How the Media Gives the Pit Bull a Bad Name

Dog breeders are often confronted with the truth that the media have no idea about dog breeds. Neither do they have an idea of what makes a â€Å"dangerous dog†. Due to their misreporting of facts regarding various breeds, they have instilled an unwarranted fear in society when it comes to certain dogs, most specially, the pit bull. No dog is untrainable nor are they born vicious. Although most dogs are sociable, loving and fun, dogs like the Pit Bull are genetically predisposed to animal aggression.There are actually several breeds of the Pit Bull that include the Terrier line like the American Staffordshire Terrier, American Pit Bull, the Staffordshire Bull Terrier, the Bull Terrier and the American Bulldog. Once the poster dog representing America in the World Wars, the breed has gone from a beloved breeds used on television shows from Our Gang to Little House on the Prarie, to headlines of your local newscasts.The media has represented the breed as a vicious attack dog eve n as Pit Bulls continue to work in the armed services, search and rescue efforts, therapy, and dog competitions. If a Pit Bull were truly a vicious animal, it is really doubtful that it would be the breed of choice for any of these human interaction services.   The Pit Bull is normally of a tenacious, courageous nature and displays a love for their humans. It takes a huge commitment on the master's part to train such a breed. But the training is eventually worth it. The dog just cannot mingle with other dogs due to the aggression the dog poses toward its fellow dogs.The media needs to be educated to some facts about the Pit Bull. Such as, even though the Put Bull ranks number one in breeds in the USA, it does not rank number 1 in biting. The Golden Retriever has been proven to be the more aggressive dog. A Pit Bull posing a danger to children is also a myth that the media propagates. No dog should ever be left unsupervised in the company of children.Pit Bulls have also become the staple of urban mythology because people tend to fear the way they look even though the dog is of a small size. It has not helped that media reports have fuelled the hype that has seen the breed become one of the most persecuted breeds today. Dog attacks are most often the result of bad breeding and training.If a dog farm raises the Pit Bull, one can assume that the dog has led a rough life full of mistreatment and neglect. That is not the case for all the dogs of this breed. Sadly, people would rather believe the worst of the dog rather than give it a chance to prove that is loving, kind, and playful. Pit Bull bites are over hyped and not representative of the real Pit Bull situation. According to the website Save the Pits! :The 2004 statistics from the American Temperament Test Association show that 83.4% of American Pit Bull Terriers passed the temperament test. This is higher than the Beagle (78.2%) and the Border Collie (79.6%). The temperament test consists of putting the dog through a series of confrontational situations – if the dog reacts aggressively or fearfully, it fails.Those who report the news have to understand that there is a difference between Animal Aggression and Human Aggression. The truth of the matter is that dogs themselves can differentiate the two aggression types. Put Bulls are unlawfully bred and trained by unscrupulous breeders to participate in dog fights so animal aggression exists in the breed. Pit Bulls love human interaction and are not even capable of differentiating between a pet loving human and a potential attacker. In the event it does bite a human, it can be rehabilitated by an animal behaviorist.The media continues to tarnish the Pit Bulls reputation with unwarranted reports. The public must be educated about Pit Bull misconceptions because the media has never been known to be receptive of anybody telling them they are wrong.The Pit Bull is easily confused with about 10 other breeds. There have been actual bite r eports done that report a Pit Bull as the attacker but later investigations prove it was not a Pit Bull. The media does not bother to report that.Sensationalist reporting by the media has turned the Pit Bull into an under dog. Dog bites are blown out of proportion with headlines that strike fear in the reader's hearts.   The reason for this is clearly explained by the Save the Pits! Article:Thanks to the media and general sensationalism, the Pit Bull is a newsworthy dog. In this country, bad news makes the national papers and sells more than good news, which just tends to make the local papers. The media has transformed the Pit Bull from what it used to be – America's favorite dog – into the devil dog that it is today. No one wants to see a story with the title ‘Man bitten by Labrador' or ‘Man bitten by Jack Russell'. Stories involving Pit Bulls are much more newsworthy, and unfortunately their popularity does not seem to be waning.Until dog breeders, tra iners, and owners can find an effective way to stop the maligning of the Pit Bull by the media, the poor dog will be unjustly accused of and punished crimes it is not capable of committing.Work CitedPit Bull Training Secrets. 2006. PitBullTrainingSecrets.US. February 23, 2007Animals and Pets. Save the Pits!.February 23, 2007 http://www.care2.com/c2c/group/Pit_lovePet Orphans of Southern California. Dangerous Breeds. February 23, 2007 http://www.petorphans.org/infamous.sh

Equal protection and due process clauses Essay

In natural rights philosophy, a limited government is a system restricted to protecting natural rights and that does not interfere with other aspects of life. Learning from the revolution in Great Britain, colonists created this country?s limited government in an attempt to protect their country from abuse of power. Both equal protection of the law and due process of law help limited government in preventing the abuse of power. Due process of law is one of our country?s oldest constitutional principles. Taking a cue from the Magna Carta, it requires that the actions of government be conducted according to the rule of the law. It is the most important protection against arbitrary rule. Government officials were now just as accountable for their actions as anyone else. A police officer, or even the president, were now held to the same standards as the average citizen. By adding due process of law to the constitution in 1791, founders basically shot down the threat of corruption by stating that no government can be above the law. Much like due process of law, Equal protection of the law is another way of safeguarding and regulating the use of power. A requirement of the 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, equal protection declares that state laws may not arbitrarily discriminate against persons. Protection of the law means that no group or individual can receive special privileges or be deprived of certain rights under the law. It reiterates the belief that our rights are God-given, and government has no right to deprive us of our unalienable rights. Along with due process of law, equal protection is one of the key principles of American Constitutionalism. In reference to the 14th amendment, Senator Jacob M. Howard, one of the 14th Amendment?s authors, once stated, ?It establishes equality before the law, and it gives, to the humblest, the poorest, the most despised?the same rights and the same protection before the law as it gives to the most powerful, the most wealthy, or the most haughty?. Without this principle of equal justice to all men and equal protection under the shield of the law, there can be no republican government and none that is really worth maintaining. Together, due process and equal protection of law help check  and balance the use of power in limited government. They protect our natural rights while at the same time avoiding interference in our lives.

