To What Extent Do Sociologists Agree That Religion Is a Force for Social Change?

To what extent do Sociologists agree that religion is a force for social change? Throughout history, there has been an on-going debate as to whether or not religion is a conservative force, or a force for social change. Whilst many Sociologists such as Durkheim, see religion as a positive conservative force; creating social harmony and solidarity, others disagree claiming religion to be a strong force for social change and as neo-Marxist Otto Maduro believes, religion has the power to initiate revolutionary change.Firstly, both Functionalism and Marxism takes on the approach that religion is a conservative force as both hold the view that religion aids society, in terms of allowing it to stay within its existing practices. However, the two perspectives disagree on why and how religion helps to do this. Functionalist, Durkheim stated that religion is essential in creating shared norms and values. He claimed that practices of religion and in the law, help people to live their lives.In modern Western society there are thirteen bishops in the House of Lords, who all influence which laws are made and passed, in accordance with Christian teachings. Such issues as abortion, euthanasia, and divorce are discussed and decisions are made about them, which are influenced by the church. Through this system of having a religious guidance, a value consensus is created, by which most of society accepts. This is also known as a collective consciousness which Durkheim taught, formed â€Å"social solidarity†; leading to a harmonious and stable environment for people to live in.Durkheim and many other Functionalists viewed social solidarity as highly important, as they believed it allowed people to feel socially supported reducing the risk of people feeling a sense of anomie. Durkheim himself was very focused on the â€Å"sacred† and â€Å"profane†. He claimed that religious procedures are something which societies see as being divine. For example, a supernatu ral being such as an omnipotent God, would be sacred. However, not only that but something does not have to be scared for it to be divine, thus meaning, as the Bible is full of religious teachings it is a divine object.Durkheim emphasised that divine matters, cause strong feelings of respect and defence. These strong beliefs can cause passionate emotions of dedication and encouragement thus establishing group solidarity; again ruling out the sense of anomie. The Functionalist argued that in a more profane manor, the church unites the community by having events like, tea afternoons, fates, jumble etc. This way the church is permitting people to give something back to their society but also receive help or companionship if they need it. Nevertheless, Durkheim is criticized for discarding the idea of a sacred being, being the main attribute of religion.On the other hand, Neo-Marxist Otto Maduro observes how religion contains the authority to inspire a revolt thus generating social chan ge. Maduro refereed to the â€Å"liberation theology† to put his view forward. Between the 1950’s and 1960’s, South America was largely Catholic but many priests started to separate themselves from the Catholic Church; claiming that it was their duty to assist and liberate those who were being oppressed. This is when the â€Å"liberation theology† first started to be taught. These teachings opposed the current situation; leading to a revolution.Oscar Romero was a Catholic bishop who spoke out about the injustice of so many people, and for this he was assonated. His death sparked a huge amount of outrage and fury by the people he was trying to help, groups such as the Democratic Revolutionary front united to oppose what the government was doing, in terms of exploiting the people. Maduro used the â€Å"liberation theology† to highlight how religion can perform as a force for social change. Another example, of religion being a force for social change is the Apartheid system in South Africa.This was the legal racial separation of people from1948 until 1993, which meant that various races were separated into different districts and  discriminated  against in coherence with their colour. White people had priority over housing, jobs, education, and political power, whereas the coloured people were forced to live in poverty and suffer. Reverend Trevor Huddleston travelled to South Africa and spoke out peacefully against the Apartheid, which soon led to his arrest but also put a lot of attention on what was occurring in South Africa for other countries to take notice of.Soon after the arrest, Western democratic countries put into place anti-apartheid policies and took action. South Africa was forbidden from sporting events and trading was made more difficult for them, forcing for them to come to an arrangement. By 1980 the Apartheid had completely broken down and black South Africans were freed. Desmond Tutu then became the first ever black Arch Bishop, underlining how significantly religion had led to social change, for the better. Conversely, Marxists view religion as acting as a conservative force because they propose it prevents revolutionary change.Marx argued that religion is an important form of social control. All through history the church has acted in such a way that people conform to it. This was done through God and Hell, which were exercised as a deterrent. The people in power quickly realised that religion had a great hold over the population and so it became part of â€Å"the power group†. For example, Kings used to give money or land to the church in exchange, the church would preach the peasants whatever the monarchy told them to. Even in today’s society, Queen Elizabeth still has the title â€Å"Defender of the faith† and she is also head of the Church of England.Illustrating that those in power, still have control over the church, and what the republic hear. Marx explo red how the dominant ideology was conveyed through sermons, and Bible teachings. These sermons and Bible teachings could be said to consist of a false hope for some people. Many of the Bible stories communicate that idea that if you are poor in this life and you suffer, when you die you will be rewarded by God in Heaven. These promises of a perfect afterlife, keep the working classes in their place; reducing their aspiration to change society.The Caste system in India is a good model of how religion keeps people in their places. The Hindu Caste system separates the people into four different classes, depending on their occupation and family background. The Kshatriyas are the top class and according to the traditional Hindu principles, they are there to protect the people. The Chandalas also known as the untouchables are the lowest class, and are discriminated against as they are believed not to follow the â€Å"true† Hindu faith. It used to be that these people were not allow ed to walk around the village or city during day time, or speak to anyone other than other Untouchables.The Cate system was enforced through law books, religious teachings, kings and the threatening of being punished in this life and the next if you question which class you are placed in to; again preventing people from changing their social conditions due to fear of God but leaving the alienated. In contrast to this, Althusser rejects the concept of alienation because he feels it is unscientific, and based on an idealistic theory that human being have â€Å"true self†. Nevertheless, Functionalist Michael Robert Bella stated that in modern societies that state connects with religion to unite the country.This is known as a â€Å"Civil religion†. Through creating a religion around the idea of a nation state, the religion acts as a value consensus; creating social solidarity. For example, in America the people pledge their allegiance to the flag, to honour their country a nd to God. On the dollar bills, the words â€Å"In God we trust† are printed, to remind people that God is there for them no matter what. Bella accentuates that religion is not a force for social change as it united a society and makes it stronger as it holds something in common, that being a belief in God.On the contrary, Neo-Marxist Gramsci looked into Hegemony, which is the way in which the ruling class maintain their privileged positions by making them seemed justified. In this instance, Gramsci looks at how hegemony occurs through religious ideas, rather than coercion. The ruling class rely heavily on the majority of the population consenting to their rule. During the 1920’s Gramsci observed that there was a large amount of traditional moral control of the Church in helping to gain support for Mussolini’s fascist regime in Italy.This highlights how the ruling class and religion combined to reach a certain goal, and to achieve the population’s approva l. However, Gramsci also specified that religion does have to potential to develop and either support or challenge the ruling class. For example, The Archbishop of Canterbury recently published his highly critical feelings of the Conservative parties polices. Also the â€Å"Stop Capitalism† campaign outside St Pauls Cathedral was primarily supported by the church; allowing the protesters to correspond their thoughts on our society.This stressed Gramsci’s point that the church is not directly under the influence of the ruling class, and so does have the potential to create social change if an anti-hegemony situation occurs. As well at this, Functionalist Parsons, declared that religion is a positive force in times of uncertainty. People turn to religion to answer those â€Å"ultimate questions† about life, such as â€Å"What is the point? † Parsons maintained that in situations like death, marriage and birth, people turn to God for answers and hope. Religi on does not create social change, as it is not intending to do so.Religion is there for when a person is scared, looking for salvation or just needs someone to care about them. Similar to Parsons, Malinowski, who was an anthropologist, carried out a study to find out if all societies had a religion. He travelled to an ancient society in The Trobiand. Malinowski observed that when the men went out of the lagoon to fish, entering into the open water, it was seen as a highly dangerous event, which not everyone would come back from. He then went on to see that before the men left the lagoon a ritual of yam giving took place.It appeared to Malinowski, that this was a religious ceremony which gave consolation to the families as well as wider society. Consequently, a Functionalist may assert the point that religion does not provide social change, as again it is there to produce social solidarity, in the way that it aids people, giving them something in common again to minimise the risk of anyone feeling unwanted or alone. Conversely, recent research on the Trobiand islands has challenged Malinowski’s research and his interpretation of the meaning of yam giving.Whilst carrying out his research Malinowski did not speak directly to the people, he simply observed; placing his own version of events onto the situation. Modern research has shown, through the use if interpertistic techniques, that the yam giving was a marriage intension, much like a proposal rather than being worried about the fishermen. The modern researches were not looking at what the action was, unlike Malinowski, they were looking at what the meaning behind the action was (commonly known as Verstehen. ) This new research brings to light the fact that these people, who appeared to have no religion, were living happily with each other.This could them further suggest that if religion was introduced to them, their society could change because it something they have never needed to consider before, co nsequently implying that religion could be a force for social change, if it is introduced as a completely alien topic. In addition, Weber wrote â€Å"The Protestant Ethic and The Spirit of Capitalism† examining how Protestantism was a huge part of how society changed into a capitalist economy. He claims that the values of ascetic Calvinist Protestantism shaped a work ethic which encouraged capitalism.Calvinists believed in â€Å"predestination†, the theory that God chooses whether you go to heaven or hell before you are born. This formed a psychological problem for Calvinists, as they did not know if they were one of the â€Å"elect†. As a solution to this they developed a set of values that expressed hard work, frugality and the growth of wealth. These ethics inherently led to the â€Å"spirit of capitalism†, and Weber assured that this is why Capitalism first developed in Northern Europe, where Calvinism and Protestantism were most commanding. Weberâ₠¬â„¢s research is a firm paradigm of religion generating social transformation.His research is still useful when looking at today’s societies, with countries such as Germany and Sweden which converted to Protestantism, and are model countries economically. Whereas, countries which are still Catholic like Spain and Greece are in a financial crisis. Lastly, many feminists view religion as being a patriarchal institution that presents inequalities through religious beliefs; functioning via a patriarchal ideology. Feminist’s dispute that most of the religious organisations are male dominated. Judaism and Catholicism forbid women from becoming priests.Karen Armstrong debates that the clear discrimination against women in this manner, is evidence of women’s demotion. As well as this, in places of worship the two sexes are often segregated, the women being put at the back perhaps behind screen, whilst the men are in the sacred areas. Sometimes women are not allowed to participate in the practices, this maybe reading out a passage or preaching. In the Islamic culture, women are menstruating are not allowed to the Qur’an and could be asked to leave the place of worship all together, so as not to pollute of contaminate the sacred environment.In many of the sacred texts, like the Bible, women are stereotyped as a temptress and blamed for anything that goes wrong, For example, in Genesis Eve creates the fall of humanity by picking the fruit from the forbidden tree of knowledge. This is ironic as the entirety of the Bible stories are supposedly written by men. However, before the rise of Christianity women were not always seen as the males subordinate. Armstrong identifies that in early religions women were central in the beliefs, being the mother of goodness and nature. It wasn’t until Patriarchy began that women lost their godly statuses.This could suggest that when Christianity rose, and people read about the evil of women, Patriarchy was promoted, as women are referred to in the Bible as â€Å"man’s helper†; giving men power to rule over women. Therefore, a feminist may argue that religion does create social change but in a negative way, as it inspired men to take control of women and oppress them, as punishment for their â€Å"sins†. In conclusion, Functionalism and Marxism have strong arguments which describe how religions help to maintain social order and counteract social change.A Marxist may also say social change does not occur through religion, as the ruling class want it to stay the same. Juxtaposing this view, history has revealed that in some extreme cases such as the â€Å"Liberation theology† religion has been a positive force for social change. Whereas, a feminist could say religion has been a negative force for social change as seen throughout the history of women’s oppression. For that reason, I would say religion is a force for social change, but only in extreme conditions where the change happens on a considerable scale.

