Who Stole My Cheese? Self-Analysis Essay -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Change, like time, is always happening. There is no way to stop it, not even for a second. Whither or not you realize it, you are always changing in every possible way. However, we commonly simplify change to only the large differences in our normal routines each day or week, whither they are expected or unexpected. These large problems can sometimes become problems for people, which is not surprising. They should be problems, whither they are good problems to have, or bad. It is our job to adapt to these changes, and to adapt quickly. All of the time it takes you to adapt, is time lost, time you will never regain. This principle is easily explained by Spencer Johnson, M.D. in his book Who Moved My Cheese?.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hem, Haw, and two speedy mice running through a maze looking for cheese first sounded like a very odd way to analyze how people deal with change, however, after reading a section, the comparison between two different people and mice is a very creative and correct comparison. The mice, are concerned with one thing, their cheese. They do not worry about having a permanent home or structure to fall back on. They are like Indians following the buffalo wherever they roam. They are constantly on the move following their source of life. The little people, Hem and Haw, however, are more concerned with have a home, and a schedule. A life that stays the same with themselves always perfectly content. They do not want to hav...

Amazon Books and Writers Essay

Miss Furr and Miss Keene has a reputation of being one of Gertrude Stein’s more controversial works. Originally published in 1922, the story tells of the lives of two women who live together. The story is written with a limited lexicon and contains the word â€Å"gay† which appears over a hundred times. It is purported to be one of the first coming out stories published, and through its reprinting in Vanity Fair in 1923, the underground meaning of â€Å"gay† became more widely known (Amazon Books and Writers, 2008). Stein’s style of writing uses repetition as a literary device. Those who grew up reading Dr. Seuss will have no trouble reading Miss Furr and Miss Skeene while those who are unfamiliar with Dr. Seuss will find the text quite confusing. This is because Stein, as a linguist and naturalist, utilizes repetition as a means of achieving the natural primary processes of perception and thought (Kimball, 1998). This is the primary reason why Stein’s writing is oftentimes regarded as gibberish. However, those who study her body of work will find that it is through this method that Stein conveys â€Å"the gradually changing present of human consciousness, the instability of emotion and thought† (Perloff, 1999, p. 98). This method allows Stein to let the reader experience the thoughts being conveyed as they are being written (natural) instead of conveying the thought after it has been written (synthesized). Her use of this playful style in Miss Furr and Miss Skeene is intended to rouse confusion both literally and metaphorically to reflect the thoughts of the writer (as Stein is also a lesbian) and the characters in the story. This also enables Stein to dissect one event into many while still pertaining to that one event—like an episode of 24 where the focus is that one hour but seen in different contexts. Repeating is used here as â€Å"a deliberate regression of sorts—an attempt to get at (sometimes to get back to and recover) the â€Å"real† things lying below the surface (the unconscious, the â€Å"primitive,† the primary â€Å"raw† passions of desire, love, jealousy, power, prestige, etc. ) in order to illuminate the nuanced ways that characters negotiate subconscious desires through the coded conventions of everyday polite conversation† (Nelson 2000). Stein’s depiction of these women, like the way she usually depicts her subjects, are meant to be taken as they are. Stein’s modernist style of writing â€Å"remains impervious to such an easy reading for it never allows us to make secure judgments about characters and action† (Behling, 2001, p. 127). Thus, it is literally impossible to say if the characters were caricatures or not. Stein’s unique technique solely focuses on the action and its multiple contexts instead of one singular notion. This is evident in her use of repetition without literally repeating. Instead, each perceived repetition is in fact designed to convey a new meaning. An example of this is the repetition of the word â€Å"gay. † In its first use in the seventh sentence of the story, â€Å"she did not find it gay living in the same place she has been living,† the word â€Å"gay† is used in the context of being bored. However, with each new variation, the word â€Å"gay† is transformed to mean other things, including that of today’s contemporary definition. This method of wordplay allows for the double entendre of the story. To the (then) sophisticated, the story is about Helen Furr coming out as a lesbian, while to the less informed, it is a simple story of two women living together. This style is meant to be experienced as it was intended by the author. In fact, Stein’s works, be it prose or poetry, are often discussed out loud primarily to evoke and channel that which is â€Å"natural† while also appreciating the style’s lyricism. Hence, Miss Furr and Miss Skeene would benefit from being read aloud by allowing the reader to experience â€Å"living where many were living and cultivating in themselves something† (Stein, 1993, p. 257) References Amazon Books and Writers (2008). Gertrude Stein (1874-1946). Amazon. com. Retrieved November 21, 2008 from http://www. kirjasto. sci. fi/gstein. htm. Behling, L. (2001). The Masculine Woman in America, 1890-1935. Illinois: University of Illinois Press. Kimball, J. (1998). Gertrude Stein and the natural world. Time Sense An Electronic Quarterly on the Art of Gertrude Stein. Retrieved November 21, 2008 from http://www. tenderbuttons. com/gsonline/timesense/1_1kimball. html. Nelson, C. (2000). On Gertrude Stein and Dr. Seuss. University of Illinois. Retrieved Novenber 21, 2008 from http://www2. english. uiuc. edu/finnegan/English%20251/stein_and_seuss. htm. Perloffe, M. (1999). The Poetics of Indeterminacy: Rimbaud to Cage. Illinois: Northwestern University Press. Stein, G. (1993). â€Å"Miss Furr and Miss Keene. † In G. Stein & U. E. Dydo (Ed. ) A Stein Reader (pp. 254– 259). Illinois: Northwestern University Press.

