Thursday, October 31, 2019

Why We Must Tell Lies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Why We Must Tell Lies - Essay Example Caught in a forbidden act, a two-year-old will quickly try to don a look of absolute innocence all while denying the alleged wrongdoing. Lying in children this young makes one wonder if lying is part of the human genetic code. The fact is, children probably are taught to lie by their first teachers- their parents. Brian Martin claims that parents carefully teach children how to lie and just as often lie to them (29). In teaching their children to lie, parents are preparing them to deal with the world. Once children set off for school, they must know how to lie effectively to teachers and classmates. Children who do not become good liars will not develop good interpersonal skills, and they will probably not become highly effective people. Every child needs to know how to explain the missing homework assignment and how to get along with playmates. Well-told lies are the most expedient means to these ends. In the adult world, the most successful people are those who are proficient liars. Businesses would cease to function if proprietors always told the truth.

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Free

Freedom in the Eyes of Kant Essay Term freedom implies various aspects and is seen as man’s endowments and thoughts within his parameter and his relationship with himself, his society and his environment. Various sociologists and theorist have their own interpretations and thoughts on what constitute freedom for a man. Whether in Rome or Greece, there has been constant transformation of Greek thoughts and methodologies on the concept of freedom. Epicurians thought that, â€Å"No bodily thing was born for us to use, Nature had no such aim, but what was born creates the use. † (Carus Humphries, 143) There is nothing in this universe that has been created for us to use but what has been born naturally becomes an essential element for us. From this doctrine, freedom gets its new meaning implying we are part of the nature and to the nature we owe our existence and our freedom is also based on this natural concept. From this concept, westerners began to analyze their thoughts on freedom and what is a true freedom? In sixteenth century, the whole concept of freedom was constantly changed. Changes occurred when the concept of slavery began to shake foundations of very core of humanity. The westerners began to seek the freedom of human beings from the jaws of slavery. From the 16th to 18th century, world saw considerable change: the beginning of modern era- a period when people began to see themselves free, free from autocracy, dictatorship and even more freedom from slavery. His mental attitude as observed was, â€Å"A reasonable man is always happy if he has what is necessary for him according to his condition [his place in the social order], that is to say, if he has the protection of the laws, and can live as his father lived before him: so that one of the essential things to the good of a nation is being governed in one constant and uniform manner. † (Rempel, Online edition) According to an ordinary man of the eighteenth century, his freedom lies in the will to live according to norms of the society and follow what is traditionally inherited for him. But literature and philosophical writers saw the new dawn of day, as there was a spontaneous over flow of significant thoughts of freedom emerging from their literary works. In the backdrop of this scenario, philosophers undertook social outlook of man in defining freedom. What is an essence of freedom in the eyes of philosophers in itself involves various paradoxes. Immanuel Kant, a product of eighteenth century looked at the freedom from various perspectives but he visualized these perspectives from the individual’s inner self: how human beings himself adjust to his actions from the angle of his preconceived notions. For Kant, freedom is â€Å"the power of self determination, and as absolute self activity. †(Heidegger, 16) In the general sense as according to Kant, freedom is an activity that arises from within human beings and takes a spontaneous movement. In other words, it implies that freedom does not mean any dictates of law from any society or surrounding or environment established by human’s themselves because Kantian said, â€Å"The human will is†¦[free] be cause sensibility does not necessitate its action. There is a man a power of self determination, independent of any coercion through sensuous impulses. †(Heidegger, 17) If we ask a question, is there a general characterization of freedom? Then the answer is no as we cannot put freedom under any category, because even Kant said that no one can prove freedom as something actual or something in a real sense. We all are confined into the domains of moral laws to fundamentally actualize our freedom. All the types of freedom man presupposes like the spontaneity of the understanding, autonomy of reason, free play of faculties in judgments of taste and the political freedom to think for oneself, run on the basis of the moral laws. We ensure and follow the freedom on the basis of this morality. For Kant, both the freedom and morality are same. A person follows his free will on basis of the morality. In the other words, freedom implies independence of any wish based on conditions. Kant’s concept of morality shows deep contradiction to what is known today as compatibilist theories on freedom. These theories try to combine determinism and freedom. You can follow your own terms in doing what you feel determined by your own inner nature that in turn is determined by the moral duty that you feel you have. If we feel that we have certain moral duty on us, then we also feel ourselves free to obey these moral duties. John Locke, in his The Second Treatise of Civil Government, maintains moral duty arises when we consider duty for others. It is, â€Å"respect for the autonomy of others, which means allowing the free exercise of the innocent, competent will of others in regard to their own interests. † (Ross, Online Edition) Kant formulated moral law on the ground of involving duty towards one self and towards others. This conception of human nature dates back to St. Thomas Aquinas and Aristotle. When we see in our practical life and look around our world, since centuries what we have been following are certain laws or moral codes and we have been taught our freedom is all based on the dictum of these moral laws. Here lies the most paradox situation. If we follow societies’ moral codes, then where will be our freedom as the true freedom implies when we have all the rights to do any thing under this blue sky but moral laws restrain us in performing our own free will and if Kant says freedom entails in following our own moral laws, is itself questionable. But it is also true that man is a social animal and is dependent on others for every of his needs and desires. This intrinsic nature of human beings resulted in the formation of societies and civilizations, where every one man is dependent on every other person for the fulfillment of his needs. If each and every person follows his own free thoughts, there will be only chaos therefore what must need to be followed are the moral duties and within these moral duties all our lives are dependent on. What is more significant for the Kant is that we are rational human beings. But being human being as a rational is also a disputable matter when it comes to homosexuality and sodomy. When we go entirely by Kant’s views, we cannot take into consideration homosexuals and the question arises: is there anything rational that moves in contradiction to these practices? Even if we choose ourselves things we want to do, we cannot in our endeavor do so without considering its causes. When we think in practical terms, moral laws do not actualize us to activate free will. If we take up the spontaneity of understanding by Kant, it is spontaneous movement of our thoughts and these three thoughts originate from the faculties of mind that can arose from the possibilities of sense, imagination and appreciation. (Savre, 163) He further developed the view that â€Å"Understanding is nothing but the unity of appreciation in relation to the synthesis of imagination†. (Savre, 164) In understanding of any action, Kant’s basic assumption lies in the power of logic thinking, in other words reasoning. The reasoning can also take many forms. Reason is a sort of systematically following of laws and principles and is a source of morality and feeling of our consciousness towards freedom. Reason for Kant is both logical as well as magnificent way to express freedom. When we look at every aspect from logical viewpoint and notion, it paves the way for certain conclusions and as transcendental faculty; it makes us go into the inner depth of our mind and to analyze things through the power of intuition. Kant gave very concrete differentiation between reason and understanding. He said that understanding is concerned with finitude whereas reason with infinite. Understanding is something that we consider something concrete and with understanding, there is no scope for, as said by Kant, synthetic cognition from conceptions that is why it is finitude. Understanding simply means to grasp what is shown to us and in our environment where as reason is a flow of thoughts. We can also say that understanding is the faculty of rules whereas reason is the faculty of