IMC Plan Essay

Executive summary The strategy of this IMC plan is to extend Abercrombie & Fitch target audience, young generation, to the senior segment; the reason by doing this strategy is because there are more potential customer that haven’t been discover yet, so if we can reach to those people, the brand can expand its market and gain more profit. Furthermore, the current image that A&F holds in people mind might be a brand that provides casual luxury products or a brand that is only for young people, but if the brand can have the opportunity to upgrade its image to compare with those high-end brands, the brand value will increase dramatically. And so by, we must add the element of maturity into our brand image and appeal senior customer to purchase our product. In order to carry out this strategy, this IMC plan will use different marketing communication tools such as product placement, event marketing, advertising and public relationship to accomplish this goal. Eventually, after execute this new strategy for A&F, more and more senior will consider A&F is a brand not just for teens but also for them. Business situation review * Brand introduction: Abercrombie & Fitch, also known as A&F, is a renowned worldwide fashion brand that provides people the sense of causal luxury; it has a variety of product from the shoes that you wear on foot to the hat wear on the top, even fragrance and those exquisite accessories you can buy one at the store as well. Nowadays, A&F has more than 300 branches within the U.S, and several stores around the world. The reason why A&F is so popular recently is because the style of the product is unique and modern; furthermore, the products also possess high quality as well. Additionally, another reason that A&F has such high popularity is because the affordable price, take the T-shit for instance, the average price is 25 to 30 dollars, if we compare A&F to those famous brand such as Armani, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, we can find out the price that A&F stands is much friendly than the others. * Target market: The main market of A&F is target at those young adults, from the age 18 to 25, different nationalities, color and characteristic, and those people who love fancy stuff but can’t afford extremely expensive brand. One of the things that A&F attract people is the image that displays the personality of vivid, young but a great sense of mature. Many people might consider a brand that is for young population as premature, the massage that, however, convey from A&F is the sense of fashion and the high-class feeling. Furthermore, due to the affordable price, young adult Can have the ability to buy such a brand that provides the sense of fashion and distinguish themselves among others. * Competitive Among the retail-clothing industry, there are various of brand that possess almost the same brand image as A&F, but the reason why A&F still can distinguish from those brand is because the unique brand equity that it stands. Therefore, although there are some attributes that similar with A&F, we still can scrutinize into those nuance and seek out some different between each others, and that’s quite important to execute before doing our own IMC plan. Therefore, those brand listed below are similar with A&F, and all in the same category. 1. H&M H&M (Hennes & Mauritz AB) is an international fashion brand, which comes from Swedish. The target market of H&M is for men, women, teenagers and children, and those people who love fashion products. The feature of this retail-clothing company is to provide fast-produce product that provides consumer the fast pace of trend, it means that the time from the design process to the product been displayed in the store is short. Because of that, consumer can enjoy those fashion products at the very first hand. The company has more than two thousand chain store around the world. Meanwhile, H&M often co-branding with other fashion designer such as MARNI, VERSACEï ¼Å' LANVINï ¼Å'JIMMY CHOOï ¼Å'ROBERTO CAVALLI, etc. This strategy makes the product more valuable than before, and triggers the collecting enthusiasm among those consumers. 2. ZARA ZARA is one of the most famous fast-fashion brands in the world now, it owns by Inditex Group, a giant Spanish closing retail company. The company claims it only takes two week from producing a new product to any chain store. One of the marketing strategies that ZARA possess is that they don’t execute any commercial advertisement, instead of doing that; they transfer the capital to set up another branch. The target audience is those people prefer enjoying fast pace fashion product, and want to be distinguishes from other people. 3. Forever 21 Forever 21 is a fashion brand that from the U.S., and it has many branches in major cities around the world. The brand offers trendy clothing and accessories to those people who love exquisite product, especially the female market. The price position that the brand stands is quite friendly compare with those high-end fashion brands such as Armani, Gucci, LV, etc. 4. GAP GAP is a brand that owned by The Gap, Inc., an American clothing and accessories retailer. The target market that the brand focus at the first place is only on blue jeans and T-shit, but later the brand expands its product category to suit the needs of men, women and children. The personality of GAP is more general than those others brand such as H&F, A&F, Forever 21, and the spectrum of age for using GAP’s product is much broader as well. * SWOT analysis for A&F STRENGTHS: 1. Acceptable price The price strategy is a very essential factor that determines the brand position. One thing that makes A&F so popular is the affordable price; more people can enjoy certain level of luxury or fashion based on a friendly price. Because of the affordable price, fashion is not a privilege hold by those rich people. Take the price of a pair of jeans for instance; compare with a 190 dollars jean that DIESEL sale, the price of the jeans that A&F is only around 70 dollars. Therefore, the friendly price is a factor that can strengthen this brand, and make more people interest in it. 2. Specific market audience Abercrombie & Fitch creates a very specific target segment that helps the brand to focus on certain consume. The target audience consists of various people, but the most important factor is all about the young generation. Meanwhile, due to the specific marketing segment, the brand can come out with more specific strategy that makes them easier to reach through the consumer. 3. Strong distribution strategy There are several ways for A&F to distribute its product; the first one is the brick and mortar store, such as those stores inside Macy’s. Second, the consumer can purchase the product online due to its own online store, allowing those busy people to shop instead going to the store. Meanwhile, some times there are some special promotion only carries out on the online store. 4. Unique atmosphere for shopping in store The atmosphere within the store provides consumer a really pleasant circumstance to shop, moreover, the unique decoration and the aura makes the brand distinguish from the others. 5. Stylish design The image that shows on A&F’s product is simple but stylish. However, maybe there are fewer picture or character on the product, but the design that shows on all product convey a sense of modern and fashion, and that’s the reason so many people get appeal on this amazing brand. WEAKNESS: 1. Few branch chain store in the Asia and Europe market The number of the chain store within Asia and Europe market is way below the number in the U.S. First of all, during the past ten years, the closing market in Asia has growing extremely, and due to A&F is an international fashion brand, the distribution strategy should emphasize on this booming area more in order to generate more profit and enhance the brand awareness and loyalty. Furthermore, when talk to fashion; the first place that pops out in your mind will definitely be Europe, such as London, Milan, Paris, etc. Thus, in order to strengthen A&F fashion image, letting more people aware of this brand is necessary. 2. Provoking image In order to make the advertisement more attractable; A&F usually use the idea of sex to appeal consumer. Lots of advertisement or picture imply some kind of sexual implication that some times makes people feel unpleasant especially those conservative. 3. Untruthful information via on-line advertising When A&F is doing some kind of promotion via the on-line store, some time the information is not clear and not congruent with the information that they promoted in the brick and mortar store. 4. Similar design concept with the competitor Some time is a little bit hard to distinguish A&F’s product from those competitor, not because the design but also the attributes of the brans parity, especially when the target audience is similar with each other THREATS: 1. Losing senior market Because the target market that A&F holds is focus on the young generation, therefore, senior might not consider A&F as the brand when they want to shop for garment. 2. Generate negative brand image The advertisement that A&F usually conduct is by using sexual appeals to attract people, or using macho male or sexy female to enamor consumer. This, however, tactic might creates some negative feeling among the brand, the consumer; especially those parents might deems A&F as a bran which is not ethical. 3. Losing market share due to brand parity There are several brands that possess similar product or design with A&F. Therefore, how to distinguish each other will be the most important things that the brand needs to take into consider. Otherwise, the consumer can’t recognize the difference between A&F and the others. 4. Losing market share due to few chain store oversea There are over 300 stores within the U.S, but just couple branches in the international market. In comparison with A&F, many brand expand their chain store all over the world, letting more people enjoy the pleasure of shopping their products, such as H&M, ZARA, GAP, etc. The sake of setting branches around the world is not just generate company’s revenue but also build up brand awareness in people’s mind, forcing people to familiar with the brand image and strengthen the brand loyalty. OPPORTUNITIES: There are many possible opportunities that A&F can deal with, and each opportunity can set up different positive consequence that will provides somewhat benefit to A&F and give the brand various direction to manage their strategy and fulfill the mission they possess such as adding the â€Å"Green† concept to the product, offer free modification among all pants, enhance the on-line system that gives more access for customer to shop or some special event like Issuing limited products. However, within this IMC plan for Abercrombie & Fitch, the main idea that I want to express the most is the target market exist some certain possibility to generate more profit or brand awareness by playing more attention on those seniors. Based upon this idea, there are several opportunities that we can follow: 1. Make A&F more suitable to senior by redesign the products The reason that redesign the product can appeal more senior customer is due to the style or graphic that display on the product might be deemed premature by those senior. Therefore, if the brand can place more effort on designing the right style senior likes, the brand can expand its target market to a higher level. 2. Change the stereotype that A&F is a brand for young generation In the mind of people who love fashion product, A&F always be considered as a brand for young people, not because the product itself, but also the image that the commercial present to the public. Thus, A&F should dedicate more on the image, the image that convey more maturity. As a result, it will attract more senior customer to purchase A&F’s product. 