Ethnicity and Racism Essay

Introduction Ethnic identity in varied urban society is maintained against force to assimilate, in part, by an opposing process of pejorative and odious distinction. Name-calling serves to expound and to restate demarcations against which one positively mirrors oneself and one’s group. Schermerhorn, cited in Sollors (1996), illustrates an ethnic group as follows: A collectivity within a larger society having actual or reputed common ancestry, memories of a common historical past, and a cultural focus on one of more figurative elements defined as the epitome of their people hood. Instances of such symbolic element are: relationship patterns, physical contiguity (as in localism or sectionalism), religious affiliation, language or vernacular forms, tribal association, nationality, phenotypal features, or any combination of these. An essential accompaniment is some consciousness of kind amongst members of the group. (Sollors, 1996, p. xii) Jones ( 1997) characterized ethnic group as â€Å"any group of people who set themselves apart and/or are set apart by others with whom they interrelate or co-exist on the base of their perceptions of cultural delineation and/or common descent† (p. 1). According to Jones, ethnicity contains all of those social and psychological phenomenon linked with a culturally defined group identity. Ethnicity centers on the ways in which social and cultural practices intersect with one another in the recognition of, and relations between ethnic groups (p. 1). The development and expansion of ethnic identity that takes place when an individual recognizes and affiliates with a particular ethnic group is multifarious. This significant personal and group identification has decisive emotional, behavioral, and cognitive implication that affects all aspects of development. Ethnic Groups Perception Phinney (1989, 1990) and others illustrated ethnic identity through components consciousness, self-labeling, attitudes, behaviors that consequence in the individual’s recognition with a particular group and with the attainment of group patterns through membership. Similarly, Bernal and Knight (1993) viewed ethnic identity as a psychological build that includes â€Å"a set of thoughts about one’s own ethnic group membership† (p. 7). These definitions deal with the evocative content and apparent distinctiveness of ethnic identity. Of significance to note is that these components operate at two levels individual and group (Branch, 1994) and within two areas self-given and other credited. Though components are a decisive part of the definition, components in and of themselves do not have expounding capabilities: why and how identity forms and develops. As ethnic groups in the United States are professed as occupying sociopolitical, cultural positions within a hierarchical system, the implementation, demonstration, or privatization of ethnic practices are inclined by factors such as physical, cultural and ethnic markers, antagonism, emulation, social facsimile, power, situational events, and scales of inclusion and contribution ( Hollins, 1996; Jones, 1997). These factors influence the scale to which ethnic identity attribution, or self-labeling, is internally driven, outwardly imposed, or both. Some scholars think that evenness in self-labeling and the acknowledgment and performance of established modes of behavior in social areas in which ethnic identity is reconfirmed and authenticated begins around 8 years old (Aboud, 1984, 1987). However, Spencer ( 1985) pointed out that identity is a developmental process in stable transformation. Developmentally, the traditions young children accept, display, and integrate ethnic identity content into their personal and group identity diverges from the ways they are demonstrated and given significance at other life ages. We know that young children (birth to three and four years old obtain ethnic values, customs, language styles, and behavioral codes long before they are competent to label and know them as ethnic ( Sheets, 1997; Spencer, 1985). Intellectuals who study ethnic identity development in young children from a socialization viewpoint believe that the ethnic identity progression for children of color begins at birth, at the initial interactions between the child, family, and community (Sheets, 1997; Spencer, 1985). Sheets (1997) sustained that the continual existence of personal and societal markers such as skin color, language, food choices, values, and association in a dominant or non-dominant group instills in children ethnic roles and behaviors that practice them for eventual self-labeling. Likewise, Alba (1990) referring to White ethnics, continued that this early home-life frame of satisfactory alternatives creates a exceptional identity. He argued that this personality, conversant by ethnicity, exists at deep levels, present even while individuals reject their ethnicity. This agrees with identity theory in social psychology, which conjectures that the multi-identities within an individual function at diverse levels of importance. Stryker (1968) recognized this degree of confession and commitment as salience. This constituent of choice in identity labeling for White ethnics seems to be less challenging for White ethnics than for ethnics phenotypically or ethnically marked. However, for a developing ethnic identity, feelings of shared aims with a particular ethnic group implies explicit movement toward a conscious acknowledgment of and assurance with the group (Alba, 1990), resulting in self-identification with diverse degrees of salience. Thus, deliberately or unconsciously, cognitively or behaviorally, individuals use ethnic identities to classify themselves and others for the rationale of social interactions in