A Study of Trends in Indian Partition Literature Essay

The Partition of India was the geographical division of colonial India into two bordering nation states of India and Pakistan based on religious demographics.1 It was proposed as an unsavoury but necessary accompaniment to the Independence of India from the British Empire. However, it was not only a diplomatic and administrative exercise but rather had a long-lasting psychological impact on the human population of these areas. Though Bapu2 was firmly against this idea, it was reluctantly accepted by Nehru and Jinnah as the only solution to the growing communal divide between the Muslim and Hindu communities. 3 However, what the political class had never predicted was the unprecedented amount of bloodshed, violence and widespread civil unrest that followed in its wake. Even years after this event, the perpetrators and the victims are still baffled as to the cause of this â€Å"madness†4 that gripped civilized society. In the aftermath, historians pretended to ignore it terming it unfortunate but somewhat inevitable while literature tried to come to terms with its bestiality and future implications. The authorial response of the first generation was severely limited however due to a level of emotional attachment and involvement in the subject matter. They lacked perspective and varied in two ways: either they were very brief and lacked empathy or tended to be voyeuristic in nature. The official responses attempted to historicise Partition through statistics, facts and figures while literature, to the contrary attempted to give voice to subaltern perspectives personalising victim narratives. Despite such a movement, it was not until the 70’s that it was realised that hardly any attention was paid to the experiences of women during Partition. There was a deep reluctance to address the gender atrocities committed during Partition and it manifested itself through the invisibilisation of women voices. Although it had been clear from the start that the worst sufferers of Partition violence had been women5, a stoic silence upon the tragic reality had been maintained. Many of these women had led forgotten lives and their trauma suppressed in an attempt to forget the onslaught upon their bodies and minds. Therefore, renewed efforts began to document and portray the forgotten stories of such women. But it was a complex problem in many ways. Partition had had a multifaceted impact on the women of India and Pakistan that not only defined their coming lives but also impacted the future generations as psycho-somatic memories and construction of familial structures post-Partition.6 Literature took the initiative of this task: there were two major strains of women oriented Partition narratives that emerged in the period thus. One school of thought dealt with Partition as a backdrop to the â€Å"larger narrative†. In such stories, the lives of the main characters were highlighted and their lives were allegorised to represent the trauma of the nation itself. The stories of their existence were represented dually: as human beings involved in personal dramas and as social creatures part of a larger mainframe. Their places within the higher superstructure and as creatures dominated by the larger contexts were analysed by writers. A startling example of this was â€Å"The Clear Light Of Day† by Anita Desai which never referred to Partition in specific incidents but rather subtle, broken reflections into the people whose day-to-day lives were affected by the growing communal tension and changing socio-political equations. It refers to the ties of family, friendship, kinship and love that were abruptly ruptured by the literal division of the nation. There were novels such as â€Å"Ice-Candy Man† by Bapsi Sidhwa that looks at Partition from the ‘outside’. The narrator Lenny is imbued with unique qualities that were highly unconventional for the times. She was a child, hence she had a limited worldview, a Parsee, hence not religiously biased and neither a participant, physically disabled, therefore able to sympathise with the suffering of others and, a girl therefore her narration is unapologetically gender-conscious. What she learns, is all by association. The story is a sharp attack on official discourses that denied the suffering of millions of people. Lenny’s story is not only her own but a mirroring of girl-children everywhere that were faced with questions with identity, sexuality, community and nation as a whole and how they shaped individual lives. A child is brutally honest and spares nobody and nothing. She has no inbuilt prejudices so she can speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. As a result of such experimental tales, women felt ready to finally speak up. But, their attempts were met with more resistance than expected. They were themselves reluctant to speak about they went through; it was too painful but combined with societal pressures, their mouths had been almost sealed shut from fear. For daring to break this unspoken taboo, some of them faced severe consequences and were even disowned by their own families for besmirching the family name. But such actions often took a huge toll on their mental and physical health and though they had survived, they hadn’t healed. As a result of mass migration, women were abruptly uprooted from their homes to move to a strange and unfamiliar place. They had to build their lives and homes anew, sometimes with no support system. Many of these women were so bereaved at losing their home and hearth, that they could never recover from this sense of loss. Women in traditional society had since ancient days been tasked with looking after the home. Since they were not allowed to venture outside their domain7, the home had been almost personified for them. It was a living breathing space. The only place which they could rightfully stake claim to and which was a source of comfort and solace for them. They were so tangibly attached to their land that family was synonymous with home and her identity came to be defined by her place in the home. Hence when forced to migrate, their sense of unsettlement and upheaval was immense. They could never return to their past lives and change was not so easy for these women who had never been given the opportunity to trespass their comfort zones. Some stories that movingly illustrated the dilemmas of such women are â€Å"Jadein† by Ismat Chughtai, â€Å"Sikka Badal Gaya† by Krishna Sobti Sahni and â€Å"The Thirst Of Rivers† by Joginder Paul . These women had to undergo the process of relocating their selves. Many women like Bebe from â€Å"The Thirst†¦Ã¢â‚¬  refused to leave their homes assured of its protection from evils outside. However, their families were broken up with some members choosing to stay back and some leaving for a new land. Due to differences in opinion, family members become estranged and refused to talk to each other or had problems meeting each other due to large geographical distances. Often, migrants did not have enough money to travel back and forth and permits were hard to come by. Due to mutual hostilities, communication across borders was sketchy at best. Hence, many a times, a natural void between families occurred. All the while, the matriarch of the family remained a silent witness to events. The family ties that she had spent all her life building up and nurturing were breaking up right before her eyes and she was helpless, unable to act or intervene. Who would listen to her? Partition had served to further communal tension and hardening religious identities than perhaps any event in the history of India or Pakistan. People who had lived together for several millennia with tranquillity were suddenly made conscious of their differences from each other. They who had been friends earlier were suddenly staunch enemies and women bore the brunt of these realizations. In â€Å"Peshawar Express†8, one such incident is narrated when at Wazirabad station, where Muslim, Hindu and Sikh communities had celebrated Baisakhi together for ages becomes a site of base humiliation and gruesome celebration; the women of the Hindu and Sikhs communities were paraded around naked as if they were nothing but objects of gratification for the general public. These women had become mere shells, their souls long dead. In Kamleshwar’s â€Å"Kitne Pakistan†, the author ruminates upon the fruitlessness of Partition and the breaking of bonds of families, love and friendships due to its occurrence. It is the story of a Muslim girl, Bano who falls in love with a Hindu boy, Mangal but is not able to marry him because of religious dogmas. She is told that she will cause communal riots. There is a hidden implication in this viewpoint that seems to say that the cause of every mishappening must be a woman somehow. Rules for men and women in traditional dogmatic societies are different It is ironic that men are not chastised for forcibly marrying a man of the other religion but they will not allow their daughters to choose her spouse on her own and he may never belong to another religion. There is rampant hypocrisy and hollowness in societal mores regarding women. Bano is married off to Muneer who unable to provide for his family with his own hard work resorts to selling his own wife’s body to earn money. The shamefulness of this situation is beyond imagination. These are not falsifications as advocated by fundamental religious leaders but a retelling of many women’s lives. Another kind of psychological trauma that many women underwent was the loss of a child. Many women were forced to leave their children by their husband and children during flight. Children became a burden during this time. They had to be cared for especially with crucial funds required by the family going for their supplies. Also, escapees with children were more vulnerable to attacks by rioters since they not only had to look after themselves but look after their child as well. There are real life cases documented by Urvashi Bhutalia in her book, â€Å"The Other Side Of Silence† wherein women of Muslim as well as Hindu communities were forced to desert their infants that could raise an alarm in the rioters by making noise. Sikh men told tales of killing their children, asking the author, if they should be saving themselves or their daughters? Clearly, man’s inherent selfishness had come to the fore where no one mattered more than the self. Many children were abducted during the widespread chaos to be sold off as domestic help or prostituted in the streets. Women who lost their children during this time were incessantly plagued by guilt and grief. One such woman was Kulsum from â€Å"Pali†9 who lost her child and along with him, her mental balance as well. She was blanketed completely by her grief and only the return of her child restored her sanity. But meanwhile, Zenab who had taken care of her son, Dilip when she found him lost had developed a motherly bond with him and cannot bear parting with him. She knows that she has no biological claim over him but what the mind knows, the heart does not. Eventually, she has to reconcile herself with the reality of her situation. But her life will forever be shadowed by this sadness. Women who were forced by circumstances to give up their child were forever haunted by their own actions and decisions. They were always in search of redemption and peace and could not reconcile themselves to the loss of their offspring. One example of this can be seen in â€Å"The Abandoned Child†10. Infant as well as toddler girls were left by the roadside or killed by their families to avoid making them a target. The life story of one such girl is narrated in â€Å"Where Did She Belong† by Suraiya Quasim wherein the protagonist Munni is not sure of her religious or national identity. She is pushed into prostitution by her so-called ‘saviour’11 , who only wants to use her for economic gain. She is deceived by two of her customers who pretend to love her, but leave her bereft when Partition happens. Nobody asks for her or enquires as to her whereabouts. She is deceived by everyone in her life, ultimately. There were also cases of women who were injured and deceived by members of their own community. People who had been their well-wishers and whom they trusted implicitly, took advantage of their vulnerability and preyed on their bodies. Ayesha’s12 story is the ultimate tragedy of such a ‘lady’13. In guise of protecting her and reuniting Ayesha with her daughter, Nurul takes her with him to Pakistan but betrays her trust by prostituting her instead. She is cursed to a life of assault, on her body and her mind. Her saviour turns out to her destructor. She dies a life of desolation, her own brethren refusing to come to her aid and never seeing her child again. Afroz too in â€Å"I Am Game†14 falls weak due to her instincts of providing and caring for daughter. Seeing no option left for herself and her child, she agrees to prostitution. This depicts to us the sad state of affairs during Partition, when uncertainty and insecurity reigned supreme. Man, woman or children, all had to protect themselves on their own and women for the sake of their families were forced into professions of exploitation to earn their keep. Besides these atrocities, women were also subjected to particularly vulgar sexual attacks. Writers like Ashis Nandy, Veena Das, and Mushirul Hasan describe the bizarre and horrific nature of sexual violence afflicted on women. It was pornographic in its varied forms. Their bodies were mutilated, disfigured, slogans15 branded on them like they were animals, their wombs sliced open and their foetuses savagely butchered. Women were reduced to spoils of war who were never allowed to unburden themselves or be free. They were reduced to a part of the multitude, just one of many. Many victims had been traumatised to an extent that they lost themselves to insanity. They could not cope with their reality. Many underwent derealisation16 wherein after the superficial wounds had mended, they started to deny that anything had ever happened to them. It became something of a nightmare, horrific but fantastical. Literature becomes a cathartic medium for many such women, a chance to narrate their tale. Such memoirs also provided a base for Partition scholars to analyse the feminine subject in social and historical contexts of that time period. Partition has often been termed as the dark underbelly17 of Independence but what it really exposed was the base attitudes of patriarchal Indian society, be it any religion. It revealed how women were equated with the community they belonged to. Though the violence was inter-religious in nature, the modes of inflicting violence were one and the same. All ethics were forgotten in the frenzy of religious vendetta. Revenge was used as an excuse to inflict wounds. They were