Effect of Social Inequality on Child Development Essay

As kids, the question is always asked, â€Å"What do you want to be when you grow up?† Depending on the interest of their parents, the children’s answers vary greatly. If they come from a family of lawyers, the child would most likely say they would want to be a lawyer. If they come from a family where no one has graduated from high school, the child would most likely say that they would want to be a truck driver. The background and the status of the parents would determine the aspirations of children’s future. Social stratification determines a child’s outlook on their future career and education. A study done by Jay MacLeod explored the ambitions of a group of young boys. MacLeod explains that society proclaims that any child can grow up to†¦show more content†¦The inequality starts in the school, but continues because of the school. Turner claims that the there is two different mobility systems in the school; sponsored and contest. Sponsored is similar to ascribed status, while contest is similar to achieved status. Referring back to the children’s goals and ambitions, a sponsored system would help them realize the possibility of their goals earlier in life than the contest system would. In the case of the sponsored system, the child would be ripped away from their family in order to achieve their goals if the child was viewed as something greater than their family. This would be like a child going to a special boarding school. This child is selected very early one. In a contest system, the child’s goal is left up to them if they would be able to achieve their goals. They are in control of their achievements, not the superiority. Being involved in the sponsored mobility system sometimes requires a lot of power and wealth. â€Å"Very frequently the striving for power is also conditioned by the social ‘honor’ it entails† (Weber). The child could possibly get ahead by just fighting to reach his goals and gaining that honor title. In addition to power, wealth is very essential as well. â€Å"Wealth can be used as collateral to secure loans for futher investment; many of the wealthiest people leverage theirShow MoreRelatedChild Poverty And Its Effects On Children1123 Words   |  5 PagesChild Poverty in Canada Grace Abbott once said, â€Å"Child labor and poverty are inevitably bound together and if you continue to use the labor of children as the treatment for the social disease of poverty, you will have both poverty and child labor to the end of time.† Child poverty is one of the biggest issues facing Canadian children today. Child poverty can significantly shorten a child’s life. One of the major reasons child poverty in Canada is so high is because of low wages. These children haveRead MoreFamily And Education : A System Of Behavioral And Relationship1083 Words   |  5 PagesSocial institutions can be defined as â€Å"a system of behavioral and relationship patterns†¦they order and structure the behavior of individuals by means of their normative character. † These social institutions shape the understanding and, sometimes, personalities of the various people in society. Two of the major social institutions are the family, and education. Before reading the c hapters on these two institutions, I did not realize how big of an effect each of them actually plays on the lives ofRead MorePoverty and Crime (Sociology)1600 Words   |  7 PagesAshley Duran Sociology 1101 August 9, 2010 Poverty and Crime A social issue that has always intrigued me was crime (petty crime, violent crime, etc) in impoverished urban areas and the social and economic impact that crime causes in these areas. Before conducting my research into this topic, I have always pondered why crime and poverty are so closely related. Are these two so closely linked solely because of the lack of income in the area? Or are there someRead MoreGender Inequality : A Critical Issue That Affects Women s Rights1662 Words   |  7 PagesGender Inequality Research Paper Gender inequality is a critical issue that affects more women than their male counterparts all around the world. Gender inequality is a form of legal discrimination towards women’s rights. In order to progress and grow as a community and society, gender equality needs to be acknowledged. According to LISTVERSE, the top ten â€Å"extreme† examples of gender inequality towards women that exists around the world today, specifically in the Middle East and North Africa, areRead MoreBecoming A Licensed Clinical Social Worker1192 Words   |  5 Pageseducation in social work, I see myself envisioning clients’ health and well-being. As a student, I will study and practice techniques, beyond a generalist perspective, that will allow me to give clients hope and the ability to see something greater than what they are facing. Upon completion of a Master of Social Work direct practice degree and certificates in gerontology and mental health programs, I intend to become a li censed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW). As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, IRead MoreGender Inequality : A Critical Issue That Affects Women s Rights1665 Words   |  