varied settings. The Consequences of Stereotyping There is an immense and admired literature on the effects of stereotyping, The overt rationale of an ethnic epithet is to slur and to injure. But calling names is also an endeavor, whether quite deliberately realized or not, to control the behavior of the ridiculed group. This attempt at social control by disparaging labeling is an effort to influence reality by the mysterious identity of the spoken symbol with the nonverbal fact. The belief is that if one can name or add a label to an object, in this case, an ethnic individual or group, then one can use power over it by just calling its name. If the name is abusive, condescending, scolding, or ridiculing, it is expected that this description will elicit an proper response, such as causing the wounded to cower, to be degraded, to be scolded and thus to feel blameworthy, or to act out the prediction of ridiculousness. Usually this prediction is fulfilled in the eye of the beholder by selectively perceiving or misperceiving the genuine behavior of the group over which he seeks control. Yet the resultant social process of labeling and stereotyping at times also leads to redefinitions of the relations between groups and sometimes eventually has the portended effect upon the behavior and self-concept of the victim, a consequence that has been called â€Å"in authentication.† The social psychosomatic process of being proscribed entails losing one’s legitimacy by acquiring a fake image of one. The stereotypes expressed by nicknames are one device by which several minority group persons are deindividualized or depersonalized. Minority group members recognize numerous of the values of the society in which they live, including at times the conventional images of themselves. Blacks, for instance, in the past had many nicknames for other ethnic blacks that were a system of color-caste coding and gestured an recognition of one decisive factor of white racism. This and other examples prove to one of the disastrous implications of name-calling-eventual self-derogation of a group. Not simply do groups sometimes understand the stereotyped image of themselves, but at times they emphasize it by conforming to its behavioral expectations. They have then avowed the other’s image and are thus proscribed. Conversely, minorities, particularly blacks, have opposed stereotypes in creative ways. Derogatory labels, together with names such as nigger, through inversion, have been given optimistic meanings within the group. Broader stereotypes, such as robbery, sexual abandon, juvenile behavior, and laziness, through conversion, are acted out as techniques of hostility and mockery against whites. For these and other reasons, the issue of ethnic slurs is typically regarded, analytically, as a predicament in social psychology and, normatively, as a social problem. Situational and Environmental Context The context and circumstances (e.g., locations, sociopolitical radicalized ramifications, economic circumstances, and time) in which ethnic identity opens out is another element of ethnic identity (Branch, 1994). This is an area in require of research. Family socialization outlines that inspire values and social and behavioral codes in their progeny vary within similar groups and are reliant in part on particular circumstances such as socioeconomic status, generational influences, and geographic location (Hollins, 1996; McAdoo, 1993). If home-rearing performs finds out how people use their cultural resources to settle in to new and discrete environments ( Mintz & Price, 1992), this signifies that the mechanism of ethnic identity not only activate differently at diverse developmental ages, but also might be expressed another way in different contextual settings. For instance, attainment of values and behavioral and social prototypes are mechanism in the ethnic identity improvement of young children that can herald self-labeling and appreciation. Also, self-labeling informed by framework is not as easy as suggested. It may or may not designate recognition, commitment, and salience; the capability to self-label does not mean that contextually the same decisive factor is used to determine the labeling of others. Sheets (1998) found that five year old children from African, Mexican, Minh, Loatian American, and Black/White racially mixed groups were capable to categorize themselves ethnically. These children willingly provided distinctive physical markers (eye shape, skin tone, and hair texture) and cultural fundamentals (native language, food preferences, and ways of eating) as proof to discriminate themselves from others. though, they used trustworthy or communally accepted reasons to categorize others. For instance, they say an individual is â€Å"Loas† because â€Å"My daddy said so† or someone is â€Å"Mexican† because â€Å"He was born in the hospital.† The self-labeling at this age was also detach from attitudes of relationship, obligation, and salience, but not from exclusive cultural behaviors linked with group patterns. Research that scrutinizes how environmental framework affects children’s ethnic identity development–and its effect on present and successive development–or what types of sociopsychological events influence change in the development of individual and group ethnic membership were not accessible. The mechanism and progression of ethnic identity appear to be extremely receptive to changing contextual social, political, and economic conditions. Ethnic identity cannot be sufficiently examined as secluded elements, rather it must be examined as suggested by Mintz and Price ( 1992), as systems or patterns in their societal context. Jones (1997) argued that ethnic identity is â€Å"based on uneven, situational, subjective