Introduction To Sports Among Women Spectators In India Media Essay

Introduction To Sports Among Women Spectators In India Media Essay Watching sport represents a predominant form of leisure behavior in todays society. Large numbers of people attend sporting events and think of themselves as sport fans. Traditionally, participation in sports as a spectator has been a male dominated activity. Women differ from men on various parameters such as physicality, psychographics, behavioral parameters, consumer behavior and consumption experiences. The differences between men and women on these parameters make it difficult for marketers to target them together as a unified segment. But, irrespective of the differences between men and women on various parameters, sports goods manufacturers and sports events marketers have pursued traditional male-oriented marketing policies. But in recent times due to a radical change in social and financial status of women, there has been an increased participation in and consumption of sports by women. This has caused marketers to add a female- oriented focus to their strategies. The recent introduction of female commentators in cricket to strategies to attract women in the latest IPL edition with attractive offers shows a definite change in the marketing strategies of media and marketing professionals. Also more and more women are turning to sports for recreational purpose. With the sports industry turning more to women consumers, it has become necessary for marketers to research womens consumption behavior and consumption experiences to come up with gender specific strategies. Hence, this study would be to understand how the Indian woman consumes sports and the level of involvement or motivation achieved set in the context of the Indian society. Literature Review Sports as a genre is present in everybodys life, be it in terms of participation or watching. Sports has the power to inspire, build communities, to make people cry, laugh. In the hands of an ingenious marketer sports has an almost enigmatic pull towards the target consumer. Traditionally, sports participation and consumption was viewed to be masculine or a part of male dominion. However, with increasing number of women who have found economic and social independence the domain of sports is no longer completely a male bastion. Increasingly women are breaking the stereotypes of passivity and are actively consuming and participating in sports. Major strides have been made over the past few years in providing participation opportunities for girls and women in sports. Media visibility has increased for a number of women players both internationally and nationally like Venus Williams, Anna Kounikova or Sania Mirza. The consumption of sports and leisure by men and women is dependent on a lot of factors such as prevalent societal norms, beliefs and attitudes. In the context of sports and leisure, what is associated with men and masculinity is valued over what is associated with women and femininity. Hence, it is important to explore the underlying societal norms to understand the consumption patterns. A post modernistic approach In a postmodern society, the prevalent ideology is that what is considered masculine or feminine will break down as the boundaries between masculinity and femininity continue to blur and the different forms of gender multiply. Activities that conventionally convey clear meanings, such as combat conveying masculinity and gracefulness conveying femininity, will no longer be obvious. A postmodern vision of these categories blurring into one should be liberating because it lessens the likelihood of gender being used as a way to categorize. In the context of sports and leisure, this suggests that gender is less likely to influence participation or consumption of sports previously marked as masculine or feminine. Analysing literature would help us to understand historical trends of sports and leisure participation by gender in various scenarios. Home Vs Workplace Women have been historically been associated with activities conducted at home such as gardening, sewing and cooking, due to recent advancements in technology the efforts required for the chores have reduced immensely but the modern society still views it as a womans job. Unskilled tasks such as cleaning, eating, cooking, sleeping, leisure and child rearing were performed at home, Men were connected with activities in the workplace and less connected with the ones at home. Home for men essentially was a place to recoup from a hard days work. A similar separation exists in sports and leisure today. ( McGinnis, Chun, and McQuillan, 2003) According to Hendersons review (1990), leisure for women tends to consist of activities which is near or at home because it can be infused with household chores and because few opportunities for leisure exist outside the home. According to another research by Kane, It was argued that women tend to define themselves in terms of human relationships, hence, they consume within the context of home and family. The complexity increases for a career woman as then the leisure is dependent on family environments, especially children. Women use home as a primary place and means for leisure. And in case a leisure opportunity comes along which is out of home, then