7 PagesNguyen P.AD-201-D Professor Williamson 11/10/15 Gender Inequality Research Paper Gender inequality is a critical issue that affects more women than their male counterparts all around the world. Gender inequality is a form of legal discrimination towards women’s rights. In order to progress and grow as a community and society, gender equality needs to be acknowledged. According to LISTVERSE, the top ten â€Å"extreme† examples of gender inequality towards women that exists around the world today, specificallyRead MoreUnequal Democracy By Larry Bartle1503 Words   |  7 Pageseconomic inequality, and he concludes voters do not weigh more into social and cultural issues; rather Republic presidents are good at timing income growth to garner voters. The political environment has essentially influenced economy, in result has led to a growing economic gap between the rich and poor, which is a national and state issue that must be addressed. Education is essential to attain social mobility, however students face difficult obstacles. Even though we have laws like No Child LeftRead MoreThe Effects Of Islamophobia On The Past And Present1326 Words   |  6 PagesTo begin, social inequality in the past or present lead to chaotic consequences. Individual freedom of begin equal among started to vanish. Islamophobia began when the 9/11 terrorist attack occurred. After the 9/11 attack the development of the fear of Islamophobia began. In September 11, 2001, there was a terrorist attack and that took down the Twin Towers (Holman Silver, 2011, p. 483). Thus, this is a point of significant because this was the beginning of the major crisis of Islamophobia inRead MoreGender Inequality And Its Impact On Children s Developmental Essay1396 Words   |  6 PagesWhen discussing inequalities, it is easy to overlook gender inequality because race inequality is prevalent and easily recognizable. Like racial inequality; gender inequali ty is also a real issue in America. Gender stereotypes are perpetuated throughout our lifetime beginning when we are children. Early on, children learn what is means to be a boy or girl from societal standards. Children begin to suffer from the boys versus girl’s mentality which is evident in the social behavior of children. Children’sRead MoreSocial, Economic, And Economic Status940 Words   |  4 PagesSocial, economic status (SES) is normally measured as a combination of income, education, and occupation. It is often conceptualized as a social class or standing of a person or a group. When looked through a lens of social class, power, privilege, and control are stressed. Besides, an analysis of analysis of SES as a continuous or gradient variable shows inequalities in the access up to distribution of resources. SES is necessary for all realms social and behavior science, including education, practice

Strategic and Cultural Analysis of BT Group Plc Free Essays

1. Introduction BT Group Plc. is made up of four principal lines of business and operates in more than 170 countries, as one of the world’s leading providers of communications solutions and services. We will write a custom essay sample on Strategic and Cultural Analysis of BT Group Plc or any similar topic only for you Order Now The principal activities include networked IT services, local, national and international telecommunications services and higher value broadband and internet products and services. BT provides business, technology, services and support professionals around the globe (BT Group, 2010). BT is one of the FTSE 100 companies with a moderate market capitalisation of ?174.2billion as at January, 2011. It however, has a very low ranking when compared to the other FTSE 100 companies; it ranked 92nd position within the FTSE 100 group (Hemscott, 2010). The FTSE 100 companies was launched in January 1984, which is made up of the most highly capitalised blue-chip companies for share prices in the UK, representing around 81% of the country’s market. The FTSE 100 is widely used as a basis for investment products, including derivatives, funds and exchange traded funds (FTSE, 2010). The purpose of this essay is to evaluate the performance of BT Group one of the FTSE 100 companies since the financial crisis. The remaining part of the essay is organised as follows; section 2 focus on the most recent international expansion project of BT Group, Section 3 focus on the assessment of how cultural differences may hinder the growth of sustainable competitive advantage, section 4 focus on the evaluation of the financial performance of BT Group in the last four years, and section 5 concludes the essay. 