She had long, curly, strawberry blonde hair, and wore the cutest clothes. Her dad owned a local nursery and she had four sisters. She invited me to sit at her lunch table, told me where to go at lunch time, and gave me insight about teachers and classes. I was so grateful to her that I wanted to do something nice in return, and I also wanted the other students to think well of me and to consider including me too. One day I took a turquoise ring to school with the intention of giving it to Laura Beth to show my appreciation.As I thought of what I might do, and the possible responses of my classmates, I  was so excited. Then, my excitement incited something that would be my dem ise. Instead of simply presenting the perfectly lovely piece of costume jewelry, my mind began to create a much more elaborate scenario that snowballed to catastrophe. When we got to our first hour study hall, I made a big deal of making certain that several people saw my ring. As they asked, I told them that my maternal grandfather was a full-blooded Native American (he actually was), and that he had given me this gorgeous piece of turquoise jewelry which I wanted to give to Laura Beth as thanks for her help and welcoming manner.As I had hoped, the class was impressed and I knew my status was immediately elevated in this new social group. All was well until one of the boys asked to see the ring. As he examined it, I heard an ominous snicker before he loudly announced, â€Å"Hey, Gina, is your grandpa’s name Chief Avon?† Naturally, I was mortified and began to cry and repent about fabricating the story. What is interesting is that from that time forward, the students w ere much more helpful and welcoming. That was the day that I learned a valuable lesson about lying and trying to impress other people. According to Segev, Shoham, and Ruvio (2013) found that being self-conscious can be positively related with gift giving in adolescence. Adolescents value peer relationships and may give gifts as a way to ensure that they have friends. Social TuningSocial tuning is the tendency for human beings to be more attracted to the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of their own social group. This gravitation toward similar knowledge, customs, and beliefs is one element of the development of culture. My daughter, Nikki, is a typical 20-something American young woman. She has grown up with many of the niceties and luxuries of our country and as most of us are, is a bit spoiled. When she was 22, Nikki answered a call to serve as a teacher-missionary in an orphanage in Honduras. She went to language school in Nicaragua and spent two years teaching elementary studen ts in the mountains near Tegucigalpa.Upon her return to the U.S., Nikki would often lapse into Spanish, especially when she got nervous or excited, and she loved to go to the Mexican restaurants in town. She said it â€Å"felt more like home†. It has been two years since her return, and now Nikki no longer breaks out in Spanish, and she doesn’t frequent Mexican restaurants as often. Although  living in Honduras for over two years did not make Nikki a Honduran, social tuning began an enculturation process.A 2010 study actually showed that there is a psychological and cognitive tendency for people to be more prominent within one’s in-group. The study specifically explored words, paintings, and time pressure. Not only did the study explore reactions to stimulus among those who shared cultural similarities, but the researchers found that the cognition and psychological reaction was lessened when the participants thought that the other participants were unlike them .Social ComparisonsHuman beings naturally compare themselves to other human beings, both individually and corporately. This phenomenon is called social comparison, and it can be either positive or negative. For example, if a person who has had three speeding tickets is comparing their driving record to the driving records of other people, they may feel good about their driving if they have fewer accidents or tickets and bad about their driving skills compared to the person who has never had an accident or a ticket. The comparison actually does not change the person’s driving ability, only their perception of their driving ability.Recent research demonstrates that it is the quality rather than the frequency of social networking experiences that places individuals at risk for negative mental health outcomes. However, the mechanisms that account for this association have yet to be examined. Accordingly, this study examined whether the tendency to negatively compare oneself with others while using Facebook leads to increases in depressive symptoms, and whether this association is mediated by increases in rumination.A sample of 268 college-age young adults completed an initial online survey and a 3-week follow-up. Path analysis was used to test the hypothesized model, wherein negative social comparison on Facebook was predicted to be associated with increases in rumination, which, in turn, was predicted to be associated with depressive symptoms. The model controlled for general social comparison to test the specific effect of social comparison on Facebook over and above the tendency to engage in social comparison in general.Results indicated that the hypothesized mediation effect was significant. In sum, in the context of  social networking, negatively comparing oneself with others may place individuals at risk for rumination and, in turn, depressive symptoms. Findings increase understanding of the mechanisms that link social networking use to negative men tal health outcomes and suggest a continued emphasis on examining the specific proces

I Have No Sympathy for Macbeth Essay

Shakespeare’s tragedy of Macbeth is written about a story of a Scottish thane (Macbeth), whom, fuelled by burning desire and ambition, urged on by his wife and also triggered by the three witches’ equivocation, murders his king, Duncan. Despite Macbeth’s negative attributes such as his greed, corruption, paranoia, the audience still retains and pities Macbeth due to the fact that Shakespeare employs soliloquies, humanity and tragic flaw. Judging Macbeth superficially by his actions alone leaves the reader no choice but to consider him as evil and immoral; yet when one examines the full presentation of his character and understands his mental struggles (through his soliloquies), a feeling of sympathy is evoked. Throughout the whole play, Macbeth is shown as having a conscience. Prior to his murdering of Duncan, Macbeth has serious reservations about following through with the assassination, with Shakespeare portraying Macbeth as a eluctant murderer. After all, his ambitions for the throne were only made public after hearing a prophecy, which the audience later realises as an equivocation, made by witches. Even then, he weighs up his reasons for and against murdering Duncan and concludes, â€Å"If chance will have me King, why, chance may crown me, without my stir†. This shows the audience that Macbeth has a clear conscience and realises that there is no way back once he has done the deed. Shakespeare juxtaposes Macbeth’s conscience to Lady Macbeth’s, whose conscience does not kick in until the very end of her life, when the enormity of the deed suddenly dawns upon her whereas Macbeth’s conscience was there from the start. This makes the audience realise that Macbeth is not all evil, and that he has only human, which more or less makes the audience understand his actions and sympathize with him. Upon thorough examination of his conscience, he realises that as