Jewish art history Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Jewish art history - Essay Example The Dura Europas Temple started as a simple private home. The Jews converted the home to a synagogue during the 2nd Century. The Jews are a religious people. As religious individuals, the people often go to pray in their temples. The Dura Europus is one of the famous temples of the Jews. However, the temple was reduced to sand starting in 244 CE. The Jews filled the temple with wall paintings. The paintings included the famous Tanakh stories. The people’s lives revolve around the temple’s teachings. The priests impart the religious rules on how to live life by implementing the religious teachings. The images on the temple walls add to the religious fervor of the people. Several individuals did not believe that the decorative cycle paintings reflected didactic images. The images include stories of the Ark located in the land of the Philistines. The images include the important story of the Tabernacle’s consecration. The Dura Europas’ ceiling was filled with majestic images. The images had Roman themes. The temple included the Torah Shrine image, the Menorah Image, and the Akedat Yizchak (binding Isaac as he is prepared for the Sacrifice). The Paintings located inside the Dura Europas had Eastern, Roman, and Hellenic themes. The Lower East side of New York Movie shows how the Jews lived (Riis 1). The Jews were poor people. Consequently, they lived tightly packed like sardines under one roof. In some homes, six persons slept on one bed, tightly embracing one another. Some Jews lived together under one small room in Shtelt and other communities. Consequently, the rooms were congested with people. Tightly packed, the Jews, especially the children, often played together on the streets and within their residences or communities. When the Jews come out of their temples, they are either smiling or crying. They are smiling because they are happy to hear the priests’ new

An Introduction to Genre Theory Essay Example for Free

An Introduction to Genre Theory Essay An Introduction to Genre Theory Daniel Chandler 1. The problem of definition A number of perennial doubts plague genre theory. Are genres really out there in the world, or are they merely the constructions of analysts? Is there a finite taxonomy of genres or are they in principle infinite? Are genres timeless Platonic essences or ephemeral, time-bound entities? Are genres culturebound or transcultural? Should genre analysis be descriptive or proscriptive? (Stam 2000, 14) The word genre comes from the French (and originally Latin) word for kind or class. The term is  widely used in rhetoric, literary theory, media theory, and more recently linguistics, to refer to a distinctive type of text*. Robert Allen notes that for most of its 2,000 years, genre study has been primarily nominological and typological in function. That is to say, it has taken as its principal task the division of the world of literature into types and the naming of those types much as the botanist divides the realm of flora into varieties of plants (Allen 1989, 44). As will be seen, however, the analogy with biological classification into genus and species misleadingly suggests a scientific process. Since classical times literary works have been classified as belonging to general types which were variously defined. In literature the broadest division is between poetry, prose and drama, within which there are further divisions, such as tragedy and comedy within the category of drama. Shakespeare referred satirically to classifications such as tragedy, comedy, history, pastoral, pastoral-comical, historical-pastoral, tragical-historical, tragical-comicalhistorical-pastoral (Hamlet II ii). In The Anatomy of Criticism the formalist literary theorist Northrop Frye (1957) presented certain universal genres and modes  as the key to organizing the entire literary corpus. Contemporary media genres tend to relate more to specific forms than to the universals of tragedy and comedy. Nowadays, films are routinely classified (e. g. in television listings magazines) as thrillers, westerns and so on genres with which every adult in modern society is familiar. So too with television genres such as game shows and sitcoms. Whilst we have names for countless genres in many media, some theorists have argued that there are also many genres (and sub-genres) for which we have no names (Fowler 1989, 216; Wales 1989, 206). Carolyn Miller  suggests that the number of genres in any society depends on the complexity and diversity of society (Miller 1984, in Freedman Medway 1994a, 36). The classification and hierarchical taxonomy of genres is not a neutral and objective procedure. There are no undisputed maps of the system of genres within any medium (though literature may perhaps lay some claim to a loose consensus). Furthermore, there is often considerable theoretical disagreement about the definition of specific genres. A genre is ultimately an abstract conception rather than something that exists empirically in the world,  notes Jane Feuer (1992, 144). One theorists genre may be anothers sub-genre or even super-genre (and indeed what is technique, style, mode, formula or thematic grouping to one may be treated as a genre by another). Themes, at least, seem inadequate as a basis for defining genres since, as David Bordwell notes, any theme may appear in any genre (Bordwell 1989, 147). He asks: Are animation and documentary films genres or modes? Is the filmed play or comedy performance a genre? If tragedy and comedy are genres, perhaps then domestic tragedy or slapstick is a formula. In  passing, he offers a useful inventory of categories used in film criticism, many of which have been accorded the status of genres by various commentators: Grouping by period or country (American films of the 1930s), by director or star or producer or writer or studio, by technical process (Cinemascope films), by cycle (the fallen women films), by series (the 007 movies), by style (German Expressionism), by structure (narrative), by ideology (Reaganite cinema), by venue (drive-in movies), by purpose (home movies), by audience (teenpix), by subject or theme (family film, paranoid-politics movies). (Bordwell 1989, 148) Another film theorist, Robert Stam, also refers to common ways of categorizing films: While some genres are based on story content (the war film), other are borrowed from literature (comedy, melodrama) or from other media (the musical). Some are performer-based (the Astaire-Rogers films) or budget-based (blockbusters), while others are based on artistic status (the art film), racial identity (Black cinema), locat[ion] (the Western) or sexual orientation (Queer cinema). (Stam 2000, 14). Bordwell concludes that one could argue that no set of necessary and sufficient conditions can  mark off genres from other sorts of groupings in ways that all experts or ordinary film-goers would find An Introduction to Genre Theory acceptable (Bordwell 1989, 147). Practitioners and the general public make use of their own genre labels (de facto genres) quite apart from those of academic theorists. We might therefore ask ourselves Whose genre is it anyway? Still further problems with definitional approaches will become apparent in due course. Defining genres may not initially seem particularly problematic but it should already be apparent that it is a theoretical minefield. Robert Stam identifies four key problems with generic labels (in relation to film): extension (the breadth or narrowness of labels); normativism (having preconceived ideas of criteria for genre membership); monolithic definitions (as if an item belonged to only one genre); biologism (a kind of essentialism in which genres are seen as evolving through a standardized life cycle) (Stam 2000, 128129). Conventional definitions of genres tend to be based on the notion that they constitute particular conventions of content (such as themes or settings) and/or form (including structure and style) which  are shared by the texts which are regarded as belonging to them. Alternative characterizations will be discussed in due course. The attempt to define particular genres in terms of necessary and sufficient textual properties is sometimes seen as theoretically attractive but it poses many difficulties. For instance, in the case of films, some seem to be aligned with one genre in content and another genre in form. The film theorist Robert Stam argues that subject matter is the weakest criterion for generic grouping because it fails to take into account how the subject is treated (Stam 2000, 14). Outlining a fundamental problem of  genre identification in relation to films, Andrew Tudor notes the empiricist dilemma: To take a genre such as the western, analyze it, and list its principal characteristics, is to beg the question that we must first isolate the body of films which are westerns. But they can only be isolated on the basis of the principal characteristics which can only be discovered from the films themselves after they have been isolated. (Cited in Gledhill 1985, 59) It is seldom hard to find texts which are exceptions to any given definition of a particular genre. There are no rigid rules of inclusion and exclusion (Gledhill 1985, 60). Genres are not discrete systems, consisting of a fixed number of listable items (ibid. , 64). It is difficult to make clear-cut distinctions between one genre and another: genres overlap, and there are mixed genres (such as comedy-thrillers). 