Thursday, November 28, 2019
One
Introduction In an effort to use aptitude as well as studentsââ¬â¢ achievement among several demographic variables in determining high school seniorsââ¬â¢ choice of career after high school, a survey was conducted among over 500 students.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on One-Way Manova specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More A one way multivariate analysis of variance was then conducted with ââ¬Å"collplanâ⬠being the predictor variable whereas studentââ¬â¢s career plan in college after high school had nine categorical variables including: agricultural college, no plans yet, liberal arts, none, engineering college, music/arts, teacher college, other and university. The quantitative outcome variables in this dataset were ââ¬Å"abstractâ⬠- a test of abstract reasoning and ââ¬Å"creativeâ⬠- a test of creativity. The One-Way MANOVA was conducted in an attempt to answer the following question: How w ell do the categorical predictor variable ââ¬Å"factorsâ⬠(levels) predict scores on a.) a measure of abstract reasoning ability, and b.) a measure of creativity? After conducting a One-Way MANOVA on the dataset using SPSS, the results of the analyses were presented and interpreted as described in below. The author hypothesizes that categorical predictor variables (none, Teacher College, agricultural college, engineering college, liberal arts, music/arts, university, other, and no plans yet) are significant predictors of scores on a measure of abstract thinking ability and scores on a measure of creativity. This has been explained by the descriptive statistics as well as the MANOVA test, specifically the Wilkââ¬â¢s lambda and the between-subject effects of the variables. Descriptive Statistics The GLM statistics for between-subjects factors indicated that there were 178 seniors who did not plan to join any of the listed institutions in this study and this was the highest nu mber of students. This was followed by students who had plans of joining university and these amounted to 88 students. The third largest category of seniors had plans of doing liberal arts and these amounted to 59 students.Advertising Looking for essay on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More These were followed by 57 students who had ââ¬Å"otherâ⬠plans after high school. The number of those who had no plans yet was equal to that of students who wished to join a teachers college (38 students). There were 29 seniors who had plans of joining an engineering college, 11 who wished to do music/arts and finally only 4 students had plans of joining an agricultural college after high school (Table 1). From the descriptive statistics (Table 2), it is evident that having significant differences between the dependent variable and the independent variables may be somewhat impossible since some categorical variables have very large cell sizes (N) which are many times larger than the smallest cell size. For instance, the cell size for ââ¬Å"noneâ⬠is 178 whereas ââ¬Å"agricultural collegeâ⬠, the smallest cell size has a size of N =4. For the fixed factor ââ¬Å"abstractâ⬠, the mean abstract thinking for seniors who did not have plans after college (ââ¬Å"noneâ⬠) was 8.94, SD = 2.616 whereas the mean for those who had plans of joining a teacher college was the same as that of students who had plans of joining university i.e. 10.37, SD= 2.509 and 10.37, SD = 2.709 respectively and these were the highest means for the ââ¬Å"abstractâ⬠category. The lowest mean was for students who wished to join an agricultural college, mean = 7.25, SD = 2.50 followed by those who did not have plans yet, mean = 8.84, SD = 2.881. The means for students who aspired to join an engineering college, do liberal arts and those who planned to do music/arts were 10.17 SD = 2.156, 9.97 SD = 3.129 and 10.09 SD= 2.914 respectively. Finally, the mean for abstract thinking for seniors who had other plans other than those included in the study was 9.74, SD = 2.482. Table 3 indicates that the 95% CI for ââ¬Å"noneâ⬠in predicting the abstract reasoning ability of high school students was 8.549 ââ¬â 9.338 whereas the CI for ââ¬Å"teacher collegeâ⬠on predicting the abstract reasoning ability was 95% CI (9.515 ââ¬â 11.222). The 95 percent CI for ââ¬Å"agricultural collegeâ⬠on determining abstract thinking was 4.619 ââ¬â 9.881 whereas that of ââ¬Å"engineering collegeâ⬠was 9.915 ââ¬â 11.150. The confidence interval for ââ¬Å"liberal artsâ⬠in determining abstract thinking was 95% CI (9.281 ââ¬â 10.651) while the 95 percent CI for ââ¬Å"music/artsâ⬠was 8.504 ââ¬â 11.678. The 95% CI for ââ¬Å"universityâ⬠as a predictor of abstract thinking was 9.814 ââ¬â 10.936 while the confidence interval for ââ¬Å"otherâ⬠was 95% CI (9.040 ââ¬â 10.434). Finally the CI for ââ¬Å"no plans yet,â⬠as a determinant of abstract thinking was 95% CI (7.988 ââ¬â 9.696). It is clear that all the categorical variables have their CI ranging from positive lower boundary value to a positive upper boundary value. This implies that the set of data is somewhat normally distributed as earlier confirmed by the Leveneââ¬â¢s F statistic.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on One-Way Manova specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Table 3 also indicates that the 95% CI for ââ¬Å"noneâ⬠in predicting the creativity level of high school students was 8.084 ââ¬â -9.163 whereas the CI for ââ¬Å"teacher collegeâ⬠on predicting the creativity level was 95% CI (8.516 ââ¬â 10.852). The 95 percent CI for ââ¬Å"agricultural collegeâ⬠on determining creativity was 7.901 ââ¬â 15.099 whereas that of ââ¬Å"engineering collegeâ⬠was 11 .146 ââ¬â 13.820. The confidence interval for ââ¬Å"liberal artsâ⬠in determining creativity level of high school seniors was 95% CI (10.673 ââ¬â 12.547) while the 95 percent CI for ââ¬Å"music/artsâ⬠was 86.920 ââ¬â 11.261. The 95% CI for ââ¬Å"universityâ⬠as a predictor of creativity was 10.426 ââ¬â 11.961 while the confidence interval for ââ¬Å"otherâ⬠was 95% CI (8.625 ââ¬â 10.532). Lastly, the CI for ââ¬Å"no plans yet,â⬠as a determinant of creativity was 95% CI (7.648 ââ¬â 9.984). Again, it is clear that all the categorical variables have their CI ranging from positive lower boundary value to a positive upper boundary value. This implies that the set of data is somewhat