principles. We may generalize that reason is closer to freedom than understanding as we are not bound by any rules though both are the different sides of same coin. It is our spontaneous understanding of one aspect that leads to reasoning. Freedom also lies in our judgment of other objects and things around us according to Kant are the free play of faculties in judgments of taste. For e. g. Let us take up beauty. We all have universal appeal for beauty. Others regard beauty as a subjective thing considered being as private preference but for Kant beauty is very objective and universal. Beauty is not just physical feature but it is the way we react towards that beautiful object. We are judging ourselves in our judgment of object and this involves our feeling towards the object but with universal claim. This individual judgment should be free from any restriction or any moral constraint and they are in turn symbol of moral freedom. As no one else except individual person is involved in the feeling and judgment of taste, it’s an individual autonomy. This free play is in a state between imagination and understanding. You understand the object and it is your freedom and free play of judgment that dictates you that the object is beautiful. The main difference between free play of judgment and other types of judgment is based on its core principles. This type of freedom is enshrined within you and takes place in same situations and same circumstances in every human being. In short Kant stated that, â€Å"Free play of judgments of taste can have the quantity of universality and the modality of necessity while retaining the quality of independence from direct moral interest and relation to merely subjective, cognitive interests rather than objective, practical ones†. (Guyer, Online Edition) As the democracy as form of government has emerged in several places, man has all the freedom of the political thinking. Kant held the view that every one has a freedom to deliver his political thoughts and enter into any social contract in political sphere. Kant separates the political rights with political thoughts from what we call morals. These are the most important kinds of freedom focused by Kant, but there are many different aspects of freedom that Kant ignored. Kant also postulated what is known as Science of Right followed and pursued by Jurists or jurisconsultus. Jurists or juriconsuluts have practical knowledge of legislations and laws enshrined in the subject whereas, as said by Kant, the rights and laws when looked from theoretical perspective come under the category pure science of right. He further said that, â€Å"The science of right thus designates the philosophical and systematic knowledge of the principles of natural right. And it is from this science that the immutable principles of all positive legislation must be derived by practical jurists and lawgivers. †(Kant, Online Edition) The science of right also enshrines within itself freedom: this freedom entails freedom on account of his being human, independent of any binding and he is justly right to attain this freedom, and which according to Kant is unimpeachable. Inherent within the man is also the right of common action-all the activities that bring the men together without infringing each other’s rights. Humans have right to convey their thoughts, narrate anything to other or promise truthfully or falsely and honestly or dishonestly and on the other hand it is right of others whether they accept it or reject their messages or actions. In all these aspects of freedom for Kant, humans express the best is the freedom of the free play of the faculties in judgments of taste as Guyer in â€Å"Kant on Freedom, Law, and Happiness† says, â€Å"We are entitled to our own happiness only if we exercise freedom, freely chosen actions. † (Guyer, 124) In faculties’ of judgment, it is we who are decision makers and make interpretations on basis of our own reasons. In other types of freedom still we are bound by one law or other but here too there is a certain essence of moral law that plays which is universal. We cannot interpret to anybody anything, we have certain moral and ethical duties on how we have to address others and interpret other things. This kind of human freedom is quite plausible and satisfying. According to Guyer, it is only this freedom that induces us to follow moral laws because we are all human beings and are social animals and our humanity requires us to respect others, which is a theory of respect and it in-turn involves good will. This faculty of the freedom and fair play of judgment is part of the nature. But as Kant says there is a great gulf between the â€Å"realm of the concept of nature† and the â€Å"concept of freedom†. (Guyer, 27) He further said that â€Å"the concept of freedom determines nothing in regard to the theoretical cognition of nature; the concept of nature likewise determines nothing in regard to the practical laws of freedom. † (Guyer, 27) This faculty of judgment is a middle-way between the concept of nature and freedom which makes it possible to create a link between what is purposeful natural and what is purposeful theoretical. It makes us move from the law-engulfed world of freedom towards what is purely and in true sense and spirit natural. (Guyer, 27) Kant’s critique of teleological judgment has raised the question to what extent is it legitimate to think of nature in teleological terms, in other words, in terms of ends, goals and purposes. After assuming all the possibilities and views of Newtonian science and other teleological judgments, he said that if study of organism is a part of natural science then all the products viewed by nature should not be considered as artifacts but as natural products. He further stated that still they should not be considered merely as essential forces of matter but should be considered in teleological terms. Anything what is produced naturally or designed have an end, as Kant stated, â€Å"It is required that its parts altogether reciprocally produced one another, as far as both their form and combination is concerned, and thus produce a whole out of their own casuality. † (Ginsborg, 5) He said all the natural objects are considered to have a natural end, and the entire end must be â€Å"cause and effect of itself. † (Ginsborg, 5) For e. g. Trees are free beings that reproduce its species and the parts of trees stand depended and are in relation to each other, leaves perform the function of taking care of tree whereas tree in turn produces leaves, but this concept is different than watch. Watch does follow first two conditions but does not follow the third. It is not possible for the wheel in the watch to produce another wheel, and still less one watch does not produce other watches, and when we have to compare it is not possible for a watch to repair itself or to replace the removed parts. But Kant said that â€Å"An organized being is thus not a mere machine, because that has solely moving force [bewegende Kraft]; rather it possesses formative force, and indeed of a kind which it communicates to kinds of matter [Materien] which not have it (it organizes them), thus a self-propagating formative force, which cannot be explained through the capacity for movement (mechanism) alone. † (Ginsborg, 5) From these points it is true that nature is viewed teleologically, and there are free beings like watch, which are not natural but mechanical and can be considered beyond nature as man invented it but its conduct is quite natural. WORKS CITED Carus, Titus Lucretius Humphries, Rolfe. â€Å"The Way Things are: The De Rerum Natura of Titus Lucretius Carus† Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1968. Ginsborg, Hannah. â€Å"Kants biological teleology and its philosophical significance† Available: http://209. 85. 175. 104/search? q=cache:-DckacXj2cQJ:https://itunes. berkeley. edu/file/10/Kants_Biological_Teleology. pdf+Kant%27s+biological+teleology+and+its+philosophical+significancehl=enct=clnkcd=1gl=in, June 17, 2008 Guyer, Paul, Kant on Freedom, Law, and Happiness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Guyer, Paul. â€Å"Kant and the Experience of Freedom: Essays on Aesthetics and Morality†. Cambridge: Cambridge University Publisher, 1993. Guyer, Paul. â€Å"Kant, Immanuel† In E. Craig (Ed. ), Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. London: Routledge. Internet (2004). Available: http://www. rep. routledge. com/article/DB047SECT12, June 17, 2008. Heidegger, Martin. â€Å"The essence of human freedom: An Introduction to Philosophy†. London New York: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2005. Kant, Immanuel. â€Å"THE SCIENCE OF RIGHT†. (Translated by W. Hastie). Internet. Available: http://www. 4literature. net/Immanuel_Kant/Science_of_Right/, June 17, 2008 Laehn, Thomas. Liberty, Law, and the Historicity of Man in Ancient Rome Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Palmer House Hotel, Chicago, IL, Apr 12, 2007 (Internet). Available: http://www. allacademic.com/meta/p197401_index. html, June 15, 2008 Rempel, Gerherd. â€Å"18th Century Social Order:Peasants and Aristos†. (Internet) Available: http://mars. wnec. edu/~grempel/courses/wc2/lectures/peasantsaristos. html, June 15, 2008 Ross, Kelley L. â€Å"The Fallacies of Egoism and Altruism, and the Fundamental Principle of Morality† Internet (2007) Available: http://www. friesian. com/moral-1. htm, June 17, 2008. Svare, Helge. â€Å"Body and Practice in Kant†. Netherlands: Springer, 2006.