2 Specific genres tend to be easy to recognize intuitively but difficult (if not impossible) to define. Particular features which are characteristic of a genre are not normally unique to it; it is their relative prominence, combination and functions which are distinctive (Neale 1980, 22-3). It is easy to underplay the differences within a genre. Steve Neale declares  that genres are instances of repetition and difference (Neale 1980, 48). He adds that difference is absolutely essential to the economy of genre (ibid. , 50): mere repetition would not attract an audience. Tzvetan Todorov argued that any instance of a genre will be necessarily different (cited in Gledhill 1985, 60). John Hartley notes that the addition of just one film to the Western genre changes that genre as a whole even though the Western in question may display few of the recognized conventions, styles or subject matters traditionally associated with its genre (OSullivan et al. 1994). The issue of difference also  highlights the fact that some genres are looser more open-ended in their conventions or more permeable in their boundaries than others. Texts often exhibit the conventions of more than one genre. John Hartley notes that the same text can belong to different genres in different countries or times (OSullivan et al. 1994, 129). Hybrid genres abound (at least outside theoretical frameworks). Van Leeuwen suggests that the multiple purposes of journalism often lead to generically heterogeneous texts (cited in Fairclough 1995, 88). Norman Fairclough suggests that mixed-genre texts are far from uncommon in the mass media (Fairclough 1995, 89). Some media may encourage more generic diversity: Nicholas Abercrombie notes that since television comes at the audience as a flow of programmes, all with different generic conventions, means that it is more difficult to sustain the purity of the genre in the viewing experience (Abercrombie 1996, 45; his emphasis). Furthermore, in any medium the generic classification of certain texts may be uncertain or subject to dispute. Contemporary theorists tend to describe genres in terms of family resemblances among texts (a notion derived from the philosopher Wittgenstein) rather than definitionally (Swales 1990, 49). An individual text within a genre rarely if ever has all of the characteristic features of the genre (Fowler 1989, 215). The family resemblance approaches involves the theorist illustrating similarities between some of the texts within a genre. However, the family resemblance approach has been criticized on the basis that no choice of a text for illustrative purposes is innocent (David Lodge, cited in Swales 1990, 50), and that such theories can make any text seem to resemble any other one (Swales 1990, 51). In addition to the definitional and family resemblance approach, there is  An Introduction to Genre Theory another approach to describing genres which is based on the psycholinguistic concept of prototypicality. According to this approach, some texts would be widely regarded as being more typical members of a genre than others. According to this approach certain features would identify the extent to which an exemplar is prototypical of a particular genre (Swales 1990, 52). Genres can therefore be seen as fuzzy categories which cannot be defined by necessary and sufficient conditions. How we define a genre depends on our purposes;  the adequacy of our definition in terms of social science at least must surely be related to the light that the exploration sheds on the phenomenon. For instance (and this is a key concern of mine), if we are studying the way in which genre frames the readers interpretation of a text then we would do well to focus on how readers identify genres rather than on theoretical distinctions. Defining genres may be problematic, but even if theorists were to abandon the concept, in everyday life people would continue to categorize texts. John Swales does note that a discourse communitys nomenclature for genres is an  important source of insight (Swales 1990, 54), though like many academic theorists he later adds that such genre names typically need further validation (ibid. , 58). Some genre names would be likely to be more widely-used than others: it would be interesting to investigate the areas of popular consensus and dissensus in relation to the everyday labeling of mass media genres. For Robert Hodge and Gunther Kress, genres only exist in so far as a social group declares and enforces the rules that constitute them (Hodge Kress 1988, 7), though it is debatable to  what extent most of us would be able to formulate explicit rules for the textual genres we use routinely: much of our genre knowledge is likely to be tacit. In relation to film, Andrew Tudor argued that genre is what we collectively believe it to be (though this begs the question about who we are). Robert Allen comments wryly that Tudor even hints that in order to establish what audiences expect a western to be like we might have to ask them (Allen 1989, 47). Swales also alludes to people having repertoires of genres (Swales 1990, 58), which I would argue would also be likely to repay  investigation. However, as David Buckingham notes, there has hardly been any empirical research on the ways in which real audiences might understand genre, or use this understanding in making sense of specific texts (Buckingham 1993, 137). Steve Neale stresses that genres are not systems: they are processes of systematization (Neale 1980, 51; my emphasis; cf. Neale 1995, 463). Traditionally, genres (particularly literary genres) tended to be regarded 3 as fixed forms, but contemporary theory emphasizes that both their forms and functions are dynamic. David Buckingham argues that genre is not simply given by the culture: rather, it is in a constant process of negotiation and change (Buckingham 1993, 137). Nicholas Abercrombie suggests that the boundaries between genres are shifting and becoming more permeable (Abercrombie 1996, 45); Abercrombie is concerned with modern television, which he suggests seems to be engaged in a steady dismantling of genre (ibid. ) which can be attributed in part to economic pressures to pursue new audiences. One may acknowledge the dynamic fluidity of genres without positing the final demise of genre as an interpretive framework. As the generic corpus ceaselessly expands, genres (and the relationships between them) change over time; the conventions of each genre shift, new genres and sub-genres emerge and others are discontinued (though note that certain genres seem particularly long-lasting). Tzvetan Todorov argued that a new genre is always the transformation of one or several old genres (cited in Swales 1990, 36). Each new work within a genre has the potential to influence changes within the genre or perhaps the emergence of new sub-genres (which may later blossom into fully-fledged genres). However, such a perspective tends to highlight the role of authorial experimentation in changing genres and their conventions, whereas it is important to recognize not only the social nature of text production but especially the role of economic and technological factors as well as changing audience preferences. The interaction between genres and media can be seen as one of the forces which contributes to changing genres. Some genres are more powerful than others: they differ in the status which is attributed to them by those who produce texts within them and by their audiences. As Tony Thwaites et al. put it, in the interaction and conflicts among genres we can see the connections between textuality and power (Thwaites et al. 1994, 104). The key genres in institutions which are primary definers (such as news reports in the mass media) help to establish the frameworks within which issues are defined. But genre hierarchies also shift over time, with individual genres constantly gaining and losing different groups of users and relative status. Idealist theoretical approaches to genre which seek to categorize ideal types in terms of essential textual characteristics are ahistorical. As a result of  their dynamic nature as processes, Neale argues that definitions of genre are always historically relative, and therefore historically specific (Neale 1995, 464). Similarly, Boris Tomashevsky insists that no firm logical classification of genres is possible. Their de- An Introduction to Genre Theory marcation is always historical, that is to say, it is correct only for a specific moment of history (cited in Bordwell 1989, 147). Some genres are defined only retrospectively, being unrecognized as such by the original producers and audiences. Genres need to be studied as historical phenomena; a popular focus in  film studies, for instance, has been the evolution of conventions within a genre. Current genres go through phases or cycles of popularity (such as the cycle of disaster films in the 1970s), sometimes becoming dormant for a period rather than disappearing. On-going genres and their conventions themselves change over time. Reviewing evolutionary change in some popular film genres, Andrew Tudor concludes that it has three main characteristics: First, in that innovations are added to an existent corpus rather than replacing redundant elements, it is cumulative. Second, in that  these innovations must be basically consistent with what is already present, it is conservative. Third, in that these processes lead to the crystallization of specialist sub-genres, it involves differentiation. (Tudor 1974, 225-6) Tudor himself is cautious about adopting the biological analogy of evolution, with its implication that only those genres which are well-adapted to their functions survive. Christine Gledhill also notes the danger of essentialism in selecting definitive classic examples towards which earlier examples evolve and after which others decline (Gledhill 1985, 59). The cycles and transformations of genres can nevertheless be seen as a response to political, social and economic conditions. Referring to film, Andrew Tudor notes that a genre defines a moral and social world (Tudor 1974, 180). Indeed, a genre in any medium can be seen as embodying certain values and ideological assumptions. Again in the context of the cinema Susan Hayward argues that genre conventions change according to the ideological climate of the time, contrasting John Wayne westerns with Clint Eastwood as the problematic hero or anti-hero (Hayward 1996, 50). Leo Baudry (cited in Hayward 1996, 162) sees film genres as a barometer of the social and cultural concerns of cinema audiences; Robert Lichter et al. (1991) illustrate how televisual genres reflect the values of the programme-makers. Some commentators see mass media genres from a particular era as reflecting values which were dominant at the time. Ira Konigsberg, for instance, suggests that texts within genres