Product Failure (Malaysia) Essay

Product Failure Failure refers to the state or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective, and may be viewed as the opposite of success. Product failure ranges from failure to sell the product to fracture of the product, in the worst cases leading to personal injury, the province of forensic engineering. The criteria for failure are heavily dependent on context of use, and may be relative to a particular observer or belief system. A situation considered to be a failure by one might be considered a success by another, particularly in cases of direct competition or a zero-sum game. Similarly, the degree of success or failure in a situation may be differently viewed by distinct observers or participants, such that a situation that one considers to be a failure, another might consider to be a success, a qualified success or a neutral situation. It may also be difficult or impossible to ascertain whether a situation meets criteria for failure or success due to ambiguous or ill-defined definition of those criteria. Finding useful and effective criteria, or heuristics, to judge the success or failure of a situation may itself be a significant task. Failure can be differentially perceived from the viewpoints of the evaluators. A person who is only interested in the final outcome of an activity would consider it to be an Outcome Failure if the core issue has not been resolved or a core need is not met. A failure can also be a process failure whereby although the activity is completed successfully, a person may still feel dissatisfied if the underlying process is perceived to be below expected standard or benchmark. Failure to carry out a task Failure to perceive Failure to anticipate Fail product in local market In Malaysia, there is a lot of product failure and it just too numerous to say it one by one, most of them, it did not even catch the public attention, basically, the public don’t even know the existence of the particular product. There is so much factors that can leads to product failure. Failure causes are defects in design, process, quality, or part application, which are the underlying cause of the failure or which initiate a process which eads to failure. Rather than the simple description of symptoms that many product users or process participants might use, the term failure cause refers to a rather complete description, including the pre-conditions under which failure occurs, how the thing was being used, proximate and ultimate/final causes (if known), and any subsidiary or resulting failures that result. The term is part of the engineering lexicon, especially of engineers working to test and debug p roducts or processes. Carefully observing and describing failure conditions, identifying whether failures are reproducible or transient, and hypothesizing what combination of conditions and sequence of events led to failure is part of the process of fixing design flaws or improving future iterations. The term may be applied to mechanical systems failure. One of the product/brand that fail in Malaysia is: M . Mobile or simply known as M. Mobile is an R&D and mobile communication design company based in Malaysia. M. Mobile is Malaysia’s first cell phone manufacturer and is also the world’s first Muslim-owned mobile phone R&D and marketing company in a partnership between Malaysia and China. This company is currently in operation under its parent company, Kosmo Technology Industrial Berhad Type: Berhad Founded: 2005 Headquarters: Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia Key people: Norhamzah Nordin,Chairman Industry: Telecommunications Products: Mobile phones Website: M. Mobile M. mobile’s products: Factors that leads to this brand failure The reason why this brand failed in malaysia market because: M. mobile cannot give a better satisfaction to the consumer compare to their competitor that are well established in mobile technology sector such as Nokia, Sony Ericsson , Samsung etc. Promotion (marketing) M. mobile cannot compete with their competitors in term of : Price Features Quality After sales service Promotion M. mobile should have promote their product and brand more aggressively since they enter a market where most of them already loyal to a particular brand, M. obile did not market their product as well as their brand effectively, therefore they able to capture only few attention from the public, most Malaysian don’t even know the existence of the brand. Price Price offered by M. mobile considered less expensive, but somehow, consumer nowadays always think, â€Å"even though it’s not very expensive, but it’s still money, does it worth the money? † instead of taking a risk of buying t he product which they don’t really know the background of the company, consumer prefer to spend their money on trusted brand for the same price or a bit more. Left picture is NOKIA 2690 and on the right picture is M. obile M10, both phone has a pretty similar specification and the price is almost the same(RM300+), most consumer will go for NOKIA because they want to avoid risk from buying unestablishrd brand. Features Most M. mobile product is a low end product and it does not offer variety of features compare to their competitors. As we know, consumer nowadays demand for the latest technology, therefore as a mobile phone manufacturer, knowing the consumer needs and want is the main priority in coming up with a new product, most of the product produced by this company does not reach consumer expectation who demand for better technology. Quality The quality of the product produced by this company proven not to be as good