2. BT Group: Recent International Expansion Project In recent year, BT Group launched a global service titled, 21st Century Network (21CN Vision). The 21CN is designed to empower end users, organisations and communications providers with control, choice and flexibility. It is a service offer to communication providers which offers the ability to scale the client’s telecommunication infrastructure to meet their business needs, reduce complexity, reduce reliance on legacy platforms and to consume computing resources as it is needed (BT Group 21CN Vision, 2010). At the heart of the 21CN is a world class Service Oriented Infrastructure platform (SOI), which enables BT Group to deliver virtualisation, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and enable re-usable capabilities that transform service delivery, lower cost, and accelerate deployment circles. The SOI Platform enables the clients, not only to converge voice and data, but to add mobility service such as Field Force Automation and Fixed/ Mobile convergence. It also boosts collaborationthrough tools such as audio and video conferencing and improves business process performance by lowering costs and increasing agility. The BT’s 21st Century Network extends to over 80,000 customers across 174 countries worldwide, including over 8,500 multisite government and private organisations. There are currently 1,250 PoPs, a figure that is growing at the rate of one per day. 3. Cultural Differences and Growth of Sustainable Competitive Advantage The BT Group operates across 174 countries where there are diversities of cultures. The international business literature suggests several reasons why global diversification and firm performance should be positively related. First, markets are not perfectly integrated; the involvement in more than one national market serves to balance out regional macroeconomic trends that are less than perfectly correlated. As a result, multi-national enterprises should experience greater market performance since investors recognise and reward performance stability (Shaked, 1986). Relatedly, greater spread across international markets reduces risk profile of the corporation’s overall portfolio of the business units, which in turns should have a salutary effect on corporate performance (Caves, 1982; Rugman, 1979). Secondly, international diversification may yield cost advantages by allowing the firm to expand in its domain of distinctive competence and boost production economies without resorting to product diversification (Buhner, 1987; Hirsch, 1976). Thirdly, market imperfection theory suggests that multi-nationals can exploit their home monopoly advantage (e.g. intangible firm-specific assets such as technology and brand name recognition) by increasing their international presence (Palich, 1994). Finally, international diversification can boost market power by allowing the firm to arbitrage tax regimes (Agmon and Lessard, 1977; Lessard, 1979), obtain more accurate environmental information (Vernon, 1979) and raise barriers to entry (Palepu, 1985). One glaring gap despite these advantages is a failure to consider the impact of cultural diversity. High cultural heterogeneity in MNEs global portfolio business units may offset the purported economic benefits of international diversification (Gomez-Mejia and Palich, 1997). Bartlett (1986), Bartlett and Ghoshal (1992) and Jain (1989) opines that general management expertise and technical know-how are more difficult to exploit when differences in cultural context make activity sharing and synergy formation among business units less efficient. Venkatraman, MacMillan and McGrath (1992) assert that innovation within the global firm may be impeded by cultural barriers. Heiko (1989) observed that effectiveness of technology implementation may be influenced by cultural factors. For example, the Just-in-Time (JIT) method of inventory management which was well received in Japan, leading to substantial savings has produced disappointing results in other countries. Adler (1991), Boyacigiller (1990), Harris and Moran (1992) Hendon, Hendon and Herbig (1996) concluded that attempts to successfully operate multiple business units in diverse cultural contexts may be frustrated by conflict and frictions within the firm, causes lack of cohesion and misunderstandings am ong key decision makers and communication breakdowns between boundary spanners. Cultural heterogeneity can affect the nature and effectiveness of operational human resource programs in such functional areas as compensation and awards, performance appraisal, staffing and labour relations. As diversity of culture increases, human resource programs must become more complex and sophisticated to deal with. Taken all the above arguments together, one may argue that culturally related international diversification will positively influenced performance while culturally unrelated global diversification will negatively affect firm performance. It is in the light of this that the performance of BT Group plc is evaluated. 4. Evaluation of BT Group Financial Performance Financial ratios played an important role in evaluating the performance and financial condition of an entity (Kim et al, 1989). Different ratios are commonly used in the finance literature. However, the ratios to be used for this essay are those that would be of interest to shareholders. The calculated financial ratios for BT Group Plc are presented in the appendix. The financial crisis period was the years 2008 and 2009; the impact of the crisis was reflected in the dismal performance of BT Group Plc. however, there was significant improvement in the various performance parameters as reflected in the various ratios computed from the most recent financial reports. For example the group Earnings Per Share (EPS) show a significant improvement over the previous two years EPS. Similarly the market price per share improved significantly when compared with the previous year’s market price per share. The return on assets also shows a significant improvement over those of the previous two years. 