French Oral Essays - Bref, Hollywood Girls, , Term Papers

French Oral Bonjour, aujourd'hui je vais parler de la ma vie et moi. J'ai un fr?re et une s?ur. J'obtiens le long tr?s bien avec ma s?ur qu'elle est brillante! J'ai plaisir l'?tude; mon sujet de favori ? l'?cole est des maths et GNVQ IL. J'aime les deux sujets, comme je les comprends tr?s bien. ? l'avenir je voudrais avoir un travail de bureau, li? au march? des actions. Apr?s que mon GCSES je volont? si tout va bien haut assez de cat?gories ? aller ? l'universit?. Je voudrais faire un Un-niveau dans les maths et un GNVQ avanc? dans les affaires et ELLES. J'esp?re ?galement aller ? l'universit?. Dans mon temps disponible, j'ai plaisir ? ?couter la musique, les achats et sortir avec mes amis. J'ai un petit ami et il habite ? Londres est. Ainsi elle est parfois un peu une lutte pour le voir. Il a des ans de seize et est occup? ? ?tudier dur pour son GCSES. J'aime ?galement surfer la musique Internet et t?l?chargeant pour ?couter, plut?t que de l'acheter, car je puis entendre les derni?res nouvelle s pistes des USA qui ne sont pas dehors ici encore. J'habite dans Kingsbury, une ville ? Londres du Nord-ouest; J'ai v?cu ici pendant environ cinq ann?es. J'ai une maison ? quatre chambres, avec deux salles de bains, dont un est un ensuite, un jardin, pi?ce dinante, cuisine, garage et une salle vivante. J'aime ma maison, comme elle a ?t? nouvellement construite, ainsi tout est tout ? fait moderne. Ma pi?ce a ?t? d?cor?e d'une configuration de marguerite. C'est ma couleur de favori, bleue. Dans ma vieille maison, j'avais l'habitude de partager une salle avec ma s?ur, maintenant j'ai ma propre pi?ce.

Organizational Learning Success

Organizational Learning Success Introduction Many scholars have defined organizational learning while considering key areas such as knowledge creation, transfer and behavioral change or adjustment. A widely accepted definition is that organizational learning is an incessant process of knowledge creation and acquisition as well as transferring the same knowledge with an effect of causing behavioral modification.Advertising We will write a custom critical writing sample on Organizational Learning Success specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The end result is that there shall be a display of a different knowledge as well as possibility of resulting to a product which is highly valued (Nielson, 1997, p. 2).  Focus has for a long time been given to the knowledge transfer flow from the highly developed and industrial western world. To the contrary, the Asian part of the world, which is a catch up region in technology and economical progress, has shown great progress drawing attention from other parts of the world. It has been observed that these regions Especially, China has shown great economic progress not necessarily by adopting the learning experience of the western parts of the World but by employing and following other means. As a result there has been a new focus on the learning and management systems that are used in this part of the world. Objectives The objectives of the project is examine critically the analyze any differences between the learning process of the western world that has traditionally been used and other knowledge transfer from other parts of the non-western world, with China and its Chinese-firms both in China as a republic and its investments in other neighboring nations such as Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong. The main purpose of the project is to clearly provide information that will help investors with an intention of establishing and running successful business operations in that region. The managers are supposed to use this information to come up with organizational learning strategies that will focus on incorporating the local staff, thus creating feasibility in their business operations in this region. Literature Review Because of the success in development in the Asian region, there has been a keen interest from investment non-western investors focusing the strategies used by china in its operations. The observation has shown that these nations have progressed successfully economically for the last thirty years, despite the fact that an economic downturn hit the region. The progress did not come with simplicity of a natural happening, but as a response from policy makers in the region to consider a re-assessment of developmental strategies for the region while borrowing so much to the organizational learning and systems of learning employed in china and its firms in Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong. Dierkes et al, (2003. P. 716) asserted that these firms have got a high level of resilience as op posed to their main export competitors like Japan.Advertising Looking for critical writing on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Due to resilience, the Chinese firms have shown an admirable level/degree of corporate flexibility and adoptability cushioning them against market fluctuations (Wolf, 2000, P. 8)  Scholars’ main concerns has been analysis of the viability of these Chinese and Chinese based firms to combat with social structural and frequent economic downturns in the region. Do these firms really have a competitive edge, with a generally accepted fact that they are small and medium sized firms? Can a focus be given to them shifting from the traditional western based learning and management systems? (Dierkes et al, 2003, p. 716). There is a new focus shift from the Large Firms to small and medium sized ones on Market. Characteristics of Chinese Based Firms Presently, Chinese based f irms are found in Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong. The firms are small and medium sized (Yeung et al. 2011, p. 34. In addition, these firms do not innovate in the processes of production but they imitate and use adoptive methods to compete in the market. As a result, they are characterized with a lack of significant access to advanced technologies and markets enjoyed by western based systems of Europe, Japan and USA (Dierkes et al, 2003, p. 716). Furthermore, the firms do not invest to a full extent in the field of research and development as do their highly competitive neighbors like Japan, instead most of their competitive edge comes from producing at live cycle phases of the products, although Jacobson Robertson point out that RD adopting has been proved that it has little technological revolution (2011, p. 274-275). Learning strategies and processes If these firms are small and medium in size, the biggest puzzle is then how do they gain entry to the competitive market and techn ology? They use adoptive and imitational methods to get the access (Yu, 2007). This has given them a competitive edge against the highly developed nations. The perspective is that these firms are late comers both in technology and to the markets. Chinese based firms create imitation and innovation through learning to learn the processes used by the western systems (Watkins Ehst, 2008, P. 4). Learning in networks Firms in these Chinese business regions of Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong create a network both locally and internationally with other established western systems. Since the firms are not innovative in nature, and owing to the fact that they are late comers to the technology and markets, they are subcontracted by large firms belonging to highly developed western systems to carry out production of high end goods. Through