it is sort of offered in such a way as to not hamper household responsibilities. In this case, leisure itself can be seen as constraining, as it reinforces gender appropriateness (Shaw 1994). While it appears that leisure opportunities certainly exist for women outside the home, the literature suggests that leisure for women is still largely perceived as a secondary concern. Opportunities for leisure exist, but only when other duties and other concerns have been addressed first. Expectations of a women and her role in society appear to transcend the opportunities outside the home. Men face the same constraint, but can define what is expected of them more so than women. Spectatorship and Leisure time It is a common point of contention that men and women both enjoy watching sports on television, but their preferences differ, as men tend to prefer more competitive and aggressive sports as compared to women. We find evidences of media reinforcement of the gendered consumption patterns, for example NBC positioned the Olympics with storylines resembling soap operas. Men have generally dominated the consumption of organised sports. But the Spectator Gender Gap is reducing with more women watching conventionally male sports such as Golf, football. However, research suggests that attempts by women to increase their sports consumption in a way threatens the male dominion as sports is viewed as a masculine domain where men are allowed to bond with one another. Women entering this domain are seen as upsetting this setting (McGinnis, Chun, and McQuillan, 2003). Leisure is another area where the gender gap exists, women in general experience a lesser amount of free time as compared to men as their part of their free time is generally spent doing housework or taking care of children. Men can experience larger blocks of free time without worrying about other commitments. Role of the Indian Media Women are traditionally not encouraged to indulge in sports. Sports are men oriented, where men play and women watch. It is clearly visible in the Indian media too, be it films or advertisements. For instance, in an advertisement of Clinic Plus shampoo, a coach of a boys cricket team in school discourages a girl to play with the team by fearing, when he says, Baal kharab ho jayege (your hair will get damaged if you will play cricket in sun). Another advertisement of Tata sky featuring Gul Panag and Aamir Khan, she has been portrayed as a woman for whom sports is a nuisance. During the cricket matches and sports world cups, time and again, many news channels have shown how women have to sacrifice watching their saas-bahu dramas and newspapers also write about falling TRPs of TV serial and how these matches are a jeremiad for women. Because in the family, their husbands, brothers and father are glued tothe sports channel and the power of attorney for the remote control is transferred t o men for those few days when the matches are held. In addition, Some of the commonly held beliefs associated with female fans and women sports are explored below- Women are not interested in sports fact or fiction In terms of viewership, over 2.2 crore women watched the 2003 World Cup in India alone. Female viewership comprised an astounding 46% of the total World Cup viewing population and TRPS for female viewership for India matches climbed to a phenomenal 9.8, significantly higher than the 3.9 registered during the Nat West Trophy final played at Lords in June 2002(ESPNSTAR, Interesting history of womens cricket in India).The Twenty20 World Cup had a strong, growing female audience for the sport and its not restricted to cricket alone. There is an overall 54 per cent increase in ratings for the three tennis grand slams-especially with regard to womens viewership where the growth has been significant. To reach out to this diverse market, most channels are developing a strong programming line-up that is a healthy mix of acquired and original content. (The financial express, Cashing in on sports). For the first time, a non-cricketing glamorous female host Mandira Bedi was brought in as a studio anchor. The experience was something which shocked cricket purists. But with a mix of elements for the purist as well as the novice and the fence sitters, Extraaa Innings combined academic cricket with mainstream entertainment like never before. This resulted in a whopping 50% increase in average rating of Indian matches and 37% increase in the rating of non-India matches, reached out to a record 78% of the Indian audiences in CS homes. More interestingly the female gross reach grew by an unprecedented 261%. Mandira Bedi became a celebrity and was soon a part of life even for women in conservative Indian households. Purists like Wisden, which condemned the experiment with women anchors during the ICC Champions Trophy in Colombo in September 2002, were forced to retreat. Women joined betting circles and housewives in Delhi and Ahmedabad formed clubs to enjoy the sport (ESPNSTAR, Interesting history of womens cricket in India). In terms of playing the sport, there has been significant increase in the number of professional sportswomen in variety of sports including Badminton, tennis, hockey, golf and athletics. The increase in the number of tournaments is a testament to that fact, recently