the contested sites between two opposing factions and were devoid of any agency. One example may be an incident in â€Å"The City Of Sorrow†18 , where a man is forced to strip his sister naked by someone of the other religion. When given a chance to retaliate, he forces his tormentor to strip his own wife naked. Hence, the revenge is complete but ironically, in both cases, the women were the innocent parties who became the medium of exacting justice. They were expected to uphold familial and communal honour and were sacrificed at the altar of â€Å"izzat†19 if they were in danger of being captured by the enemy. The concept of honour was internalised20 hence any stain on it was beyond tolerance by patriarchal society. Therefore, to insult and hurt communal sentiments, it was natural that in order to debase the enemy and shed him of his honour, women of his community were targeted systematically. There were also women who had been indoctrinated to such an extent by religious propaganda that they committed suicide, misled into thinking that they were fulfilling their duty as women. This tradition dates back to the time of ancient Rajputs whose women committed Johar21 to sustain their honour. Hence, it has been a concept propagated throughout the history of religions, Hinduism especially. Bhishma Sahni in â€Å"Tamas† and Jyotirmoyee in â€Å"The River Churning† present such incidents where women of Hindu and Sikh communities drown themselves in wells in order to â€Å"save†22 themselves. Women of the family were the most precious possessions and were to be protected at all costs. However, when they presented an obstacle in the escape of their family, they were brutally â€Å"martyred†23 without compunctions by the family itself. The men of the family did it all in order to save themselves first and to prevent dealing with the hassle of looking after these women. Such people had no conscience in them. This is demonstrated in Shauna Singh Baldwin’s novel â€Å"What The Body Remembers† where the daughter-in-law of a Sikh family, Kusum is mercilessly killed by her father-in-law and furthermore chopped into pieces to prevent her from being â€Å"contaminated†24 by Muslims. Her womb is also removed as a symbolic gesture to signify her being pure25. We can therefore read into the implied fear and repulsion of a child born of an inter-religious union. Hence, Kusum is a victim of her own family’s moral code. Such incidents are not hyperbolic in nature but rather fictionalized accounts of reality. Women who were misfortunate enough to fall into the hands of the â€Å"other†26 and raped by them could never again return to their roots. They were dirtied and treated as untouchable because they had lost their chastity to the enemy. In â€Å"The River Churning†, the protagonist, Sutara is treated as a lower caste untouchable would be27. Though never raped, even staying in a Muslim household had damned her. She had become polluted like Sita. Like Sita, she became a victim of â€Å"social morality†.28 If women had become pregnant somehow, it was even worse for them. They were miscarried forcibly and if the child was born somehow, he or she was never accepted as a part of the family. Women themselves had to come to terms with their reality. They had to learn to let go of their self-loathing which often took root in their minds. They had to live with a child who was a constant reminder of their suffering. Yet, women learned to let go and forgive but their families could not move past this situation. The woman was given the choice of either abandoning her children or her family. Therefore, she was kept trapped in overlapping identities of woman, mother and daughter. There was no time to consider the interests of the self. The children of such women were often physically, mentally and verbally abused all throughout their lives. They were the victims of religious hatred. It left deep scars on their psyche that could never be repaired. They were often castigated for having lived and their mothers looked at with contempt for not having died in order to preserve themselves. Women often started hating their own selves when faced with a constant stream of disgust and repulsion. It is said that â€Å"Rape is the only crime where the victim is held guilty† and these women were the prime examples of this adage. They were made to feel guilty, demeaned and dehumanized to such an extent that they often felt that dying would perhaps have been a better option. Women were at the highest risk of being abducted during migration across borders. These women stranded on the wrong side were forcibly converted and married off to their abductors. They were raped repeatedly or sold off as entertainment. Women were objectified as commodities and their bodies became alien to their own selves. They were not their own persons but mere belongings. Anis Kidwai in her novel, â€Å"Azaadi Ki Chaon Mein† writes starkly about these girls who were nothing but stuff to be shared among the men who were, but slaves of their lust. In his short story, Open It!, Saadat Hasan Manto further elaborates upon the savagery doled out to these women. The main protagonist, Sakina had been ravaged to such an extent that she had lost her personality and her sanity. She was alive only physically, but emotionally and mentally dead. She knew nothing but what she had been forced to go through again and again. Her senses had been so wrecked that she only expects men to want one thing from her i.e. her body. This story presents a horrifying picture to the reader who is compelled to question if Sakina will ever recover from her trauma. Other women were forcibly married off to their abductors and underwent alienation of the self. They were conflicted as to their identities. On one hand, they felt abhorrence for their abductors. On the other hand, such marriages often bore children which caused these women to war with their motherly instincts. Ultimately losing all hope of rescue or restoration, these women had resigned to their life but, again, they were expected to return at the behest of the respective governments of the two countries. Women had become mere tools of diplomatic manoeuvring between the hostile governments who were under immense political pressure to retrieve the population of women that had been left behind or abducted during Partition. One such woman’s tale is narrated in â€Å"Exile†29 where the woman narrator is forcibly married to her abductor, Gurpal, a man who regards her as nothing more than a maid that he brought to serve his mother (Badi Ma). What is even more poignant is the fact that Badi Ma, a woman herself is not able to empathise with her Bahu30 or show kindness towards her. She is merely there to serve their needs, like a tool. Ironically, Gurpal who is clearly devoted towards his mother evidently has no guilt about ill-treating a woman of another community. We can see here the oppressive influence of patriarchal society that does not allow for women to exercise an opinion of their own. The narrator has never been able to accept Gurpal as her husband. In nine years she has never able to understand why her brother, whom she dearly loves has not come to rescue her. She feels lonely and abandoned by her loved ones. She longs for her home and wants her life to end at last so she can be at peace. When the soldiers arrive to rescue her, she knows that she cannot return since she will not be accepted back as a ‘mother’. And she cannot leave her children. Hence she hides from the soldiers. Her apprehension of the other option can be justified by reading â€Å"Lajwanti†31 whose tragedy is shrouded by complete silence. She was treated abominably by her husband, Sunderlal who asserts his domination over her body and mind by beating her like an animal. She bore it all as part of her wifely duties clearly adhering to traditional norms of domesticity. But when she is abducted during Partition chaos, her husband, perhaps, feeling remorse for how he had treated her, became a campaigner for the rights of abductee women. He advocates their rehabilitation and reacceptance into society but when his wife, Lajo is restored to him, he distances himself from her and sets her on the pedestal of a goddess. She feels alienated, lonely and longs for her old life where she could at least interact with her husband. In the present, her husband wants her to forget her sufferings and not to speak of them. But can the past really be forgotten as easily as he wanted it to be? Many women who had built new lives for themselves post-Partition often came face to face with their pasts when their lost loved ones returned back to them. In this situation, what was the woman to do? Should she abandon her present life to return to her past happiness? This is obviously a problem to which there is no clear-cut solution. But it was often expected of women to move on from their pasts and not look back but even they are living, breathing human beings with feelings and emotions. These may be unwanted but cannot be so easily banished from the mind. Women end up feeling conflicted all throughout their lives. One text that accurately depicts one such situation is â€Å"A Visitor From Pakistan†32 where the protagonist Saraswati is trapped between her first husband, Baldev whom she had thought dead; and her husband at present, Sunderdas who had saved her and her parents during the riots. Her own mother chastises her for even talking to Baldev so then who will understand her predicament? She is blamed for something that she is not even responsible for. Partition left a long-lasting impact on the women who witnessed and suffered through it. They passed on the lessons they learned to their daughters hoping for a better future for them. It is an important part of women’s history and it should be analysed carefully to change the conservative thought processes of Indian society to avoid women from becoming subjects of patriarchal oppression and break the repetitive patterns of history. END NOTES : 1. India and Pakistan were divided along the Radcliffe Line with Muslim majority areas seceded to Pakistan and Hindu-Sikh majority areas to India. 2. Mahatma Gandhi was deemed the â€Å"Father Of The Nation† and hence affectionately called Bapu by the general populace. 3. J.L. Nehru and M.A. Jinnah were leaders of the Congress party and Muslim League respectively. They were not agreeable to sharing power in the united govt. of sovereign India and hence the only option was to divide the country with both parties ruling over their majority vote areas. 4. The metaphor of madness was used by many Partition writers like Saadat Hasan Manto in â€Å"Toba Tek Singh† to describe the religious hatred that changed normal people into rioters, rapists and murderers. 5. J.L. Nehru stated this in The International Women’s Conference in 1947 alluding to the extreme violence perpetrated upon women in North India. 6. Ideas postulated by Carl Jung and supported by Freudian theories. 7. Women were kept under purdah and not allowed to meet with people outside the family. Women lived in separate quarters of the house called the ‘antahpur’ which was solely in their control. 8. written by Krishan Chander 9. written by Bhishma Sahni 10. written by Gurmukh Singh Musafir 11. Ironic since Munni’s saviour is herself a victim of circumstances and Munni is just a way to earn more money. 12. â€Å"A Grave Turned Inside Out† by Ibrahim Jalees 13. Ayesha was the lady of a noble family but debased to the level of a common prostitute. Shows that societal hierarchies were suspended during Partition. 14. written by Sultan Jamil Nasim 15. The slogans Hindustan Zindabad and Pakistan Zindabad were carved onto their bodies as validating gestures of the victimiser’s own national identity. 16. Derealisation is a psychological condition where the subject deludes himself/herself into thinking that their present reality is illusory and unreal and that reality is different. 17. Independence was achieved after a long struggle, so there was jubilation among the people but at the same time, this happiness was marred by the grief of Partition and its aftermath. 18. written by Intizar Hussain 19. Izzat is one of the basic concepts of Hindu womanhood where a woman’s honour is defined by her chastity and any outrage of her modesty stains her honour as well as her family’s. The family’s honour is an extension of the woman’s honour. 20. Internalisation is the process of integration of certain values as part of the self-identification. It becomes a part of one’s self-image. 21. Johar is the ancient Rajput tradition of women jumping into huge fire-pits to save their honour from the enemy’s army if defeat seemed imminent. 22. Women jumped into wells to protect themselves from rape and mutilation. Dying chaste was preferred to living a life of humiliation. Hence, they were saved in the eyes of society. 23. Women who committed suicide were venerated because they were believed to have died for a noble cause. Hence, their deaths received social sanction and appreciation. 24. If women were raped, their bodies no longer remained solely of their religion. And, hence, inter-religious taboos were applied to such women. Hence chopping of the bodies signified that no one of the other side had had sex with her or would be able to. 25. The womb was removed to signify that it did not carry a Muslim bastard child and her ability to do so is removed from her. 26. During conflict, the opposing faction is alienated and presented as someone strange and unfamiliar to the minds of the mob. This requires dehumanization of the people from the other side so that they do not evoke emotions of sympathy. 27. The taboos associated with untouchability are not allowing them to eat and drink from the same vessels and prevent from touching them. 28. Sita was banished from Ayodhya because even though she was pure, the people of Ram’s kingdom did not believe her. Doubts were cast on her character since she had lived in Ravana’s Lanka for a long time. 29. Written by Jamila Hashmi 30. When a bahu arrives in her marital household, she is bedecked with jewels, dressed in finery and serenaded by shehnai. She is full of happiness and hope. Here, the narrator is exactly opposed to this situation and yet, ironically she has become the bahu of a family. 31. written by Rajinder Singh Bedi 32. written by Ramlal BIBLIOGRAPHY: 1. â€Å"Partition In Fiction: Gendered Perspectives†, Isabella Bruschi, New Delhi, Atlantic Publishers & Distributors (P) Ltd.,2010 2. In The Heat Of Fratricide: The Literature Of India’s Partition Burning Freshly (A Review Article)†,Jason Francisco 3. â€Å"Stories About The Partition Of India†, Vol. 1.,Ed. By Alok Bhalla, Delhi,Harper Collins, 1994 4. Re-Membering Woman: Partition,Gender And Reorientations, â€Å"Narrating Partition:Texts, Interpretations And Ideas†, Sukrita Paul Kumar, Indialog Publications,2004