Duncan’s kinsman, subject and host, his duty is to protect Duncan and â€Å"not bear the knife myself†. When he remembers the virtues of Duncan’s kingship, he concludes that his only reason for murdering him is his own â€Å"vaulting ambition†. At this point he firmly tells Lady Macbeth that, â€Å"We will proceed no further in this business†, expressing his desires to put an end to all talks about murder. This gains further sympathy from the audience, as they understand the emotional turmoil of Macbeth’s mind and further proves the point that Macbeth is only human. Shakespeare also uses other characters to further build on the audience’s sympathy for Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is one of the many characters that Shakespeare employs. When Macbeth refuses to go ahead with the mission to kill Duncan, Lady Macbeth, however, persists. She plays a critical role in the build-up to the murder where she uses her powers of persuasion to make Macbeth change his mind by taunting him with questions about his courage and masculinity: â€Å"Art thou afeard? †, and also equating murder to manliness and courage. This makes the audience see that Macbeth is a reluctant murderer and that his wife was the driving force behind the murder, which makes the audience wonder if Macbeth would have gone ahead with the murder if Lady Macbeth was not there, thus garnering unexpected sympathy in this area. In the end, however, Macbeth caves in at the urging of Lady Macbeth, killing Duncan and framing the guards to tricks the rest of the high-ranking Scots to think that the murder was some sort of plot formulated by the king’s sons Malcolm and Donaldbain. The three witches are also used as means of obtaining sympathy for his main character. Throughout parts of the play, the witches appear, only to toy with Macbeth’s conscience by prophesising, through the use of equivocation, about his future. The audience is first introduced to the witches in the very beginning, which is a way of Shakespeare communicating to the audience about the major parts the witches play throughout the whole production. After all, it is the three witches that toy with Macbeth again and again, making him in their words by equivocating only parts of the truth, thus portraying Macbeth as vulnerable and still human: â€Å"All hail, Macbeth! That shalt be king hereafter†. This equivocation fuels on Macbeth’s long burning desire and all consuming ambition to be King of Scotland. This leads on to Macbeth murdering Duncan for his title and ultimately, his tragic fall at the hands of Macduff. The audience sees that the three witches made equivocations and can relate to Macbeth as a human being as he wrongly believes the lies of others, which eventually led to his untimely death. Thus, because the audience can relate Macbeth to a real life character, he is pitied on and sympathised with. Soliloquy in Shakespeare’s work allows the audience to dive in a character’s mind. It is that extra view that makes the audience see what the characters in Shakespeare’s work can’t see. Shakespeare cleverly writes the murder scene, where he does not write the particular actions Macbeth murdering Duncan, but rather focusing on the inner torment or the soliloquies of the villain rather than the suffering of the victim to gather more sympathy for Macbeth. The audience witness Macbeth’s doubts through his soliloquies beforehand through the clever use of imagery: â€Å"He’s here in double trust†¦Ã¢â‚¬  and his feelings of guilt: â€Å"Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood lean from my hand†¦Ã¢â‚¬ , regret: â€Å"wake Duncan with thy knocking! I would thou couldst! † and horror: â€Å"I am afraid to think what I have done. Look on it again I dare not† after the murder of his king. This portrayal of Macbeth’s troubled conscience suggests that, despite his evil deeds, he never entirely loses his humanity. Also, the air-drawn dagger that leads him to Duncan’s chamber, the voices he hears and the ghost of Banquo are all products of Macbeth’s guilty conscience and vivid imagination, adds to his image as only human. This point is even further explored in the killing of Macduff’s family (ordered by himself). While he appears to be unaffected by the dreadful slaughter, Macbeth is initially reluctant and unwilling to fight Macduff in Act V because he has too much of his family’s blood on his conscience. This is witnessed again through his many soliloquies throughout the play: â€Å"My soul is too much charged with blood of thine already†. This quote also shows continued evidence of Macbeth’s troubled conscience and his humanity, which evokes a certain degree of sympathy from the audience. Shakespeare also portrays Macbeth as a tragic hero who possesses a certain degree of humanity. The readers also feel some sympathy for Macbeth in his painful awareness of the high price to be paid for achieving his ambition by evil means. No sooner has he killed Duncan that he beings to realise that he will never sleep peacefully again, having murdered â€Å"the innocent sleep† of a good king. This act of realisation evokes further sympathy from the readers, as they begin to understand a character that is very much flawed in his hungry desire for ambition. While Macbeth’s morality decline dramatically and his actions become more evil and appalling, the reader still retain a degree of sympathy and understanding for him. They realise that while Macbeth does evil, he is not evil. While he is a ferocious warrior who carves a bloody path through the ranks of his enemies on the battlefield, he is too sensitive to play the roles of a murderer and butcher unaffected. Macbeth is essentially a noble individual whose finer qualities are corrupt by ambition. This prevents Macbeth from being portrayed as the complete monster he had become. Therefore, Shakespeare masterfully makes Macbeth a tragic hero, saving him from being a full-fledged villain. This tragic hero theme is also shown after the murder of Banquo and his subsequent haunting by Banquo’s ghost as Macbeth mourns that he has passed the point of no return and has no choice but to continue with murder. Shakespeare writes these scenes with the intentions of having the audience know Macbeth’s guilty conscience, which is done with the intention of generating some degree of compassion for him. This morality in Macbeth is further explored at the end of the play when the combined forces of Macduff, Malcolm, and Siward are ready to attack Dunsinane castle to depose and dispose of Macbeth where Macbeth is holding fort. He has the choice of waiting out the siege in his castle that is stocked with enough supplies to last a long time but instead, Macbeth elects to take on the challengers in battle, declaring, â€Å"I’ll fight, till from my bones my flesh be hacked†. His court officer Seyton tries to convince him otherwise, but Macbeth will hear nothing of it. It is this display of bravery against his foes that finally secures sympathy for Macbeth as he goes down valiantly in battle rather than cowardly in the depths of his castle. In the end, because Macbeth is a flawed hero and not a super hero, because he is capable of doing great right and great wrong, the audience can empathise with him. They can understand his motivations and actions, even though the audience may not like them, because they are the same motivations that drive all human beings. It is because of his humanity and morality, portrayed through his soliloquies and his fatal flaw, does the audience understand Macbeth’s actions so that they retain a degree of sympathy for him through to the very end of the play.