an international basketball tournament the FIBA Asia Womens Championship was hosted by Chennai, Featuring the best players and top teams from across the continent, the tournament was a success. (Deccan Chronicle, India Wakes up to alternative sports) Female sports fans are different from male sports fans -fact or fiction? According to a research by Sargent, Zillmann, and Weaver, men and women enjoy distinctly different types of sports. Their findings revealed that males preferred watching combative sports on television whereas females were partial to stylistic sports. Sport socialization research examines the impact that environmental forces have on children and individuals from two different perspectives: socialization into sport and socialization through sport. This line of inquiry indicates that people are attracted to sport due to formal channels (i.e., parents, peers, coaches, mass media, teachers) and informal channels (i.e., school, church, and community-based programs), as researched by Kenyon McPherson . Media plays a primary role for introducing new teams and sport leagues to adults. According to a study by Bruce, Institutional, social, and familial contexts also shape viewers interpretations of sports broadcasts. He also found that women did not display strong loyalties to specific womens sports teams that are common with men and their favorite mens teams. This was attributed to the extensive sports information and media attention given to mens sports. In a study on cognitive development and socialization by James, in the initial development of team loyalty, it was found that children form preferences for sports teams early in life. Results of this study revealed and that the gender stereotype associating sports with males was prevalent among children and that fathers were the most influential socializing agent in introducing children to sports teams. In a study on experiences and effects of viewing televised sports, Gantz and Wenner found differences based on gender for 9 of the 15 motivation items examined; however, these differences were not dramatic. Most notable among their findings, women were more likely to watch televised sports for companionship and sharing the experience with family and friends whereas men watched to unwind and become wrapped up in the excitement and drama of the game. Men invested more time in reading, listening, watching, and talking about sports and they were more likely to experience emotional fluctuations from watching sports. Men also tend to display a fan behavior and identify more strongly as a fan according to Dietz-Uhler. However, an equal number of male and female college students considered themselves to be sport fans. Females reported being fans because they attended and watched sporting events with family and friends while males were more likely to consider themselves fans because they played sports and wanted to acquire sports information. Measuring Spectator Motives Various methods to research on sport spectators have been developed which utilizes a number of scales to assess the psychological motives related to attendance, media usage and interest at live sporting events. 1) One of the first methods was developed by Wann. He designed a comprehensive scale to measure eight factors observed to influence behavior; eustress, self-esteem, escape, entertainment, economic (gambling), aesthetic, group affiliation, and family. 2) Second method developed by Trail and James was the Motivation Scale for Sport Consumption (MSSC) to examine ten aspects of spectator behavior: achievement, acquisition of knowledge, aesthetics, drama, escape, family, physical attraction, physical skills of players, and social interaction. 3) Thirdly, McDonald, Milne and Hong (2002) utilized a scale to measure spectator and sport participant motives related to: risk-taking, stress reduction, aggression, affiliation, social facilitation, self-esteem, competition, achievement, skill mastery, aesthetics, value development, and self-actualization. Research Methodology Conceptual Framework or Problem Definition Till now through an extensive analysis of literature we have seen that men and women both consume sports in their own way and one cannot generalize the consumption pattern of women. The motivations and the level of involvement for women depend on a lot of factors. Research Gap : There is no study done in the Indian context to understand the women sports consumers, their stages of involvement and motivations to participate. Hence, this study is a step towards achieving an understanding of the same. Research Objective: The objective of the research is to understand the Woman sports consumer in terms of her involvement level and motivation to consume a particular sport. The study of motivation for predicting consumer behavior is very difficult as to understand the interrelation between motives and specific behavior. Also, to develop a list of consumer motives comprehensive enough to capture the wide variety of motivating forces that stimulate and shape behavior is challenging. To do the above, a framework could be constructed in the form of a social continuum which broadens the sport consumer motivation notion by using involvement as a motivational construct to distinguish between various levels. Factors like womans