Communism :: Communism Essays

"Every line I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism," reads the preface to George Orwell’s satire, Animal Farm. The rest of that line, which reads "And for Democratic Socialism as I understand it," was omitted from the 1956 edition of the book. Orwell has been called a traitor to the socialists, while at the same time becoming a sort of hero to the right wing. Animal Farm is not only a parody of Stalinist Russia, it also demonstrates that Russia wasn’t truly a Social Democracy. Orwell criticizes Marx while maintaining his own beliefs in Democratic Socialism. These beliefs are apparent in what Old Major calls Animalism. Animalism originates in a speech by Old Major, Farmer Jones’ prize boar. Old Major is to Animalism what Marx and Lenin are to Communism. Old Major is able to gather the animals in the barn, to give his talk. Both Marx and Lenin would have thought this difficult because they believed that that the proletariat would always be more concerned with work and survival than revolution or radical change. Once the animals are gathered, Old Major recounts a dream he had the previous night. He tries to explain to the animals, their place in life and how they can get out of it. This is what Marx tried to do in his writing. In The Communist Manifesto and A Contribution to the Political Economy Marx wrote about the proletariats appreciation of social position and the corrupt ways of Capitalism. "It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, wrote Marx, "But on the contrary, the social being that determines their consciousness." Marx is saying that there is no inherent reason workers should be oppressed, and they don’t see the injustice in it, because it is all they know. This is what Old Major says to the animals in the barn: Why do we continue in this miserable condition? Because nearly the whole of the produce of our labour is stolen from us by human beings. There comrades is the answer to all of our problems: It is summed up in a single word, man. Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He sets the animals to work, he gives them the bare minimum that will keep them from starving, and the rest he keeps for himself. Only get rid of man, and the produce of our labour would be

The Emerging Role of Electronic Markets

Internet-based electronic marketplaces leverage information technology to match buyers and sellers with increased effectiveness and lower transaction costs, leading to more efficient, â€Å"friction-free† markets. The Emerging Role of Electronic Marketplaces on the Internet Markets play a central role in the economy, facilitating the Yannis Bakos exchange of information, goods, services, and payments. In the process, they create economic value for buyers, sellers, market intermediaries, and for society at large.Recent years have seen a dramatic increase in the role of information technology in markets, both in traditional markets, and in the emergence of electronic marketplaces, such as the multitude of Internet-based online auctions. Functions of a Market Markets (electronic or otherwise) have three main functions, summarized in Table 1: matching buyers and sellers; facilitating the exchange of information, goods, services and payments associated with market transactions; and providing an institutional infrastructure, such as a legal and regulatory framework, that enables the efficient functioning of the market.In a modern economy, the first two functions are provided by intermediaries, while the institutional infrastructure is typically the province of governments. Internet-based electronic marketplaces leverage information technology to perform these functions with increased effectiveness and reduced transaction costs, resulting in more efficient, â€Å"friction-free† markets. Matching Buyers and Sellers. Markets â€Å"clear† by matching demand and supply. This process of matching buyers’ demand with sellers’ product offerings has three main components: determining Matching uyers and sellers †¢ Determination of product offerings – Product features offered by sellers – Aggregation of different products †¢ Search (of buyers for sellers and of sellers for buyers) – Price and product information à ¢â‚¬â€œ Matching seller offerings with buyer preferences †¢ Price discovery – Process and outcome in determination of prices Facilitation of transactions†¢ Logistics – Delivery of information, good, or service to buyer †¢ Settlement – Transfer of payment to seller †¢ Trust – Credit system, reputations, rating agencies like Consumer Reports and Better Business Bureaus Institutional infrastucture †¢ Legal – Commercial code, contract law, dispute resolution, intellectual property protection †¢ Regulatory – Rules and regulations, monitoring, enforcement Table 1. Functions of a market COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM August 1998/Vol. 41, No. 8 35 Establishing a dialogue and a sense of community among customers can create value by enabling the sharing of experiences, problems and solutions, but also allows the collection of important information about individual consumers. product offerings, search, and price discovery. The behavior of buyers, sellers, and intermediaries is motivated by their desire to maximize their private utility. When markets function well, this also leads to an efficient allocation of productive resources. Viewed this way, markets are the engine and steering system of our economy.Markets provide sellers with information about demand that allows them to employ economic inputs such as capital, technology and labor, and develop products with characteristics that match the needs of buyers. Sellers determine a schedule of product offerings that they expect will maximize their profits based on: †¢ information about buyer demand; †¢ the cost of inputs; †¢ the available technology for production and distribution of the information, goods and services purchased by the buyers; and, †¢ the transaction costs of administering production, distribution, and payment. Buyers select their purchases from the available product offerings after considering factors such as price and product characteristics. In obtaining and processing this information, buyers face search costs.These osts include the opportunity cost of time spent searching, as well as associated expenditures such as driving, telephone calls, computer fees, magazine subscriptions, etc. Typically, sellers exploit these search costs by raising their prices, and thus enjoy higher profits. Similarly sellers may face search costs in locating qualified buyers for their products, such as market research, advertising and sales calls. A key function of markets in our economic system is price discovery, which is the process of determining the prices at which demand and supply â€Å"clear† and trade occurs. For certain markets, such as financial markets, this is their primary function.Markets can employ a number of mechanisms for price discovery. 