Public School Facility Bonds Proposition 51 Essay

On November 8th, 2016, the Public School Facility Bonds Proposition 51 appeared on the ballots for Californians to vote either for or against the issuing of $9 billion toward constructing and improving school facilities for K-12 schools along with community colleges. Proposition 51 aims to split these funds amongst public schools, charter schools, technical education facilities, and community colleges in an effort to modernize California’s school facilities for the better. This proposition was the first education bond to appear on the ballot since 2006. While there are obvious ramifications for passing Proposition 51, I personally support this initiative because improving our school facilities would not only uphold the standard of providing quality education for students, but it would ensure that they would reach their maximum potential by having the resources and facilities to succeed. Without these bonds, California’s schools could have the potential of having hazardo us environments for students if structures are not upheld. Some of the concerns that ultimately issued Proposition 51 to be put into the ballot extends to a variety of issues between the state and more local levels. The first issue that came to many legislator’s attention was how local agency spending on schools were affecting the needs of students based on money that was being spent prior to 2016. Andrew Ujifusa’s article â€Å"California Rolls Toward Implementation on Overhauled K-12 Funding Formula† points outShow MoreRelatedFmcg Products Classification5487 Words   |  22 PagesRescue Treatment; Taaza: Taazgi bhari chaai, dimaag khul jaaye. The company has a distribution channel of 6.3 million outlets and owns 35 major Indian brands.  Its brands include: Food brands: * Annapurna salt and atta * Bru coffee * Brooke Bond  (3 Roses, Taj Mahal, Taaza, Red Label) tea * Kissan squashes, ketchups, juices and jams * Lipton  tea * Knorr  soups amp; meal makers and soupy noodles * Kwality Walls  frozen dessert * Modern Bread, ready to eat chapattis and other bakeryRead MoreFeasibility Study on Setting Up an Environmental Laboratory9679 Words   |  39 Pagesstandard services to our customers by carrying out analysis on all samples using officially approved test methods such as: ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials), BS (British Standards), EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), APHA (American Public Health Association), AOCS (Association of Official Analytical Chemists), NBS (National Bureau of Standards), API (Association of Petroleum Industry) and In-house methods. 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Where reviewing the literature,Read Moredigital marketing impact on consumer buying behavior13654 Words   |  55 PagesIntegrative Model and Research Propositions HELSINKI SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS WORKING PAPERS W-400 Marko Merisavo The Effects of Digital Marketing Communication on Customer Loyalty: An Integrative Model and Research Propositions Marketing February 2006 HELSINGIN KAUPPAKORKEAKOULU HELSINKI SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS WORKING PAPERS W-400 HELSINGIN KAUPPAKORKEAKOULU HELSINKI SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS PL 1210 FI-00101 HELSINKI FINLAND  © Marko Merisavo and Helsinki School of Economics ISSN 1235-5674 Read MoreA Case Study of International Brand Management: Comparison of Lexus Brand Management in Brazil, United States and Japan.39374 Words   |  158 PagesA CASE STUDY OF INTERNATIONAL BRAND MANAGEMENT: COMPARISON OF LEXUS BRAND MANAGEMENT IN BRAZIL, UNITED STATES AND JAPAN. Wakayama University Graduate School of Economics Supervisor: Sotaro Sasaki Author: Ana Cecilia Fernà ¡ndez Pedrozo Student Number: 17410030 Table of Contents INTRODUCTION ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ · 1 I. ANALYSIS OF THEORETICAL BACKGROUND ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ · 4 I.1. BRAND MANAGEMENTRead MoreCorporate Finance69408 Words   |  278 Pagesuk/current_students/programme_resources/lse/index.shtml This guide was prepared for the University of London International Programmes by: Dr. P. 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16th Century England Essay Example For Students

16th Century England Essay Tranio easily slips into the role of a traditional master and upper class gentleman. Tranios speech about how he intends to woo Bianca impresses even the intellectual, Gremio, who remarks: What, this gentleman will out-talk us all! Unlike Grumio, Tranio is able to gain his own power and respect. He slips easily into the role and is able to wield the power and status freely. Although Tranio appears to enjoy his position, he always remains loyal to his master. When he plans with Baptista, how to win Bianca, he says: Tis in my head to do my master good. I see no reason but supposd Lucentio Must get a father called supposd Vincentio. Here Tranio assures the audience that he is still away that he is the supposd master. When Lucentio has secured his love with Bianca, he goes to share the news with Tranio: Twere good methinks to steal our marriage. Encouraging him, Tranio replies: That by degrees we mean to look into, and watch our vantage in this business. Well overreach the greybeard Gremio All for my masters sake, Lucentio. Tranio, like Lucentio speaks in the plural when referring to his master which shows that he also views himself, almost, as an equal. As the play goes on, Tranio becomes more convincing as a master, and even those who know that he is not, start to believe in him. Biondello, his fellow servant, refers to Tranio as O master, master, even when Lucentio is present. Tranio gives orders to his servant Biondello, saying: Sirrah Biondello, Now do your duty thoroughly, I advise you. Although he is still not completely confident in his role, I advise you, he uses the title Sirrah, which him a note of authority. He does all this despite that fact that they are in private. Biondello also says to Lucentio, his real master: You saw my master wink and laugh upon you? Here he is referring to his fellow servant Tranio. Later in the play, Tranio becomes more outgoing and daring in his role as master. He says to Vincentio, his masters father: Why sir, what cerns it you if I wear pearl and gold? In Tranios last moments as the master, he admits that he was: Like his greyhound, Which runs himself, and catches for his master. This sums up Tranios position and the ideological servant idea that Shakespeare used. He has freedom, yet he serves his master out of love and respect. Shakespeare also uses the idea of a servant-master relationship between men and their wives or lovers. He particularly uses this with Petruchio and Katherina, and Lucentio and Bianca. However, Shakespeare also shows a struggle against the traditional misogynist views of much of 16th Century England. He does this using Katherine at the beginning of the play and Bianca and the widow at the end. However he also puts men in a position of power over the women. In the induction, Sly asserts authority over his supposed wife. Are you my wife, and will not call me husband? My men should call me lord, I am your goodman. Bartholomew, his wife replies: My husband and my lord, my lord and husband; I am your wife in all obedience. She knows the position that she is supposed to play and that she should be totally obedient to her husband. It would be comical to the audience to see a man dressed as a woman swearing loyalty to a tramp. Katherina enters the play in an almost identical way to Petruchio. She physically and verbally abuses Bianca in the same way that Petruchio does to, his servant, Grumio. Katherine gives orders to Bianca, calling her minion and striking her. Bianca, like Grumio seems to encourage the abuse, saying: .u10fc7f064e113c0648e086cea91dd931 , .u10fc7f064e113c0648e086cea91dd931 .postImageUrl , .u10fc7f064e113c0648e086cea91dd931 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u10fc7f064e113c0648e086cea91dd931 , .u10fc7f064e113c0648e086cea91dd931:hover , .u10fc7f064e113c0648e086cea91dd931:visited , .u10fc7f064e113c0648e086cea91dd931:active { border:0!important; } .u10fc7f064e113c0648e086cea91dd931 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u10fc7f064e113c0648e086cea91dd931 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u10fc7f064e113c0648e086cea91dd931:active , .u10fc7f064e113c0648e086cea91dd931:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u10fc7f064e113c0648e086cea91dd931 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u10fc7f064e113c0648e086cea91dd931 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u10fc7f064e113c0648e086cea91dd931 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u10fc7f064e113c0648e086cea91dd931 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u10fc7f064e113c0648e086cea91dd931:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u10fc7f064e113c0648e086cea91dd931 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u10fc7f064e113c0648e086cea91dd931 .u10fc7f064e113c0648e086cea91dd931-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u10fc7f064e113c0648e086cea91dd931:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Macbeth, tragedy by William Shakespeare EssayIs it for him you do envy me so? Katherina gives the impression of being a powerful figure and a shrew in these early scenes and not a traditional obedient woman. However, although Bianca appears submissive, she, through this, wields power and gets what she wants. You do me double wrong to strive for that which resteth in my choice. I am no breeching scholar in the schools, Ill not be tied to hours nor pointed times. Here she hints that she will not be tamed. Lucentio admits that she has power over him. While you, sweet dear, prove mistress of my heart. Bianca is clearly full of self-control and she, at the end of the play, refuses to come when her master calls her. She also scorns Katherina when she removes her hat at Petruchios will. Fie, what a foolish duty call you this? Shakespeare uses Bianca as another threat to the traditional ideology of male dominance. However, again Shakespeare fails to completely adopt this viewpoint of slaves breaking free and gaining their own power and respect. At the beginning of the play it appears that Katherine will remain independent, but by the end, she is obedient to Petruchio and does his bidding without it. Katherine is treated just like a servant. She is denied food and nice clothes and she is not allowed to sleep when she pleases. She is kept waiting for Petruchio, much like his servants. The sun and moon scenes show Katherina stripped of her self-confidence and is forced to submit to what her husband calls her wifely and womanly duty. Her sister and the widow do not respond to their husbands calls and Katherine is forced to fetch them. Katherines final speech shows her complete submission to the patriarchal system. She says that husbands, like masters are to be thy governor and thy king. She also claims Such duty a woman oweth to her husband. She admits that she is willing to perform what her husband calls her duty. At the end of the play, it seems that Shakespeare has submitted to the traditional orthodox beliefs of his society. However, the Sly scene does not come to a close and this loose end still questions the seemingly definitive conclusion, which was Katherines speech. At the end of the play, Tranio, the servant, still remains in an almost equal position to the other men and takes part in the wagering of the husbands. The very last lines of the play are oddly inconclusive and possibly suggest a doubt as to whether Kates transformation is genuine. Lucentio in utter amazement, says Tis a wonder, by your leave, she will be tamed so. He almost seems to doubt that she could possibly change so completely. Throughout the Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare makes clear that the old system functions, if with glitches, and that it is easy to fit into, but he also suggests that there is an alternative to the traditional roles of masters and servants, and even wives and husbands.