as the other brand’s products, the materials they use to make the product is low in quality, from the mainboard(interior) to the exterior of the phone. After sales service After sales service is the service provided by the company to the customer of their product, M. mobile does not offer a good after sales service compared to another company like nokia and sony ericsson. It shows that the company do not really think about building a long and strong relationship with the consumer. How the product could be successful In order for this brand to be successful, there are so many things that the company have to take into account, its not easy becoming a great company in consumer eyes, there are several things that the company have to take into consideration especially the strength of the competitors, in order to be successful, a company need to have an advantage that can overcome the competitor’s strength. This is the reason why R&D very important in coming up with new product. The 1st thing M. obile have to focus on is their promotion, promotion plays an important part in creating a good image in consumer mind, since there’s a lot of well established company in mobile phone sector, M. mobile have to make a huge action in promoting their brand and product. Doing aggressive marketing by keep on promoting the product and brand is the best way to create a good image in consumer mind, of course it will cost a lot, but the return is way better. Psychologic ally, It’s a human nature, the more we hear n see it, the more we favor it, thus it will create the sense of security towards the product or brand. Price, features and quality are related to each other, this is one of the most important things a company need to think about, they need to know what type of product they want to come out with in term of the product’s quality level and the variety of it features, therefore they can set the price for the product, The company have to make sure the price is reasonable with the quality and the features of the product or else consumer will favor the competitors, M. obile comes out with one new product called M10 and the price for the product is around rm300+,Nokia as well comes out with a new product which is nokia 2690 and the price is almost the same with M. mobile m10, both model provide almost the same features, but in term of quality, we know nokia is better, consumer will think, why choose m. mobile instead of nokia? M. mobile have to make sure their offer can overcome their competitors offer, therefore consumer will find the advantage of choosing M. mobile’s products. May be it will take some time for M. obile to keep pace with the other established company in term of product quality and technology, but by putting a correct price, the company can attract more market and the company will grow. A company have to know how important word of mouth and how dramatic change it can do with the influence of word of mouth, satisfied customer will tell the others how good the product is, dissatisfied customer will spread the bad things about the product, do not give a high expectation to the consumer because the possibility of getting dissatisfied customer is high. After sales service is one of the thing people nowadays always talk about, M. mobile have to make sure they can deliver a good after sales service so that their customer will spread a good deal with the others. It is important for M. mobile building a strong and long relationship with the customer because it can create brand loyalty, once customer loyal to the product, they will keep on purchasing the product and influence other people into buying the same product. Good after sales service shows that the company really care about their customer and customer loves it when the company cares about their rights.

Inequality and Its Effects in the Workplace

Inequality and its Effects in the Workplace Ashford University Contemporary Social Problems and the Workplace – SOC 402 July 19, 2010 ? Inequality and its Effects in the Workplace Gender, ethnicity, and race inequalities and the issues surrounding them in the workplace have been on the forefront of society’s mind for decades. The problem of inequality in the workplace has become one of the most important and vital issues in our society today.In order to understand fully the reasons for these inequalities, one must try to understand the factors that cause gender, ethnicity, and racial issues within the workplace, yet in this case, we will tend to focus mostly towards gender inequality in the workplace. One typically thinks locally in these situations, and Americans have fought hard for equality, yet over half of illiterate people throughout the world are females. Gender inequality is an issue that has been shaped by men from generations to generations.Each man carrying d own his own ideologies mixed in with the previous generation’s to create this mold that women are expected to conform and fit into. In America, women have fought long and hard to have many of the same rights as men. Education, the right to vote, and career status are just a few examples of some of the many important things these women fought for. In other countries, women are not as fortunate to have such a voice to be heard, and thus their fight ends before it begins. On April 11, 1996, President Bill Clinton proclaimed â€Å"National Pay Inequality Awareness Day†.The goal of the government was to change and eliminate discrimination in the workplace in 1972 when the Equal Employment Opportunity Act was established. The heart of both of these acts was and is to protect the individual’s rights as well as promote