3. Positioning A&F as a brand to senior Abercrombie & Fitch can be the brand that provides not just the casual feeling but also the high level of exquisite perception. Expanding the product category to more mature product might be a way to strengthen the image of maturity. Meanwhile, A&F can make itself be seemed as the level of those high level fashion brand such as Gucci, LV, PRADA, etc. This move will give the massage to the consumer that A&F can also suit the need of their desire for the product that is fashion and also possess the personality of mature. Marketing objective According to the 2010 Form 10-k, Abercrombie & Fitch Co. provided by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the revenue of A&F is $ 3.469 billion, and it’s getting better compare with those previous years. In order to, however, make the company generate more profit and brand loyalty, we must scrutinize into those potential opportunities and carry out the best one, therefore, the marketing objective within this IMC plan is that Abercrombie & Fitch will increase the revenue and develop more potential customer from expand the target market which is from the young generation to those senior consumer, by three years later. As we know, the target customer for A&F is focus on those young generations, especially from the age 18 to 25. Thus, by extending the target audience, A&F can attract more potential customer and gain more profit. 1. Product Within this IMC plan, we are not selling any particular products or item but rather the brand or any products that associated with A&F. The idea of this plan is to expand the age segment in order to attract more senior customer than before. Therefore, how to make the products appealed to those older customers is the concept that me need to take into account, in addition, putting more mature element in the design process will give the final product a sense of maturity and a bit more fashion. Thus, the marketing objective at this part will be adding more mature flavor to the product and strengthen the product image to a high level that indicate the sense of maturity. After the fulfillment of this objective, Abercrombie & Fitch will not just the brand only focus on young people but also justify the reason why the brand suit the senior as well. 2. Price Sometimes the price is the hardest part to decide in the process of setting objectives. Different brand price range from cheap to outrageous high, one of the reason that why A&F is so popular is due to the affordable price, the price that most of the people can afford it. However, affordable price is not equal with the normal quality, adding value to the price, make the price value beyond the price itself. There is several ways to accomplish this concept such as providing a higher quality of customer service in order to enhance the relationship between both sides, or strengthen the brand image by making people believe A&F is a brand that provides high quality merchandise. Eventually, the goal is to convince consumer the value of the price is way beyond the actual one. 3. Place Most of the time when shopping in the store, it’s obviously that the majority of customers are teenager, and one of the reason might be the environment is designed to attract the target market (young people), therefore, all the decoration or the aura inside the store is more like a young generation style, such as the picture on the wall usually are those macho men and sexy female; the perfume inside the store is so strong that you can smell it after you leave the store and the light is a little bit gloomy that some time make people feel dizzy. As a result, all the reason that I mentioned above might be the causes that hesitate senior to shop in the store. Therefore, the marketing object of this part is to create a better and comfortable environment for senior. Meanwhile, it’s important not just to provide a suitable circumstance to shop but also an understandable way to reach through. 4. Promotion One of the problem that we need to solve with the promotion is to break through the generation gap, this gap might seems nothing seemingly, but it sure does matter the way that the promotion take place. The reason that I mention it is because the way senior see through the promotion process is totally different than young people, therefore, the marketing objective is to concentrate on the meaning of the promotion, providing information that will attract senior customer to the store and also form the knowledge that A&F is a brand not just for kids but also for adult. As a result, by using the proper promotion, A&F can attract more people to generate more reputation, and boost the revenue as well. The central strategic idea Among those fashion brands, A&F is the one that focus on the casual luxury segment, many people willing to buy its product due to the quality product and the fashion brand image, because of that, A&F become one of the most popular apparel brand among the world nowadays. However, when talking about the position that A&F stands, most of the people will consider A&F as a brand that only suit for young people, most of the product that display in the store are hoody, T-shirt or jeans, those product usually deem as for children, but that is only the stereotype among all of us, if A&F can attract more people that is older to purchase the product, the image will eventually change, and the brand will be widely consider as a mature brand such as Ralph Lauran, Tommy or Calvin Klein. As far as I’m concerned, the reason why I think expand the target market from young people to senior is a proper strategy for Abercrombie & Fitch is because there still exist a great amount of potential custo mer that can bring a huge profit to A&F; having a bunch of young loyalty customer is not enough, the best way to build up a phenomenal reputation is to provide service to both junior and senior, make the brand broadly acceptable. Furthermore, when talk to those renowned brands such as LV, Gucci, Armani, we won’t consider them as a premature brand or a bran that is only suit for young generation or some certain group but a brand that provides high quality of exquisite product. The purpose of this strategic idea is not putting Abercrombie & Fitch at the same position as those fashion brands that I mentioned above. The reason of this strategy is to elevate the brand to a higher level that provide the mature feeling that can attract senior customer, meanwhile, when more and more senior customer enjoy A&F’s products, the brand image will become more solid and convince people that A&F is a brand that not only suit for teens but also for adults. However, before starting this strategic idea, there are several thing that we need to reconsider, such as the communication situation, how’s the current communication channel looks like? What’s the tactic that Abercrombie & Fitch utilized to reach through customer? Is the current tactic suit for our new customer? Those questions are the one we need to elaborated, and come out with a more specific plan that can appeal more people, especially senior, to purchase our product. Furthermore, we have to redefine our customer, make sure me know the attributes of their shopping behavior or even the style that those senior prefer, this effort will give us the knowledge to know our customer deeper and better. Communication situation analysis According to this strategic plan for Abercrombie &Fitch, the main problem for senior to shop for A&F’s product is the wrong cognition that the brand is only suit for young people, and because of this reason, most of the senior will rather choice other brand that will provides them the sense of maturity and possess the fashion feeling at the same time. Therefore, based on this obstacle, we need to convey the right information to the right person. Thus, the information must be via the right channel and the massage must be tailor to match what seniors needs. Nowadays, most of the information exposed through different media, and it’s easy for people to see. However, there is no such a No.1 option, different media has its own function, it can’t just apply to every one’s need. For A&F, we can grab the message from various ways, such as the commercial lunched on the TV, the picture issued inside the magazines, the image display on the giant billboard, the store that we shop on-line or even the massage within the store. Those channels all can make a very well impression on us; therefore, the detail inside those channels will be the key factor to change people’s attitude. Take the magazine for example, in order to appeal senior customer, the picture inside the magazine can’t just use young people as model, it has to show some grownup that is mature enough to bring out the specific feeling. Target audience analysis When speak to Abercrombie & Fitch, the first image or feeling that pop out consumers’ mind is the perception of vitality and youth, thus, the target audience for A&F is focus on those young generations from the age18 to 25. Meanwhile, except the age, there are several attributes that possessed by those people, such as the tendency of collecting fashion products, or owning the ability to purchase fashion items to make themselves looks better. However, based upon the new marketing strategy, the final goal is to extend the age segment and bring more senior customer to this market, therefore, the new target audience among this marketing plan is the age from 30 to 50 and possess the following characteristics: 1. Self-Independent on the economic status Generally speaking, most of the young customers can’t afford to purchase a great amount of products at the same time because they are not self-independent on the economic status; they still rely on parents’ income to supply their daily cost, and subject to parents’ order. However, if the target audience is focus on those seniors who have a greater power of consumption than those youth, they can purchase more products and make the purchase decision by their own. Moreover, due to this customer characteristic, there will be more consumption either inside the store or the on-line purchase, and the revenue will have a sharp increase as well. 2. Live in the urban area There are several good parts that benefits the customer that live in the urban area, the first one is the people can have more access to purchase A&F’s product. Although the Internet is so popular now, we can even purchase the product at the on-line store just for a click, but we still can’t have the virtual contact with the products. For customers, sometime is better for them to see the product by itself and give the product a try to make sure whether the item fits the person or not. Furthermore, most of the population lives in the urban area, and the majority of A&F’s store locates at the central of the city. Therefore, the people lives in the city can have more opportunity and convenience to reach its products. Second, the latest trend and fashion info often starts from the urban area; the people lives inside the city can gain the first-hand information about the latest fashion trend. 3. Care about personal image No matter male or female, the target audience must have somewhat narcissism in her or his personality. They believe that wearing good-looking cloth and the right brand can creates the sense of confidence, and that’s the reason why they choice A&F to be the brand they want. 4. Interesting in the fashion domain People who love fashion tend to pay more focus on the apparel industry, because there is a strong connection between each other. Every time there is a new product release or a product co-branding with a famous designer, the person will follow the news and try to participate in the event, and there’s a high percentage that the person will purchase the product. Positioning strategy analysis Positioning Statement: Among all the people from age 30 to 50, who love fashion products and enjoy wearing casual luxury apparel (Target audience) Abercrombie & Fitch (Product/Service name) Is one of the most famous causal-luxury apparel brands in the fashion industry (Competitive set) That performs confidence, vitality and uniqueness to customer (Benefits proposition) Because of the high quality product and the stylish design (Product support) 1. Target audience In the positioning statement, the target audience is not just for those young people but also focus more on the senior market. Based on the Strategic idea of this IMC plan, the perfect age group is from 30 to 50, because they possess several preponderance such as having a job and a more stable income than those young people, thus, they have more opportunity to purchase A&F’s products. Moreover, seniors usually have a better taste on closing than juniors, therefore, if A&F can make those seniors become its loyalty customer, it can transfer the image that the brand is not just for young people but also for those mature adults. 2. Product/Service name According to this IMC plan, there are no specific products that the company wants to promote or use as a strategy to boost the sale. Our mission is to promote Abercrombie &Fitch ‘s name and appeal senior customer to use our product. Therefore, the goal of this plan is to redress the image and promote the concept that the bran is more likely for senior. 