Jane Eyre free essay sample

The gothic romance novel â€Å"Jane Eyre,† by Charlotte Bronte, is essentially the story of a woman’s quest to find love. Through the many challenges in her life, Bronte portrays her character, Jane, as one who struggles not only with her gender and class, but also with her sense of belonging. Growing up in the absence of a mother, Jane struggles with her identity and her womanhood. Through the different stages of her life however, she encounters various women who nurture her and act as her guides and motherly figures. In building relationships with these women, Jane is able to learn from their experiences and, in turn, reflect on her own. Consequently, the relationships she makes with these women throughout the novel mould her identity and the decisions that she makes in life. Therefore, the role of these relationships are significant to the themes and overall plot of the novel. It is revealed in the beginning of this novel that Jane experiences a very rough and unloved childhood. We will write a custom essay sample on Jane Eyre or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Growing up as an orphan, she is raised by her aunt, Mrs. Reid, who belittles and abuses her. Not only is she treated as an outsider by her aunt, but she is also bullied and beaten by her cousins, and is often locked her up in a room without food or water. In essence, Jane is unable to experience love from her own relatives, which tarnishes her idea of a family. However, in the absence of care from her aunt, one woman helps Jane endure the pain through her childhood and treats her with kindness and respect. Bessie, the maid at the Reid household, is the one woman who cares for Jane through this stage in her life by providing her with consolation from the abuse that she faces at home. It is through Bessie that Jane first experiences love from another person, which allows her to overlook the anger and pain in her life. She would tuck the clothes round me, and twice she kissed me, and said, ‘good night, Miss Jane. ’ When thus gentle, Bessie seemed to me the best, prettiest, and kindest being in the world (Bronte 31) † Although subordinate to Jane’s class, Bessie soothes Jane and understands her fears. Moreover, she accepts and loves Jane exactly the way she is. As the novel progresses, Jane’s quest for love becomes further evident. As she ages however, she has internal conflicts about the type of love which she wishes to find and endure. The type of love which she receives from Bessie as a child, however, is a reflection of pure and motherly love and is very significant in understanding Jane’s character. Jane’s relationship with Bessie aids her in quest for love, as this relationship allows her to recognize the meaning of love, and the type of love which she desires from another. As a result, her relationship with Bessie is a factor that certainly influences her decision of marrying Rochester at the end of the novel, instead of St. John Rivers, whom she realizes does not love her at all. As she matures into a young woman, Jane spends much of her time at Lowood School, away from her aunt and cousins. However, the obstacles in her life do not end, because she is in constant fear of the head master, Mr. Brocklehurst, who demeans her by instruction of her aunt. Although she is able to find support in a friend named Helen Burns, she loses Helen shortly to a fatal illness. During this point in her life, Jane loses trust in her faith and moreover, in her will to go on. When times seem dire and she feels lonelier than ever, Jane finds comfort in Miss Temple, her teacher and advisor at Lowood, who supports and understands her. Miss Temple provides Jane with kindness and support throughout her time at school and eases her pain after Helen’s death. In doing so, she helps Jane cope with her bitter childhood and helps her move forward; reviving her faith and spirituality by assuring her that she is not alone. As her governess, Miss Temple also stimulates Jane’s intellectual understanding by teaching her to read and write, and by supporting her love for art. As a result of this, Jane is able to educate herself and later pursue a career as a governess. Grateful, Jane realizes that she would have been lost without Miss Temple’s support. â€Å" To her instruction I owed the past part of my acquirements; her friendship and society had been my continual solace; she had stood me in the stead of mother, governess, and latterly, companion (Bronte 104). † As she moves forward in life, Jane learns the importance of an education for a woman of her particular class, and cherishes her intellect. Because she is of the working class and also a woman, she begins to realize that her status in society will always be at a low. However, she does find that because she is well educated, her background is able to render her an intellectual equal amongst the men who she encounters throughout the novel. Consequently, it is because of Ms. Temple that Jane has the strength to continue her studies at Lowood and therefore educate herself. Her resulting role as a governess aids her in her quest for love, as it is through this job that she meets the love of her life. Jane’s resulting occupation as a governess allows her to learn a lot about the roles of women in society, as well as the different classes to which each person belongs. Throughout the course of her job she meets many women, including those who are also of the working class, and others who she is subordinate to. When analysing the roles of these women, Jane finds that status causes for inequality amongst society, especially for women, who are already considered as being inferior to men. Distraught about her own place in society, Jane’s spirits are lifted by her cousins, Mary and Diana Rivers, who welcome her into their home and treat her with kindness. These women shelter Jane during a time at which she feels lost, and serve as her role models. Because both women are unmarried and live in equality with their brother, Jane learns through her cousins that women can be independent and equals to men. The girls, as soon as they left school, would seek places as governesses: for they had told her their father had some years ago lost a great deal of money, by a man he had trusted turning bankrupt; as he was now not rich enough to give them fortunes, they must provide for themselves (Bronte 137). † Although Jane constantly has inner conflicts about her status in comparison to the men who she encounters throughout the novel, after reflecting on her cousins’ lives, she realizes that a woman can essentially build her own status and live independently. Mary and Diana Rivers restructure Jane’s idea of a family, as she finally finds relatives who truly care about her. Moreover, these women aid Jane in her quest for love by reminding her of who she is, and what she deserves from a man. â€Å"‘Plain! You? Not at all. You are much too pretty, as well as too good, to be grilled alive in Calcutta. ’ And again she earnestly conjured me to give up all thoughts of going out with her brother (Bronte 235). † As a result, these women help Jane understand herself, and influence her to make the right decision of not marrying St. John Rivers, a man who could neither love her, nor understood her passions and beliefs. Conclusively, it is evident that through each stage in Jane’s life, she has the assistance of supportive female role models to help influence her actions and decisions in her quest for love. Moreover, these relationships help her get through difficult stages, as these women revive Jane’s faith through their love, support, and advice. Through building these relationships, she also builds her identity by realizing who Jane Eyre is as a woman. Jane’s life is essentially a reflection of the lives of these women, because from their knowledge and experiences she is able to create her own. Although her relationship with each woman is different, each relationship provides her with insight and essentially moulds the decisions that she makes throughout the novel. Consequently, it is clear that the relationships she carries with these women throughout the different stages of her life build the plot and overall scheme of this novel.