identification of self and others, which are entrenched in continuing daily practices and chronological experience† (p. 13). Future Prospect The diverse reactions are due to a numeral of factors, which are not essentially mutually exclusive: an enthusiasm for the immediate surcease of bigotry; an intolerance with the slowness of progress thus far; an indecision about the permanency of newly gained perfection; a premonition, anxiety, or resentment about enduring injustices; and, most lately, a belief that being renowned as a disadvantaged minority will take group preferences and remedies or that being denied such appreciation will dispossess them of just treatment. Obscured in history are the colonial exclusions, whippings, tongue borings, and hangings of heretics, rebels, and witches; the mob attacks on Mormons, Asians, Mexican Americans, Filipinos, and Italians; the blazing down of Catholic churches; and the lynching and shootings of Blacks and Indians. Neither amongst American Indians nor between Whites and Indians, Whites and Blacks, French and English, Dutch and Swedes, Russians and Americans, Catholics and Protestants, and Protestants and Protestants are there the defensive and regal wars that once raged on American soil; nor have American ethnic groups pretended the wide-ranging violence that existed or exists in numerous parts of Europe and Asia, such as between Russians and Poles, Greeks and Turks, Jews and Arabs, Spaniards and Basques, Irish and English, Japanese and Chinese, and Tibetans and Chinese. Gone are the Anglophobes, Francophobes, Spanophobes, and Germanophobes, who alleged that Britain, France, Spain, and Germany correspondingly were plotting to destroy our government. Also gone are the once popular beliefs that Masons, Illuminati, the pope, communists, and international Jewry had permeated government and courts or that America was jeopardized by Chinese and Japanese invasions. On a local level, the Florida parliament in 1995 awarded compensation to nine Black survivors of White mob attacks seven decades earlier. In that similar year, Mississippi finally ratified the Thirteenth Amendment eliminating slavery. Some hundred years after 31 Chinese gold miners in Oregon were cruelly killed in 1887 were the files on what had happened first made public. On a state level, four decades passed before Congress chosen compensation for the unfair internment of American Japanese and Aleuts during World War II, and not until 1993 did Congress pass a declaration making an apology for the overthrow a hundred years earlier of the Hawaiian monarchy. Religionists, too, have more and more recognized past wrongs. On almost a hundred diverse occasions Pope John Paul II apologized for Catholic wrongs against Jews, Africans, Indians, Protestants, women, and even the astronomer Galileo. In 1995, on the 150th anniversary of its beginning, the Southern Baptist Convention overwhelmingly voted to request forgiveness of â€Å"all African-Americans† for past support of slavery. Two years later, Lutheran, Anglican, Catholic, and United Methodist leaders in South Carolina issued a statement owning up their sins of racism. Last has been a development of minority community and political action groups, which as never before look for civic and political acknowledgment and power. No longer are hyphenated groups viewed as unpatriotic, and no longer are they reliant on the altruism of others to resolve their problems, or, in the case of immigrants, to rely on motherland governments to speak on their behalf. Rather, much in the way of Blacks, they hold marches, pageants, demonstrations, and political forums, often with the support of second- and third-generation local or federal politicians of their own group. Both the Democratic and Republican parties have outreach programs to all main minority groups, together with the solicitation of funds. On both local and national levels, political officeholders are sure to have famous minority representatives as advisers or staff. Assistance all of the above were the press, radio, and television, which no longer disregarded prejudice, discrimination, or violence against minorities, but depicted such behavior as communally unacceptable and ethically wrong and called upon political and public officials to take corrective action. In brief, today’s minority groups have more fortifications, opportunities, and freedoms than their parents or grandparents had or dreamed of perhaps having and they are challenging and taking advantage of them as never before. Increasingly, changes for the better have taken place. Admitting such does not mean that there still is not victims and troubles, but rather proves that vary is possible and that cynicism and suspicion are unwarranted. A subsequent principle is comparing intergroup relations in America to those in other countries. Here, too, America detachable very well, as is obvious by what is and has been going on in other countries, as well as by the needs of so many foreigners to leave their homelands. We merely do not have the wars, ethnic conflicts, and calls for secession, self-determination, or ethnic sanitization that take place in Eastern Europe, Yugoslavia, Spain, England, Northern Ireland, India, Indonesia, Rwanda–or in our border neighbors, Canada and Mexico. Few Native Americans, Hawaiians, and Alaskans want secession, and few Puerto Ricans want whole independence from America. Still fewer are the figure of Americans who relinquish their citizenship and leave to live in another country. Third, intergroup relations can be evaluated to the nationally appreciated values of equal rights and opportunities for life, autonomy, and the detection of happiness, where individuals are moderator in spite of their race, religion, ethnicity, age, and sex. By