Weber, Durkheim, Marx and how they account for religion Essay Example For Students

Weber, Durkheim, Marx and how they account for religion Essay How do we account for religion its origin, its development, and even its persistence in modern society? This is a question which has occupied many people in a variety of fields for quite a long time. At one point, the answers were framed in purely theological and religious terms, assuming the truth of Christian revelations and proceeding from there. In the 18th and 19th centuries, a more naturalistic approach developed. Instead of needing to believe in the truth of the religion, what was required was just the opposite: intellectual detachment and a suspension of belief. Three people who ended up doing just that were Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim and Max Weber. Marx studied philosophy in Berlin under William Hegel. Hegels philosophy had a decisive influence upon Marxs own thinking and theories. According to Marx, religion is an expression of material realities and economic injustice. Thus, problems in religion are ultimately problems in society. Religion is not the disease, but merely a symptom. It is used by oppressors to make people feel better about the distress they experience due to being poor and exploited. This is the origin of his comment that religion is the opium of the people. We will write a custom essay on Weber, Durkheim, Marx and how they account for religion specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now People do not have an objective view of the world; they see it from the restricted point of view of their own positions. (p. 35) At times I may seem to be focusing more on economic rather than religious theory, but that is because Marxs basic stance is that everything is always about economics. According to Marx, humans even from their earliest beginnings are not motivated by grand ideas but instead by material concerns, like the need to eat and survive. This is the basic premise of a materialist view of history. At the beginning, people worked together in unity and it wasnt so bad. But eventually, humans developed agriculture and the concept of private property. These two facts created a division of labor and a separation of classes based upon power and wealth. This material organization of society is what Marx calls class consciousness. This, in turn, created the social conflict that drives society. All of this is made worse by capitalism which only increases the disparity between the wealthy classes and the labor classes. Confrontation between them is unavoidable because those classes are driven by historical forces beyond anyones control. Capitalism also creates one new misery: exploitation of surplus value. For Marx, an ideal economic system would involve exchanges of equal value for equal value, where value is determined simply by the amount of work put into whatever is being produced. Capitalism interrupts this ideal by introducing a profit motive a desire to produce an uneven exchange of lesser value for greater value. Profit is ultimately derived from the surplus value produced by workers in factories. A laborer might produce enough value to feed his family in two hours of work, but he keeps at the job for a full day in Marxs time, that might be 12 or 14 hours. Those extra hours represent the surplus value produced by the worker. The owner of the factory did nothing to earn this, but exploits it nevertheless and keeps the difference as profit. Economics, then, are what constitute the base of all of human life and history generating division of labor, class struggle, and all the social institutions which are supposed to maintain the status quo. Those social institutions are a superstructure built upon the base of economics, totally dependent upon material and economic realities but nothing else. All of the institutions which are prominent in our daily lives marriage, church, government, arts, etc. can only be truly understood when examined in relation to economic forces. It should be clear now that religion is one of those social institutions which are dependent upon the material and economic realities in a given society. It has no independent history but is instead the creature of productive forces. As Marx wrote, The religious world is but the reflex of the real world. Marx asserts that religion is only dependent upon economics, nothing else so much so that the actual doctrines of the religions are almost irrelevant. This is a functionalist interpretation of religion understanding religion is not dependent upon the content of beliefs, but what social purpose religion itself serves. Marx believes that religion is an illusion whose chief purpose is to provide reasons and excuses to keep society functioning just as it is. Just as capitalism takes our productive labor and alienates us from its value, religion also takes our qualities our highest ideals and aspirations and alienates us from them, projecting them onto an alien and unknowable being called a god. Religion is meant to create illusory fantasies for the poor. Economic realities prevent them from finding true happiness in this life, so religion tells them that this is OK because they will find that true happiness in the next life. For Marx, the problem lies in the fact that just like an opiate drug fails to fix a physical injury it merely helps you forget your pain and suffering, religion also does not fix the underlying causes of peoples pain and suffering instead, it helps them forget why they are suffering and get them to look forward to an imaginary future when the pain will cease instead of working to change circumstances now. Even worse, this drug of religion is being administered by the same oppressors who are ultimately responsible for the pain and suffering in the first place. Emile Durkheim continued with Marxs theories in his book The Elementary forms of Religious Life that was published just a few years before his death, in 1912. As Marx had argued that every class had its own conscious view of reality, Durkheim went further to demonstrate that even the most basic social ideas as time, space and God can be seen as creations of society. Durkheim suggests that there is not one reality but many and that this reality only exists because of the symbolic creations of humans and their rituals. Durkheim studied the aboriginal tribes of Australia in an effort to understand religion. He concluded that religion always involves a distinction between things that are sacred and things that are profane. Durkheim uses the example of the totem pole that functions to hold the tribe together. The totemic animal, Durkheim believed, was the original focus of religious activity because it was the emblem for a social group, the clan. He thought that the function of religion was to make people willing to put the interests of society ahead of their own desires. All members of the tribe gather together to perform periodic totem rituals, it is these rituals that set the rules for social order. It is forbidden to kill or harm the totem animal and it is therefor forbidden to kill or harm ones fellow tribesmen who name themselves after the totem. In the modern Christian religion, Durkeim argues that the moral commandments such as The Golden Rule and The Ten Commandments are primarily social rules. These rules regulate humans behavior toward eachother and serve to maintain a sense of social unity. People do not follow these rules out of their fear for heaven or hell but for their desire to be accepted by society. If they participate in the religious rituals they will feel a sense of belonging, whereas those who break the rules and avoid the rituals suffer from social isolation. To Durkheim, God is merely a symbol of society. Max Webers sociology is the foundation of scientific sociology of religion in a sense of typological and objective understanding. .u42ef4fe84dab335c6393dd8f42e62738 , .u42ef4fe84dab335c6393dd8f42e62738 .postImageUrl , .u42ef4fe84dab335c6393dd8f42e62738 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u42ef4fe84dab335c6393dd8f42e62738 , .u42ef4fe84dab335c6393dd8f42e62738:hover , .u42ef4fe84dab335c6393dd8f42e62738:visited , .u42ef4fe84dab335c6393dd8f42e62738:active { border:0!important; } .u42ef4fe84dab335c6393dd8f42e62738 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u42ef4fe84dab335c6393dd8f42e62738 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u42ef4fe84dab335c6393dd8f42e62738:active , .u42ef4fe84dab335c6393dd8f42e62738:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u42ef4fe84dab335c6393dd8f42e62738 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u42ef4fe84dab335c6393dd8f42e62738 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u42ef4fe84dab335c6393dd8f42e62738 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u42ef4fe84dab335c6393dd8f42e62738 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u42ef4fe84dab335c6393dd8f42e62738:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u42ef4fe84dab335c6393dd8f42e62738 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u42ef4fe84dab335c6393dd8f42e62738 .u42ef4fe84dab335c6393dd8f42e62738-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u42ef4fe84dab335c6393dd8f42e62738:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: 12 Angry Men EssayRejecting Karl Marxs evolutionary law of class society, or Emile Durkheims sustained law of moral society, Weber established the understanding sociology of the subjective meaning of religious action or inaction. He argued that the transformation of religion allowed for social changes where people could now work together to gain economic wealth. In a primitive society there were many gods, those kinsmen who worshipped the same household god as you could be trusted but those strangers who worshipped a different god were aliens and could not be trusted. The rise of the great world religions, such as Buddhism, Christianity and Islam, separated the idea of the natural world from the idea of the spiritual world. Instead of gods and spirits, people become widely concerned with the idea of heaven and hell. Weber argues that the idea of a universal God allowed for laws based on consistent general principles. Religion itself can also develop in new directions. (P. 133) In primitive religions one prays to the gods to make his crops grow or kill off enemies. In the event of a natural disaster the kinsmen would believe that the gods were angry with them and continue to hold ceremonial sacrifices until the weather was better. It was this fear of the gods that kept the primitive kinsmen from trusting anyone else. In this new spiritual realm, the righteous individual who follows all the rituals and laws of his religion can still hope for salvation even if his has bad fortune. The ideas of good and evil can develop separately from the ideas of worldly success and failure. (P. 134) In Webers writing The Protestant Ethic he discusses the role that religion played in the rise of capitalism. This new religious breakthrough opened many of the doors to industrialization: laying the basis for a moral community of trust underlying peaceful commerce; rationalizing the legal system; motivating people to remake political, social, and economic institutions in keeping with an imperative to transform the world more closely to the ideal. (P. 134) Religion was now responsible for uniting and enlarging a community who could live together in peace with the same moral and ethical code of conduct. Weber believed that the Protestant ethic broke the hold of tradition while it encouraged men to apply themselves rationally to their work. Calvinism, he found, had developed a set of beliefs around the concept of predestination. Followers of Calvin believed that one could not do good works or perform acts of faith to assure your place in heaven. You were either among the elect (in which case you were in) or you were not. However, wealth was taken as a sign by you and your neighbors that you were one of the Gods elect, thereby providing encouragement for people to acquire wealth. The Protestant ethic therefore provided religious sanctions that fostered a spirit of rigorous discipline, encouraging men to apply themselves rationally to acquire wealth. This naturalistic approach to religion represented a fundamental paradigm shift in how religion was to be viewed. Instead of requiring clergy in order to understand religion, the requirement became facts and information and research. Whether you agree with the evaluation of the social function of religion as Marx did, that religion was the opium of the people, as Durkheim did that religion was what made moral society hold together, or with Webers The Protestant ethic, it is obvious that religion played a key role in the development of society. 