3. Competitive set For Abercrombie & Fitch, our competitive set is not just in the apparel business, but also the whole fashion industry. The products for A&F are miscellaneous, so that’s the reason why A&F can compete with different kinds of fashion brands. Furthermore, because the brand has already well known by the public, so they don’t have to put extra effort on creating brand awareness. 4. Benefits proposition The people who wear A&F cloth or use any of its products can feel a sense of fashion and confidence due to its unique position in the market. The feeling that elicit from the product can be somewhat energetic and mature, and that’s the feeling, which appeal to most of the consumer to purchase its product. Meanwhile, based on the new strategy, we want customers to have a different experience than before by means of a much mature image that can persuade senior to get involve in it. 5. Product support The reason why A&F is so popular around the word is because the stylish design and the unique image that convey to the world. Those apparels or products that design by A&F are usually simple but modern; there is no fancy figure or glary color on it. Therefore, the brand is easy to distinguished from the other competitors, and also that’s the reason why I think the strategy to expand the age segment to a higher level is feasible, because usually the more simple trait that the product possess, the more easy for the product to be considered mature, and that’s the thing our new potential customer wants. Communication objectives and strategies Although there are various brands within the fashion industry, different people choice the brand that suit them the most, sometime is based on status, some time is based on personal taste; however, the reason why so many people, especially teenagers, appealed by A&F is owing to its stylish design and vigorous image. However, the problem of this IMC plan is how to get seniors involve in this brand and turn them to up hold A&F’s products. Thus, the communication object is to send the massage to the target audience and boost the revenue by convincing people that the brand is not just for teens but also will be the best choice for seniors to purchase when they need closing. In order to accomplish the communication objective, there are several strategies that listed below: 1. To create a suitable environment for senior to visit A&F stores In order to fulfill this strategy, we must conduct some research to realize what’s the key element that triggers senior to shop and what’s the condition that make them feel comfortable while they doing purchase. The reason for doing this strategy is because the current environment is designed to attract young consumer, therefore, in order to attract senior customer, the company must figure out the best shopping environment to appeal them to come. 2. Promote the idea that Abercrombie & Fitch is a brand for senior Refresh the original image of A&F and put the sense of maturity into the brand whereby senior feels like this special brand is for them. In order to execute this strategy, we must use different marketing tools and various mediums to accomplish this mission. More details will be illustrated in the last part of this IMC plan. 3. Move Abercrombie & Fitch’s image up to those high-end fashion brand such as Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauran. The purpose of this strategy is to let people build the connection for A&F to those high-end brands in order to increase the brand value. By strengthen the brand value, more people, especially senior, will consider A&F as a phenomenal brand to purchase. Program of tactics and executions With regard to this IMC plan, there are various tools to accomplish this mission; different tactic has its own advantage so we need to slice them together then maximize the great amount of benefit from it. There are so many disciplines such as advertising, personal selling, PR, etc. Therefore, sometimes we just can’t use them all; we have to select some of the most effective ways to conduct the strategy that we came out with. And so by, according to this plan, several tactics will be elaborated in the following paragraph: 1. Product placement The reason why this alternative marketing tactic is a great choice for this strategy is because by using this method, not just the product of A &F can expose to the customer but also the image. When the products display inside a movie or commercial, the audience will have a chance to see and have the perception of it. Meanwhile, this tactic has been so popular for quite a long time and most of the company considers this tactic as a great ways to promote their brand or product, so the potential influence on customer is quite huge. Therefore, based on our strategy, we will expose our product or our brand image to the public, but we need to place it in the right place and person. We will execute our plan by putting A&F’s products or logo on senior who take part in the movie or commercial, the reason why we are doing this is because we want the customer who is in front of the TV or computer to deem the brand is looking good on those people. Generally, we seldom saw A & F’s product wearing on senior among any program, so that’s the notion we want to convey to people. Furthermore, in order to illustrate more specifically, we will choice certain people or program to expose our brand image, take the actor for instance, when choosing the people to wear our product, we might consider senior more than young guys, the actor such as Gorge Clooney or Sarah Jessica Parker will be the best candidate for translate the new image of maturity to people. In addition, we must pick the right movie or TV program to place our brand into it, because some time if the movie or program is for teens or children, the purpose of this action will be not successfully accomplished. 2. Advertising There are various ways in advertising, each of one has it own advantage, however, in this case, there will be only few channel that appropriate to accomplish this goal, such as: * Television In nowadays, people can get a slew of information from TV, and it is also the best way to create awareness. According to this channel, the best way to convey the information that the brans is not only suit for young people but also adults as well is to launch a commercial that carry the image of senior wearing A &F product and shows how confidence they can be just because the brand can bring the sense of fashion and maturity. When people, especially seniors, see the commercial frequently, they will gradually change the original brand image in their mind. * Magazine There are tons of different magazine in the field now and it has possess several advantage such as high marketing segment, longer attention to ads, high color quality, etc. We, however, can’t put our advertisement in all of them, we must be specific, choosing the right one that can reach the right person, therefore, according to the strategy, the target magazine will definitely be those fashion one such as Elle, Ebony, Vogue, People and FHM. Furthermore, in order to promote the perception of mature and professional, those famous magazine such as TIME, Economist, ADWEEK will also be taken into consider. Take TIME for example; in order to give the audience an explicit impression, we might consider buying a whole page for our ad, thus, once the reader start to read, the image of our brand will unfold in front of them. * Outdoor The place that can display the ads are not just in the TV or magazine, there are many places we can use in the public area to show our brand image and product advertisement, such as the giant billboard out side, the bus stop next to your house, even on the public transportation can have a space to make advertising. Therefore, we will display our brand image in those places that people gather the most; make sure our exposure can reach people as much as possible. To make this tactic more specific, A &F will runs this method by putting out senior celebrity image such as Gorge Clooney; the image of him will mostly convince people that A&F is a brand that fits on senior and it looks good as well. 3. Public Relations In the tactic of PR, our goal is to build the right image we want, and let people feel positive that this new brand image is positive. Therefore, by using all the tools of PR such as the news release, annual report, news conference etc. we want people to know the brand is extending its image to a higher level, and will provides customer a better feeling that will appeals to those senior customer. To execute this strategy by using PR, we might have to combine different tactic to maximize the outcome. For instance, in order to spread the new image out, we might need to set up some event or co-branding with the others. And so by, we might need to set up a news conference or launch a press release to run our story to the public. In addition, one of the functions of PR is to create positive image and strengthen company’s reputation, so by sponsoring special event such as the Oscar ceremony, LPG golf tour and the Grand slam series; the image of A&F will be seen not just a brand that provides causal luxury apparel, but also a brand that possess high-end perception and the sense of maturity. Furthermore, in order to let people understand the reason why the company comes up with this idea, and to convince senior to use its product; the company can release some article that is relevant to this topic, getting people familiar with the new idea. 4. Celebrity Endorsement By using well-known people to promote its product can make the brand image more clear and gain more attention. In order to make our brand shine and bright among the public, the company is imperative to choose the right person for endorse its product, several condition such as the person need to have a positive image that well accepted by the public, the person’s personality needs to match with the brand or the product; otherwise, people will think the brand has no connection with the person, and that will make the credibility decline. So, in order to fulfill the condition and match the strategy we set up, we will invite celebrity such as Gorge Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Robert Downey Jr. to be our spokesman; and by using their mature charisma, more people will convert their first image of A&F and turn in to the perception as the strategy we wanted. 5. Event marketing In order to promote the strategy and boost the sale, we can create several events to accomplish this goal; more detail will be elaborated in the following paragraph: * The â€Å"A† membership To create loyalty customer and reward them for their purchase, we will conduct a membership program that give them the benefit as a return. The program will run first with applying our membership card and join the A&F club; after applying, every time when they purchase a certain amount of money, they can get some credit, and after collecting enough credit, the person can enjoy a perpetual 30% discount on every purchase afterward. Moreover, the person who gets a perpetual membership can receive a 100 dollars gift card on his or her every birthday. * The â€Å" I want to fly fashion† event In order to strengthen the function of our perpetual membership, we will co-brand with United Airline and American Express; every time when you take a flight with United Airline or purchase product from A&F by using American Express, the person can receive bonus from it, and can use the bonus to purchase flight ticket or products within A &F store. Conclusion Nowadays, Abercrombie & Fitch is one of the most famous fashion brand in the world, the brand has it own unique image and special value, the trend of buying its product is not just happen in the State but also around the world. However, besides the current situation, the company has more opportunity to enhance its brand equity by expanding the customer segment to a higher level. In order to make the brand more accepted by senior, we must create another image that can appeal to them, make them feel the brand is not just for cool teenagers but also for mature adults. Therefore, the strategy of extending target customer to the senior segment can bring more profit to the company and form a new brand image, providing customer another high- end brand to shop and make them feel special.