normally distributed as earlier confirmed by the Leveneââ¬â¢s F statistic. According to Table 1, the mean for creativity test score (ââ¬Å"creativeâ⬠) for students who had plans of joining an engineering college was the highest, 12.48, SD = 3.203 whereas the creativity score for seniors who did not want to do anything after college was the lowest, 8.62, SD = 3.378. Students who had plans of doing liberal arts after school had a higher mean creativity score, 11.61 SD = 4.115, compared to those who had plans of joining an agricultural college,11.50 SD = 4.796, or joining university, 11.19 SD= 3.977. The mean creativity score for seniors who had ââ¬Å"other plansâ⬠after college was relatively low, 9.58 SD =3.822, but this was higher than the mean of those who had ââ¬Å"no plans yetâ⬠, 8.82 SD = 3.220 or those who planned to do music/arts, 9.09 SD= 4.636. Finally, the mean creativity test score for seniors who had plans of joining a teacher college was 9.68, SD = 3.557. Boxââ¬â¢s M Statistic and Wilkââ¬â¢s Lambda The Boxââ¬â¢s M statistic is useful for determining homogeneity of covariance existing across the various groups of categorical variables. The significance level is usually set at p.001. In this an alyses, the Boxââ¬â¢s M = 23.586. The F Test for Boxââ¬â¢s M= 23.586, F (24, 3373.80) =.925, p =.568, which is greater than p =.001 (Table 4).Advertising Looking for essay on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This implies that there existed no significant differences between the covariance matrices and therefore the assumption of homogeneity of covariance across the groups was not violated. This also gives us a green light to use the Wilkââ¬â¢s Lambda test for the analyses. Since the Boxââ¬â¢s M test is non-significant and has proved Wilkââ¬â¢s Lambda as a good test for MANOVA, a MANOVA test was conducted and interpreted using the Wilkââ¬â¢s Lambda test. The significance level was considered at p.05. Table 5 therefore indicates the Wilkââ¬â¢s Lambda =.851, F (18, 984) = 4.603, p =.001. The F value for Wilkââ¬â¢s Lambda is significant indicating that significant differences existed among the plans of seniorsââ¬â¢ (ââ¬Å"collplanâ⬠) after completing high school on a linear combination of the abstract test score and creativity test scores (dependent variables). In addition, the Wilkââ¬â¢s lambda is large i.e. greater than.8 thus indicating that the null hypothe sis that the categorical factors can be used to determine the studentââ¬â¢s creativity and abstract reasoning ability, is supported. Leveneââ¬â¢s F Test In a MANOVA test, the Leveneââ¬â¢s test is useful in determining whether there are any differences in variances/covariance of every variable across the groups. For the assumption to be maintained that no variance exists across the groups, the Leveneââ¬â¢s F should be non-significant, otherwise the assumption is violated (Field, 2009). The Leveneââ¬â¢s F for ââ¬Å"abstractâ⬠was F(9, 493) =.844, p =.576, indicating that the Leveneââ¬â¢s F was not statistically significance (Table 6). It therefore means that there are no significant group differences in variance on the variable ââ¬Å"abstract.â⬠Moreover, the F value is small hence doubts that are brought about by large values of F regarding the null hypothesis are excluded (Tabachnick Fidell, 2001). On the other hand, the Leveneââ¬â¢s F value for the variable ââ¬Å"creativeâ⬠was F(9, 493) = 1.400, p =.185 which also indicates that there are no significant differences in variance on the variable ââ¬Å"creativeâ⬠. Overall, it can be assumed that the dataset is normally distributed since variances differ insignificantly. Between-Subjects Effects The Wilkââ¬â¢s Lambda indicated that the MANOVA is significant thus it is appropriate to examine Table 7 which essentially provides the univariate results for the dependent variables (abstract and creative). The test of between-subjects effects indicate that the pairs of means for collplan i.e. abstract and creative are statistically different. For instance, the Mean Square for abstract was 24.322, F(9, 493) = 3.390, p =.001 whereas the Mean Square for creative was 99.880, F (9, 493) = 7.440, p =.001. The R squared value for abstract was.058 indicating that abstract reasoning equivalent to 5.8 percent of multivariate variance in the model was contributed by the studentâ⬠â¢s career choice after high school i.e. studentsââ¬â¢ plans after high school. On the other hand, the R squared value for creative was.120 indicating that creative thinking contributed to 12 percent of multivariate variance in the model i.e. determining the studentsââ¬â¢ plans after college. It is therefore evident that creativity level of a student has a highly contributed by the studentââ¬â¢s plans after high school compared to the contribution on the studentââ¬â¢s abstract reasoning ability by the same. However it is important to note that both abstract reasoning ability and studentââ¬â¢s creativity levels are significantly affected by the studentââ¬â¢s career plans after high school. This is confirmed by the fact that F values for both variables are significant at the level of.001. In other words seniorsââ¬â¢ plans after high school were significantly different depending on the studentââ¬â¢s abstract reasoning ability (F(9, 493) = 3.390, p=.001) and stu dentââ¬â¢s creativity level (F(9, 493) = 7.440, p =.001). Summary The decisions of high school seniors regarding their plans on career choices after completing high school were evaluated based on the studentââ¬â¢s abstract reasoning ability and creativity. Factors such as having no plans of a career choice after school, joining a teacher college, an engineering college, doing liberal arts, music/arts, joining university, any other plans or those who had no plans yet were used to determine the studentââ¬â¢s abstract reasoning and the studentââ¬â¢s creativity. It is evident that overall, most high school seniors did not have any career choice after completing high school. It is evident that most high school seniors do not prefer joining an agricultural college after high school as demonstrated by a low number of students (4) preferring to join an agricultural college. The highest number of high school seniors (88) would prefer to join university after high school, followed by those who would like to do liberal arts (59), and those who