role in the society would also be a part of this construct. Hence, a study of the immediate environment becomes imperative for studying the consumption pattern. The level of involvement of women consumer of sports should form the basis of the framework of social continuum where the stages vary from viewership to acceptance to fan base to taking part or actively playing to encouraging others to play or advocacy. As shown below, Identification of critical factors which defines each of the stages could be looked at and the motives of each stage should also be looked at. According to each stage a corresponding set of behavior would be associated. Understanding different spectator motivations and involvement levels can be of significant benefit to the sport marketer looking to boost team revenues and gate receipts. Of particular interest are both the marketing manager understanding the specific motivations that drive a spectator or fan to consume a sport and the subsequent development of marketing communications based on these motivations. These effective marketing communication plans can often help build groups of diehard fans, thus expanding the customer base for a team. Spectator and fan motivation can also be used as an effective psychographic segmentation method that can result in more effective marketing campaigns. Sub Research Objective: Involvement Involvement could be defined as a state of interest, stimulation or motivation towards an object, a product or even an activity. As put by a study done by Mitchell, Involvement represents an internal state variable that reflects the amount of arousal, interest, or drive evoked by a particular stimuli or situation that mediates consumer behavior. Application of the involvement construct to examine sport spectators and sport fans would provide a fuller understanding of motives and what stimuli and situations direct behavior (e.g., attendance, purchase of team merchandise, media consumption) and attitudinal formation (e.g., preferences, commitment, loyalty). Some parameters of study for involvement would be Importance of product as perceived by the consumer Pleasure or enjoyment provided by the product Risk of making the wrong purchase or participating in the non enjoyable activity Self expression it represents the identification of the person with the purchase or participation Centrality to lifestyle, encompasses socializing and interactions Motivation Theories and studies have been done by researchers on how to assess the motives for consuming sports. These motives can be generally classified into the broad categories of study as Entertainment Stress and stimulation seeking Social Interaction Achievement seeking Approach to Analysis According to the sample defined above, the research would be conducted two phases: Phase 1: This would be in the form of exploratory research which would be used to develop a conceptual model for examining involvement stages and their corresponding motives. The purpose of this is to identify any potential parameters related to spectator motives or involvement framework which were missed. In-depth interview of 5 respondents approximately would be taken in each market segment. Phase 2: This is the validation phase where the qualitative study would be validated by quantitative so that the result of the first phase could be extrapolated to a larger population if required. Sampling Universe: The sampling universe could be defined as young women who are primarily college goers or into the first 2-3 years of job, who follow at least one sport, belonging to SEC A or SEC B. Details of Phase I Sample Size: 15-20 (Qualitative study) The sample size setting is done with a non-statistical approach where the selection is done anticipating subgroup analysis. The anticipation is that 4 meaningful clusters (market segments) would emerge and each cluster will contain approximately 5 respondents in average. SEC A SEC B College Goers Urban Semi Urban Working Women Semi Urban Urban This is for the qualitative part of the research. Sampling Procedure: Convenience Sampling (Non- probability sampling) Care would be taken to ensure that heterogeneity of the entire population can be effectively covered in the sample. Details of Phase II The phase II methodology would depend on the data collected in the first phase. Scope The study would help marketers understand the woman spectator motivations and stages of involvement in consuming sports in India, in turn, help in predicting behavior This would help marketers tap into the growing woman spectator base. Expected Contribution There has been no study on understanding women spectators in the Indian context done till date. This research would help both the academia and industry to understand an upcoming segment. Understanding different spectator motivations and involvement levels is important for a sport marketer to tap the women consumer segment which is increasingly becoming independent economically and socially. Understanding the involvement and motivations that drive a woman spectator to consume a sport in India would help marketers target this segment with crisp and relevant marketing communications. The involvement stages and motivations can also be used as an effective psychographic segmentation method for forming effective campaigns.