employment opportunities for everyone within the workplace. Obviously the government is aware and trying to prevent and protect the rights of these indiv iduals through the passing of these acts; so the question remains what are the reasons why women, ethnic groups, and minority races still being treated unfairly at work?The gendered income inequality can also be attributed in part to occupational segregation, where groups of people are distributed across occupations according to ascribed characteristics; in this case, gender. Occupational sex segregation can be understood to be made up of two directions. The first direction would be made up of occupational sex segregation and occurs as men and women are thought to possess different physical, emotional, and mental capacities. These different characteristics make the genders vary in the types of jobs they are suited for.This can be specifically viewed with the gendered division between manual and non-manual labor. The second direction is made up when occupational sex segregation occurs as occupations are stratified according to the power, authority, income, and prestige associated wit h the occupation and women are excluded from holding such jobs. An example of this type of gender inequality includes women that obtain a role in the workplace that is assumed for a man. Women have celebrated obtaining such roles, but once occupied, have had to fight to keep them.Caitlin Crawshaw interviewed Gail Powley for her article depicting workplace diversity and quickly learned Gail’s success in such a role. Ms. Powley revealed that her secret was â€Å"It’s all about attitude, so when they saw my attitude wasn’t to make them change at all, but to find ways to work with them, they actually welcomed me† (2010, para. 2). Historically, inequality has favored white males relative to similarly qualified females, ethnic, and minorities especially in the workplace.Wage discrimination is the discrepancy of wages between who groups due to a bias towards or against a specific trait with all or other characteristics of both groups being equivalent. In the cas e of gender inequality, wage discrimination exists between the male and female gender. Gender inequality wage discrimination can still be seen clearly today in specific organizations and careers, i. e. food industry. In the workplace, a female chef must work twice as hard as her male counterpart when competing for the same Executive Chef position.If you were to ask any woman in that position, she would comply. She knows her challenge before it begins, so she must know in her heart how badly she wants the prize and be extremely confident in herself to achieve this position. If you were to ask her male counterpart, he would deny the accusation. He does not see her challenge however, that does not mean that it does not exist. The challenge in this same workplace would at least doubles if the female chef were African American, or Native American.With or without the existence of this challenge, women have been gaining a steady foothold in the workplace. In fact, in America it has become a natural cultural trend for there to be dual incomes within the family and many families could not live the lifestyle that they do without the female’s contributing income to the family. This is the new norm in our local society. The new roadblock that we face now is when it comes to a single-income family in which the breadwinner is the female. So now the question becomes, why?Why is this idea so difficult for us to accept? Stay at home dads, aka; Mr. Mom’s, are becoming more and more a trend of today. Some of the factors that go into a decision like this are things like benefits, childcare, and which earner has the bigger income. Kathleen Gerson (2007) offers her view on this social attitude by stating that, â€Å"We are all quite comfortable with the dual-earner household. It’s become a cultural template, but for some reason we hit a roadblock when it comes to single-income households where the single earner is a woman† (para. ). According to Gersonâ €™s research as well, the number of households where the wife is the primary earner of the home jumped from about 4. 1% in 1970 to 7% in 2000 (2007, para. 8). This statistic is hard to accept in our economy today because it is almost a necessity for the presence of a dual income to survive and adequately provide for the family. One study has shown that a marriage that has both husband and a wife providing for the family is more satisfying than a marriage with only one sole income.Even though women struggle with keeping up with the men in the workplace, they also struggle with additional obstacles at home as well. What they experience here is a type of career discrimination because they, more than men will experience conflict between their work and home responsibilities. This conflict is intensified if the woman holds the primary responsibility for childcare because they naturally take on the role of the nurturer of the family. Other sacrifices that women will make in their caree r that men will not are things like maternity leave and extra sick days in order to take care of sick children.Because of these factors, some women feel the intense pressure to choose between that of having a career or having a family. A study that Lauer and Lauer reported states that out of 51 women, â€Å"faculty members reported that a higher proportion of younger faculty women chose to remain childless or to have fewer children than older faulty women, primarily because of the requirements of getting tenure and promotion† (2006, p. 200). The glass window effect is also considered a possible