1- Collins, Makowisky; The Discovery of Society How do we account for religion its origin, its development, and even its persistence in modern society? This is a question which has occupied many people in a variety of fields for quite a long time. At one point, the answers were framed in purely theological and religious terms, assuming the truth of Christian revelations and proceeding from there. In the 18th and 19th centuries, a more naturalistic approach developed. Instead of needing to believe in the truth of the religion, what was required was just the opposite: intellectual detachment and a suspension of belief. Three people who ended up doing just that were Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim and Max Weber. Marx studied philosophy in Berlin under William Hegel. Hegels philosophy had a decisive influence upon Marxs own thinking and theories. According to Marx, religion is an expression of material realities and economic injustice. Thus, problems in religion are ultimately problems in society. Religion is not the disease, but merely a symptom. It is used by oppressors to make people feel better about the distress they experience due to being poor and exploited. This is the origin of his comment that religion is the opium of the people. People do not have an objective view of the world; they see it from the restricted point of view of their own positions. (p. 35) At times I may seem to be focusing more on economic rather than religious theory, but that is because Marxs basic stance is that everything is always about economics. According to Marx, humans even from their earliest beginnings are not motivated by grand ideas but instead by material concerns, like the need to eat and survive. This is the basic premise of a materialist view of history. At the beginning, people worked together in unity and it wasnt so bad. But eventually, humans developed agriculture and the concept of private property. These two facts created a division of labor and a separation of classes based upon power and wealth. This material organization of society is what Marx calls class consciousness. This, in turn, created the social conflict that drives society. All of this is made worse by capitalism which only increases the disparity between the wealthy classes and the labor classes. Confrontation between them is unavoidable because those classes are driven by historical forces beyond anyones control. Capitalism also creates one new misery: exploitation of surplus value. For Marx, an ideal economic system would involve exchanges of equal value for equal value, where value is determined simply by the amount of work put into whatever is being produced. Capitalism interrupts this ideal by introducing a profit motive a desire to produce an uneven exchange of lesser value for greater value. Profit is ultimately derived from the surplus value produced by workers in factories. A laborer might produce enough value to feed his family in two hours of work, but he keeps at the job for a full day in Marxs time, that might be 12 or 14 hours. Those extra hours represent the surplus value produced by the worker. The owner of the factory did nothing to earn this, but exploits it nevertheless and keeps the difference as profit. Economics, then, are what constitute the base of all of human life and history generating division of labor, class struggle, and all the social institutions which are supposed to maintain the status quo. Those social institutions are a superstructure built upon the base of economics, totally dependent upon material and economic realities but nothing else. All of the institutions which are prominent in our daily lives marriage, church, government, arts, etc. can only be truly understood when examined in relation to economic forces. It should be clear now that religion is one of those social institutions which are dependent upon the material and economic realities in a given society. It has no independent history but is instead the creature of productive forces. As Marx wrote, The religious world is but the reflex of the real world. Marx asserts that religion is only dependent upon economics, nothing else so much so that the actual doctrines of the religions are almost irrelevant. .uaec7fe42cd0bba60b6ac9d8658eb7cb9 , .uaec7fe42cd0bba60b6ac9d8658eb7cb9 .postImageUrl , .uaec7fe42cd0bba60b6ac9d8658eb7cb9 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .uaec7fe42cd0bba60b6ac9d8658eb7cb9 , .uaec7fe42cd0bba60b6ac9d8658eb7cb9:hover , .uaec7fe42cd0bba60b6ac9d8658eb7cb9:visited , .uaec7fe42cd0bba60b6ac9d8658eb7cb9:active { border:0!important; } .uaec7fe42cd0bba60b6ac9d8658eb7cb9 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .uaec7fe42cd0bba60b6ac9d8658eb7cb9 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .uaec7fe42cd0bba60b6ac9d8658eb7cb9:active , .uaec7fe42cd0bba60b6ac9d8658eb7cb9:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .uaec7fe42cd0bba60b6ac9d8658eb7cb9 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .uaec7fe42cd0bba60b6ac9d8658eb7cb9 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .uaec7fe42cd0bba60b6ac9d8658eb7cb9 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .uaec7fe42cd0bba60b6ac9d8658eb7cb9 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .uaec7fe42cd0bba60b6ac9d8658eb7cb9:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .uaec7fe42cd0bba60b6ac9d8658eb7cb9 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .uaec7fe42cd0bba60b6ac9d8658eb7cb9 .uaec7fe42cd0bba60b6ac9d8658eb7cb9-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .uaec7fe42cd0bba60b6ac9d8658eb7cb9:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Adolescent Peer Pressure EssayThis is a functionalist interpretation of religion understanding religion is not dependent upon the content of beliefs, but what social purpose religion itself serves. Marx believes that religion is an illusion whose chief purpose is to provide reasons and excuses to keep society functioning just as it is. Just as capitalism takes our productive labor and alienates us from its value, religion also takes our qualities our highest ideals and aspirations and alienates us from them, projecting them onto an alien and unknowable being called a god. Religion is meant to create illusory fantasies for the poor. Economic realities prevent them from finding true happiness in this life, so religion tells them that this is OK because they will find that true happiness in the next life. For Marx, the problem lies in the fact that just like an opiate drug fails to fix a physical injury it merely helps you forget your pain and suffering, religion also does not fix the underlying causes of peoples pain and suffering instead, it helps them forget why they are suffering and get them to look forward to an imaginary future when the pain will cease instead of working to change circumstances now. Even worse, this drug of religion is being administered by the same oppressors who are ultimately responsible for the pain and suffering in the first place. Emile Durkheim continued with Marxs theories in his book The Elementary forms of Religious Life that was published just a few years before his death, in 1912. As Marx had argued that every class had its own conscious view of reality, Durkheim went further to demonstrate that even the most basic social ideas as time, space and God can be seen as creations of society. Durkheim suggests that there is not one reality but many and that this reality only exists because of the symbolic creations of humans and their rituals. Durkheim studied the aboriginal tribes of Australia in an effort to understand religion. He concluded that religion always involves a distinction between things that are sacred and things that are profane. Durkheim uses the example of the totem pole that functions to hold the tribe together. The totemic animal, Durkheim believed, was the original focus of religious activity because it was the emblem for a social group, the clan. He thought that the function of religion was to make people willing to put the interests of society ahead of their own desires. All members of the tribe gather together to perform periodic totem rituals, it is these rituals that set the rules for social order. It is forbidden to kill or harm the totem animal and it is therefor forbidden to kill or harm ones fellow tribesmen who name themselves after the totem. In the modern Christian religion, Durkeim argues that the moral commandments such as The Golden Rule and The Ten Commandments are primarily social rules. These rules regulate humans behavior toward eachother and serve to maintain a sense of social unity. People do not follow these rules out of their fear for heaven or hell but for their desire to be accepted by society. If they participate in the religious rituals they will feel a sense of belonging, whereas those who break the rules and avoid the rituals suffer from social isolation. To Durkheim, God is merely a symbol of society. Max Webers sociology is the foundation of scientific sociology of religion in a sense of typological and objective understanding. Rejecting Karl Marxs evolutionary law of class society, or Emile Durkheims sustained law of moral society, Weber established the understanding sociology of the subjective meaning of religious action or inaction. He argued that the transformation of religion allowed for social changes where people could now work together to gain economic wealth. In a primitive society there were many gods, those kinsmen who worshipped the same household god as you could be trusted but those strangers who worshipped a different god were aliens and could not be trusted. The rise of the great world religions, such as Buddhism, Christianity and Islam, separated the idea of the natural world from the idea of the spiritual world. Instead of gods and spirits, people become widely concerned with the idea of heaven and hell. Weber argues that the idea of a universal God allowed for laws based on consistent general principles. Religion itself can also develop in new directions. (P. 133) In primitive religions one prays to the gods to make his crops grow or kill off enemies. In the event of a natural disaster the kinsmen would believe that the gods were angry with them and continue to hold ceremonial sacrifices until the weather was better. It was this fear of the gods that kept the primitive kinsmen from trusting anyone else. In this new spiritual realm, the righteous individual who follows all the rituals and laws of his religion can still hope for salvation even if his has bad fortune. The ideas of good and evil can develop separately from the ideas of worldly success and failure. (P. 134) In Webers writing The Protestant Ethic he discusses the role that religion played in the rise of capitalism. This new religious breakthrough opened many of the doors to industrialization: laying the basis for a moral community of trust underlying peaceful commerce; rationalizing the legal system; motivating people to remake political, social, and economic institutions in keeping with an imperative to transform the world more closely to the ideal. P. 134) Religion was now responsible for uniting and enlarging a community who could live together in peace with the same moral and ethical code of conduct. Weber believed that the Protestant ethic broke the hold of tradition while it encouraged men to apply themselves rationally to their work. Calvinism, he found, had developed a set of beliefs around the concept of predestination. Followers of Calvin believed that one could not do good works or perform acts of faith to assure your place in heaven. You were either among the elect (in which case you were in) or you were not. However, wealth was taken as a sign by you and your neighbors that you were one of the Gods elect, thereby providing encouragement for people to acquire wealth. The Protestant ethic therefore provided religious sanctions that fostered a spirit of rigorous discipline, encouraging men to apply themselves rationally to acquire wealth. This naturalistic approach to religion represented a fundamental paradigm shift in how religion was to be viewed. Instead of requiring clergy in order to understand religion, the requirement became facts and information and research. Whether you agree with the evaluation of the social function of religion as Marx did, that religion was the opium of the people, as Durkheim did that religion was what made moral society hold together, or with Webers The Protestant ethic, it is obvious that religion played a key role in the development of society. 1- Collins, Makowisky; The Discovery of Society How do we account for religion its origin, its development, and even its persistence in modern society? This is a question which has occupied many people in a variety of fields for quite a long time. At one point, the answers were framed in purely theological and religious terms, assuming the truth of Christian revelations and proceeding from there. In the 18th and 19th centuries, a more naturalistic approach developed. Instead of needing to believe in the truth of the religion, what was required was just the opposite: intellectual detachment and a suspension of belief. Three people who ended up doing just that were Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim and Max Weber.