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Social mobility

Social mobility What is social mobility? Drawing on different perspectives, assess the impact of the education system on opportunities and life chances on the basis of social class. What implications does this have for the work of helping agencies? Social mobility simply describes how people move along the social ladder. For this to happen there must necessarily be some form of social class in place. Social class occurs everywhere, even in the poorest communities. Take a typical village in Ghana for example, you will find that probably the village palm wine tapper or renowned farmer may be at the top of the social ladder; by village standards, they are the rich guys; these in addition could also serve as money lenders or movers and shakers. In the middle of the social ladder in the said village you might find the middle class who constitutes probably the majority of villagers with average incomes making just about enough from their farming or other vocations to make ends meet. Of course, at the bottom of this ladder will be the lower classes that have no jobs or qualifications and are at the mercy of the rich palm wine tapper. Social mobility describes how the classes move from their level of class upwards or downwards. This movement could involve the acquisition of new skills or education in the bid to get better jobs and hence get more income. Sometimes movement is caused by for example winning the lottery, an inheritance from parents or relatives or any procedure either deliberate or accidental which moves a person from one class to another. Social mobility or intergenerational mobilityas economists prefer to call it measures the degree to which peoples social status changes between generations. It is seen by many as a measure of the equality of life opportunities, reflecting the extent to which parents influence the success of their children in later life or, on the flipside, the extent to which individuals can make it by virtue of their own talents, motivation and luck. (Blanden J et al 2005) The Sociology guide has described Social mobility as a vital part of social stratification and an inseparable part of social stratification system because the nature, form, range and degree of social mobility depending on the very nature of the stratification system. Stratification system means the process of placing individuals in different layers or strata. In a social mobility paper Stephen Aldridge describes social mobility as a movement or opportunities for movement between different social groups and the advantages that go with this in terms of income, security of employment, opportunities for advancement etc. (Aldridge, 2001) There are types of social mobility. Intra-generation is when there has been a change in a persons social position. A typical example will be clerical assistant who works his/her way up in an organisation. However, if a persons social position changes over a generation it is called inter-generation mobility. An example is Margaret Thatcher and many others. She became prime minister as a grocers daughter. There appears to be significant intergenerational mobility in the United States, although perhaps less than is sometimes believed. Origins significantly affect destinations. Specifically, adult sons and daughters are more likely to look like their parents in terms of occupation or income than one would predict on the basis of chance. Still, there is considerable mobility. Indeed, even when occupations or income categories are broadly defined, a majority of adult offspring occupy a different occupational or income category than their parents.(Daniel P et al 1997) Horizontal mobility is another type of social mobility where a person changes their job-related position but does not change social class. An example is where a clerical assistant moves from Wellingborough to London and becomes an administrative officer. Vertical mobility on the hand takes the stage where people change their job-related position and change their social class as well. An example of vertical mobility will be for example a street cleaner becoming a solicitor or an army officer becoming a cleaner. They have fundamentally changed their socio-economic position. There are types of vertical social mobility. If someone moves down the social ladder it becomes downward mobility. When they move up on the social ladder it becomes upward mobility. For example if an Army officer is promoted in rank it becomes an upward mobility. The magazine Business Week in 2007 wrote an article about how mobile phones in Africa are creating high standards of living and boosting upward mobility. Only a few years ago, places like Muruguru didnt even register in the plans of handset makers and service providers. What would a Kenyan farmer want with a mobile phone? Plenty, as it turns out. To the astonishment of the industry, people living on a few dollars a day have proven avid phone users, and in many parts of the world cellular airtime has become a de facto currency. The reason is simple: A mobile phone can dramatically improve living standards by saving wasted trips, providing information about crop prices, summoning medical help, and even serving as a conduit to banking services. (Business Week, 2007) Another recent example of downward mobility is in this article in the telegraph. Though she is married to a builder, the 27-year-old housewife has rickety wooden planks for walls and covers her roof with plastic sheeting to keep out the rain in Harares Hatcliffe suburb far from the neighbourhood where she used to live. Right now I dont have a housing lot, but we are paying money to local co-operatives (to save for a down payment) so we may get lots to build houses, Chama said. And she is far from alone. According to official estimates, around two million Zimbabweans in this country of 12.2 million need accommodation. (Reagan Mashavave, 2009)- Another type of social mobility is structural mobility which involves vertical mobility but its movement is brought about by a major disorder. It can also be brought on by changes in society that brings improvement to a large number of people. Typical examples will be industrialisation, expansion of education and computerisation. These changes have all brought improvement to people in the UK and around the world. People have through it acquired higher social status and found higher paid jobs than their parents. There is also individual mobility which involves people being hindered from taking opportunities because of where they were live, their colour, gender, religion, their educational background, job, wellbeing and many others. The impact of the education system on opportunities and life chances on the basis of social class is enormous and hasnt changed much since education began. It is still difficult for working class children to access grammar and good comprehensive schools as the middle class and upper class have populated areas where these schools are placed. Childrens social class is still the most significant factor in determining their exam success in state schools, the Governments head of teacher training acknowledges today. In an interview with The Independent, Graham Holley, the chief executive of the Training and Development Agency, said: The performance of a school and a child in it is highly linked to social class. If you turn the clock back on pupils in school today 15 years and predict their outcomes from where they were born, you can do it. (Garner, 2008) Working class families are tied to the low paid jobs and often live in areas where schools are failing. Jobs are hard to find in these areas and its inhabitants are usually heavily dependant on benefits. Their lives are occupied with how to manage everyday living and not on reading to their children and giving them music and language lessons. The poorest children still have little chance of becoming lawyers, doctors, senior civil servants and financiers, a report published by the Liberal Democrats today shows. The Social Mobility Commission, set up by the party, said billions of pounds spent on improving social mobility over the past decade has helped middle-class rather than working-class children. Last year only 35% of pupils eligible for free school meals obtained five or more A* to C GCSE grades, compared with 63% of pupils from wealthier backgrounds.