this decisive factor, it is very understandable particularly to minorities that problems still exist, that racism, anti-Catholicism, anti-Asianism, anti-Hispanicism, anti-Native Americanism, anti-Semitism, homophobia, and sexism have not moved out. The fourth criterion entailed comparing a group’s progress or need of it to other groups. The consequences, certainly, depend on the groups being compared. while the situation of American Blacks is evaluated to that of American Indians or Haitians, Blacks are doing very well, but when contrasted to that of Irish Catholics or Jews, they are far behind. If being murdered and robbed of one’s home are the most terrible that can happen a group, then Indians were the leading victims, followed by Blacks, who were the only group brought here against their will as slaves, alienated from their families, and not permitted to enable their customs, languages, and even names. Mexicans all through the Southwest were made strangers in their own land, as were national Hawaiians, both of whose lands were taken by fraud and conquest. Alaskan natives were not asked whether they required their land sold by Russia to America. Asians were the most redundant groups, and Catholics the most hated religious group. Frequently derelict in group comparisons are the momentous numbers of minorities who, despite discrimination, achieved, such as Arabs, Armenians, Asians, Cubans, Greeks, Huguenots, Jews, Latvians, Mormons, Quakers, and West Indians. Also derelicted are the ethnic and socioeconomic subdivisions within a explicit victimized group as with late-nineteenth and early twentieth-century comparatively well-off northern Italians and poor southern ones, as well as with moderately poor eastern and well-off western European Jews. These days, too, perceptible differences in accomplishment exist between such Hispanic groups as Cubans, Mexicans, and Puerto Ricans–with Cubans usually having a much higher mean income and educational attainment than the two other groups and than Whites usually. Briefly, the picture that appears from group-to-group comparisons is a mixed one, depending on which groups are being evaluated. A fifth principle is that of Utopia. All too perceptibly, America is not a Garden of Eden, Elysian Field, Happy Isle, Golden Land, or heaven on earth. Yes, we have approach a far way from the discrimination and favoritism of early America or of Europe, Africa, and Asia, but we have a long way to go before it can be realistically said that Americans live by the Golden Rule. The last and politically latest criteria (at least in America) are those of assortment and relative representation. originally, the terms usually implied that if a group did not have a percentage of jobs, school admissions, positions, elections, and so on, equal to its percentage of the local or state population, or to its percentage of the workforce, it was a sign of being discriminated against. For instance, since African Americans are some   twelve percent of the population, or women some fifty percent, it was argued, they should have that percentage of jobs, college admissions, political appointments, and the like. Consequently of the enduring nonrepresentational or exclusion of minorities, and the growing public and court refusal of race-conscious solutions, calls began being made for ascertaining multiculturalism and diversity. Schools, workplaces, political offices, media, and much else, were reproved to form workforces that replicate the makeup of America, thereby reassuring a greater minority inclusion than by just calling for equal opportunity for all minorities. By this decisive factor, with the omission of the armed forces, sports, and civil service jobs, few arenas of society are free of discrimination. It mean First, bad as prejudice was, it has been waning for all minority groups, though differentially so. Second, how much of a reject has there been, how fast or slow has it occurred, what has caused either, and how best to spiral the speed of reform are justifiable topics of concern and debate. Third, the dearth of usually agreed upon criteria for measuring progress distorts the realism of the progress made and not made. Worse yet, in numerous cases, the absence has aggravated intergroup relations, wherein one group’s self-interests conflict with those of other groups. Instead of figuring coalitions to resolve problems of common concern, numerous groups believe in centering on their own priorities. Without a coalitional conformity on what needs to be done, the speed of further development will be delayed, but not stopped. Too much goodwill subsists in America, and too numerous reforms have taken place, at too high a cost in lives and energy, to be stopped. The recognizable glass is neither empty nor full, but being filled and the earlier the better. References: Aboud F. E. ( 1984). â€Å"Social and cognitive bases of ethnic identity constancy.† Journal of Genetic Psychology, 145, 227 – 229. Aboud F. E. ( 1987). â€Å"The development of ethnic self-identification and attitudes.† In J. S. Phinney & M. J. Rotheram (Eds.), Children’s ethnic socialization: Pluralism and development (pp. 32 – 55 ). Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Alba R. D. ( 1990). Ethnic identity: The transformation of White America. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Branch C. W. ( 1994). â€Å"Ethnic identity as a variable in the learning equation.† In E. R. Hollins , J. E. King, & W. G. Hayman (Eds.), Teaching diverse populations: Formulating a knowledge base (pp. 207 – 224 ). Albany: State University of New York Press. Hollins E. R. ( 1996). Culture in school learning; Revealing the deep meaning. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Jones S. ( 1997). The archaeology of ethnicity: Constructing identities in the past and present. Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul. McAdoo H. P. (Ed.). ( 1993). Family ethnicity: Strength in diversity. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Mintz S. W., & Price R. ( 1992). The birth of African-American culture: An anthropological perspective. Boston: Beacon Press. Sheets R. H. ( 1997). â€Å"Reflection 1: Racial and ethnic awareness.† In J. Carnes & R. H. Sheets (Eds.), Starting small: Teaching tolerance in preschool and the early grades (pp. 16 – 21 ). Montgomery, AL: Southern Poverty Law Center. Sheets R. H. ( 1998). Ethnic identity behavioral displays in an urban Kindergarten classroom: Implications for practice. Unpublished manuscript. Sodowsky G. R., Kwan K. K., & Pannu R. ( 1995). â€Å"Ethnic identity of Asians in the United States.† In J. G. Ponterotto, J. M. Casas, L. A. Suzuki, & C. M. Alexander (Eds.), Handbook of multicultural counseling (pp. 123 – 154 ). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Sollors W. (Ed.). ( 1996). Theories of ethnicity: A classical reader. New York: New York University Press. Spencer M. B. ( 1985). â€Å"Cultural cognition and social cognition as identity factors in Black children’s personal growth.† In M. Spencer, G. Brookins, & W. Allen (Eds.), Beginnings: The social and affective development of Black children (pp. 215 – 230 ). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates

Reinsurance Agreements in Business

Reinsurance Agreements in Business Reinsurance can simply be defined as an agreement between an insurance company and a third party. This is more like the general insurance agreement between a person and an insurance company. Reinsurance protects the insurance company from losses since some of the policies have a high chance of incuring huge losses.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Reinsurance Agreements in Business specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The main reason behind reinsurance is to cover the insurance company, when making huge reimbursements as well as preventing it from losses. Reinsurance is also seen as a risk transfer mechanism (Mathew, 2003). Reinsurance agreements may be classified into two types, a facultative and a treaty agreement. Facultative reinsurance policy is used by the reinsured to reduce the chance of loss associated with a particular agreement and helps in ensuring the risks relating to a particular cover are low (Reinsurance, 2005, par. 5). It usually covers the whole or part of the given policy and is based on the analysis of the situation and the clauses in the policy. A treaty reinsurance agreement refers to an agreement where a reinsurance company insures various policies related to a class of policies. A treaty agreement is more general than facultative. There are several types of treaty reinsurance agreements, Quota share treaty, excess loss treaty, and surplus treaty. Wollan (2002) observed that the doctrine of utmost good faith was essential in any insurance transaction or undertaking. The principle of utmost good faith states that an insured person or the insurance company should provide all the details relating to a certain cover that is to be undertaken. One should disclose all the information referred to a particular party or risk. In the case of a reinsurance agreement, both parties should deal with honesty. Both sides should disclose all the information that is deemed necessary for the rei mbursement to take place. Dishonesty occurs when one of the people fails to disclose all the information that is material in the agreement. The insurance company should ensure a good conclusion is reached at when negotiations between the policy holder and the insurance company take place after the occurrence of a loss. There are cases where the reinsured does not negotiate with the policy holder, hence the reinsurance company will fail to honor the agreement. The reinsured also files a claim with the insurer within time. By this time, the reinsured should have carried out investigations to find out if the claim by the original policyholder was genuine. Dishonesty thus results from failure to adhere to the above.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More A surety bond ensures the completion of a contract. The Legal Dictionary (n.d.) defines a surety bond as a written promise under seal which commits its issuer (the surety) to pay a named beneficiary, called the oblige, a sum up to a stipulated amount, but subject to the provision that the obligation of the issuer will cease if certain specified conditions are met. (par. 6). In an insurance undertaking, obliges may at times fail to disclose all the relevant information; this results to obliges not being reimbursed. Such a case does not violate a surety bond, and the principal cannot be sued. Renewable insurance policies are the ones that offer renewable guarantee over time. For example, consider the case of life insurance policies. Originally, these policies were not renewable over time, and when a person suffered from some chronical desease, the person could not be covered. However, the case of renewability feature allows one to renew a contract over a given period of time and convenient. References Mathew H. (2003). For the Defense 45. The Role of Reinsurance: Defending under the Follow-the-Fortunes Do ctrine, 2(45), 12. Legal Dictionary. (n.d.). Duhaime.org Law Dictionary and Legal Information. Retrieved from duhaime.org/LegalDictionary/S/SuretyBond.aspx Reinsurance. (2005). In Wests Encyclopedia of American Law. Retrieved from: https://www.encyclopedia.com/law/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/reinsurance Wollan, E. (2002). Handbook of Reinsurance Law. New York: Aspen Law Business.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Reinsurance Agreements in Business specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More