such contracts, Chinese firms and their allies acquire insights into the technology used its competitors, makes strategies to imitate and develop that tech nology to produce relatively high end goods for the market. Learning in this manner has the advantages of being quick and adoptive. This has highly enhanced their process of knowledge transfer, acquisition and utilization.Advertising We will write a custom critical writing sample on Organizational Learning Success specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Inter-firm cooperation The firms in this region of the world being late comers to the technological world of production strive to make their products better through knowledge accumulation and internalization leading to knowledge of producing goods already on market. (Dierkes et al. 2003, p.721). There exist also strategic alliances. Strategic alliances The alliances have a specific target. The point of interest is that they are brand specific, that is, big name brands. It seems that they understood the effective computational edge both technologically and marketwise these brand names pose to them. The best way to compete therefore was to form alliances, not only alliances but strategic alliances so that they are subcontracted to produce on behalf of the big-name brands. This is evident in the Chinese mobile phone industry (Cheung, 2005, p. 267) Forming strategic alliances is also another learning strategy employed by Chinese firms as their Learning process. They target brand name leaders of through formation of joint ventures with these innovative Firms. Their governments also give them some support. Government support One way of fostering organizational learning is through support from a government. Asian economies of Taiwan and Singapore have experienced growth, due to the governments’ creation of a supportive environment, especially to human resources.  Human resource is the learning part, thus its availability and skill level impacts learning positively. It is also characteristic of the Governments in these regions to provide and create favorable organizat ional learning conditions through provision of basic human resource training, provision and spreading required production and marketing knowledge and giving subsides to research and development targeting majorly, strategic industries and Firms for knowledge transfer. Despite this, these firms still face some barriers to organizational learning. Available techniques of learning in the region Subcontracting versus design/development and marketing/distribution They all lead to organizational learning except that design and development is usually employed by western based systems. The most available is subcontracting where the goods are produced based on an original-equipment license. An advantage of subcontracting is that it is cost effective, facilitates access to cheap labor and reduces unfair market competitions as opposed to design and development.Advertising Looking for critical writing on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Research and development versus imitation Research and development is geared to knowledge creation by taking a product through its life cycle. Learning can also be achieved through imitation of a product which is already at its life cycle stage. Although both lead to learning in an organization, RD takes a long time and therefore is not entirely suitable for catch up economies in Asia. Diffusion of technology versus human resource training Diffusion of technology involves the western systems that transfer knowledge to non-western systems like china and its firms through global networks. On the other hand, another available technique applicable in the region is creation of knowledge through training to create skilled human resource, in the field of foreign technology and market trends. The notable difference between the two is that human resource training lacks that ability to expose a learning organization to a hands-on experience in the long short term. Diffusion on the other hand, lacks active learning process of the local firms. Types or organizations found in the region As mentioned earlier, the firms based in china and its foreign establishments are small and medium sized enterprises. This does not entirely exclude the large firms. Small and medium scale firms are the most developed, toy firms, electronics, textiles and garments and foot ware. Barriers to organizational learning in the Chinese based firms Chinese enterprises are still in the catch up stages. Catch up strategy by imitation is an entirely favorable system particularly when the concern is directed to products that require advanced technology throughout their production. This is seen in the production of high end electronic good like computers and the software development industries, which require a specific path to complete the process of production. In this case, catch up Chinese firms have to reassess their crash research and development programs are known to lack the capability to duplica te a successful technology (Cheung, 2005, p.267).These firms have are vulnerable to under financing due to lack of technological underdevelopment thus they are exposed market fluctuations as compared to large enterprises found in Japan and South Korea. On the overseas perspective, Chinese firms In Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore lack access to advanced technology used by large western enterprises, as well as large advanced markets of enjoyed by the western based models of organizational learning. Conclusion It can be concluded that the success of Chinese firms lies in their resiliency to market fluctuations and their flexibility to adopt new technologies and market conquest by adopting imitational strategies as well as creation of networks both globally and locally with the advanced systems of the western world. Despite their success, they should review their research and development strategies for high end goods like computers and computer programs which require long term research and development goals for duplication of a successful technology. Also, linkage creation with firms that already have a firm foothold in the global economy should be nurtured since it creates an immediate oversight into global market paces and trends, as well as technology advancement. Besides, their strategies should be geared towards capacity building to exploit knowledge emerging opportunities available in these linkages. Reference List Cheung, C., 2005. Technology transfer and competition: The Mobile Handset Industry in post-WTO. Hamburg: Gabler Verlag. Dierkes, et al., 2003. Handbook of Organizational Learning Knowledge. NY: Oxford Publishers. Jacobson, D Robertson, L, 2011. Knowledge transfer and technology diffusion. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing limited. Neilson, R., 1997. Collaborative Technologies and Organizational Learning. London Idea Group Inc. Watkins, A.J. Ehst, M., 2008. Science and technology and innovation: capacity building for sustainable growth and pov erty reduction. Washington DC: World Bank Publications. Wolf, C., 2000. Asian Economic Trends and their Security Implications. Arlington: Rand Corporation. Yeung, et al., 2011. The Globalization of Chinese Companies: Strategies for Conquering International Markets. Singapore: John Wiley Sons. Yu, F.T., 2007. Taiwans economic transformation in evolutionary perspective: Entrepreneurship, innovation systems and government. NY: Nova Publishers.