Slavery in Shakespeares The Tempest :: Tempest essays

Slavery in The Tempest  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Slavery occurs on a widespread basis in The Tempest. Occurrence of slavery to many of the characters, all in different ways, helps to provide the atmosphere for the play. The obvious slaves are not the only slaves, as Prospero has basically got everybody entranced when he wants, to do whatever he wants with them. He can also control the way that they think.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The first and most obvious slave is ariel. Ariel is an airy spirit who is promised his freedom by Prospero if his job is done well. His job was to entrance the visitors to the island under Prospero's control. "What Ariel! My industrious servant, Ariel!" That is what Prospero said in act 4, scene 1, line 33. He was talking to his slave, Ariel, who entranced the visitors to the island.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Another example could be Alonso, the king of Naples. Since he is not in Naples, but on Prospero's island, and under his control, he is a slave in a way. In act 3, scene 3, lines 95-102, Alonso admits complete and utter loss of control. "O, it is monstrous, monstrous! Methought the billows spoke and told me of it; The winds did sing it to me; and the thunder, that deep and dreadful organ pipe, pronounced the name of Prosper; it did bass my trespass. Therefore my son i' th' ooze is bedded; and I'll seek him deeper than e'er plummet sounded and with him there lie mudded." He is telling us that Prospero is in control of him.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Prospero, Trinculo, and Stephano are in control of Caliban, the deformed son of Sycorax, and therefore Caliban is their slave. "Monster lay-to your fingers; help to bear this away where my hogstead of wine is, or I'll turn you out of my kingdom. Go to, carry this. In act 4, scene 1, lines 250-253, Stephano told Caliban to carry something for him, or he would be out of his kingdom. He treats Caliban like dirt because he is their slave.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In act 4, scene 1, lines 262-265, Prospero is describing how all of his former friends are now pretty much under his control, even though they don't know it, and enslaved to Prospero. "At this hour lies at my mercy all mine enemies. Shortly shall my labors end, and thou shalt have the air at freedom."   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In act 5, scene 1, lines 7-10, it states "Confined together in the same fashion as you gave in charge, just as you left them-all prisoners, sir, in the line grove which weather-fends your cell.

Kathleen Norris Dakota :: Kathleen Norris Dakota

Kathleen Norris' Dakota Kathleen Norris uses small town society to illustrate a much larger phenomenon that occurs in America: The obstruction of truth in the name of progress and patriotism. Norris makes an example of a small Dakota town, the old families ingrained in local society who act as somewhat of a censorship committee, silently fixing the past's blunders and bad dreams so not to discourage themselves or the younger generation: A good story is one that isn't demanding, that proceeds from A to B, and above all doesn't remind us of the bad times, the cardboard patches we used to wear in our shoes, the failed farms, the way people you love just up and die. It tells us instead that hard work and perseverance can overcome all obstacles; it tells lie after lie, and the happy ending is the happiest lie of all. (85) Norris mentions the "progress model" and "linear narrative" used in the telling of history. People in Dakota don't want to hear about the countless generations before them who also failed at farming, the once thriving town that are now abandoned completely. They don't want to hear about anybody who failed, or anything bad that happened at all unless things turned out OK in the end. People have a need to hear fixed history to give them a false sense of hope. Even though many of them know it's false, they're willing to accept the fable as truth before facing a painful past. The larger repercussions of this form of history, is that it misses out on the larger purpose of history. The most important part of history to be told truthfully is the bad part. Imagine our history glazing over Hitler as a crazy guy who acted alone, and forced everybody in Germany to go along with his plan. We need to hear the story that regular people were pulled into his mentality, that random Joe's were converted into Jew-hating murderers. Unfortunately, American history does have a habit of covering up its history for the sake of offering its younger generations a progress model. In a book titled Lies My Teacher Told Me, James Loewen shows how the progress model mode of history telling has covered up many important events in American history to the point that children in public education are graduating high school with extremely warped views of history.