The Written Constitution essays

The Written Constitution essays The most important principle on which the founding of the American republic was based on is the written constitution. With the Constitution the elite society protected rights for every American that would secure and ensure our nations existence for hundreds of years. Our first form of government were the Articles of Confederation. Under the Articles of Confederation, the united states government was in a state of chaos. The Articles created a weak, almost nonexistent national government that was in complete control by the states. This newly formed government had neither executive or judicial branches, which meant that it lacked enforcement powers. There were three problems that existed under the Articles of Confederation that would spawn an act of change. First, the government could not protect property and other rights of the citizens. Second, the society created under the Articles of Confederation lacked a means of advancing commerce and interstate trade. Third, governmen t lacked the money and power to provide an adequate national defense. The decision to create a new system of government was in the best interest of all the people in America. In creating the Constitution there were many conflicting views of how the newly created government should function. Alexander Hamilton, wanted a strong central government in which a Senate and executive powers were chosen for life by indirect election, therefore creating an aristocracy. George Washington and Benjamin Franklin wanted a government based on separation of powers, and limited national authority. There were two plans proposed during the debates. One was the Virginia Plan, proposed by Edmund Randolph, the governor of Virginia. This plan would favor the large states, and would have a two house legislature. The lower house would be chosen by the American people, and the upper house would be elected by the by the lower house. The nominees would b e chosen by th...

Executive summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Executive summary - Essay Example However, he did not provide concrete assurance of the accounting tactic. This puts the financial position of pension companies at stake. In addition, this is controversial since the move could undermine governments efforts to support, by placing against something solid or rigid, the pension system. As a result, workers worry on the strain the tactic will put on other government agencies designed to protect the retirement of workers. The policy make companies pile up pension bills. In the end, companies struggle to keep up with the mounting bills. It therefore, becomes hard for them to compensate their clients ending up losing customer trust. They become insolvent and unable to meet their obligations to retirees down the road (Monga, 2). Decline in interest rates increases the present value of the deferred pensions. This increases corporate pension deficit since the monetary value of money decreases with time. This is clearly confirmed by Millan who asserts that the largest pensions in U.S have accrued up to $252 billion funding deficiency, which has shot up by $66 billion within a period of one year. Furthermore, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation encounters significant financial challenges. It is funded by premiums paid by pension plans that depend on how many beneficiaries are in a plan. However, those premiums are not enough to cover the costs. When the trust funds are finished, the most likely solution will be a transfer from general revenues, meaning that taxpayers will incur the bill (Monga, 2). Financial management and accountancy for a company is fundamental. With the implementation of the policy, corporations are compelled to channel their cash to activities they had not planned for. For instance, International Paper Company had set aside $ 1 billion to fund its $12.5 billion plan. With this policy, the money had to be put to other investments and projects not

Blogs Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Blogs - Coursework Example Basically, there is no conflict of interests between the two agencies. A couple of wrong approaches by the police officials should not be cited to brand the entire police force as wrong. KC Veatch(2008) in his article â€Å"The Effect of Collective Bargaining on the Use of Innovative Policing,† makes mention about â€Å"three methods of innovative policing: citizen review boards, early warning systems, and the use of in-car camera systems.†(Paper 14)The public is interested in getting service. In substance, it is not interested whether the powers are with the union representatives or with the management officials. But progressively, more and more powers are wrested by the latter as such they would be concerned in retaining the goodwill of the public. Policing is a responsive function. Just because there are bad elements in the public, policing becomes necessary. In an ideal society free from violence and negativities the question of policing does not arise. But to attai n such a perfect state is impossibility and the question of law enforcement comes to the fore. In the conditions obtaining today, unions continue to expand as such the community of utilizing collective bargaining has come to stay and will expand and it will be beneficial to law enforcement. The provisions of Constitution of America apply uniformly for all its citizens. There are no divisions like ordinary citizens and police citizens. When a police officer is being investigated, he is entitled for all the benefits of a fair trial like any other privileged citizen. Police officers work under tremendous stress and at times the disposition of the investigating officer seem bad, but finding solutions to the tough cases is not kindergarten stuff. The life of a police officer is filled with uncertainties and he too is aware of his constitutional duty to maintain

CASE STUDY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 5