contributor to the gender income inequality.This ideology suggests that significant disadvantages exist towards the top of the career ladder which becomes worse as a person’s career goes on. The term glass window indicates that there are invisible barriers that exist that prevent women from advancements in their careers and promotions. These barriers exist in spite of the achiev ements or qualifications of the women trying to achieve these positions. Even further, these barriers continue to exist when other job-relevant characteristics are achieved like experience, education, and abilities.There are few women holding these higher-powered, high income positions due to this glass window effect. This effect also indicates the existence of limited chances of women for income raises, promotion, or advancement to more prestigious positions or jobs and increase over the course of a woman’s career. The gender income earnings ratio indicates the existence of an increase in women’s earnings comparative to men. Men’s wages reached a plateau in the late 1970’s which allowed for women’s incomes to gradually close in the ratio between the two.Despite the smaller ratio between men and women’s incomes, inequality continues to exist. Even more, this income gap varies widely within different races as well. Whites comparatively have t he greatest income gap between the genders. Within the Caucasian race, women earn 78% of the wages that Caucasian men do. Comparatively, African American women earn 90% of the wages African American men do and Hispanic women earn 88% of the wages that Hispanic men do. There are some exceptions in which women earn more than men, although they are rare.Other inequalities that women face, especially those women in the workplace with ethnic backgrounds is that of prejudged, preconceived ideologies held by others in leadership/management. Women of ethnic backgrounds in the workplace are primarily found in factory and service work. Primarily today, Americans are very conscious of illegal aliens and border issues and therefore tend to prejudge and develop social attitudes towards these ethnic groups. This is referred to as racial profiling. This makes career advancement in the workplace for these women especially hard to achieve.Most ethnic women choose not to fight the uphill battle that this kind of discrimination presents and therefore they settle for the factory and service jobs previously mentioned. Arizona legislature recognized the rising potential for racial profiling and began to revise laws stating that â€Å"police may not consider race, color or national origin†¦except to the extent permitted by the United States or Arizona Constitution† (2010, para. 9). Racial profiling can be individually overcome, but honestly, some women do not see enough value in the rewards to pursue it.Lori Latrice Martin addresses this same issue in her article concentrating mostly on African Americans when she stated that â€Å" careful examinations of racial differences in the types of levels of asset ownership have painted a bleak picture of racial economic inequality in America† (2010, para. 2). Despite the awareness of gender inequality, there are still arguments about gender difference and assumptions that women and men are from different planets; women an d men are still treated so differently in society.The workplace still remains an unequal playground that is polluted by persistent sex segregation, income inequality, sex discrimination, and sexual harassment. Women and men work because they want to, and because they have to. Employers should not judge women as being any less dependable than men because that is simply not true. The truth is that family structure has changed drastically over the years. Today the family responsibilities are now being shared by both the mothers and the fathers.In order to compensate for these changes, some companies have introduced flex time, job sharing, parental leave, on-site child care, and telecommuting just to name a few. Employers should accommodate a woman’s needs and therefore expand the gender diversity of their company. They may just find that positive outcomes will emerge from such a move. There was a time where the balance of respect and roles never existed between a husband and wif e, but today, they are redefining themselves, their relationships, and their family units to accommodate what works for them and not what society says should work.More importantly, women have successfully broken from the bondage of dependence on men. They no longer have to submit themselves to one main role in the family life solely as the mother. As for men, the need for dominancy has changed dramatically because for some men, they have been found to be the nurturing stay-at-home fathers for their family. As well, men and women have emerged to work together as a unit. ?References Crawshaw, C. (2010). Workplace diversity pays dividends; having a wide range of backgrounds helps with innovation. Leader Post, H, 1. Retrieved July 19, 2010, from ProQuest Direct database. Dunleavey, M. P. (2007). A breadwinner rethinks gender roles. New York Times, C, 6. Retrieved July 19, 2010, from ProQuest Direct database. Lauer, R. H. , & Lauer, J. C. (2006). Social problems and the quality of life ( 10th ed. ). Boston: McGraw-Hill. Sullum, J. (2010, Aug/Sept). Arrest everybody. Reason magazine, 8. Retrieved July 19, 2010, from ProQuest Direct database. Martin, L. L. (2010, Fall). Non-married women and black ethnicity: an analysis of the likelihood of homeownership. Western journal of black studies, 325-336. Retrieved July 19, 2010, from ProQuest Direct database.