had other plans (57). The preference for joining either a teacherââ¬â¢s college or an engineering college was relatively high (38 and 29 students) whereas the preference for doing music/arts was relatively low (11 students only). Having plans of joining a teacher college and/or joining university translated to a high level of abstract reasoning among high school seniors. However, having plans of joining a teacher college translated to a lower creativity score compared to abstract reasoning ability. On the other hand, the creativity level increased with having plans of joining university compared to the effect of the same plan on abstract reasoning ability. Having plans of joining an engineering college was associated with a high creativity score which was beyond the abstract reasoning ability resulting from the same plans. While the lowest creativity score resulted from students not wanting to do anything after high schools, the lowest abstract reasoning ability emanated from planning to join an agricultural college after high school. Having plans of doing liberal arts translated to a higher creativity score than abstract reasoning score whereas having plans of doing music/arts after high school translated to a higher abstract reasoning ability compared to creativity level. There was only a very small difference in creativity level and abstract reasoning ability as a result of having ââ¬Å"no plans yetâ⬠after completing high school. The creativity and abstract reasoning ability of high school senior students is demonstrated as being significantly affected by the studentââ¬â¢s choice of career after high school. Creativity and abstract reasoning differs depending on whether the student has any plans of joining a specific career after high school or not. Overall, there is a higher creativity among high school students as a result of future career choice compared to the abstract reasonin g ability emanating from the same. In essence, up to 5.8 percent of abstract reasoning is as a result of the career choice a student has after high school whereas 12 percent of creativity is as a result of the studentââ¬â¢s choice of career after completing high school. Reference Field, A. (2009). Discovering statistics using SPSS, Third Edition. San Diego, CA: SAGE Publications Ltd. Tabachnick, B. G. and Fidell, L. S. (2001). Using multivariate statistics. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Appendix Table 1: Between-Subjects Factors Between-Subjects Factors Value Label N collplan 1 none 178 2 teacher college 38 3 agricultural college 4 4 engineering college 29 5 liberal arts 59 6 music/arts 11 7 university 88 8 other 57 9 no plans yet 38 10 10 1 Table 2: Descriptive Statistics for ââ¬Å"Collplanâ⬠Descriptive Statistics collplan Mean Std. Deviation N abstract none 8.94 2.616 178 teacher college 10.37 2.509 38 agricultural college 7.25 2.500 4 engineering college 10.17 2.156 29 liberal arts 9.97 3.129 59 music/arts 10.09 2.914 11 university 10.37 2.709 88 other 9.74 2.482 57 no plans yet 8.84 2.881 38 10 11.00 . 1 Total 9.59 2.735 503 creative none 8.62 3.378 178 teacher college 9.68 3.557 38 agricultural college 11.50 4.796 4 engineering college 12.48 3.203 29 liberal arts 11.61 4.115 59 music/arts 9.09 4.636 11 university 11.19 3.977 88 other 9.58 3.822 57 no plans yet 8.82 3.220 38 10 15.00 . 1 Total 9.89 3.870 503 Table 3: Estimated Marginal Means and Related 95% Confidence Intervals for Collplan collplan Dependent Variable collplan Mean Std. Error 95% Confidence Interval Lower Bound Upper Bound abstract none 8.944 .201 8.549 9.338 teacher college 10.368 .434 9.515 11.222 agricultural college 7.250 1.339 4.619 9.881 engineering college 10.172 .497 9.195 11.150 liberal arts 9.966 .349 9.281 10.651 music/arts 10.091 .808 8.504 11.678 university 10.375 .286 9.814 10.936 other 9.737 .355 9.040 10.434 no plans yet 8.842 .434 7.988 9.696 10 11.000 2.678 5.737 16.263 creative none 8.624 .275 8.084 9.163 teacher college 9.684 .594 8.516 10.852 agricultural college 11.500 1.832 7.901 15.099 engineering college 12.483 .680 11.146 13.820 liberal arts 11.610 .477 10.673 12.547 music/arts 9.091 1.105 6.920 11.261 university 11.193 .391 10.426 11.961 other 9.579 .485 8.625 10.532 no plans yet 8.816 .594 7.648 9.984 10 15.000 3.664 7.801 22.199 Table 4: Boxââ¬â¢s M Test Boxââ¬â¢s Test of Equality of Covariance Matricesa Boxââ¬â¢s M 23.586 F .925 df1 24 df2 3373.800 Sig. .568 Tests the null hypothesis that the observed covariance matrices of the dependent variables are equal across groups. a. Design: Intercept + collplan Table 5: Multivariate Tests- Wilkââ¬â¢s Lambda Multivariate Testsc Effect Value F Hypothesis df Error df Sig. Intercept Pillaiââ¬â¢s Trace .684 532.157a 2.000 492.000 .000 Wilksââ¬â¢ Lambda .316 532.157a 2.000 492.000 .000 Hotellingââ¬â¢s Trace 2.163 532.157a 2.000 492.000 .000 Royââ¬â¢s Largest Root 2.163 532.157a 2.000 492.000 .000 collplan Pillaiââ¬â¢s Trace .153 4.542 18.000 986.000 .000 Wilksââ¬â¢ Lambda .851 4.603a 18.000 984.000 .000 Hotellingââ¬â¢s Trace .171 4.663 18.000 982.000 .000 Royââ¬â¢s Largest Root .138 7.570b 9.000 493.000 .000 Exact statistic The statistic is an upper bound on F that yields a lower bound on the significance level. Design: Intercept + collplan Table 6: Leveneââ¬â¢s Test Leveneââ¬â¢s Test of Equality of Error Variancesa F df1 df2 Sig. abstract .844 9 493 .576 creative 1.400 9 493 .185 Tests the null hypothesis that the error variance of the dependent variable is equal across groups. a. Design: Intercept + collplan Table 7: Test of Between-Subjects Effects Tests of Between-Subjects Effects Source Dependent Variable Type III Sum of Square s df Mean Square F Sig. Corrected Model abstract 218.894a 9 24.322 3.390 .000 creative 898.919b 9 99.880 7.440 .000 Intercept abstract 6326.276 1 6326.276 881.844 .000 creative 7822.492 1 7822.492 582.683 .000 collplan abstract 218.894 9 24.322 3.390 .000 creative 898.919 9 99.880 7.440 .000 Error abstract 3536.740 493 7.174 creative 6618.497 493 13.425 Total abstract 50020.000 503 creative 56763.000 503 Corrected Total abstract 3755.634 502 creative 7517.416 502 a. R Squared =.058 (Adjusted R Squared =.041) b. R Squared =.120 (Adjusted R Squared =.104) This essay on One-Way Manova was written and submitted by user Shania Kerr to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.