Q6) What are the major cost drivers for the bottle Essays

Q6) What are the major cost drivers for the bottle Essays Q6) What are the major cost drivers for the bottlers? The cost drivers for the bottlers were as follows: Bottlers had a "direct store door" arrangement, which increased the cost of transportation and labour because their own personnel did the driving, unloading and stacking. Retail stores were paid by bottlers for promotional activities and discount levels. The bottling process in itself was highly capital intensive requiring high speed production lines etc. The other main costs were the concentrate and syrup. This cost was dependent on CSD suppliers and market price for sugar/ corn syrup. The bottlers heavily invested in trucks and distribution networks apart from routine expenses like packaging, labour and other overheads. Q4) How have Coke and Pepsi managed the rivalry in the CSD industry in terms of concentrate suppliers? Coke and Pepsi managed the rivalry in the CSD industry by following some of the below mentioned tactics over a couple of decades: Pepsi started focusing more on take-home sales to target family consumption. For th i s they introduced the 26-oz bottles. Pepsi started with an aggressive marketing campaign called "Pepsi Generation" to promote and increase sales among the youth. Pepsi also worked to modernize plants and improve store delivery. Pepsi's bottlers were concentrated and were larger than Coke's. This gave them an advantage over Coke. Pepsi used to sell concentrate at 20% lower than Coke, promising to spend the extra income on promotion after equaling Coke's prices. Both Coke and Pepsi experimented with cola and non cola flavours and new packaging options. Non returnable glass bottles were introduced along with metal cans. In the 1970s Pepsi came up blind taste tests called "Pepsi Challenge" and Coke countered it with rebates and retail price cuts. During this period, Coke renegotiated with its bottlers to bring in more flexibility in pricing of syrup and concentrates. Coke also switched to lower priced high-fructose corn syrup later on. Pepsi followed suit. Coke started with "Diet Coke" and in a couple of years Pepsi came out with a similar product. Q5) How should Coke and Pepsi face this challenge? Recommend. Coca Cola and Pepsi should focus on growth related strategies rather than devising tactics to outdo each other for shorter periods of time. The long term focus would not only be profitable in the future but also be highly sustainable. Some of the ways this can be done is as follows: Continue expansion into emerging markets. As the buying power of consumer increases, so would the sales of these brands. Both of them should start using healthy sweeteners in order to counter the claim of aerated drinks leading to obesity and other health problems. This would not take much investment and as the trend for healthy living grows consumers will be relatively insensitive towards price. Have a green strategy (like environmentally friendly factories, recycle of the bottles, water cleaning systems ). This will have a positive effect on customer loyalty and will help in the brand building process. Continue to churn out newer products and bring about innovation in these products. Innovation to be based on geography, occasion, target demographic group and ingredients. For retailing strategies, increase shelf space, install more and better equipments in the market and also expand availability into new outlets and channels. Q2) Analyze the industry attractiveness of concentrate suppliers and independent bottlers. Comment on vertical integration of CSD, bottlers and suppliers. Give a strategic rationale. Industry attractiveness for the concentrate suppliers is as follows: Bargaining power of suppliers: The powers of suppliers are low for the CSD as the suppliers are fragmented. Materials like colouring , citric acid and caffeine have no differentiation. Also the switching costs to these are really low and these commodities are easily available in the market. Also there is minimalistic threat of forward integration. Bargaining power of Buyers: Bottlers have very low bargaining power as both Coke and Pepsi determine the terms of the contract for pricing and other conditions. Also they have retained exclusive deals with food outlets. As a matter of fact, most voluminous bottling accounts were owned by these companies which gave them large negotiating powers. Threat of substitutes: Threat of substitution is very high as there are numerous alternates

Never Overlook the Arc

Never Overlook the Arc Never Overlook the Arc Never Overlook the Arc By Guest Author This is a guest post by Vic Shayne. If you want to write for Daily Writing Tips check the guidelines here. There are many elements that are key to creating a good story, and the arc is one of the most important of all. It doesn’t matter whether we’re talking about fiction, nonfiction, a fantasy story, documentary or screenplay. I could say that even Noah knew the importance of an ark, but homonyms lose their charm in writing. What is an arc? In the world of physics, an arc is a curve. In writing we can explain it in similar terms - it’s the path that a story and its characters follow, from their introduction to their finale. It starts here and ends there, so to speak. I’ve seen a lot of people’s writing that completely misses this fundamental element, and they wonder why their work is flat or unsalable. If they set their egos aside, they can learn from their mistakes. If not, they go on chalking up their failures to stupid editors or readers who just don’t get their genius. To make sure your work is rich, plan your arcs from the outset. Before you sit down to write your story, make an outline that includes an arc for the story and all its characters. Figure out how your story begins and how it ends, including all the changes in points in between. Figure out how your characters act at first compared to how they act when your work comes to a conclusion. If they do not exhibit change or growth, then something’s wrong and your work will lack dramatic interest. This is true of a silly comedy, a farce, a musical, a slice of life story, a science fiction work and a tear-jerking drama. Everything has to keep moving in a direction that exhibits change. They say if a shark stops moving, it dies. Don’t let your writing go belly up. Let’s get more specific. Take a look at your own life as an example. Your life, like everybody else’s has an overall arc with a series of events in between. You started off as a baby, moved through childhood and got to where you are now. You’ve changed, changed some more and changed again so that you are not the same person you were in the beginning. Your life story has an arc. At this present moment, you have accumulated wisdom. You have experienced sorrow, happiness, hard work and