(Shepherd J, 2009) Disadvantaged children have little chance of watching educational programmes on television nor do they have the chance of reading the broad sheets. They are simply not patronised in their households. Libraries are rarely used and mobile libraries are not highly participated in working class areas. Areas in London for instance have seen various housing developments but they are not in the reach of the low paid. Overcrowding has many implications for the already struggling families as there is often no where to do homework. After school clubs charge for their services leaving low paid families out in the cold. Therefore chances of disadvantaged children reaching high levels of achievement in school are slightly dim. Young people in manual social classes remain under-represented in higher education in Great Britain. Despite increasing from a participation rate of 11 per cent in 1991/92 to 19 per cent in 2001/02, participation remains well below that of the non-manual social classes. Participation rates for the non-manual social classes increased from 35 per cent to 50 per cent over the same period. (http://www.statistics.gov.uk) The consequences of the manual or low class remaining under-represented in higher education is unthinkable as children from these background will experience either downwardly mobile or not move on the social ladder at all as a result of them not entering higher education. Todays job market is very competitive and even those with good qualifications are finding it difficult to hold onto their jobs. It means that most all white collar jobs will be held by the middle class and upper class families. All the independent evidence shows overall standards to be rising. But the bad news is that when it comes to the link between educational achievement and social class, Britain is at the bottom of the league for industrialised countries. Today, three-quarters of young people born into the top social class get five or more good GCSEs, but the figure for those born at the bottom is less than one-third. We have one of the highest university entry rates in the developed world, but also one of the highest drop-out rates at 16.(Independent, 8 September 2003) Anthony Giddens writes in Sociology and Social Mobility that education is not necessarily a means to an end. Education would have to work with other factors to foster social mobility. Education shouldnt be seen as a panacea for all societys problems. It has a significant role to play, but we cant hold schools and Universities solely responsible for promoting social mobility. Its important not to think of the education system as if it works in a vacuum factors like changes in employment and the economy, and the social determinants of childrens educational attainment, are critical in determining patterns of mobility.(Giddens, 2007) However, education definitely has opportunities for people to progress along the social ladder by providing relevant new skills, information, courses and therefore creating opportunities in life for them. A few years back a hair dresser did not need know too much about what she/he did as a hair dresser but in today environment he/she would have to know all the science there is to cutting, dressing and managing the business. Technology and other factors have raised the standard of work so high that without continuous professional development opportunities are not stretch far. In this new labour market, the value of college degrees overall is greater than ever before. Between 1984 and 2000, employment in jobs requiring a college degree grew by 20 million in the US, accounting for two-thirds of total job growth. Over the same period, wages for college graduates increased. In contrast, high school graduates in America who did not continue with education saw their wages fall below middle class levels for the first time. As a consequence, the opportunities for Americans with terminal high school diplomas are less than a generation ago.(Social Mobility Foundation, 2008) Although a small percentage of poor families are accessing higher education there is evidence that the UK government for instance is working frantically to improve the chances of the less privileged through innovations like Every Child Matters. This innovation is to give every child the chance of accessing education and other services in the community to give them better outcomes in life. Hence the establishment of Surestart Centres which is a one stop service for early education, childcare, health and family support. This Government has invested heavily in policies designed to give all children the chance to succeed. There have already been significant improvements in educational achievement, and reductions in teenage pregnancy, re-offending and children living in low income households. Todays children and young people experience wider opportunities and benefit from rising prosperity, better health and education than those in previous generations. The implications on the work of helping agencies are many. Helping agencies like Childrens Centres pick up the brunt of any inequalities that lay in society. We bid or vie for large sums of money to run various courses and projects that underpin social mobility. In the bid of helping families read we have set up borrow a chattersack in our childrens centre. This is to encourage parents who might otherwise not access libraries or buy books for their children. The books and toys are expensive but we charge a very minimal fee for them. Often people bring to us various problems like divorce, debt and housing issues which we do our best to refer to other agencies for further assistance. We hold classes with Citizen Advice Bureau to advise people on budgets and other financial incapability. Many of our clients are lone parents or young families struggling on low incomes. They are often in debt and or have little financial knowledge. They often live on large council estates where aspirations are not that great. The recent recession has hit these areas hard and some people are experiencing downwardly mobility. This comes with various demands like counselling, retraining and financial loss. Equality of opportunity is a sine qua non for any modern society and, in Britain, is a principle supported by all mainstream political opinion. Despite this, household income remains the biggest single predictor of a childs future success, and a recent report by the Sutton Trust found that, all too frequently, young people from financially disadvantaged backgrounds end up in a cul de sac of opportunity. (Social Mobility Foundation, 2008) Below is an example of some the types of work some helping agencies do. They use government funds to bridge the gap between rich and poor by organising trips to parks, educational establishment to boost confidence and increase knowledge. Nearly 175,000 bright children on free school meals will be given a chance at the age of 11 to visit a university as part of a drive to lift the aspirations of working-class people and increase stalled social mobility in Britain. Young people in the top 20% of ability based on test results, and who are eligible for free school meals, are about half as likely to go to university as those who are not eligible for free meals. They will now be offered two chances to visit universities. (Wintour, 2007) We organise sporting activities that will encourage the less privileged to put their feet in door of expensive sporting activities. We work with other agencies to bring information and understanding to parents who in effect calve their childrens place on the social ladder. A new report by the British think-tank Demos has hit the headlines, with its claim that Parents are the principal architects of a fairer society. Based on research from the Millennium Cohort Study, the report argues that how children are parented has a more significant impact upon their future life chances than just about anything else, including poverty and the social class into which they are born. (Bristow J, 2009) Helping agencies are faced with many demands for services they can and cannot provide. At our centre for instance there is the demand for certain services like computer classes, some sort of back to work training, cooking classes but we havent got the facilities and the man power to run such courses. We are therefore forced to send clients to other childrens centres in that losing their business. If we do manage to run any of the courses that put pressure on our facilities then we have to limit the numbers which in turn causes us to run the courses several times to fit everyone in. There is also a steady demand for information on sensitive family matters like finance. Education seems to be one the important factors manipulating social mobility. In todays society, education is becoming increasingly important as it used to ascertain the jobs people will end up in. Education is also used to determine peoples social class position. The recent government for instance has introduced many initiatives. Free child care for two year olds was trialed for sometime and is going to be offered