Sunday, November 24, 2019
5 interview questions you shouldnââ¬â¢t ask potential employees
5 interview questions you shouldnââ¬â¢t ask potential employees We talk a lot about what questions interviewees should be prepared to answer, but what if youââ¬â¢re on the other side of that equation? Are there any danger zone questions (or just plain ineffective) questions you shouldnââ¬â¢t ask? There definitely are, and they range from inappropriate to downright illegal. Letââ¬â¢s look at some of them. 1. How old are you?Age is always a no-no in an interview. Even if the interviewee mentions it themselves or you can deduce the age based on their resume, you canââ¬â¢t ask about it or use it as a factor in the hiring decision. Per the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), itââ¬â¢s illegal to use age as a discriminating factor in hiring. So by mentioning age, youââ¬â¢re opening the door to potential legal consequences for your company- whether youââ¬â¢re just making small talk or not.2. Are you married/do you have kids?Again, illegal, even if itââ¬â¢s just small talk. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) forbids using gender or family status as an element in hiring someone for a role. A question about family status could make the interviewee think youââ¬â¢re fishing to see if she is planning to take maternity leave, or a question about marriage could make the interviewee think youââ¬â¢re trying to determine sexual orientation. Itââ¬â¢s best to leave it alone and find other ways to make small talk. And you donââ¬â¢t want to risk making the interviewee feel uncomfortable about having to discuss personal issues. Itââ¬â¢s better all around to keep discussion limited to professional areas.3. If You Were a [blank], what kind of [blank] would you be?This one isnââ¬â¢t illegal, by any stretch. Itââ¬â¢s just not a very useful or effective interview question. Knowing which kind of tree the interviewer identifies with or which former member of One Direction theyââ¬â¢d like to be doesnââ¬â¢t tell you much of anything about how theyââ¬â¢d approach the job at hand. Whenever possible, you should avoid filler questions like these.4. Whatââ¬â¢s your salary history?What a candidate made before is largely immaterial to what theyââ¬â¢d make at your company, unless youââ¬â¢re trying to take the easy way out and determine how low you can go, salary-wise. Either way, itââ¬â¢s not a terribly appropriate or relevant thing to ask someone whoââ¬â¢s applying for a specific job. It could put the interviewee on the defensive and steer the conversation away from the job itself.5. Whatââ¬â¢s your biggest weakness?If you ask this, youââ¬â¢re not going to get a 100% truthful answer. Candidates are on to this game, so youââ¬â¢re going to get an answer with spin on it. No one is going to say ââ¬Å"Yeah, Iââ¬â¢m just not good at motivating myself to get work done in the morningâ⬠or ââ¬Å"I make a lot of careless mistakes.â⬠And does the spin answer like ââ¬Å"I am too much of a perfectionistâ⬠really help you make this hiring decision?When youââ¬â¢re the interviewer and have all the power, itââ¬â¢s important to make sure youââ¬â¢re making a good faith effort to ask the right questions to get someone hired. The last thing you want to do is open legal cans of worms for your company or ask questions that just donââ¬â¢t tell you much about the person youââ¬â¢re hiring to fill this job. Learning to become a great interviewer is just as much a skill as learning to become a great interviewee, and the more you work on what to avoid, the more effective youââ¬â¢ll be.
Thursday, November 21, 2019
Capital Punishment Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words
Capital Punishment - Research Paper Example According to recent statistics only 58 countries actively practice capital punishment, while 96 countries have abolished it. This goes on to show the changing trends in the global arena where countries have opted to treat their prisoners in a more civilized manner instead of using inhumane ways of executing them. Capital punishment is a topic of active controversy and debate in various countries, and positions vary drastically within a single political ideology, cultural region, religion and government entities. EU member states are prohibited the use of capital punishment as stated in their Charter of Fundamental Rights. Amnesty International considers most countries abolitionist now since United Nations has taken steps to eradicate Capital Punishment. Nevertheless, it is interesting to know that more than 60% of the worldââ¬â¢s population currently lives in countries where death penalty is used on a regular basis as a means of punishment for serious offenders. These countries in clude China, India, US and Indonesia, which are also the four most populous countries in the world. The most common way of performing capital punishment in the US is by lethal injection. Hanging, gas chamber and electric chair have become less popular as they are regarded more painful for the victim. More historical ways of executing include breaking wheel, slow slicing in China, firing squad and beheading. A very prominent way to punish people in France during the 18th century was beheading them. A special purpose ââ¬Å"guillotineâ⬠was made in which the decapitation was made fast and easy. Thousands were beheaded in front of public gatherings to give everybody a lesson to never forget. In 2010, there were a total of 46 executions in the US, 44 by lethal injection and one each by electric chair and firing squad. Latest polls by The Gallup Organization show that 61% of Americans favored Capital Punishment in cases of murder while 35% opposed it. The opponents of death penalty opt for life in prison without parole as a better and more humane option than taking away the life of a human being. The Supreme Court of US essentially nullified the death penalty in 1972 and ordered the conversion of the death sentences of hundreds of death row inmates to life in prison. Nevertheless, a future ruling by Supreme Court in 1976 declared capital punishment to be a part of Constitution and therefore allowed states to reinstate it under certain circumstances. (Times, 2011) Hence, from 1976 to 2009 there have been roughly 1,160 executions in the US. China tops the list of most executions in one year, with nearly 1,700 executions in 2008 alone while Iran and Saudi Arabia followed by 346 and 102 executions each. United States is ranked 4th in 2008 with an estimated 37 executions. This number varies from year to year within the same range but opponents of capital punishment struggle to abolish execution from the legal proceedings of the courtââ¬â¢s verdict. This decreasi ng trend in the execution by lethal injection can be attributed to one prominent factor that is the shortage of one of the three drugs that is used in most lethal injections. This national shortage backed by reluctant European manufacturers has created a sense of disarray among several prison authorities who have run out of doses to carry out their pending executions. This has resulted in several delays as international groups and communities continue to persuade US government to completely abolish capital punishment
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
International trade Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 2
