Debate Winners Summary Essay

Over the past few weeks, my group and I have been in a constant debate about the pros and cons of legalizing guns in the United States. This has been a constant debate that has been going on for sometime now. My group and I had the opportunity to really explore both sides thoroughly. It was amazing to find out the citizens of America were truly divided on the decision for guns to be legalized. According to The Resnick articile (1999), In 2008, the United States Supreme Court in District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008), held that the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution protects an individual’s right to possess a firearm for private use within the home in federal enclaves. In 2010, in McDonald v. Chicago, 561 U.S. __ (2010), the Supreme Court held that the right of an individual to keep and bear arms protected by the Second Amendment is incorporated by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and applies to the states. That American citizens have a right to own firearms is conclusive and irrefutable. Due to this argument, it’s only right for the people of America to embrace the right to protect your homes and family by having the right to purchase a weapon. People also value the right to have a gun for personal pleasure. There are men and women that enjoy the sport of hunting and those of us that love to go out to a range and shoot at target. According to The Pros & Cons (2014), if we opt not to legalize guns, we would potentially increase Black Market trade and ruin commercial trade, hinder evidence for prosecution, influence effects of socialism and totalitarianism to be seen upon a country’s social and government infrastructures. Some people view guns as not being safe at all. People feel there aren’t enough restrictions for guns. There are far too many people with criminal backgrounds that have direct access to guns. Guns have been viewed as being  an addition to violence. Over the years, we’ve seen children shooting children with their parent’s gun. Guns are easily accessible on the Black Market. Terrorists are utilizing guns to bully our citizens. According to Messerli (2012), Suicides and crimes of passion are higher with gun availability, as it’s much easier to act immediately on your impulses when a gun is available. As we can see, one could argue that we should ensure that guns remain legal in the U.S. and one could argue that we shouldn’t. Based on the information read, my team and I have come to the conclusion that the pros to legalizing guns should definitely win this argument. No one wants to violate the rights of the men and women of America. Reference Resnick, R. (1999). The Second Amendment Is Not Negotiable. Retrieved from http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/ron-resnick/the-second-amendment-is-not-negotiable/ The Pros & Cons (2014, January 29). Pros and Cons: Gun Control. Retrieved March 16, 2015, from http://theproscons.com/pros-cons-of-gun-control. Messerli, J. (2012). BalancedPolitics.org. Retrieved from http://www.balancedpolitics.org/gun_control.htm

Manufacturing Industry and Fair Trade in Australia

The question that is being studied here is of unemployment, and this is clearly not being lost because of imports. The calculations have been made by the Australian Center for Industrial Relations Research and Teaching, and they say facts about the net changes in the rate of employment between 1988 and 1998 in a number of industrial sectors. It can be seen that there is a clear decline in employment in eight sectors of industry during this decade. There was a net loss of about 250,000 jobs and more than sixty percent of the loss was in areas where there was no competition. This concerned employers like Commonwealth Bank, SECV, State Rail NSW, AMP, and the federal public services. (Do imports cost jobs: What's wrong with fair trade? ) Compared to this, the total number of people employed in sector of textiles, clothing and footwear manufacture in Australia has been 80. 2 thousand as per the figures available for 1998. (Manufacturing employment) The important areas of job loss have been in the manufacture of different products with low import threats, and where the imports come from high wage countries. The exception is in the case of textile, clothing and footwear — TCF. In the case of these products, the imports are from medium wage countries and that import is 36. 0 percent of the total market for these goods in Australia. The largest import is from China, and they are now selling 20 percent of all TCF goods in Australia. (Do imports cost jobs: What's wrong with fair trade? ) This has been confirmed at meetings of the productivity commission regarding the future of industry in the city of Melbourne and the state of Victoria. In the public hearing, they have also confirmed that if the recommendations of the commission are implemented then there would be another loss of 30,000 jobs. An industrialist, Brian Rush had this to say about the textile industry – â€Å"Commodity sewing, as such, in Australia has a real struggle in front of it. Our all-up labor rates in Bendigo, with all the add-ons, are about $28 an hour. You go to China and it's less than 50 cents an hour†. (Textile jobs under threat. 