embody the moral values of a culture (Konigsberg 1987, 144-5). And John Fiske asserts that generic conventions embody the crucial ideological concerns of the time in which they are popular 4 (Fiske 1987, 110). However, Steve Neale stresses that genres may also help to shape such values (Neale 1980, 16). Thwaites et al. see the relationship as reciprocal: a genre develops according to social conditions; transformations in genre and texts can influence and reinforce social conditions (Thwaites et al. 1994, 100). Some Marxist commentators see genre as an instrument of social control which reproduces the dominant ideology. Within this perspective, the genre positions the audience in order to naturalize the ideologies which are embedded in the text (Feuer 1992, 145). Bernadette Casey comments that recently, structuralists and feminist theorists, among others, have focused on the way in which generically defined structures may operate to construct particular ideologies and values, and to encourage reassuring and conservative interpretations of a given text (Casey 193, 312). However, reader-oriented commentators have stressed that people are capable of reading against the grain. Thomas and Vivian Sobchack note that in the past popular film-makers, intent on telling a story, were not always aware of the covert psychological and social  subtext of their own films, but add that modern film-makers and their audiences are now more keenly aware of the myth-making accomplished by film genres (Sobchack Sobchack 1980, 245). Genre can reflect a function which in relation to television Horace Newcombe and Paul Hirsch referred to as a cultural forum, in which industry and audience negotiate shared beliefs and values, helping to maintain the social order and assisting it in adapting to change (Feuer 1992, 145). Certainly, genres are far from being ideologically neutral. Sonia Livingstone argues, indeed, that different genres are concerned to establish different world views (Livingstone 1990, 155). Related to the ideological dimension of genres is one modern redefinition in terms of purposes. In relation to writing, Carolyn Miller argues that a rhetorically sound definition of genre must be centered not on the substance or form of discourse but on the action it is used to accomplish (Carolyn Miller 1984, in Freedman Medway 1994a, 24). Following this lead, John Swales declares that the principal criterial feature that turns a collection of communicative  events into a genre is some shared set of communicative purposes (Swales 1990, 46). In relation to the mass media it can be fruitful to consider in relation to genre the purposes not only of the producers of texts but also of those who interpret them (which need not be assumed always to match). A consensus about the primary purposes of some genres (such as news bulletins) and of their readers is probably easier to establish than in relation to others (such as westerns), where the very term purpose sounds too in- An Introduction to Genre Theory strumental. However, uses and gratifications researchers have already conducted investigations into the various functions that the mass media seem to serve for people, and ethnographic studies have offered fruitful insights into this dimension. Miller argues that both in writing and reading within genres we learn purposes appropriate to the genre; in relation to the mass media it could be argued that particular genres develop, frame and legitimate particular concerns, questions and pleasures. Related redefinitions of genre focus more broadly on the relationship between the makers and audiences  of texts (a rhetorical dimension). To varying extents, the formal features of genres establish the relationship between producers and interpreters. Indeed, in relation to mass media texts Andrew Tolson redefines genre as a category which mediates between industry and audience (Tolson 1996, 92). Note that such approaches undermine the definition of genres as purely textual types, which excludes any reference even to intended audiences. A basic model underlying contemporary media theory is a triangular relationship between the text, its producers and its interpreters. From the perspective of many recent commentators, genres first and foremost provide frameworks within which texts are produced and interpreted. Semiotically, a genre can be seen as a shared code between the producers and interpreters of texts included within it. Alastair Fowler goes so far as to suggest that communication is impossible without the agreed codes of genre (Fowler 1989, 216). Within genres, texts embody authorial attempts to position readers using particular modes of address. Gunther Kress observes that: Every genre positions those who participate in  a text of that kind: as interviewer or interviewee, as listener or storyteller, as a reader or a writer, as a person interested in political matters, as someone to be instructed or as someone who instructs; each of these positionings implies different possibilities for response and for action. Each written text provides a reading position for readers, a position constructed by the writer for the ideal reader of the text. (Kress 1988, 107) Thus, embedded within texts are assumptions about the ideal reader, including their attitudes towards the subject matter and often their class, age, gender and ethnicity. Gunther Kress defines a genre as a kind of text that derives its form from the structure of a (frequently repeated) social occasion, with its characteristic participants and their purposes (Kress 1988, 183). An interpretative emphasis on genre as opposed 5 to individual texts can help to remind us of the social nature of the production and interpretation of texts. In relation to film, many modern commentators refer to the commercial and industrial significance of genres. Denis McQuail argues that: The genre may be considered as a practical  device for helping any mass medium to produce consistently and efficiently and to relate its production to the expectations of its customers. Since it is also a practical device for enabling individual media users to plan their choices, it can be considered as a mechanism for ordering the relations between the two main parties to mass communication. (McQuail 1987, 200) Steve Neale observes that genres exist within the context of a set of economic relations and practices, though he adds that genres are not the product of economic factors as such. The conditions provided by the capitalist economy account neither for the existence of the particular genres that have hitherto been produced, nor for the existence of the conventions that constitute them (Neale 1980, 51-2). Economic factors may account for the perpetuation of a profitable genre. Nicholas Abercrombie notes that television producers set out to exploit genre conventions It makes sound economic sense. Sets, properties and costumes can be used over and over again. Teams of stars, writers, directors and technicians can be built up, giving economies of scale (Abercrombie 1996, 43). He adds that genres permit the creation and maintenance of a loyal audience which becomes used to seeing programmes within a genre (ibid. ). Genres can be seen as a means of controlling demand (Neale 1980, 55). The relative stability of genres enables producers to predict audience expectations. Christine Gledhill notes that differences between genres meant different audiences could be identified and catered to This made it easier to standardize and stabilise production (Gledhill 1985, 58). In relation to the mass media, genre is part of the process of targeting different market sectors. Traditionally, literary and film critics in particular have regarded generic texts (by which they mean formulaic texts) as inferior to those which they contend are produced outside a generic framework. Indeed, film theorists frequently refer to popular films as genre films in contrast to non-formula films. Elitist critics reject the generic fiction of the mass media because they are commercial products of popular culture rather than high art. Many harbor the Romantic ideology of the primacy of authorial originality and vision, emphasizing individual style  and artistic self-expression. In this tradition the An Introduction to Genre Theory artist (in any medium) is seen as breaking the mould of convention. For the Italian aesthetician Benedetto Croce (1866-1952), an artistic work was always unique and there could be no artistic genres. More recently, some literary and film theorists have accorded more importance to genre, counteracting the ideology of authorial primacy (or auteurism, as it is known in relation to the emphasis on the director in film). Contemporary theorists tend to emphasize the importance of the semiotic notion of intertextuality: of seeing individual texts in relation to others. Katie Wales notes that genre is an intertextual concept (Wales 1989, 259). John Hartley suggests that we need to understand genre as a property of the relations between texts (OSullivan et al. 1994, 128). And as Tony Thwaites et al. put it, each text is influenced by the generic rules in the way it is put together; the generic rules are reinforced by each text (Thwaites et al. 1994, 100). Roland Barthes (1975) argued that it is in relation to other texts within a genre rather than in relation to lived experience that we make sense of certain  events within a text. There are analogies here with schema theory in psychology, which proposes that we have mental scripts which help us to interpret 6 familiar events in everyday life. John Fiske offers this striking example: A representation of a car chase only makes sense in relation to all the others we have seen after all, we are unlikely to have experienced one in reality, and if we did, we would, according to this model, make sense of it by turning it into another text, which we would also understand intertextually, in terms of what we have seen so often on our screens. There is then a cultural knowledge of the concept car chase that any one text is a prospectus for, and that it used by the viewer to decode it, and by the producer to encode it. (Fiske 1987, 115) In contrast to those of a traditionalist literary bent who tend to present artistic texts as nongeneric, it could be argued that it is impossible to produce texts which bear no relationship whatsoever to established genres. Indeed, Jacques Derrida proposed that a text cannot belong to no genre, it cannot be without a genre. Every text participates in one or several genres, there is no genre-less text  (Derrida 1981, 61). Note *In these notes, words such as text, reader and writer are sometimes used as general terms relating to texts (and so on) in whatever medium is being discussed: no privileging of the written word (graphocentrism) is intended. Whilst it is hard to find an alternative for the word texts, terms such as makers and interpreters are sometimes used here as terms non-specific to particular media instead of the terms writers and readers. 