International trade - Essay Example History of Globalization: An Overview Economic historians have better approaches regarding the concept of globalization. According to Oââ¬â¢ Rourke and Williamson (1996: 499- 530), the world economic condition was well organized and exceptionally well integrated even by the standards of late 20th century. Next to it, world historians further elaborate that the phenomenon of globalization stretches back to quite a few centuries. According to a famous socialist and economic historian, Andre Gunder Frank (1998), ââ¬Å"there was a single global world economy with a worldwide division of labor and multilateral trade from 1500 onward.â⬠On the other hand, Jerry Bentley (1999: 5-9) argued that ââ¬Ësingle global economyââ¬â¢ even existed before 1500. ... concepts also match with the concept of Adam Smith who considered these two events as the most significant parts of recorded history that had strongly influenced the economy and society of the world (Tracy, 1990: 1- 13). However, the historian of modern period has diverse approach in this regard. For example, according to Menard (1991: 228- 75), the globalization boom appeared with transport revolution and before 1800; the overall world economy was badly integrated while Immanuwl Wallerstein considers that the European economy in sixteenth century brought forward the phenomenon of economic globalization that stood upon the mode of capitalist production (Wallerstein, 1974). He further believes that various countries like Russia, India, West Africa and the Ottoman Empire became the part of ââ¬Ëone global economyââ¬â¢ somewhere between 1750 and 1850. This was the time period when trade among these countries carried out in bulk. However, whatever the time period of globalization in actual; there are abundant of evidences that support that 19th century held a very huge globalization bang where international trade expanded all over the world. From above mentioned detail, it can be easily observed that the basic aim behind all the process of globalization was just to develop business operations worldwide. This was also to facilitate the global communication which is a result of advancements in technology and technical knowledge. The objective behind the whole process is just to provide a superior competitive situation to an organization with lesser possible operating costs in order to produce greater number of goods and services as well as consumers. In order to gain this approach, resources are diversified, new investment prospects are developed by opening new markets and
Monday, November 18, 2019
Abortion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words
Abortion - Essay Example These untruths have been widely perceived as facts. In addition, the Founding Fathers of this nation intended to shape not only the legal but the moral direction of American society as well when they drafted the Constitution, the document that defines the laws of the nation. If they were alive today, the Founders clearly would be against the killing of innocent victims for reasons of convenience. There is little freedom of choice for women who are experiencing an unwanted pregnancy. The women themselves usually wish to bring their baby to full term. Other powerful influences in her life such as husbands/boyfriends, parents and friends are generally the forces that exact pressures on her to terminate the pregnancy. ââ¬Å"Eight out of 10 women surveyed after abortion said they would have given birth if theyââ¬â¢d had support and encouragement from family and friendsâ⬠(Reardon, 2002). Itââ¬â¢s the abortion that, in many cases, is unwanted by the woman, not the baby. Most often, the father of the child, not wishing to accept responsibility, may beg or even threaten a woman until she agrees to the abortion. ââ¬Å"In 95 percent of all cases the male partner played a central role in the decisionâ⬠(Zimmerman, 1977). This and other studies have illustrated clearly that most women decide against their own conscience. Legal abortion enables fathers to force their will on mothers. Some women resort to abortion in desperation because they fear continued abuse. That fear is substantiated as women who refuse to abort have been subjected to serious abuses which have escalated to murder if the women still persists in her refusal. Murder is the leading cause of death for pregnant women and for what other motive could there be? ââ¬Å"Sixty-four percent of women surveyed report being pressured by others into unwanted abortionsâ⬠(Reardon, 1992). à à Immediately following an abortion, the one(s)
Friday, November 15, 2019
Green Postcolonial Reading in Kocharethi
Green Postcolonial Reading in Kocharethi The present paper proceeds from the conviction that postcolonialism and ecocriticism have a great deal to gain from one another. It tries to spell out some of the obvious differences between the two critical schools, search for grounds that allow a productive overlap between them and define green postcolonialism. The paper then attempts a comparative green postcolonial reading of the first novel in Malayalam by an Adivasi/tribal, namely Narayans Kocharethi (1998) and Mother Forest (2004) the autobiography of the Adivasi/tribal activist, C.K. Janu. This juxtaposition raises vital questions regarding the plight of Keralas (the southernmost state of India) indigenous people in a postcolonial nation. The legacy of colonial modernity, language, education, nationalism, gendered subalternity, cultural history and ecopolitics is examined within the framework of green postcolonialism, thereby indicating the moral urgency for a fruitful alliance between the two critical schools of postcolonial ism and ecocriticism to envision an alternative future. The changes associated with globalization have led to the rapid extension and intensification of capital alongwith an acceleration of the destruction of the environment and a growing gap between the rich and the poor. This has had a significant impact on the terrain in which postcolonialism and ecocriticism operate.While both ecocriticism and postcolonialism are committed to locating the text in the world, they conceive of both world and text in radically different ways. In keeping with a commitment to recognize the land as more than a scape, but a picture and a story in which humans participate along with other life forms, ecocritical conceptions of the world tend to privilege non-urban settings, in which those other life forms predominate. Postcolonial criticism tends to envision the world through urban eyes; an obvious historical explanation being the arrival of Third world intellectuals in the metropolitan centres of the First World. Postcolonial theory has frequently asserted the value of positionality in order to foreground the politics of discursive authority. Positionality has generally been thought to include race, gender, sexuality, and class but has more recently come to include geographical and biotic space. In an era of increasing ecological degradation, the mutually constitutive relationship between social inequity and environmental problems has become more stark and vivid. If pressing environmental crises have spurred the development of environmental criticism in literary studies, the increasing awareness of how such crises have been and will continue to disproportionally impact the vulnerable populations of the postcolonial world have made the nexus of postcolonialism and ecocriticism a particularly urgent area of study. Yet, this intersection is fraught with danger. Ecocriticism has been developed primarily from the perspective of Western critics using Anglo-American literature and has often worked from assumptions, common in Western environmental movements, which are extremely problematic in postcolonial contexts. Different conceptualizations of individual places extend to different ways of conceiving the relationship between the local and the global. While stressing the importance of local place, ecocriticism gains its global focus by encompassing the very earth it studies. Postcolonialism also recognizes an interplay between the local and the global, but in a more cautious, indirect way. Wary of the ideological and material implications of globalizing impulses, postcolonialism admits the force of the global in a way that explicitly prohibits its recuperation into a formula that confirms the place of the individual in a universal order, either of nature or culture. The global and the local come together, not by the way of simple synecdoche, or the relationship between macrocosm and microcosm, but in a way such that each interrupts and distorts the other, thereby