36 August 1998/Vol. 41, No. 8 COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM For instance, some financial markets use one or more of the several types of auctions to determine prices, such as the â€Å"call market† auction at the opening of a trading day at the New York Stock Exchange, when bids are accepted up to a certain time and exchange occurs when the market opens. This is the first price that is communicated via the stock market ticker to the market at large, kicking off a day of â€Å"continuous market† trading. Other markets, such as the traditional automobile dealership, employ negotiation between buyers and sellers until a price is reached.In still other markets, such as the typical department store, merchants make firm offers that customers can either take or leave. Facilitation of Transactions. The matching function of a market establishes a bilateral relationship between a buyer and a seller. After a transaction is agreed upon, the product sold must be transported to the buyer (logistics), and payment must be transferred to the seller (settlement). Markets typically incorporate mechanisms for logistics and settlement: when a tr avel agent uses an airline reservations system to book a flight, the system will generate the itinerary and the ticket, and will process a credit card payment.Furthermore, market transactions require the establishment of a certain level of trust, which protects buyers, sellers and intermediaries from the opportunistic behavior of other market participants. For instance, this trust role may include banks issuing letters of credit, credit reporting bureaus, or rating agencies such as Consumer Reports and Better Business Bureaus, which keep track of product information and seller reputations, and thus discourage opportunistic behavior. Finally, markets provide the physical infrastructure that allows transactions between the buyers and the sellers to take place. This includes real assets such as physical structures and trading floors, computers and communication networks, and transportation systems. Institutional Infrastructure.The institutional infrastructure specifies the laws, rules and regulations that govern market transactions, such as issues related to contract law, dispute resolution, and intellectual property protection, and provides mechanisms for their enforcement. In addition, the dynamics of electronic markets may raise certain antitrust issues. For example, there are large economies of scale in distribution, as a single online retailer or intermediary can serve a very large market. There are also potential demand-side economies of scale in payment mechanisms and software. These may lead to a winner-takeall market structure [1] with one or a few firms dominating the market. Purchasing a new home – Research city and neighborhood – Find a house – Inspections, title research, appraisals, contracts – Get a mortgage – Moving services – Decorators, furniture, etc. †¢ Planning a vacation – Research destination – Arrange accommodations and travel – Purchase maps, books, information – C heck out weather, items to take †¢ Purchasing a car – Research make and model – Select a dealer – Get a loan or arrange a lease – Purchase insurance Table 2. Components of consumer processes and transaction/distribution cost How the Internet Affects Markets Electronic marketplaces, especially Internet-based markets, are having a major impact on the roles of markets discussed previously [2, 12]. Product Offerings.Two major emerging trends distinguish products in electronic marketplaces from their traditional counterparts: increased personalization and customization of product offerings, and the aggregation and disaggregation of information-based product components to match customer needs and to support new pricing strategies. Electronic marketplaces support personalization and customization in two ways: †¢ Consumer tracking technology allows the identification of individual buyers; information about these buyers, such as relevant demographics, co nsumer profiles, or comparison with the known preferences of similar consumers, can be used to discover or estimate their specific preferences. Information-rich products lend themselves to cost-effective customization; for instance, delivering an electronic newspaper tailored to the interests of an individual reader need not be more costly than delivering the same copy to all subscribers. Current personalization and customization technologies use either rule-based systems like Broadvision (www. broadvision. com) that draw upon sets of expert rules, or collaborative filtering systems like the Firefly Network (www. firefly. net) that utilize the feedback and experiences of consumers with a profile of likes and dislikes similar to the targeted buyer. This allows the practice of â€Å"one-to-one marketing,† which is based on understanding individual consumers.For instance, establishing a dialogue and a sense of community among customers can create value by enabling the sharing of experiences, problems and solutions, but also allows the collection of important information about individual consumers. The ultimate objective is to provide customized services according to individual preferences, whether expressed or inferred. Increased selling effectiveness comes from being able to design appropriate products to address the needs of individual consumers, and from being able to identify the moment when a customer’s purchasing decision is most likely to occur and to be prepared for that moment, one step ahead of the competition. When determining their product mix, sellers must decide which product components or features will be included in each product offering.For example, the developer of an operating system must decide which features to implement, and whether they will be marketed and priced individually or in a single bundle. These decisions are driven by the relative cost of different product bundles, which includes the following types of costs: †¢ Production cost: the cost of producing additional units for inclusion in the bundle, including storage, processing, and communications costs incurred in the process. †¢ Transaction and distribution cost: the cost of distributing a bundle of goods and administering the related transactions, such as arranging for payment. †¢ Binding cost: the cost of binding the component goods together for distribution as a bundle, such as formatting changes necessary to include news stories from wire services in a newspaper bundle. Menu cost: the cost of administering multiple prices. If a mixed bundling strategy is pursued, where the available components are offered in different combinations, then a set of n goods may require as many as 2n prices (one for each subset of one or more goods). COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM August 1998/Vol. 41, No. 8 37 c Marginal Costs Mean Valuation c0 Marginal production, distribution, and transactions are high enough to make both bundled and unbundled Unbund led sales dominate sales unprofitable bundling Bundling is more profitable than unbundled sales Distribution Costs d Figure 1. Phase diagram for bundling and unbundling strategies as a function of marginal costInternet marketplaces are changing the constraints