Passive Consumerism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Passive Consumerism - Essay Example Immediately, they know which fashions are in and which are out. They see the colours and trends on splashy, popular websites. They find out very quickly what they should be wearing and what they shouldn't. A time-honoured tradition used by the fashion industry to set trends and market their designs has been to work with famous people to model their clothes. With the advent of such shows as MTV and other music shows, the multiplicity of award shows, the public is barraged with a plethora of designs to choose from. However, the ultimate message from the fashion industry is; "if a famous person wears this - it must be cool and therefore you must have it too!" As author, Anne Paxton1 writes in a savvy Internet article; "Everyone from Gloria Swanson and Marilyn Monroe, to Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly have helped fashion influence the public, but the media craze over celebrities is hotter than ever before. TV and movies have taken center stage when it comes to both entertainment and fashion. Magazines spend endless ink on what Madonna and Jennifer Lopez wear to award shows." Paxton even suggests that this marketing strategy may well end the need for models to strut their stuff on the catw alks. This strategy proves to be a win-win situation for both the fashion industry and celebrities as they cash in on the free items that various designers throw their way. Another specific strategy used by the fashion industry is online advertising. The use of the Internet involves several strategies which include: creating an online version of a print magazine, banner ads (ads placed on specific sites for greater exposure) and well-placed photographs and articles about the fashion industry. According to an industry report on the Internet and marketing strategies by women's magazines, "The Internet has become a billon-dollar business.." This article also reports that according to Nielsen Net Ratings, more American women use the Internet than men at a rate of 51% - 49%. It goes on to say; "Women online readers in the United States tend to visit general interest sites on the Internet, such as shopping sites, beauty sites, and health sites. Therefore, magazines discovered the Internet several years ago as another method to better serve the customer since magazines. ' By targeting the large numbers of women who regularly participate in online activity, fa shion magazines that maintain an Internet presence provide themselves with continuous, free advertising. It is an extremely effectively strategy to " [] offer other information, such as press releases or news that relates to the company or to their industry, or provide information about special events that relate to the company to their industry." In addition to using the Internet and celebrity culture as a marketing strategy, the fashion industry also creates markets by following sociological. One current trend that is strongly influencing the fashion industry is the notion that 'plus-size women' are a huge, new market for them. According to an industry analysis by UK expert, Marcella Marcheso2 the plus size market is growing in the fashion industry although until recently it was a bit of an afterthought. There was a limited range of available styles, and little to no trendy clothes. However, with the concerns over weight

Black-Figure Amphora with Scenes of Apollo Entertaining Dionysus and Research Paper

Black-Figure Amphora with Scenes of Apollo Entertaining Dionysus and Hermes, and Theseus Killing the Minotaur located at the Chr - Research Paper Example Apollo is standing between Hermes and Dionysus, who are seated in folding stools. Apollo is playing the kithara or the lyre in between the two. The lyre seems to be an award for musical competition. The artwork was made in Athens between 530-520 BC (Chrysler Museum Website). The arts are a result of Greek myths. The artworks are categorized under the Terracota Gift of the Mowbray Arch Society 2003. They are in the 18th floor room a & b. The art shows Hermes, who is also referred to as the messenger god having some wings attached to his shins. At the left, there is Dionysus seated, who is the fertility god. He also serves as the wine god. He has been saved as an infant by Hermes (Chrysler Museum Website). The other side of the arrangement is the Athenian hero known as Theseus. The hero is locked in a mortal combat with Minotaur. Minotaur is a beast that has the body of a human being, but the head of a bull. He looks very scary and monstrous. In addition, there are two maidens that are looking at Theseus. They are keen on what Theseus is doing: he is decapitating blood spurts and Minotaur from the neck of Minotaur. According to the existing Greek legend, Theseus, who is a son to King of Athens, Aegeus, had volunteered to be among the seven young me and maidens that were annually sent to the city of Athens to be used as Crete’s tribute and were to be sacrificed to the Minotaur. Theseus, instead of becoming a victim, killed the beast and ended up rescuing all his companions. The artist of the mentioned artworks applied Lysippides’ painter manner. The overall dimensions of the figures are 16.5 inch, which is an equivalent of 41.9 centimeters. The object number of the arts is 2003.18. The art gallery is 114 (Chrysler Museum Website). I chose the above artwork due to the thrilling and mythical story behind it. I am familiar with the story and choosing this artwork would actually provide me with more detailed information about it than what I already knew. Minos, the King hated the Athenians because they killed his son. In order to revenge, he ordered the sending of the Athenian youths to Crete to feed the Minotaur – the half bull and half man. He used to live in the labyrinth under the King’s palace. King Aegeus was very angry and sworn that he would go by himself and kill the Minotaur, however, his son, Thaseus went. The drama reached its peak when King Minos’ daughter, Ariadne, fell in love with Theseus and went ahead to help him in the fight. She sneaked past the several guards and gave Theseus a sword and a long ball of string. Theseus entered the maze, eventually loosing the string. He came to the Minotaur’s lair and had a ferocious and terrible battle with the monstrous Minotaur. He won the battle and the Minotaur died. Later, he found his way out the terrible maze by following the string trail (Connor 132). The above interesting Greek myth served as a motivation towards my desire to know more about the artwork related to it, hence the choice. Besides the narrative behind the artwork, the efficiency and the expertness of the creator of the artwork also played a big role as a factor that influenced my decision to choose this particular artwork a lot. The artist has used expressive lines in the creation of the photo. This is because the picture portrays, in a detailed manner, the intention, or the target of the artist who created it. In artwork, expressive lines serve the purpose of revealing or depicting the artist’