Law of trusts Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Law of trusts - Case Study Example The children being the minors are not entitled to be solidly or liquidly be given any cash it should only be kept for them or invested for their behalf. Therefore Teresa is not entitled to pay them any income except invest or save it for their benefit after meeting their necessary requirements. Teresa is entitled to invest the money for the beneficiaries for as much as she can but not give them hard cash because of their age. In the law of Equity and Trust, any trustee is entitled to make decision on investment of the beneficiaries. Therefore Teresa should not give them cash as it will spoil them. Further dislike of the children by Teresa does not entitle her not to give or provide for them what should be provided. Her personal hatred towards the children should not be driven towards the fund. However if Teresa finds that her dislike to the children is affecting the trust, then she can apply to the court for requiting her post as a trustee and the court shall appoint a trustee to run the fund. Therefore, the two boys claim is justified as long as they do not solicit for the income realized from these investments to be paid to them directly. Teresa as a trustee should not also invest the money for the boys where she has interest. b) Austin's dropping out of school where he was studying Tourism studies at the University of Scunthorpe does not entitle him to be given the money to start his own business by being 200,000 as down payment of 10% on the purchase of the hotel. This is against the law of equity since all the investments done must be for the benefit of the two children. Therefore, Teresa should not give out the money to Austin simply because, he (Austin) is a minor and in any case the money is held in trust for their benefits and not his own benefit. Any investment done or any purchase of the two children him (Austin) and Morris. In reality the age of maturity i.e. 25 years. Then he can be given the said money to start his business as he requires but before that, Teresa should not be swayed or pressed to give any money to Austin as this is against the rule of equality, where all the investment on property or otherwise must be for the benefit of both children and not Austin himself. Therefore Austin mu st not be given the said money as he is a minor and the Trust is not for his own benefit, it is held on the behalf of the two children and strictly for the provision of necessaries like food, accommodation, education and thereafter any amount extra can be invested in other investments for the benefit of them (Austin and mum's). Austin mighty argues that since he has dropped out of University, his part of fees can form part of 200,000 for the purchase of the Hotel, this should not be entertained since no one had forced him out of school. He dropped out of University in his own will. He is free to go back and continue with his studies and his fees will be paid. However, if Austin has entered into agreement with the management of the Hotel to purchase the hotel, Teresa as a trustee can write a letter to the hotel and explain to them why she cannot give Austin the money to pay as part of payment in the purchase of the Hotel. This is because all the money is held

Cause of Stress among College Students Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Cause of Stress among College Students - Essay Example Stating precisely, stress is a physical response that develops the feeling of being upset and imbalances among people and in the modern scenario of the learning, when students at times get frustrated with the demanding situations. Additionally, the students’ life is today considered as highly exposed to the issues of stress to make them prepare for the future uncertainties. However, the students who were already having other health complications such as depression or are rather venerable to it, extreme level of stress can significantly trigger to develop other complications. Besides, the perception of the students over the demand of the situation plays a decisive role   in the having a positive or a negative influence, depending on the fact students perceive to have positive approach towards the demanding situations. Relatively, different factors and scenarios can cause stress among students, wherein the most commonly cited causes of stress include examination pressure, dead line pressure, difficulty in organising the personal and working life, noise, improper environment, difficulty in adjusting the life among the other factors. Relatively, in various instances, the causes of stress gradually accumulated without the other notice and leads to severe threats in the students’ life. Gradually, the unnoticed response and measure to remove the causes of stress will have significant impacts - physical, emotionally and mentally (Olpin & Hesson, 2015). Kai-Wen (2010) investigated different reasons of stress among the Taiwanese students.

The Open Forms of Resistance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Open Forms of Resistance - Essay Example Through this discussion James C. Scott, want to state that everyday resistance is one of the basic forms of opposition to oppression. Scott initiated this concept in the year 1985, which reflected about the various forms of resistance. The resistance as per his opinion is not as dramatic as a rebel but everyday resistance is more hidden and invisible. He also stated that the forms of slave resistance are more important than the outright rebellion. On the other hand, a peasant rebellion is uncommon and it cannot occur when required as well as it does not have the much impact, therefore, it is considered as the less important (Scott, â€Å"Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance†). The â€Å"Discourse on Colonialism† may be the best description as the state of war, which is provided by Aime Cesaire and it is also known as the third world manifesto. On the other hand, the analysis made by Scott is that the everyday resistance to the open forms and revolutionary actions may also describe the statement of war. This analysis of Scott provides information related to the actual meaning of everyday resistance and the forms of resistance. According to Scott, the notion of national sovereignty, was however, historically superseded as per the thought of revolutionary anticolonialism besides becoming a politically absolute future past, when it failed to secure freedom for colonized people. He also argues that traditional dreams related to total revolution and political emancipation is the form of power that can be negotiated but cannot be mitigated completely (Kelley 1-52).

