Monday, January 27, 2020

Social Construction Of Gender Cultural Studies Essay

Social Construction Of Gender Cultural Studies Essay Nortons anthology of Theory and Criticism is a collection of influential critical statements that are drawn from the classical era to the present times. These topic areas has been contributed by different scholars who have written on wide range of issues that covers different interest that touches on the history of poetics to post modernity. One of the topics that Norton looks at is criticism of Simone De Beauviors feminist argument and that of Judith Butlers on gender trouble. Judith book, Gender in trouble is a fictional account of womens issues in the modern societies. She borrows De beavouirs feminist theory to analyze some of the issue facing women today. Social construction of Gender Butler is a radical feminist who is trying to examine some of the foundational roots of gender identity that are culturally embedded within the fabrics of the society and is now characterized by political correctness. She was very much influenced by French writers such as Mitchell Foucault, Jean Sartre but above all Simone De Beauvoir. She draws much of her theoretical thinking on about feminism from De Beauviors concept on the Sex second. Simone de Beauvior was born and grew up in Paris in a wealthy and but very religious family background. He later the family lost their wealth after World War one. Her early childhood life was very much influence by her religious faith, but later turned atheist. Even during his formatting years, De beauvior displayed signs of intellectual prowess which hugely influenced his father. She managed to study mathematics, philosophy and literature, after which he ventured into the field of education. It is argued that beauvior engaged in a romantic relationship with both men and women. In her book, Sexuality, Existentialist feminism and the Second Sex, De beauvior talks about the whole use of feminist sexuality by referring to her own sexual experiences in the mandarins. She laments how womens sexuality has been social constructed by the patriarchal system and stereotypes to belong to the lower beds of the society. Unfortunately, mens perception of women is attributed by other factors such as race, class and religion. As a result, men refer to women as weaker vessel and used sex to confine them to the lower levels of the patriarchal system. In response, De beauvior comes up with the concept of feminist existentialism which contains ideological concepts and theoretical framework that underpins these moral changes. Gender as a choice In her book gender in trouble, Butler emphasizes on the performative nature of gender is constantly trying to free itself from cultural oppression, prejudice and sex perversions. Drawing from her role model, Butler argues along the lines of gender and sex in relation to women, lesbians and gay men. From this book, Butler argues that our understanding of femininity is actually based on cultural interpretation rather than scientific examinations. As a result our perceptions of gender and sex are socially constructed or dictated to by what our societies think, say or portray to us. She refers to the term gender as choice to criticize victimization of women as purported in classical literature. We cannot choose sex or our bodies but we can clothe it according to our cultural understanding. Thus, Beauvoirs theory has radicalized our cultural understanding of gender and gender roles. Beauvoir is one of the key feminist thinkers of the 19th century. She advocate for womens freedom in choosing what is right for them and not to be dictated to by nature or conventional social laws initiated by men. She further explains that women should not allow themselves to be defined by biological gender, rather on their personhood. Beavour argues that the societys reference to female becoming a woman is used to identify them with domestic chores and duties such as cooking, cleaning or being a wife or a mother. In addition, her concept of female becoming a woman encompasses the societys obsession with beauty that is being reinforced by male dominated media which also defines what is deemed to be appropriate modes of dressing. Butler explores the relationship between that exists between power and categories of sex and gender. Through this book, she attack some of the prevailing gender assumptions on womens social roles and sexuality as dictated to by male dominated society. Butler therefore reiterates that there is need to differentiate between biological make up of female body and cultural perception of gender. She uses her dominant theme concerning gender as normative to call upon the society to tackle the gender trouble head on in order to deal with some the existing subversive concepts of women. Conclusion Womens liberation thinking of the 19th century greatly influenced thinking of many scholars including academicians and literary writers. One of those literary writers who were not spared by feminist movement was Simone De Beavouir, French intellectual who found her feet in America. Her move to America enabled her to develop a free mind as she embarked on her literary journey. De beavour used her own sexual experience to develop her feminist theory. Today, her feminism theory is being used widely by other postmodern writers an tool for developing independent feminist thinking. One of those post modern feminist writers is Judith butlers who have drawn much of her ideas from De beavour thought of feminist liberation. Through, her book Butler argues that the society in general need to come up with new ways of dealing gender and sex, by tackling what she calls gender trouble.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Mind Control Essay