Smart Famous People and Their SAT Scores

Smart Famous People and Their SAT Scores SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips If you are taking the SAT, you are definitely not alone! While colleges use SAT scores as an indicator of smarts and aptitude for college, smart people do not always perform well on the SAT test. In this article, I will share the SAT scores of some reputedly smart people, former and current Presidents, CEOs, authors, etc. Hopefully, their scores will make you feel proud of your own! SAT Scores of Smart People At PrepScholar, we've gathered a complete list of smart people’s SAT scores. We found theirscores in past interviews or through investigative research.You will see their scores are widespread: Smart Person Known For SAT Score (out of 1600) Alma Mater Paul Allen Co-founder of Microsoft 1600 Washington State University Bill Gates Co-founder of Microsoft 1590 Harvard Ben Bernanke Economist / Former Chairman of the Federal Reserve 1590 Harvard Bill O'Reilly Political Commentator 1585 Marist College Rush Limbaugh Political Commentator 1530 Southeast Missouri State University Scott McNealy Businessman / Co-founder ofSun Microsystems 1420 Stanford Al Gore 45th Vice President of the United States, under President Bill Clinton 1355 Harvard Meredith Vieira Television Host 1300s Tufts University Stephen King Author 1300s University of Maine George W. Bush 43rd President of the United States 1206 Yale John Kerry Current Secretary of State 1190 Yale Amy Tan Author 1100s Linfield College, San Josà © State University Bill Clinton 42nd President of the United States 1032 Georgetown Al Franken US Senator / Former SNL Comedian 1020 Harvard Howard Stern Radio and TV Personality 870 Boston University All of these people took the SAT, but others took the ACT, and we converted their ACT scores to the SAT scale: Smart Person Known For ACT Score SAT Conversion (out of 1600) Alma Mater Sonia Sotomayor Associate Justice of the Supreme Court 35 1560 Princeton Steve Jobs Co-founder of Apple 32 1420 Reed College Barack Obama 44th and current President of the United States 30 1340 Columbia University Lyndon B. Johnson 36th President of the United States 26 1190 Texas State University William Faulkner Author 18 870 University of Mississippi Obviously, you do not need to score well on the SAT to succeed in life or to be considered "smart".However, if you score well on the SAT, you will have the opportunity to attend better colleges and will be afforded more post-collegiate job opportunities.So even though the SAT may not be an indicator of smarts or success, you should still try to get the highest score possible. Be as cool as this guy! (and hopefully as rich) How can you improve your own SAT Score? Study the test format Make sure you know the test format cold.Be aware that there are changes coming to the SAT, the new SAT will start in the spring of 2016.To learn the test, check out our other free resources: how long is the SAT, how is the SAT scored, and how to get a perfect SAT score from a full 2400 scorer. Practice practice practice You should be practicing timed SAT tests and reviewing all of the answers you got wrong.Check out all of the free SAT tests available in our other article. Consider using a paid resource to help you prep If you enjoy our free articles, you would love our PrepScholar SAT prep program, and you can try it free for 5 days.We do the heavy lifting for you, by splitting up our prep material into specific skills. We'll detect your weaknesses automatically and give you focused lessons and quizzes to improve those skills.For more paid study resources, check out our recommended SAT prep books. What’s next? Check out our other resources for help raising your SAT score: The Best Way to Review Your Mistakes for the SAT/ACT The Best Way to Read the Passage in SAT Reading How to get 800 on SAT Writing: 11 Strategies from a Perfect Scorer How to Get 800 on SAT Math, by a Perfect Scorer Disappointed with your scores? Want to improve your SAT score by 240 points?We've written a guide about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italys Revolutionary Hero

Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italy's Revolutionary Hero Giuseppe Garibaldi (July 4, 1807–June 2, 1882) was a military leader who led a movement that united Italy in the mid-1800s. He stood in opposition to the oppression of the Italian people, and his revolutionary instincts inspired people on both sides of the Atlantic. Fast Facts: Giuseppi Garibaldi Known For: Unifying northern and southern ItalyBorn: July 4, 1807 in Nice, FranceParents: Giovanni Domenico Garibaldi and Maria Rosa Nicoletta RaimondoDied: June 2, 1882 in Caprera, Kingdom of ItalyPublished Works:  AutobiographySpouse(s):  Francesca Armosino (m. 1880–1882), Giuseppina Raimondi (m. 1860–1860), Ana Ribeiro da Silva (Anita) Garibaldi (m. 1842–1849)Children: by Anita: Menotti (b. 1840), Rosita (b. 1843), Teresita (b. 1845) and Ricciotti (b. 1847); by Francesca: Clà ©lia Garibaldi (1867); Rosa Garibaldi (1869) and Manlio Garibaldi (1873) He lived an adventurous life, which included stints as a fisherman, sailor, and soldier. His activities led him into exile, which meant living for a time in South America and even, at one point, in New York. Early Life Giuseppe Garibaldi was born in Nice on July 4, 1807, to Giovanni Domenico Garibaldi and his wife Maria Rosa Nicoletta Raimondo. His father was a fisherman and also piloted trading vessels along the Mediterranean coast. When Garibaldi was a child, Nice, which had been ruled by Napoleonic France, came under the control of the Italian kingdom of Piedmont Sardinia. Its likely that Garibaldis great desire to unite Italy was rooted in his childhood experience of essentially seeing the nationality of his hometown being changed. Resisting his mothers wish that he join the priesthood, Garibaldi went to sea at the age of 15. From Sea Captain to Rebel and Fugitive Garibaldi was certified as a sea captain by the age of 25, and in the early 1830s he became involved in the Young Italy movement led by Giuseppe Mazzini. The party was devoted to the liberation and unification of Italy, large parts of which were then ruled by Austria or the Papacy. A plot to overthrow the Piedmontese government failed and Garibaldi, who was involved, was forced to flee. The government sentenced him to death in absentia. Unable to return to Italy, he sailed to South America. Guerrilla Fighter and Rebel in South America For more than a dozen years Garibaldi lived in exile, making a living at first as a sailor and a trader. He was drawn to rebel movements in South America and fought in Brazil and Uruguay. Garibaldi led forces that were victorious over the Uruguayan dictator, and he was credited with ensuring the liberation of Uruguay. Exhibiting a keen sense of the dramatic, Garibaldi adopted the red shirts worn by South American gauchos as a personal trademark. In later years, his billowing red shirts would be a prominent part of his public image. In 1842, he met and married a Brazilian freedom fighter, Ana Maria de Jesus Ribeiro da Silva, known as Anita. They would have four children, Menotti (b. 1840), Rosita (b. 1843), Teresita (b. 1845), and Ricciotti (b. 1847). Return to Italy While Garibaldi was in South America he stayed in touch with his revolutionary colleague Mazzini, who was living in exile in London. Mazzini continually promoted Garibaldi, seeing him as a rallying point for Italian nationalists. As revolutions broke out in Europe in 1848, Garibaldi returned from South America. He landed in Nice, along with his Italian Legion, which consisted of about 60 loyal fighters. As war and rebellions broke roiled Italy, Garibaldi commanded troops in Milan before having to flee to Switzerland. Hailed as an Italian Military Hero Garibaldi intended to go to Sicily and join a rebellion there, but he was instead drawn into a conflict at Rome. In 1849 Garibaldi, taking the side of a newly formed revolutionary government, led Italian forces battling French troops who were loyal to the pope. After addressing the Roman assembly following a brutal battle, while still carrying a bloody sword, Garibaldi was encouraged to flee the city. Garibaldis South American-born wife Anita, who had fought alongside him, died during the perilous retreat from Rome. Garibaldi himself escaped to Tuscany and eventually to Nice. Exiled to Staten Island The authorities in Nice forced him back into exile, and he crossed the Atlantic yet again. For a time he lived quietly in Staten Island, a borough of New York City, as a guest of Italian-American inventor Antonio Meucci. In the early 1850s, Garibaldi also returned to seafaring, at one point serving as captain of a ship that sailed to the Pacific and back. Return  to Italy In the mid-1850s Garibaldi visited Mazzini in London and was eventually allowed to return to Italy. He was able to obtain funds to buy an estate on a small island off the coast of Sardinia and devoted himself to farming. Never far from his mind, of course, was a political movement to unify Italy. This movement was popularly known as the risorgimento, literally the resurrection in Italian. Garibaldi was married for a few days in January 1860, to a woman named Giuseppina Raimondi, who it turned out was pregnant with another mans child. It was a scandal that was quickly hushed up. The Thousand Red Shirts Political upheaval again led Garibaldi into battle. In May 1860 he landed in Sicily with his followers, who came to be known as the Thousand Red Shirts. Garibaldi defeated the Neapolitan troops, essentially conquering the island, and then crossed the Strait of Messina to the Italian mainland. After matching northward, Garibaldi reached Naples and made a triumphant entry into the undefended city on September 7, 1860. He declared himself dictator. Seeking a peaceful unification of Italy, Garibaldi turned over his southern conquests to the Piedmontese king and returned to his island farm. Legacy and Death The eventual unification of Italy took more than a decade. Garibaldi made several attempts to seize Rome in the 1860s, but was captured three times and sent back to his farm. In the Franco-Prussian War, Garibaldi, out of sympathy for the newly formed French Republic, briefly fought against the Prussians. In 1865, he hired Francesca Armosino, a robust young woman from San Damiano dAsti to help his daughter Teresita who was ill. Francesca and Garibaldi would have three children: Clà ©lia Garibaldi (1867); Rosa Garibaldi (1869) and Manlio Garibaldi (1873). They married in 1880. As a result of the Franco-Prussian War, the Italian government took control of Rome, and Italy was essentially united. Garibaldi was later voted a pension by the Italian government and was considered a national hero until his death on June 2, 1882. Sources Garibaldi, Guiseppi. My Life. Tr. Parkin, Stephen. Hesperus Press, 2004.Garibaldi, Guiseppi. Garibaldi: An Autobiography. Tr. Robson, William. London, Routledge, Warne Routledge, 1861.Riall, Lucy. Garibaldi: Invention of a Hero. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007.  Scirocco, Alfonso. Garibaldi: Citizen of the World. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2007.

Europa. Basic Information on the European Union Essay

Europa. Basic Information on the European Union - Essay Example The European Union was formed after the Second World War to promote cooperation on economic grounds amongst the European countries. The idea was that the nations which do business with one another are reliant on each other economically and will consequently avoid clashes and disagreement amongst themselves. In the year 1951, six European nations viz. Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Italy and Netherlands signed an agreement to unite their industries in the coal and steel sector so that there would not be any difference between them in future. After six years, they made a deal of ‘Treaty of Rome’ by forming the European Economic Community (EEC) with the idea of forming a common single market, the community later came to be recognized as the European Union. The elementary objective of the Treaty of Rome was the formation of a single economic region in Europe based on a universal market. The common market is a phase in the process of international integration which targets to remove all obstructions to intra market trade and plans to merge all the national markets to form a single market which would lead to conditions prevalent in an internal market. The formation of such a market needs liberalisation of business among the Union members and also makes free mobility of certain production factors such as labour, services and necessary capital. It further requires free establishment of business organisations and people in all the regions of the member nations for the purpose of exercising their business and professional activities. (Europa, n.d.). After the Treaty of Rome, the EEC detached all tariffs and duties on the goods which were traded within its territory. However, there were many differences in the requirements of packaging and saf ety measures followed by each Member nation, these disparities in business practices led to problems in selling the same products all over the European Region. The inability to reach the undisputed agreements required to change the scenario prevented the development of the single European market. In the early 1980s, the national economies of the European nations were disjointed, inflexible and very uncompetitive. European Union adopted ‘The Single European Act’ in 1986 under which certain important unanimous decisions could be taken to construct a boundary-less single market by the end of 1992. During this period, the EU formed one common regulation system for all its members and started following the code of joint recognition. In the early years of its formation, the European Union had crossed two major obstacles to the economic incorporation of Europe. They were the formation of custom union where the custom duties were removed, and the development of a general agricu ltural plan which was required for the liberal movement of agricultural products between the members of the European Union

Writing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 5

Writing - Essay Example Consequently, from his throne, God watches the inhabitants of the earth. Moreover, in Psalm 139: 7 -10, King David wonders where he can hide or flee from the Spirit of God since He is everywhere; in the sea, heaven, and in Sheol. Further, in Galatians 2: 20, God is supernaturally present in every place and at the same time. Moreover, the Book of 2 Chronicles 7: 2, also asserts the presence of God in the life of every person who believes in Christ (New Jerusalem Bible, 2 Chronicles 7: 2). These biblical evidences prove that God is everywhere and that nobody can hide from Him. The implication of the nature of God being omnipresent shows the greatness of His power. Since he is omnipresent, he is powerful and that is the reason He can exist everywhere and at the same time (Packer 25). Consequently, this feature of God shows that we cannot hide from Him because He sees us every time and in every place as He exists everywhere. For instance, the biblical Noah tried to hide from God but was never successful. Further, because of this attribute, human beings should never fear anything since God is everywhere and keeps watch over His