refusing the possibility of concrete platial or abstract global belonging (OBrien 142). Rob Nixon points out four main schisms between the dominant concerns of postcolonialists and ecocritics. First, postcolonialists have tended to foreground hybridity and cross-culturation. Ecocritics on the other hand, have historically been drawn more to discourses of purity: virgin wilderness and the preservation of uncorrupted last great places. Second, postcolonial writing and criticism largely concern themselves with displacement, while environmental literary studies has tended to give priority to the literature of place. Third , and relatedly, postcolonial studies has tended to favour the cosmopolitan and the transnational. Postcolonialists are typically critical of nationalism, whereas the canons of environmental literature and criticism have developed within a national (and often nationalistic) American framework. Fourth, postcolonialism has devoted considerable attention to excavating or reimagining the marginalized past: history from below and border histories, often along t ransnational axes of migrant memory. By contrast, within much environmental literature and criticism, something different happens to history. It is often repressed or subordinated to the pursuit of timeless, solitary moments of communion with nature (235). Attempts to distinguish between postcolonialism and ecocriticim are always likely to be perilous; and it is against this uncertain historical background that green postcolonialism has made its recent entrance into the critical -theoretical fray. What is green postcolonialism? Graham Huggan and Helen Tiffin provisionally define the field in terms of those forms of environmentally oriented postcolonial criticism which insist on the factoring of cultural difference into both historical and contemporary ecological and bioethical debates (9). Differentiated experiences of colonialism provide the main historical link here. They also point out a continuing environmentalist insufficiency of postcolonial literary and cultural texts which also works the other way round with postcolonial ecocriticism serving to highlight the work of non-European authors or critiquing the Euro-American biases of certain versions of environmentalist thought (9). Both fields articulate historically situated critiques of capitalist ideologies of development. They also combine a political concern for the abuses of authority with an ethical commitment to improving the conditions of the oppressed. Green postcolonialism brings out a truism that clearly applies to, but is not always clearly stated in, the different strands of both postcolonialism and ecocriticism: no social justice without environmental justice; and without social justice-for all ecological beings-no justice at all. Postcolonial criticism, despite what might still be seen as an unduly anthropocentric bias, offers a valuable corrective to a variety of universalist ecological claims-the unexamined claim of equivalence among all ecological beings, irrespective of material circumstances and the peremptory conviction, itself historically conditioned, that global ethical considerations should override local cultural concerns (Huggan 720). Subaltern Studies as history from the lower rungs of society is marked by a freedom from the restrictions imposed by the nation state. Gramsci speaks of the subalterns incapability to think of the nation. Once it becomes possible for the subaltern to imagine the state, he transcends the conditions of subalternity. A consciousness of subject positions and voices can re-empower languages, deconstruct histories, and create new texts of more dense dialogical accomplishment. Part of the project of postcolonial theory would be to push literary texts into this shifting arena of discursiveness, thus enabling new stands of counter narratives and counter contexts to shape themselves and complicate binarist histories. But polysemic, anticolonial subjectivities and their energies, which defy the definitions of the colonizer, are muted and translated into a monolithic national identity, articulated in the rhetoric of Nationalism in Kocharethi, a Malayalam novel on the Malayaraya tribe by Narayan (1998). The tribals of Kerala are never identified as Malayalis. Unique in itself-their lifestyles and languages are significantly different from that of the dominant mainstream. Narayans Kocharethi, the first novel in Malayalam by an Adivasi, is an historical intervention where, far from being the objects of history, the Adivasis now become its new subjects. Narayan,himself a Malayaraya, does not attempt to depict the historical or mythical spheres of the tribal experience. Instead, he unravels, fifty or sixty years entwined with his own life situations. He deftly challenges the incorrect representations of the Adivasis in contemporary cinema, television and publications. The life described in the novel, with all rituals, ceremonies, customs, faith, institutions of marriage, food, clothing and shelter, recall the period prior to the Renaissance in Kerala. Mans raw encounter with the forces of nature is vividly portrayed. The forest is not only life-generating but also life-consuming. Kocharethi is a brilliant account of the life and nature of the Malayaraya tribe. Marriages occurred between cousins. Women always carried sickles and wre unafraid to kill anyone who molested them. If unable to do that, the very same sickle ended their lives. They were in charge of their sexuality. The arrival of colonial modernity converted forests into reserved forests and plantations. Destruction of the old order,and the onset of a new one created identity crises. Kochuraman, the medicine-man, had always used animal fat. But he later resorts to soda-water and moves to the medical college for treatment. The nuances of this transition in the life of the Malayaraya tribe is poignantly captured by Narayan. The feudal landlord, the king and the British Raj are symbols of the various stages of this transition. The oppressive power of nascent laws and authority perplex and terrify the tribals. Apart from nature, humans also torture them. The Malayarayas were cheated in prices and weights of their forest products when the currencies and measures changed into the British system. This cancerous exploitation by civil society forced them to search for education. Kochupillai the teacher leads them into the light of letters. The dream of a government job, migration into the city, love-marriages all follow. Christian proselytisations also occur, creating a hybid of New Christians- always prefixed by the term arayan. Kocharethi takes place at the fag end of this phase, in the early half of the twentieth century. It encloses a space of transition from the colonial to the post colonial within the imagined boundaries of the nation state. Thus, situated in a later milieu of Indian history, Kocharethi in a way addresses the questions of acculturation and education of the subaltern, in short of the subalterns translation as appropriation. Education as a necessary ploy for moulding homogenous identities came packaged with the label promising equality and liberty. But the subaltern aspires for education in order to be liberated from the land and its woes. Kocharethi is filled with the new subaltern dream of a government job. Narayan makes a feeble attempt to parody this process of modernizing the tribal. But the novel fails in demarcating a political position opposing colonial modernity (Pillai par13). Kocharethi reveals the slow acculturation of the native into the economy, culture and politics of the nation state. The native in Kocharethi falls prey to the project of colonial modernity, which the new Indian state sets out to continue in order to prove its capability to self-rule. Kocharethi depicts the plight of the native subaltern caught in the regulative politics of the infallible nation state, and betrayed by the promise of the participatory citizenship, struggling to