Have you ever walked around a shopping mall intending to go to only one store, yet two hours later you’re still in the mall and you haven’t walked into the only store you planned to go into? What pulled you into the other stores? You were just walking down and all of a sudden you smelled a whiff of some good scent, so you walk into Abercrombie and Fitch. The smell hooked you in and then you began looking at clothes and the time just got the best of you and your money. Abercrombie and Fitch used a form of mind control to hook you in and get you to walk into their store and then buy their product. Today we will discuss the topic of mind control, how it affects us as students today, and how the media shapes our ideals and values with mind control. Mind control is defined in psychology as Social Influence. Social influence occurs every minute of every day. It’s the many ways in which people can manipulate other people’s perspectives beliefs and ethics. For instance, The Compliance Method is intent to make a shift in a person’s behavior, not in his perspective or belief. This is one of the biggest advertising campaigns that are being used so successfully today. It’s the â€Å"Just do it† approach. Persuasion, on the other hand, aims for a change in attitude, or â€Å"Do it because it will make you feel Blissful, Healthy, or prosperous.† Whereas the Education Method (which is called the propaganda method if you don’t believe what is being taught.) attempts to alter a distortion in a person’s beliefs, saying something along the lines of â€Å"Do it because you know it’s the right thing to do.† A common way that millions of people get brainwashed as young adults is as being students. Grading, humiliation, favoritism and other techniques, are used in most school systems to punish and reward certain behaviors and ideas. An abundance amount of kids learn in school for example, that t hey are secondary, stupid, inadequate, untalented , and failures thanks to absentmindedness or intended brainwashing done by teachers, who are commonly themselves brainwashed. Students furthermore learn not to be creative, not to question authority, not to be individuals or do things that differ from the mainstream way. Subconsciously they dread the disciplinary action and humiliation that came when they were in school years before. This is mainly the reason many adults  are afraid to ask their questions and thereafter never learn new things. This condition affects thousands worldwide and limits adult intellectual growth. Perhaps the most powerful, yet the least recognized form of brainwashing is in the media. The media affects our thought patterns, expectations, priorities and relationships. The advertising industry influences parents by making them feel that they can buy their children’s love. They accomplish this through linking love and guilt with the purchase of products. Instead of being a good parent, they minimize they’re guilt by buying their kid the newest product on the market. Parents spend approximately 16 hours a week with their children; while they’re children spend about 40 hours a week on any sort of media. This shocking statistic shows just exactly what is most influential in a child’s life. The media especially preys on kids and teens under the age of 24, because this is when they’re brains are most impressionable. You’ve probably noticed many teenagers imitating the dress and even the speech patterns of the rich and famous. Take the Kardashian’s for example, how many girls do you see trying to talk like Kim or look like Kyle? Isn’t it scary how easily influenced we are by what’s going on around us? Brainwashing happens every minute of every day. Whether it’s from the constant media were always hooked into, our upbringing or just the society we are living in today. Now that we are aware of what’s going on around us, we can make sure we agree with what is being fed to us and not just â€Å"do it† because were told it will make us feel a certain way, because it’s the right thing to do, or just do it because everyone else is.

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Rodolfo Furniture Store Budget Analysis