How Men Are Portrayed in Music Essay

The art of music is one of mankind’s greatest contributions to society. With the start of the twenty-first century music has become a very controversial subject. With swear words and harsh portrayals being the fad for many hipsters and rap artists human dignity has become a low priority. Both men and women are made out to be objects, trash, and indecent. With girl bands and female pop musicians on the raise stereotypes come into play. The main way that men are perceived is as ‘Boy Toys,’ ‘Cheaters,’ and ‘Fairytales‘. All of these portrayals will be discussed and analyzed to learn why men are made out to be the way they are, what makes these songs so catchy, and how men feel being portrayed the way they are. â€Å"Let’s have some fun, this beat is sick, I wanna take a ride on your disco stick, don’t think to much just thrust that stick I wanna take a ride on you disco stick,† (Love Game, Lady Gaga.) Is the lyric coming from the back of a young girls convertible, driving down Hollywood Boulevard. Does she stop and question if this song is appropriate or sanitary for her little sister? The answer is no because everywhere the fresh beat from the controversial Lady Gaga is playing. The cult favorite quickly lit up airways all over the globe and why? Because of the strong beat and catchy chorus, no one has stopped to analyze the effect it could have on the male population. This particular song depicts an image of a women being very forward and promiscuous towards an unsuspecting male. This is the first of many examples of songs viewing men as nothing more then a one night stand. Society does not want to look at gentlemen in this light because it’s uncomfortable and embarrassing for men to be sought out to be damsels in distress. Like women, there are also men that sell their bodies for money. Unlike women, they are less up front about in. In Las Vegas there are no little business cards handed out with scantily clad male pictures on them with a pimps phone number, on the other hand if someone wanted that kind of service, in todays times they wouldn’t have to look far to get it. Another example of a singer using the abuse of men to sell out is none other than intense success story, Ke$ha. â€Å"I don’t care where you live at just turn around let me hit that, don’t be a little b**ch with your chit chat, just show me where your d*cks at,† is the memorable lyric to Blah Blah Blah, which shares the same reasons for success that Love Game does. A result of such songs is boys feeling the need to be a tall, dark, and handsome guy with an eight-pack which for most twelve year olds, is an unreasonable goal. Boys deal with the same pressures as girls; they got to keep up their grades, play sports, do chores, and other responsibilities and to top it all off hormones are recking havoc. If they happen to be different in any way shape or form they are made fun of and ridiculed. Without good friends, life feels like prison. This problem is caused by artists that feel the need to compare themselves to everyone else. This problem not only affects big cities like Vancouver, but small towns like Fort Nelson. Last year, a class of grade seven boys were flat out refusing to eat lunch, as a result a self esteem building program was put in place to convince the kids that eating was not wrong at that developmental age eating large portions is okay. Other rude and nasty songs telling the world men are nothing but sex toys and accessories is wrong. Part of the problem lies within ourselves. What do songs like Peacock by Katy Perry make them so addicting? For instance the repeat chorus applies to us as well as the beat, â€Å"I wanna see your peacock, cock, cock, Your peacock, cock, Your peacock, cock, cock, Your peacock I wanna see it.† Another valid reason is this music is so inappropriate that we rebel a little when we hear it, â€Å"Come on baby let me see whatchu hidin‘ underneath.† In conclusion, my question to songwriters that support people selling themselves, being taken advantage of, as well as making it all appear glamourous; how do you think these lyrics are perceived? How does a father feel when he hears his daughter singing â€Å"I am a boy hunter, I need a boy tonight,† (Boyhunter , Skye Sweetam.) Or an elder minding his own business when a gas guzzling Hummer drives by with Dinasoar by Ke$ha comes blaring out? The answer is sad and awkward and a sense of longing for the days when belts were worn and hats were taken off we they entered buildings. People talk and discuss about things that apply to them. Most writers write about personal experiences, the same goes for singers. As humans, we dwell on bad experiences rather then good ones. Making songs about your ex more popular than ones about your true love. The song Before he Cheats by Carrie Underwood comes to mind as a great example of cheating and revenge, â€Å"I dug my key into the side of pretty little souped up four wheel drive, carved my name into his leather seats†¦ I took a Louisville slugger to both headlights, slashed a hole in all four tires†¦ Maybe next time he’ll think before he cheats†. Cheating occurs in a relationship when one party is upset or unsatisfied with the other and finds someone else to fill those needs. This act is looked down upon and hurts everyone involved. In music, cheaters are mostly viewed