2. Working within genres John Hartley argues that genres are agents of ideological closure they limit the meaning-potential  of a given text (OSullivan et al. 1994, 128). Robert Hodge and Gunther Kress define genres as typical forms of texts which link kinds of producer, consumer, topic, medium, manner and occasion, adding that they control the behavior of producers of such texts, and the expectations of potential consumers (Hodge Kress 1988, 7). Genres can be seen as constituting a kind of tacit contract between authors and readers. From the traditional Romantic perspective, genres are seen as constraining and inhibiting authorial creativity. However, contemporary theorists, even  within literary studies, typically reject this view (e. g. Fowler 1982: 31). Gledhill notes that one perspective on this issue is that some of those who write within a genre work in creative tension with the conventions, attempting a personal inflection of them (Gledhill 1985: 63). From the point of view of the producers of texts within a genre, an advantage of genres is that they can rely on readers already having knowledge and expectations about works within a genre. Fowler comments that the system of generic expectations amounts to a code, by the use of which  (or by departure from which) composition becomes more economical (Fowler 1989: 215). Genres can thus be seen as a kind of shorthand serving to increase the efficiency of communication. They may even function as a means of preventing a text from dissolving into individualism and incomprehensibility (Gledhill 1985: 63). And whilst writing within a genre involves making use of certain given conventions, every work within a genre also involves the invention of some new elements. An Introduction to Genre Theory As for reading within genres, some argue that knowledge of genre conventions leads to passive  consumption of generic texts; others argue that making sense of texts within genres is an active process of constructing meaning (Knight 1994). Genre provides an important frame of reference which helps readers to identify, select and interpret texts. Indeed, in relation to advertisements, Varda Langholz Leymore argues that the sense which viewers make of any single text depends on how it relates to the genre as a whole (Langholz Leymore 1975, ix). Key psychological functions of genre are likely to include those shared by categorization generally such as reducing complexity.

Analysis Of Life Insurance Industry In India Economics Essay

Analysis Of Life Insurance Industry In India Economics Essay Since inception the Indian life insurance industry has its own origin and history. It has passed through many hurdles and hindrances in order to attain the present status. However, the income earning capacity of an individual citizen of a nation and the eagerness and awareness of the general public are the two key determinants of the growth of any insurance industry. In the Indian context, the insurance habits among the general public during the independence decade was rare and in the following decades, it has slowly increased. There was a remarkable improvement in the Indian insurance industry soon after the economic reform era (1991). After 1991 the Indian life insurance industry has geared up in all respects, as well as it is being forced to face a lot of healthy competition from many national as well as international private insurance players. In this paper we have analyzed the performance of LIC over a time period of 1980 to 2009, attempt has been made to analyse the overall performance of Life Insurance Industry of India between pre- and post economic reform era. To measure the current status, volume of competitions and challenges faced by the Life Insurance Corporation of India and to measure the effectiveness of investment strategy of LIC over the period 1980 to 2009. Data were analysed by using Regression, Trend Analysis and Anova. The study reveals that there is a tremendous growth in the performance of Indian Life Insurance industry and LIC due to the policy of LPG. Insurance industry also improved a lot due to the emergence of Private sector and opening up for foreign players. Further there is also a huge change in the investment pattern of LIC. There is a increasing trend toward the investment in Stock market by LIC from 60% to 93% from 1980 to 2009 due to the effective regulation of SEBI and increasing transparen cy of stock market. I. Introduction Life insurance is a contract for the payment of a sum of money to a person assured on happening of the event ensured against. Usually the contracts provide for the payment of the amount on a date of maturity or at a specified date at periodic intervals or at unfortunate death, if it occurs earlier. Life insurance is universally acknowledged to be an institution, which eliminates risk, substituting certainty for uncertainty and comes to the timely aid of the family in the unfortunate event of death of breadwinner. Life insurance is civilisations partial solution to the problems that caused by death. In short, life insurance is concerned with two hazards that stand across the life-path of every person: 1.That of dying prematurely is leaving a dependent family to fend for itself. 2. That of living till old age without visible means of support. The nationalization of insurance business in the country resulted in the establishment of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) in 1956 as a wholly- owned corporation of the government of India. Indias life insurance market has grown rapidly over the past six years, with new business premiums growing at over 40% per year. The premium income of Indias life insurance market is set to double by 2012 on better penetration and higher incomes. Insurance penetration in India is currently about 4% of its GDP, much lower than the developed market level of 6-9%. In several segments of the population, the penetration is lower than potential. For example, in urban areas, the penetration of life insurance in the mass market is about 65%, and its considerably less in the low-income unbanked segment. In rural areas, life insurance penetration in the banked segment is estimated to be about 40%, while it is marginal at best in the unbanked segment. The total premium could go up to $80-100 billion by 2012 from the present $40 billion as higher per capita income increases per capita insurance intensity. The average household premium will rise to Rs 3,000-4,100 from the current Rs 1,300 as will penetration by the existing and new players. Indias ratio of life insurance premium to its GDP is around 4 per cent against 6-9 per cent in the developed world. It could rise to 5.1-6.2 by 2012 in tandem with the countrys demographic profile. India has 17 life insurers and the state owned Life Insurance Corp. of India dominates the industry with over 70 percent market share, though private players have been growing aggressively. Considering the worlds largest population and an annual growth rate of nearly 7 per cent, India offers great opportunities for insurers. US based online insurance company ebix.com plans to enter the Indian market following deregulation of its insurance sector. In a diverse country such as India it is imperative that a universal insurance infrastructure be created to maximize efficiency in the insurance industry. Online insurer ebix.com can offers the Indian market a business-to-consumer internet portal where consumers have more choice while purchasing insurance and an internet-based agency management system that will help agents work more efficiently with multiple carriers. Foreign holding in Indian insurance companies is limited to 26 per cent. The market is moving beyond single-premium policies and unit linked insurance products which are easier to sell. The agency model is the dominant sales channel accounting for more than 85 per cent of fresh premiums but overall inactivity and attrition is much higher at 50-55 per cent than the global average of 25 per cent. GIVE REFERENCE II. Review of Literature In the present section an attempt has been made to examine the review of literature related to the study. Rao, R.T.S. (2000) in this article had explained the phenomenal growth experienced by life insurance industries recently, in line with the countrys improving economic fundamentals. By comparing the growth, penetration, density and other insurance variables, he had shown that India is still an underdeveloped insurance market, it has a huge catch-up potential. According to him even though there is strong potential for expansion of insurance into rural areas, growth has so far remained slow. Considering that the bulk of the Indian population still resides in rural areas, it is imperative that the insurance industrys development should not miss this vast sector of the population. Goyal, K. (2004), in this article has reviewed that private insurance companies had reason to celebrate with the lifting of the sectoral cap in the insurance sector to 49 per cent in the Union Budget 2004-05, as against 26 per cent earlier. However, to offset the excitement, there was also an imposition of service tax of 10 per cent on the risk premium for life insurance, which has the industry with mixed feelings. The FDI hike has been a much-awaited plea of these companies, who believed that they could plough in more money into the business if their