Ethics in Healthcare Settings SL1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Ethics in Healthcare Settings SL1 - Essay Example These dilemmas revolve around four principles on ethical theory: respect for autonomy, beneficence, justice and non-maleficence (Dunbar, 2003). This paper focuses on the ethical dilemmas that result from the need to observe the dictates of the principle of respect for autonomy. Bernhofer defines autonomy as â€Å"the right of individuals to make decisions regarding their own healthcare regardless of what others think of these decisions† (2011). This gives all patients the right to self determination regardless of their capacity, age or even imprisonment (Lo, 2009). It is the right of the patients to know, consider, refuse and request any form of care or treatment being offered. Therefore, this principle, also referred to as people’s self government argues for the capacity to make informed and un-coerced decisions by any rational individual. The evaluation of this principle elicits the debate on whether this conception accurately portrays the process of decision making in healthcare setting. The principle of autonomy could be infringed when the service provider dishonors the wish of a patient on the preferred treatment. It could also occur if information would be withheld for example on the pain involved with the employment of a particular treatment approach (Sutrop, 2011). Interestingly, (Bernhofer, 2011) notes that patients get better managed and become better satisfied with full extension of autonomy rights. The author gives the example of Patient Controlled Analgesia, PCA noting that adequate ordering of analgesics and proper programming of the pump for individual patients results in personal control over pain hence effectiveness of the analgesics. Nonetheless, there arise situations where strong reasons to act in particular manner get balanced by cogent counteractive arguments (Lo, 2009). Not always would experience, common sense, being good and having good intentions guarantee appropriate response to situations

Broken Windows Theory Analysis

Broken Windows Theory Analysis Assessing the theory of Broken Windows Wicked people exist. Nothing avails except to set them apart from innocent peopleWe have trifled with the wicked, made sport of the innocent, and encouraged the calculators. Justice suffers, and so do we all James Wilson The basic idea for the Broken Windows theory is that any kind of urban blight – a broken window, graffitied walls, rubbish on the streets, etc. – does no harm to a neighbourhood if it is immediately remedied. However, if left untended, it signifies a lack of care in the community, the kind of environment in which it is acceptable for residents to relinquish any notions of concern. And while the initial damage and disrepair is physical, the next stage is psychological. That is, if it becomes acceptable for people to litter and vandalise at will, why not walk around drunk, or beg for money, or mug others for it? Why not even kill for it? Why follow any kind of rules at all? In sum, the Broken Windows theory postulates that the smallest symptoms can lead to the greatest crimes. This paper will examine the effectiveness of this idea. The Broken Windows theory first became widely known in 1982, when James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling published an article in the Atlantic Monthly called Broken Windows: The Police and Neighborhood Safety. The article articulated the reasons why minor neighbourhood slights should not be ignored: A piece of property is abandoned, weeds grow up, a window is smashed. Adults stop scolding rowdy children; the children, emboldened, become more rowdy. Families move out, unattached adults move in. Teenagers gather in front of the corner store. The merchant asks them to move; they refuse. Fights occur. Litter accumulates. People start drinking in front of the grocery; in time, an inebriate slumps to the sidewalk and is allowed to sleep it off. Pedestrians are approached by panhandlers (Wilson and Kelling, 1982). On the surface, this idea, that small acts of antisocial behaviour can act as catalysts for others, and that a broken window sends a signal to criminals that it okay to break the law, seems perfectly reasonable and logical. The notion that once people begin disregarding the norms that keep order in a community, both order and community unravel, even follows the concept of entropy and the second law of thermodynamics (systems naturally progress from a state of order to disorder). And almost from its inception, the idea took hold. While the Wilson/Kelling article did the most to publicise the theory, there were some precedents, namely Philip Zimbardos 1969 experiment, in which he left two identical 1959 Oldsmobiles in different neighbourhoods, one near the Bronx campus of New York University and one near the Stanford University campus in Palo Alto, California. The license plates of both cars were removed and the hoods opened to provide the necessary releaser signals (Zimbardo, 1969). In the Bronx, within ten minutes, the car was vandalised, and by the end of the day was stripped bare. In Palo Alto, the car remained untouched for a week, until Zimbardo himself broke one of its windows with a sledgehammer, at which point others joined in. Within a few hours, the car was completely destroyed. (Gladwell, 1996). Zimbardos focus was on the psychological aspects of authority and anonymity, and his experiment aimed to understand what factors and to what extent human behaviour was governed by environmental and physiological stimuli, a process known as deindividuation: a series of antecedent social conditions lead to a change in perception of self and others, and thereby to a lowered threshold of normally restrained behavior (Zimbardo, 1969). Wilson and Kellings article, however, was more prescriptive, and was focused on applying the Broken Windows theory to law enforcement procedures. And it is in this way that politicians and police have regarded the theory over the past twenty-five years, paving the way for a slate of reforms aimed at promoting deterrence through arrests, imprisonment and harsh sentencing, with a heavy reliance on the criminal justice system to impart severe and swift penalties (Conklin, 1992). Within the article, the authors discuss the historical function of police work, which they describe as maintaining public order: From the earliest days of the nation, the police function was seen primarily as that of a night watchman: to maintain order against the chief threats to order – fire, wild animals, and disreputable behavior. Solving crimes was viewed not as a police responsibility but as a private one (Wilson and Kelling, 1982). However, this eventually changed, and detective work (solving crimes) took on a greater role, a shift that the authors feel should be reversed: A great deal was accomplished during this transition, as both police chiefs and outside experts emphasized the crime-fighting function in their plans, in the allocation of resources, and in deployment of personnel. The police may well have become better crime-fighters as a result. And doubtless they