CASE STUDY - Essay Example ver, she lost her chance of receiving consultation fees as well as invitation to conferences, since she thought that the book would receive substantial loyalties. As such, Best incurred additional costs when she was forced look for other publishers, and made her to suffer a setback in her career. She also suffered a diminution of respect in the eyes of her colleagues based on the number of colleagues she asked to review her book. According to contract law, mental illness as well as emotional suffering cannot be recovered in the event of contract breach. A recovery in the event of emotional disturbance prevails in case the breach caused bodily harm (Law Handbook 2014). Additionally, damages resulting from limited circumstances comprising of constitutional violations, intentional torts, or breach of good faith can be recovered (Cohen and McKendrick 2005). In the case of Best, the breach of contract by Engineering Books Incorporated did not create bodily harm, indicating that the contract was unrecoverable. The Plaintiff (Best) contracted with the defendant (Engineering Books Incorporated) for the publication of her manuscript, which the defendant confirmed was right for publication. After Best supplied the company with her manuscript, they told her it could not be published because of the heavy publication costs involved. In this case, Best suffered financial and emotional distress because she lost her chance of receiving consultation fees and invitation to conferences, which made her to suffer a setback in her career. She also suffered a diminution of respect in the eyes of her colleagues based on those she asked to review her work (Abele 2007). Best was forced to seek for third party publishers who confirmed that her work would be published if only she was willing to incur the costs involved. With respect to the damages that Best suffered, she should seek remedies pertaining to negligent misrepresentation and emotional distress. She should sue the company for

The Kill Of Stephen Lawrence Sociology Essay

The Kill Of Stephen Lawrence Sociology Essay Although the killing of Stephen Lawrence in 1993 was one of the few racist murders in British history to result in extensive media coverage, a public investigation and a change in the law, the reporting of black crime in the United Kingdom has remained subject to distortion and moral panic, especially in the conservative tabloid press. Since Lawrence and his family were portrayed as aspiring members of the middle class, the media in general did not really regard him as part of black culture at all, at least as the media has defined it over the last thirty years: guns, drugs, gangs, street crime, poverty and school drop outs (McLaughlin and Murji, 2001, p 263). Therefore, despite much sound and fury, there is no evidence that Lawrences murder and its aftermath led to fundamental change in the systematic racism of the British media, and other institutions such as the police and education system. Nor is there evidence that the racist ideology that is used towards blacks, immigrants, Mus lims and asylum-seekers has disappeared as a resultfar from it. This dissertation will consider the definition of racism as socially and historically constructed, and part of the institutions and ideology of society, and then examine how it has applied to the treatment blacks and other ethnic minorities in the UK since the 1940s, focusing on the Lawrence case and its aftermath. Finally, it will consider whether racism in the media has gradually been transferred to other targets in the wake of the attacks of September 11, 2001 and July 2005, with less emphasis on street crime, gangs, drugs and the crack wars of the 1970s-90s. This does not mean that young black males are no longer the target of racist stereotyping in the media, since as late as 2007 even a committee of the House of Commons agreed that they still were, only that racist impulses and ideologies seem to go through phases in which certain targets receive more attention than others (House of Commons, 2007) CHAPTER 1.1: WHY THIS TOPIC IS INTERESTING TO ME This topic first came to my attention several months ago during the summer, when it seemed that everyday young people were being killed by young males carrying knives. At the time the newspapers that covered these stories made it seem that it was only young black males that carried knives and the problem that the police had to deal with was not that of a few individuals who were carrying and using knives but that of a wider more prevalent issue with black culture. At the time of reading these stories I found it quite strange that over time the underlying story seemed to be the same but the details had changed. For example, I remember not too long ago, it was young black males that were most likely to mug you, it was young black males dealing drugs on estates and young black males being involved in gang shooting (McLaughlin and Murji,2001, p 265). These acts seemed to, in my opinion come in waves. Due to reports like these, the general public is of the assumption that young black males are very dangerous individuals and should be feared (McLaughlin and Murji, 2001, p 265). I wanted to find out whether the newspapers and the media in general were justified in their approach on reporting black crime or whether they are scare-mongering for the sake of sales. CHAPTER 1.2: AIMS As stated above, the main aim of this dissertation would be to see if in fact the general media are in fact correct in the way in which they report crime or do they fuel public panic, and in turn fuel racism. I would like to find out whether the media is helping or hindering the general publics understanding of black people. Also, I hope that my research will enable me to answer questions on the way media is used and misused. In addition to that, I would like to find out whether the events that took place that lend to Stephen Lawrences murder was a turning point in the way that journalist conduct their articles and if after the Macpherson report has anything changed. Lastly I would like to find out if I am right in my assumption that the way in which the media (especially the tabloid press) have place black people on the back burner for the time being, and are concentrating on other ethnic minorities, such as Asian etc. CHAPTER1.3: POSTMODERNIST THEORY ON RACISM The term postmodernism is generally over used, as just