Rodolfo Furniture Store Budget Analysis Edric Hernandez-Cruz Gisela Franqui-Atiles Valerie Santiago-Rodriguez Yachira Rodriguez-Cuevas University of Phoenix PR Campus ACC / 561PR Rafael Marrero Diaz November 9th, 2012 Rodolfo Furniture Store Budget analysis is important for any corporation. From small businesses to large enterprises; all organizations evaluate the numbers in order to get a picture of where the company stands economically. This will serve as a basis in order to make decisions as to the direction the entity would like to go.Erroneous decisions can lead to bad decisions that may end up in losses for the company. Rodolfo Furniture is on the verge of making a shift from a furniture maker to distributer. Yet only if the ethical accounting practices have been place into the production of the analysis; can Rodolfo Furniture decide on its future. Budgeting: Risks Associated with Sales Forecast The preparation of the usually begins with a sales forecast. The sales forecast and the anticipated inventory levels determine the production to be budgeted.Furthermore, the company’s sales forecast along with its experience, and collection policies determine the cash inflows for the company. In the scenario, Rodolfo uses his company’s flexible budget, as a guide, to determine the costs that should have been for an attained level of activity. For, instance if his company intended to manufacture or produce 50,000 units, the budget must have been prepared for 49,000 units, 51,000 units, 52,000, and so on. Major risks in sales forecasting Production risks In a manufacturing environment, like the illustration Rodolfo’s scenario, sales forecast determine production schedules.The companies use such forecasts to determine the exact amounts of raw materials and production issues; they need to have an idea of what they are to produce. Two problems can occur, sales under forecast or sales over forecast. Under forecast sales refers to the fact when the m anufacturer may not produce enough product to meet customers’ demands. This will result in an increase in production times which in turn may increase costs; this will also frustrate customers and may even lead the company to losses.In the other hand, over forecast sales refers to the amounts of raw material to be purchased and excessive amounts of finished products to be sold. This excessiveness of raw materials may tie up the capital available to use and the excess finished product will make the company incur in warehouse storage costs; both excesses if repeated constantly may put the company at risk of bankruptcy. Resource risks When sales are over forecast, underutilized workers may have to be reduced. This action will result in a bad image for the company and will break the trust/bond that was built between the company and the workers as they will feel betrayed.If the sales are under forecast, it will happen the exactly opposite, the company will lack of workers to meet d emands. This can result in bad image, losses, service levels will be affected as workers would have to work overtime to cover for the company which can lead to sicknesses and excessive absenteeism. Financial risks This type of errors affects the company’s financial health. The excess of material will lead to excessive costs of unnecessary storage since the excess should have never occurred. Also, over forecast can result in the purchase of unnecessary machinery.Furthermore, if the company forecasts erroneously in a consistent manner, this can lead the company into a raise in the interest by lenders. Sales forecast are prepared using data available, the more reliable and certain the data is the more accurate the budget is expected to be. Ethical considerations in the preparation of budget Before the development of a budget it is wise to consider the ethical involvements that can be present during it process. Incentives to lie and cheat are Rodolfo tempting actions for managers .Horngren (2008) stated, â€Å"It is common for managers of larger units with more resources to have higher pay, higher status, and greater prospects for promotion† (p. 301). This is common ethical flaw from the workers. The organizations have to prepare ways to identify, minimize and discourage this kind of behaviors. Subsequent use of the budget After completing the budget process, the information populated contains useful components that benefit the manager’s strategies behavior. According to Horngren (2008) there are four major benefits of effective budgeting.The mention benefits are: evaluation of activities, formalization of planning, performance evaluation, communication and coordination. By following the Rodolfo Furniture Scenario the four major benefits helps the mention company presented at the outgoing sentences. For the first benefit the main idea is the reevaluation of the actual activities and the evaluation of the opportunities to embrace new ones. The s cenario display at the week 2 assignment, the foreign competitors surpass the actual company production because of the high-tech solutions use by them.The first benefits assist with the decision of changes in this matter. With the formalization of planning is an essential phase that every company has to experience. This benefit encourages managers to prepare contingency plans for the performing of immediate actions, pre-planned, at the moment of crisis. For the performance evaluation the most important fact is that the results of the recent analyze performance helps to take a more precise action because of the recent events than comparing with the last year performance.For the Rodolfo Furniture Scenario applies, because of the latest changes in the business, related to their company’s specialty, that is affecting gravely to his sales and requires an instance action. Lastly with communication and coordination this process allows the managers to create a macro communication bec ause involves the input of employees from top to bottom and vice versa. Consider how the organization’s code of ethics requires an ethics analysis for any performance tool. Companies have developed a code of ethics or conduct as a tool to prevent the misuse of power, fraud, conflict f interest, money, and other. Mostly all ethical dilemmas start with dysfunctional incentive, poor supervision, and wrong personal habits. To ensure the reliability of the information and prevent situation of misleading or faulty information from accountants the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was created. This 2002 Act requires regulations in the financial practice and a code of ethics â€Å"for seniors financial officers, applicable to its principal financial officer and comptroller or principal accounting officer, or persons performing similar functions† (Horngren, 2008, Chapter  1).Now managers has to approved and been concern of the budget. Also requires external auditors to examine the company. These regulations in the accounting system search for the reliability of the information provided. But it needs high ethical standards from the personnel. The Institute of Management Accountants develop a code of conduct require to CPAs and CMAs that integrated integrity, confidentiality, credibility and competence. Ethics should be the priority in a company. To encourage others and prevent unethical behavior, unnecessary pressures should be recognize and detained.Sometimes dysfunctional incentive arises when managers or accountings are assessed on the performance concerning to budget amounts. The ethical standards of an organization are necessary to guide, measure, and analyze the performance of the personnel. Most important a code of ethic is essential to maintain the integrity and confidence of the company. References Horngren, C. T. (2008). Introduction to Management Accounting (14th ed. ). Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database..

Friday, January 3, 2020

Advertisements Sell Products, But Is That All They Do

Kelly M. Baumgartner Professor Dan Darling ENGC 1101 7 April 2015 Advertisements Sell Products, But Is That All They Do? Does the vast amount of media that we filter through our eyes daily effect how we view ourselves? If so, do they accurately portray who we are as humans? As a society, can the amount of advertisements we view daily be a healthy consumption, or seriously harmful? Or are we passively allowing the media to dictate how we think and feel about literally everything that surrounds us, but also more importantly, ourselves? In Lee Monk’s poem â€Å"Under Water,† he writes â€Å"The world would be a better place if girls weren’t pushed from the womb and fed, tabloids, diets, (and) shame.† Boys and girls today are growing up in a generation of photoshopped and airbrushed images of women that are filtered in through their brains as normal from billboards, television, tabloids, and the internet. These sources are encouraging the altered images as glamorous and ideal, leaving advertisements to teach girls and women that the ideal of their gender is to obtain an u nrealistic body image, while at the same time, subtly, or not so subtly devaluing and dehumanizing the female body. With the constant media pressure that surrounds girls and women, females are left with a very narrow definition of what beauty appears to be. This also causes most men to define women by their bodies, and to view females as sexual objects rather than humans.Show MoreRelatedAdvertising: Make the Consumer Believe They Are Superior When They Buy That Product1028 Words   |  5 Pagesinto buying their products by making the advertisement appealing to the consumer. By relating alluring experiences that in most cases have nothing to do with the product at all. 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