remained aware of their responsibility for order. But the link between order-maintenance and crime-prevention, so obvious to earlier generations, was forgotten (ibid). Another criticism felled by Wilson and Kelling was the lack of community policing, or the beat officer on foot, patrolling the neighbourhood. Instead, there had been a steady shift towards keeping the officers in their squad cards, in which case they were isolated, removed from the people of the neighbourhood and the life on the street, whereas what foot-patrol officers did was to elevate, to the extent that they could, the level of public order in these neighborhoods (ibid). In short, the officer on foot was not only more accessible, and thus a part of the community; he was better able to understand it and serve it. The majority of the theory, however, has to do with a new focus on smaller crimes – beggars, drunks, teenagers, litter, etc. – rather than big ones. These so-called gateway crimes are where the real offenses take root; eliminate these, and the major crimes will be stopped before they have a chance to foster and spread: The citizen who fears the ill-smelling drunk, the rowdy teenager, or the importuning beggar is not merely expressing his distaste for unseemly behavior; he is also giving voice to a bit of folk wisdom that happens to be a correct generalization – namely that serious street crime flourishes in areas in which disorderly behavior goes unchecked. The unchecked panhandler is, in effect, the first broken window (ibid). But does the theory work? As of yet, there has been no scientific evidence proving it does. Even Wilson himself a few years ago admitted: People have not understood that this was a speculation (Hurley, 2004). It should be noted that on the very first page of the Atlantic Monthly article, where the authors were giving a history of community policing in Newark, NJ, they mentioned a study by the Police Foundation that discovered that while foot patrol had not reduced crime rates, residents seemed to feel more secure than persons in other areas (Wilson and Kelling, 1982). On the surface, this seems pretty straightforward – because foot patrols did not lead to a drop in crime rates, they didnt do anything to make neighbourhoods safer. However, Wilson and Kelling use the residents testimony to argue that, in fact, the community is safer, because disorder itself is something to be feared: We understand what most often frightens people in public places. Many citizens, of course, are primarily frightened by crime, especially crime involving a sudden, violent attack by a stranger. This risk is very real, in Newark as in many large cities. But we tend to overlook another source of fearthe fear of being bothered by disorderly people (ibid). This is all very well and good, that people appreciate not having to deal with aggressive and disorderly people. But how then is safety being measured, if not by crime rates? The authors certainly arent implying that it can be measured by residents feelings of safety? Regardless, the rest of the article makes no mention of this issue, and concentrates primarily on perceived dangers (how to curb a communitys fears of being bothered by disorderly persons), rather than actual ones (curbing crime rates themselves). The theory had its first test in the early 90s, when the Mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani, implemented his own version of it to target the citys high crime rate. This didnt happen simply by chance; George Kelling was a senior fellow of the Manhattan Institute, and was one of Giulianis advisors (DePalma, 2002). The term that was used to describe the new initiative was the no tolerance policy. This phrase, along with another that soon followed (quality of life), acted as the cornerstones for Giulianis mayorship. He aimed to aggressively target even minor infractions (no tolerance) in order to clean up the city and make New York a safe place to live (improved quality of life). Police were given powers that they never before had, and were encouraged to hand out tickets and arrests for anything and everything. For the cops, Chief of Police William Bratton commented, they were a bonanza. Every arrest was like opening a box of Cracker Jacks. What kind of toy am I going to get? Got a gun? Got a knife? Got a warrant? Do we have a murderer here? Each cop wanted to be the one who came up with the big collar. It was exhilarating for the cops and demoralizing for the crooks (Bratton, 1998). In addition to the usual list of offenders – drunks, panhandlers, juvenile delinquents – were added jaywalkers and squeegee men, those homeless men and women who aggressively and without asking would clean a cars windshield while the driver was stuck in traffic, and then demand payment. The effect of the new procedures was instant and irrevocable: crime dropped to its lowest figures in four decades, and stayed there. At the present moment, New York City is the safest big city in America. However, whether this decline can solely or even partially be attributed to Broken Windows is up for debate. At the same time the police were implementing harsh no tolerance crackdowns, the crack cocaine market bottomed out, which resulted in less drug deals, fewer addicts on the street and a reduction in violent turf wars, all of which at one time were responsible for numerous muggings and murders (Harcourt, 2002). In addition, over the same time period, there were dramatic improvement s in emergency response capabilities and medical care, which ended up saving the lives of countless people who previously would have died (Lizza, 2002). There were also important changes at the New York Police department during this time that could have explained the drop in crime, including a significant increase in the number of police officers. In 1992, Giulianis predecessor, David Dinkins, hired over two thousand new officers under the Safe Streets, Safe City project, and Giuliani himself hired another four thousand, and merged another six thousand Transit and Housing Authority officers into the ranks of the New York Police Department (Harcourt, 2002). Because of this, the department increased from 26,856 in 1991 to 39,779 in 2000, giving New York the largest police force in the country, with the highest ratio of officers to civilians of any major city (U.S. Department of Justice, 1992). Another argument against the success of Broken Windows is that the 1990s were generally a boom time. The stock market, employment and wages were all at record highs throughout the United States, and crime rates are usually more prevalent when times are hard. For example, crime fell in many large cities – San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, Houston, Boston and others – at exactly the same time, and in some cases in an even more dramatic fashion: One study found that New York Citys drop in homicides, though impressive, is neither unparalleled nor unprecedented. Houstons drop in homicides of 59 percent between 1991 and 1996 outpaced New York Citys 51 percent decline over the same period. Another study looked at the rates of decline in homicides in the