imposed by these costs and thus are fostering new types of intermediaries that create value by aggregating services and products that traditionally were offered by separate industries. For instance, Table 2 shows the components of three processes that generate value for consumers. In traditional markets, these components are provided by separate industries. A consumer in the market for a new car might select a make and model based on the experience collected from test drives, research from auto magazines and Consumer Reports, and recommendations from friends. She would then agree on price, order the vehicle, and take delivery through a car dealer, arrange financing through a bank, and purchase insurance from an insurance compa ny.By dramatically lowering the transaction, distribution and binding costs, the Internet has allowed intermediaries such as Auto-byTel (www. auto-by-tel. com) or Microsoft’s Carpoint (www. carpoint. com) to offer all of these products and services, with the exception of an actual test drive. Similar intermediaries are emerging in other areas, such as the Travelocity (www. travelocity. com) and Microsoft’s Expedia (www. expedia. com) travel services aggregators, or Microsoft’s Boardwalk Web site that will aggregate products and services related to real estate transactions. The Case of Information Goods. Digital information goods, such as news articles, digital images or music, allow perfect copies to be created and distributed almost without cost via the Internet.The Internet is thus precipitating a dramatic reduction in the marginal costs of production and distribution for these goods, while micropayment technologies are reducing the transaction costs for their commercial exchange. Bakos and Brynjolfsson [6] point out that this creates new opportunities for repackaging content through strategies such as bundling, site licensing, subscriptions, rentals, differential pricing and per-use fees. All of these schemes can be thought Figure 2. ComputerESP price comparison engine 38 August 1998/Vol. 41, No. 8 COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM of as either aggregating or disaggregating information goods along some dimension.For instance, aggregation can take place across products, as when software programs are bundled for sale in a software suite or when access to various content of an online service is provided for a fixed fee. Aggregation can also take place across consumers, as with the provision of a site license to multiple users for a fixed fee, or over time, as with subscriptions. Many information goods have been bundled solely to save on transaction, distribution and menu costs, yet these costs are much lower on the Internet. Thus software and othe r types of content may be increasingly disaggregated and metered, as on-demand software applets or as individual news stories and stock quotes.Independent of the cost considerations mentioned previously, Bakos and Brynjolfsson [6] show that aggregation of arge numbers of information goods can be a powerful strategy that results in higher profits for sellers as well as a socially desirable wider distribution of the goods. This is due to the ability of aggregation to change the shape of the demand curve faced by the sellers to one that is easier to exploit. Aggregation can be a surprisingly profitable strategy when marginal production costs are low and consumers are homogeneous. Bakos and Brynjolfsson’s analysis provides a framework to understand the emergence of intermediaries that aggregate online content, such as America Online and Yahoo! , as well as the increasing use of subscription pricing in the sale of information goods by companies such as Netscape, Dow-Jones, or Reut ers.Figure 1 graphically summarizes this discussion and depicts the impact of marginal cost c and distribution/transaction cost d on the desirability of bundling large numbers of information goods. Search. Electronic marketplaces lower the buyers’ cost to obtain information about the price and product features of seller offerings as well as the sellers’ cost to communicate information about their prices and product characteristics. For instance, a buyer in the market for a 400MHz Pentium II microprocessor can easily compare the prices of different sellers by using a specialized search engine like Pricewatch (www. pricewatch. com) or ComputerESP (www. computeresp. com), as shown in Figure 2.Similarly, links to manufacturers’ Web sites can be used to obtain detailed information about the product features of different laptop computers. By lowering buyers’ search costs, electronic markets increase economic efficiency. Not only do buyers incur lower costs even after considering more product offerings, they also benefit from being able to identify and purchase products that better match their needs. Several Internet-based technologies assist buyers’ searching: multimedia, high bandwidth, and rating sites provide more product information. Search engines help buyers identify appropriate seller offerings. The search engines can be hierarchical directories (like Yahoo! , generic tools (like AltaVista in early 1998), or specialized tools that work best in the context of specific markets (such as Pricewatch and ComputerESP for computers and peripherals, or Expedia and Travelocity for airline tickets and other travel products).Intelligent agents such as Bargainfinder (bf. cstar. ac. com/bf) or Jango (www. jango. com) have been developed to scout the Web and compare product offerings by price or features on the behalf of the buyers. These technologies keep lowering buyers’ search costs. The lower search costs enable new markets to e merge. For example, low buyer search costs and global reach allowed Onsale. com (www. onsale. om) to create markets in goods like secondhand cameras; otherwise the search costs would be too high to enable potential buyers and sellers to find each other in a conventional market. Several other intermediaries are emerging to facilitate the process of matching buyers and sellers. Among many others they include Yahoo! , Pricewatch, Netbot’s Jango, and several other search engines, Web directories and shopping agents. They also include providers for product information (e. g. , CNet, trade magazines), recommendations and personalization (e. g. , Firefly Network), and information about sellers such as Bizrate. Price Discovery. Electronic marketplaces enable new types of price discovery to be employed in different markets.For example, some airlines auction last-minute unsold seats to the highest bidders, and Web-based auctions at Onsale. com have created for consumer goods markets th at function like the financial markets. Intermediaries such as Priceline (www. priceline. com) allow buyers to specify product requirements and the amount they’re willing to pay, and then make corresponding offers to the participating sellers, reversing the traditional functioning of retail markets. Finally, agents such as Kasbah (ecommerce. media. mit. edu/kasbah) and Tete-a-Tete (ecommerce. media. mit. edu/tete-a-tete) that can negotiate purchases on behalf of buyers and