2003) It is not that the government is not aware of the situation in the country and has already allocated $575 million for the textile, clothing and footwear sector under the Strategic Investment Program as stated by the minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources. His statement said â€Å"Australia's $9 billion textile, clothing and footwear manufacturing industries can now apply for investment and R&D assistance under the package which has been closely and extensively negotiated with industry players†. (Australia: Textile, clothing & footwear sector investments worth AU $575mn approved, 2005) But this does not seem to have helped the workers as in one case, the workers sacked by National Textiles on January 21st are still on a 24 hour picket outside their factory and that is located about 170 kilometers north of Sydney. There are 342 workers and the claimed dues are on account of entitlements which are not paid consisting of leave on a yearly basis, sick leave, long service, redundancy payments and superannuation. (Sacked Australian textile workers picket for $11 million in unpaid entitlements) Regarding TCF, the economists at Reserve Bank have stated that about one third of the jobs lost in clothing are due to low wages and that is a total of 28,000 jobs. For footwear this amounts to 6,000 jobs lost. Well this seems to support that fair trade is the main reason for the lost jobs but they have also stated â€Å"Despite this large import effect, productivity improvements accounted for about two-thirds of the fall in employment in this sector† (Do imports cost jobs: What's wrong with fair trade? ) This can be seen from a comparison of the figures of 1994 and 1999 where in the case of machinery and equipment the productivity has risen by 23. 2 percent and the job losses have been only 3. 9 percent reduction. In the TCF sector, the increase in productivity has been 15. 1 percent and the job losses are 15. 3 percent. (Do imports cost jobs: What's wrong with fair trade? ) When one looks at the total employment figures the picture becomes even clearer with a reduction between 1974 and 1999 with a total reduction in textiles clothing and footwear by 53 percent, whereas in transport equipment and machinery the reduction was by 39 percent and in metallic products by 29 percent. Thus it is clear that employment is on the way down with a total reduction by 22 percent. This is hurting the workers as 24 percent of the total workers were employed in manufacturing in 1974, but this came down to just 12 percent in 1999. This does not mean that this section of industry has started producing less, and the production has increased, but the gains have not been passed on in terms of additional workers. This is reflected in the fact that the major portion of Australia's workers is now engaged in the service sector – 82 percent of them. (Productivity Commission: Move to scrap tariffs sooner rather than later) To some extent the mismatching of the Australian government timing of cutting the protection of the textile, clothing and footwear sector with the change of the global TCF industry to get into a new form of organization, the commodity chain is also responsible. Due to this change, some Australian TCF manufacturers could not continue business any longer, while the others followed a number of strategies to remain in business, and these including a change of the labor required. This has led to losses in jobs determined by age, gender and ethnicity in the skilled and semi-skilled levels of production. This has been replaced by jobs in design, marketing and management. The jobs in the factories of Australia have to the Pacific Rim. (Trade and inequality: Australia's textile, clothing, and footwear industries, 1986-1996) As an example one can see that in December, there was a reduction by the Sara Lee clothing factory of 200 workers in the factories of Sydney, Wollongong and Kempsey. The number was half of the total employees of workers in the organization. This company now plans to get most of the production for the company done at Fiji, where the labor is cheaper. A similar decision was also taken by Levi Strauss, the famous jeans manufacturer. They are now planning to cut down about 60 percent of the workers in Elizabeth, near Adelaide. They amount to 100 workers. (Australian Job Losses) For many of the workers this means social changes and increases unemployment rates in many areas leading to losses in consumer demand for products. For the people there are long term effects on health due to the loss of jobs and finding a job when one is over 50 is not easy. For the company also it is a loss of manufacturing capacity. Productivity Commission: Move to scrap tariffs sooner rather than later) In the meantime, a new breed of employers has come up and these are the employment agencies. They offer high efficiency when placing the employees in a firm. They claim to offer economies of scale due to their being a specialist third party managing the aspects of personnel management like recruitment. This is normally the function of the personnel department. They also lead to lower transaction costs and thus increase efficiencies due to the matching involved. Yet it is not very popular as in 2003 a survey showed that organizations are using hired employees for the purpose of getting workers for immediate requirements. Yet, a survey showed that 42 percent of the firms believe that there are good benefits for the firms using hired employees. The perceived benefits are the reduction of administrative costs, being able to go through a thorough process of recruitment and getting skilled workers. A very small portion of the firms gave their reason as reduction of employee cost due to lower payments. Temporary employment agencies as labor market intermediaries – new ways of working in an open economy) According to a study done by ABS in June 2002, there were 290, 000 employees hired through the employment agencies at that time. This is a 3. 1 percent share of the total employment market. According to them the organizations which had a union with a closed shop had the least chance of using a labor hire agency. This is thus a limiting factor on labor hire agencies. The positive factor for a labor hire agency is an organization with an employee relations manager. These managers are knowledgeable about the different sources from where they can get labor, as also the different types of labor with them. They are more likely to use the agencies when appropriate. Yet organizations hire labor sparingly and along with other flexible forms of labor like part-time labor and casual labor. (The Growth of Labor Hire Employment in Australia) It is wrong to expect the free traders or the fair traders to really have the interests of the workers at heart. One has to realize that the problem in part arises from the present chase for productivity and international competition.