LEADERSHIP Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

LEADERSHIP - Essay Example stitutions and hospitals to recruit nurses, who have efficient leadership skills that would be beneficial to provide good quality health care to the patients (The Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management, 2015). Possessing a powerful and effective leadership skill is very essential for the nurses, especially who are in the top most positions. The role of a nurse is to provide care to the patients and provide medicines to the patients as being prescribed by the doctor. Sometimes, in the absence of doctor or registered practitioner, the nurses are required to take decisions regarding the medicines to be provided to the patient in case of emergency. It is very essential for a nurse to be a good decision maker that is an important element of leadership skill, which would help to take important decisions in emergency situations (Cherie & Gebrekidan, 2005). Therefore, a nurse should possess effective leadership skills as well as styles that would help in leading, controlling, organizin g and planning their activities, which would serve beneficial in delivering effective healthcare services to the patients (National Academy of Sciences, 2011; CNA, 2010). From my past experience in a well-known healthcare organization, helped me to understand how the quality of nursing is being influenced by the leadership styles and skills possessed by the nurses. I was being appointed as a trainee in the healthcare centre from where I gained practical experience regarding the leadership qualities possessed by the nursing professionals working in the healthcare centre. The leadership skills possessed by the head nurse of the organization inspired me the most. She was prominent and experienced in every aspect of decision making that are required for providing good quality healthcare in the organization. Moreover, she was highly cooperative with the team members and the junior nurses and supported them to carry out their activities in an effective manner. She always tried to make sure

Globalization of operations management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Globalization of operations management - Essay Example raw materials, skilled and low-cost labor force among others (Mahadevan 121). Economies of scale also arise after a company expands it production capacity due to lower cost of operation. The service sector on the other hand has capitalized on the skilled labor force available overseas at low cost e.g. outsourcing firms relocating to India (Mahadevan 138). This expansion or shifting centers of operation also affect operations management adversely. There is the need for the firm to operate within the laws and standards of the new markets which are not necessarily similar to those of original market. Client’s special needs and preferences should also be considered in production which can increase on costs. Global market place is also quite competitive raising the need to have sound operational management strategies. CONCLUSION Globalization has taken many organizations to greater heights in the competitive global market. This scenario has enabled them to gain competitive advantag e and increase on production which results to higher margins. A firm going global should therefore appreciate that it will have to initiate changes in its operations to suit the new market dynamics. Works cited Mahadevan, B. Operations Management: Theory and Practice. Pearson Education India, 2010.

Essay about Karma Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

About Karma - Essay Example Nowadays, some people believe in karma, some don’t but I think the principle of karma is very fair and makes sense. Imagine how great it would be if all our actions and thoughts would influence our karma and then our life. It would certainly make the world a better place. I don’t know for sure, just as nobody else, if karma exists but I’d like to think it does. Let’s have a look at how it works in real life. There was this hockey game, Chicago was playing against Colorado. During the game one of the players wanted to hit the puck but missed and accidentally hit a player. The player got injured in the nose and as he was leaving the ice to get some help, one of the fans started making fun of his injury and calling him names. The player didn’t say anything and just left the rink. Several minutes after that one of the players did a bad hit on the puck and it accidentally flew over the glass fence that separates the spectators from players and hit one of the fans on the head. The funniest thing is that it was the same guy who was making fun of the player several minutes before that. The player then approached the fan and told him something. The fan probably learnt this lesson as he was laughing at himself at the end of the game. Some people might say that it was an accident and that these two injuries have no connection between them but I think that this situation shows us that being mean to people around you might in the end have negative effect on you. After all when you start thinking about it there is a lot of real life examples that prove this point, there is even a saying from the Bible that those you come with the sword will be killed with the same sword. What goes around comes around. You can call it karma or any other word you like but there is a system of justice in the world and sooner or later everyone gets what he deserves. That is why you should be good and kind with other people if you

School counseling website review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

School counseling website review - Essay Example In specific, the researcher has carried out critical analysis of different websites related to school counseling, and this paper now includes discussion of related concepts and personal perspective regarding the same.Particularly, school counseling, a vital constituent to students’ accomplishment is a ‘comprehensive program that helps students learn through personal/social development inside the school setting.’ In this regard, analysis of Columbia Public Schools’ website (CPS, 2011) indicated that professional school counselors have a smallest of a master's stage in school counseling. In alignment to help the development of all scholars, they have introduced a broad variety of therapeutic interventions in the form of a ‘comprehensive school improvement plan’ (CPS, 2011) encompassing school guidance on topics, for instance, parent involvement, high qualified staff, and governance that will enable the schools to improve their efficacy on a five- year planning. Besides Columbia, review of website of Massachusetts Department of Education (MDESE, 2011) identified their efforts on different aspects of counseling, such as disquiet administration, assembly and one-by-one counseling, vocation checking and designing, parent and educator discussion, and advocacy for schemes change. Research on this website showed that these services have been playing a critical role in advancing students’ learning success. ... different assessment procedures such as ‘ELPA (English Language Proficiency Assessment), MEAP-Access (alternate assessment based on modified academic achievement), etc’ (MDE, 2011). Another website included during the review was of the Education Trust (2011) that seems to be advocating the significance of school counseling in an efficient and interactive manner by components of Transforming School Counseling, such as â€Å"guidance curriculum, counseling, vocation development, conferring, coordination of assets, authority and advocacy, advancement of a protected and polite weather, responsibility, administration of lawful and ethical matters, and expert development† (Education Trust, 2011). Moreover, scrutiny of the Education Trust’s website pointed that this occupation has amplified and refocused over the 100 years to rendezvous the desires of scholars, they have evolved a kind of interventions. The four prime interventions encompass ‘counseling, lar ge-group guidance, discussion, and coordination’ (Education Trust, 2011). Although counselors enlisted in this website for one-by-one counseling with scholars, it would be inefficient, if not unrealistic, for counselors to supply one-by-one counseling to large figures of students. Consequently, the same website (Education Trust, 2011) indicated that assembly methods have been evolved to rendezvous certain characterized scholar desires, for example, contending with end wedding ceremony, evolving an affirmative body likeness, or advancing communal skills. Moreover, the website has emphasized importance of large-group guidance, which boosts educators to incorporate guidance data into their living curricula, comes to an even larger number of students. In addition, consulting and collaborating with educators,

Explain the different roles played by (i) the central bank, (ii) Essay

Explain the different roles played by (i) the central bank, (ii) depository institutions, and (iii) depositors in the determina - Essay Example For example, there is a strong proof that when money increases rapidly in an economy, there develops a direct relation between money-supply and long-term price inflation. On the other hand, a decrease in the level of money supply in a country leads to a decrease in economic activity, tightened spending levels and a fall in consumer demand. The quantity theory of money states that money supply has a relationship that is directly proportional in nature to the price level (Friedman, 1956). Different institutions have different but correlated roles to play in the determination of money supply in a country and the global economy. Examples of such institutions are the central bank and depository institutions. Depositors also have a part to play in this. Roles of the central bank Every country has a central bank that monitors and determines money supply in the country’s economy. In the US, the money supply is determined by the US Federal Reserve, the central banking system of the US. Its role is to foster economic growth in the US by regulating the actions of private banks and stabilizing the money supply. The Federal Reserve, also known as Fed, uses the expansive monetary policy as a guide in expanding the US money supply (Shin, 2009). Using the expansive monetary policy, the Federal Reserve channels more reserves to the banking system so as to allow private banks more liquidity and to make sure that they have the required ability to issue loans. In the UK, determination of money supply is the function of the Bank of England while that of the counties under the EU is the European Central Bank (ECB) (Burda and Wyplosz, 1997). In order to stabilize an economy in a country, the central bank has the power to determine the level of money stock through the operation of different monetary policies. These policies include reserve requirements, open market operations and discount rates. The most dominant among the three monetary policies is the open market operations p olicy. According to Howells and Bain (2009), an open market operation is a situation in which the central bank purchases or trades government securities for cash in an effort to contract or expand the total money supply. Money supply in the country will increase if the central bank purchases government securities but it will contract if the central bank sells government securities. The responsibility of the central bank in relation to fractional reserve banking is to hold a particular fraction of all deposits. This can be in account with the central bank or in cash. In order to alter money supply, the central bank alters the percentage of total deposits that needs to be held by commercial banks. In this way, the central bank can increase the monetary base in a country by reducing the reserve requirements or reduce the monetary base by increasing the reserve requirements (Mishkin, 1998). The central banks also determine money supply in a country by controlling discount rates. This is possible because the central bank in every country supplies commercial banks with the money they require to meet consumer demand. Therefore, the central bank can meet and control consumer demand for money by controlling the national interest rates. For example, the consumer demand for money will increase greatly if the interest rates decrease while a decrease in consumer demand for money will arise if the interest rates increase. Roles of depository institutions By definition, depository

Literary Elements in the Scarlet Ibis Essay Example for Free

Literary Elements in the Scarlet Ibis Essay In â€Å"The Scarlet Ibis,† James Hurst uses the aspect of nature in the settings to reflect when the tone transposes from a sorrowful and regretful tone to a more hopeful and joyous tone. Brother reminisces of a summer that has long since passed, as he sits in the house he was raised in: â€Å"It was in the clove of seasons, summer was dead, but autumn had not yet been born, that the ibis lit in the bleeding tree. The flower garden was strained with rotting brown magnolia petals andiron weeds grew rank amid the purple phlox. The last graveyard flowers were blooming, and their smell drifted across the cotton field and through every room of our house, speaking softly the names of our dead. † With this, the author uses the natural scenery of a dying garden in the transition of seasons to set a tone of sadness. He illustrates a garden with rotting flowers, a graveyard’s last flowers blossoming and their smell being carried to where Brother is, reminding him of the dead. Hurst uses the natural elements in the setting to paint a gloomy and dismal setting, he could have expressed what he saw and smelled from his garden in many ways, yet he chose to depict this garden dying. Furthermore, this was done to indicate the tone in this memory, which is one of sadness. Moreover, just as the author uses dying settings to reflect a sorrowful and dreary tone, he also uses beautiful settings to reflect a joyous and hopeful tone. Brother describes his and Doodle’s time shared in Old Women Swamp, a place he refers to as the only beauty he knows: â€Å"I would gather wildflowers, wild violets, honeysuckle, yellow jasmine, snakeflowers, and waterlilies, and with wire grass we’d weave them into necklaces and crowns. We’d bedeck ourselves with our handiwork and loll about thus beautified, beyond the touch of the everyday world. † Furthermore, Old Women Swamp is a place found beautiful to both Doodle and Brother, a place where they go to play and relax. Almost all of the joyous and hopeful times that Doodle and Brother share happen in Old Women Swamp: the first time Doodle stood where they go to lay and tell stories, and where they imagine they will build a house and live in together. The author once again uses the setting to reflect the tone; Hurst uses the abundance of beauty found within Old Women Swamp to show the hope and joy Doddle and Brother sometimes shared. Furthermore, as Brother remembers these times he does so in a joyous and hopeful tone. To them Old women swamp signified beauty and a world of never-ending possibilities. Moreover, all the scenes that take place in Old Women swamp are of happiness and hope, its portrayed as this beautiful place because that’s the way Brother remembers it and that might be because of all the happy moments he shared there with Doodle. Brother remembers all of theses events with a hopeful and joyous tone and all take place in serene, beautiful, and beloved Old Women Swamp. In conclusion, the natural elements of the setting indicate the change in the tone from a sorrowful tone to a joyous tone.