seventeen largest U.S. cities from 1976 to 1998 and found that New York Citys recent decline, though above average, was the fifth largest, behind San Diego, Washington, D.C., St. Louis, and Houston (Joanes, 1999). And many of these cities did not implement the kind of order-maintenance procedures that New York did. For example, the San Diego police department instilled a model based on community-police relations. Their strategy was one of sharing the responsibility of identifying and solving crimes with neighbourhood residents. Because of this, San Diego not saw a marked decrease in crime, but experienced a 15 percent drop in arrests, and an 8 percent drop in complaints of police misconduct (Greene, 1999). In addition, San Francisco made community involvement a priority, and felony incarcerations dropped from 2,136 in 1993 to 703 in 1998, and rape, robbery, aggravated assault and total violent crime decreased more than the rate in New York over the same period (Khaled and Macallair, 2002). Other cities, including Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio, also experienced significant decreases in crime without adopting as coherent a policing strategy as New York or San Diego. The fact is that there was a remarkable drop in crime in many major cities in the United States during the 1990s, many of which used a variety of different strategies. To attribute New Yorks declining crime rates to merely their implementation of more aggressive initiatives is overly simplistic. However, New Yorks success got the most publicity, and much of the country wanted to learn from Giuliani and to implement their own no tolerance policies. And its popularity in the U.S. was only matched by its appeal abroad. In 1998, representatives from over 150 police departments from around the world visited New York to learn about order-maintenance policing, and in 2000, another 235 police departments, the vast majority from overseas, followed suit (Gootman, 2000). However, even if the Broken Windows theory is correct, it has still never been fully explained as to how it works. It could be argued that those who choose to commit crimes, denied the signals they would normally receive from low-grade disorder, move on to different locales. But where do they go? And if such places existed, couldnt they implement their own Broken Windows initiatives? One possible answer comes from writer and social theorist Malcolm Gladwell, who suggests that crime actually does increase or decrease much like an epidemic, and at certain thresholds will turn, rather than rise and fall in a typical linear fashion (Gladwell, 1996). Wilson and Kelling for their part fail to talk much about the specifics by which public disorder turns into crime. They simply say it does, as do most of the theorys supporters. However, some seem to have taken the idea to illogical extremes, such as a Lancaster, Pennsylvania reporter commenting on the citys new quality of life initiatives: If you put a couch out in a backyard, somebody could get raped on that couch (Van Nguyan, 2001). Bernard Harcourt, who has written extensively on the issue, believes that the aggressive prosecution of disorderly behaviour has had little effect on crime rates dropping. His argument is that the increased number of arrests, searchers, surveillance, and police officers on the streets has had the fairly straightforward effect of bringing more small offenses to light, and that no provable connection has ever made between disorder and crime (Harcourt, 2002). His worry is that this sets a dangerous precedent, and that the unfounded power of the police will only lead to more drastic action against less drastic offenses, especially minorities: Incidents like the NYPDs alleged torture of a Haitian naturally reinforce minority citizens distrust of the police. This mistrust has been boosted of late by numerous television videotapes showing police officers beating up unresisting citizens. In most cases, the cops were white and those on the receiving end of their clubs were black or Latino (McNamara, 1997). However, this is exactly in line with what Wilson and Kelling argue for, this bygone era of policing: The police in this earlier period assisted in that reassertion of authority by acting, sometimes violently, on behalf of the community. Young toughs were roughed up, people were arrested on suspicion or for vagrancy, and prostitutes and petty thieves were routed. Rights were something enjoyed by decent folk, and perhaps also by the serious professional criminal, who avoided violence and could afford a lawyer (Wilson and Kelling, 1982). Kelling himself spent some time accompanying an officer (Kelly) on his beat, the experience of which again illustrates a strange tolerance for lawlessness on the part of the police: Sometimes what Kelly did could be described as enforcing the law, but just as often it involved taking informal or extralegal steps to help protect what the neighborhood had decided was the appropriate level of public order. Some of the things he did probably would not withstand a legal challenge (ibid). After all, what can extralegal possibly mean other than illegal? It seems odd that this is the sort of behaviour the authors advocate, one in which officers are allowed to take the law into their own hands, but anyone who commits even the smallest of trespasses – jaywalking, littering, urinating in public – needs to be several punished. It certainly doesnt put much faith in the fairness of the model. And, in fact, the Broken Windows model is far from fair. One of its constant critiques is that the kinds of offenses it targets are primarily those carried out by the poor. There is no mention of embezzlement, crooked accountants, insurance scams, loan sharks or slumlords, crimes typical of the wealthy. And these offenses, certainly, can have just as detrimental effect on a community as a host of unsightly behaviours, if not more so. The broken windows metaphor is interesting in that it is actually up to landlords to fix real-life broken windows, while it is often those who are not in a position to do so, the community, who are held responsible for the damage. Aside from more people being arrested and subsequently incarcerated, the theory doesnt actually do much to aid a neighbourhood. If the aim is improved public order, couldnt that be achieved with homeless shelters, urban renewal projects and social workers? (Harcourt, 2002). In many ways, the philosophy behind it is almost out of sight, out of mind. And, in fact, this seems to be the view expressed by Kelling and his wife Catherine Coles in Fixing Broken Windows, a book-length exploration of the policing strategies first advocated in 1982: Kelling and Coles take a tough-minded view of who the street denizens we frequently label the homeless really are and what they are doing, sidestepping the politically constructed images of claimants like the homeless that little resemble the aggressive, conniving, often drug-crazed schemers that Kelling and Coles see populating the streets (Skogan, 1997). Skogan, in fact, is so skeptical of the motives of the poor that he cannot even use the word homeless