Patterns of Evolution

Patterns of Evolution Humans alter our environment to suit our needs rather than adapt to our environment based on environmental stressors. Due to this fact, we are unlikely to be affected by the pressures of natural selection. We will not likely be affected by further evolution. In convergent evolution, unrelated species living in the similar environments become more and more alike in appearance as they adapt to the same kind of environment. Dolphins and sharks are examples of convergent evolution. Although they are from different vertebrate groups, they live in similar environment. They have evolved similar characteristics like their body shape, coloration, location of back fins, and shape of tail. Divergent evolution is the process of two or more related species becoming more and more dissimilar. Adaptive radiation is an example of divergent evolution. Horses are an example of divergent evolution. Over time as they adapted to different environments, the species diverged and evolved into mules and zebras. Honeycreeper birds are examples of adaptive radiation. Species of birds evolved, seemingly from a single familial species, on a group of islands. Co-evolution is the evolution of one species influencing the evolution of another species. Predators and their prey sometimes co-evolve. Cheetahs and Thompson’s gazelles are examples of co-evolution. As a result of co-evolution, Cheetahs have evolved into the world`s fastest mammal and the gazelle is just slightly slower. As predators evolve, prey evolves and vice versa. Divergent evolution could have an impact on humans in the future. Although we are all different in appearances and characteristics right now, we could diverge in the future. Climates are different all over the world and as human move to and habitat in these environments, the body could adapt to the different atmosphere. This will cause humans to diverge in appearance. Head shape could change, skin and eye color as well. References Pruitt, N. L. , & Underwood, L. S. (2006). Bioinquiry: Making connections in biology (3rd ed. ). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Disney Movies

The negative influence of Disney movies on children Disney movies have a target audience of young impressionable children. Although Disney movies on first glance are entertaining and educational for the young mind it actually has many hidden messages that children do not realize are negative and believe that what they see is what is true. Disney movies contain a negative representations that are racist towards ethnic groups, sexism towards the behaviour and treatment of women, and construct false realities which are destructive to the human dignity.Disney movies contain stereotypical ideologies related to ethnicity that construct a negative representation. In many different Disney movies different ethnic groups are represented in different shapes and forms, some positive, others very offensive. As young children watch these movies they are exposed to all it's content and belive that what they see is true. Disney does not directly display the racism but make it so that it is infered. Specifically, in a Disney movie the black community is shown as hyennas.The hyennas are represented as noisy, rude, and disruptive. For instance, when a boy was walking down the street with his mother a group of black children were playing in the park. The boy told his mother that the hyennas were behind them. The boy who watched the movie was made to believe that when he hears a noisy group it clicks in his mind that they are of the black community. The young boy does not know that it is wrong as he was exposed to the Disney movie that made him believe that racist stereotype.By the same token, in another Disney movie the mexican community are represented as little chihuahuas with an accent and negative stereotypes. Likewise the asian community is represented in one movie as siamese cats with slender eyes. As a consequence children who watch Disney movies are exposed to many racist stereotypical ideologies that construct negative representations. Secondly, Disney movies contains neg ative ideologies related to norms of behaviour for genders and age. How Disney portrays gender in their movies is in one of the most negative ways.Young boys and girls will watch the movies and will learn not only how to treat the other gender but also stereotypes on their own gender. Children will also learn that age is not just a number, it defines who you are as a person. Disney movies show older men as wise, smart know it alls which is all not that bad but not a truthful statement. It also shows that older women are mean, villeanous, evil, and rude which is also a false statement. Disney labels stereotypes on age groups that children believe and associate in real life.Similarly, Disney labels portrays negative ideologies of the norms of behaviour of both men and women. In fact in a very famous Disney, â€Å"Beauty and the Beast† the stereotypes are very easily seen to an educated eye but to a childs eye it's just new information. In â€Å"Beauty and the Beast† ther e are many ideologies presented, a very obvious one is how the Prince Adam the Beast treats Belle, how Belle believes she can change the Beast. In the movie Belle is treated with huge amount of disrespect, being locked in her room and told to starve, getting abused physically and verbally.Belle also thinks that even though the Beast is mean and cold hearted she can change him in to a prince charming. When a child is exposed to how Belle is treated, how the Beast is such a powerful man, and how Belle still believes she can change him, the child will start to think like it is portrayed in the movie that women do not need to be treated properly, men are the dominant, strong and brave gender, and even though women are mistreated they will keep coming back in hope to change them.As a result, Disney movies portray negative ideologies to children related to norms of genders and how they are treated and how age affects the intellectuallity and personality. Lastly, Disney movies construct a false reality of this generations culture. By implementing all the different ideologies of race, gender, age, and many others a young child is easily influenced into believing that what he sees in his/her favorite disney movie is a reality of every day life.When a child learns negative ideologies such as stereotypes of ethnicity (like the boy who referred to a group of black children has hyennas as he remembered from a movie the laughing and noise they made) they start to believe that what happens in the film is also happens in reality. Young girls especially are the most influenced as in Disney women are portrayed as always cooking, cleaning, getting verbally, physcially and emotionally abused and just taking it.Young girls start to believe that it is a reality and it is their job to do those chores and it is acceptable to be treated poorly. Disney through their movies construct a false reality of how today's generation works and destructs the human dignity. In closing, Disney movi es contain a negative representations that are racist towards ethnic groups, sexism towards the behaviour and treatment of women, and construct false realities which are destructive to the human dignity.As a result of all the the negative stereotypes, young children who do not know any better than what they see in their favorite Disney are made to think that negative ideologies such as racism and sexism are acceptable in today's reality. As a consequence children are given a propaganda by disney that they can not deconstruct since they are so young and construct a misrepresentation of society. In brief, Disney movies negatively influence children.