Communication Within Workplace

What is means by communication actually? Communications define as process of interchange of information that mainly included sending and receiving process. What is means by a successful communication? When sending a message there are kind of barriers can be interrupt, that disturb overall the communication structure, by solving the problems and finally receiving message in proper manner, than it is become a successful communication. In this research I am going identify the main purposes of communication, find out the characteristics of an organization’s structure, analyses the impact of the organization structure on how communication occurs and on its effectiveness and changes in organizational structures. In the same time, I will study on the barriers of communication in my workplace. Finally find out the way avoid the barriers to improve commutation, and the problem solving ways to have beautiful standard communication structure within my workplace. Research Question: 1. What are the benefits or purpose of communication within a workplace? 2. What is the structure of communication that should be have in a workplace and don’t have in my workplace? 3. What are the barriers of communication within workplace? 4. How to adopt the proper communication structure? 5. Who should be taking responsible to a successful communication in a workplace, who will be benefited by this proper channel? 6. What kind of communication should be have, depend on situation? 7. What is Different of current communication system and the communication should be adopted? 8. How to overcome the barriers to improve communication my workplace? Research Objective: The objective of this research is analysis the overall communication benefits and the barriers that make brake down of communication and also the ways of solving barriers within my workplace.

Of Thinking Globally and Acting Locally Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Of Thinking Globally and Acting Locally - Essay Example Thus, business organizations like Coca-Cola (Coca-Cola) Company take on the challenge of "thinking globally but acting locally." Coca-Cola is currently one of the most recognizable and widely sold commercial brands in the global arena. The company capitalizes on its extensive distribution network comprised of 9 million retailers in more than 200 countries (Klebnikov 2003). Amidst its being a global brand, what is apparent is the company's innate desire of satisfying each locale according to their needs. This aim of Coca-Cola can be seen its products and promotion strategies. Coke, the flagship brand of the company is marketed worldwide. It should be noted that this product has been warmly accepted by the global market because of its universal taste. Coke has a "universal taste" which discounts the differences in nationality, culture, and traditions. However, the company recognizes that the product portfolio offered in each foreign market should be differentiated as not all product appeal to all consumers. Thus, Coca-Cola strives to develop a product portfolio which is unique for each market. Quoting the company's annual report: "Consumer demand can vary from one locale to another and can change over time within a single locale.

Personality Analyiss Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Personality Analyiss - Essay Example There are also some, who regard personality as a diamond consisting of diverse facets of behavior and belief. Still there are others who argue that the whole notion of personality is wrong headed – a comfortable fiction rather than a scientific fact. Usually in this view, personality is often influenced by the immediate circumstances rather by the social interactions, that is, personality remains consistent due to the environmental factors that also remain unchanged. Significantly, personality has been postulated and analyzed by a number of experts in the field of behavioral science, and as a result, a number of theories elaborating the nature and rationale have emerged, thereby providing a wide area for interpretation and further research. This essay presents an analysis of a fictional character from a popular television series entitled, CSI. The character of Gil Grissom is the main subject of this study in the aim to dissect and point out certain specific traits and explain them according to the theories advanced by several personality psychologists more particularly of Howard S. Friedman and Miriam W. Schustac. The succeeding paragraph will also present arguments that will validate the presence of these theories in the chosen fictional character to establish a solid ground for conclusion. At the age of 22, Gill Grissom became the youngest coroner in LA County. He was recruited to run the field service office in Las Vegas where he spent 17 years elevating the status of the Vegas laboratory into the second most efficient crime lab in the United States. Earning a biology degree from UCLA, Grissom worked as a night shift supervisor of the Las Vegas Crime Unit. Being a forensic entomologist and a CSI level three, he was knows as the ‘bug man’ amongst his colleagues which was originally composed of Catherine Willows, Nick Stokes, Warrick Brown and Sarah Sidle in the first few seasons. Eventually

Pullotion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Pullotion - Essay Example Here comes the main problem of this millennium: the insane destruction of the environment, as we think that we are in secure, which is far from the truth. A warm evening in a fun and friendly company once has completely changed my inner world. One day my friends and I after dinner in the restaurant decided to walk along the coast. We were laughing and having fun, and nothing seemed to be able to change that. But this time the coast wasnt pleasant. Everywhere were dead swollen fish, black sand and the stench in the air. The childhood memory has arisen, though it was more than 15 years ago. It was a bright sunny day. I was looking forward to go with my parents to our favorite place on the Persian Gulf. Finally, it was the long-awaited meeting with the sea. I run to the shore, but everything was not as usual. Ugly oil stains fettered once azure water. On the white sand blackened terrible spots, and around were lying suffocated fish and black bodies of birds. Seagulls with feathers stuck together could not take off. The place which once was beautiful now has resembled an apocalyptic picture. I picked up a dying bird, trying in any way to help her and could not hold back my tears. Mom said it was all because of war, but then I could not even understand the full horror of the word. War destroys our lives, suddenly breaking into a cozy and familiar world. Even if the military battles are not taking place around of you, the horrors of war will catch you up in a place which seems to be rather peaceful. Thus, the large oil reserves are not only the Gods blessing. It is these deposits of oil which became a stumbling block between Iraq and Kuwait. On August 2, 1990 the territory of Kuwait was invaded by numerous Iraqi soldiers and Iraq announced the annexation of Kuwait. Hundreds of thousands of people fled the country; thousands of the remaining were arrested or killed. Iraqis looted or burned almost all civilian objects and set fire to 700 oil wells. Almost a year after

Robert Herrick- To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time , Andrew Marvell- Essay

Robert Herrick- To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time , Andrew Marvell- To His Coy Mistress , John Donne- The Flea - Essay Example Any person that has delivered or been on the receiving end of a statement such as, â€Å"C’mon babe, it’s the Prom! We aren’t ever going to have another night like this again,† understands where Herrick is coming from. He is urging the ladies not to reject him now because there is only so much time for really good loving. The poems from Marvell and Donne take different approaches to the theme. Marvell is telling his mistress that she can stop playing shy because he knows she wants to be with him. Donne seems to be trying to elicit sympathy from his lover by wondering how you could –gasp- reject moi? Coupled closely to this theme of the lost moment or the tragedy of unrequited love seems to be the notion that the man was to be the aggressor in matters of the heart, seeking to gain the favor or displeasure, of the woman. I really loved the Herrick poem. He is such a subtle gentleman on the one hand and a playboy on the other. He is clearly using a tac tic that only works on the inexperienced (thus the Virgins in the title) but he does it so well, one can almost be sure of the outcome.