foreign partners were permitted an increased holding. Jain, A.K. (2004), revealed that Waves of liberalization have done wonders to proper the insurance occupation to the status of a career with a bright future. The average mindset, particularly of younger generation in India was very amenable to the changes in insurance as an avenue where exhilarating opportunities are opened up in changed environment. Krishnamurthy, S. (2005) in this article had reviewed that Insurance companies have a pivotal role in offering insurance products which meet the requirements of the people and, at the same time, are affordable. Some of the challenges faced by the insurance sector pertain to the demand conditions, competition in the sector, product innovations, delivery and distribution systems, use of technology, and regulation. With the liberalization and entry of private companies in insurance, the Indian insurance sector has started showing signs of significant change. Ray, Subhashish and Pathak, Ajay. (2006) opined that ever since the privatization of the insurance sector in India in 2000, the industries has been witnessing the birth of numerous private players, mostly joint ventures between foreign insurance giants and Indian diversified conglomerates and each one is trying to make an inroad into the huge untapped market. Sinha, Ram Pratap. (2007) opined that the deregulation of general insurance industry in India is having far-reaching consequences in terms of market size, structure and operational practices. As compared to the international standards the penetration level of general insurance companies in India is quite low and, therefore, has tremendous potential for growth. His analysis revealed that the public sector insurers dominate the private sector insurers in terms of mean technical efficiency in constant returns to scale, while the private sector insurers have a slightly higher mean technical efficiency than the public sector insurers in variable returns to scale. Goswami, P. (2007) in this article had reviewed that the insurance industry in India was opened up to private sector participation in the year 2000. Prior to this, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India was the sole player in the life insurance industry in India. In six years since the entry of private players in the insurance market, LIC has lost 29% market share to the private players, although both, market size and the insurance premium being collected, are on the rise. In 2005, life insurance accounted for 79% of the total insurance market in India. It was found that the responsiveness dimension of service quality provides maximum customer satisfaction in the life insurance industry in India. Sabera. (2007) indicated that in March 2000, when the Government of India liberalized the insurance sector, lifted the entry restrictions for private insurance players, allowing the foreign players to enter into the market and start their operations in India. The entry of private players helps in spreading and keeping the operation in the Indian insurance sector which in turn results in restructuring and revitalizing of public sector companies. III. Research Methodology The research article is based upon descriptive as well as exploratory research. Secondary sources of data collection have been adopted for the study. The relevant and required data are collected from the text books, national and international articles, RBI Bulletin (various issues) as well as annual reports of LIC. The Statistical tools used in this research article are Correlation, Regression, ANOVA, the method of least squares and linear trend. The method of least square has been used for analysing the overall performance of Life Insurance Industry of India between pre- and post economic reform era and to measure the current status, volume of competitions and challenges faced by the Life Insurance Corporation of India. For processing the data and estimating the results, Excel, SPSS-16 packages have been used. Objectives: The following are the objectives of the present study To analyze the overall performance of Life Insurance Industry of India between pre- and post economic reform era To measure the current status, volume of competitions and challenges faced by the Life Insurance Corporation of India To measure the change in the effectiveness of the investment strategy of LIC over the period 1980 to 2009. Hypothesis: The study is based on the hypothesis that There is no significance difference in the performance of Life Insurance Industry between pre- and post economic reform era There is no significance Change in the pattern of the investment strategy of LIC over the period 1980 to 2009. Status and Position of Indian Life Insurance Industry in the pre LPG era In India, life insurance in its modern form came from England in the year 1818. The first life insurance was Oriental life insurance Company started by Europeans in Calcutta. All the insurance industries established during that period of time were brought up with the purpose of looking after the needs of European community and Indian natives were not being insured by these companies. Later on with the efforts of eminent people like Babu Muttylal Seal, the foreign life insurance companies started insuring Indian lives. But still Indian lives were being treated as sub-standard lives and heavy extra premiums were being charged on them. However in the year 1870, Bombay Mutual Life Assurance Society heralded the birth of first Indian life insurance company and covered Indian lives at normal rates. Starting as Indian enterprise with highly patriotic motives, insurance companies came into existence to carry the message of insurance and social security through insurance to various sectors of the society. Bharat Insurance Company (1896) was another one of such companies inspired by nationalism. The Swadeshi movement during 1905-1907 gave rise to more insurance companies. The United India in Madras, National Indian and National Insurance in Calcutta and the Co-operative Assurance at Lahore were established in 1906. In 1907, the Hindustan Co-operative Insurance Company took its birth in one of the rooms of the Jorasanko, house of the great poet Rabindra Nath Tagore, in Calcutta. The Indian Mercantile, General Assurance and Swadeshi Life (later Bombay Life) were some of the companies that established during the same period. Prior to 1912, India had no legislation to regulate insurance business. However in the year 1912, the Life Insurance Companies Act, and the Provident Fund Act were passed. The Life Insurance Companies Act, 1912 made it necessary that the premium rate tables and periodical valuations of companies should be certified by an actuary, but in actuall the Act discriminated between foreign and Indian companies on many accounts, putting the Indian companies at a disadvantage. The first two decades of the twentieth century saw lot of growth in insurance industries. From 44 companies with total business-in-force of Rs.22.44 crore, it rose to 176 companies with total business-in-force of Rs.298 crore in 1938. During the mushrooming of insurance companies many financially unsound concerns were also floated which failed miserably. The Insurance Act 1938 was the first legislation governing not only life insurance but also non-life insurance to provide strict state control over insurance business. The demand for nationalization of life insurance industry was made repeatedly in the past but it gathered momentum in 1944 when a bill to amend the Life Insurance Act 1938 was introduced in the Legislative Assembly. However, it was much later on the 19th of January, 1956, that life insurance in India was nationalized. About 154 Indian insurance companies, 16 non-Indian companies and 75 provident were operating in India at the time of nationalization. Nationalization wa s accomplished in two stages; initially the management of the companies was taken over by means of an Ordinance, and later, the ownership too by means of a comprehensive bill. The Parliament of India passed the Life Insurance Corporation Act on the 19th of June 1956, and the Life Insurance Corporation of India was created on 1st September, 1956, with the objective of spreading life insurance much more widely and in particular to the rural areas with a view to reach all insurable persons in the country, providing them adequate financial cover at a reasonable cost. In the year 1956, LIC had 5 zonal offices, 33 divisional offices and 212 branch offices, apart from its corporate office. Since life insurance contracts are long term contracts and during the currency of the policy it requires a variety of services needs felt in the later years to expand the operations and place a branch office at each district headquarter. Re-organization of LIC took place and large numbers of new branch offices were opened. As a result of the re-organization servicing functions were transferred to the branches, and branches were made accounting units. It worked wonders with the performance of the corporation. It may be seen from the fact that about 200.00 crores of New Business in 1957 the corporation crossed 1000.00 crores only in the year 1969-70, and it took another 10 years for LIC to cross 2000.00 crores mark of new business. But with the re-organization happening in the early eighties, by 1985-86 LIC had already crossed 7000.00 crores Sum Assured on new polic ies. Table 1. Growth of LIC between 1959 and 1999 Table 1. Growth of LIC between 1959 and 1999 S.No. Particulars 1957 1999 1 Annual Business: Sum Assured Policies First year premium 336.3 crores 8,00,000 14 crores 75606 crores 14857000 4171 crores 2 Business in force: Sum Assured Policies Renewal premium 1477 crores 5686000 74 crores 459201 crores 91726000 16136crores 3 Group Business in force: Sum Assured No. of Lives 5.29 crores 69558 crores 21671000 4 Life Fund: 41040 crores 127389.06 crores Source: Secondary Data Annual Reports of LIC. Progress of Indian Life Insurance Industry in the Post LPG Era Insurance sector reforms: In 1993, Malhotra Committee headed by former Finance Secretary and RBI Governor R.N. Malhotra was formed to evaluate the Indian insurance industry and recommend its future direction. The Malhotra committee was set up with the objective of complementing the reforms initiated in the financial sector. The reforms were aimed at creating a more efficient and competitive financial system suitable for the requirements of the economy keeping in mind the structural changes currently underway and recognizing that insurance is an important part of the overall financial system where it was necessary to address the need for similar reformsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ In 1994, the committee submitted the report and some of the key recommendations included: 1) Structure Government stake in the insurance Companies to be brought down to 50%. Government should take over the holdings of GIC and its subsidiaries so that these subsidiaries can act as independent corporations. All the insurance companies should be given greater freedom to operate. 