sellers, may restructure the price discovery process in Internet marketplaces [11].The ability to customize products, combined with the ability of sellers to access substantial information about prospective buyers, such as demographics, preferences and past shopping behavior, is greatly improving sellers’ ability to price discriminate—that COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM August 1998/Vol. 41, No. 8 39 is, to charge different prices for different buyers. Price discrimination is a powerful tool that al lows sellers to increase their profits, and reduces the consumer surplus enjoyed by buyers. On the other hand, price discrimination enables sellers to service buyers who would otherwise be priced out of the market, an outcome that increases economic efficiency.These new types of price discovery, such as the ability of buyers to make offers and the ability to conduct electronic negotiations between buyer and seller agents, are changing the â€Å"microstructure† of consumer markets. Finance theory has shown that market microstructure affects both the efficiency of markets and the bargaining power of their participants. The increasing importance of electronic commerce emphasizes the need to carry this type of research analysis to electronic marMarkketplaces. It is unclear who the beneficiaup ries of this process will be. The ability to r implement different price discovery mechanisms may result in more efficient marr/2 kets, thus benefiting buyers and hurting inefficient sellers . As menu costs decrease, sellers will move away from fixed pricing, and more prices will become negotiable [7].While savvy buyers may benefit, the 0 ability to negotiate prices may not be pleasant or result in a good deal, as many visitors to auto dealerships have discovered. Furthermore, when sellers are better informed, they are likely to increase their profits by charging different prices to different buyers. Economic theory predicts that buyers with more bargaining power, typically the more affluent ones, will fare better in this situation. Facilitation. The cost of logistics—the process of transporting products from the seller to the buyer— has been estimated at more than 10% of the GNP [8]. Electronic marketplaces improve information sharing between buyers and sellers, helping lower the cost of logistics and promoting quick, just-intime deliveries and reduced inventories.The distribution of information goods such as newspapers, music, videos and software, is lik ely to be completely transformed, as the information infrastructure will replace physical distribution systems. Sellers in Internet marketplaces are typically responsible for delivery to their customers, and increasingly contract with third-party providers for direct delivery from the manufacturer to the final consumer, reducing costs and time-to-delivery. Thus, direct sellers like Dell Computer are squeezing out traditional intermediaries such as wholesalers and distributors, while delivery providers such as FedEx and 40 August 1998/Vol. 41, No. 8 COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACMUPS are emerging as major Internet intermediaries, because of their logistics expertise and their economies of scale in distribution. Electronic payment systems will further lower transaction costs in Internet marketplaces, and micropayment systems will lower the cost of small transactions, enabling new pricing strategies such as the metering of software use. As face-to-face marketplaces are replaced by electronic ones, there is increasing need to protect market participants from opportunistic behavior. Technologies such as public key cryptography can provide security and authentication of transactions, while intermediaries like Bizrate (www. bizrate. om) will use information from consumers to keep track of merchants’ reputaAs search costs fall from very high to moderate, new markets emerge, and both sellers and buyers benefit. However, if search costs continue to fall, market prices fall and sellers are made worse off, while buyers benefit from the lower prices and their improved ability to find products that fit their needs. r 2/4t r 2/t market breakdown buyer search cost Figure 3. The impact of buyer search costs in a differentiated market tions.Credit bureaus and credit card companies will provide credit information or guarantee payment for consumers. Finally, intermediaries like Verisign (www. verisign. om) are emerging as â€Å"certificate authorities† that match legal id entities to the possession of cryptographic keys—a public key infrastructure. Internet Marketplaces and Competition Impact of Lower Search Costs. The ability of Internet marketplaces to reduce search costs for price and product information may significantly affect competition. Bakos [4, 5] shows that lower buyer search costs in electronic marketplaces promote price competition among sellers. This effect will be most dramatic in commodity markets, where intensive price competition can eliminate all seller profits. It will also be significant in markets where products are differentiated, reducing the monopoly power enjoyed by sellers, and leading to lower prices and seller profits.Figure 3 shows the equilibrium prices for a differentiated good with zero marginal cost, which The dynamics of friction-free markets are not attractive for sellers that had previously depended on geography or customer ignorance to insulate them from the low-cost sellers in the market. consumers value at r and has a degree of differentiation t. As search costs fall from very high to moderate, new markets emerge, and both sellers and buyers benefit. However, if search costs continue to fall, sellers are made worse off since buyers can more easily find the lowest-cost seller, while buyers benefit from the lower prices and their improved ability to find products that fit their needs.The dynamics of friction-free markets are not attractive for sellers that had previously depended on geography or customer ignorance to insulate them from the low-cost sellers in the market. As geography becomes less important, new sources of product differentiation, such as customized features or service or innovation, will become more important, at least for those sellers who don’t have the lowest cost of production. Also, like an arms race in which both sides develop increasingly powerful weapons, sellers can exploit the reduction in menu costs to compensate for the lower search costs in electr onic marketplaces. Specifically, sellers can make it difficult to compare the price of alternative product offerings, and they can attempt to collect information about buyers that allows more effective price discrimination.Airlines, for example, have implemented extremely complicated and ever-changing fare structures, flight restrictions, and ticket availability, sometimes offering hundreds of fares for travel between certain pairs of destinations. It is also interesting to note that when informational inefficiencies prevail, a large number of sellers does not necessarily result in a competitive and efficient market. If search costs are high, individual sellers