The Microsoft Case Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Microsoft Case - Article Example Microsoft is trying to become a cut above the other. Its ability to create various ranges of product offerings strengthens its potential to cover the world market. For many years, Microsoft is said to be well known for its anti-competitive and predatory practices. This is the reason why it has remarkably investigated for antitrust behavior. Microsoft defended that it has definitely done what the other competitors would do in its place. Each key player is trying to be a cut above the other and wanting to take control of the market. The bottom line is money. This is how Microsoft and its competitors are motivated to stay in the competition and even want to be on top of the rest. Gaining monopoly.I personally agree that Microsoft is trying to gain monopoly in the computer software industry because of the remarkable market area it has to cover. It is in this reason that imperfect competition is most likely to exist. The other proof is the ongoing investigation it has to face due to its a lleged antitrust behavior. One specific case is the Microsoft’s ability to offer products or services at remarkably lower price compared to its competitors. As a result, more consumers would try its service or product offerings. This can be illustrated by the demand curve. Downward sloping demand curve simply states the nature of human behavior and which simply showcases the principle that as the price decreases, the consumers are assumed to buy or acquire more. Microsoft at the same time holds the economies of scale which is one of its utmost competitive advantages. In the economies of scale more production would mean lower cost per unit of produced product. The marginal cost and marginal revenue are maximized for the advantage of the firm. Thus, this means efficiency of production and at some point Microsoft may be able to pursue or maximize its bundling strategy for its maximum advantage. As a result and under monopoly pricing, prices are controlled by the firm and the con sumers have no strong market power. The people are not the price maker in this case, but the firm instead. However, Microsoft can hardly obtain pure monopolistic power for as long as there is a continuing presence of the Silicon Valley giants such as Sun Microsystems, Intel, Apple Compute and others. Ideally, in a monopoly market structure, there is only a single seller; there is presence of unique product; and impossible entry into the market (Tucker, 2010). Thus, a pure monopoly’s characteristics include single seller, no close substitutes, price maker and there are barriers to entry and exit (Vallabhaneni, 2009). However, what is present today is showing us the fact that Microsoft can har

An Exploration of Apple's Dominance of the Smartphones Assignment

An Exploration of Apple's Dominance of the Smartphones - Assignment Example In addition to this, the other research questions will be that how the other organisations in the Smartphone industry trying to compete with Apple in UK’s market and what Apple can do to maintain its competitive advantage in the UK’s market. Apple, Inc. is an US based multinational company which was founded in the year 1976. The Smartphone industry in UK has been booming because of the continued increase in demand of Smartphone by the people in UK. Along with Samsung and Nokia, Apple is found to be dominating the UK Smartphone market (The Telegraph, 2012). According to the report of Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, the market share of Apple’s Smartphone increased by around 10% from 21% to 31% during the period of 12 weeks that ended on November 2011 (Virki, 2011).It is mainly attributed towards the release of new model of Smartphone in UK by Apple, named iPhone 4S during October 2011. However it has been argued that Apple is ranked second to the Android platform develo ped by Google in terms of market share in the Smartphone industry of UK (Warman, 2011). ... Research Background The proposed topic in this research study and the analysis of the findings based on the research done on the topic would provide an in-depth knowledge about the Smartphone industry in UK at present and the consumer behaviour patterns related to Smartphone products in UK. Smartphone is only a new concept in the field of mobile technology and is different from other standard mobile phones available in the market. As a result of these facts, the existing literature in this field is limited and not much research studies have been conducted till now. Hence, this research study would add to the existing literature and pave way to further research that can be done in this field. Moreover, Apple is a dominant player in the UK’s market of Smartphone products and has had its market dominance for a significant amount of time till now. It is evident from its market share in the Smartphone industry of UK which was around 31% during November 2011 (Virki, 2011). However, lot of other mobile companies are also introducing their Smartphone products in the UK’s market. This can have an effect on Apple’s market share in UK. According to the recent reports published by Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, Apple has fallen behind Google in terms of market share in the UK Smartphone industry. Android operating system installed in the Google Smartphone is being preferred by the consumers in UK more than Apple Smartphone (Arthur, 2012a). However, Android is divided amongst various brands like Samsung, HTC, Motorola, etc. Hence Apple iPhones which is the single branded Smartphone is the most used brand by the consumers in UK. Moreover, with respect to customer satisfaction, Apple is found to have the highest level of customer

The Evolving English Language Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The Evolving English Language - Essay Example The English language has taken an interesting course of development from an obscure tongue to an international language with the dynamic and significant impact made on the language due to the efforts of standardisation in the context of regional diversity.This essay discusses in brief the development of the English as an international language, standardization and its significance on English as an international language.Right from the Anglo-Saxon period, English has constantly evolved to become what it is today. Its richness can be contributed to the fact that it has accommodated the changes brought in by a number of foreign influences for centuries. However the language remained within the confines of the geographical English boundaries for quite a few centuries. The advent of industrial revolution followed by colonization, laid the foundation for English to become a global language. The ambitious conquest as well as the philanthropic efforts of the colonist undertaken across the co ntinents, set grounds for leaving behind a rich legacy of the language and its usage long after the colonists were gone. The establishment of missionary educational institutions, hospitals and churches, the traditions of which were followed even after the colonial era played a major role in the English language flourishing in foreign soil. Knowing the language was more of a status symbol in many colonial and post colonial nations, which also led to its increased usage and prominence among world languages.