as men and when the girl does the deed, the so called ‘other man’ is the one to blame, â€Å"What’s her name, whats she like, does she know that you’ll never treat her right,† (Ghosts, Phoebe Dobson.) These players get cocky and in the end, like a serial killer, mess up, â€Å"You should of known that word, of what you did would hurt and get back to me,† (Should’ve Said No, Taylor Swift.) Men who are faithful probably perceive these songs as disrespectful and hurtful, but with legends like Tiger Woods and A-list celebs like Jessie James, songs of this theme are becoming more and more common. We relate to these songs because everyones been through a bad break up and when you’re feeling like no body understands you, the right playlist is the right cure for a broken heart. With all the hate and injustice in the world, there has to be some happiness too, or life not worth it. Finding you’re true love makes every other relationship irrelevant. The lock around your heart has found it’s key. Finding your soul mate is and discovering your truly not alone is the greatest feeling in the world. So why not describe it in song format? A good example of a singer who does this on a regular basis is country superstar, Taylor Swift. With the numerous awards and best selling singles, sharing her experiences was a very good idea, â€Å"Today was a fairytale, you were the prince, I was the damsel in distress, you took me by the hand and you picked me up at six today was a fairytale,† (Fairytale, Taylor Swift.) Some men don’t think these songs have merit and are too girly for them, but then why do they listen to them over and over? I think that being viewed as someone’s one and only is what make life worth all the struggles. Finding ‘the one’ makes you stop questioning â€Å"that theres’ gotta be somebody for me like that,† (Gotta be Somebody, Nickelback.) What makes this portrayal so popular is that society has taught us that finding your one and only is the ultimate goal. On the other hand, from a scientists point of view, not finding your soul mate and not having children is the worst thing imaginable because that implies that you’ll be erased from the gene pool making you existent come to a completely end. All men need someone to guide them, and give themselves over to without feeling worried or lost. When someone gives their mind, body, and soul over to you, the sun is brighter, the sky is bluer, and the birds sing louder, â€Å"let’s go all the way tonight, no regrets, just love, we can dance until we die, you and I will be young forever!† (Teenage Dream, Katy Perry.) Chivalry may be dead, but happily ever afters are still possible, â€Å"the planets all alined, when you looked into my eyes, and just like that, watch the chemicals react,† (Chemicals React, Aly & A.J.) Music gives us life, makes us feel surrounded and alive. Portraying every emotion, every event in our shared history. Giving men scoldings when they are weak and praise when they truly accomplish something. Without these songs, how could we express ourselves and convince the inner soul that falling head over heals for someone you just met is not crazy, but part of life. As with any literacy work there is truth to all the views; some men are used, some are scum, but once in you find Mr. Right and the world keeps on spinning. â€Å"So maybe it true, I can’t live without you, and maybe two is better then one, but theres so much time, to figure out the rest of my life, and you’ve already got me comin’ undone, and thinkin’, two is better than one,† (Two is Better than One, Boys Like Girls Feat. Taylor Swift.)

Gender Equality Essay

World bodies have defined gender equality in terms of human rights, especially women’s rights, and economic development. [12][13] UNICEF describes that gender equality â€Å"means that women and men, and girls and boys, enjoy the same rights, resources, opportunities and protections. It does not require that girls and boys, or women and men, be the same, or that they be treated exactly alike. [14] The United Nations Population Fund has declared that men and women have a right to equality. [15] see more:speech on gender inequality â€Å"Gender equity† is one of the goals of the United Nations Millennium Project, to end world poverty by 2015; the project claims, â€Å"Every single Goal is directly related to women’s rights, and societies where women are not afforded equal rights as men can never achieve development in a sustainable manner. [13] Thus, promoting gender equality is seen as an encouragement to greater economic prosperity. [12] For example, nations of the Arab world that deny equality of opportunity to women were warned in a 2008 United Nations-sponsored report that this disempowerment is a critical factor crippling these nations’ return to the first rank of global leaders in commerce, learning and culture. In 2010, the European Union opened the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) in Vilnius, Lithuania to promote gender equality and to fight sex discrimination. It is also worthy to note that gender equality is part of the national curriculum in Great Britain and many other European countries. Personal, Social and Health Education, religious studies and Language acquisition curricula tend to address gender equality issues as a very serious topic for discussion and analysis of its effect in society.