do not have a strong incentive to lower their prices because few buyers would discover them. As the number of sellers increases, it becomes more difficult for buyers to locate discounters, and thus the market may become more monopolistic as the number of sellers increases!This behavior is likely in certain markets with little or no advertising, such as some markets for professional legal and medical ser- ices. Internet marketplaces could provide price cutters with the means to reach a larger fraction of the buyers, and thus undermine the monopolistic nature of these markets. While there is much speculation about the effect that electronic marketplaces have on prices, thus far there has been little systematic analysis. One exploratory study by Bailey and Brynjolfsson [3] did not find much evidence that prices on the Internet were lower than prices for the same goods sold via traditional retail channels. Their analysis was based on data from 52 Internet and conventional retailers for 337 distinct titles of books, music compact discs, and software.Bailey and Brynjolfsson provide several possible explanations for their unexpected findings, including the possibility that searching on the Internet during the sample period was not as easy as is sometimes assumed, that the demographics of the typical Internet u ser encouraged a higher price equilibrium, that many of the Internet retailers were still experimenting with pricing strategies, and that Internet retailers were differentiating their products (for example, via delivery options or customized recommendations). Clearly, more empirical research is needed in this area. Increasing Differentiation and Lowering the Cost of Product Information. A higher degree of product differentiation leads to an increase in seller profits, which may partially or completely offset the decrease caused by lower search costs. Sellers in electronic markets will thus want increasingly to differentiate their products, possibly utilizing the personalization and customization technologies discussed earlier.Buyers in a differentiated market face two types of search costs: the cost of obtaining price information and the cost of obtaining information about the product characteristics of a seller’s offering. If sellers can control the type of electronic market introduced, they should favor a system emphasizing product information rather than price-shopping. COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM August 1998/Vol. 41, No. 8 41 A key variable for such a system is the cost of product information relative to the cost of price information about the product. For instance, an electronic marketplace designed to promote priceshopping makes it easy to compare price information, but might still require a higher-cost inquiry (such as a visit) to obtain detailed product information.For example, a buyer looking for a computer monitor on the Internet can easily compare prices from a large number of sellers, but then must obtain and evaluate the monitors’ specifications, assess the sellers’ reputations and return policies, and ideally locate a display model at a showroom or at a colleague’s office. By contrast, an electronic marketplace can be designed to promote competition based on product features. For example, high-quality multimedia product descriptions in standardized formats could help identify product offerings matching the buyer’s preferences, while price information could be left out of these descriptions or could be obscured by offering a large number of prices and making it difficult for the buyers to figure out which price actually applies. tained as electronic intermediaries gain a significant market share. Instead, the physical experience component might be unbundled to a physical intermediary.Auto-by-Tel, for example, may pay a fee to the intermediary where the test drive took place, a service that could be provided by a traditional dealership, but also by a specialized showroom or a car rental company. Internet-based electronic marketplaces are still at a formative stage, and it is hard to fully predict their impact on the structure of markets. However it is becoming clear that they will promote greater economic efficiency, and help sustain economic growth. In the process, they are creating major tra nsformations, full of strategic opportunities for intermediaries ready to compete by adding value for buyers and sellers rather than by exploiting information asymmetries.  References 1. Arthur, B. Increasing returns and the new world of business. Harvard Business Rev. , (July–Aug. 1996), 100–109. 2. Bailey, J. and Bakos, Y. An exploratory study of the emerging role of electronic intermediaries. International J. Electronic Commerce 1, 3 (Spring 1997).3. Bailey, J. and Brynjolfsson, E. In search of friction-free markets: An exploratory analysis of prices for books, CDs and software sold on the Internet. In Proceedings of the 25th Telecommunications Policy Research Conference (Alexandria, VA, Sept. 1997). www. stern. nyu. edu/~bakos/big. pdf.

Social Inequality Race And Gender - 1893 Words

SOCIAL INEQUALITY Race and Gender 1 a.) As defined by sociology, a minority group is one that is singled out and treated as lesser people, and given less say and resources than those who are of a higher station in society ((Ed.), (n.d)). The importance of having different ‘classes’ in society is that it defines who will be the one who serves those at the top and those who will be at the top. Although the separation of each class gives a clearer definition of who we are in society we should not allow that to stop us from striving to move up the stratification ladder. The poor in the U.S. begin at the door step of the single minority single White mothers, who make up the bottom thirty percent of the population (Meyer, 2014). Black women are even more of a minority than the White woman in today’s society. This is closely followed Black men and the Hispanic population coming in at 27 and 26 percent-respectively (Commerce, 2014). Women are minorities in many areas such as employment, education , and government support. Women are overlooked when it comes to being ‘allowed’ into certain jobs, neighborhoods, colleges and universities. Women are in general paid less for more work, longer hours and with less benefits. The working conditions for women are less stable than those of a man in the same position. The wages that they work for are even lower than that of their White contemparies and the conditions are even worse for them. Women earn about 77 cents for everyShow MoreRelatedSocial Causes and Consequences of Inequalities Based on Race, Class, Gender, and Sexual Orientation2854 Words   |  11 Pagesï » ¿Social Causes And Consequences Of Inequalities Based On Race, Class, Gender, And Sexual Orientation In spite of all the efforts made within United States to eradicate racial disparities, the media still broadcast discriminatory images and thoughts. 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Marco Polo s Influence On The World - 1390 Words