find voice amidst the homogenized Babel of nationalist discourses. State hegemony, nationalist ideology, dominant language and cultural interpellation all collude to construct the native of Kocharethi as a passive subject (Pillai par16). Kocharethi embraces and enhances the task of colonial modernity to instill middle class values and bourgeois virtues into the gendered nationalsubaltern subject. The new woman, conscious of her identity, is at the same time out of her roots. As Parvathy, the educated subaltern migrates to the city, the narrative, in an allegorical twist leaves Kochuraman and Kunjipennu stranded in a government hospital, at the mercy of state welfare aids. Thus one sees the articulation of gender being translated into a different idiom by the interventions of the modern state. Narayan assumes a nationalist identity by which he sees education of subaltern women as necessary but not at the cost of losing the essence of their femininity and culture. The women of Kocharethi have no role in the struggle for independence. As Parvathy inhabits the secure space of her home, Madhavan and his comrades go out into the public domain to free the nation, thus lending their subaltern identities to structure the hege mony of a patriarchal nationalist culture. Meena T. Pillai points out that a close reading of Kocharethi reveals the nuances through which gender and ethic relations become inextricably linked to the formation of the Indian state(par 22). The novel provides a framework to picture the formation of India as a sovereign, socialist, democratic, republic, where native and gender identities are subsumed and tokenized to strengthen the unifying logic of the nation. Language is a fundamental site of struggle in subaltern discourses resisting translation, because colonization begins in language. The evident pull towards colonial modernity and nationalist themes in Kocharethi is found in its language too, which is very near to standard Malayalam, the disjunctions being minimal. There is no attempt to capture the linguistic and cultural ethos of the language of the Malayaraya tribe (Pillai par 23). The subaltern community in Kocharethi, having lost its language, having been translated and co-opted into the dominant discourse, has also lost the power to name. Parvathi, Madhavan, Narayanan all names of upper caste Hindu gods, speak of the silencing a culture. A community devoid of its language is a community devoid of dignity. Kocharethi is a giving in, a passive surrender to the larger history of the nation state(Pillai par 26). In postcolonial parlance to have a history is to have a legitimate existence but the text denies itself in this legitimacy of being, in Kocharethi the subaltern is deftly muted by the dominant discourse. The discourse of the colonial modernity and the nation state that one finds in Kocharethi co-opts the native and re-fashions him/her according to the norms of the dominant culture. Subaltern translations of the lingo of the nation and nationalism thus become acts of cultural displacement. Claiming the nation in the language also means being claimed by the nation. no one knows the forest like we do, the forest is mother to us, more than a mother because she never abandons us (Bhaskaran 5). The Life Story of C.K. Janu, is an oral life history, transmitted through a mediator, and illustrates the efforts of the non-literate or non-literary to tell her story. This text provides an opportunity to explore how a woman views herself and how her self-perceptions have in turn affected the choices she has made in her life. Janu, is a tribal activist who wages bitter struggles against the government for the land rights of tribal groups. She received no formal education but became actively involved in the literacy campaign in Kerala and learned to read and write, proving herself to be a natural leader. Her work focuses on the promotion and defense of human rights, peace activism, and the demands of the landless tribal people of Kerala. She was part of the three-member delegation from India on a European tour organized by the Global Action Group, and the lone representative from India at conference in Geneva organized by the United Nations in (1999), as well as an active participant in the second Global Action Group conference held at Bangalore in 2000. By sharing her own vision of survival and ideas on the strategies to achieve positive development, she is serving as a voice for her community which has been silenced for centuries. In her autobiographical narration, Janu gives a passionate account of her struggle to get back the lands of which they were dispossessed. Without any means of earning a proper livelihood, her people fear that they risk losing their identity also. The forest meant everything to the tribal groups. Janu speaks of her childhood and her life in the forest, then as a maid in a teachers home .Her involvement with the literacy programme and other social activities lead to her political awakening. She became a worker for the communist party, but was soon disillusioned by the partys hidden agendas and attitude towards her community. She is well aware of the fact that forest flower beetles cannot argue with city microphones that make great noise, but she will fight unto death for the restoration of the rights of her people. Her narration is an eloquent testimonial to her convictions and courage in mobilizing a protest against the government to restore the alienated land to the tribal people, enabling them to regain their sense of identity. The first part of the book deals more with her inner world and conjures before us a holistic world view where nature and human commingle. The sights of the forest like, the hills catching fire, rains falling like a woman with her hair -shorn, the wild water all blood-red gushing angrily(2), the depth and beauty of darkness and moonlight, flowers blossoming are all enthralling. But the sights of civilzation like Vellamunda with unfamiliar pathways strange hills and little streams. and fields with strange looking ridges that did not look like ours(7) are disturbing, The forest is never quiet. Streams are always gushing, the woods mumble, winds howl, frogs croak and creatures cry. The tribal instruments chini and thudi create their own distinctive notes. But civil society has its radios, motor pumps, loudspeakers and school children to offset this harmony. The smell of virgin earth coupled with that of hunger dominates the forest. Janu remembers vividly that when her mother used to come and visit her in Vellamunda she brought the smell of our huts with her(12) The earth has different smells in different seasons(13) and gives out its scent only when worked upon. Again culture with its chemicals, church fumes, clothes and vehicles is nauseating. More than thirty different kinds of plants, crops and fruits are mentioned. Rice, kappa, chena, kachil, karappayam, mothangappayam, honey, tubers, banana are some of them.Insects, fish, crabs, snakes, elephants, pigs, all give company. The lifestyle described is always full of activity. Rest seems to be unknown. The very first paragraph itself describes around twenty different activities. Here is a single sentence describing work, only after sowing germinating tilling transplanting weeding watering standing guard reaping carrying threshing and making mounds of grain would the jenmi make his appearance(15). The sentences in the first chapter do not start with capitals. Upper cases appear only when an item from civil society is mentioned. For example:Dhotis and Shirts (5) Even the i is in the lower casea true technique indicating holism and dwarfing anthropocentrism. Commas are absent between varied items signifying that dualities are insignificant as in carrying dung to the fields digging up the soil with spades sowing pulling out the seedlings transplanting them weeding watering reaping carrying the sheaves of corn and such (1). Here language does not merely reflect reality but also actively