SMART Goals Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

SMART Goals - Assignment Example I will attend seminars on time management by participating in the organization’s seminar talks that will help me be more time cautious and better at management, reading books and listening to tapes based on the same matter, reviewing the organization trends on the same, and making plans with the departmental head responsible for the issue starting Monday week 2 Attributes needed to achieve the goal; timeline of when you plan on doing what; explain how, when, and where you are going to meet or talk with your expert; and identify specific resources you plan on using to help you achieve your goals. My evaluation of the â€Å"Successful Goal Setting† source is that it seeks to help nurses have better time management skills as well as help nurses be good at setting goals and attaining the goals set based on the SMART analysis. I plan to attend workforce training planning programs offered by the departmental leads on increasing workforce efficiency with the help of productivity coaches and other peer-reviewed articles in the department and my manager, and visiting laid out procedures described to improve workout put starting Wednesday week 2. Attributes needed to achieve the goal; timeline of when you plan on doing what; explain how, when, and where you are going to meet or talk with your expert; and identify specific resources you plan on using to help you achieve your goals. My evaluation of the â€Å"Taking leadership Serious† source is that it seeks to ensure that the nurse is better placed to become a manager and a successful goal setter with regard to the skills achieved from successful goal setting source. McBride, Angela Barron. (March, 2011). Taking Leadership Seriously. American Journal of Nursing, 111(3), pp.11. Web. Retrieved from: http://journals.lww.com/ajnonline/Fulltext/2011/03000/Taking_Leadership_Seriously.2.aspx Davis, Anne J. (January, 1963). The Skills of COMMUNICATION. American Journal of Nursing, 63(1). Web. Retrieved from:

Direct Marketing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Direct Marketing - Assignment Example 1) Cost – As the cost of per target promotion in direct marketing tends to be substantially higher than that in case of mass marketing, marketers must send their message to a limited audience only, as sending the message to general audience at large with very few of them likely to respond positively or getting converted may increase the cost manifold and thus cause a lot of marketing dollar wastage. 2) Customer irritation – As direct marketing communication tends to be longer and more involving i.e. seek active participation of the customer, than traditional mass marketing communication, thus unnecessary and unsolicited message may lead to customer frustration, resultantly eroding brand equity. Thus in direct marketing it is important to come up with a list of the customers who would be most interested in the product offering and thus will be most likely to respond positively rather than non-responding or responding negatively by avoiding further communication. â€Å"Data Mining is the process of discovering interesting knowledge from large amounts of data stored either in databases, data warehouses, or other information repositories. Simply stated, data mining refers to extracting or "mining" knowledge from large amounts of data.† (Han and Kamber, 2006). According to Fayyad et al (1996), Data mining is an important process of discovering novel, implicit, useful and comprehensive knowledge from large amount of data. For Direct marketing it translates in to a description of likely buyers or responders and thus Data mining helps in securing better results, for a direct marketing campaign than a traditional mass marketing campaign For example - To develop marketing and service –delivery strategy, Harrah’s entertainment Inc., the gambling and hotel chain uses Data mining to target customers on individual basis for direct marketing. Using its sophisticated

The impact of affordable childcare on the residents of the city of Essay

The impact of affordable childcare on the residents of the city of Oxnard, CA - Essay Example The strategy advocated in this study demanded residents to reduce on the amount of money, which they required to meet their subsistence (Darla, 2012). According to Keller, Martin, and Robertson (2012), the majority of those who access Oxnard childcare programs are high-income earners. However, many citizens depend on hourly wages, about $10 per hour for most workers, and these jobs are not guaranteed for a whole day1 (U.S Census Bureau, 2012). Therefore, this has prompted numerous low income parents result to staying with their children instead of relying on expensive care centers, which they are unable to afford while struggling to cater for other necessities. Young children develop quickly in their first four years (Mayesky, 2012). This age characterizes their scribble age where they learn advanced control of their bodies coupled with eye coordination. In this stage, a child exhibits more controlled physical and eye coordination in all activities, which they normally undertake while playing or interacting with their peers (Mayesky, 2012). Darla, A. (2012). Meeting Basic Needs on Low Income Wages in a Local Setting in Southern California: Experiences of the Working Poor. Retrieved on 6Th February 2013 from http://hdl.handle.net/10211.8/199. or https://csusm- dspace.calstate.edu/handle/10211.8/199 Gertler, J. P., Fernald, L. C. H. & Neufeld, L. C. (2008). Role of cash in conditional cash transfer programmes for child health, growth, and development: an analysis of Mexico’s Oportunidades. Lancet, 371, p. 828-837. Glasmeier, A. K. (2013). Living Wage Calculation for Oxnard city, Ventura County, California. Living Wage Calculator, Retrieved on 6Th February 2013 from U.S Census Bureau. (2012). Table 644. Average Hourly and weekly Earnings by Private industry Group: 1990 to 2010.

Hispanic speaking mental health program at catholic charities of Research Paper

Hispanic speaking mental health program at catholic charities of fairfield - Research Paper Example The world of today is rather unique in that it has been torn apart by wars, racism, homelessness, unemployment and various types of financial and economic crises that are affecting and crippling millions of people every day. True to its motto ‘Faith in Action’ this organization has developed a number of housing schemes for the homeless which enables both the able bodied as well as physically and mentally challenged individuals to live and correlate with each other in peace and harmony, thereby enhancing the worth of the family unit. The housing schemes of the Catholic Charities of Fairfield are of various kinds from the Permanent Housing Diocese Program to the Scattered Site Housing Program to the Conger House and Thomas Merton Center Programs. The agency’s New Heights Program is directed towards the mentally challenged individuals in Bridgeport, CT and is dedicated towards making every individual achieve their maximum possible potential. It is a psycho-social pro gram that offers pre-vocational and vocational training, educational training, computer knowhow and support groups, with peer and telephonic support as well. In order to be a part of this program, one must be diagnosed with a mental illness, be receiving service from the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services and be residing within one of the areas served. The issue at hand appears to be that these services need to be expanded as the population of Bridgeport is increasing. However the problem is that the majority of the new population that has entered Bridgeport in recent years appears to be Hispanic. It is not difficult to see this when recent US census estimates show that the Hispanics are the single largest ethnic majority in the USA today. These facts had come to light in the last two elections and Obama and Bush had both tried to win a large part of the Hispanic vote as it affected their overall results. Most likely the problem has existed for a number of months now and came to light of the administration when mentally challenged Hispanic individuals and their caretakers applied for assistance and admission to the New Heights program. A check up from the Mayor’s Office or even a local real estate agent would have given an indication of the changing trend of residencies in the county. The problem is that the Catholic Charities of Fairfield had not planned for this demographic trend and have not included diversity within their program makeup. The consequences are that the services and the staff are all English speaking Americans and there is no one to assist the Hispanic speaking population. As we have noted, the majority of the newcomers have been from South and Central America and therefore the present setup is at a loss as to how to accommodate for this change in demographics. As a result the Spanish speaking individuals cannot be served and are placed on waiting lists. But sooner or later, a solution will have to be found as the probl em is not going to go away. PROPOSED SOLUTIONS & THEIR IMPLEMENTATION Planning for change is a very important thing and should be practiced by individuals as well as organizations and their management staff. Even if the problem was not recognized in the past, it is not too late now and some swift and effective changes this agency can help accommodate the new Hispanic patients. The first thing would be to see if there is enough room and funds under the present programs. As Hispanics would also be attending