Methods of Engagement in Afghanistan Research Paper - 1

Methods of Engagement in Afghanistan - Research Paper Example The researcher states that Afghan citizens deserve a better life. They have witnessed the worst experience ever: the killing and torture of fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, and destruction of property. The Americans also need to yearn for the war to stop. The war is making their economy suffer as they are the ones who foot the bill of the war. The whole world wants to see the war stopped. The present measures to stop the war are not bringing positive development. Real changes that bring an end to the war must be implemented so that peace and stability in Afghanistan prevails. The insurgent groups like the Taliban, Tehreek-e-Taliban, Al-Qaeda and their incarnations, the differences in religious doctrines and the great poppy farming in Afghanistan are the major causes of the war and insecurity. These insurgent groups terrorize both the local and the international community’s causing unrest. Afghans believe in Islam. Some doctrines in Islam teach negative morals. The poppy fa rming brews the illegal heroin trade which the western world highly discourages. Sending military troops to Afghanistan is not the ultimate solution. Diplomacy is the greatest tool to peacebuilding in Afghanistan. Using the counter Insurgency strategy of closely working with the NGOs is one of the sure ways of stabilizing Afghanistan. The local community must also be involved in the peace process. Peace solution will not be achieved without the local community participating in the peacemaking process. This brings the mutual respect among the Afghans and the international community. Afghanistan is one of the largest poppy producing countries in the world. Poppy farming increases the heroin trade which is illegal. Nongovernmental Organizations, USDA has come in to uplift the agricultural status in Afghanistan. This is through irrigation and providing alternative crops like fruits.

Strategic Investment Decision Making Case Study

Strategic Investment Decision Making - Case Study Example This paper addresses a critical question "Should TAM Airlines buy Airplanes of the Model: Fokker F-100 or the Airbus A-320" The research is carried out in the form of a case study where drawing information from different search engines such as Google and previous research we compared the two aircraft. Drawing from prior studies the evidence suggests that Airbus 320 represents a better option for TAM Airline considering, it flight capacity, its flexibilities, and its technological advancement attached to the changing time. Airbus 320 offers the management an opportunity for a long term suppliers relationship management. The difference is attributed to differences in the level market systems that characterized both economies. Fokker F100 is characterized by a Short route for regional flight limited to 3111km where as Airbus 320 is a long route flight. The features and flexibilities offered by airbus gave us grounds to recommend it to TAM Airline Adler (2000) suggests that strategic investment decision making involves the process of identifying, evaluating, and selecting projects that are likely to have a big impact on a company's competitive advantage. Strategic investment decisions influence what the company is doing, that is, the set of products and services as well as their attributes that it offers to customers. These decisions also influence where the company offers these products and services and how it offers them. (Adler, 2000). It is therefore very essential to ensure that the right decision is made as regards the products and services on offer, where such products are offered and how they are offered. Investment decision making involves the elements of a classic cost-benefit analysis. (Adler, 2000). According to Akalu and Turner (2001, 2002) finding a reliable method of investment appraisal is not only a matter of concern for company management. Investment appraisal has now become a matter of concern to both share holders and investors. (Turner, 2001, 2002). Customer satisfaction lies at the heart of all modern thinking on quality and business management. Customers and suppliers are important stakeholders. "Stakeholders are those individual or groups who depend on the organisation to fulfill their own goals and on whom, in turn, the organization depends" (JSW: 2005:179). TAM Airlines now faces a critical purchase / Suppliers management decision to discontinue with it much heralded Fokker F-100 and go in for the Airbus -320. Thus, the central theme in this paper is to find out which of the two airplanes represent a better investment or purchase decision for TAM Airlines. 1.1Problem Statement and Research Questions The supplier selection process must be an integral part of an effective