2) Competition Private Companies with a minimum paid up capital of Rs.1bn should be allowed to enter the industry. No Company should deal in both Life and General Insurance through a single entity. Foreign companies may be allowed to enter the industry in collaboration with the domestic companies. Postal Life Insurance should be allowed to operate in the rural market. Only One State Level Life Insurance Company should be allowed to operate in each state. 3) Regulatory Body The Insurance Act should be changed. An Insurance Regulatory body should be set up. Controller of Insurance (Currently a part from the Finance Ministry) should be made independent. 4) Investments Mandatory Investments of LIC Life Fund in government securities to be reduced from 75% to 50%. GIC and its subsidiaries are not to hold more than 5% in any company (There current holdings to be brought down to this level over a period of time). 5) Customer Service LIC should pay interest on delays in payments beyond 30 days. Insurance companies must be encouraged to set up unit linked pension plans. Computerisation of operations and updating of technology to be carried out in the insurance industry The committee emphasized that in order to improve the customer services and increase the coverage of the insurance industry should be opened up to competition. But at the same time, the committee felt the need to exercise caution as any failure on the part of new players could ruin the public confidence in the industry. Hence, it was decided to allow competition in a limited way by stipulating the minimum capital requirement of Rs.100 crores. The committee felt the need to provide greater autonomy to insurance companies in order to improve their performance and enable them to act as independent companies with economic motives. For this purpose, it had proposed setting up an independent regulatory body. MAJOR POLICY CHANGES Insurance sector has been opened up for competition from Indian private insurance companies with the enactment of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 1999 (IRDA Act). As per the provisions of IRDA Act, 1999, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) was established on 19th April 2000 to protect the interests of holder of insurance policy and to regulate, promote and ensure orderly growth of the insurance industry. IRDA Act 1999 paved the way for the entry of private players into the insurance market which was hitherto the exclusive privilege of public sector insurance companies/ corporations. Under the new dispensation Indian insurance companies in private sector were permitted to operate in India with the following conditions: Company is formed and registered under the Companies Act, 1956; The aggregate holdings of equity shares by a foreign company, either by itself or through its subsidiary companies or its nominees, do not exceed 26%, paid up equity capital of such Indian insurance company; The companys sole purpose is to carry on life insurance business or general insurance business or reinsurance business. The minimum paid up equity capital for life or general insurance business is Rs.100 crores. The minimum paid up equity capital for carrying on reinsurance business has been prescribed as Rs.200 crores. The Authority has notified 27 Regulations on various issues which include Registration of Insurers, Regulation on insurance agents, Solvency Margin, Re-insurance, Obligation of Insurers to Rural and Social sector, Investment and Accounting Procedure, Protection of policy holders interest etc. Applications were invited by the Authority with effect from 15th August, 2000 for issue of the Certificate of Registration to both life and non-life insurers. IRDA has so far granted registration to 12 private life insurance companies and 9 general insurance companies. If the existing public sector insurance companies are included, there are currently 13 insurance companies in the life side and 13 companies operating in general insurance business. Today LIC functions with 2048 fully computerized branch offices, 100 divisional offices, 7 zonal offices and the corporate office. LICs Wide Area Network covers 100 divisional offices and it connects all the branches through a Metro Area Network. LIC has tied up with some Banks and Service providers to offer an on-line premium collection facility in selected cities. LICs ECS and ATM premium payment facility is an addition to customer convenience. Apart from on-line Kiosks and IVRS, Info Centers have been commissioned at Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, New Delhi, Pune and many other cities. With a vision of providing easy access to its policyholders, the LIC has launched its SATELLITE SAMPARK offices. These satellite offices are smaller, leaner and closer to the customer. The digitalized records of the satellite offices will facilitate the customer anywhere servicing and many other conveniences in the future. LIC continues to be the dominant life insurer eve n in the liberalized scenario of Indian insurance industries and is moving fast on a new growth trajectory surpassing its own past records. LIC has issued over one crore policies during the current year. Table-2: Total Life Insurance Premium (Rs. Crore) INSURER 2007-08 2006-07 2005-06 2004-05 2003-04 2002-03 2001-02 LIC 149789.99 127822.84 90792.22 75127.29 63533.43 54628.49 49821.91 (17.19) (40.79) (20.85) (18.25) (16.30) (9.65) (42.79) Aviva 1891.88 1147.23 600.27 253.42 81.50 13.47 NA   Bajaj Allianz 9725.31 5345.24 3133.58 1001.68 220.80 69.17 7.14 Bharti Axa 118.41 7.78 NA   NA NA NA NA Birla Sunlife 3272.19 1776.71 1259.68 915.47 537.54 143.92 28.26 Future Generali 2.49 NA   NA NA NA NA NA HDFC Std 4858.56 2855.87 1569.91 686.63 297.76 148.83 33.46 ICICI Pru 13561.06 7912.99 4261.05 2363.82 989.28 417.62 116.38 IDBI Fortis 11.90   NA NA NA NA NA NA ING Vysya 1158.87 707.20 425.38 338.86 88.51 21.16 4.19 Kotak Mahindra 1691.14 971.51 621.85 466.16 150.72 40.32 7.58 Met Life 1159.54 492.71 205.99 81.53 28.73 7.91 0.48 Max New York 2714.60 1500.28 788.13 413.43 215.25 96.59 38.95 Reliance Life 3225.44 1004.66 224.21 106.55 31.06 6.47 0.28 Sahara 143.49 51.00 27.66 1.74 NA   NA NA SBI Life 5622.14 2928.49 1075.32 601.18 225.67 72.39 14.69 Shriram 358.05 184.17 10.33   NA NA NA NA Tata AIG 2046.35 1367.18 880.19 497.04 253.53 81.21 21.14 Private Total 51561.42 28253.00 15083.54 7727.51 3120.33 1119.06 272.55 (82.50) (87.31) (95.19) (147.65) (178.83) (310.59) (4124.31) Total (LIC+Private) 201351.41 156075.84 105875.76 82854.80 66653.75 55747.55 50094.46 (29.01) (47.38) (27.78) (24.31) (19.56) (11.28) (43.54) Note: Figure in bracket indicates the growth over the previous year in percent. Two way ANOVA Source of Variation SS df MS F P-value F crit Rows 49560705298 17 2915335606 37.2725415 4.7941E-36 1.723833402 Columns 1069788739 6 178298123.2 2.27954002 0.0417493 2.188760765 Error 7978104529 102 78216711.07 Total 58608598567 125 Analysis and Interpretation Table 2 shows total life insurance premium during the year 2001-02 to 2007-08. The proportion of premium collected by LIC out of total premium collected by life insurance industry is declined from 97% in 2001-02 to 74% in 2007-08. It indicates the increasing competition from private sector. ICICI prudential is becoming a stronger and stronger player by keeping over a lot of business of LIC. But still there is a lot of scope of development in the life insurance industry where private sector will be a challenge in the front of LIC. By applying ANOVA at 0.05 level of significance, It is being observed that there is a significance difference in the performance of LIC and other Private Sector insurance companies over a period of 2001-02 to 2007-08 Table 3: Total Life Insurance Premium Year (X) Total life insurance premium (Y) U=X-A/ H U2 UY 2002 50094.46 -3 9 -150283.38 2003 55747.55 -2 4 -111495.1 2004 66653.75 -1 1 -66653.75 2005 82854.80 0 0 0 2006 105875.76 1 1 105875.76 2007 156075.84 2 4 312151.68 2008 201351.41 3 9 604054.23 718653.57 0 28 693649.44 Source- compiled from table 2. Y = A+BX ÃŽÂ £Y=nA+B X ÃŽÂ £XY=A ÃŽÂ £X+BÃŽÂ £ X2 Y=A+Bu ÃŽÂ £Y=nA+B ÃŽÂ £U ÃŽÂ £uY=A ÃŽÂ £u+B ÃŽÂ £u2 ÃŽÂ £Y=nA A= ÃŽÂ £Y/n ÃŽÂ £uY=BÃŽÂ £ u2 B= ÃŽÂ £uY/ ÃŽÂ £u2 A= ÃŽÂ £Y/n A= 718653.57/7= 102664.79 B= ÃŽÂ £uY/ ÃŽÂ £u2= 693649.44/28= 24773.19 Y=A+B (X-2004) 102664.79+ 24773.19 (2012-2004) 102664.79+ 24773.19 (8) 300,850.35 crore Based on the middle year 2005, the trend value for the year 2012 can be calculated using the linear function Y=A+BX, where, AB are constant. If we substitute the values in the trend line equation, the expected total LIC premium for the year 2012 is Rs. 300,850.35 crores. It shows that the total business is in increasing trend. Table 4: Investment strategy of LIC (Rupees crore) Year Sector-wise Instrument-wise of which Total (2 to 5) Or (6 to 7) (end-March) Public Private Joint Co-operative Stock exchange securities Loans 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1979 3411.9 618.1 29.9 527.8 2733.8 1853.1 4587.7 1980 3915.5 770.1 0 602.1 3113.4 2173.6 5287.7 1981 4707.8 647.2 0 665.5 3591.3 2725.6 6020.5 1982 5410.7 698.7 32 753 4040.6 2612 6894.4 1983 6189.7 787.4 32.7 825.2 NA NA 7835 1984 7020.8 891.4 40.1 905.3 NA NA 8857.6 1985 7919.5 1010.6 51.2 972.9 NA NA 9954.2 1986 9063.8 1121.3 68 1036.