The White Cube Museum Essay Example for Free

The White Cube Museum Essay Introduction: White cube was set up by art dealer Jay Jopling, an ex-Estonian and son of a Conservative MP who is married to artist Sam Taylor Wood. It was first opened in a small, square room in May 1993 in Duke Street. Indeed, it was the smallest exhibition space in Europe at the time, and yet, for such a small space white cube became, arguably, one of the most influential galleries of the past decade. Situated at 44 Duke Street, St James, one of London’s most traditional art dealing streets, surrounded by auction houses, old master galleries and specialist art bookshops.   The central concern of White cube was to create an intimate space in which an artist could present a single important work of art or a coherent body of work within a focused environment. In this regard, the gallery achieved its reputation by being the first to give one person shows to many of the so-called Young British Artist [YBAs]. Even when it moved to its present location at Hoxton Square, it still held on to its unique gallery rule that an artist could only be exhibited once. By this time, white cube had built up an international reputation for showing international artists such as Chuck Close, Richard Prince and Jeff Wall but interspersed with this Jay Jopling had also shown, cutting edge, YBAs including Gary Hume, Mona Hatoum, Marc Quinn and Sarah Lucas. Alfred H. Barr. Jr., director of the Museum of Modern Art, MoMA, is credited for transforming the white cube concept into a functionalist ideology that conveyed purity and restraint, hence setting up the canon for modern art. On the other hand, Carol Duncan has attempted to bring out the effect caused by MoMA’s imposition of the masculine gaze to modern art galleries. Indeed her writings have given feminists an impetus to show that the personal is political and hence, women can channel there own experiences to disrupt the masculinity of the museum’s space. Ideally, Carol Duncan challenges the white cube’s functionalist concept of purity and restraint by directing us to begin to think about ‘female form’ and its cultural significance. The concept of purity and restraint conveyed by the white cubes has its basis in the ideology that representations of the female body can be though to be less of a static object and more as a limit point or set of exclusions, for while an image of the body of a woman can represent all that is pure or worthwhile, it can also embody that which is thought to be the most contaminated and disgusting. It is this objectivism of the female body by male artists’ that Duncan describes as male artists’ attempts to reach abstraction. The white cube captures this abstraction in such a way that it bars women artists from admittance to its canon. She seems to portray the idea that this canon emanates from the view point of a heterosexual male audience whose desires activated the modernism of the white cube art concept. In essence Carol Duncan’s main critique of MoMA’s white cube is based from its perceived attempt to foster stereotypes in society. From her are led to imagine exhibition sites to be quite the opposite of the white cube, to be social spaces based on the model of a living, responsive, organic entity. This is because to her, the white cube deliberately restricts the range of sensorial input to the viewer as works are spatially isolated in uncluttered, pristine environments characterized by large expanses of bare, unadorned wall. The cool aesthetic of the modern art institution, to her, only serves to emphasize the architecture as a functional container and a set of solid surfaces. This makes the art museum appear like a ritual site whose aesthetic exhibition, courtesy of the white cube, distinguishes viewers from art works both conceptually and spatially, which is an ideal of the neutralized relationship between art and space. Emma Baker also presents a different angle to the critique on the white cube. She argues that by interpreting artistic statements concerning art and space within the expanded notion of interior space, better understandings and more appropriate solutions will result. This solutions are necessary because the modernist idea of a universalized and neutral environment for art as espoused by the white cube concept impinges on the interior space in the gallery, and therefore on the artwork. The idea of space itself is considered an ambiguity, and it is this ambiguity that the white cube concept capitalizes on, presenting an unobstructive gallery space characterized by sterile and lifeless walls. This is a marked contrast from the artists of the past who expressed their spatial concerns within the abstract notions of the interior, architecture, environment, and /or space; hence there is a lot of interest expressed by artists, in negotiating concerns associated with the physical, psychological, and experiential implications of space. In as much as Emma Baker declines to support the white cube concept, which has been the traditional approach of a modernist museum to the collection and exhibition of art work, she also does not go out to support the artists of the past since, according to her today’s museum’s privileging of newness, non-linearity, and post modernity seems to disavow the influence of history and the relevance of modernity. Her writings instead seem to allude to an approach which is concerned with the mediation of that art work to a diverse public, rather than the cultivation of the artist within a historical context. This is because, today architecture is the prevailing element that determines the quality and characteristics of art related spaces and therefore dictates the interrelation of art and space. Thus, because of the psychological, aesthetic, and behavioral implications, the notion of the interrelation of art and space needs to be considered within the complexity of interior space. Essentially, Baker advocates for a generic post modern approach style, which presents the concept of space in a fashion that is without precedent in architectural style, something which is widely apparent in recently constructed museums and shopping malls globally. And yet, the fundamental structure underlying these new effects can also be seen as maintaining clear connections with past incarnations of the institution’s built form. Precedents for this approach include the exhibitions from the Education and Community Program, such as Unspoken Truths (1993), and Once is Too Much (1997-1998). These exhibitions, and the programs of work from which they derived, set standards for education and community work within, rather than parallel to, the museums activities. Hence the idea of neutrality as espoused by the white cube is in this context dismissed within a design sensitive framework.   Furthermore, Emma Baker considers that one of the key functions of a museum of modern art, through the acquisition of art works, is to challenge rather than to reinforce assumptions about definitions of art and artists. This viewpoint contributes to make a powerful argument for a new way of looking and thinking about art that is open and inclusive rather than closed an exclusive. As such, this viewpoint employs features of modernity at a generally invisible albeit fundamental level. This is so in regard to history, display and communication on the one hand, so that on the other, it can attempt to undercut the problems of representation associated with modernity, by referencing a post modernity that denies both historical precedents and the connection between museums and modernity as a progress-oriented project. This is ironic in relation to modernism’s belief that ‘ornament is a crime’ because it   looks as if post modernity has been appropriated within Emma Baker’s view point not as a cohering style, or as a guiding principle, but as precisely that: adornment. In both asserting and critiquing the idealized modernity of white cube exhibition spaces through their strategies of display, Emma Baker’s viewpoint may be physical evidence for the argument that modernity and post modernity do not exist in a dialectical relationship, but as influences that overlap and compete for attention. In conclusion, it is important to note that both authors, Emma Baker and Carol Duncan attempt to critique the white cube’s concept of artworks that speak for themselves by employing neutrality to achieve the needed effect. Carlo Duncan approaches her criticism from the standpoint that rather than have museums with bare and unadorned walls, art exhibitions were designed to be   social spaces based on the model of a living, responsive, organic entity. Emma Baker on the other hand argues that what is essentially needed is some sort of mediation of that art work to a diverse public, rather than the cultivation of the artist within a historical context. Reference: Marie Fitzpatrick, D. The Interrelation Of Art And Space: An Investigation Of Late Nineteenth And Early Twentieth Century European Painting And Interior Space http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:StnTM_h7QVAJ:www.spokane.wsu.edu/Academics/Design/documents/Theses/d_fitzpatrick_10568509.pdf+Emma+Barker+*white+cubehl=enct=clnkcd=24gl=keclient=firefox-a Toorn, T. Sensing Bodies: Documentation, Preservation and Wearable Computer Art http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:ClLDm5PRsH4J:www.docam.ca/Pedagogie/Seminaire_2006/Tai_van_Toorn.pdf+Carol+Dunkan+*white+cubehl=enct=clnkcd=10gl=keclient=firefox-a

Defining And Understanding Empowerment Social Work Essay

Defining And Understanding Empowerment Social Work Essay Empowerment can be defined in general as the capacity of individuals, groups and/or communities gain control of their circumstances and achieve their own goals, thereby being able to work towards helping themselves and others to maximise the quality of their lives. In health and social care empowerment means patients, carers and service users exercising choice and taking control of their lives. It is not that one is empowered means he or she become all powerful like God. Even if we are empowered still we have limitation. Actual meaning of empowerment is that one feels that he or she able and feels powerful enough in certain situations to take part in decision making. I also will explain how politics played a part in disempowering women in health and social care services. It is a greatest challenge in health and social care to achieve progress with the empowerment of carers and people who receive services. Beginnings of twentieth century women were disempowered because of politics played a part. Emancipation is a commonly used word in other western European countries to refer to what in the UK mean by empowerment. The word emancipation has is useful because it has overtones of the struggle for votes for women in Britain at the beginning of the twentieth century, so it reminds us that empowerment  Ã‚  in the health and social services has a political aspect. When carers and people who use services experience being disempowered and excluded, this is a form of political disenfranchisement. In other words, it is as though they have no vote and are not treated as full members of society. In contrast, when people become empowered, they can exercise choices and have the possibility of maximising their potential and living full and active lives.   There is a tension between enabling people to take control of their lives and recognising that workers may need to intervene and take control sometimes, in order to protect other people. This applies to both empowerment and advocacy. Empowerment for people with learning disabilities is the process by which they develop increased skills to take control of their lives. This will help them achieve goals and aspirations, maximising their quality of life. A key feature in empowering people is giving them a voice and actively listening to what they have to say. Empowerment is, therefore, closely linked to the concept of advocacy. Empowerment in learning disability can be described as a social process, whereby people who are considered as belonging to a stigmatised social group can be assisted to develop increased skills to take control of their lives. This increased control will help them to achieve their goals and aspirations and thus potentially maximise the quality of their lives. The concept has connections with assertiveness and independence and is clearly linked to the various forms of advocacy. When considering the current climate it is somewhat an indictment on our times that the Government sees the need to name the White Paper regarding its vision for learning disability services as Valuing People. The title alone inversely suggests that as a society we are not valuing people. The content presents the evidence on levels of exclusion, disempowerment and lack of valued social roles facing those with a learning disability and how services should be planned to address this. (A similar Scottish Executive Review of Learning Disability has the title The Same As You.) For the individual with a learning disability, the subjective experience of empowerment is about rights, choice and control which can lead them to a more autonomous lifestyle. For the professional, it is about anti-oppressive practice, balancing rights and responsibilities and supporting choice and empowerment whilst maintaining safe and ethical practice. Education is often seen as the main engine of empowerment, equality and rights of access. Thus, as a group, people with a learning disability can be at a particular disadvantage. They may have to be enabled and supported to perhaps overcome social obstacles and can be dependent on others to make important information accessible to them, assist them with advocacy and help safeguard their rights. A key feature in empowering individuals is giving them a voice and then listening actively to what they have got to say. Person Centred Planning with its focus on placing the individual at the centre of the process and using techniques to obtain meaningful participation can be a major contribution to finding out what people have got to say. Empowerment will bring along with it rights and responsibilities plus also potential risks for people. It is often the fear of physical risk which can inhibit empowerment processes for people who see themselves as responsible for vulnerable people. They may fear a blame culture if things go wrong. Surprisingly, as recently as 1998, the Social Services Inspectorate noted there were no systematic approaches for risk assessment and management in the field of learning disability. The Foundation for People with a Learning Disability set out to identify good practice in how to reconcile the tension between ensuring the safety of an individual with a learning disability and empowering them to enjoy a full life in the community. A report was produced called Empowerment and Protection (Alaszewski et al, 1999) which suggested that organisations needed to develop risk policies which embrace both protection and empowerment issues at the same point. The definition of risk should look at consequences and probability. Procedures should also include, from the start, the wishes and needs of the person who has the learning disability and involve them  throughout, including the decision making stage. Such comments about organisations developing appropriate risk strategies show that empowerment is not there just  as a concept for front line staff, but should penetrate the strategic planning levels. Valuing People states (Section 4.27) that people with a learning disability should be consulted for their views on services and these views utilised at a corporate planning level. In Mrs Ali case she is empowered by Muslim religious faith to take of her bed-bound husband although in contrast her care taker Jean believes that Mrs Ali should be empowered. This indicates religion also empower some people to take care vulnerable people.