moments of reprieve - all of which are evidence of your arc. Remember too that in addition to an overall story arc, there are also many in between arcs that need to be written. Each chapter needs to have an arc in which something is accomplished, ruined, created, thwarted, grown, deconstructed and/or abandoned. Only by creating these chapter or scene arcs is your audience or reader compelled to move to the next event. Many movies suffer from an absence of arcs and even uninformed audiences will complain that the film they just watched â€Å"didn’t go anywhere,† even if they can’t articulate the exact source of the flaw. I have a friend, John, who goes to the movies on a regular basis. John has little patience. If there’s nothing that compels him to watch what happens after the first ten minutes, he leaves the theater. He considers sitting any longer in his seat a waste of his valuable time. Worse, John is angry at the writer and director for taking advantage of him and robbing him for an unfulfilled promise. John’s a tough critic, but to me he’s a reminder of the importance of giving your readers something to look forward to from scene to scene and chapter to chapter until, by the end of the affair, you’ve taken them through a journey. This â€Å"something† depends on well-crafted arcs. Vic Shaynes latest book, Remember Us, just hit the bookstores nationwide. Vic has been a professional writer since 1978, with six books and more than 500 articles over his career, as well as screenplays, stage plays and commercial work. To learn more about him and his work, you can visit his website. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Freelance Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:100 Exquisite AdjectivesUsed To vs. Use ToPeople vs. Persons

Research report explainin a recent innovation in your area of intrest Paper

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Employee Relation - Essay Example For instance, this strategy has attracted over 16% of professionals working in the private sector in 2014. Unions have developed several strategies for the attraction of new membership. One of the strategies is the development of a constant communication with the workers. This is one of the core activities adopted by trade unions. They maintain constant contacts with the members, especially in their workplaces. This helps in the attraction of new members through an assurance of the protection of their rights. The communication also aids in the creation of internal debates among the workers and the unions, for the identification of areas that are prone to limitations in terms of membership acquisition. These strategies have shaped the trade unions in relation to an increase in the membership base. In addition, different unions have created special committees that have specific roles that relates to a particular set of workers. For instance, most of the unions have created the women’s department that ensures the female workers of their representation and equal rights in the unions. This strategy has led to the implementation of particular processes for increased membership (Waddington, 2003). It also assumes that for it to succeed in attracting new members, the committees created need to address the issues of the particular groups. This has occurred in several unions that have considered the interests of the workers such as the improvement of their working conditions. The ultimate outcome is that the unions that have considered such interests have registered quite a huge number of new members. Finally, unions have developed interesting strategies that appeal to younger workers to persuade them into the membership (Hollinshead et al. 2003). For instance, the unions organize certain events, debates, and seminars that appeal

Explaining Electoral Volatility In Latin America Politics Essay

Explaining Electoral Volatility In Latin America Politics Essay Abstract Many existing explanations of electoral volatility in Latin America have been tested at the country level, but they are largely untested at the individual party level. In this paper, I apply a hierarchical linear model (HLM) to test various explanations of electoral volatility on data of 128 parties in the lower house elections of 18 Latin American countries from 1978 to 2011. My most important finding pertains to the conditional effect of a partys incumbency status on electoral volatility. First, the results show that the effect of party age on reducing electoral volatility is stronger for incumbent parties. Second, an incumbent party has a lower level of electoral volatility than opposition parties during periods of stronger economic performance. Last, while an irregular alteration of political institutions is hypothesized to increase the level of volatility for all the parties in a country, the effect is more significant for the incumbent party. Explaining Electoral Volatility in Latin America: Evidence at the Party Level Introduction Concerns with party system institutionalization and its consequences in developing countries have grown in the past decade. Extant literature underscores that political parties play an important role in linking diverse social forces with democratic institutions, channeling societal demands, managing sociopolitical conflicts, holding government officials accountable to the electorate, and legitimizing the regime (Dix 1992; Sartori 1968; Schattschneider 1942). In this sense, political parties with stable and consistent support across elections not only ensure their long-term survival, but also help institutionalize the party system. A stable and institutionalized party system fosters more effective programmatic representation (Mainwaring and Zoco 2007, 157) and facilitates the institutionalization of political uncertainty (Przeworski and Sprague 1986). In contrast, a democratic country with a poorly institutionalized party system where electoral volatility is very high tends to produce populist leaders and discourage the incumbent party from making long-term policy commitments (Mainwaring and Scully 1995).  [1]   In comparison to Western Europe and the United States, the level of electoral volatility is exceptionally high in Latin America (Payne et al. 2002). In the 1990s, the overall electoral volatility in this region was about twice that in the developed world (Roberts and Wibbels 1999). Weak partisan identities of voters, rapid voting choice changes, and unpredictable election campaigns are prevalent political characteristics in this region (Baker, Ames, and Renno 2006), but what explains the variation in electoral volatility in Latin America? Previous work on electoral volatility has provided explanations about political institutions, national economic performance, social cleavages, ethnic heterogeneity, and historical factors (Hicken and Kuhonta 2011; Madrid 2005; Mainwaring and Zoco 2007; Roberts and Wibbels 1999; Tavits 2005). These explanations have been tested at the country level, but they are largely untested at the individual party level, even though that is the level at which th e effects of certain relevant explanatory factors are expected to work. Why do some parties have higher levels of electoral volatility than others? Do factors cause electoral volatility at the country level have the same impact on party level volatility? Does the incumbent party enjoy certain advantages that opposition parties do not have to secure electoral stability? This paper aims to address these questions by examining electoral evidence at the party level in Latin America. I generated a value of electoral volatility for each party between elections by performing Morgenstern and Potthoffs (2005) components-of-variance model on an original dataset of lower house electoral results at the district level for 128 parties in 18 Latin American countries from 1978 to 2011. I first demonstrate that the patterns of electoral volatility at the party-level differ from that at the country level. I then apply a hierarchical linear model (HLM) to test country-level, party-level, and cross-level hypotheses regarding why some parties are more electorally volatile th an others. The most important result of this study is that the incumbent parties and opposition parties have different behavioral patterns under certain conditions. Specifically, I find that a better national economic performance helps the incumbent party, rather than every party in the country, to reduce the level of electoral volatility. Moreover, I demonstrate that an irregular institutional change greatly increases the incumbent partys electoral volatility, rather than that of every party in the country. At the party level, I find that the effect of a partys incumbency status is contingent on certain party-specific characteristics. The results show that incumbent parties that were founded in earlier periods are generally less volatile than younger incumbent parties. These findings are robust after controlling for a variety of other explanatory factors that will affect electoral volatility, using a different sample of parties, or adopting a different model specification. In sum, relative to previous work, this study is distinctive in that it uncovers patterns of electoral volatility and provides a better understanding of the dynamics of party politics in new democracies. Why Study Party-level Electoral Volatility? I focus on party volatility in this paper, and I argue that examining electoral volatility at the party level facilitates a better understanding of the patterns of party development. In general, electoral volatility refers to the phenomenon in which voters switch voting choice in consecutive elections. Many previous have used the Pedersen Index  [2]  (Pedersen 1983) to operationalize the level of party system electoral volatility (Birch 2003; Kuenzi and Lambright 2001; Mainwaring 1999; Roberts and Wibbels 1999). However, as Mair (1997, 66) argues, aggregate volatility measurement such as the Pedersen Index explains little about the persistence or decay of political cleavages. Mainwaring et al. (2010) argue that the Pedersen Index fails to distinguish between the volatility caused by vote switches from one party to the other and the volatility caused by the entry and exit of parties from the political system. Morgenstern and Potthoffs (2005, 30) critique is that the Pedersen Index fails to account for the relative electoral movement of individual parties within the system; in other words, the Pedersen Index tells nothing about which party is more volatile than the others. This problematic feature may produce mistaken if not biased inferences. For instance, although the Pedersen Index indicates that Argentinas mean party system institutionalization is lower than that of Brazil and Mexico from the 1980s to the 2000s (Mainwaring and Zoco 2007, 159), it does not indicate that Argentinas electoral volatility is largely a result of the crisis of the Unià ³n Cà ­vica Radical (UCR) instead of the incumbent Partido Justicialista (PJ) (Levitsky 1998, 461). In short, aggregate electoral volatility is likely to mask patterns of party-level electoral volatility. The level of electoral volatility matters for a party because it is an important indicator of a partys long-term survival. Party volatility is also an indicator of party institutionalization (Dalton and Weldon 2007; Mainwaring and Scully 1995). According to Janda (1980, 26-7), an institutionalized party should have stable partisan support because it can secure stable representation by building strong and regular societal ties with the electorate. A more institutionalized party should have a lower level of electoral volatility and a higher probability to survive over time, and it also implies that this party has a stable, routinized organizational structure and/or supporters with strong partisanship (Levitsky 1998). As Randall and Svà ¥sand (2002) contend, a high level of party system institutionalization does not necessarily indicate that all the parties within the system have an equally high level of party institutionalization. In other words, it is not necessarily the case that a high level of country volatility implies that all the parties in this country are equally volatile between elections. Therefore, a more important research question needs to be addressed: Is a partys electoral volatility determined by country-level factors, features of the party, or both? In the next section, I will discuss and propose testable hypotheses for the empirical analyses. Explaining Party Volatility Party volatility considers the degree to which a partys average vote is stable across two consecutive elections. Previous studies about country-level electoral volatility have considered national economic performance, political institutions, and social structural factors as three competing theoretical explanations of electoral volatility. However, some of the tested hypotheses, particularly those regarding economic voting and institutional theories, are actually derived from behavioral patterns of individual parties. Thus, these hypotheses should be tested at a more appropriate level, that is, the party level. Unlike previous studies of electoral volatility that focus on country-level explanations, this paper focuses on explaining party-level volatility, and such a research design facilitates the testing of party-level, country-level, and cross-level hypotheses. In particular, I argue that the behavior of the incumbent party is different from opposition parties. Moreover, I contend that the effect of a partys incumbency status is contingent on certain factors. Next, I will discuss various competing theoretical arguments about party electoral volatility at different analytical levels. Party Age