Examining The Cultural Reason Behind Tattooing And Piercings Media Essay

Examining The Cultural Reason Behind Tattooing And Piercings Media Essay Why is it that more and more people are tattooing and/or piercing themselves? Is there a cultural reason behind this reality? Each time that we walk we see someone with a tattoo and or a piercing(s). The reality is that tattoos and/or piercing(s) have become increasingly popular not just in the United States but all over the world. I admit that I have a tattoo and three piercings. I also admit that I decided to get a tattoo as soon as I turned eighteen like most teenagers do. People have so many reasons as to why they have a tattoo or as to why they want to get a tattoo in the near future. Most of the time we receive images and messages through the media about tattoos and piercings and therefore they may influence us. Some people believe that tattoos are a form of expression and art while others think of tattoos as attractive or taboo. Through the media, adolescents see over 5,000 attractiveness messages per year. This means that most adolescents are being pressure by the media to lo ok unique and different by tattooing/piercing themselves. Not just the media influences a society into tattoos and/or piercing but the culture that they live in. Cultural influences play a huge role on how people act, dress, speak, and even on the way they think. Tattoos and piercing have created their own culture in which people have adapted and continued Despite the fact that some people consider tattoos and/or piercing taboo, people will still continue to tattoo and pierce themselves because it is a cultural practice done for centuries and therefore it will continue for centuries. Tattooing and piercing are two of the oldest practices in the world. They have ancient roots that start as early as 15,000 years ago. According to Jane Caplan, Physical evidence for the practice survives from the late fourth millennium BC in Europe and from about 2000BC in Egypt, and tattooing can be found virtually all parts of the world at the same time (1). Tattoos in many cultures like in the Maroni culture have used tattoos for centuries and considered it as sacred art. The Maroni culture like so many cultures all the world have many purposes as to why they decide to mark themselves forever. Many cultures believed that a tattoo was powerful enough to cure anyone from any illness. Some people also believed that tattooing themselves would help them express their personal and religious believes. Body piercing has been dated as early as 1500 B.C.E. Body piercings like tattoos is consider as a way to express ones one individuality. Similar to tattoos, a person can decided to get pier ce everywhere in the body. There is no rule as to where you can get a tattoo and/or body piercing or how big or small it can be. Tattoos and body piercing have been spread out all around the world and even to the most remote places and cultures. In the essay The Decorated Body by Frances Borel, Borel states, Human nakedness, according to the social custom, is unacceptable, unbearable, and dangerous. From the moment of birth, society takes charge, managing, dressing, forming, and deforming the child-sometimes even with a certain degree of violence. Aside from the most elementary caretaking concerns-the very diversity of which shows how subjective the motivation isan unfathomably deep and universal tendency pushes families, clans, and tribes to rapidly modify a persons physical appearance. (40) There is no rule as to where you can get a tattoo and/or body piercing or how big or small it can be. If we take a closer approach specifically to the culture of tattoos in the United States, we can see how culture has played a huge role in the popularity of tattoos and body piercings. Pretty can be defined in various way and it is defined differently in many cultures. In India, having a ring in your neck is considered beautiful. In China, having small feet done by a process of shrinking feet called foot binding is considered beautiful. In the United States, tattoos to some people are considered beautiful. Tattoos became to be known in the early 1700s. A man named Captain Cook went on a trip to the South Pacific Islands and found fascinating the fact that most people were marked with some distinctive designs. He later brought a young girl with him to the United States and Americans were astounded. Tattoos were at first had made because there was not a specific tool for making tattoos. A man named Martin Hilderbrandt became the first professional tattoo artist in the United States. Hilderbrandt like many tattoo artist had no tool for making efficient and faster tattoos. It was not until 1891 that the first electric needled was used. A man named Samuel OReilly create d and patented the first electric needled. He opened the first tattoo shop in New York City. After the first shop opened in New York City, many Americans decided to become tattoo artists themselves and even opened their own tattoo shops. The number of tattoo artists and shops increased rapidly in the United States. Some Americans believed that if they tattooed their entire body, they would express their individuality. Men and women decided to exhibit themselves and some went on traveling shows or went to work on the circus. Some couples would tattoo their whole body and display themselves on public. I personally would not decide to cover my entire body in tattoos and/or body piercings. Beside the fact that tattoos and body piercings are expensive, they are also painful. I decided to get a shooting star tattoo because beside the fact that I love stars I wanted to get a design that was unique. One of my close friends designed by tattoo and therefore it made my tattoo original and unique. I did not know why I decided to get a tattoo. However since tattoos and body piercings were so new in America, many did not accept them. While many Americans were fascinated with tattoos and body piercing, others viewed them a taboo. Some people did not have any taste with tattoos and/or body piercings. Tattoos become so popular in so little time that it was hard for people to accept them. Tattoos were not considered art or a way of individualism. Tattoos were not considered as a way of expression. Many believed that it was morally wrong to tattoo and/or body pierce the entire body. However tattoos and body piercings never went out of style and continued to be popular not just in the United States but all over the world. After World War Two (WWII), many Americans decided to get a tattoo(s) to show their courage and bravery in the war. Tattoos and body piercings become a style and a fashion. Tattoos and body piercings became a trend and it is still a trend even to this day. They are both widely accepted like they were in many different culture all around the world. Different forms of tattoo art have been practiced by many different cultures of the world, over the centuries.Tattooing is one of the oldest practices in the United States. Tattoos have become part of our everyday life and we cannot stop it. Andres Martin, author of the essay On Teenagers and Tattoos states, Tattoos and piercing have become a part of our everyday landscape (24). Tattoos and body piercings in America are everyday things. Tattoos are not very easily removed and at the same time the procedure is very expensive and painful. But do people decide to get tattoos and/or piercings? According to Jane Caplan, Tattooing is one of many forms of irreversible body alteration, including scarification, cicatrization, piercing and branding, and it is the probable the oldest and most widespread of these (1). Work Cited Borel, France. The Decorated Body. Aims of Argument Text and Reader. 6th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill College, 2010. 40-42. Print. Caplan, Jane. Written on the Body: the Tattoo in European and American History. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton UP, 2000. Print. Martin, Andres. On Teenagers and Tattoos. Aims of Argument Text and Reader. 6th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill College, 2010. 24-28. Print. Rubin, Arnold. Marks of Civilization: Artistic Transformations of the Human Body. Los Angeles, Calif.: Museum of Cultural History, University of California, 1988. Print.