Discussion Acculturation and Assimilation

Discussion Acculturation and Assimilation The purpose of my study was to explore to what extent Greek-Americans hold attitudes and behaviors for the conservation and intergenerational transmission of their ethnic culture through a cross-sectional analysis of survey on 229 self-identified Greek American members of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of New Jersey. Overall, the respondents included in the current study had achieved upward mobility as indicated by their high education attainment and socio-economic status and they had shown a remarkable high level of preservation of their cultural heritage. They succeeded through their affiliation to the Greek language, the Greek Orthodox Church, the church afternoon schools, their participation to various Greek organizations, their family values, the continuing contact with Greece and their participation in political activities. The results not only provided a quantitative view of the behaviors and attitudes towards culture preservation in the six domains, but also helped us to bet ter understand the acculturation and assimilation process. Our results support that Greek-Americans included in the current study did not fall into the straight line assimilation model as described by Milton Gordon (Gordon 1978). The straight line assimilation theory assumes that the immigrants shed their identifications with their home society and that assimilation into American society is prompted by host society institutions. This model suggests there is essentially but one path through which immigrants can be integrated into the mainstream society. On the contrary our results demonstrated that regardless of the generation, over 90% of the participants identified themselves as either Greek or Greek American and ~90% of the participants felt a sense of pride and a strong bond with other Greeks and Greek Americans when they attend a Greek heritage event. They are actively involved in the Greek Orthodox Church; they participate in Greek/Hellenic Organizations and support Greek National Interests through donations. All these data suggest that Greek Americans did not shed their identity in order to move up in the American society; rather, they have kept a bicultural identity. Second, the assumption that assimilation into the American society is prompted by the host society institutions does not hold either. For example, the majority of the participants (67%) responded that Greeks living in the United States should try to influence American foreign policy towards Greece and 64% of the participants responded that they had supported (through donations, fund raisers, public expressions of opinion, etc.) the Greek National Interests. This finding coincides with a previous study (Karpathakis, 1999b) revealing that Greek Americans were concerned with Greeces territorial sovereignty issues and they attempted to influence host society foreign policy regarding Greece. Clearly the Greek cultural identity had affected their assimilation in the American society, which was ignored by Gordons paradigm. In view of the criticisms of the classical assimilation theory by Gordon, Barkan (1995) developed a six stage assimilation model and argued the there has been no one pattern, no one cycle, no one outcome that uniformly encompasses all ethnic experiences. Alba and Nee (2003) re-conceptualized assimilation as an intergenerational process affected not just by social, financial and human capital of immigrant families but also by the ways individuals use these resources with and apart from the existing structure of ethnic networks and institutions. They argued that assimilation does not preclude retaining elements of ethnic culture. In contrast, Portes and Zhou (1993) proposed the theory of segmented assimilation, which asserts that the United States is a stratified and unequal society, and different segments of society are available to which immigrants may assimilate. They further argued that total assimilation will put immigrant minorities in vulnerable positions while a strategy of pac ed, selective assimilation may prove the best course for these groups (Portes and Zhou 1993). Segmented assimilation theory is based on the notion that the living experience in America is very diverse. No single context can apply to all immigrant families and assimilation has varying consequences for immigrants. Critics of segmented assimilation pointed out that the causal link between assimilation into the underclass and development of oppositional cultures among immigrant children is questionable (Xie and Greenman, 2011). Although these theories have certain limitations, they provide a useful framework for the present study. Our study used a variety of measures of assimilation including spatial concentration, loss of Greek language, socioeconomic status, and intermarriage. According to Waters and Jimenez (2005), these measures are the four primary benchmarks of assimilation and existing literature showing that todays immigrants are largely assimilating into American society along each of these dimensions. Spatial concentration, i.e., dissimilarity in spatial distribution and suburbanization is a measure of cultural assimilation and primary and secondary structural assimilation. Spatial assimilation theory asserts that foreign-born residents will choose suburban residential locations after assimilating culturally and socioeconomically (Massey, 1985). Primary structural assimilation occurs when newcomers begin to engage in intimate, small group social interaction with individuals from the dominant group, such as in clubs, social functions, family gatherings, and so on. Secondary structural assimilation occurs when ethnic group members become integrated into the large, impersonal societal groups in the educational, economic and political institutions of the larger society (Marger, 2012). The present study showed that 77% of the participants reside in a suburban area indicating a high degree of structural assimilation among Greek Americans. It is interesting to observe that the First gene ration (85%) and the Third or beyond generation (80%) had a higher suburbanization rate than the Second generation (71%). Our study also showed that 31% live in a community where many other people of Greek descent live and 56% of the participants live in a community where there are a few people of Greek descent with additional 3% of them reported that there are no people other than their family of Greek descent in their community. The rest 11% of the participants were not sure about their community whether there are any people of Greek descent. Our findings also suggest that living in an area without other people of Greek descent was positively linked to poorer Greek language skills and more negative attitudes and behaviors towards cultural retention in several domains. Thus, community composition played an important role in retention and loss of ethnic culture. Living in a community where there are many people of Greek descent provide the participants more opportunity to network wi th others, speak Greek language, participating heritage events, which in turn contributed to a higher ethnic pride and feel of belonging and they are more likely to maintain their ethnic culture. Loss of Greek language is an indicator of acculturation which is in accord with our study. Here, we observed a clear trend of loss of Greek language in the Third or beyond generation as more than half of the participants indicated that their Greek language ability is poor to non-existent. Our findings coincide with Waters and Jimenezs (2005) three-generation model of language assimilation which stated that the first generation  makes some progress in language assimilation but remains dominant in their  native tongue, the second generation is  bilingual, and the third-generation speaks only English. Religion is also a measure of acculturation because religion is viewed as a culture construct that occurs and develops within specific cultural contexts (Zinnbauer Pargament, 2005). As such, religion is likely to influence acculturation by shaping cultural norms, values, behaviors, and attitudes (Yang Ebaugh, 2001). Similarly, Gà ¼ngà ¶r et al (2012) emphasized that religious reaffirmation is related to cultural values of interdependence, heritage culture maintenance, and ethnic identification. Socioeconomic status (SES), such as education, occupation status and income, is a measure of secondary structural assimilation. As immigrants begin to venture out into the mainstream educational and employment institutions, their level of interaction with non-ethnics increases and so do the possibilities of engaging with the latter in intimate social interaction within primary social groups (Scott, 2009). Our study suggested high education achievements, high income and more professional fields of occupation among all generations of participants, which showed that Greek Americans have achieved secondary structural assimilation as they enjoy relatively equal access to jobs, political authority and other important opportunities. In other words, they have full participation in all institutional areas of American society. The majority of the participants had at least college education (77%) and a household income above $50,000 (66%). It is interesting to see that the Second generation had a higher income than both the First and the Third or beyond generation. 41% reported that they work in a professional field including attorneys, medical doctors, accountants, engineers, IT project managers, nurses, family therapists, pharmaceutical sales representatives, etc. 11% of the respondents were in an academic field. Moreover, we observed that 15% of the First generation and 11% of the Second generation had a Ph.D./M.D. degree while not a single Third or beyond generation respondent was found to hold a Ph.D./M.D. degree. Clearly, Greek America should encourage younger generations to achieve higher academic achievements and dedicate themselves to a more diverse professional field including research and teaching. Intermarriage is an indicator of amalgamation (Waters and Jimà ©nez, 2005). Much of the research has relied on intermarriage as an indicator of assimilation (e.g. Alba, 1981; Alba and Camlin, 1983; Castonguay, 1982; Cohen, 1977). Both interethnic and interfaith marriages were found to be a factor contributing to the process of assimilation. In our study, we not only estimated the intermarriage rate across generations, but we also studied the impact of intermarriage on attitudes and behaviors of preserving Hellenic core values as well as the attitudes towards interethnic and interfaith marriage. The findings are discussed later in further context. Our study also tested acculturation theories. Berry proposed four modes of acculturation: assimilation, integration, separation and marginalization. Assimilation refers to the acceptation of the majoritys culture on the expanse of ones own original minority culture. Separation refers to the opposite stance: loyalty toward ones original minority culture and the rejection of the majoritys culture. Integration refers to the adoption of both cultures with an attempt to integrate between them, while marginalization refers to distancing from ones original heritage culture, but this time without assimilating to the majoritys culture. This, results with the individual remaining with no clear cultural identification (Berry, 1997, 2001). The contribution of the acculturation theory is that it empirically demonstrated the ability to predict desirable or undesirable adjustment outcomes among distinct immigrant groups and members of minority ethnic groups. More specifically, numerous studies found integration to be the most successful adaptation strategy by balancing the host countrys culture with the traditional values of ones own culture origin while marginalization struggled the most to adapt to the dominant society (Berry, 1974, 1980, 1984, 1997, 2003; Berry et al., 2006, Berry, 2010). A number of factors were found to influence the acculturation process, including, length of time living in the host country (Zheng and Berry, 1991), socio-economic status (Aroian et al, 1998) and social support from the host society (Garcia et al, 2002). Given the strong Greek culture preservation shown in the current sample, we believe that the participants did not follow assimilation or marginalization strategies in which they would become more alienated toward their own culture. For example, assimilated individuals do not want to keep their identity from their home culture, but would rather take on all of the characteristics of the new culture. On the contrary marginalized individuals dont want anything to do with either the new culture or the old culture. The results cannot be explained by separation either where the individuals become alienated toward the host culture and totally separate them from the main society. Our results indicated that 76% of the participants identified themselves as Greek American with a socioeconomic status which is above the average in the sampled geographic area (NJ, PA, and VA) based on the 2010 U.S. Census. About half of the participants did not prefer to speak Greek when they were among people who understand Greek (Q15). Third, the majority of the participants did not agree that people of Greek descent should marry people of Greek descent (Q30), and neither did they agree that they would be unhappy if their children married someone who was not a member of the Greek Orthodox Church (Q31), which indicated that they are open to marry non-Greek partners. Our results showed that the participants of this survey had adjusted to the American culture instead of isolating themselves from the host culture. Therefore, the major mode Greek Americans took is integration, by which, the participants embrace both their culture of origin and the society of settlement thus getting the best of both worlds. The results indicate that the participants have strong positive attitudes and behaviors towards preserving the Greek heritage. For example, they thought it is important for their children and people of Greek ancestry to speak Greek, they routinely attended worship services at the Greek Ortho dox Church, they participated in Greek organizations like AHEPA and they attended Greek heritage events with a sense of pride and bond with other Greeks. All these characteristics demonstrated that the Greek-Americans had amply preserved their culture of origin and they gradually integrated themselves into the main society. In addition, the participants showed a more democratic attitude which has been influenced by their integration into the American culture. For example, the majority of the Second and Third or beyond generations disagreed that the father should have the final say in most important decisions. Overall, we identified a shift from Greek culture values to shared Greek-American values through generations. Such shift may reflect the need to utilize the best of both cultures. As Karpathakis (1999b) argued that with economic and cultural globalization, persons with bi-national identity are increasingly seen by the mainstream as assets. Therefore, it is more advantageous for Greek Americans to utilize the best of both worlds by following an integration approach to adaptation. Bicultural identification was also linked to immigrants engagement in their host societies. When immigrants perform bicultural identities they are more likely to be involved in the political life of their country of origin (Simon and Ruhs, 2008) and also have more opportunities to engage in political institutions within the host society (Huo and Molina, 2006). A new version of the straight line model has come into circulation as a construct for explaining the participation of White ethnic group members in cultural heritage activities. First proposed by Gans in 1979, the concept of symbolic ethnicity denotes a new stage in the assimilation of middle-class, suburban Whites into an inclusive, Pan-European or Pan-White identity in which