E-tendering implementation best practice

E-tendering implementation best practice Chapter 1: Introduction 1.0 Research title E-Tendering Implementation: Best practice 1.1 Abstract E-Tendering is a web tendering service offered on a pay-per-tender basis where allows clients and their consultants to run tenders through a secure website. But not all the countries involved are fully implemented e-Tendering. They are only implementing e-Tendering at certain stages. This research is carried out to study the best practice in the implementation of e-Tendering worldwide. The anticipated findings are each countries involved are not fully implemented e-Tendering because of certain problems and constraint. The benchmark was developing for the best practice of e-tendering. This research will narrate for government and construction industry itself where it stands in terms of e-Tendering implementation compared to its peer countries. Introduction Construction industry all over the world have demonstrated the need to improve the service delivery and being able to handle issues swiftly and satisfactorily. The advent of Internet Technology has made it possible for authority of construction industry to transform themselves by offering traditional services especially tendering process through online. Tendering is considered to be one of the fairest means of awarding government contracts and the method most likely to secure a favourable outcome for a government in its spending of public money. The basic principles of the tendering process have been applied to many business areas, such as purchasing goods seeking service providers, business consulting, or the selection of main contractors for construction work. With the expand and spread of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in world and this country, government of Malaysia under Public Works Department (JKR) collaborate with Construction Industry Development Board (CID B) to implement the National E-Tendering Initiatives (NeTI) program. E-tendering program will provide all tendering process through online. At this stage, JKR and CIDB implement e-tendering for government construction project only. According to Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, e-Tendering is a Web tendering service offered on a pay-per-tender basis. E-Tendering allows clients and their consultants (buyers) to run tenders through a secure website. It offers a simple, secure, standard, efficient and cost effective way to manage tenders online. It provides a major opportunity to replace existing paper based procedures and achieve significant cost savings, while producing a more efficient and reliable process. Use of the system is charged on a per tender basis to buyers, there are no subscription fees. Use of the system is free to contractors (suppliers). This reason bring to government of Malaysia and countries over the world to use and implement e-tendering, which offer a simple, secure, standard, efficient and cost effective and also can avoid corruption. That means contractors all over the country can register and get tender through online and do not have to use the traditional tender process which is pa per-based, more costly and sometimes bias tender awarded. Problem statement Most of the developed and develop countries have their own channels to publish the notification of tenders through the Internet, which are displayed in their official websites. However, implementation of electronic tendering is not complete in the reality world because of certain barriers and problems. In Malaysia, the tendering process is still based on manual activities even though they have National E-Tendering Initiatives (NeTI) program, which website program that conduct tender process through internet. In the current situation, government of Malaysia only advertises their tender through online. When looking entire the world, same situation of e-tendering implementation happens. Many countries like India and Singapore conduct and organize tender process through online in the half way. Different countries have their different nature of technology and construction industry. In UK, e-tendering is already implemented in the most efficient manner. Player of construction industry in UK, especially contractor, they have enough technology and equipment to adopt e-tendering. Now the question is what is the best practice to adopt e-tendering in present time? Benchmarking best practice need to develop to give some guideline to the develop countries what is the best way to implement e-tendering. Researcher recognize that most of people are tend to do benchmarking in IT and supply management but lack of study in benchmarking the best practice of e-Tendering. So the gap of knowledge must be filled and explore to produce the new findings that might be give benefits to people and construction industry itself. For above statement, this research has explored the best practice of e-Tendering implementation in few countries. This research has identified e-Tendering processes involved and compares it with each country selected. By the end of this research, the best practice of e-Tendering implementation is recommended for the benchmark. Aims This research is carried out to study the best practice in the implementation of e-Tendering worldwide. Objectives To identify the countries in the world who have implemented e-Tendering To study compare the best practice of e-Tendering implementation as identified above. To recommend the best practice of e-Tendering implementation. Research questions What countries that already implemented e-Tendering in their construction industry? What are the processes of e-Tendering? Are they fully implemented e-Tendering in their construction industry? What is the best practice of e-Tendering for their construction industry currently? Research methodology Literature review In order to provide good background information of the study area, literature review is very important. Literatures reading were carried out to collect all information and studied to get better understanding about e-Tendering implementation in Malaysia and others countries worldwide. All the sources are collected from internet, journals, books, past master thesis and dissertation related to this topic. Desk study All the sources are analyse and make interpretation. From literature study, data were collected and distinguish what are the needs in this research. Quantitative interpretation is the main method to carry out this research which based on data and more relevant with the current issues. Significance of research This research is about best practice of e-Tendering implementation worldwide was done for the following major reasons: The Malaysia government needs to know where it stands in terms of e-Tendering implementation compared to its peer countries to mark its current progress of milestone achievement. Malaysia construction industry needs to know with their current status e-Tendering implementation compare to others countries. Benchmark for e-tendering is very important to recognize the best practice of e-tendering implementation worldwide. To discuss the current status e-Tendering worldwide. Overview of content Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: An overview on conventional tendering Chapter 3: New version of tendering system- Electronic Tendering Chapter 4: Methodology Chapter 5: Case study discussion Chapter 6: Recommendation conclusion

Displaying the Confederate Flag :: Racism Confederate Flag Symbolism Essays

Displaying the Confederate Flag Ever since I first moved here, I have always wanted to know why so many people from this area go out of their way to display a symbol that is regarded by many others as a symbol of hate. I see it everywhere I go—on clothes, backpacks, license plates, and even in yards. The confederate battle flag is flaunted by many in this area, and I think that we can all attest to this. Why do so many people display this flag on an everyday basis, and who exactly are these people? What does the flag’s glorification say about these people, and how do they want to be thought of by displaying this symbol? Finally, I would like to better determine what the flag means to me and to other people of the area who do not exhibit the flag. The first step in understanding this cultural phenomenon is to determine who exactly is responsible for creating it. It is pretty obvious who these people are. Have you ever seen a plain confederate battle flag shown off by an African American, Hispanic, Asian, or any other non-whites? I would bet my life savings that over half of the flag pushers are people who have never lived in a racially diverse area or a large metropolitan location, as this symbol is not tolerated in these types of areas. In addition, I think it is safe to say that many of these people come from the more rural, conservative areas of the country. All in all, however, the flag’s promoters are essentially the white people who choose to display it. I have come to the conclusion that these people display this flag for a number of different reasons. There are some people out there who actually use the flag as a representation of being from the south. Unfortunately, I think this belief is more often utilized as an excuse for displaying a symbol of racial intolerance than as a hometown indicator. The Ku Klux Klan, which houses its capital in nearby Harrison, has used the flag for years as a sign of white supremacy. Is it just a coincidence that many other whites from surrounding areas so proudly display the symbol as well? I wonder why the supposed non-racist southerners decided to use the same particular flag instead of the many other symbols that can be used to show southern pride.

Diversity: Individual Behavior Impact Essay -- Work Diverse Behavior

Diversity: Individual Behavior Impact   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Individual behavior is the pattern of behavior, thought, and emotion, unique to an individual, and the ways he or she interact to help or hinder the adjustment of a person to other people and situations (The Columbia Encyclopedia, 2001). Within organizations, diversity can positively or negatively impact the behavior of individuals. Organizations are responsible and held accountable for making the overall work environment conducive for all within the diversified setting. Diversity is shaped and informed by a variety of characteristics including age, ethnicity, gender, disability, language, religion beliefs, life stages, education, career responsibilities, sexual orientation, personality traits, and marital status. Workplace diversity is about acknowledging differences and adapting work practices to create an inclusive environment in which one?s diverse skills, perspectives, and backgrounds, are valued (Workplace Diversity Strategy, 2003). There are many diversity issues within the workplace however, age, gender, personality traits, and religion highly impacts individual behaviors within an organization. Age   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  ?The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA)?, states the unlawfulness of discriminating against a person because of his or her age with respect to any term, condition, or privilege of employment; including, but not limited to, hiring, firing, promotion, layoff, compensation, benefits, job assignments, and training (Age Diversity, 1997). Age diversity at work means employing people of all ages, and not discriminating against someone because of how old he or she is. Age discrimination can take place as a result of the organization or from the different generational differences that make-up the organization. Generational differences can have many diverse impacts on individual behavior with regard to age differences. These differences can become a big distraction, hurt morale, and teamwork, unless managers learn how to accommodate the uniqueness of each group (Gomolski, 2001). Typically older persons tend to take his or her work related responsibilities very serious unlike their younger counterparts. Older employees take pride in doing a job well whereas younger employees want to just get the job done and move on to the next assignment. Although each person is working toward the same organ... ...997). Age Diversity: Facts about Age Discrimination. Retrieved from www.eeoc.gov/policy/adea.html on August 4, 2005.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Author unknown (2005). The Workplace Religion Freedom Act. Your Gateway to the Jewish Internet, 2005. Retrieved from www.ou.org on August 7, 2005.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Author unknown (date). Workplace Diversity Strategy (2003-2005). Retrieved from www.dewr.gov.au/publications on August 4, 2005.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  BSR Staff (1999). Religion in the Workplace. Business for Social Responsibility. 2001-2005.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Gomoliski, B. (2001). Managing age diversity in the workplace. Computerworld Inc., 2005. Retrieved from www.computerworld.com on August 6, 2005.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hahn, S., Litwin, A. (1995). Women and Men Understanding and Respecting Gender Differences in the Workplace. Anne Litwin & Associates, 2005.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  McInnes, R. (1999). Workforce Diversity: Changing the Way You Do Business. Diversity World, 1999-2005. Retrieved from www.diversityworld.com August 4, 2005.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition (2001). Columbia University Press, 2001-2005.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  William, S. (2005). Appreciating Personality Diversity. Retrieved from www.wright.edu/~scott.williams on August 4, 2005.