Conducting a management project Essay Example for Free

Conducting a management project Essay Introduction The project, as requested by the manager; is to come up with the ways that my team can make more savings in the company for the company and for their own growth. This was because the company has not been making savings as they had targeted in the beginning of their business year and the savings are even less as compared to the other financial years yet the company still appears to be run under the same principals. The project is aimed at coming up with the research and recommendations for actions to be taken to manage and change the situation at the company and write a suitable report on this. The report written at the end of this research is going to benefit the company in generating more profits and the employees in self-development. It is also going to cultivate the culture of team work, innovation and entrepreneurial culture among the employees. Simply put, the benefits derived from project management increase in proportion to how well project management processes are used. A well -executed project will be completed on time, within its approved budget. A well-executed project will deliver higher product quality by managing the time to design and test the new product. It will provide great satisfaction to its team, and it will meet (or exceed) the customers’ expectations. In todays business environment, it is critical that each project is run in the most efficient manner possible. For a project-oriented business, it is equally imperative that all projects are managed consistently, so that the benefits of well -executed projects extend corporate wide. The data that was used in this research was collected from the employees, customers and other stakeholders in the company. In preparation for the data collection, it is important to note that a diverse sample of the host companys employees is required in order to address the breadth of the organizational structure and the full range of roles and responsibilities of participants. Input to the list of interview participants should be secured from the company sponsor, but it   is the assessors function to challenge the sample to ensure it meets the needs of a balanced assessment. The assessor should recognize a tendency of most sponsors to provide participants who already are highly rated and can demonstrate high performance.   The participant pool needs to include these participants, but not be limited to them. All divisions of the corporate structure should be represented, including functional and supporting departments. In selecting the interview sample, the assessor should consider the population density of the host company’s divisions, revenue generated by the divisions, project count or cost, or several other attributes. The total number of interviews to be conducted must be limited to a number that is appropriate for the size of the host company; it is organizational structure and the time period in which the study is required. These factors also drive the composition and size of the assessment team. The methods used in the collection of data and information include; use of questionnaires, observation, collecting samples, taking pictures, oral interviews, reading on recorded materials. The process was not that easy since it was hard to get some confidential information especially on the accounts records of the company and some of the employees felt like they were being spied on and did not give the precisely correct information. Also collecting information from my seniors proved to be a bit hard, but all in all the information and data required for the research was successfully corrected. In all the methods used face to face conversation proved to be the best way to obtain information. Some of it advantages include; A people -to-people tool within a people oriented business Project management is ultimately a people -oriented business that requires personal interactions by and between all of the project team members. Face-to-face interviewing extends this principle to maturity assessments. Not only does the interview provide an interpersonal connection between the interviewer and the interview participant, it allows the interviewer to begin to assess the â€Å"people skills† of the personnel assigned to manage projects at the subject company. Interview participants who display grace and condor during the interview are more likely to carry those traits into their project teams, and are more likely to be open to the recommendations for change or improvement that will flow from the assessment study. Conversely, interview subjects who are less cooperative or more belligerent during the interviews are less likely to readily adopt new suggestions. Reveals actual, as well as intended behaviours conducting face-to-face interviews allows the interviewer/assessor to discover how the project team members at the subject company conduct their project business on a day-to-day basis. It is the only tool in the assessors toolbox that provides a means to evaluate the validity of several of the other tools, such as a review of policy manuals, or a project document search. Policy statements and procedures manuals provide guidance into how the subject company believes it should or wants to do work. By engaging project team members in open conversations, the interviewer can elicit comments that reveal, â€Å"What we really do† vs. â€Å"what we think we do† or â€Å"what we are supposed to do?† Additionally, by discussing different types of project reports with the people who write them, or use them, the assessor can gain insight into the value placed on each report. A simple document review, while important, can only indicate that a report exists, not that it is a valued tool, used by the project team to help control their projects, or by management to monitor progress. Provides opportunity to observe the corporate culture of the subject company. Corporate culture creates different patterns of behaviour at different companies that can have a significant impact on the outcomes of projects. The degree of openness to hearing and dealing with project issues, demonstrating appreciation for project successes, and the amount of information sharing between functional groups working on a project all contribute to the ultimate success of a project. All companies probably would respond affirmatively to possessing these traits; not all companies truly demonstrate these traits positively. During one-on-one conversations with working- level project team members, the assessor can learn how well the subject company responds to project information, or how often it â€Å"shoots the messenger. Difficulties associated with face-to-face interviews Need to establish credibility of assessors As an outsider, the assessment team will often encounter a â€Å"Who-are -you-and-why-should -I-give-you-any-of- my time?† reluctance to participate amongst the project management community at the subject company. This attitude can stem from two general sources: a general distrust of consultants and management’s motives for hiring them; or insufficient information about the assessors’ credentials. Neither of these difficulties is insurmountable, but neither can be ignored. And both can be addressed initially by a carefully worded introduction from the assessment’s sponsor within the host company. The sponsor for the assessment necessarily must possess sufficient status within his/her own organization to approve, or be able to solicit approval for the funding needed to conduct the assessment study. This status can be leveraged to convey the credentials of the assessment team to the host organization. The assessors must be introduced to the project management community in terms that readily establish the expertise and experience of the assessment team with this type of work. This also implies that the assessment team must be comprised of, or, at the least, be led by experienced, senior project managers, whose personal credentials will inspire confidence in the interview participants. Need to secure cooperation of interview participants. The assessor also needs to recognize that many people within the host company’s project management organization(s) will not view the assessment in an entirely positive light. Although the study is intended to be a continuous-improvement effort, it may still be perceived to stem from something being wrong, or judged to be not good enough. The outside assessor could be viewed as Management’s vigilante enforcer, coming in to identify and punish the under-achievers in project management. The assessor must defuse this impression, a task that can best be done if the assessor knows where the host company’s â€Å"sore spots† exist and why the host company has elected to conduct the assessment. Here again, the status of the assessment sponsor can be of great help in overcoming the reluctance of the interview participants. The sponsor’s introduction of the assessment team can be used to share the rationale for the study and remove much of the apprehension that could surround it. Need to prepare thoroughly. During each interview, it will be beneficial to allow conversation to flow in a freewheeling manner, rather than following a rigid, checklist question and answer. For this to work, the assessor/interviewer must be adequately prepared to conduct the interview. The assessor must know the assessment model in great detail, and be able to detect different levels of maturity for each knowledge area, regard less of whether or not the interview respondent uses catch phrases and key words from the model in his/her comments. It is the assessor’s responsibility to be able to take appropriate notes during the interview without disrupting the flow of the interview by having to shuffle papers or stumble from one topic to the next. The assessment team can help prepare for the interviews by constructing an easy -to-use interview form that guides them through the different areas, and offers reminders of key phrases to listen for. By creating the form, the team members will increase their familiarity with it, and find it more beneficial as a guide. Additionally, by constructing their own form, the assessment team members will afford themselves the opportunity to reacquaint themselves with the details of the assessment model. Compiling, synthesizing, and evaluating the information from all interviews. Specific data from individual interviews can be compiled if a set of common questions, with a short range of possible answers, is used for all interviews. In this circumstance, it is recommended that a set of standard analytical measures are identified prior to the interview phase, but it should not be assumed that these standard measures will adequately address the entire information content collected. The synthesis of the information is a process that requires the individual assessors to subjectively analyse the comments they heard and recorded during the interviews and identify common themes and touch-points along the maturity continuum. The assessors must then collaborate to yield consistent interpretation of the interview and confirm that the data gathered is appropriate for further evaluation. The assessors must collectively review the compiled data, interrogate it for trends and errors, and determine whether trends identified warrant further analysis. From the information gathered in data collection, many things can be realised; there is no transparent audit of the books of accounts in the company, the employees are taking bribes from the customers in return for unauthorised favours, the employees are very relaxed in their work and lack motivation, the board members are conduction the staffing process in a questionable manner, the employees were taking unnecessary and expensive trips at the expense of the company, the directors have very high unwarranted allowances, the taxes due to the government are not fully settled and the overall running of the firm is questionable. The things that need to be done urgently to make sure that the company is saved from being bankrupt and that it gives some profits are; there should be an immediate external audit of all the books of accounts in the firm, the recruitment and staffing in the firm should be done on the basis of qualification and therefore there should be a vetting process to eliminate all those who are there illegally, all the directors should be vetted and those found to be corrupt should be retrenched, the company should have a new board of directors, all the employees should sign a performance contract which should be followed strictly. Conclusions; the use of face-to-face interviews in Project Management Maturity Assessments has proven to contribute most and convey the project management actualities within any host organization. If executed correctly, the face-to- face interview will yield most insight into the host organizations current maturity and point to pockets of excellence as well as areas requiring correction. Although it is not recommended that an assessment be conducted using only face-to-face interviews, it is strongly recommended that a face-to-face interview always be included in an assessment. References Dove, K. E. (2002).  Conducting a successful development services program: A comprehensive guide and resource. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Fernald Environmental Management Project (U.S.), United States., United States., United States., Lippitt, J. M., Kolthoff, K. (1995).  Successful completion of a RCRA closure for the Fernald Environmental Management Project. Washington, D.C: United States. Dept. of Energy. Thomsett, M. C. (2002).  The little black book of project management. New York: AMACOM. Tjahjana, L., Dwyer, P., Habib, M. (2009).  The program management office advantage: A powerful and centralized way for organizations to manage projects. New York: American Management Association. Weir, J. R. (2009).  Conducting prescribed fires: A comprehensive manual. College Station: Texas A M University Press. Wysocki, R. K., Beck, R., Crane, D. B. (2000).  Effective project management. New York: Wiley.