Essay --

1.3 Rationale for Research Topic Employee engagement is a relatively new concept which has been heavily marketed and publicised by management consultancies. The reason for this is because many of these management consultancy firms suggest that employee engagement can affect the bottom line, increase business performance, profitability and customer service Macey & Schieder (2008 P:). Increasing levels of engagement is becoming more important to an organisation because the outcome of employee engagement has been reported to correlate with performance. The CIPD through their research into employee engagement have identified that engaged employees are more likely to deliver business performance (CIPD 2010) Research into engagement has unveiled that individuals who are engaged are more likely to show enthusiasm for the work they do, show willingness to do well and are likely to be engaged by the values of the organisation. To understand what this can look like engagement can be determined by measuring its characteristic (vigor, dedication and absorption) and when measured can be found to be positively related to an individual’s job performance (Bakker et al 2008) Although ‘engagement' can be seen as a buzz word it has also been identified that for such a well-used term there is little associated research in the field of engagement (Robinson et al, 2004). Several of the key concepts of employee engagement derive from social psychology, drawing upon theories that are concerned with motivation, organisational behaviours and attitudes. Some academics argue that employee engagement is basically old wine in new bottles because key concepts by theorists such as Hertzberg, Maslow and Alderfer underpin the notion of employee engagement (Rob... ...ent and sustain it, you must approach it at three different layers of the organisation - the individual, the manager and the executive. Individuals must own their engagement. They cannot expect HR or the organisation to provide a blanket formula that will fit their unique needs. Managers cannot make employees engaged, but they can act as coaches to facilitate their team members' engagement journeys. Managers need to understand the unique interests, talents and aspirations of their employees, and then align these with specific organisational priorities and projects. Executives also have a specific and important role to play. Their focus must be on creating a culture that fuels engagement and business results. Senior teams must 'walk the talk' by demonstrating their own engagement, sharing their passion in candid, consistent communications† (HR Magazine 2013)

Benjamin Franklin :: History

Benjamin Franklin It is also to understand what it took for Franklin to be such a famous and respectable man. When one takes a look at the world in which he currently lives, he sees it as being normal since it is so slow in changing. When an historian looks at the present, he sees the effects of many events and many wise people. Benjamin Franklin is one of these people. His participation in so many different fields changed the world immensely. He was a noted politician as well as respected scholar. He was an important inventor and scientist. Particularly interesting is the impact on the scientific world. Benjamin Franklin was a modest man who had had many jobs in his lifetime. This may help explain his large array of inventions and new methods of working various jobs. He did everything from making cabbage-growing more efficient to making political decisions to being the first person to study and chart the Gulf Stream movement in the Atlantic Ocean. *Franklin was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 17, 1706. He was the fifteenth child in a family of seventeen kids. His parents, Josiah and Abiah Franklin, were hard working devout Puritan/Calvinist people. Josiah Franklin made candles for a living. Since the Franklin’s were so poor, little Benjamin couldn't afford to go to school for longer than two years. In those two years, however, Franklin learned to read which opened the door to further education for him. Since he was only a fair writer and had very poor mathematical skills, he worked to tutor himself at home. Benjamin Franklin was a determined young man. As a boy, he taught himself to be a very good writer. He also learned basic algebra and geometry, navigation, grammar, logic, and natural and physical science. He partially mastered French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Latin. He was soon to be named the best educated man in the country. When he was 12-years-old, he was apprentice to his brother in printing. Benjamin's brother founded the second newspaper in America. Many people told him that one newspaper was enough for America and that the paper would soon collapse. On the contrary, it became very popular. Occasionally, young Benjamin would write an article to be printed and slip it under the printing room's door signed as "Anonymous". The following is a direct quote from Franklin's Autobiography. It describes his writing the articles as a boy.

Isaac Asimov: Envisioning the Future of Our Own Humanity

â€Å"If it brings me humanity, that will be worth it. If it doesn't, it will bring an end to striving and that will be worth it, too. † (The Bicentennial Man 22). Isaac Asimov, a dreamer who with humble beginnings pushed science fiction into the beginnings of reality. There is no one quite like Asimov. He has written more on more subjects, and better on more subjects, and more unexpectedly on most subjects, and in more ways on more subjects, than anyone else in the field. He writes poetry, limericks, short stories, novels, essays, articles, nonfiction books, trilogies, jokes and so on-more of them than anyone else could imagine (The Bicentennial Man 1). With all his intelligence, and all his heart, he fought for a world in which his ideas could become reality. His humanity was found in his struggle to educate us all, encouraging us to expand our horizons beyond our own lack of knowledge. This fact is alluded to in an article he wrote to Newsweek in the 1980s, â€Å"There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge’† (â€Å"A Cult of Ignorance† 19). His view of the world included us understanding. His oppression was caused by our ignorance. Isaac Asimov was born sometime between October 4, 1919 and January 2, 1920 (In Memory Yet Green 1). His parents did not remember the exact date of his birth but claim it to be around that time. He himself celebrated it on January 2nd (In Memory Yet Green 1). He was born to Anna Rachel Berman Asimov and Judah Asimov, a Jewish Russian couple. At the age of three, his whole family immigrated to the United States to the city of Brooklyn, New York (Biblio). Asimov graduated high school early, starting college and writing his first published novel which he completed by the end of college (http://psu. edu). Asimov was a man who spent his entire life writing. His earliest writings were found in magazines. His friend and publisher John W. Campbell saw his early stories as rough but promising (http://psu. edu). The story that really launched his career was Nightfall. Nightfall was a simple story, written about how a society could potentially collapse if great change occurs even if that change is not inherently negative. In Nightfall and Other Stories, he writes, â€Å"The writing of ‘Nightfall' was a watershed in my professional career †¦ I was suddenly taken seriously and the world of science fiction became aware that I existed. As the years passed, in fact, it became evident that I had written a ‘classic'† (Nightfall and Other Stories). His career and fame continued to grow as the years passed. Beginning in 1942 and ending in 1945 he worked for the Philadelphia Naval Air Experimental Station (Biblio). During this time he started work on five novelettes and four novellas that are now known as the Foundation Trilogy. Of the trilogy, Charles Elkins of DePauw University wrote, â€Å"Among SF series, surely none has enjoyed such spectacular popularity as Isaac Asimov’s Foundation stories† (http://psu. edu). The Foundation series received numerous awards for its quality and content, eventually ending up in a Hugo award for Asimov (WorldsWithoutEnd). In the Foundation series, through the use of science fiction he tackled the issues he was passionate about. In his novel Pebble in the Sky he writes about racism. The story is written in the view of humans of other worlds holding a prejudice against Earth-dwellers because they â€Å"simply do not like the Earth† (http://psu. edu). He also tackled another issue that lays claim to how he lived his life. In book three of the foundation series, The Mayors, he begins to describe a religion that focuses on science (Foundation). As an atheistic humanist minority in a culture that was vastly overpoweringly theist, the best approach he took to tackling the issue of religion was through science fiction. As an educator at heart, he just wanted us to challenge the status quo with what we understand. In The Mayors, the religion of science worships a mythical galactic spirit. It is strikingly similar in some respects to modern religion, as this storybook religion had both a prophet, a story of how it all began, and a book of rules to live by (Foundation). His views on religion can be read inside the stories that he wrote. The life of Asimov cannot simply be summed up in a short phrase or story. He was an influential writer, attacking literature in many different writing formats. He fought for the rights of others, shaping our belief systems through the use of storytelling. He pushed for greater desire to learn in all of us, by writing of a robot that learned to become human (The Bicentennial Man 22). The call to be human and to remind us to be human was the goal of Asimov.