ethnicity is no longer the basis for collective action or the transmission of distinctive ethnic cultures across generations. As Gans (2009) recently stated: Symbolic ethnicity proposes the rejection of or a departure from active ethnicity: from participation in ethnic groups and in ethnic culture. It hypothesizes a passive ethnicity, involving the temporary and periodic expression of feelings about or toward the ethnic group or culture through material and non-material symbols. Symbolic ethnicity can even be a leisure time activity that does not interfere with the economic, social and other imperatives of everyday life (p.123). Rather than functioning as a structural factor that shapes access to social networks or as a social identity entwined with self-conceptions, in this model, ethnicity is recast into the equivalent of an avocation or hobby that middle-class White Americans periodically use as a means of feeling good about them. According to Gans, White ethnic identity may have a transient influence on individual self-esteem, but it no longer serves as a source of values, group cohesion, or as a determinant of behavior. In addition, as Waters (1990, 2000, 2009) has argued in her work on ethnic options, among White Americans of mixed ancestry, individuals can and do choose situational-contingent ethnic identities. The implications of symbolic ethnicity for Greek Americans in general and particularly for those who reside in middle-class suburban communities are substantial. At least, some members of this ethnic group may embrace a superficial Greek identity without the risk of incurring liabilities that w ere once attached to being viewed as a non-White race subordinate to the Anglo-Saxon core culture. In contemporary American society, then, the costs of being identifiably Greek are negligible but the affiliating bonds that join Greek Americans into a distinct group may weaken within and across generations. We observed that 15 participants from our respondents, who are either Second or Third or beyond generations, had identified themselves as American. They have probably assimilated more deeply into the American culture; yet, the majority of them responded that they actively participated in the Greek heritage events. These participants tried to take the positive images of their ethnicity while not having to deal with the real social cost of being ethnic, which is a good indication of symbolic ethnicity. Our study also revealed that Greek Americans involved various symbols of ethnicity in their daily life such as eating ethnic food, listen to Greek music, dance Greek dances, read ethnic newspapers, etc. I am in agreement with the findings of Alexiou (1993), which suggested that ethnic identification of Greek Americans does not weaken as generation becomes more removed from their immigrant ancestors, but rather becomes symbolic without structural commitments to ethnic ties. Patterns of transmission in core values of Hellenic culture Our study examined the attitudes and behaviors of the Greek American retention of six core values of Hellenic culture. These attitudes are often referred as acculturation orientations and viewed as mediators or moderators between acculturation conditions and acculturation outcomes, while acculturation behaviors can be assumed to be associated to short- term acculturation outcomes (Arends-Tà ³th van de Vijver, 2006). As defined by Omi and Winant (1994), ethnicity comprises a culture that includes religion, language, nationality and political identifications. Alba and Nee (2003) viewed ethnicity as a social boundary or distinction that individuals make in their everyday lives that shapes their action and mental orientation toward others. This distinction is embedded in a variety of cultural and social norms, values, and beliefs (p. 11). Similarly, Isajiw (1992) suggested that ethnic identity can be divided into two basic aspects: external and internal. Where external aspects refer to observable behavior patterns, such as language, family, friendship, participation in ethnic/institutional and associational organization and participation in functions sponsored by ethnic organizations, internal aspects refer to images, ideas, attitudes and feelings about their own ethnicity. Through my own experiences as an active member of Greek America and my extensive research from previous studies, I observed that Greek culture values mainly lie in six domains: (a) Greek language, (b) the Greek Orthodox Church, (c) Family cultural orientation and values, (d) Greek cultural activities and organization membership, (e) Continuing contact with Greece and/or Cyprus, and (f) Political activity. Greek language is an important factor reinforcing ethnic identity. The Greek Orthodox Church is a vibrant and indispensable component of Greek ethnicity by providing an extensive range of religious, educational and social activities and the major sponsor of Greek Heritage festivals. Language and religion have been most frequently studied as acculturation measures (Harris Verven, 1996). Family cultural orientation and values are also of great importance as children acquire their sense of belonging through their family. The Greek cultural activities and organization offer opportuniti es to share the experiences and continuing contact with Greece. Finally, ethnic political involvement was viewed as an indicator of assimilation, mobility and acculturation. As Parenti (1967) claimed, the political acculturation of the ethnic proceeds hand in hand with general cultural adaptation to American life and that it is largely completed by the advent of the second generation. These core values can also be used to understand the basis of ethnicity and culture. In this study, I investigated the cultural retention and loss in each domain. In general, ethnic behaviors are strongest or most apparent among the generations closest to the immigrant experience and become weaker or less apparent among those further away (Alba 1990). Later generation Americans are likely to adopt American cultural ways and modify parental ways so that the original values and behaviors characteristic of the immigrant group become altered or nonexistent. Therefore each successive generation that replaces the previous generation will be less ethnic-identified and the group as a whole will also become less ethnic-identified than their predecessors (Alba 1995). All six domains of the Greek ethnic culture examined in this study, to some extent, followed this general trend. However some of the cultural values experienced considerable reduction from one generation to the next, while other values experienced only minor reductions or modifications. Study suggests that it may not be until the third or fourth generations that families fully acculturate to the host culture (Kelley and Tseng, 1992). Moreover, further generations tend to acculturate more readily than their parents due to the fact that the home culture values are less established among them and they have greater exposure to the host culture through education and contact with non immigrant peers (Phinneey, 1990). This suggests that there might be disparity in cultural transmission across generations. In our case, we are making an attempt to be more concise by identifying four major patterns of transmission in core values of Hellenic culture (Figure 15). First, the preservation of Greek language is progressively weakened from one generation to the next. Significant differences were observed across all three generations on self assessed Greek language skills, whether they speak Greek when at home, preference to speak Greek when among people who understand Greek and opinion on whether people of Greek ancestry should be able to speak Greek. Our findings coincide with previous studies (e.g. Costantakos 1982, Demos 1988). Costantakos (1982) analyzed a survey of 211 Greek-Americans living in an unspecified metropolitan area. The study indicated the same pattern of behavioral changes, while attitudes towards retention of the Greek language were positive. In our study, the attitudes towards Greek language preservation were measured by two questions: whether it is important that my children are able to speak Greek and whether it is important for people of Greek ancestry to speak Greek. The attitudes were found to be positive among the First a nd Second generation, but not among the Third or beyond generation. To be more specific, 92% of the First generation and 83% of the Second generation supported that it is important for their children to be able to understand and speak Greek, while only 48% of the Third or beyond generation thought so. 87% of the First generation and 70% of the Second generation supported that People of Greek ancestry who live in the United States should be able to understand and speak Greek, while only 48% of the Third or beyond generation agreed.. Demos (1988) analyzed questionnaires collected from 583 Greek Americans from two Greek Orthodox churches, one in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the other in Baltimore, Maryland. The study showed that the focus of Greek ethnicity was shifting away from mother tongue maintenance through forces of assimilation and ethnic intermarriage. The study also revealed that the Greek language persisted as a characteristic of the Greek Orthodox Americans and that visits t o Greece represent a major way of maintaining the Greek language. In the current study, the self assessed Greek language skills were found to be moderately correlated to the question Whether the participant has traveled to Greece, which coincides with the findings in Demos (1988) that visits to Greece represent a major way of maintaining the Greek language. The current study seems to well fit the model of Anglicization which was initially formulated by the sociolinguists Joshua Fishman (1972, 1980) and Calvin Veltman (1983). The model described that the process occurs in the following ways: some individuals of the immigrant generation learn English, but they generally prefer to speak their native language, especially at home. Thus, their children usually grow up as bilinguals, but many of them prefer English, even in conversing with their immigrant parents (Lopez 1996). The second generation generally speaks English at home when its members establish their own households and rear children. Consequently, by the third generation, the prevalent pattern is English monolingualism and knowledge of the mother tongue for most ethnics is fragmentary at best. Similarly, Portes and Schauffler (1994) argued that regardless of where immigrants live, English will replace the native language within two or three generations unless bilingualism is promo ted. In order for second or beyond generation youth to maintain their parents native language they must be motivated to use it and provided with opportunities to use this language in places beyond the household, such as school and the broader community. The second pattern of intergenerational change observed, was connected to the path of the Greek Orthodox Church and the Greek Cultural Activities with minimal reduction. The Greek Orthodox Church assumed a leading role in the preservation of Greek culture in the United States since it hosts both religious and ethnic social events. Researchers who have studied the Greek Orthodox Church and the cultural activities that it sponsors (Alex, 2007; Charalambous, 2004; Demos, 1989, Tsimpouki, 2002) affirmed that it has served as a bulwark of ethnic cultural identity. In the current study, a significant higher proportion of subjects responded to all attitude and most of the behavior questions positively among all three generations and no significant difference was observed among the three generations for most of the questions. Our findings also supported that regardless of the generation status, the participants in our study had very strong positive attitudes towards the Greek Orthodox Church . The vast majority of the participants agreed that it is important for their children and people of Greek ancestry to participant and belong to the Greek Orthodox Church and at least some part of Sunday worship should be conducted in Greek. Yet, their actual behaviors in terms of their participation of the Greek Orthodox Church showed minor decline across generations. Significant difference was only found between the First and Third generation in terms of whether their children attend or attended an afternoon Greek school and whether part of the Sunday worship should be conducted in Greek. The results demonstrated that Greek Americans continued to rely on the Orthodox Church to reinforce their ethnic identities. Furthermore, our study examined the perception of respondents on their understanding of the Orthodox Faith. Our religious core beliefs help us face the problems of life and prepare us for salvation as well as keep our Hellenic identity. We must have a sufficient knowledge and understanding of orthodoxy and share this faith with others. Our results showed that the vast majority (94%) of the respondents regardless of generation believed that they had good or very good understanding of the Orthodox Faith, the Divine Liturgy and the Holy Sacraments. The Divine Liturgy is the most significant ancient Christian service and the center of the in spiration of the first Christians in their communion with God and with one another (Mastrantonis, 2004). The Divine Liturgy is the central worship service of the Orthodox Church which is celebrated every Sunday morning and on all Holy Days. The Liturgy is also the means by which we achieve union with Jesus Christ and unity with each other through the Sacrament of the Holy Communion. The Holy Sacraments are composed of prayers, hymns, scripture lessons, gestures and processions. Most of the Sacraments use a portion of the material of creation as an outward and visible sign of Gods revelation (Fitzgerald, 2004). In our study, only six respondents admitted that they had poor or non-existent understanding of the Orthodox Faith and the majority of these six respondents also had poor ability to understand and speak Greek. This is an important issue as  both Greek America and its Orthodox population underwent significant generational transformations during1940 to1990. As a result, religious faith and ethnic identity, once seen as inseparable, were increasingly less understood as such by the socially mobile, geographically dispersed, English-speaking second, third or beyond generations of Orthodox faithful in America, not to mention an ever-increasing number of converts (Stokoe and Kishkovsky,  1995). The Greek Archdiocese, for whom the very definition of Greek identity comes from the Greek language, has undergone continuous debate on the issue since 1962 (Stokoe and Kishkovsky,  1995). In 1964, the Clergy-Laity Congress allowed certain readings and prayers in the liturgy to be repeated in English. In the important 20th Clergy-Laity Congress of 1970, following the personal appeal of Archbishop Iakovos, an English liturgy was permitted. Today, most Orthodox churches do some and in many cases most of their services in English. This policy provides an opportunity for the second and third or beyond generations to comprehend more proficiently the Orthodox Faith. Another important issue we should point out is that orthodoxy itself is not static; it is constantly under pressure to be assimilated or integrated especially in an Anglo Saxon Protestant society. According to our findings, the Greek Orthodox Church has undergone substantial integration. As a religion and a cultural heritage , the Orthodox Church can also bring the best of both worlds and to blend and orchestrate into a whole, yet not lose essence or identity (Nicozisin, 1993). Although our results show that the majority of our respondents have a good or very good understanding of the Greek Orthodox Faith there might be a dichotomy of opinion as to the accuracy of these findings being that the personal feelings of the respondents could be quite subjective. My personal experience indicates that the majority of the churchg