about everything has a postmodern twist to it. For example the term postmodern can be used to describe music, art, architecture, film etc, but as well as all these, it is a sociological school of thought. According to Giddens postmodernism is the belief that society is no longer governed by history or progress. Postmodern society is highly pluralistic and diverse, with no grand narrative guiding its development (Giddens, 2006, p1029). According to the postmodernist Ramon Flecha, racism is described as describes a condition wherein racial and ethnic differences become incommensurable and subjects fail to address the important issue of inequality in the face of difference (Gillborn and Ladson-Billings, 2004, p123). When one takes a closer look at history, one will realize that there is a major paradox in European imperialism. As colonisers, one of their goals was to disseminate their culture in their colonies. However, Singh believes that European cultural imperialism was dedicated to denying the colonised subject any identity other than one which that renders him/her a non-person (Singh, 2006, p 7). This cultural invasion happens when the invaders impose their own beliefs and views on another group and make them inferior by suppressing their creativity and expression (Freire, 1970, p 151). Colonisers have propagated their culture among their colonies but many of them still emphasized the importance of drawing a lin e between them and their colony. They regard their culture as superior to that of their colonies. It is this difference where postmodernist beliefs of racism are founded upon. In Murphy and Choi, it is defined as a myriad of practices that are designed to subjugate a large segment of the population (Murphy and Choi, 1997, p3). In postmodernist belief, differences are recognized just as long as each racial group acts according to their race. Postmodernism racism puts more emphasis on the segregation rather than the hierarchy. With respect to the racism that existed fifty or a hundred years ago, postmodern racism recognizes multiculturalism and diversity. Old theories on racism were centred more on hierarchy and which race was more superior to the other. But times of crisis and uncertainty over the course of social and economic change have often proved to be the periods in which new racist ideas and movements have emerged and provided basis for social mobilisation and exclusion (Solomos and Back, 1996, p 211). So therefore over the past 50 years it is clear to see that anytime the re was an incident of economic, social or health related down turns, ethnic minorities have been have been thrust into the limelight, in a way that could be described as negative. In the 70s and 80s it was black men who were a social menace, then in the 90s refugees from the former Yugoslavia were blamed for the lack of public housing and any subsequent rises in welfare benefits. Now in the 00s, with the west waging a war against terror people of Asian descent are now referred to as terrorist. However, postmodern racism is not any different from the old racist beliefs. According to Leonardo, postmodern racism simply assumes the guise of tolerance only to be usurped by relativism, a proliferation of differences rather than a levelling of power relations (Leonardo, 2009, p216). It was stated earlier that times of crisis have prompted racist ideas to change but they have only changed in theory. Reality states that they have essentially remained the same, crimes motivated by racist beliefs have proven that up to the present, racial supremacy still lingers in peoples minds. Lawrences murder is one of the few racially-motivated crimes that have been publicized. But it required a careful effort from the media to publicize his death. His economic background, for instance, was taken into consideration. Other black victims of racially-motivated crimes, for instance, do not receive sufficient publicity because the journalists thought that their image as a vagrant would not illicit a sympathetic response from the public (McLaughlin and Murji, 2001, p 276). Stephen Lawrence was the opposite because he came from a middle class family and his family was not, as stereotypes would say, the typical black family everyone feared. The discrepancy between the medias treatment of Stephen Lawrence and Duwayne Brooks respective murders will easily reveal how media still holds racist beliefs. Moreover, it goes to show that media is sensitive to the fact that the general populace is still governed by old racist beliefs that there are certain races that are superior to the other. Postmodern racism, then, does not completely hold true and it may only be a sugar-coated version of the old-fashioned 19th century racism. CHAPTER 1.4: STRUCTURE Firstly I will be looking in to the methodology that is to be used in this dissertation as well as any ethically issues that may arise from doing research and writing up my dissertation. In chapter 3, I will be looking at the background history of black people in the United Kingdom and the media. In chapter 4, I will be looking in depth at the Stephen Lawrence case and asking whether Lawrence was a turning point in media reporting and the publics perception of young black males in general. I will then be covering in chapter 4.1, when the media circus surrounding Lawrence died down whether the media returned to their old ways of racially biased reporting or did the Macpherson report make a difference in the institution that in the media world. Finally in chapter 5, I will conclude and make any recommendations that are fitting. After this the references will follow. CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY This dissertation is a library based dissertation so therefore it uses secondary research as I feel primary research would not be suitable for this dissertation. I will be concentrating on collecting all my information from books, journals and publications that focusing on media reporting of the Stephen Lawrence case, history of black people in the UK and post Stephen Lawrence. CHAPTER 2.1: ETHICAL ISSUES Racism is a delicate issue and if the research is not conducted properly, the outcome could possibly be dangerous to all parties