Marco Polo is a well-known heroic travelers and a pool game. Marco Polo was born in 1254 in Italy. Marco s father and his uncle had traveled to China as merchants. When they left Italy to return to China, they were chaperoned by Marco Polo and two priests. It is known that he was born into a leading Italian family of merchants. Ruled by Kublai Khan, the Mongol Empire stretched all the way from China to Russia. The Mongol hordes also threatened parts of Europe, especially Poland and Hungary making fear everywhere by their cruel empire. In 1269, Niccol and Maffeo Polo arrived back in Italy, where Niccol found out his wife had died while he was gone. Their son, Marco, who was only about fifteen years old, had been only six or younger when his father left home. Marco was reared primarily by his mother and the extended Polo family-and the streets of Venice. After his mother s death, Marco had probably begun to think of himself as something of a orphan. Then his father and uncle suddenly reappeared, as if from the dead, after nine years of traveling in far-off, romantic lands. These experiences were the formative influences on young Marco, and one can see their effects mirrored in his character: a combination of sensitivity and toughness, independence and loyalty, motivated by an eagerness for adventure, a love of stories. In 1268, Pope Clement IV died, and a two or three years delay while another pope was being elected gave young Marco had time to matureShow MoreRelatedMarco Polo s Influence On The World1980 Words   |  8 Pagesacross the Western world learn about the traveler and merchant that travelled to China and set the path for the Silk Road. He brought back many exotic spices, silk, and other materials new to Europe. One of the most interesting goods he is said to have brought back to Europe was the noodle. The larger than life figure they learn about is Marco Polo. Marco Polo was born in Venice, Italy in 1254 CE.1 ¬ encyclopedia Polo was born into a merchant family. At the age of sixteen, Polo joined his fatherRead MoreMarco Polo s Influence On The World Of The 18th Century1998 Words   |  8 PagesMarco Polo was born in the thirteenth century (1254 A.D.) in Venice, an Italian city-state, and he was very much a man of his time. He had the standard education for a young gentleman — knowledge of classical authors and the basic beliefs of the church, a good grasp of French and Italian, and skills in accounting. This combination is fortunate for us, since his writings offer a window onto the world of the thirteenth century. His knowledge of culture and business made Marco Polo very observant ofRead MoreSignificance Of Marco Polo s Voyages1136 Words   |  5 PagesExplain the significance of Marco Polo’s voyages to the â€Å"East† for our understanding of world history. The silk routes, has for many centuries, connected the world through a series of overland and maritime routes reaching from China, India, the Middle East and Europe. One of the most significant narratives of the voyage is told through Marco Polo, who had a significant impact on the relationship between the east and Europe and on world history. Polo’s voyages vastly enhanced European knowledge aboutRead MoreThe Travels Of Marco Polo1158 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"The Travels of Marco Polo† begins with the journey taken by Marco Polo’s father and his uncle, in which they go to present day china and meet Kublai Khan. The Polo’s family were the first Europeans that Khan got to meet. The Polo’s represent the ideals of Europeans and Khan was very interested about their way of life. 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This book highlights a historical memoir of a well-known Venetian explorer named Marco Polo but focuses around a specific dialogue and a series of stories shared between Kublai Khan, emperor of Mongolia, and his right-hand man Polo in the late 1200’s. This concept of writing emphasizes the aspects of humanity and social consequences in generic city makeup and the way we become trapped in the metaphorical â€Å"infernoRead MoreThe Asian And African Trade Systems1565 Words   |  7 PagesEurope were seen as simple and primitive. The powerful Europeans were lucky to find new worlds, bring their cultures and values to the Natives who needed them for their own salvation. Africa was a poverty stricken backwards world that never accomplished anything significant. Native Americans were easily conquerable and primitive. 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These small city-states were the powerhouses of the time and assisted speeding up the renaissance and helped spur revolutionary developments along the way being the main hubs of influence in the Italian peninsula during the late 13th and early 16th century. Florence could be characterized as a financial centre, with their banking system considered extraordinarily ahead of time; in addition being the main producers of fine elevated

Current Trends in Human Resource Management - 1494 Words

current Trends in Human Resource Management Business leaders need to be aware of the trends that will impact the operating environment in the future. Trends offer clues about how the operating environment will change. concept these shifts will allow luminous CEO’s and managers to adapt and thrive. This is especially accurate in the dwelling of Human Resources management since people are one of the most principal resources to any enterprise. Here are five accepted trends in Human Resources management that business leaders will want to watch: Leveraging Technology Technology is ubiquitous. Whether you are in the industrialized world or developing markets, a growing number of people are connecting with mobile devices like colorful cell phones†¦show more content†¦modern federal health care legislation may address some issues; however, it is tranquil very likely that the costs will continue to rise. Thus, companies will be looking to shift the burden for the costs of benefits. Some of this will be shifted to the government, some will be shifted to workers, and peaceful other benefits will unbiased be chop because they are no longer affordable. Many companies have already chop their defined benefits pensions and retirement programs. Others have modified them to lower matching contributions when they aren’t making a profit. Others have shifted their health insurance to high-deductible plans which offer lower premiums, but also require workers to lift up mighty of the basic cost even when they exhaust health savings accounts. Thus t he trend for many companies is to be more frugal with employee back offerings; however, other companies will consume their enhanced abet programs as a recruiting tool to attract the top talent in their industry. So each company must analyze their benefits in relation to their overall strategy to attract and support talent for their firm while balancing the overall costs of the programs. You must be able to reply the basic expect, â€Å"What is our compensation and benefits philosophy and how does if fit into our overall business strategy? Flexible Workplace The workplaces in the future will beShow MoreRelatedCurrent Trends in Education1626 Words   |  7 PagesRunning head: CURRENT TRENDS IN EDUCATION Current Trends in Education Current Trends in Education The trends in human resource management and its implications for education are altering. Several trends are innovative and are a result of the economy, while others are escalating as a result of new regulations, new types of degrees and education, and the type of people employed. The purpose of this paper is to inform the reader of several of these current trends. The trends that seems theRead MoreEssay On Health Workforce Trends1400 Words   |  6 Pagesretirement the acute shortage of talented workforce is a major challenge before the US health care. 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Mill and Harm Thesis Free Essays