The Language of Reality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 8000 words

The Language of Reality - Essay Example Beyond elementary semantic structures numerous sub-layers of meaning and communication exist to both enrich and complicate the way in which we interact and express our ideas and emotions. It is not what we say, but how we say it. The world of artificial intelligence and its struggle to embrace the complexities of everyday communication shows just how interdependent language, external cultural foces and the personal realm of experience can be. A simple de-coding or patterning of linguistic structures as we understand them is barely enough to compose the bare bones of the seemingly simple ways in which we communicate. The gap between intention and reception can create a crossfire of miscommunication - where meaning becomes alienated from form and the most intangible aspects of speech are cast into the spotlight. In the theoretical space between intention and reception - where communication can either prosper or become fragmented - lie determinants such as perception and recognition. We therefore largely depend upon these two elements to formulate successful interactions, and to form the fabric of what we perceive as reality - in the sense that we depend upon information to guide, instruct, elucidate and define the world around us. Sayre (1965, p. 177), examines the distinction between perception and recognition - and the roles they play in our understanding and interpretation of the world around us: "According to the theory outlined in Plato "Meno" and Phaedo, acquisition of knowledge is a matter of recollection or recognition. As someone comes to know that about which he has been ignorant, he "cognizes again" .... If I have never seen, been told about, read about or in some other way come to know about gooseberries, then upon seeing a gooseberry for the first time I scarcely could be said to recognize it. The next time I see a gooseberry I probably will recognize it, if not by name then at least as an object of the sort I had seen some time previously. But if the first time one perceives an object is the first time one has ever been cognitively aware of such an object, perforce at that time one does not recognize it. It is commonplace, on the other hand, that we perceive objects which we have never perceived before, nor learned about in any other way." In this understanding of recognition and perception, the act of recognition is, by definition, rooted in the realm of memory and past experience. Memory, it is generally accepted, tends towards subjectivity, embellishment and is often powerfully influenced by the emotions or mindset that were in force at the time when the incident occured. It follows that recognition is unreliable as an objective conduit for accurately conveying intended meaning - as it will always be influenced by a recipient's internalised framework of understanding. In this way, the eventual meaning conveyed by a piece of information is outside of the control of the speaker or communicator from the moment the idea leaves their immediate sphere and enters a communication channel - whether that channel be through the medium of speech, or through a technological pathway such as the internet. Once a piece of information is liberated from the person in possession of its intended meaning - it immediately falls prey to the co-authorship of social context and recipient subjectivity. Caught in a fragmented point of juncture between initial source, external influences and final perception and recognition - a message is defined and understood by a melange of often contradictory 'realities'1 which - by way of their very merger and interconnectedness -

Marxism in Anthropology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Marxism in Anthropology - Essay Example Definitely, the purpose of Marxist anthropology must be the clarification of class struggle. On the contrary, it "has recently become for anthropologists a new source of obscurity as a result of recent work which is difficult and barbarously phrased' (Bloch, 1983, p. v). The problem is that such terminology does not free the social reality form its bourgeois mystifications or wrappings. Ethnographies are widely used in modern anthropology to analyse the complexities of labour and societal development. The ethnographic relativism of the real world which is fragmented into nations and regional societies could only be adequately explained through a theoretically rigorous anthropological paradigm. Marxist anthropology could be used effectively in order to analyse the way people and societies are alienated in contemporary world. Many a Marxists, who were variously influenced by structuralism and the interpretations of Althusser and Balibar, tried conspicuously to invent structure in pre-capitalist societies believing that that's what Marx did for capitalist societies. What they forgot to see is the fact that alienation and labour are the central categories through which Marx delineated his critique of the social structure of bourgeois society. It is labour theory of value as theoretical tool enables an anthropologist to shed light processes and patterns related to social formation, forces of production and mode of production, relations of production and exploitation. It does not mean that the