Reading Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Reading - Assignment Example This is the ability to know the problems that the customers or clients are facing and making effort to improve the areas that will provide solutions to their problems. Another key element of an innovative organization is implementation. It is the organization being able to put suggestions and ideas into effect in order to solve the underlying problems. A creative person or creative group may possess the following traits; being original by resisting the normal conventions and systems due to the need of doing things which others have not. Creative people are highly motivated. They have energy to solve difficulties. They are ambitious, have strong determination and wishes to succeed in their undertakings (Dhillon, 2006). Creative people are highly flexible as they are able to recognize aspects of different issues and come up with good solutions and ideas. For groups to be creative they need to appreciate diversity of the members and allow different views and ideas in order to come up with creative solutions. Also, groups should foster collaborations in all activities and be able to compromise on different

Civil Rights Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Civil Rights - Essay Example The government and judicial attitudes towards blacks and other minority group was altered to incorporate the rights of the subjects. Civil rights did not just begin in 1950s,it began when Africans were initially brought to America as slaves. The blacks were the pioneers of the civil rights when fought tirelessly for their enslavement and demanded for their fundamental citizenship rights that was bluntly. This article examines the role and achievements of the civil rights movement. Leaders of the civil rights movement used various strategies to communicate their complaints. Generally, success of the Civil rights Movements were attributed to well coordination of three prong strategy which included civil disobedience, well-articulated grass root organizations and the mass boycotts and economic withdrawal. Some of the strategies used prior to 1955 were litigation and lobbying through the National Association for the Advancement of Colored people between 1896 and 1954. There were powerful combination of gradualism in legal issues and advocacy of far reaching change that was adopted by the initiators of the Brown strategy (Ollhoff, 2011). However, NAACP later employed tactic of directly challenging the constitutionality of â€Å"separate but equal†education.

Homosexuality and LGBT rights in Vietnam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Homosexuality and LGBT rights in Vietnam - Essay Example The country hosts highly talented people belonging to a variety of professions including artists, scientists, lawyers, and economists. Still, the discrimination of the society toward the LGBT community in general is overt. Vietnam is just another country among a range of conservative countries in which homosexuality is perceived as a taboo. While people hold different views about it, the view against homosexuality is carried by a vast majority of people in the society. Although a Google search over the keywords â€Å"Dong tinh† leads an individual to more than 250 million links in a fraction of a second, yet most of the links reveal the negative stance of the society of Vietnam over the topic of homosexuality. Most people in Vietnam express curiosity and distress over the topic, and articles citing cases of discrimination against the homosexuals in different ways can be readily found. However, the situation has started to change recently in favor of the LGBT community in Vietn am, even though the country has to go a long way before equality of rights of the LGBT community can be established. A major hurdle in the way of social acceptance of the LGBT community in Vietnam is certain misunderstandings. At a conference organized for gay-rights, Le Quang Binh, the think-tank leader mentioned that while 57 per cent of the Vietnamese thought of homosexuality as a social fad, 48 per cent of them thought that it was a curable condition. Nguyen Thanh Tam, the Viet Pride founder recalled the curiosity shown by people to see the rainbow flags at the last year’s event in these words, â€Å"People were running up to us asking why we were carrying rainbow flags. They wanted to know what product we were marketing† (Tam cited in Phillips). According to the LGBT activist Tam, life for the lesbians is made particularly complicated by the police as the police hauls them in for questioning on charges that while their gender is mentioned as female on their identity cards, they look like boys to the cops. A major barrier in the way of the LGBT movement is social conformity. Peopl e belonging to the minority are understood by others with difficulty since people tend to follow the norm that being different is bad. Rights of the LGBT community in Vietnam is a pleasant outlier among the human-rights statistics’ bleak set. The police has arrested many dissident bloggers in 2013 whereas the total number of political prisoners in detention in Vietnam surpasses 150 (Phillips). The case of Dieu Cay, the campaigning journalist is one of the most high-profile cases in Vietnam. â€Å"Suffering a raft of serious health problems that require round-the-clock care, the activist is serving a 12-year sentence for â€Å"disseminating antistate information and materials,† and on June 22, embarked on an ongoing hunger strike to protest his treatment† (Phillips). Same-sex couples in Vietnam have been fined for many decades for holding the relationship ceremonies in the past. Contrary to the decades-long history of anti-gay sentiment in Vietnam, circumstances have started to change in favor of the LGBT community as a result of alteration in the laws. Gay and lesbian couples are likely to soon be allowed to conduct ceremonies of relationship in Vietnam. Lawmakers in Vietnam have started to conduct a debate regarding the hope of the advocates of gay rights and their allies that Vietnam might permit same-sex marriages in near future. Of late, the National Assembly of Vietnam has scheduled the commencement of a debate regarding amendment of the Law of Marriage and the Family which would, in effect, annul the ban placed over same-sex marriage, though the law would not allow