to children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Back to work incentive of  £500 and the investment into early years, FE schools and workplace training are all initiatives which research has suggested that has not boosted social mobility. In 1999 Tony Blair told the Labour Conference: If we are in politics for one thing, it is to make sure that all children are given the best chance in life. A decade on, the Government has had to admit that billions of pounds of investment in nurseries and schools and on training has failed to bridge the class divide, and that social mobility in Britain has stalled. (Bennett and Bahra 2007) As mentioned before there are many factors contributing to this fact. One such fact is the advantage that middle class families have over poorer families when it comes to education. References Web Sources Daniel P et al (1997) Intergenerational mobility in the United States [online] Available from: http://www.urban.org/publications/406796.html [Accessed 16/12/09] http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_39/b4051054.htm?campaign_id=rss_tech[ Accessed 27/12/09] http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/about/background/background/ [Accessed 16/12/09] http://www.polity.co.uk/giddens5/news/sociology-and-social-mobility.asp#intro[Accessed [16/12/09] http://www.statistics.gov.uk/STATBASE/ssdataset.asp?vlnk=7308 [Accessed 27/12/09] Jennie Bristow (2009) There is more to human character than sharing toys [online] Available from: http://www.parentswithattitude.com/parentsforum/tag/social-mobility[19/12/09] Non Web Sources (2003), Class still counts in Britain. Independent, Monday Sept 8 Bennett and Bahra (2009), Social mobility: Labour tries to revive flagging crusade to help poor children. The Times, Wednesday Jan 14 Blanden J et al (2005), Social Mobility in Britain Low and falling, Centrepiece 2005 Mashavave R. (2009) Downwardly mobile in Zimbabwe. Telegraph, Tuesday Dec 15 Richard G (2008), Social class determines childs success. Independent, Thursday Sept 18 Shepherd J (2009), Social class still determines success. Guardian, Monday Social Mobility Foundation (2008) A national project for social mobility Stephen A (2001), Social Mobility , A discussion Paper , Performance and Innovation Unit The Sutton Trust (2008) : Social Mobility and Education. London Wintour P (2009), Social mobility drive focuses on schools. The Guardian, Wednesday Jan 14

Friday, October 25, 2019

The Significance of Sacrifice in Buddhist Practice :: Religion

The Significance of Sacrifice in Buddhist Practice The self-immolation of Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc at a busy intersection in Saigon on June 11, 1963 utterly shocked most Americans who could not fathom why a person would commit such a horrific act. Without trying to explore any feasible explanations within this man’s religion, many decided that he was probably just a fanatic who wanted to make a political statement in the most appalling manner possible. Was that the case? Was Quang Duc simply a political activist pushed to the limit, or was he acting with motivation derived from his religion? To answer this question, one must evaluate the function of sacrifice within the Buddhist tradition. As with many religions, Buddhism offers its practitioners the opportunity for different levels of involvement on the spiritual path towards enlightenment. This spectrum of involvement ranges from one who practices with minimal sacrifice primarily to achieve personal spiritual gain to one who sacrifices his or her life with the hope of benefiting all of humanity. Furthermore, as a person moves along this spectrum from little to great sacrifice, one also harbors a growing commitment to the spiritual welfare of all sentient beings. As the kinds of practice and sacrifice are explained for different levels of involvement in the religion, it will become clear that the relative commitment to help others directly correlates to the stage of practice and sacrifice. Additionally, an intriguing comparison will be made between these concepts within Buddhism and very similar concepts with the Jewish tradition of mystical or contemplative death. Basics of Buddhism When exploring the specific function of sacrifice within Buddhism, it will be necessary to understand some of the fundamental beliefs that lay the groundwork for the religion as a whole. The Buddha was an actual historical figure who lived around 350 BCE in northern India. After his own spiritual awakening, he taught four basic lessons about the nature of life. The Four Noble Truths state 1) that life is qualified by suffering 2) that suffering has a cause 3) that there can be an end to suffering 4) that there is a path describing how to end suffering [1] In further explanation, the cause of suffering is attachment to objects or feelings which are ultimately impermanent. If one does not learn how to overcome such attachment, one will forever be limited to the cycle of rebirth, or reincarnation, called samsara.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Relationship between entrepreneruship

Discuss the relationship between entrepreneurship, innovation and economic development. What role do creativity and problem solving play in this relationship? Refer to both theories and examples from the business world to support your discussion. Since last century, entrepreneurship and innovation have been heavily discussed. Entrepreneurs create new business and provide the Job opportunities to society as well as promote the economic development.However, with the increasing global economic competition, normal entrepreneurship becomes less competitiveness, government committed to develop innovative entrepreneurship in recent years Cukier, 2006). Therefore, the relationship between innovation and entrepreneurship becomes one of the most significant topics in the business field. Economists do a large number of researches to explore the connection between entrepreneurship and innovation as well as the position they related in economic development.During the process of exploring, a consi derable amount of definitions are put forward by experts based on their research knowledge and the analysis of entrepreneurs developed in recent decades. This essay will list the definitions put forward by ifferent economists, then support the ideas that innovation, entrepreneurship and economic development are deeply connected and interacted. Finally, combine with the experience of university group entrepreneurship project, attempt to explain importance role that the creativity and problem solving played in this process.Definition of the innovation and entrepreneurship is colored by different economists according to their observation, research and knowledge. From the innovation perspective, one of the most important definitions is related to the Joseph Schumpeter, a pioneer of the innovation management, who put forward a theory ccording to his early studying. Schumpeter (1934) defines innovation as the combination of new goods, new methods of production, the opening of new markets, the conquest of new sources of supply and the carrying out of a new organization of any industry.Jocabs (2007) list several definitions in her article based on her study: Peter Drucker believed that innovation is a process that change and creates a new dimension of performance; Jose Campos, director of the Center for Rapid Innovation considered that innovation is kind of the ability to which can deliver value to a ustomer; David Schmittlen has a deeper opinion, he believed that product is not the only factor innovation related, the processes and approaches to the marketplace is where innovation occur.All these definitions have their limitations and emphasizes, but with the change of the social and economic environment, innovation may have a wider meaning such as Regins Cabral mentioned in his opinion which connect the innovation with the network. From the entrepreneurship perspective, the word â€Å"entrepreneurship† related to many meanings. In the second volume of The Isol ated State (1850) provided by Johann von Thunen, he defined the entrepreneurship as a way which earns profits after cutting over all the expenses such as payments to capital, labor and insurance, and needs to take unpredictable risk.Risk part in this theory was supported by Frank Knight, and he believed the only risk that leads to profit is a unique uncertainty resulting from an exercise of ultimate responsibility which in its very nature cannot be insured nor capitalized nor salaried† (Knight, 1921). Joseph Schumpeter is one of the most influential economists in the history. His theory of entrepreneurship heavily ased on his innovation theory and roughly experienced three