BRILLIANT MINDS :: Essays Papers

BRILLIANT MINDS Abstract Frank and Lillian Gilbreth were two of the great pioneers of in the study of Scientific Management. Two of there major writings were on Fatigue Study and Motion Study. Business scholars use many of their writings, today. Many of their results affect the work conditions in many companies. Brilliant Minds of Frank and Lillian Gilbreth Frank Gilbreth was born on July 7, 1868 in Fairfield, Maine. Lillian Gilbreth was born on June 24, 1924 in Montclair, New Jersey. The Gilbreths' are considered two of the greatest American scholars in the field of scientific management. Many professional business managers use many of their writings. Many of their writings include The Psychology of Management, Fatigue Study, Motion Study for the Handicapped, Applied Motion Study, Motion Study, Primer of Scientific Management, Bricklaying System, and Concrete System. One of the great literary writings by the Gilbreths was the study of motion. Motion study is a means to permanent and practical waste elimination (Gilbreth, 1917). This work is aim to describe the work areas that motion study can be or is being applied and different methods to apply to the study. Finally, the result of the study. Motion study was mainly used in American Industry. The goal of this study was to eliminate unnecessary effort used in the industry to as low as possible. The improvement of a job task while increasing productivity was the result. The American industrial sector was used because it was expanding during this time and America needed to improve industrial techniques to remain competitive against other countries. Motion study analyzed every detailed in the operation to perform a particular task and determined the method which used the least amount of energy. An example of this research is the assembly of piece used in the production of the braider manufactured by the New England Butt Company (Gilberth 1917). After analysis using motion study there was a three hundred and fifty percent increase in production with no increase in worker fatigue (Gilbreth 1917). The analysis consisted of what is the unit of measure, the difference methods used, and devices needed. All three are needed to be in corporated to obtain a result. The use of chronocyclegraph motion devices was another method used in motion study. Chronocyclegraph devices were used in the study to formulate a precise scientific conclusion to an investigation. Clocks, temperature, and location devices was used during the study.