involved in the research, whether they are a minority ethnic group or not. It is therefore important that I must be sensitive towards the needs and safety of those who would likely to be involve in the study (Babbie, 2008, p 440). As this essay will be library based researched I must make sure that whilst conducting the research and evaluating my findings, I am as transparent as possible. I must also make sure that throughout the research and evaluation process I am aware of the studys objectivities and other significant details, therefore reducing any clear bias, which in turn would allow my work to be clear and objective. Also, I must make sure that whenever I quote anything it must be written in context and that I dont plagiarise. To make sure this doesnt happen I will make sure that all my references are correctly stated. And finally I will make sure t hat if during my research I find articles that disagree with any statements I have made are noted not ignored. CHAPTER 3: RACISM IN GREAT BRITAIN: THE MEDIA AND BLACK BRITISH HISTORY For the British media, especially the conservative, mass market tabloids, blacks have been defined by images of black crime for decades, especially as the economy began to decline in the 1970s as unemployment, poverty and social pathology increased in the declining industrial cities. If black crime has always been defined as a social problem in the media, racist attacks by whites against minorities almost never was before the Stephen Lawrence Family Campaign (McLaughlin and Murji, 2001, p 263). From a purely capitalist view as well, crime reports are among the most headline-catching of news commodities and media everywhere in the world follow the somewhat cynical principle of if it bleeds, it leads. Crime journalists almost invariably take their cue from the police as experts on the subject and also depend of police contacts for their very livelihoods, providing them a routine and predictable source of newsworthy stories. Naturally, crime journalists never want to alienate that sourc e and end up left out in the cold, for the economics of the news business is a particularly raw, competitive form of capitalism (McLaughlin and Murji, 2001, p 264). Van Dijk studied 2,755 headlines in the British press in 1985-86 from The Times, The Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Mail and Sun, and found that except for The Guardian, almost all the reporting about blacks and other minorities was seldom positive, occasionally neutral, and often negative (Van Dijk, 1991, p52). After the major shift in both fictional and news coverage of crime in the 1960s and 1970s, there were increasing complaints from the elderly, minorities and young people in general about how they were depicted. Elderly citizens were shown as muggable and disempowered, while the young and minorities felt like they were continually portrayed as dangerous youth, potential perpetrators of crime, and thus welcomed films and news stories with a civil rights focus and the questioning of police authority. On the other hand, young women were more aware of their possible victim status, particularly their vulnerability to male violence, and so welcomed coverage of such crimes, which had been mostly ignored before the 1960s (Reiner et al, 2000, p 120). In general, the cultural shift of the 1960s and 1970s has not been reversed in films and news accounts in the more conservative era of the 1980s and 1990s: there is still far more depiction of sex, drugs, violence, corrupt and tarnished authority figures than before 1965, and also an increasing tendency toward more anarchic and nihilistic violence or a Hobbesian war of all against all, mixed occasionally with more reactionary and nostalgic themes. Overall, the post-1960s media and film culture has remained less deferential and more de-subordinate and demystified than it was before 1965 (Reiner et al:, 2000, p121-22). For decades the British media portrayed Britain as a white society with a minority and immigration problem. Accordingly, the coloured population is seen as some kind of aberration, a problem, or just an oddity. One of the most popular BBC television programmes in 1958-78 was The Black and White Minstrel Show, supposedly set in the Deep South of the U.S., featuring actors blacked up. As late as 1998, only 2% of journalists in England and Wales were Arab, Asian or black even though these minorities made up 5.26% of the population, and the media often remained blind to ethnic minorities (Wilson et al, 2003, p 21). According to the British Social Attitudes Survey of 2003, 31% of white admitted to being racist, about the same percentage as 1987, and many people also practised aversion racism in which they believed intellectually in equality but at the same time felt aversion toward minorities with negative stereotypes, and thus avoided interaction with them if possible (Crisp and Turner, 2007, p 162-65). In the media, blacks became synonymous with drugs, gangs and street crime, and misleading police statistics asserted that young black males were the majority of street criminals, generally unemployed and on welfare. Equally untrue in the standard media portrayal, their victims were often white, female and elderly (McLaughlin and Murji:, 2001, p265). Abercrombie and Warde agree that a conception of the black community as particularly crime-prone took hold in the 1970s in press treatments of attacks on and thefts from, innocent people in the streets. In 1983 The Sun actually ran a headline Black Crime Shock and stated falsely that blacks carried twice as many muggings as white sin London last year (Webster, 2006, p 32). In general, the media conveyed the image that the attackers were predominantly black and the victims predominantly white, no matter that there was no evidence for this. Just the opposite, the British Crime Survey of 1988 and 1992 showed conclusively that ethnic minoriti es are much more likely, in fact, to be the victims of crime than white people, and these crimes are under-reported because it is believed the police will not be interested and will not follow up a complaint. According to a 1981 Home Office report, victimization rates for Asians were 50 times, and for blacks 36 