5. Conclusion On the basis of the computed financial ratios one may conclude that BT Group has benefited from its international diversification project and would be investors toast in terms or returns on investment. The implication of the above results is that BT Group business units are located in culturally related countries of the world. References Adler, N.J. 1991 International Dimensions of organisational behaviour, Boston, Kent Agmond, T. and Lessard, D.R. 1977 Investor recognition of corporate international diversification, Journal of Finance, 32, 1049-1055 Bartlett, C.A. 1986 Building and managing the transnational: The new organisational challenge. In M. E. Porter, ed., Competition in global industries, 367-404, Boston, Harvard Business School Press Bartlett, C.A. and Ghoshal, S.1990 Matrix Management: Not a structure, a frame of mind, Harvard Business Review, July- August, 138-145 Boyacigiller, N.A. 1990 The Role of expatriates in the management of interdependent, complexity and risk in multinational corporations, Journal of International Business Studies, 21(3), 357-382 Brigham, E.F. 1995 Financial Management: Theory and Practice, Hinsdale III, Dryden Press BT Group 2010 Our Company, online, http://www.btplc.com/thegroup/ourcompany/index.htm accessed on 25/01/2011 Buhner, R. 1987 Assessing International diversification of West Germany Corporations, Strategic Management Journal, 8(1), 25-37 Caves, R.E. 1982 Multinational Enterprises and the Economic Analysis, Cambridge, Lexington, Mass, Lexington Books FTSE The Index Company 2010 About Us, online, http://www.ftse.com/About_Us/index.jsp accessed on 25/01/2011 Gomez-Mejia, L.R. and Palich, L.E. 1997 Cultural diversity and the performance of multinational firms, Journal of International Business Studies, 28(2), 309-335 Harris, P.R. and Morah, R.T. 1992 Managing Cultural differences, Honston, TX, Gulf Heico, L. 1989Some relationship between Japanese Culture and the Just-in-time, Academy of Management Executive, 3(4), 319-321 Hemscott Group Limited 2010 FTSE 100 Index Prices, online, http://www.hemscott.com/prices/index-prices.do accessed on 25/01/2011 Hendon, D.W., Hendon, R.A., and Herbig, P. 1996 Cross-cultural business negotiations, Westport, Conn, Quorum Books Hirsch, S. 1976 An International trade and investment theory of the firm, Oxford Economic Papers, 28(2), 258-270 Jain, S.C. 1989 Standardisation of International marketing strategy: some research hypothesis, Journal of Marketing, 53(1), 70-79 Johanson, J. and Vahle, J. 1990 The Mechanism of internationalisation, International Marketing Review, 7(4), 11-24 Keats, B.W. and Hitt, M.A.1988 A causal model of linkages among environmental dimensions, Macro-organisational Characteristics and Performance, Academy of Management Journal, 31(3), 570-598 Kim, W.C., Hwang, P., and Burgers, W.P. 1989 Global diversification Strategy and corporate profit performance, Strategic Management Journal, 10(1), 45-47 Lessard, D.R. 1979 Transfer prices, taxes and financial markets: implications of internal financial transfers within the multi-national firm, In R. G. Hawkins, ed., Economics issues of Multinational firms, New York, JAI Press Palepu, K. 1985 Diversification Strategy, profit performance and the entropy measure, Strategic Management Journal, 6(3), 239-255 Palich, L.E. 1994 Firm risk and return: An expanded theory of international diversification, Academy of Management Best Papers Proceedings, Atlanta, 152-157 Shaked, I. 1986 Are Multinational corporations saferJournal of International Business Studies, 17(1), 83-106 Venkatraman, S., MacMillan, I., McGrath, R. 1992 Progress in the research on corporate venturing, in D. Sexton, ed., State of the art in entrepreneurship, 487-519, New York, Kent Publishing Vernorn, R. 1979 The product cycle hypothesis in a new international environment, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 41(2), 255-267 Appendix 1, BT Group Financial Ratios for the year ending 31st March Ratios2007200820092010 ROA10.28%1.68%-4.37%3.51% EPS reported34.45.4-12.613.3 EPS adjusted33.67.04.218.6 DPS15.115.86.56.9 Payout Ratio43.9%293.6%-54.17%51.88% Market Share Price303.75217.2578.2123.9 Div. Yield4.97%7.27%8.31%5.57% P/E Ratio8.83times40.23times9.32 times Earnings Yield11.33%2.49%10.73% Market to Book Ratio1.681.8525.38-1.14 Source: Computed from BT Group financial reports for the years ending, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 [/level-freee-rstricted] How to cite Strategic and Cultural Analysis of BT Group Plc, Essay examples

On The Universality Of Poetry Essay Example For Students