Hydrocarbon Fuels Essay Example for Free

Hydrocarbon Fuels Essay Fuels are substances that burn in reactions with oxygen on a large scale, with transfer of energy to the surroundings. Fossil fuels are the most common and widely used fuels around today. The essential reaction for any chemical fuel includes: Fuel + Oxygen Oxidation + Energy transfer products Fossil fuels are a non renewable source of fuels and include coal, oil and gas. These are raw materials that supply feedback for most of our chemical industry. These have been produced over millions of years and are being consumed rapidly. If we run out of fossil fuels they cannot be reproduced which is why it is important to use them efficiently. Crude oil and natural gas provide fuel for heating, electricity generation and transport. Natural gas is a mixture of hydrocarbons with small molecules. These molecules are made of atoms of carbon and hydrogen. For example, natural gas used in the home is mainly methane, CH4. Crude oil is a complex mixture of hydrocarbons, with a varying composition depending on its source. The hydrocarbons in crude oil have different boiling points, according to the number of carbon atoms their molecules contain and how they are arranged. Fractional distillation uses the difference in boiling point to separate the hydrocarbons in crude oil. The fractionating column is cooler at the top than the bottom, so the vapours cool as they rise. Vapours condense onto a tray when they reach the part of the column which is cooler than their boiling point, they are therefore now separated. There is a greater demand for lighter short chain hydrocarbons such as petrol and naphtha and the demand for heavy long chain hydrocarbons is much less. E.g. bitumen Cracking is a form of thermal decomposition and is the process in which shorter more useful carbon chain hydrocarbons are produced from longer less useful chains by heating. This is done by breaking the carbon-carbon bonds which are very strongly attracted so the process of cracking has high activation energy. It is a free radical process and so it makes a mixture of products. Catalytic cracking is a Carbo Cation mechanism. It uses catalyst: zeolite at slight pressure- 4/5 atmospheres to make more fuels. It also makes aromatic hydrocarbons. Shape selectivity by a zeolite catalyst separation of isomers by a molecular sieve The advantages of using fossils is that very large amounts of electricity can be generated in one place using coal, fairly cheaply. Transporting oil and gas to the power stations is also very easy. Gas-fired power stations are very efficient and a fossil-fuelled power station can be built almost anywhere, so long as you can get large quantities of fuel to it. However there are many disadvantages the most common and serious being pollution. Spillage of fuels can cause great damage in streams and ponds resulting in immense loss of animal and plant life and an enormous cost of cleaning it up. Oxidation of carbon-based compounds produces vast amounts of carbon dioxide which contributes to the green house effect causing an increase in atmospheric temperatures which is then likely to cause changes in climate and weather patterns. A large variety of compounds, including carcinogens, appear in the smoke from burning coal and wood. Inefficient burning of carbon-based fuels in defective furnace and domestic gas fires produces poisonous gas carbon monoxide. This can cause problems in health as if it is breathed in it can take up the oxygen space in hemoglobin and react with the iron, this would mean that the body would not function properly and death will follow. Burning fuels also produces two other poisonous gases such as various nitrogen oxides and sulphur oxides. The sulphur oxide comes from the sulphur impurities in the fossil fuels however the nitrogen oxides are produced by the reaction of nitrogen and oxygen in the air caused by the heat of the burning. When these gases mix with clouds they form dilute sulphuric acid and dilute nitric acid. This then falls as acid rain which kills fish, trees and limestone buildings. Mining coal can be difficult and dangerous. Strip mining destroys large areas of the landscape. This image shows dead Effects of acid on stone Fish as a result of pollution sculpture There are some alternatives to fossil fuels that may provide a better environment these include the following: * BIOMASS: plants can be used directly as fuels e.g wood or they can be grown for conversion into fuels e.g sugar from sugar cane Advantage: renewable, helps to reduce waste and used with simple technology Disadvantage: not large enough to replace fossil fuels at present rates of use. * METHANOL: this alcohol can be used in racing cars and it is made quite cheaply from methane Advantage: methanol does not produce a lot of carbon monoxide when burnt Disadvantage: mixture of methanol and petrol absorb water and may cause corrosion of car engines * NUCLEAR FUELS: when the nuclei of atoms of isotopes of uranium undergo fission (splitting) in a chain reaction very large amounts of energy is released Advantage: there are no carbon, nitrogen and sulphur produced. Disadvantage: Radioactive waste products are difficult to store and treat. * MOVING AIR: WIND The energy of moving air is transferred into the motion of windmills and wind turbines Advantage: no pollution is produced and it is renewable Disadvantage: can be expensive to generate electricity for a large scale. Is not very reliable as it needs wind which is not always available. * MOVING: WATER Stored water behind dams or from waterfalls can be released through turbines and generate electricity Advantage: can be used on large scale and is quite predictable Disadvantage: quite costly * SUNLIGHT: Solar panels are used to heat water and photovoltaic cells are used to convert light into electricity Advantage: pollution free with no waste products Disadvantage: the sun is not always available in countries like the UK and also there is no sun at night time. * GEOTHERMAL: Water is pumped into wells in the hot rock zone is heated and used to heat buildings Advantage: available in large quantities and no pollution is produced Disadvantage: expensive and has some technological problems * HYDROGEN: Hydrogen is extracted from water by electrolysis and used on transport systems Advantage: available in large quantities and causes no air pollution Disadvantage: regarded as too dangerously explosive and it is too difficult to store Bibliography * OCR text book: Chemistry 1 * AS and A level chemistry revision guide * GCSE double science chemistry revision guide * Google research * http://www.darvill.clara.net/altenerg/fossil.htm