Parker

PARKER : Penning global strategy Ankita Jain Hrishikesh V Nilotpal Sinha Abhinav Sharma Great Lakes Institute of Management November 18, 2011 Caesar had perished from the world of men, had not his sword been rescued by a pen. Abstract In this study, we look at two strategies adopted by Parker Pen. The ? rst is a highly successful strategy of product di? erentiation through technological innovation. The second is an unsuccessful execution of globalization strategy. 1 A brief history of Parker Pen The Parker Pen Company was born in 1888 when George Sta? rd Parker tried to repair some fountain pens that were leaking and in the process began to manufacture his own pens. Six years later in 1894, Parker Pen won the patent of the †Lucky Curve† feed, which was claimed to draw excess ink back into the pen body when the pen was not in use. This technology remained the di? erentiating factor for Parker pens until the arrival of the Duofold in the 1930s. 1 2 The forty years period ra nging from 1920s to the 1960s, in the pre ballpoint pen era, was the golden period of Parker Pen’s reign when it consistently ranked either number one or number two in worldwide writing instrument sales.In 1931 Parker Pen created 1 2 Key words and phrases. Parker Pen, fountain pen, ball-point pen. This study was conducted for completion of the group project for Strategy Execution. 1 the Quink (quick drying ink) which eliminated the need for blotting and led to the development of the most widely used pen in history Parker 51 which generated over $400 million in sales. A Parker pen stood for quality, prestige, tradition, steadfastness and strength highlighted by the fact that Parker pens were the pen of choice to sign important documents in history such as the World War II armistices.Parker Pen expanded its business and by 1980s the company had extended up to 154 countries. The company adopted globalization strategy to establish market presence. However the execution of this st rategy was unsuccessful; the managers failed to create proper marketing strategies that would have made them compete in international markets with inexpensive products from other parts of the world. In 1993 Parker Pen was acquired by the Gillette Company, which already owned the PaperMate brand, one of the best-selling disposable ballpoints.In 2000, Gillette sold the writing instruments division to Newell Rubbermaid, whose own Stationery Division, Sanford, became the largest in the world owning such brand names as Rotring, Sharpie, Reynolds as well as Parker, PaperMate, Waterman and Liquid Paper. In recent years, Parker Pen has abandoned both the entry level market as well as the traditional retail outlets in North America and moved into up-scale luxury retailers. 2 Innovation as a di? erentiation strategy Throughout its history, Parker Pen has used technological innovation as a strategy to di? erentiate itself from the competition.The company has been a pioneer in research on writi ng instruments and introduced several revolutionary products . In this section, we look at some of the iconic products from Parker Pens which have driven both the company as well as the pen market. (The current portfolio of Parker Pen’s products can be found in Ref. [1]) 2. 1 Duofold – 1921 In 1921 the company introduced the Parker Duofold (Ref. [2]) fountain pen. It was a state of the art pen for its time and Parker Pen positioned the Duofold in the premier segment and priced it expensively $7. 00, equivalent to about $85 in 2011.In 1926 the Duofold became the ? rst pen in the world to have a guaranteed life of †forever†. It was an instant success. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle used one to write the exploits of Sherlock Holmes. General Douglas MacArthur signed the document ending World War II in the 2 Paci? c with his 20 year old Duofold (Ref. [3]). By the early 1930s the Duofolds design had grown dated in the USA but it remained popular in Europe until the 1960s . In 1988, Parker launched the Duofold Centennial series of pens. The modern Duofold is a key part of Parker Pens product portfolio. . 2 Quink – 1928 In 1928, after three years of research and an investment of $68,000, Parker Pen came up with Quink (a portmanteau word from ’quick’ and ’ink’; also known as Double Quink and Parker 51 Ink) that would eliminate the need for blotting. The success of Quink lay in the fact that it had a number of useful features: it resisted water, it did not clog, it had the desired quality of ink ? ow, it resisted moulding, it was non-corrosive, it did not leave deposits, it did not fade, and, most importantly, it was quick-drying.However, the new ink was strongly alkaline and contained isopropyl alcohol, a solvent not previously used in inks, which often damaged the pen barrels of that time which were manufactured using pyralin. This problem eventually led to the development of the world’s most successful pen, t he Parker 51 in 1941. In 1941, when the Parker 51 was launched, Double Quink was renamed and repackaged as †Parker 51 ink† as a marketing initiative. Parker Pen’s ink sales became the key to maintaining the company’s pro? tability.This revenue generation model is used by the modern day computer printer companies, whose main source of revenue comes from the sale of printer cartridges. Further enhancements were made to Parker Pen inks with its revolutionary †Super Chrome† ink. This ink was marketed in 1947 after a research period that lasted 17 years and cost over $200,000. This was the ? rst basic ink improvement in the last three centuries. Today, more than seventy years later, Quink is still the world’s biggest selling pen ink. 2. 3 Vacumatic – 1933 The Parker Vacumatic (Ref. 4]) fountain pen was introduced in 1933, as a replacing the Duofold as Parker’s top-of-the-line product. The Vacumatic featured a new ? lling mechanis m which boasted a much higher ink capacity than the Duofold. The pen remained Parkers top-of-the-line product until the launch of the Parker 51 in 1941. The US production continued through 1948, and until 1953 in Canada. 3 2. 4 Parker 51 – 1941 In 1941 Parker Pen introduced the Parker 51 (Ref. [5]) which arguably is the best pen of all time both in terms of popularity and sales. General Eisenhower signed the victory in Europe in 1944.The futuristic design of the Parker 51 heralded as †Ten Years Ahead† of its time, a revolutionary pen, with its hooded, tubular nib and multi-? nned collector, all designed to work in conjunction with the pen’s proprietary ink, allowing the nib to stay wet and lay down an even line with either the ultra-fast drying ink or more traditional inks. It was advertised as the ’The Worlds Most Wanted Pen’ which created huge demand which took Parker several years to ful? l. By 1970, the Parker 51 generated over $400 millio n in sales, higher than that generated by any single pen ever. 2. 5Jotter – 1954 In the 1940, the world had seen a ? erce battle for market share fought between the traditional fountain pens and the new ballpoint pens. Despite some initial success, ballpoint pens died a consumer death and by 1951, the fountain pen became the pen of choice of the world. In 1954, Parker Pens introduced its ? rst ballpoint pen, the Jotter which wrote ? ve times longer than the best ballpoint pens available in the market, the Eversharp and the Reynolds ballpoint pens. It was the introduction of Jotter that revived the ballpoint pen market. Parker sold 3. 5 million Jotters at $2. 5 to $8. 75 in less than one year. In 1957, Parker Pen introduced the T-ball Jotter with tungsten carbide textured ball bearing which to this date remains an industry standard. The famed styling of the Parker Duofold was revived in 1972 as a ball pen and within the next decade, ballpoint pens overtook fountain pen as the number choice of pen in the world. 3 Rise of competition – 1980s After about a century of dominating the ? ne writing instrument market, Parker Pen entered into a period of crisis in the 1980s and the reason for this was that the company was driven by the wrong strategy.Parker was facing competition from three fronts. First, the Japanese were mass marketing cheaper and disposable pens and had captured a large portion of the low end market in USA and Europe and were gradually eating into Parker Pen’s market share. Second, like the Japanese, American brands such as Paper Mate, Bic, Pilot, and Pentel had created signi? cance presence in the low end segment and gradually eroding and were pulling away parker Pen’s customer. Third, in the high 4 end segment which had been Parker Pens main target segment, competition had become ? ercer with reputed German brands such as Montblanc and A.T. Cross making progress in the European markets. 4 Globalization strategy – 1982 Parker Pen faced two contrasting challenges. On one side the weakened dollar generated high foreign revenue since about 80% of the company’s sales were abroad, the pro? ts derived from those sales represented even big pro? ts when translated to local currency. But on the other side, this over dependency on foreign sales exposed the company to foreign competitors, especially the inexpensive brands from Japan which used low pricing as a strategy to compete in the international market.Parker Pen realized that a competitive strategy based on product di? erentiation through technological innovation was not su? cient to thwart the challenge from competitors. In 1982, James R. Peterson became the CEO of Parker Pen,having joined it from Reynolds. He was given the responsibility of reinventing the brand. Peterson decided to launch a global marketing campaign to target all market segments. A consequence of the decision to adopt globalization was standardization. Everything includi ng products as well as marketing campaign was to be standardized for all the markets across the world. Issues in executing globalization strategy When Peterson took over Parker, he was met by a highly proud, mismanaged company that prided itself on its extensive decentralization. The atmosphere re? ected the founders pride in the fact that they had a unique pen for every place in the world. They were a federation of autonomous geographical units. It became immediately clear to Peterson that huge changes were on the anvil. The immediate problems were twofold. The ? rst was the products positioning. Having positioned itself at the higher end of the market for a signi? ant part of the previous century, it had now began to face problems with regard to its image. It was clear that a complete clarity of its brand positioning and image was essential. The second issue that confronted Peterson was its complete ine? ciency in managing its product portfolio. When Peterson entered Parker, it di dnt even have a proper idea of the range of products that it was manufacturing. It was a situation of complete chaos 5 with more than 500 products in simultaneous existence. Its decentralized structure had completely turned against its pro? ability, resulting in every distant subsidiary and distributor involved developing a customized product for that particular market. While the company was proud of its decentralized multinational structure, it was ailing on account of an obvious lack of economies of scale and a uni? ed command and strategy. The company clearly lacked a common driving force across markets. However, this decentralization had its positive aspects as well, most notably in the area of advertising. Pens meant and mean di? erent things to di? erent people.While the Europeans tended to choose a pen based on its style and feel, people in less-developed countries tended to see a pen as nothing more than a badge of literacy. Within Europe itself for instance, tastes tended t o vary from one country to another. While the French showed a de? nite attachment to the fountain pen, the Scandinavians favoured the ballpoint pen. The company justi? ed the existence of numerous advertising agencies in its employ feeling that while it bred a certain amount of ine? ciency, it paid o? from a sales standpoint. Many individual advertising ? ms were able to develop excellent customized messages for their audience that successfully struck a responsive chord within them. For instance, the Lowe Howard-Spink agency in London was able to make the UK division of Parker the most pro? table division during its tenure. Its creative genius is clearly visible in the advertisement that it created showing a dead plumber with a giant Parker pen protruding from his heart. The situation seemed bleak to Peterson. He immediately implemented a strategy by which Parker would position itself in the entry-level segment.He felt that in the face of the trends at that time, this would be the i deal positioning that would succeed in turning around the company. He also dissociated Parker from the numerous advertising ? rms that it was associated with, retaining only one, Ogilvy and Mather, to oversee a worldwide common strategy in terms of communication and advertising. However, this strategy failed miserably on two counts. It failed to provide a customized communication strategy to each market and thus failed to account for the cultLural di? erences across geographies.It also failed to leverage the premium positioning of the brand and reduced it to an entry-level brand. 5. 1 Two speci? c cases of execution failures The following examples show two speci? c cases of execution failure by Parker Pen. 6 (a) At a corporate level, Parker Pen targeted almost all market segments. However at the business level, management failed to introduce products which would cover the market segments with middle and lower income levels. This allowed competitors with inexpensive products to take up the market. (b) Some of the marketing campaign failed to adjust to the local environment.For example, when Parker Pen ? rst expanded their market to Latin America, they wanted their advertisement to say, †It won’t leak in your pocket and embarrass you. † The company did not realize that the Spanish word †embarazar † has two meanings; it means †to embarrass,† and it also means to †impregnate. † So, to some unsuspecting people, the ad read: †It won’t leak in your pocket and make you pregnant. † (Ref. [6]) 6 Acquisition of Parker by Gillette and beyond In May 1993, Gillette announced its acquisition of Parker Pen Holdings Ltd (Ref. [7]). (See Exhibit X).This made Gillette the world leader in the pen market. Gillette took an after-tax charge of $164 million for a reorganization of its overseas operations, including the integration of the Parker Pen facilities into the Gillette structure. Nearly 2000 jobs were l ost as a result of this restructuring process. Gillette sold the writing instruments division to Newell Rubbermaid, whose own stationery division, Sanford became the largest in the world with brand names such as Rotring, Sharpie, Reynolds as well as Parker, PaperMate, Waterman and Liquid Paper under its umbrella.The next few years were one of a complete downsizing of Parker, marked by job losses across the board. In July 2009, the 180 workers at the Parker headquarters of Newhaven, UK were given notice that the factory was going to be shut down on account of the production moving to France. On August 18, 2009, Newell Rubbermaid announced that Janesville Wisconsin would close the remaining operations of Parker. This resulted in the loss of 153 jobs. According to the company, †This decision is a response to structural issues accelerated by market trends and is in no way a re? ction on the highly valued work performed by our Janesville employees over the years. † Newell Rub bermaid stated an o? er of transitional employment services and severance bene? ts. What remained of the Parker brand was moved to the upscale segment of the writing instrument market and was sold via luxury retailers. Traditional retail outlets were abandoned. This completely removed the brand from the entry level segment of the market. 7 In 2011, Parker Pen announced the ? nest innovation in the history of writing, Parker 5TH Technology which o? ers a genuine ? th way of writing. Until then the world knew only four forms of ? ne writing – fountain pen, ball point, roller ball and the mechanical pencil. ground-breaking innovation has rea? rmed placed Parker as leaders in terms of both innovation and market share. 7 7. 1 Exhibits Financial statement 8 7. 2 Product display Duofold – Lucky 8 Limited Edition Ingenuity Parker 51 9 7. 3 Current product portfolio TABLE I T ype Ink Quink Fountain Pen Duofold, Premier, Sonnet, Vector, IM Ballpoint pen 7. 4 M odel Facet, Execut ive, Esprit, Frontier, Urban, I. M. , Vector JotterAcquisition of Parker by Gillette References [1] http://parkerpens. net/catalogue/parker catalogue 2009. pdf [2] http://www. parkerpen. com/en/discovery/range/iconic/duofold [3] http://www. patricktaylor. com/parker-duofold [4] http://www. vintagepens. com/Parker Vacumatics. shtml [5] http://www. pentrace. net/penbase/Data Returns/full article. asp? id=468 [6] http://parkerpens. blogspot. com/2007/09/advertizing-campaings-that-wentwrong. html [7] http://www. nytimes. com/1993/05/08/business/company-news-gillette-completesacquisition-of-parker-pen. html 10