On The Universality Of Poetry Essay Like any art form, poetry is considered universal. It ranks with music, dance, and fine arts as a form or process of expressing Mans thoughts and passions. Unlike other art forms, however, poetry and in fact literature has a peculiar characteristic. As a medium it uses language, and unlike other mediums like rocks, paints, beat language is not universal, it is cultural. Since culture varies according to geography, time, religion, and gender it is without doubt that there are multitudes of different languages. Thus poetry becomes cultural or non-universal in form, a characteristic that confines the production and reception of poetry to people that understand the form(language, symbolism, idiom etc etc) that poetry use a relatively small class of people. Some time ago, our English class read T.S. Elliots The Love Song of Alfred J. Prufrock, a long poem in the form of a soliloquy on whether or not the persona should or should not approach a woman he loves, eat a peach, or part his hair. Critiques declared it as the modern Hamlet a reflection of the consciousness of the Modern Man. They exclaimed that the poem is a concise description of resent ideologies and philosophies. With a lot of difficulty and guidance, we understood and even appreciated the poem, primarily because we are familiar with the language that Elliot used. But would a farmer or just abut any individual unfamiliar with the nuances of poetry understand o appreciate it? Maybe, but the most probable scenario is that they would understand the major points of the poem, but t not recognize little details that make the poem great the fact that it contains excerpts from major English writers and that the images in the poem echoes its sense. It can also be noted that the allusions present in Prufrock are Western in origin. There are cuts from Chaucer, Donne, Shakespeare and about every other canonical English writers. This technique of alluding to the Masters is not present in Prufruck alone. In fact, this is prevalent in the literary works produced in the past four hundred years. Allusion in poetry is not only for aesthetic purposes but also a way of showing respect to someone/something great. That almost all allusions are to Western pieces, imply that literature is indeed or what is considered to be great literature are essentially Western. Consequently the standard for literature became that of the Wests and the habit of Western-oriented poetry is established. It became increasingly more difficult for new and different to be accepted as great or even as poetry/literature. Thus Eastern writers in order to be great have to come up to this Western ideals and in the process become Western. The most common misconception is that poetry/literature is universal because it tackles the Human condition it is a reflection of Humanity. That even if an idea is stated in a different way, themes behind certain poems transcend culture, time, and therefore language. It is. That the indicission felt by Prufrock is no different from the indecision that Rama felt in Bhagavad Gita. Yes. But would an Indian appreciate the fact that Prufrocks internal conflict is about hair-parting and eating peach? Would an Englishman understand the Bhagavad Gita if it is written in Hindu or even understand the essentially Asian concern of wheter he should or should etc etc?The fact is that form and meaning come hand in hand. The form determines the meaning and vice versa. There cannot be one without the other. Thus if a person does not even go beyond understanding what the form expresses, what he sees is just a fragment of the piece of literature, a part of the whole. .u3787a5f4ab774f2deb7a1ece6ddead18 , .u3787a5f4ab774f2deb7a1ece6ddead18 .postImageUrl , .u3787a5f4ab774f2deb7a1ece6ddead18 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u3787a5f4ab774f2deb7a1ece6ddead18 , .u3787a5f4ab774f2deb7a1ece6ddead18:hover , .u3787a5f4ab774f2deb7a1ece6ddead18:visited , .u3787a5f4ab774f2deb7a1ece6ddead18:active { border:0!important; } .u3787a5f4ab774f2deb7a1ece6ddead18 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u3787a5f4ab774f2deb7a1ece6ddead18 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u3787a5f4ab774f2deb7a1ece6ddead18:active , .u3787a5f4ab774f2deb7a1ece6ddead18:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u3787a5f4ab774f2deb7a1ece6ddead18 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u3787a5f4ab774f2deb7a1ece6ddead18 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u3787a5f4ab774f2deb7a1ece6ddead18 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u3787a5f4ab774f2deb7a1ece6ddead18 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u3787a5f4ab774f2deb7a1ece6ddead18:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u3787a5f4ab774f2deb7a1ece6ddead18 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u3787a5f4ab774f2deb7a1ece6ddead18 .u3787a5f4ab774f2deb7a1ece6ddead18-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u3787a5f4ab774f2deb7a1ece6ddead18:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Alexander The Great: Shaping A World EssaySince people are divided into classes of individuals with different colors, occupation, and gender each with their won way of expressing their already varying experiences even of the same events there can never be one unifying and universal language, form, and therefore nver be any kind of universal literature.