Gender Norms & Racial Bias in the Study of the Modern History Essay Example for Free

Gender Norms Racial Bias in the Study of the Modern History Essay History is the study of the past, specifically how it relates to humans. It is an umbrella term that relates to past events as well as the memory, discovery, collection, organization, presentation, and interpretation of information about these events. Scholars who write about history are called historians. Events occurring prior to written record are considered prehistory. History can also refer to the academic discipline which uses a narrative to examine and analyse a sequence of past events, and objectively determine the patterns of cause and effect that determine them. Historians sometimes debate the nature of history and its usefulness by discussing the study of the discipline as an end in itself and as a way of providing perspective on the problems of the present. Stories common to a particular culture, but not supported by external sources are usually classified as cultural heritage or legends, because they do not support the disinterested investigation required of the discipline of history. Herodotus, a 5th-century BC Greek historian is considered within the Western tradition to be the father of history, and, along with his contemporary Thucydides, helped form the foundations for the modern study of human history. Their work continues to be read today and the divide between the culture-focused Herodotus and the military-focused Thucydides remains a point of contention or approach in modern historical writing. In the Eastern tradition, a state chronicle the Spring and Autumn Annals was known to be compiled from as early as 722 BC although only 2nd century BC texts survived. Ancient influences have helped spawn variant interpretations of the nature of history which have evolved over the centuries and continue to change today. The modern study of history is wide-ranging, and includes the study of specific regions and the study of certain topical or thematical elements of historical investigation. Often history is taught as part of primary and secondary education, and the a cademic study of history is a major discipline in University studies. Etymology Ancient Greek á ¼ ±ÃÆ'Ï„Î ¿Ã ÃŽ ¯ÃŽ ± means inquiry,knowledge from inquiry, or judge. It was in that sense that Aristotle used the word in his . The ancestor word is attested early on in Homeric Hymns, Heraclitus, the Athenian ephebes oath, and in Boiotic inscriptions . The word entered the English language in 1390 with the meaning of relation of incidents, story. In Middle English,  the meaning was story in general. The restriction to the meaning record of past events arose in the late 15th century. It was still in the Greek sense that Francis Bacon used the term in the late 16th century, when he wrote about Natural History. For him, historia was the knowledge of objects determined by space and time, that sort of knowledge provided by memory . In an expression of the linguistic synthetic vs. analytic/isolating dichotomy, English like Chinese now designates separate words for human history and storytelling in general. In modern German, French, and most Germanic and Romance languages, which are solidly synthetic and highly inflected, the same word is still used to mean both history and story. The adjective historical is attested from 1661, and historic from 1669. Historian in the sense of a researcher of history is attested from 1531. In all European languages, the substantive history is still used to mean both what happened with men, and the scholarly study of the happened, the latter sense sometimes distinguished with a capital letter, History, or the word historiography. The modern discipline of history is dedicated to the institutional production of this discourse. All events that are remembered and preserved in some authentic form constitute the historical record. The task of historical discourse is to identify the sources which can most usefully contribute to the production of accurate accounts of past. Therefore, the constitution of the historians archive is a result of circumscribing a more general archive by invalidating the usage of certain texts and documents . The study of history has sometimes been classified as part of the humanities and at other times as pa rt of the social sciences. It can also be seen as a bridge between those two broad areas, incorporating methodologies from both. Some individual historians strongly support one or the other classification. In the 20th century, French historian Fernand Braudel revolutionized the study of history, by using such outside disciplines as economics, anthropology, and geography in the study of global history. Traditionally, historians have recorded events of the past, either in writing or by passing on an oral tradition, and have attempted to answer historical questions through the study of written documents and oral accounts. From the beginning, historians have also used such sources as monuments, inscriptions, and pictures. In general, the sources of historical knowledge can be separated into three categories: what is written, what is  said, and what is physically preserved, and historians often consult all three. But writing is the marker that separates history from what comes before. Archaeology is a discipline that is especially helpful in dealing with buried sites and objects, which, once unearthed, contribute to the study of history. But archaeology rarely stands alone. It uses narrative sources to complement its discoveries. However, archaeology is constituted by a range of methodologies and approaches which are independent from history; that is to say, archaeology does not fill the