Profile of the National Organization for Women (NOW)

Profile of the National Organization for Women (NOW) During a June 1966 meeting of state commissions on the status of women in Washington, D.C., Betty Friedan and other attendees felt dissatisfied with the lack of concrete forward motion. Seeing the need for a civil rights organization specifically focused on womens rights, 28 of them met in Friedans hotel room and created the National Organization for Women (NOW) to take action to achieve the equality of women. The time was ripe for such a move. In 1961, President Kennedy had established the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW) to study and resolve problems experienced by women in areas like work, education, and tax laws. In 1963, Friedan had published her groundbreaking feminist classic The Feminine Mystique, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 had technically outlawed sex discrimination (though many women still felt there was little or no enforcement.) Did You Know? Betty Friedan was elected the first president of NOW and served in that office for three years. NOW Statement of Purpose 1966: Key Points womens rights as truly equal partnership with men, fully equal partnership of the sexesfocused on activism: confront, with concrete action, the conditions that now prevent women from enjoying the equality of opportunity and freedom of choice which is their right as individual Americans, as human beingswomens rights seen in the context of the world-wide revolution of human rights; equality of women as an opportunity to develop their fullest human potentialspurpose to put women in the mainstream of American political, economic and social lifeNOWs commitment equality, freedom, and dignity for women specifically defined as not being about special privilege for women or enmity towards men Key Feminist Issues in Statement of Purpose employment the most attention in the document is to issues around employment and economicseducationfamily including marriage and divorce laws, home responsibilities by gender rolepolitical participation: in parties, decision-making, candidates (NOW was to be independent of any particular political party)images of women in the media, in culture, in laws, in social practicesbriefly addressed issue of double discrimination of African American women, linked womens rights to broader issues of social justice including racial justiceopposition to protectiveness in work, school, church, etc. NOW instituted seven task forces to work on these issues: The Seven Original NOW Task Forces. NOW Founders Included: Gene Boyer, 1925-2003Kathryn Clarenbach,1920-1994Inez Casiano, 1926-Mary Eastwood, 1930-Caroline Davis, 1911-Catherine East, 1916-1996Elizabeth Farians, 1923-Muriel Fox, 1928-Betty Friedan, 1921-2006Sonia Pressman Fuentes, 1928-Richard Graham, 1920-2007Anna Arnold Hedgeman, 1899-1990Aileen Hernandez, 1926-Phineas Indritz, 1916-1997Pauli Murray, 1910-1985Marguerite Rawalt, 1895-1989Sister Mary Joel ReadAlice Rossi, 1922-More about some of these women and men: The First NOW Officers Key NOW Activism Some key issues in which NOW has been active: 1967 Into the 1970s At the first NOW convention after the founding conference, 1967, members chose to focus on the Equal Rights Amendment, repeal of abortion laws, and public funding of child care. The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) remained a major focus until the final deadline for ratification passed in 1982. Marches, beginning in 1977, tried to mobilize support; NOW also organized boycotts by organizations and individuals of events in states which had not ratified the ERA; NOW lobbied for a 7-year extension in 1979 but the House and Senate only approved half of that time. NOW also focused on legal enforcement of provisions of the Civil Rights Act that applied to women, helped conceive and pass legislation inluding the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (1978), worked for repeal of abortion laws and, after Roe v. Wade, against laws that would restrict abortions availability or a pregnant womans role in choosing abortion. In the 1980s In the 1980s, NOW endorsed presidential candidate Walter Mondale who nominated the first woman candidate for VP of a major party, Geraldine Ferraro. NOW added activism against policies of President Ronald Reagan, and began to be more active on issues of lesbian rights. NOW also filed a federal civil suit against groups attacking abortion clinics and their leaders, resulting in a 1994 Supreme Court decision in NOW v. Scheidler. In the  1990s In the 1990s, NOW remained active on issues including economic and reproductive rights, and also became more visibly active on issues of domestic violence. NOW also created a Women of Color and Allies Summit, and took aim at the fathers rights movement as part of NOWs activism on issues of family law. In the  2000s After 2000, NOW worked to oppose the Bush administrations strategies on issues of womens economic rights, reproductive rights, and marriage equality. In 2006, the Supreme Court removed the NOW v. Scheidler protections that kept abortion clinic protesters from interfering with patients access to the clinics. NOW also took on issues of Mothers and Caregivers Economic Rights and the interface between disability issues and womens rights, and between immigration and womens rights. In 2008, NOWs Political Action Committee (PAC) endorsed Barack Obama for president. The PAC had endorsed Hillary Clinton in March, 2007,  during the primary.  