In this essay I shall argue that John Stuart Mill’s Harm Principle is about justice and truth.   John Stuart Mill’s argues in On Liberty that the use of the harm theory, or harm principle is that a state of government must ensure the quality of liberty just so long as the actions committed in the cause of liberty are not detrimental to the activists.   That is to say that the government may interfere in order to prevent harm. We will write a custom essay sample on Mill and Harm Thesis or any similar topic only for you Order Now    The following paper will discuss Mill’s harm principle and its application to government in regards to restrictions and controls. Mill argues for the doctrine of liberty.   Mill means to define the role of a person in society and as such the limited amount of coercion consistent in society that should affect that individual, â€Å"No society in which these liberties are not, on the whole, respected, is free, whatever may be its form of government; and none is completely free in which they do exist absolute and unqualified†.   Mill is stating that although these qualities are liberty come at a cost in no society would they be considered free because of the forms of government in which the world adheres. Mill argues that any opinion should be voiced despite its offensive sentiments and unpopularity.   Mill did not right from a perspective in the harm theory to state that speech was not harmful, but despite this subsequent commentary, speech was an ideal freedom.   Mill believed, and stated in the Harm Principle, that the harmfulness of an act is just cause to place social control on that act through legal means.   These means included coercion. Mill advocates a style of liberalism that governs that individuals have basic rights (as is stated in On Liberty) and the apex of these is free speech.   The factors that involve Mill also include a free society in general and specific terms.   Even in this free society there are certain actions that a person in a society may be involved with and then there are counter-actions of the government against those acts.   This is interpreted to mean that such acts were harmful and the government was justifiable in their prevention or retardation of those acts being committed. Such acts by the government or society do not necessary lead to an infringement on that person’s liberty.   There are however points to consider when examining the harms theory; once such interpretation to the theory includes the ubiquitous nature of permissible interference by society or a governing body since any act committed may be a legitimate harmful act upon another person, and thus action in any definition could be interpreted in this sense.   Thus, any action taken by the government with the umbrella statement of harm could be legitimate. Mill however was very stringent on his interpretation of Harm Theory and its application to law.   He did not for one thing want a blanketed reason for any misuse of human liberty; thus, to use the Harm Theory in regards to the prevention of free speech because it can be construed to be harmful is not legitimate according to Mill.   He was not an advocate of preventing expression or opinion.   This is shown in his absolute rejection to consider the efficacy of tolerating any particular inference against that censoring it, â€Å"†¦however positive any one’s persuasion may be, not only of the falsity but of the pernicious consequences-not only of the pernicious consequences, but (to adopt expressions which I altogether condemn) the immorality and impiety of an opinion†.   This is stated in regards to any person or legislation’s opinion that speech could potentially be harmful. Mill helped define in broad termination a tolerant perspective of accepting opinions and/or sentiments, that were made not only in private but also in public places, â€Å"†¦human beings should be free to form opinions, and to express their opinions without reserve†.   Despite this statement Mill had a firm belief in the restrictions of certain acts and believed such free speech was conditional. These exceptions of Mill were specious.   Although Mill’s harm theory does constitute legitimate ground by which to swerve the use of free speech much of On Liberty   deals with the propagating of free speech.   Mill made a distinction between qualified and unqualified liberties.   While Mill guards the use of free speech and free trade it is the former of the two that is unqualified as a liberty.   This is done by stating that free trade is not in accordance to individual rights and liberty but that speech on the other hand is a self-regarding action. This statement of free speech is however debatable.   Free speech may be considered a self-regarding action but in most interpretations of Mill this has been denied.   In this denial can be found the fact that free speech then may very lead to harm.   In this harm, the Harm Theory is cemented as a prevention that the legislating body may act upon.   In the debate of self-regarding Mill states that self-regarding is an action committed in which the outcome has no bearing of positive or negative effects on anyone else. The introduction of harm can be taken to mean either physical harm or otherwise.   In Mill’s introduction of harm the common consensus is that it means the former.   This means that speech must be attributed as becoming harmful or having the potential to become harmful to a larder body.   In the Declaration of Liberty Mill highlights his key points of liberties and the subsequent harm that should be delivered with their abuses, This, then, is the appropriate region of human liberty.   It comprises, first, the inward domain of consciousness; demanding liberty of conscience, in the most comprehensive sense; liberty of thought and feeling; absolute freedom of opinion and sentiment on all subjects, practical or speculative, scientific, moral, or theological.   The liberty of expressing and publishing opinions may seem to fall under a different principle, since it belongs to that part of the conduct of an individual which concerns other people; but, being almost of as much importance as the liberty of thought itself, and resting in great part on the same reasons, is practically inseparable from it. It is clearly stated in the above excerpt in the phrase â€Å"expressing and publishing opinions†¦concerns other people† it is devised that speech as well as the written word fall under the category of liberty which in turn, because it concerns other people is subject to the jurisdiction of Harm Theory and must be regulated by the government. The cost of the obstruction of free speech is to not have anyone commit a harmful act.   