Virtual era- new features in marketing

Virtual era- new features in marketing Virtual Era- New Features In Marketing Cap Virtual market Forty nine of the Worlds leading food, beverages, and consumer products companies have joined hands to form the largest business to business e-Market place Transora.com. The new company is the first of its kind owned by the consumer products industry. Transora will help consumer products companies across the world to streamline business transactions with their buyers, suppliers and distributors through the internet. Transoras services will span the entire supply chain-from suppliers to manufactures to retailers-and provide procurement, vendor, and product catalogues, online order management, supply chain collaboration, and financial services. The companies have committed nearly us $ 250 million for funding Transora (CBI News Bulletin, July/august 2000) The buzz word viral marketing and coral advertising and virtual marketing refers to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks produce increase in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self replicating viral processes, analogues to the spread of pathological and computer viruses. It can be word of mouth delivered or enhanced by the network effects of the internet. Viral promotions may take the form of video clips, interactive flash games, Adver games, EBooks, brand able software, images, or even text messages. The goal of marketers interested in creating successful viral marketing programs is to identify individuals with high social networking potential and create viral messages that appeal to this segment of the population and have a high probability of being taken by another competitor. The term viral marketing or virtual marketing has been also used pejoratively to refer to stealth marketing campaigns- the unscrupulous use of astroturfing on line combined with under market advertising in shopping centers to create the impression of spontaneous word of mouth enthusiasm. Internet marketing Internet marketing also referred to as marketing, web marketing, online marketing or eMarketing is the marketing of products or services over the internet. The internet has brought media to a global audience. The interactive nature of internet marketing in terms of providing instant response and eliciting responses is a unique quality of the medium. Internet marketing is sometimes considered to have a broader scope because it only refers to the internet, email, and wireless media, but it includes management of digital customer data and electronic Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. Internet marketing ties together creative and technical aspects of the internet, including design, development, advertising, and sales. Internet marketing also refers to the placement of media along with different stages of the Customer Engagement Cycle through search engine Marketing(SEM), Search Engine Optimization(SEO), banner ads on specific websites, email marketing, and web 2.0 strategies. In 2008 the New York Times, working with co score, published an initial estimate to quantify the user data collected by large internet based companies. Counting four types of interactions with company websites in addition to the hits from advertisements served from advertising networks, the authors found the potential for collecting data upward of 2500 times on average per user per month. E-Marketing EMarketing is a subset of e business that utilize electronic medium to perform marketing activities and achieve desired marketing objectives for an organization. Internet marketing, interactive marketing, and mobile marketing for example, are all the form of e marketing. E-Business EBusiness means utilizing electronic medium in everyday business activities. There are several levels of involvement in when it comes to EBusiness. For example where one organization relies completely on e business the second one way chooses a mixed presence and means of doing business. Difference Difference Between E-Business, E-Commerce, And E-Marketing eBusiness is a very broad entity dealing with the entire complex system that comprises a business that uses electronic medium to perform or assist its overall or specialized business activities. eCommerce is best described in a transactional context. So for example an electronic transition of funds, information, or entertainment falls under the category handled by principles of eCommerce. Technically e commerce is a part of e business eMarketing is also a part of e business that involves electronic medium to achieve marketing objectives. E marketing is set on a strategic level in addition to traditional marketing and business strategy. Difference Between E Marketing And Interactive Marketing eMarketing is a broader term that describes any marketing activity performed via electronic medium. Interactive marketing is generally a sub of eMarketing that involves a certain level of interaction. Difference Between E-Markeitng And Internet Or Web Marketing: There is no real difference between eMarketing and internet or web marketing. However, with the arrival of mobile technologies such as PDAs and 3G mobile phones, as well as interactive television, both terms would see eMarketing and internet or web marketing as subtly different, for example chaffy; Internet {or web} marketing is achieving marketing objectives through applying digital technologies. eMarketing is achieving marketing objectives through use of electronic communications technology. Whilst this distinction is wholly acceptable, it is difficult to see where the distinction lies between digital technologies and electronic communications technologies, especially with the convergence of technologies such as mobile devices. Advantages Of E-Marketing Following are some of the advantages of e marketing: Reduction in costs through automation and use of electronic media. Faster response to both marketers and the end user. Increased ability to measure and collect data. Opens the possibility to a market of one through personalization. Increased interactivity. Disadvantages Of E-Marketing Following are some disadvantages of eMarketing: lack of personal approach , Defensibility on technology, Security, privacy issues, Maintenance costs due to a constantly evolving environment, Higher transparency of pricing and increased price promotion, Worldwide competition through globalization. E-Marketing Plan eMarketing plan is a strategic document developed through analysis and research and is aimed at achieving marketing objectives via electronic media. eMarketing plan represents a sub set of organizations overall marketing plans supports the general business strategy. Every good eMarketing plan must be developed in line with the organizations overall marketing plan. In a broad sense e marketers generally start by analyzing the current micro- and macro economic situation of the organization. eMarketers must observe both internal and external factors when developing an e marketing plan as trends in both micro environment elements are: pricing, suppliers, customers. Examples or macro environment are: socio economic, political, demographics and legal factors. In order to reduce a viable e marketing solution, e marketers must first understand the current situation of the company and its environment, profile, segment the target market and then strategically position the products as to achieve optimal response with the target market. This is generally achieved through SWOT analysis. By assessing organizations strengths and weaknesses and looking at current opportunities and threats one can devise an e marketing strategy that can improve the organizations bottom line. E-Marketing(In Brief) eMarketing is essentially a part of marketing. But What is the difference between eMarketing and internet or web marketing? What are the eMarketing tools? And how do marketers plan for eMarketing? The American marketing association definition 2004 is as follows: Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders. Therefore e marketing by its very nature is one aspect of an organizational function and a set of process for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders. As such an aspect, eMarketing has its own approaches and tools that contribute to the achievement of marketing goals and objectives. This also helps us to differentiate between eMarkeitng and eCommerce, since eCommerce is simply buying and selling online: What Are The E-Marketing Tools? The internet has a number of tools to offer to the marketer. A company can distribute via the internet e.g. amazon.com, A company can use the internet as a way of building and maintaining a customer relationship e.g. Dell.com, The money collection part of a transaction could be done online e.g. electricity and telephone bills, Leads can be generated by attracting potential customers to sign up for short periods of time, before signing up for the long-term e.g. which.co.uk, The internet could be used for advertising e.g. Google Adwords, Finally, the web can be used as a way of collecting direct responses e.g. as part of a voting system for a game show. How Do Marketers Plan For E-Marketing? There are two ways to looking it; An existing organization may embark upon some eMarkeitng as part of their marketing plan. An organization trades solely on the internet and so their marketing plan focuses purely on eMarketing. The marketing plan in either case is the next step, whether focused upon eMarketing or all, marketing. The next lessons focus upon a tailor-made eMarketing plan which conforms to the Acronym AOSTC {from our generic marketing planning session} Situation Analysis For VIRTUAL Marketing The situation analysis for eMarketing bridges the internal audit and competitor research. It answers the question where are we now in terms of our marketing (internal v/s external perspective)? The analysis literally considers your eMarkeitng situation by considering the fit between internal and external factors. There are similarities with traditional concepts and techniques, but you need to focus upon digital commerce. Here we consider the 5ss of internet marketing, the customer life cycle, and the application of SWOT analysis. The Customer Life Cycle (CLC) The customer life cycle is a tool that creation and delivery of lifetime value to customers i.e. CLC looks at products and services that customers need throughout their lives. It is market oriented rather than product oriented. Key stages of the customer relationship are considered. SWOT Analysis-Ranked And Weighted SWOT analysis is a tool for auditing an organization and its environment. It is the first stage of planning and helps marketers to focus on key issues. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Some of the problems that you may encounter with SWOT are as a result of one of its key benefits i.e. its flexibility. Since SWOT analysis can be used in a variety of scenarios, it has to be flexible. To overcome these issues, one should employ a power SWOT. SWOT Analysis-Power SWOT SWOT analysis is a marketing audit that considers an organizations strengths, weaknesses opportunities and threats. Our introductory lesson gives you the basics of how to compete your SWOT as you begin to learn about marketing tools. As you learn more about SWOT analysis, you will become aware of a number of potential limitations with this popular tool. This lesson aims to help you overcome potential pitfalls. Some of the problems that you may encounter with SWOT are as a result of one of its key benefits i.e. flexibility since SWOT analysis can be used in a variety of scenarios, it has to be flexible. However this can lead to a number of anomalies. Problems with basis SWOT analysis can be addressed using a more critical power SWOT. Power is an acronym for personal experience, order, weighting, emphasizing detail, and rank priorities. This is how it works. How do you the marketing manager fit in relation with the SWOT analysis? You bring your experiences, skills, knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs to the audit. Your perception or simple gut feeling will impact the SWOT. Often marketing managers will in adversely reverse opportunities and strengths, and threats and weaknesses. This is because the line between internal strengths and weaknesses, and external opportunities and threats is sometimes difficult to spot. For example, in relation to global warming and climate change, one could mistake environmentalism as a threat rather than a potential opportunity. Too often elements of a SWOT analysis are not weighted. Naturally some points will be more controversial than others, so weight the factors. One way would be to use percentages e.g. threat a=10%, threat b=70%, and threat =20 %{ they total 100%} Detail, reasoning, and justification are often omitted from the SWOT analysis. Where one tends to find is that the analysis contains lists of single words. For example, under opportunities one might find the term technology. This stage word does not tell a reader very much. What is really meant is: Technology enables marketers to communicate via mobile devices close to the point of purchase. This provides the opportunity of a distinct competitive advantage for our company. This will greatly assist you when deciding upon best to score and weight each element. Once detail has been added, and factors have been revived for weighting, you can then progress to give the SWOT analysis some strategic meaning i.e. you can begin to select those factors that will most greatly influence your marketing strategy albeit a mix of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threatens. Essentially you rank them highest to lowest, and then prioritize those with the highest rank e.g. where opportunity c= 60% opportunity a= 25% and opportunity b = 10% you marketing plan would address opportunity c first, and opportunity b last. It is important to address opportunities primarily since your business should be market oriented. Then match strengths to opportunities and look for a fit. Address any gaps between current strengths and future opportunities. Finally attempt to rephrase threats as opportunities (as with global warming and climate change above), and address weaknesses so that they become strengths, Gap analysis would be bridge the gap between them. Competitor Research For Virtual Marketing (External Perspective) As you plan for eMarketing and during the plans implementation, one needs to play careful attention to the activities of competitors, so competitors research for eMarketing is essential when attempting to answer the question where are we now (external perspective). There are a number of approaches that can be employed, with the emphasis on each approach shifting depending upon the nature of our e business and market. Here are some key tools of competitor research for eMarketing. Use search engines. General topics such as Google, yahoo And msn Type names of competitors Type industry, product or term Search ‘down in to a directory structure e.g. yahoo Search a competitors web site Product information , press released, job opportunities Pricing information Distribution information such as where to buy. Hunt for trade associations Search for personal pages or blogs Different perspective e.g. fans, ex-employees. e.g. www. blogger. com , Â  www. myspace. com, Â  www. youtube. Com. Ask your target market. Send question to named personnel, newsgroups, personal pages, mailing lists. Conduct a survey using. Buy secondary reports e.g. data monitors, mintel. Newsgroups and post queries, newsgroups on bulletin boards or forums Deja. com(Google) Read online financial information research public companies iii.co.uk ample up ft.com up Read online competitive information. e.g. hoovers.com paid for, inus Study demographic reports statistics.gov.uk/ census in up census.gov inus Original source material Business source elite, newspapers, Kellys compass. Monitor special interest material Business source elite, newspaper, Kellys, compass. Monitor special interest material. E.g. marketing week (BSE), campaign (BSE), marketing (BSE). Use a professional researcher EMarketing Mix The eMarketing mix is essentially the same as the marketing mix. it is simply the adaption of price, place product, and promotion to the eMarketing context. Of course one could also include physical evidence, people, and process when marketing planning for an online service. Below are a series of lessons that consider how markets can apply the eMarketing mix to their organizations own product, service, brand, or solution. E marketing Price The eMarketing mix is simply an adaptation of the traditional marketing mix and ‘P for price. However, the internet has influenced how online businesses price in a number of ways. E Marketing Place {Place Tactics As Part Of The E-Marketing Mix.) The e marketing space consists of new internet companies that have emerged as the internet has developed, as well as those pre-existing companies that new employ eMarketing approaches as part of their overall marketing plan. For some companies the internet is an additional channel that enhances or replaces their traditional channel of place. Pre Existing companies that have adopted eMarketing These are traditional companies that trade on the internet, Banking and financial services e.g. HSBC bank. Banks and financial services have benefited tremendously from the popularity of internet usage. There is a mixture of new online banks and traditional banks, both offering online banking services. Essentially banks no longer need to invest in high cost, high street selling unit i.e. old fashioned town-based banks. Labor costs have also been reduced since much of the traditional banking bureaucracy is done using it and the use of overseas call centers has meant that salaries are much lower. Software also means that customers can be retained by using Customer Relationship Management (CRM) eMarketing approaches. E marketing Product Considered product as part of the marketing mix. Two previous tools for product decision-making have been introduced- Product Life Cycle (PLC) and the three levels of a product. Both of these tools and equally applicable to the context of e marketing and can be easily applied to include e marketing and product. For example a product marketed solely online will go through a life cycle in the same unpredictable way as a product marketed through any traditional channel (PLC). Products marketed online will have a core benefit tot eh customer, be an actual tangible product, with augmentation that ads value such as insurance, warranties and so on three levels of a product). Although tools actually specify the term ‘product, they can be easily adapted to include brands. Services or solutions. E marketing product/business matrix (depicted below should be used in conjunction with Product Life Cycle (PLC) and the three levels of a product. It represents additional tools for audit that bridges existing businesses and new online start-us, and existing products and new products. It allows marketers to categories those marketing on the internet as an online extender, an online alternative, an online innovator (existing business), and Oran online innovator (online start-up). Let us look at it in more detail; A- Online Extender An on line extender is an existing business that has a strategy whereby it extends its marketing activities to the internet. It could be any traditional, terrestrial organization that has historically grown through using traditional channels of distribution to get existing products, brands, services, or solutions to market. B- Online Alternatives The online alternative is a new start-up that uses the internet as an original channel of distribution to get products, brands, services or solutions, currently available elsewhere, to, arekt. Some segments may be better targeted with this online alternative for example remote or fragmented markets. C And D- Online Innovators Online innovators come in two forms; C- Online innovators are existing businesses that see a benefit to launching new and innovative products, brands, services or solutions online by leveraging new technology. Existing businesses have a wealth of knowledges and learning that underpin their moves onto the web. Remember, the internet is not a business paradigm shift (at last not yet) and so current business approaches are often adapted for the internet. Existing businesses have experience. D- Online innovators are start-ups that seize the opportunities to launch new and innovative products, brands, services, or solutions online. Deposit not having as much knowledge and learning as some of their competitors, they are flexible and can move much more quickly. Start-ups often experience. We have already considered product as part of the marketing mix. Two previous tools for product decision- making have been introduced product life cycle and the three level of a product. E Marketing Promotion It looks at ways of increasing the popularity of your website by looking at the internal optimization of the website itself. It considers many important ways of building your traffic, including Search Engine Optimization (SEO) approaches. It looks at ways of increasing the popularity of your website by looking at external sources of internet advertising. Lesson internet marketing and promotion: internet advertising. This lesson looks at ways of increasing the popularity of your website by looking at external sources of internet advertising. Pay per click advertising Google ad words. Google ad words are a Cost per Click (CPC) online advertising program. Identically that means that you decide upon key word that relates closely to your product or service. Using Googles tools, you price how much it would cost your per click for your chosen keyword- this could be lucent, $1.50 or more, depending on the popularity of the keyword. So the keyword marketing would be more expensive than the keyword marketing cheese china because of its level of popularity. You then allocate a budget, and pay Google by credit card. You can control the length of your campaign, or end it as soon as the money in PPC management (Pay per Click Management) or recruit a verified Google awards professional. Adverts appear alongside Google search results- so go to Google and search for marketing. The ads appearing alongside the main search results are cps. Ads also appear on selected content websites-such as www.chichesteuk.com-look at the adverts along the top, and down the right hand column- this is where ads based upon the keyword chic ester would appear. You only pay for adverts that get clicked- not for page views- so you pay nothing if your advert is simply viewed. There is also an opportunity for ‘Smart pricing whereby you pay more for the advert if a sale is guaranteed e.g. you have a website based upon fishing- you write a review of a new type of fishing rod, the visitor then sees an ad for the same rod in an ad words text ad running on the same page then clicks on it and buys from the advertiser. Adwords is a very targeted and controllable way of online advertising hence the huge rises in income and profit for Google over recent times. EMarketing Price (Pricing Tactics As Part Of The E-Marketing Mix.) The eMarketing mix is simply an adaption of the traditional marketing mix and ‘P for price. However the internet has influenced how online businesses price in a number of ways. International pricing and competition give consumers access to the lowest price for any generic good. For example, British consumers benefit when buying products from the United States since there is almost two dollar to the pound. Conversely this makes British goods more expensive to the American consumer. So it is cheap to buy spectacles from a us website and then to import them into the UK (even including transport costs and import taxes) Online auctions are a popular and innovative way of pricing, for example ebay. Here you register with the online auction company as a seller and/or a buyer. You can place an item into auction where buyers bid against each other. The highest bidder wins. The auction websites takes a commission. The commission is factored into the price you pay. Greater access to pricing information, more quickly and in a format that makes pricing comparable and transparent. There are a number of sites that will compare and contrast prices for the same or similar goods and services e.g. prices on car insurance. Pricing could also include the cost of an online advertising medium such as Google ad words. Here an online supplier would buy a keyword located in a text or image based advert onto Googles own search engine or onto a website belonging to a Google publisher. For example you search term hair straightness on Google and you are directed to a site about hair dressing. On this site is plenty of information about hair straightening, placed next to some contextual adverts. You click on the advert and you are taken to a site selling hair dressing supplies. You buy the hair straightness and your supplier pay a small ‘Pay-Per-Click fee which is split between Google and their publisher. This is factored into the price you pay. Traditional Pricing Tactics Used In E-Marketing Of course the internet marketers still has a whole selection of the more traditional pricing approaches to choose from that can be adapted to eMarketing scenarios: Premium Pricing E.g. Selling Music Via ITunes. Penetration pricing e.g. giving away free subscription to land grab market share for new start ups such as youtube.com and myspace.com. Economy pricing e.g. selling basic products and services online likes basic design or paperclips. Price skimming e.g. new product launches online such as albums or games. Psychological pricing e.g. products and services sold at 99p or $99.99 (price point perspective). Product line pricing e.g. subscription 1 @ free, subscription 2 @ $10.00(with added value) and subscription 3 @ $49.99 for 10 year. Pricing variations e.g. budget airlines selling tickets online where the first tickets bought are the cheapest, and the last ones bought tend to be more expensive. Optional product pricing e.g. selling a holiday online with travel insurance. Captive product pricing e.g. once you buy virus software from one brand, your updates must also come from them. Product bundle pricing e.g. buying internet access which comes with free online phone calls. Promotional pricing e.g. betting incentives, such as free dollars to gambles online for current customers that gamble on football games to tempt them to play online pocker, or vouchers with codes sent by email as rewards e.g. Amazon.com. Geographical Pricing e.g. Microsoft pricing in different currencies in different international markets. Search Marketing {Overture And Yahoo} Overture is the yahoo equivalent of Googles ad words. Now known as yahoo Search marketing, overture has a series of sub-products that make up its internet marketing program. Here some examples: 1) Sponsored search: Displays your advert at the top of the search engine results. So your potential customers search for a ‘keyword and your advert appears at the top of the results page. Again, as this ad words, the advertisers bid against each other to obtain the position that will generate the most convertible traffic to their site. Popular keywords will cost more-obviously. 2) Local advertising: Gets your business listed in yahoos business directory. So if you wish to promote products in specific regions next to specific search keywords, this is a much targeted geographical services. Overture has many other similar services such as search submit, product submit, travel submit and director submit that could be considered. Affiliate Marketing Affiliate Marketing is where an organization offers and incentive to other web based organizations to market the products or services that it offers. So a company selling surfboards could have affiliate destinations. The affiliate program is supplied by one organization whereas the affiliate is the website that promotes on behalf of the supplying organization. Put simply affiliate marketing is a basic agency arrangement. There is rarely and pay per click cash, but affiliates tend to take a commission on any goods sold as a result of the click. What does it look like? Affiliate marketing sees a banners advert or a text advert placed upon an affiliates website. When the advert attracts a click, the visitor is taken through to the site that originated the affiliated program. No cash changes hands until there is a sale, but affiliate rewards tend to be higher than regular pay per click. Commission Junction (CJ) is a well known example of an affiliate marketing company. CJ acts as an intermediary between affiliate programs. Suppliers of all types and sizes. So if you have a successful website, that does well in the search engines and is popular with visitors, you such old register with CJ and place affiliate add on to your site. Offline promotions strategies. Of course to promote website you should also consider offline promotion strategies such as those used by non internet businesses. Our lesson store contains lessons on promotion (as part of the marketing mix) and also marketing communication (and its own mix) here selection of other suitable approaches to offline promotion: Create a media release or announce a media conference regarding yo