times, higher than for white people, but the media treated this information like it did not exist and almost never reported the extent and seriousness of racially motivated attacks on black communities (McLaughlin and Murji, 2001, p 268-69). Nevertheless, into the 1990s, young black males continued to be profiled and targeted for stop and search policing, especially in high crime areas. Studies of police attitudes found that they generally regarded blacks as trouble-makers, drug dealers, robbers and nothing else (Abercrombie and Warde, 2000, p258-59). This moral panic against crime in the streets was also fuelled by Conservative politicians, particularly in the Winter of Discontent against the Labour government in 1979. In the Thatcher years, the Tories presided over an era of high unemployment and increasing poverty at the bottom end of the social scale, and knew that they could divert attention by promoting a law and order discourse that put the blame on the most socially and economically depressed sections of the community (Holohan, 2005, p 104). In Britain, as in the U.S. and many other countries from the 1970s to the 1990s, conservative and right-wing populist ideologies reflected a broadly right-wing consensus which, in many news channels (especially the tabloid press)justified as encapsulating the British way of life. This law and order consensus supported more police, more prisons and a tougher criminal justice system, particularly in response to the youth and minority rebellions of the 1960s and 1970sand indeed, as part o f a white backlash against these (Jewkes 2004, p58). For over twenty years, conservative populist punitiveness represented the main attitude of the British government to crime, poverty and the social problems associated with them, and there was no major opposition to imprisoning larger numbers of youth and younger ages, to prosecuting them as adults, more curfews, prohibition of unauthorized gatherings of young people, as well as harsher measures against immigrants, protesters, demonstrators, the homeless and young unemployed, particularly if any of the above were from minority groups. Newspapers like The Sun and Daily Mail have always had a vigorous intolerance towards anyone of anything that transgresses an essentially conservative agenda (Jewkes, 2004, p 59). Socially, economically and culturally, this era was a throwback to the late-Victorian period at the end of the 19th Century. A 1992 book Beneath the Surface: Racial Harassment described a detailed study of racism in the London borough of Waltham Forest in 1981-89. It found that racial harassment was a fact of life there, including verbal and physical abuse, graffiti and fire bombings of houses of ethnic minorities. In July 1981 a Pakistani woman and her three children died in one of these attacks when petrol was sprayed into their house and set alight. The police did not seem interested in any of these crimes, and were even suspicious of the minorities who reported them. In 1998, The Observer reported that little has changed in the years since and described how one Muslim man was regularly threatened with stones, guns, knives, fire-bombs and death threats over a seven-year period. In 1992-94 alone, there were at least 45 deaths in Britain from what are believed to be racially motivated attacks, but none of them received nearly the same publicity as the Lawrence case (Abercrombie and Warde, 2000, p 260-62) . After the riots of 1980-81, Lord Scarmans report emphasized the role of racial discrimination and acknowledged that there was a problem of racially discriminatory policing, as was still the case twelve years later in the Lawrence case. After the report came out, the police gave off-the-record interviews to the effect that London was experiencing a dramatic increase in muggings (McLaughlin and Murji, 2001, p266). Jamaican immigrants had begun to arrive in the UK in 1948, although even the Labour government of that era preferred white European immigrants if it could find them, even if they could not speak English and understood little about Britain. Indeed, government officials went out of their way to discourage immigration from Africa, Asia and the West Indies, which was not unusual at the time, given the whites-only immigration policies in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States that had been in place for decadesand did not change in the U.S. until 1965. The British government even tried to divert a ship carrying 492 Jamaicans to East Africa in 1948. Given the shortage of white immigrants, Britain had no alternative except to obtain most of its cheap labour supply from its colonies, semi-colonies and former colonies in Asia, Africa and the West Indies, although with much bad will on both the governmental level and in (white) public opinion (Skelton, 1999). Blacks had been in Britain long before this wave of immigration, of course, but it seems to have made little impact on historical memory or popular consciousness. Britain had slavery during the 17th and 18th Centuries at least until Lord Mansfield abolished it in 1772. To be sure, only 10-20,000 slaves had lived in the country during any given year compared to millions in Brazil, the United States and West Indies and the number of free blacks was never large (Segal, 1996). Prior to the post-1945 immigration, few whites in Britain would have ever encountered many blacks at home, except of course for American soldiers in World War II. At that time, however, many white Americans were actually surprised to find that the British press was generally sympathetic to blacks whenever racial conflicts, brawls and other incidents took place on British soil (Katznelson, 2001). Jamaicans were the largest group to arrive in Britain from the West Indies during this unwelcome ingathering from the colonies. While the majority of White British were antagonistic to all those from the Caribbean, it can be said that the deepest resentment was toward the Jamaicans (Skelton, 1999, p 232). Initially, they settled in Lambeth, Brixton, Clapham and Camberwell in South London, which was considered ideal for blacks and other minorities since it had suffered extensive bomb damage and was full of vacant, old and