and Incumbency Status Previous studies have discussed how time affects electoral volatility at the country level. Roberts and Wibbels (1999) argue that an older system is likely to have deeper and stronger historical roots in society than younger ones. Therefore, the level of electoral volatility will decrease with the age of a party system. Adopting a similar approach, Mainwaring and Zoco (2007) propose a democratization timing explanation for why some party systems are more stable than others. The authors demonstrate that the level of democratic governance voters have experienced will affect the level of electoral volatility. In other words, what matters for accounting for stabilization of party competition is the timing when democracy began in the country. Voters in democracies that were created in earlier periods had stronger attachments to parties, so that can help forge stable patterns of party competition (Mainwaring and Zoco 2007, 163). In contrast, political elites in new democracies have less in centive to make efforts in party building, since they tend to depend on mass media and modern campaigns to win the elections. While Mainwaring and Zocos thesis sheds light on the relationship between democratic learning and party system stabilization, it ignores the variation of party age within a country. Clearly, old and young parties can exist in both old and new democracies in Latin America.  [3]  However, Mainwaring and Zocos argument might imply that party volatility will be higher in a newly-founded democracy, regardless of how old a party is in this country. To avoid this problematic inference, a more appropriate research strategy is to test Mainwaring and Zocos argument at the party level. Specifically, if Mainwaring and Zocos argument holds at the party level, we may expect that political parties that were founded in earlier periods will have lower levels of electoral volatility, because their supporters have much stronger partisan attachments than the supporters of younger parties. In contrast, younger parties will have higher levels of electoral volatility because the elites of these parties will have less incentive to delve into party building. Accordingly, the following hypothesis is generated: H1: A party that was founded in earlier periods will have a lower level of electoral volatility than a party that was founded later. The second testable hypothesis of this study is about a partys incumbency status. Some scholars argue that institutions such as states and parties might have their own strategic goals and behave as political actors in their own right (Cox and McCubbins 1993). While parties can be different in terms of various characteristics, whether or not a party is the presidents party is a crucial for explaining differences in party behavior. Incumbency advantage generally implies that incumbents are more likely to win an election than the counterpart nonincumbents (Erikson 1971; Mayhew 1974). Cox and Katz (1997) and Levitt and Wolfram (1997) decomposed the concept of incumbent advantage into three elements: (1) direct officeholder effect, such as opportunities for providing constituency services (Fiorina 1977; King 1991) and using legislative resources such as personal staff for performing casework (Cover and Brumberg 1982); (2) the ability of incumbents to scare off high-quality challengers (Kr asno and Green 1988); and (3) the generally higher quality of the incumbents due to their experiences and campaign skills (Fenno 1978). The literature on incumbent advantage provides useful insights for this study. Since presidency is often considered as an extraordinarily important political institution in Latin America (Mainwaring and Shugart 1997), it is expected that the presidents party has advantages that opposition parties do not have. In particular, the incumbent party is more likely to receive access to public funds and more capable in allocating targeted resources to secure its survival (Calvo and Murillo 2004). Although being an incumbent party does not necessarily indicate a higher probability of winning an election in the contemporary Latin American context, it is reasonable to expect that an incumbent party should have a more stable electoral performance than opposition parties. However, an incumbent party in a new democracy might not have a stable electoral performance under certain circumstances. The experience in Latin America suggests that, when a country is governed by a new party, the patterns of electoral competition will become more unstable. In Peru, Alberto Fujimoris self-coup in 1992 and the adoption of a new constitution in 1993 helped to dramatically increase votes for the incumbent Cambio 90 in the 1995 election. However, Fujimoris 40-point plunge in public approval ratings in mid-1997 (Roberts and Wibbels 1999, 586), and the demise of Fujimoris party in the 2000 and 2001 elections, not only suggest a high level of unpopularity of Fujimoris neoliberal structural reforms, but also a high level of fluid electoral preference when a country is governed by a new party. Although the effect of a partys incumbency status on party electoral volatility might not be clear, it is possible that this effect is conditional on other factors. In particular, if party age helps to reduce electoral volatility, it then makes sense that the effect should be stronger for the incumbent party. An incumbent party with an older age suggests that it not only has more access to use state resources to enhance its electoral competitiveness, but it also has stronger party organizations and members. Put differently, an older incumbent party might have a lower level of electoral volatility than a young incumbent party. Therefore, I generate the following hypothesis: H2: The effect of party age on reducing electoral volatility is stronger for an incumbent party. Incumbency, National Economy, and Institutional Change Besides the party-level hypotheses, I also test cross-level hypotheses to see whether the effect of a partys incumbency status is contingent on certain country-level factors. The first cross-level explanation concerns the interaction between incumbency and economy. Economic voting theory argues that some citizens will respond to the waxing and waning of the economy by shifting their votes to reward or punish incumbent parties and officeholders (Lewis-Beck 1988). In other words, electoral volatility is driven by voters retrospective evaluations of economic performance of the incumbent government. More specifically, economic hardship can be expected to increase electoral volatility by undermining the loyalties and support for the incumbent party and by increasing the opposition parties votes. By contrast, in a better economic climate, one would expect that people prefer to maintain the status quo by continuing to support the incumbent party so that electoral