Although the thought of censorship in regards to the Harm Theory are prevalent and extensive in scope it must be realized that opinion even in its most innocent form of private discussion lead eventually to action; and these actions are not consistently without destruction. Through speech a person’s opinions are discovered.   These opinions have a domino effect that is not a contained event but becomes widespread especially in the media centered world.   Opinions of speeches are tools by which a revolution may occur or based upon the wrong assumptions of an event or theory speech and opinions that are accepted by the general public become gateways by which hysteria, chaos and harm do occur.   Thus it is behooving to place mandates on certain speeches to ensure that destruction and harm do not occur. In this essay I have argued that although Mill focuses his attention of liberty in a free society he is also a humanist and the concern over a person’s body is the main principle of his On Liberty essay, â€Å"That principle is, that the sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection.   That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others†.   It may thus be construed that Mill advocated the use of minimal censorship if the reason behind the prevention was to retard harm being done to another person or a group of people. There must however, in Mill’s theory exist a legitimate reason behind the censorship in order for drastic prevention to occur.   Although the Harm Theory suggests that   prevention is the key to stopping a destructive act there must also be extant governing rules that would prohibit the extreme exercise of government power that could turn into autocratic power which was not in the context of Mill’s theory.   The Harm Theory is regulated by the potential for harm and thus, free speech or other liberties may be interpreted and prevented by a government in order specifically to avert harm. Work Cited Bilbija, Ksenija et al.   The Art of Truth –Telling about Authoritarian Rule.   University of Wisconsin Press, 2005. David Riesman. The Lonely Crowd. 1950 Dollard John. Frustration and Agression. 1939 Freud, Sigmund. Civlilization and Its Discontents. 1930 Kessler, Sanford.   â€Å"The Review of Politics†.  Notre Dame:  Spring (64:2).   (2002).   207   31. Konrad, Lorenz. On Aggression. 1963 Laing, R. D. The Politics of Experience. 1967 MacDonald, Ross.   Socrates versus Plato.   Aspects of Education.   P9-22.   1996. Mill, John Stuart.   Utilitarianism.Social Benefit. More, Thomas.   Utopia.   Trans.   Robert Adams.   W.W. Norton and Company, 1991. Stanford Encyclopedia.   John Stuart Mill.   Online.   11 March 2008: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/mill-moral-political/ How to cite Mill and Harm Thesis, Essay examples

Chicken Consumption in the United States free essay sample

The Department of Agriculture is currently looking at the nation’s consumption of chicken. Data have been gathered dating back to 1970, in hopes of finding variables that are closely correlated with chicken consumption so that the consumption can be predicted. In the spreadsheet you will find 36 observations†¦one for each year since 1970. The variables are: Year = Year Y = per capita consumption of chicken (lbs. ) X1 = Real disposable income per capita ($) X2 = Real retail price of chicken per lb (cents) X3 = Real retail price of pork per lb. (cents) X4 = Real retail price of beef per lb. (cents) X5 = Composite real price of chicken substitutes per lb. , which is a weighted average of the real retail prices per lb of pork and beef, the weights being the relative consumption of beef and pork in total beef and pork consumption. I. Create a model using the 5-step methodology I used in class. Examine and discuss the coefficients you obtained in your model, and the overall significance of your model. We will write a custom essay sample on Chicken Consumption in the United States or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Begin with a summary of your findings and then step through your process. The regression model is insignificant. Ha: The regression model is significant. The output below shows significance of regression model using five independent variables. Analysis of Variance Source DF SS MS F P Regression 5 7791. 5 1558. 3 870. 14 0. 000 Residual Error 30 53. 7 1. 8 Total 35 7845. 2 Analysis of variance indicates that, the given regression model is significant F (5, 30) = 870. 14, p lt; . 05. iii. Significance of independent variables. Hypothesis to be tested: H01: The coefficient of real disposable income per capita is insignificant. Ha1: The coefficient of real disposable income per capita is significant. H02: The coefficient of real retail price of chicken per lb is insignificant. Ha2: The coefficient of real retail price of chicken per lb is significant. H03: The coefficient of real retail price of pork per lb is insignificant. Ha3: The coefficient of real retail price of pork per lb is significant. H04: The coefficient of real retail price of beef is insignificant. Ha4: The coefficient of real retail price of beef is significant. H05: The coefficient of composite real price of chicken substitutes per lb is insignificant. Ha5: The coefficient of composite real price of chicken substitutes per lb is significant. The output below shows significance of each of the five independent variables: Predictor Coef SE Coef T P VIF Constant 39. 463 1. 987 19. 86 0. 000 Real Disposable Income per Capi 0. 0020441 0. 0001520 13. 44 0. 000 30. 4 Real Retail Price of Chicken -0. 12907 0. 06014 -2. 15 0. 040 29. 0 Real Retail Price of Pork 0. 4456 0. 1675 2. 66 0. 012 1920. 4 Real Retail Price of Beef 0. 635 0. 2022 2. 79 0. 009 5006. 3 Comp real price of Chicken Subs -1. 0093 0. 3584 -2. 82 0. 009 11822. 0 It indicates that, since p value (. 000) is less than level of significance (0. 05), we reject the hypothesis H01. Hence we conclude that, the coefficient of real disposable income per capita is significant. Since p value (. 040) is less than level of significance (0. 05), we reject the hypothesis H02. Hence we conclude that, the coefficient of real retail price of chicken per lb is significant. Since p value (. 012) is less than level of significance (0. 5), we reject the hypothesis H03. Hence we conclude that, the coefficient of real retail price of pork per lb is significant. Since p value (. 009) is less than level of significance (0. 05), we reject the hypothesis H04. Hence we conclude that, the coefficient of real retail price of beef per lb is significant. Since p value (. 009) is less than level of significance (0. 05), we reject the hypothesis H05. Hence we conclude that, the coefficient of composite real price of chicken substitutes per lb is significant.