dilapidated Victorian houses. In other worlds, it was an instant, ready-made ghetto. Black immigrants were crowded into these run-down houses, charged unreasonably high rents, and/or faced housing discrimination. They only got the jobs that British workers would not take and called slave labour or shit work, and often could not even get that. Like many such ghettos in the past, theft, fencing of stolen merchandise, prostitution and drug dealing were commonwith many s hops offering illegal goods and services under the counter to supplement their incomes and others acting as fronts for gangs and organized crime. In short, like similar ghettos in the U.S. and many other countries, it had a large informal or underground economy which existed in tandem with the mainstream economy and societyalthough minority young people were mostly cut off and alienated from this (Sanders, 2000, p 33). Mainstream media reported the crime but not the historical, social and economic context of this ghetto society. From the start, the police and media associated young Jamaican males with street crime, which became an idea so pervasive and powerful that soon everyone who saw a young Black man on the street was convinced they were about to be robbed (Skelton, 1999, p 232). In the 1970s, it was not uncommon to see young Black men being taken to the side of public pavements and being forced to empty their pockets by two of three police officers at a time (Skelton, 1999, p 233). Parliament passed sus laws that allowed the police to stop and frisk anyone acting in a suspicious manneran early example of racial profiling, and arresting and harassing suspects from crimes like shopping, walking or driving while Black. In the media, there were virtually no counter-representations of young, black men, while in the civil disturbances of the 1980s and 1990s it ran the most sensationalistic stories claiming that Britain was becoming a riot-torn society (Skelton, 1999, p 234) caused by an alien disease and ang ry young blacks who did not share the values of law-abiding society (Skelton, 1999, p 234). Certain geographical areas like Brixton in London, Toxteth in Liverpool and Handsworth in Birmingham were racialised in the media and always associated with danger, destruction and lawlessness (Skelton, 1999, p 234). CHAPTER 4: THE STEPHEN LAWRENCE CASE: A TURNING POINT? Identifying a sympathetic victim is a well-known strategy of civil rights movements, and one of the best known was Rosa Parks, whose arrest on December 1, 1955 for refusing to give up her seat to a white person on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama was the spark that lit the modern civil rights movement in the United Sates. E.D. Nixon, the head of the Alabama National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and chief organizer of the Montgomery Voters League had been looking for a test case against the segregation laws for quite some time. He knew that it would have to survive legal challenges all the way up to the United States Supreme Court, and for this purpose the right type of victim was essential (Hare, 2005). It was no accident when Rosa Parks, the secretary of the local NAACP and member of Martin Luther Kings church, was arrested as part of the long-planned test case. Jonnie Carr, head of the Montgomery Improvement Association for thirty years, had invited Parks t o join the NAACP and the two women started a friendship that would last a lifetime (Hare, 2005, p 25). Carr, who would later challenge Montgomerys segregated school system I the courts and win the case in the Supreme Court, said that Parks was so quiet that you would never have believed she would get to the point of being arrested (hare,2005, p26), but she did. Once she was committed to this course, she did not look back, and was famous for her quiet courage and determination. She continually received death threats from the Ku Klux Klan during the bus boycott and the legal case, and had to move to Detroit, Michigan in 1957. Even so, she continued to work with Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement, helping to organize the March on Washington in 1963 and the election of John Conyers to Congressone of the first blacks elected in the 20th Century (Hare, 2005). Other blacks had been arrested before Parks for refusing to give up their seats, but Nixon, Carr and the other organizers did not regard them as the right kind of victims to generate exactly the right kind of publicity they required, or to stand up to the ordeal that was certain to follow, including the very real possibility of death. On March 2 1955, fifteen-year old Claudette Colvin was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white person, and when she was convicted of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, the young straight-A student burst into tears (Hare, 2005, p4). Eighteen-year old Mary Louise Smith was arrested on October 1, 1955 for refusing to give up her seat as well, but Nixon and his fellow organizers did not believe she was quite right for the campaign, either, because of her age and some issues in her background (Hare: 2005). In Rosa Parks, they found their ideal candidate: a mother, gainfully employed, regular churchgoer, mature and respectable, someone Mart in Luther King could proclaim as one of the finest citizens: of Montgomery (Hare,2005,p 30). She could play the role of innocent victim of injustice very well, and be the wife and mother that a white audience could identify with, even though as a civil rights movement activist and organizer, she knew from the start that she was part of a legal test case and media campaign. To be sure, Stephen Lawrence had never planned to become a victim in this way, but civil rights and anti-racism organizers in Britain knew that they could portray him and his family as respectable, middle class people who were really not so different from the white readership of the Daily Mail, and thus generate the type of media interest and political pressure that racist attacks and murders had almost never received in Britain beforeor since, for that matter. Prior to 1997, the Mail had shown little interest in the Lawrence case and only the announcement of a public inquiry seemed