stages. In the early stage of his studying, his notion of entrepreneurship emphasized newness and innovation, and aimed at encouraging economic development (1928).Later, with more research had been done; Schumpeter gave up the risk-taking, one of the characteristics of entrepreneurship which is agreed by von Thunen and Knight. In the 1940s, Schumpeter's work on entrepreneurship became broader. In this period, he was no longer limited by original theory, but discussed several types of the entrepreneurs and extended the meaning of entrepreneurship. Another very important definition in history was made by Ludwing von Mises and Friedrich von Hayek.Ludwing von Mises (1963) has different ideas with Schumpeter by stated entrepreneurship involves anticipations of uncertain events rather than innovations. The reason why he said that is because there is a belief that entrepreneur gain profits by correctly anticipating the market and providing the products to customer before the competition driven by a desire for money. The definitions of the innovation and entrepreneurship are of variety, but viewpoint about the relationship between them is quite similar.Peter Drucker mentioned that entrepreneurship and innovation is companion terms, innovation is a tool that entrepreneurship can take advantage of. From the perspective of entrepreneurship, Schumpeter (1928, 1939) mentions that entrepreneurship as the source of the innovation and innovation as the engine of economic development, which emphasize the many attributes and motivation of the entrepreneur. This is an idea which was a leading though, many economist after Schumpeter agree with this idea.From the innovation perspective, economists such as Pretorius and Millard strongly supported he theory which considered a significant innovation is usually the basis of the successful entrepreneurial venture. Consider the opinions above all; innovation and entrepreneurship are deeply interacting with each other. For example, McDonalds' analyzed the marketplace and consumers' need; design the new production lines and new methods trained staff. According to the definitions listed before, due to McDonald's creative new marketplace and consumer, and combine with the improving of the management, it is entrepreneurship.In addition, cause t he increasing global economic competition, government as well as individual oncentrate more on the innovative entrepreneurship. Evidences shows that government of The European Union, United States and countries in Asia all published policies to support, lead and value the innovative entrepreneurship due to the large contributions it comes in the future (Cukier 2006). The relationship between innovation and economic growth is closely connected and the relationship between them is mutual. On the one hand, innovation is a source of economic development.According to the Schumpeter (1942), who considered the innovation activity of entrepreneur of a process which provide a creative ‘destruction rocess' by causing sustain disturbances to an economic system in equilibrium, and create new opportunities to economic. It means that innovation encourages the changes of economy system and creates opportunities which are beneficial to economic development. Peter Drucker is one of the influen tial economists, stated that the innovation is the central issue in economic prosperity.He listed five principles of innovation and the first one is the innovation beginning with analysis of the opportunities, starting from the small entrepreneurs and aiming at market leadership. In addition, a large amount of the empirical work showed evidence to ndicate that the level of the technological innovation do large contribute to economic performance, both at the companies and industry aspects. Economic development also creates a suitable environment for innovation. A high level economic development is conducive to innovation.The Global Innovative Index, which is established by INSEAD Business School and World Business, it measures the world's best and worst performing economies with measurement of innovation. It also evaluate the nation's strengths and weaknesses in their economic development environment especially policies and practices related to innovation. United States, Israel and S witzerland are top three countries. All of these countries have a common strength which is the positive environment for innovation, especially in United States. Government policies are firmly support the development of innovation.For example, Silicon Valley in California, which is the typical example to indicate government policies are essential fact to stimulate innovation. Similar to innovation and economic development, it is widely believed that entrepreneurship and economic development influence each other deeply. Entrepreneurship is beneficial for economic development. Entrepreneurship in the early twentieth century, according to the statement of Cipolla (1981) and Lazonick (1991), plays an essential role in the long-term economic. The contribution to the growth of economy was attributed to entrepreneurs.They seek for new opportunities, diversified the productions and develop a new market. With the change of the economic environment, in middle of the twentieth century, entrepre neurship lost its superiority, however, in the recent decades, with the revolution of the knowledge and technologies; it encouraged the development of entrepreneurship thinking Oovanovic, 1982; Audretsch, 1995). In the perspective of the economic development, entrepreneurs not only create new market but also provide the new ideas to marketplace, and promote the economic growth through a process of fierce competition.However, not all kinds of entrepreneurship are effective for economic development. According to the research by Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), there are two kinds of entrepreneurship. One is â€Å"necessity entrepreneurship† and the other is â€Å"opportunity entrepreneurship†. Necessity entrepreneurship nas a negative ettect on economic development. A typical example of it is that after the fall of Berlin Wall, any workers in socialist countries found them had no options but work for themselves, this necessity entrepreneurship caused several years of negative GDP growth.On the contrary, opportunity entrepreneurship could lead to an economic development. Based on the statistics collected from the eleven countries, entrepreneurship which has multiple opportunities could lead to economic development (Asc, 2006). For one country, due to the fact that different countries have different economic development level, government should fgure out what kind the entrepreneurship is and develop opportunity entrepreneurship. For individuals, it is essential to analyze the opportunities and potential market before starting an enterprise.Creativity and problem solving cannot be ignored in the relationship among the entrepreneurship, innovation and economic development. Creativity is an essential characteristic in the problem solving process and it is usually defined as a process though which invention occurs something new comes into existence (Herbert et al. , 1999), and they also regard creativity as the starting point of the innovation. Ana lyzing creativity from the entrepreneurship direction, in past several decades, esearchers did a great deal studies to explore the position of creativity in the process of the development of entrepreneurship.Shaw (1996) mentions that opportunity is the first step that entrepreneurship pursued and creativity is the key point to identify business opportunity (Hills and Shrader 1998). Venture capitalist Vinod Khosla also said that no problem means no opportunity, no solution and no company. Therefore, due to the significant position in the entrepreneurial process, creativity is the soul of entrepreneurship (Morris and Kuratko, 2002). Since nnovation, entrepreneurship and economic development is closely connected, creativity is the fundamental of the whole relationship.In university, Entrepreneurship and Business is one of the most important modules which students need to major in. group project is the significant concept to help students to understand entrepreneurship and essential pos ition that creativity in problem solving process. Kirkham, Mosey and Binks (2009) state that the process of problem can be three steps: define, discover and determine. The project started from defines a problem, and then use the creativity thinking to discovery a large amount of olutions. Finally, determine the most effective solution.This process is what the entrepreneurship usually does in their commercial field. Identifying a problem in business, then analyze the business opportunities and use creativity thinking to find potential solutions in the marketplace, eventually decide the most effective way to establish an enterprise. To sum up, entrepreneurship, innovation and economic development are deeply connected. Definition of innovation and entrepreneurship various from people to people, but all these leads to a conclusion that innovation and entrepreneurship are ompanies terms.Innovation is the basis of the entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship as the source of innovation. In a ddition, in the process of economic development, all evidences show innovation promotes the economic development and an environment which support by government policies encourages the innovation as well. Entrepreneurship benefit to economic development, although only opportunity entrepreneurship has a positive effect to economy. Though the analysis of creativity and problem solving, recognize the importance role it play in the economic development. words: 1896