without quotation marks, as if they all have houses somewhere. The problem with this kind of thinking is that it leads to a dangerous two worlds model, where people are either decent and respectable or disingenuous and no good. And, naturally, all the problems in neighbourhoods arise from the actions of the latter. This kind of precedent was set down by Wilson as far back as 1968: The teenager hanging out on a street corner late at night, especially one dressed in an eccentric manner, a Negro wearing a conk rag (a piece of cloth tied around the head to hold flat hair being processed – that is, straightened), girls in short skirts and boys in long hair parked in a flashy car talking loudly to friends on the curb, or interracial couples – all of these are seen by many police officers as persons displaying unconventional and improper behavior (Wilson, 1968). If the police are allowed to restore public order according to their own beliefs and judgments, what is to stop them from carrying out whatever action they deem necessary against the unconventional and improper, including using extralegal measures? Unfortunately, cultural hegemony is nothing new, and many neighbourhoods have enforced rules that govern the actions and abodes of its residents. In every community there is a house that doesnt conform to the aesthetic principles of the rest, a lawn that is never tended or strewn with toys or trash, a derelict car that doesnt meet environmental standards, all of which raise resident ire. But should these things be dealt with under the Broken Windows theory? For example, the town of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, adopted Broken Windows measures in the late 90s, and in 2002, the local newspaper received this letter: This being almost mid-April, shouldnt homeowners have had sufficient time to remove their December holiday decorations? Icicle lights hung year round give the impression of a homeowner with an aversion to work and negatively impacts on neighborhoods (Kelly, 2002). While there are obvious differences between public drunks and icicle lights, in other cases the line is much finer, and the potential for abuse is obvious. Wilson and Kelling, for their part, are aware of the problem, and speak out against it: The concern about equity is more serious. We might agree that certain behavior makes one person more undesirable than another but how do we ensure that age or skin color or national origin or harmless mannerisms will not also become the basis for distinguishing the undesirable from the desirable? How do we ensure, in short, that the police do not become the agents of neighborhood bigotry? We can offer no wholly satisfactory answer to this important question. We are not confident that there is a satisfactory answer except to hope that by their selection, training, and supervision, the police will be inculcated with a clear sense of the outer limit of their discretionary authority. That limit, roughly, is this the police exist to help regulate behavior, not to maintain the racial or ethnic purity of a neighborhood (Wilson and Kelling, 1982). Unfortunately, their only solution is to again have the community put its faith in the integrity and judgment of the law enforcement officer, a notion that does little to quell the doubts of those who might be wrongly typecast as criminal because of their race, age or class. In such a subjective atmosphere, with so much at stake, it seems dubious to give one party the last word, or the ability to render judgment (especially if that party is the one with the gun). By taking the focus off the community, and putting it on the individual, a dangerous precedent is being set. However, not everyone agrees with this line of thinking. In fact, many people, including police officers, understand that the only way for Broken Windows or any other community enforcement project to succeed is by people working together: Without the full cooperation of the community, local government and the courts community policing will not work (police officer Daniel Jenkins, 2002). Unfortunately, the authors themselves dont focus too much on this notion of working together, and, if anything, since the Atlantic Monthly article, have gone even further to highlight the vast differences between people. For example, in 1985, Wilson co-authored with Richard Herrnstein a book called Crime and Human Nature, which describes the various traits by which to classify and identify criminals. The book deals not only with age, class and race but body types, painstakingly sorting and measuring these and other attributes into definable composites of law-abiders and law-breakers. The authors conclusions are fairly predictable, describing those prone to commit crimes as an: Unattached, young, most often racialized other. The youth or young adult, threatening, defiant, suspicious, often black, wearing distinctive designer-label clothes. Or the down-and-out street person in a dirty oversized coat. Or the squeegee man, the panhandler, the homeless person, the turnstile jumper, the public drunk (Harcourt, 2002). In stark opposition to this are the ideas of Felton Earls and his colleagues, who conducted a large-scale study of street crime in Chicago in 1997. The studys main focus was on collective efficacy, which was defined as social cohesion among neighbors and their willingness to intervene on behalf of the common good (Sampson, Raudenbush and Earls, 1997). The concept, according to the study, is the greatest predictor of street crime, and not Broken Windows or any form of disorder: Testing broken windows was not the point of the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, the study planned and conducted by Dr. Earls and colleagues to unravel the social, familial, educational and personal threads that weave together into lives of crime and violenceNonetheless the data gathered for it, with a precision rarely seen in social science, directly contradicted Dr. Wilsons notions (Hurley, 2004). Thus, the seemingly obvious and incontestable connection between crime and disorder may, in fact, not exist at all. Community presence and action may actually be what ultimately fells crime. According to Earls: Its not so much that broken glass or disarray in neighborhoods is the source or root of crime, its really in the social relationships that exist among neighbors, among people who work in neighborhoods, among services and so forth, that the social conditions are there to engage or not to engage citizens, neighbors in watching out for crime or crime-related activity in the neighborhoods (Earls, 2004). And in another no less extensive study two years later, Sampson and Raudenbush found that  disorder and predatory crime were moderately related, but that, when antecedent characteristics were added (such as poverty and neighbourhood trust), the connection between the two vanished in four out of five tests – including homicide, arguably our best measure of violence (Sampson and Raudenbush, 1999). In addition, they discovered that while disorder may have indirect effects on crime by influencing migration patterns, investment by businesses, and