volatility decreases. The proposition that economic conditions shape election outcomes in democratic countries is robust for studies using individual survey data (Lewis-Beck and Stegmaier 2000). In contrast, analyses of electoral volatility at the country level find inconsistent evidence about economic voting. Remmer (1991; 1993) and Madrid (2005) demonstrate that economic performance has a significant impact on the level of electoral volatility in Latin America. The evidence in advanced democracies also shows that economic performance strongly shapes electoral volatility (Bischoff forthcoming). However, recent analyses of new democracies in post-communist Europe (Epperly 2011) and Africa (Ferree 2010) show that economic voting is not a crucial factor in explaining party system volatility. One possible explanation for these inconsistent findings pertains to the appropriateness of the level of analysis. Specifically, since economic voting theory suggests that national economic performance will affect the extent of vote switches between the incumbent party and opposition parties between elections, it is more appropriate and necessary to test this argument at the party level. If the economic voting argument holds, it is expected that the incumbent party will have a lower electoral volatility than opposition parties when the economic performance is better. Conversely, the incumbent party is expected to have a higher electoral volatility than the opposition parties when the economy is in crisis. Based on the logic of economic voting, I propose the following economic voting hypothesis on party volatility: H3: The incumbent party will have a lower level of electoral volatility than opposition parties when the national economy is better. The second cross-level explanation is about the interaction between incumbency and institutional change. As the literature of rational choice institutionalism indicates, institutions matter because political actors behavior is driven mainly by a strategic calculus facing the limitation and opportunities that particular institutional or organizational settings offer (Hall and Taylor 1996). The stable persistence of political institutions that regulate electoral competition helps political parties to socialize their voters over time, and upholds the legitimacy of a democratic regime. Therefore, a fundamental alteration or an irregular discontinuity in important political institutions is expected to have a shock effect on the competitive equilibrium of elections. Based on evidence from Latin American countries, Roberts and Wibbels (1999) and Madrid (2005) find that the electoral dynamics of a party system is greatly altered by the adoption of a new constitution, a significant enfranchisement, and/or irregular changes in the executive branch such as a presidential self-coup (autogolpe), or a forced resignation of the president. Although these dramatic and irregular alterations of existing institutions are found to increase electoral volatility at the country level, it makes sense that such shocks should also influence party-level electoral volatility. In particular, it is expected that such irregular institutional changes will increase the volatility of the incumbent party to a greater extent. Recent political developments in Latin America suggest that this hypothesis is reasonable. For instance, in Ecuador the adoption of a new constitution in 2008 helped the incumbent Alianza PAIS increase its level of voter support in the 2009 election. In contrast, irregular removal of presidents also leads to higher electoral volatility for incumbent parties, but in a negative direction. The 2009 Honduran coup dà ©tat with the removal of President Manuel Zelaya made his Partido Liberal de Honduras (PLH) suffer a significant loss in the election at the end of the year. Likewise, the resignation of President Alberto Fujimori in Peru in 2000 also led to an electoral fiasco for the governing Cambio 90-Nueva Mayoria. Based on the discussion above, I propose the following hypothesis: H4: The incumbent party will have a higher level of electoral volatility than opposition parties after a shock of an irregular institutional discontinuity. Alternative Explanations of Party Volatility In the empirical analysis, I control for a number of factors that are likely to affect party volatility. At the party level, I control for the size of a party. Party size may influence the stability of electoral performance. The literature of legislators party switching suggests that larger parties in the legislature are more attractive to potential party switchers because they generally have more political influence (Desposato 2006; Heller and Mershon 2008). Therefore, it is possible that a larger party should have a lower level of electoral volatility because it is more attractive to voters who are unwilling to waste their votes on parties with little chance to win the elections. However, it is also possible that smaller parties, especially those with strong regional base, may have low electoral volatility. It is because such parties are able to sustain their survival by securing a small but strong portion of the electorate over time. At the country level, I control for party system fragmentation and ethnic fractionalization. First, according to Pedersen (1983), electoral volatility increases with the number of parties in a system because a greater number of parties suggests that the ideological difference between the parties is small so that voters tend to switch their votes from one party to another between elections. In addition, party system fragmentation will destabilize democratic regimes because it tends to inhibit the construction of inherent legislative majorities (Roberts and Wibbels 1999, 578). Although the hypothesis of party system fragmentation has only been tested at the country level in previous literature (Bartolini and Mair 1990; Birch 2003; Roberts and Wibbels 1999; Tavits 2005), it is possible that a fragmented party system will increase electoral volatility at the party level. Another factor that may explain electoral volatility is social cleavages. Madrid (2005, 3) observes that the theoretical expectation that stronger ethnic cleavages help stabilize party systems (Lipset and Rokkan 1967) presumes that parties will provide quality representation of distinct ethnic groups and establish strong linkages with them. In Latin America, this expectation does not hold since most party systems have been composed principally of catch-all parties that have drawn support from a variety of social groups. Because minority ethnic groups would not feel well-represented under this context, the level of electoral volatility tends to be higher since it is unlikely for them to form strong partisan identities (Birnir and Van Cott 2007; Madrid 2005). In short, it is expected that Latin American parties in a highly ethnically fragmented social context will have higher levels of electoral volatility. Last, following previous studies of country-level electoral volatility (Roberts and Wibbels 1999; Tavits 2005; Madrid 2005), I control for a trend factor of party electoral volatility in the model. In a cross-sectional time-series design, Trend controls for the potential problem of spurious correlation when the values of the dependent variable and the independent variables vary independently but in a consistent direction over time. Measurement and Data The unit of analysis in this research is party-elections-country (e.g. Partido dos Trabalhadores 1994-1998 in Brazil). My conception of the dependent variable requires the collection of legislative electoral returns at the district level across time, differentiated by party or party coalition.  [4]  The data include 128 parties in the lower house elections of 18 Latin American countries from 1978 to 2011 (N=527).  [5]  Most district-level electoral data are compiled from official electoral results on the website of each countrys electoral administrative body.  [6]  For the countries that were democratized later in the 1980s or in the 1990s, only the elections after the first democratic election were included.  [7]  Since Latin American countries have different timing of democratization and term length, the data structure of this analysis is unbalanced. A party is selected for the analyses if the party once obtained more than 5% of votes in any legislative election hel d between 1978 and 2011 in the country. This selection criterion ensures the inclusion of a diversity of parties. To generate the value of party volatility, I adopted Morgenstern and Potthoffs (2005) components-of-variance model on district-level data between two consecutive legislative elections held within the same constituency border.  [8]  One major advantage of this components-of-variance model is that it simultaneously takes into account various features of a partys electoral performance when generating the value of party volatility. Specifically, Morgenstern and Potthoffs model enables the calculation of three components of a partys vote share in a particular election: volatility, district heterogeneity, and local vote. While Morgenstern and his colleagues have used the latter two components for the research about party nationalization (Morgenstern and Swindle 2005; Morgenstern, Swindle, and Castagnola 2009), I focus on the first component, i.e., party electoral volatility, in this paper. The volatility score assigned for each observation is a continuous variable with values that rang e from 0 to à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¾, where higher numbers indicate a higher level of electoral volatility for the party. My primary party-level independent variables are Incumbency, Party age, and Incumbency*Party age. Incumbency is a dichotomous variable, measuring whether a party was the presidents party in two consecutive elections. Following Mainwaring and Zoco (2007), I measure Party age as the natural log of the number of years from the year when the party was officially founded to the year of 2011. The value of this variable does not vary over time, but is constant for all electoral periods for a given party. The interaction term, Incumbency*Party age, examines whether the effect of a partys age on volatility is contingent on a partys incumbency status. To test the economic voting hypothesis, I use two economic indicators: GDP growtht1 and Inflationt1.  [9]  GDP growtht1 is lagged by one year to capture the short term economic impact on volatility. Inflation rate is operationalized as the logged value of the inflation rate for the year before the election year. The logged inflation rate is used to prevent cases of hyperinflation from skewing the results.  [10]  To test whether the effect of the national economy on party volatility is conditional on a partys incumbency status, I include two interaction terms: Incumbency*GDP growtht1 and Incumbency*Inflationt1. In addition, to test whether a shock of institutional alteration will affect the incumbent party to a greater extent, I include two variables: Institutional discontinuity and Incumbency*Institutional discontinuity. I use the index constructed by Roberts and Wibbels (1999) to measure institutional discontinuity. The index ranges from 0 to 3, assigning one point to each of the following types of discontinuities: the adoption of a new constitution; an increase in voter turnout of more than 25 percent due to the enfranchisement of new voters; and an irregular change in executive authority, including a presidential self-coup (autogolpe), a forced resignation of the president, the ouster of the president due to impeachment, or a failed coup dà ©tat attempt when the president was temporarily ousted from the office.  [11]   Finally, I control for several party-level and country-level variables in the model. Party size is measured as the vote share of the party in the previous election.  [12]  Party system fragmentationt1 is measured as the index of the effective number of parties (ENP) (Laakso and Taagepera 1979), lagged by one election.  [13]  Ethnic Fragmentation is measured as Fearons (2003) ethnic fractionalization index. Last, the variable Trend is measured as the number of years since the first election in which a party participated. Estimation Techniques To test the hypotheses about party-level electoral volatility, I employ a hierarchical linear model (HLM) on my three-level data. The three-level model is specified as a level-1 submodel that describes how each party changes over time, a level-2 submodel that describes how these changes differ across parties, and a level-3 model that describes how parties and changes differ across countries. An attractive feature of a multilevel models is its ability to model cross-level interactions in the estimation. Another important advantage of the HLM approach is being able to account for both fixed effects and random effects. In this study, the fixed-effects coefficients and parameters of the HLM estimate a regression line that describes the sample of parties as a whole, while the random-effect parameters reflect variation across parties and variation across countries. Application of the HLM in this study will specify three different levels of analysis: The level-1 submodel represents the rela tionship of time-varying characteristics on party volatility, the level-2 model will incorporate party-level effects that are fixed over time, and level-3 will introduce country-level effects that are fixed over time. I estimate the model using restricted maximum likelihood estimation (REML). In contrast to full MLE estimation, REML takes into account the degrees of freedom consumed by estimation of the fixed effects by eliminating fixed effects from the likelihood fu