creates it. Lives are strongly interlinked with Nature, the earth and the trees. There was no formal educational system, the forest was everythingguide, guardian and philosopher. Slowly, there came people to take the children to tribal hostels. Janus sister was one to face a similar fate. The conditions of these residential schools and hostels were terrible. They were unclean and lacked buildings, water and electricity. There were no proper toilets or bathrooms. Food and uniforms were rarities. Seeping sewage water invited diseases. The government never cared for the Adivasi children. The narration may be in a prelapsarian tongue very different from what academic establishments expect for a life narration. Such life narrations may be hard to identify with, for those who have not suffered (Menon par 16). Janus autobiographical narration, presented as an extended conversation with an editor, conveys her lack of compromise in her assertions. The shifts in tone, pauses or changes in diction reflect her refusal to erase the inevitable gaps and fissures of the actual narrative events. She is not positioned as a cultural icon, but as an ordinary individual with strong communal feelings (Menon par17). This narration, boldly resists taken for granted attitudes towards these neglected segments of the population and speak for them. Thus, through the narration an effort to locate themselves as a subject, leaving behind the object status to which cultural identities have confined them is made. This text illustrates the need for a revisionary method of reading the discourses of people regarded as marginal to the dominant literary tradition. It also prompts one to re assess the psychological simplicity attributed to marginalized groups. The autobiographical narration of Janu is not merely a retrospective summation of past events and experiences. She genuinely wishes to change the state of affairs in the community to which she belongs. Janu is also aware of her limitations in face of the power plays of a manipulative society. Her narration ends with a desire to know herself more. She wishes to position herself in a more liberated future, not only for her own individual benefit but for the welfare of her community as a whole. The story of Janu acknowledges that each aspect of reality is gendered. She often reminds the readers that within womens experiences there are variety of subject positions and voices to be heard and represented. Hers is a humble attempt to evolve a subaltern essence. It brings an anonymous collectivity to the front of the stage, with great courage, no longer assuming the role assigned to them but asserting their own right to a voice and a part in the action,which deviates from a fixed object position which is culturally intelligible, purposefully locating themselves as subjects and revolutionizing earlier autobiographical writing norms, demanding attention and respect. Development paradigms and development goals which lead to the management of natural resources without the participation and consent of the natural resource communities have to be vehemently criticised. Mainstream right / left political parties do not address the concerns of the communities facing social and market exclusions by neoliberal economic policies. Thus, a subaltern ecopolitics wakes up in its stead. The Adivasi is represented as one who is unable to speak and who is to be benevolently rehabilitated, protected, developed and slowly integrated into civil society. This representation as a people without voice silences them. Hence, if an Adivasi like Janu speaks, it cannot be her voice but someone elses from outside! Orientalist stereotyping on one had portrays them as innocent, naive, nature loving, uncorrupted by modernity and on the other hand as immoral, drunkards and wretched living beings. The Adivasi is thus an eternal other, defenselessly marginalized and unrepresentabl e. The monolithic representation of Adivasis distort their plurality and prevent the expression of their anxieties. While migrant land encroachments are natural and legitimised, the Adivasi struggle becomes unnatural and criminal. Janu is a symbol that defies conventional right/left binaries. For her, the personal indeed becomes the political. No political history of Kerala can now be written bypassing her. She disturbs us. Nature cannot be mystically revered when Dalits and Adivasis are shot dead, nor can one be slaves to revolutionary principles that hide casteist ecological implications. It is only Janus realm of Adivasi/Dalit/Green/Feminist politics that can problematize caste, tribe, gender, class and ecological parameters. She has helped redefine the concept of an Adivasi from simple, helpless, illiterate, and uncivilised into one ready to struggle for the basic rights to live. Thus, reading Kocharethi and Mother Forest within a green postcolanial framework raises a lot of vital questions regarding the plight of Keralas indigenous people in a postcolonial nation. It also indicates the moral urgency for a fruitful alliance between the two critical schools of postcolonialism and ecocriticism to envision an alternative future.
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
Catabolic Relationships Essay example -- Literary Analysis, Bill Boast
As seen in many stories throughout history, love and relationships have perpetually been complicated. The themes of tragic sacrifices in the relationships of Marc Antony and Cleopatra, King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson, and Layla and Majnun are continued in modern literature. Sacrifice is a theme that has, and forever will be prevalent in literature because it is an admirable deed, yet requires a perfect balance. Careful analysis of the relationships in the post-modern short stories Coda by Will Boast, How We Handle Pain by Evan James Roskos, and Okeechobee by Claudia Zuluaga, produces a rich understanding of the universal truth that relationships require not just sacrifice, but harmonious immolation. When introduced in Will Boastââ¬â¢s short story, Coda, Tim and Kateââ¬â¢s relationship has already failed. The couple dated for years and got engaged, but eventually called off the engagement. As the story progresses, Tim reflects on both the merit of the relationship and the cause of its failure. After breaking into Kateââ¬â¢s apartment, Tim searches for and finds his old engagement ring. He gazes at the gold symbol of unending love, and then sees a picture of him and Kate beside it. ââ¬Å"I was looking straight into the camera, but Kate was turned to me with a shy smile on her face. My favorite picture of her. You could see she was in loveâ⬠(Boast 4). Even after six months of separation, Tim thirsts for his lost love. Though he recognizes the chaotic, uncooperative environment, in which the relationship was nourished. Kate is a lawyer and Tim is a musician, leading them to live, ââ¬Å"disjointed lives, but for a long time that didnââ¬â¢t matter. Kate would leave the apartment at seven every morning, eager to make an impression at her new practice. At noo... ...ely needed to accept her actions and participate in sacrifice by giving back. Indeed, love is often described as sacrifice, but a more fitting definition is unmistakably, a balance of sacrifice. In these short stories, the common failure of a relationship, due to the lack of sacrifice, the common unhappiness, as a result of too much (or undesired) sacrifice, and the common unworthy attitude and refusal to sacrifice, are all exemplified. In a relationship, the idea is that two become one -thus, requiring some surrender- but the two must not forget their former identities. Truly, for a successful relationship, sacrificial equilibrium must be found; for at equilibrium, the reactants and the product are able to coexist. Each person must give up parts of their former self for the relationship to properly function, but oneââ¬â¢s own identity must not be completely forgone.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)