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Luxury Market in China Essay

China is positioned to become the world’s largest luxury market in five years and a study by Datamonitor reported China’s luxury goods market was worth $9. 4billion by the end of 2009, which accounted for 27. 5% of the world’s luxury goods market. [1] They also predict that by 2015, China’s market will be valued at $14. 6billion. The main driver of this growth in the luxury gods market is the extreme wealth creation that China has experiences in the past ten years as its GDP has grown 10% annually on average, which is three times more than the global GDP. Investment Week quotes a recent World Wealth Report by Merrill Lynch Cap Gemini stating that there are 477,000 Chinese millionaires and China is also leading the world with the number of billionaires (Investment week. [2]) The combination of the staggering growth of the Chinese economy creating such great private wealth and the political and social evolution China has gone through over the last 30 years has created a tidal wave of opportunity for luxury retailers. Politically, China has gone through many changes over the last thirty years that has primed the economy and citizens for a surge in individualism and the pride in the ability to afford and purchase luxury goods. In 1976 Mao Zedong passed away and in 1979 the One Child Policy was introduced and applied by China’s new leader, Deng Xiaoping. China’s population was growing at an alarming rate and in order to curb this growth rate, Chinese were limited to having one child per household. Fast-forward thirty years and these only children, who have been raised by 6 parents, has created a â€Å"little emperor† mentality where their every desire it met, and is recently being satiated by Western goods. They now have buying power and they are spending it on high priced goods. The choices and options available today are a stark contrast to the limitations their parents experienced thirty years prior in a vastly different political time. Socially, China has always been a country deeply embedded in traditions such as gift giving, saving face and the respect for the hierarchal society. These traditions all stem from â€Å"guanxi,† the all-important notion of relationships, which is what drives business and social status. The culture of relationships is paramount for being successful in China so the combination of mass wealth and the traditions all surrounding Guanxi has attributed to the exponential growth of the luxury market in China. Although the Chinese have been known to be a culture of saving, the tides have shifted and the 20-30 something’s have created a society of excessive spending due to extravagant purchases to support their new tastes as well as these traditions. The new breed of buyers are young and are embracing their freedom to purchase in their capitalistic society, which is a far cry from their parents socialist upbringing. Therefore both social and political changes have created this perfect storm of excess, which is fueling the luxury good market in China and for many years to come. Mao Zedong, the leader of China from 1949 until his death in 1976 is still regarded as a controversial figure but his rule and communist policies molded the beliefs of many parents and grandparents living in China today. Under Mao’s rule there was no individualism and consumption was controlled. Mao is regarded as a great leader in China as he is thought to have laid the groundwork for China becoming the great power that it is today as a result of his leadership of the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution. While he did create the building blocks for present day China, he has been compared to communist leaders like Hitler and Stalin. He urged citizens to reject capitalism and even at one point â€Å"proposed the Socialist Education Movement (SEM) in an attempt to educate the peasants to resist the temptations of feudalism and the sprouts of capitalism that he saw re-emerging in the countryside. †[3] The citizens living in these times are now parents and while their lifestyles are very conservative, they are raising children in a very different political environment. Their children didn’t have a communist ruler and therefore have different views on modesty and consumption. While there is still a strict focus on studying and discipline, the focus on success and showing that you are successful has been morphed into an obsession with Western brands showing pride in ones accomplishments. Even as young children the Western culture is quite alluring, with children asking to be rewarded for good grades by going to McDonalds as we were told by one of the speakers. Today in China, people are who they wear. Even as Nicole from LVMH mentioned, the Chinese are obsessed with showing that they are wearing designer brands that you will see some wearing clothes and sunglasses with the tags still on them to show who the designer is. These â€Å"nouveau riche† are the products of parents who didn’t have any choices and now they are embarrassing their freedom to chose. Forbes reported â€Å"the average Chinese luxury consumer will spend roughly 11% of her income on luxury handbags along. †[4] They also go on to say that these consumers are â€Å"highly educated and highly motivated to identify products that will complement his or her individuality and rising power. †4 Parents of these kids weren’t allowed to have individuality, but now their children are not only wanting it but also seeking it with huge spending power. Spending 11% of your income on a luxury bag shows the emotional and mental bond to these luxury items. In the US simply to qualify for a loan for a mortgage, your total debt can’t be more than 45% of your income. To think that a quarter of that goes towards handbags alone not even included likely purchases like luxury cars, wines etc makes me think if this type of spending is going to be sustainable for the Chinese market. In China, there were many nice cars, but I didn’t think that perhaps these people are driving cars they can’t afford. I am used to the United States where living on credit is a way of life, but this takes it to a whole new level. The millionaires are able to afford this, but if a middle class person is spending such a high percentage of her income on something like handbags, its going to create an economy where nobody can afford to buy a house and retirement is never attainable. One of the Bentley students that sat with us at lunch mentioned that she wanted to buy a house but that she couldn’t without her parent’s financial support due to the 50%-70% down payment required. She and most young people are lucky that their parents have saved and will be able to help them, but for those in the younger generation who aren’t saving won’t be able to help their kids and there might be a whole future generation who can never afford to own property. These younger generations parents grew up in a communist and socialist society, where there isn’t the ability to care about status, but status and luxury has now become the currency in China. The millionaires in China are younger with an average age of 39. [5] These young millionaires enjoy showing their status with nice things from great bottles of wine, cars to handbags. They are achieving success and are looking to reward themselves with nice things, which also shows status among their peers. A report on the watch market, mentioned that men â€Å"need a watch of a certain quality to be part of the social circle. †[6] The need to show status and create a sense of belonging in a social group has become so apparent that retailers are taking notice and even creating products specifically for the Chinese buyer. Mercedes Benz is even making a car with a longer wheelbase for the Chinese businessmen