The organization had not endorsed a candidate in the general election since the 1984 nomination of Walter Mondale for President and Geraldine Ferraro for Vice President. NOW also endorsed President Obama for a second term in 2012.  NOW continued to put pressure on President Obama on womens issues, including for more appointments of women and especially women of color.   In 2009, NOW was a key supporter of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, signed by President Obama as his first official act. NOW was also active in the struggle to keep contraception coverage in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Issues of economic security, right to marry for same-sex couples, immigrant rights, violence against women, and laws limiting abortions and requiring ultrasounds or extraordinary health clinic regulations continued to be on NOWs agenda.  NOW also became active on new activity to pass the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).

E-Business Plan Outline Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

E-Business Plan Outline - Essay Example From this paper, it is clear that the section on marketing plan will include the important details and characteristics of the target market of the company. Marketing mix i.e. four P’s of the marketing; product, place, price, promotion, will also be included in the marketing plan. In this section, all promotional strategies will be outlined and explained.a. The target market is that segment of the market which is believed to be the potential customers of the company. In this section, the target market will be defined on the basis of demographics, psychographics, and other important parameters.b. the marketing mix will outline the main characteristics of the product along with the prices offered. Also, this section will outline the important promotional strategies along with the positioning strategy of the company. Lastly, this section will present strategies for the location and distribution of the products.  c. Online Strategies: in this section, the online marketing, and pr omotional strategies will be outlined and analyzed.d. Offline Strategies: in this section the offline marketing and promotional strategies in order to promote the business, will be presented.e. SWOT Analysis: this section will consist of audit of the internal and external environment of the company, this, in turn, will result in the generation of important strengths, weaknesses, opportunities of the company.  Ã‚  The conclusion of the plan will present the brief overview of the business plan and will integrate the whole plan.

International Operations Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

International Operations Management - Essay Example In the process different business strategies are also learnt and shared by the companies (Plenert, 2002, pp.35-38). The present study focuses on the international operations management and the related theories and considering the Unilever Company and studying the motivation, benefits, process and form of internationalization. Internationalization: Its Motivation, Benefit, Process and Form: The primary motive of a company trying to be global or become internationalized is to earn competitive advantage over other companies playing in the same industry but in other countries, with the help of the advancements in their knowledge and expertise. Motivations can be proactive or reactive that leads a company towards internationalization. Proactive motivations generally result from the company’s intentions to gain competitive advantage over others. A reactive motivation arises when a company plans to internationalize on requirement in a particular economic status of the country or the business. In many cases, expansion of a business to other countries proves to be beneficial in handling the pressures of competition from other companies. The several benefits that underlie the process of internationalization include the company’s being able to spread across the world thus reaching out to greater number of customer and shareholders. Moreover, the company gets to learn the new technologies and processes prevailing or used in the other countries and businesses (United Nations, 2009, p.9). Thus it can be understood that some companies follow the process for the enhanced results for their businesses, while others indulge in expansion as a result of the need for the company. Now in order to process the internationalization of a business, proper method needs to be followed such that the company does not experience a failure. This requires management committees to get involved and decide efficiently on the utilization of resources available to the company. The inves tment requiring finances is an essential factor that needs sufficient decision making. Also, since internationalization would involve expanding the businesses to other countries, several difficulties or problems might arise that the company should be able to encounter and handle effectively (United Nations, 2009, p.10). As far as the process and form of internationalization is concerned, the process would depend on the motivation of the company, its internal and external handling of operations, its similarity with the foreign market, the locations where the company already has its operations, as well as the mode that the company follows in performing its functions (United Nations, 2009, p.11). Considering these motivations, benefits, processes and forms of internationalization of a company can be understood. In the following section, the study would focus on the Unilever Company and its internationalization and try to associate the company’s state with the theories of interna tionalization. Unilever Company and its Internationalization: The Unilever Company is an extremely popular company and has its presence felt internationally. The company has always