overall neighborhood viabilityattacking public order through tough police tactics was politically popular but an analytically weak strategy to reduce crime (ibid). In short, the central tenets of Broken Windows – that disorder leads to crime, and that said crimes are generally carried out by individuals belonging to a criminal class – are questionable. This is not to say that the entire theory is at fault; certainly the notion that a safe neighbourhood is one in which the residents feel secure enough to participate in its defense still holds water. In addition, Wilson and Kelling are correct in urging the community to work with police, and for police to become a part of the community. What they seem to have missed is that the focus of this kind of relationship should rest on there being a real and active presence in the community, and not on crime and disorder. One related irony is that, in the use of Broken Windows policing in New York, for all their effectiveness in cracking down on a wide range of antisocial behaviors, the New York City police never repaired a single broken window, fixed up a single house, or cleaned one vacant lot (Grogan and Proscio, 2000). Furthermore, because of the new aggressive tactics, the city experienced illegal strip searches, extensive sums lost to police misconduct charges, clogged courts and countless traumatic encounters for innocent, ordinary individuals (Harcourt, 2002). In addition, the implementation of a policy of arrest may have had unintended consequences: Someone arrested for turnstile jumping may be fired for missing work; and strained police-civilian relations can create friction between the community and the police force that may be detrimental to solving crimes (ibid). However, this has not stopped cities across the world from emulating Broken Windows procedures, or, for that matter, Giuliani and the Manhattan Institute from exporting their policing philosophies to places like Latin America (despite reservations that what worked in an economic boom in the U.S. may not do as well in extremely poor cities undergoing violent crime and corrupt police) (Village Voice, 2002). The truth of the matter is that Broken Windows is not applicable everywhere, and even within the theory itself there are vagaries, namely the categories of disorder and the disorderly. The concepts are not well-defined; while we identify certain acts as disorderly – panhandling, public drunkenness, litter, prostitution – others – police brutality, tax evasion, accounting fraud – we do not. In addition, the acts themselves are sometimes ambiguous. For example, while people loitering on a buildings front steps or the presence graffiti may signify that a community is disorderly, it is only if they are seen as such. In some neighbourhoods, people loitering may represent strong community bonds, and graffiti may be seen as an art form, or as political or social commentary. The darker truth about Broken Windows is that it attempts to enforce an aesthetically sterile and safe environment, in which one community looks like the next looks like the next. While no one can argue that panhandlers, prostitutes and homeless people, along with litter, dirt and broken windows themselves are not eyesores, their removal is not necessarily a sign of progress. And for those subject to countless and unnecessary searches, acts of intimidation, arrests, imprisonments and the like, it is anything but. Bibliography Bratton, William J. Turnaround: How Americas Top Cop Reversed the Crime Epidemic. New York: Random House, 1998. Conklin, John E. Criminology. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1992. DePalma, Anthony. The Americas Court: a Group That Changed New York. The New York Times, Nov. 11, 2002. Felton, Earls. National Public Radio, Weekend Edition. Jan. 17, 2004. Gladwell, Malcolm. The Tipping Point. The New Yorker, June 3, 1996. Gootman, Elissa. A Police Departments Growing Allure: Crime Fighters From Around World Visit for Tips. The New York Times, Oct. 24, 2000. Greene, Judith A. Zero-Tolerance: A Case Study of Police Policies and Practices in New York City. Crime and Delinquency 45, 1999. Grogan, Paul, and Proscio, Tony. Comeback Cities: A Blueprint for Urban Neighborhood Revival. Boulder: Westview Press, 2000. Harcourt, Bernard. Policing Disorder: Can We Reduce Serious Crime by Punishing Petty Offenses? Boston Review, April/May, 2002. Hurley, Dan. Scientist at Work – Felton Earls: On Crime as Science (A Neighbor at a Time). The New York Times, Jan. 6, 2004. Jenkins, Daniel. Community Policing Problems: Most People Dont Want to Become Involved. The Sunday News, June 30, 2002. Joanes, Ana. Does the New York City Police Department Deserve Credit for the Decline in New York Citys Homicide Rates? A Cross-City Comparison of Policing Strategies and Homicide Rates. Columbia Journal of Law and Social Problems, 33, 1999. Kelling, George L. and Coles, Catherine M. Fixing Broken Windows. New York: The Free Press, 199

Mastering the Art of Losing in Elizabeth Bishop’s Poem, One Art :: Elizabeth Bishop’s One Art

Mastering the Art of Losing in Elizabeth Bishop’s Poem, One Art In the poem â€Å" One Art† by Elizabeth Bishop, the act of losing is raised to the level of an art form. Losing is, according to Bishop, something not to be mastered or dreaded. However, the irony is that Bishop struggles to believe her own hypothesis-- that losing â€Å"... isn’t hard to master...† yet â€Å"... is no disaster...† ( lines 1-3). Naming the poem â€Å" One Art† was done to show that the art of losing is one of many and loss is not to be taken as disaster or failure. Bishop maintains that most physical things, such as keys and watches, possess the inherent the desire to be lost. She knows that society is familiar with everyday loss, such as keys. Mastering this practice seems uniform and Bishop tries to convince that it is not disaster. However in line 10, the diction switches from the third person to being the first person narrator. Now, the loss is personal- that of a person or relationship. She is not only convincing everyone else that loss is no importance but trying and hoping to convince herself as well. The contrast here is, that both physical things and mental desires can be lost, but they should be taken emotionally the same, as suggested. Bishop writes with humor and makes tragedy into a parody. Exclamation marks and a clever rhyming scheme helps to create a silly sing- song poem, justifying that losing things mentally and physically has no shame. In this villanelle the rhyme scheme employed is A-B-A, with continual repetition of the words â€Å"master† and â€Å" disaster", reinforcing the universal point that: The art of losing isn’t hard to master so many things seem filled with the intent to be lost that their loss is no disaster. ( lines 1-3) Stating â€Å"Write It† ( line 19) , â€Å" And Look!† ( line 10) are climactic points in which the speaker wishes to believe herself, that losing really is no disaster, so she must see it, and write it. In the beginning, the poem seems bubbly and unremorseful but as it develops, the speaker shows her real passion for something lost, â€Å".