gaps within textual sources. Indeed, historical archaeology is a specific branch of archaeology, often contrasting its conclusions against those of contemporary textual sources. For example, Mark Leone, the excavator and interpreter of historical Annapolis, Maryland, USA; has sought to understand the contradiction between textual documents and the material record, demonstrating the possession of slaves and the inequalities of wealth apparent via the study of the total historical environment, despite the ideology of liberty inherent in written documents at this time. There are varieties of ways in which history can be organized, including chronologically, culturally, territorially, and thematically. These divisions are not mutually exclusive, and significant overlaps are often present, as in The International Womens Movement in an Age of Transition, 1830–1975. It is possible for historians to concern themselves with both the very specific and the very general, although the modern trend has been toward spec ialization. The area called Big History resists this specialization, and searches for universal patterns or trends. History has often been studied with some practical or theoretical aim, but also may be studied out of simple intellectual curiosity. History and prehistory The history of the world is the memory of the past experience of Homo sapiens around the world, as that experience has been preserved, largely in written records. By prehistory, historians mean the recovery of knowledge of the past in an area where no written records exist, or where the writing of a culture is not understood. By studying painting, drawings, carvings, and other artifacts, some information can be recovered even in the absence of a written record. Since the 20th century, the study of prehistory is considered essential to avoid historys implicit exclusion of certain  civilizations, such as those of Sub-Saharan Africa and pre-Columbian America. Historians in the West have been criticized for focusing disproportionately on the Western world. In 1961, British historian E. H. Carr wrote: This definition includes within the scope of history the strong interests of peoples, such as Australian Aboriginals and New Zealand MÄ ori in the past, and the oral records maintained a nd transmitted to succeeding generations, even before their contact with European civilization. Historiography Historiography has a number of related meanings. Firstly, it can refer to how history has been produced: the story of the development of methodology and practices. Secondly, it can refer to what has been produced: a specific body of historical writing . Thirdly, it may refer to why history is produced: the Philosophy of history. As a meta-level analysis of descriptions of the past, this third conception can relate to the first two in that the analysis usually focuses on the narratives, interpretations, worldview, use of evidence, or method of presentation of other historians. Professional historians also debate the question of whether history can be taught as a single coherent narrative or a series of competing narratives. Philosophy of history Philosophy of history is a branch of philosophy concerning the eventual significance, if any, of human history. Furthermore, it speculates as to a possible teleological end to its development—that is, it asks if there is a design, purpose, directive principle, or finality in the processes of human history. Philosophy of history should not be confused with historiography, which is the study of history as an academic discipline, and thus concerns its methods and practices, and its development as a discipline over time. Nor should philosophy of history be confused with the history of philosophy, which is the study of the development of philosophical ideas through time. Historical methods Cultural history Cultural history replaced social history as the dominant form in the 1980s and 1990s. It typically combines the approaches of anthropology and history  to look at language, popular cultural traditions and cultural interpretations of historical experience. It examines the records and narrative descriptions of past knowledge, customs, and arts of a group of people. How peoples constructed their memory of the past is a major topic. Cultural history includes the study of art in society as well is the study of images and human visual production. Diplomatic history Diplomatic history, sometimes referred to as Rankin History in honor of Leopold von Ranke, focuses on politics, politicians and other high rulers and views them as being the driving force of continuity and change in history. This type of political history is the study of the conduct of international relations between states or across state boundaries over time. This is the most common form of history and is often the classical and popular belief of what history should be. Economic history Although economic history has been well established since the late 19th century, in recent years academic studies have shifted more and more toward economics departments and away from traditional history departments. Environmental history Environmental history is a new field that emerged in the 1980s to look at the history of the environment, especially in the long run, and the impact of human activities upon it. World history World history is the study of major civilizations over the last 3000 years or so. World history is primarily a teaching field, rather than a research field. It gained popularity in the United States, Japan and other countries after the 1980s with the realization that students need a broader exposure to the world as globalization proceeds. It has led to highly controversial interpretations by Oswald Spengler and Arnold J. Toynbee, among others. The World History Association publishes the Journal of World History every quarter since 1990. The H-World discussion list serves as a network of communication among practitioners of world history, with discussions among scholars, announcements, syllabi, bibliographies and book reviews. Peoples history A peoples history is a type of historical work which attempts to account for historical events from the perspective of common people. A peoples history is the history of the world that is the