who are chauffeured around and need to have more room in the back which is a big difference from the rest of the world where carmakers are creating smaller cars that consume less energy and are more economical. [7] The retailers and manufacturers of world are taking note that the new Chinese buyer is very different from their parents given all of the political changes of the past few decades. While the political changes are one factor in the shift of buying trends, policy has also been a great factor and one specifically is the One Child Policy, which was introduced in 1979. This policy has created what many call, the â€Å"Little Emperor† society as a result of one child being raised by 6 parents (on immediate and two sets of grandparents. ) These children have grown up being catered to and supported by six people and now their wants and needs are changing, as they get older. Where as their parents likely gave them the best they could afford, these 20 and 30 something’s are becoming obsessed with Western brands, which cost a premium. Even with a 30% import tax, individuals who grew up getting what they wanted are buying these Western luxury brands, at times spending their entire months salary on a handbag. Although their parents had a culture of saving, this new generation tastes for highly taxed Western goods to show status has greatly changed this cultural norm. For this generation to keep up with their friend, they have forgone the notion of saving in replacement of a life full of luxury goods with no savings. I spoke to Mico about this on the bus and she mentioned that her friends spend all of their money on luxury goods and there’s now a saying in Chinese that means that you spend all of your money that you make that month. She mentioned that buying fakes is a faux pas and that they only buy the real things, which is what leads to them spending all of their money. She noted that this was very different from the upbringing of her parents who were brought up saving almost 40% of their money. In the popular market that we went to in Shanghai, there were almost no Chinese in there and when we asked Mico if she went to the market to get knockoffs, she said that knockoffs’ were â€Å"so three years ago. † It quickly became apparent why That is there where Chinese people in the markets; they are in the real stores buying the real thing. In the streets it was quite apparent that everyone had designer bags and clothing on, but this was mainly in Shanghai, Beijing and Hangzhou. In Xi’an there was still a feeling of communism, everything was still grey and there weren’t many people sporting their designer clothes. The opportunity right now is in the 1s tier cities and many retailers are trying to expand to the 2nd and 3rd tier cities. The opportunity in China purely based on the enormous populations in these cities. The first focus for the retailers were the tier 1 cities and now the 2nd and 3rd tier cities will be paramount for companies to sustain this continued growth. While political changes have made way for the change in buying and spending trends of young Chinese buyers, tradition has maintained an important part of the culture across all generations of Chinese and the luxury market surge has been fueled by these traditions. Guanxi, the focus on relationships as part of the Chinese culture has many components, one of which is the value of gift giving as a sign of respect. Gift giving is a huge part of Chinese culture, most prominent around the Chinese New Year, but a very large part of life socially and professionally year round. According to the authors of the book â€Å"The Cult of the Luxury Brand,† â€Å"quanxi†¦is the single biggest factor spurring the growth of luxe in China. †[8] When you give a gift to someone in China, it means you are thanking him or her for helping you but also solidifies your â€Å"guanxi† with them and continues the future relationship. Luxury items are now raising the bar in gift giving as recipients truly appreciate the luxury gifts and merchants have reported â€Å"frantic levels of spending† 8 all at once by shoppers who are looking to purchase gifts for their business partners and friends. The culture of saving face plays into this as well since the more luxurious the gift, the better. If you are looking to show great gratitude and â€Å"save face† then you will purchase a luxury item as a gift. In business face is extremely important so even Western brands are also learning this culture of gift giving, as they know the importance of partners in their business so they are making sure to take care of them by giving great gifts. In addition to the culture of gift giving that has fueled the luxury market growth, the culture of hierarchal respect has also attributed to this. Many Chinese of the younger generation believe that luxury products â€Å"mark where you have traveled up to but they also give you permission to continue succeeding. †[9] In a culture where you are competing with so many people and success is so important, it’s easy to see how luxury products represent achieving a certain social status and also denotes the fact that you will stay in that status. As Nicole from LVMH was speaking to us she noted that there are usually 40-50 students in each classroom. Students from an early age learn to be one in a large crowd, but as they get older and look to prove to the world what they have accomplished, and they use designer goods to reflect their status. The irony of this is that one would think that after growing up being one in a crowd, one would think that they would want to show status and individuality, but the items they purchase to show their status is exactly what their peers have chosen, which is likely a Louis Vuitton handbag. For instance, although it was quite conducive to the weather, when we were in China, every single person had Ugg boots on. In the US while Ugg is a popular brand, there are many more brands being worn, as there are many more tastes expressed by individuals. It was very interesting to see that there was a proliferation of a small number of brands, namely Louis Vuitton, as I came to quickly realize that the Chinese want to wear brands that are recognizable. While they are moving towards a more individualistic society, their tendency to be one of a group is still quite prominent. They do value the luxury brands to show status, but their need to be part of a group, albeit a high status group, is still quite unmistakable in the sea of Gucci and Louis Vuitton purses that were worn like a badge of honor by the women of China. The trip to China was quite eye-opening form the perspective of a Westerner who is used to a more modest lifestyle with an abundance of variety. The flashy cars and purses were immediately apparent from Beijing through Shanghai, but as I sit here thinking about the political and social changes that China has gone through in the past few decades, I only with I was smart enough to somehow capitalize on this. China is a fascinating country to visit given its great history and culture that is evident today, but it’s also great to have visited a country that is still going through many changes and evolving at such a rapid rate. While the rest of the world is clearly evolving, China is doing so at an exponentially quicker rate than most and that was quite clear with the sea of cranes in every city putting up buildings everywhere. I do believe that culture will always be a part of the Chinese people and lifestyle, but it will be interesting to see when this locomotive of luxury obsession begins to ebb or if China will meet its own credit crunch in the coming years given the drastic change in spending habits that the younger generations have adopted. [1] â€Å"Chinese appetite for premium products growing despite slowing economic activity. † Datamonitor July 20010, English ed. : 16. Print. [2] Andrea Gerst and Scilla Huang Sun, â€Å"China’s passion for luxury goods increases,† Investment Week, September 6, 2010. [3] â€Å"Cultural China,†http://history. cultural-china. com/en/46H9449H13452. html [4] Evelyn Rusli, â€Å"What Chinese Shoppers Want,† Forbes, March 8, 2010. [5] Andrea Gerst and Scilla Huang Sun, â€Å"China’s passion for luxury goods increases,† Investment Week, September 6, 2010. [6] Florent Bondoux, â€Å"Luxury watches find booming market in China,† Media, September 10, 2009, 17. [7] â€Å"Lengthened Mercedes-Benz E-Class to hit Chinese shores† http://www. benzinsider. com/2010/04/lengthened-mercedes-benz-e-class-to-hit-chinese-shores/ [8] â€Å"China Luxury,† http://app1. hkicpa. org. hk/APLUS/0710/p24_29. pdf [9] â€Å"Is China’s Luxury Goods Market a ‘Pot of Gold’ for Marketers? † Knowledge at Wharton, assessed July 27, 2007, http://english. cri. cn/2946/2007/07/27/199@254317. htm.