Marxian labour theory of value could directly be applied to pre-capitalist societies as Marx developed it in order to deal with societies where modern market structures are prevalent. Maurice Godelier, who was influenced by Lvi-Strauss, has a prominent role in developing the Marxist anthropology. Godelier endeavoured t o apply the critical Marxist insights on the relationships between infrastructure and superstructure, and alienation and labour, especially to non-western societies. He conducted extensive researches among the Baruya of Papua New Guinea in the period of 1966 to 1969. Among the ethnographies in anthropology, Godeliers' 'The Making of Great Men' has a unique place. Godelier defines commodities as 'objects which are detachable from persons or groups which circulate in impersonal relations between persons or groups' (1978, p.66). For the purpose, the Marxian labour theory of value could be generalised as an analytical category for all types of societies. It means that commodities need to be excluded from the social reality of its production. Godelier asserts that 'the mainstream of capitalism is the desire to make money with money--money is transformed into capital which is then invested in the production and circulation of commodities' (1978, p.63). Without analysing a social formation from the point of view of labour time, the hidden social relationships of actual production cannot be revealed in. Therefore, the capitalist fetishism of commodities 'appear as an independent beings endowed with life, and entering into relation both with one another and with the human race' (Marx, 1965, p.72). What is necessary is to reveal the social relations associated to the embedded amount of labour time in specific commodities, be it of prehistoric or post-modern societies. It is still true that '[a]s

Group Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Group Analysis - Essay Example 2. I (Rose) wrote the literature review, explained the theoretical and historic perspectives about the problem, determined gaps in the existing body of literature and reiterated the purpose of study. 3. Yusuf wrote the methodology section along with the research design and the various procedures that were employed for collecting the data. He also characterized the subjects, did sample designing, described the instrumentation used and wrote the procedures of data analysis. 4. Anita, the fourth member of our team drew the conclusions of the research, presented factual information, and discussed the statistical and practical significance of research with the help of charts and tables. 5. Colleen, the fifth member of our team wrote the discussion section. In this section, Colleen summarized the conclusions and offered explanation for the unexpected findings of the research. She also stated the research’s limitations and suggested pattern for further research in the very subject. 6 . Jean edited the whole report and made it sound like it was all the product of one mind. The project we completed can be divided into four basic phases, namely brainstorming, review of primary and secondary sources, data collection and analysis, and report writing. The first phase was the most critical one, though it consumed the least time. When a team has to execute a project, the most important thing is to have things done with mutual consensus. We conducted a skill demonstration session in the very first meeting in which each one of us told what he/she felt comfortable with doing in the project. This was followed by a voting session. Kayla and Anita both were willing to complete the conclusion section of the paper, but Anita won more votes than Kayla, so Kayla had to write the introductory portion instead. The tasks discussed in the list above were assigned to the respective team members in the very session. Once everybody was clear about what he/she would be doing in the proje ct, chances of conflicts were minimized. In the brainstorming phase, everyone thought how he/she would go about doing his/her part of the work. Then we conducted literature review to identify gaps in the literature and see how people have done things in the past. Literature review was followed by the data collection and analysis phase. This was the most time consuming and tiresome part of the job. Going out in the field and making others spare some time and fill the surveys for matter, they have no concern with is a tough job! Finally, the report writing phase came. Although it was no less tiresome than the data collection and analysis phase, yet things were quite manageable. We were able to adjust the report writing into our routinely activities. We finished the work one day before the deadline and partied all day long to celebrate the completion of task. In my personal opinion, group process is an excellent way of doing a project because it offers several advantages as compared to individual work. First, the tension of work is released as friends get together all the time for work. Normally, in an individual setting, one tends to waste time as there often is no impulse for speeding up. In a group process, when two or three friends sit together and work, the fourth and fifth naturally feel obliged to join them in the work. This ensures that everyone participates in the work and the work is completed sooner. Secondly, team mates benefit from one another’