story of mass movements and of the outsiders. Individuals or groups not included in the past in other type of writing about history are the primary focus, which includes the disenfranchised, the oppressed, the poor, the nonconformists, and the otherwise forgotten people. This history also usually focuses on events occurring in the fullness of time, or when an overwhelming wave of smaller events cause certain developments to occur. Histomomity Histornomity is a historical study of human progress or individual personal characteristics, by using statistics to analyze references to eminent persons, their statements, behavior and discoveries in relatively neutral texts. Gender history Gender history is a sub-field of History and Gender studies, which looks at the past from the perspective of gender. It is in many ways, an outgrowth of womens history. Despite its relatively short life, Gender History has had a rather significant effect on the general study of history. Since the 1960s, when the initially small field first achieved a measure of acceptance, it has gone through a number of different phases, each with its own challenges and outcomes. Although some of the changes to the study of history have been quite obvious, such as increased numbers of books on famous women or simply the admission of greater numbers of women into the historical profession, other influences are more subtle. Public history Public history describes the broad range of activities undertaken by people with some training in the discipline of history who are generally working outside of specialized academic settings. Public history practice has quite deep roots in the areas of historic preservation, archival science, oral history, museum curatorship, and other related fields. The term itself began to be used in the U.S. and Canada in the late 1970s, and the field has become increasingly professionalized since that time. Some of the most common settings for public history are museums, historic homes and historic sites, parks, battlefields, archives, film and television companies, and all  levels of government. Historians Professional and amateur historians discover, collect, organize, and present information about past events. In lists of historians, historians can be grouped by order of the historical period in which they were writing, which is not necessarily the same as the period in which they specialized. Chroniclers and analysts, though they are not historians in the true sense, are also frequently included. The judgments of history Since the 20th century, Western historians have disavowed the aspiration to provide the judgments of history. The goals of historical judgments or interpretations are separate to those of legal judgments, which need to be formulated quickly after the events and be final. A related issue to that of the judgments of history is that of collective memory. Pseudo-history Pseudo-history is a term applied to texts which purport to be historical in nature but which depart from standard historiographical conventions in a way which undermines their conclusions. Closely, related to deceptive historical revisionism. Works which draw controversial conclusions from new, speculative, or disputed historical evidence, particularly in the fields of national, political, military, and religious affairs, are often rejected as pseudo-history. Teaching history From the origins of national school systems in the 19th century, the teaching of history to promote national sentiment has been a high priority. In the United States after World War I, a strong movement emerged at the university level to teach courses in Western Civilization, so as to give students a common heritage with Europe. In the U.S. after 1980 attention increasingly moved toward teaching world history or requiring students to take courses in non-western cultures, to prepare students for life in a globalized economy. At the university level, historians debate the question of whether history belongs more to social science or to the humanities. Many view the field from both perspectives. The teaching of history in French schools was influenced by the Nouvelle histoire as disseminated after the 1960s by Cahiers pedagogies and Inveiglement and other journals for teachers. Also  influential was the Institute national de recherchà © et de documentation pedagogue. Joseph Leif, the Inspector-general of teacher training, said pupils children should learn about historians’ approaches as well as facts and dates. Louis Franà §ois, Dean of the History/Geography group in the Inspectorate of National Education advised that teachers should provide historic documents and promote active methods which would give pupils the immense happiness of discovery. Proponents said it was a reaction against the memorization of names and dates that characterized teaching and left the students bored. Traditionalists protested loudly it was a postmodern innovation that threatened to leave the youth ignorant of French patriotism and national identity. In most countries history textbook are tools to foster nationalism and patriotism, and give students the official line about national enemies. In many countries history textbooks are sponsored by the national government and are written to put the national heritage in the most favorable light. For example, in Japan, mention of the Nanking Massacre has been removed from textbooks and the entire World War II is given cursory treatment. Other countries have complained. It was standard policy in communist countries to present only a rigid Marxist historiography. Academic historians have often fought against the politicization of the textbooks, sometimes with success. In 21st-century Germany, the history curriculum is controlled by the 16 states, and is characterized not by super-patriotism but rather by an almost pacifistic and deliberately unpatriotic undertone and reflects principles formulated by international organizations such as UNESCO or the Council of Europe, thus oriented towards human rights, democracy and peace. The result is that German textbooks usually downplay national pride and ambitions and aim to develop an understanding of citizenship centered on democracy, progress, human rights, peace, tolerance and European.