to get its attention. On February 14, 1997, however, it ignored legal and ethical guidelines and controversially printed the names and photographs of the five white suspects, and pronounced them guilty of murder under the blazing headline If We Are Wrong Let Them Sue Us. From 1997-99 it published at least 530 stories on the murder and Macpherson investigation, which some cynics always regarded as a ploy to boost circulation or the result of Stephen Lawrences father Neville once having worked as a plasterer for Paul Dacre, the Mails editor. In an editorial on February 15, 1999, the paper explained that it had thought long and hard before publicly naming the five white men, but this was an extraordinary situation and demanded an extraordinary response (McLaughlin and Murji,2001,p 272-73). Many newspapers covered the Lawrence murder, but the Daily Mails high-profil e campaignset the agenda for the terms of the public debate about whom and what was responsible for the murder. This was unusual and unexpected because never before had a racist murder been so graphically and repeatedly described and condemned by a right-wing newspaper in the United Kingdom (McLaughlin,2005,p 163). In the Stephen Lawrence case, the standard media portrayal of blacks as lazy, criminal and violent was inverted in order to present the victim and his family as clean, drug-free hard-working, educated and middle class, while his five white killers were shown as members of the unemployed underclass, living on welfare in public housing. In this way, the media could uphold the standard narrative of race and class while making Lawrence an exception to the general rule: a good black and an innocent victim. This was not the case for the other young black man attacked with him at the same time, Duwayne Brooks, described as a sort of marginal character perhaps involved with gangs and drugs, unlike Stephen Lawrence, who aspired to become an architect and join the middle class. As for Brooks, journalists

Love in Poems Essay -- Robert Browning Poetry Literature Essays

Love in Poems Robert Browning’s poem â€Å"My Last Duchess† is based on a real story about the fifth Duke of Ferrera in the Renaissance period. He married a 14-year-old named Lucrezia and then left her for a two-year period. She died at the age of 17. In this poem, the Duke is now looking for a second wife-to-be. Robert Browning is one of the greatest poets in the Victorian age. He writes romantic poems and he expresses love in this poem as obsessive. The poem’s rhyme scheme is a, a, b, b. This is a dramatic monologue. This is the kind of poem where there is only one speaker. In this poem it is the duke. At the very start of the poem, we are already given the idea that the Duke is a proud man especially with his art collections. â€Å"That’s my last duchess painted on the wall†, this quote tells us that he includes his last wife in his collection. The â€Å"my† emphasizes the duke owning his last duchess. By doing this, Robert Browning emphasizes the Duke wanting power especially over his last wife. Her painting is behind the wall now and the Duke shows it to a very few chosen strangers, â€Å"since none puts the curtain I have drawn for you but I†. The painting was made by Fra Pandolf. The Duke is jealous by the fact that the Duchess can blush by receiving any compliments from just anyone. â€Å"Sir, ‘twas not her husband’s presence only†¦into the Duchess’ cheek.† In this quote, the Duke never treated his wife as an equal. But he considered himself higher than her and he wouldn’t lower himself to tell the duchess what she did that annoyed him. He thinks the duchess has no pride at all because she treats everybody equally, â€Å"as if she ranked my gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name with anybody’s gift†. He wants the duchess for h... ...n wants the mistress to understand that it will never be a good idea if she will die a virgin. He is now desperate to get her in bed. If she dies a virgin, the man’s â€Å"lust† will just turn to ashes. The last part of the poem uses a more passionate language and basically gives the mistress a more appealing idea if the man makes love to the mistress. The whole of the third part is describing how the man feels about making love to the mistress. Andrew uses similes â€Å"like morning dew† to compare the â€Å"youthful hue† of his mistress and â€Å"like amorous birds of prey† to describe the way in which they should do the act of making love. Basically, this part has more persuasion than the other parts. It is similar to â€Å"The Beggar Woman† because it represents physical love. However, we will never know if the woman agrees with the man. We are left to decide for ourselves.

Bottleneck and non-bottleneck work centers

Eliyahu M Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints (TOC) states that the bottleneck in a work system is the crucial constraint that must be scheduled first in order to achieve maximum system output. All efforts are to go toward scheduling the bottleneck work center, the capacity of which does not meet the demand placed on it and is less than the capacity of all other work centers. TOC uses five steps (Godratt, 1999, p. 3-6), including:Identify the bottleneck. 2. Exploit the bottleneck, maximizing its throughput by streamlining or improving processes, equipment maintenance, training, anything necessary. 3. Subordinate the throughput of all other work centers to the bottleneck. 4. Elevate the status/condition of the bottleneck with additional equipment, staffing, work hours, etc. 5. Inertia is to be avoided. Begin again with Step #1, find the new bottleneck, and continue the 5 steps.One scheduling alternative is to streamline and reduce the amount of setup time needed for the bottleneck . Another is to schedule its activity for additional hours per day and/or days per month. Further, breaks, lunchtime, and intermittent maintenance may be eliminated or rescheduled. Finally, work that does not need to go through the bottleneck can be eliminated by scheduling it to other work centers. MINPRT: Minimum Processing Time is the best scheduling rule to use in order to eliminate a bottleneck.Applying this rule, each next-scheduled job is the one that has 2 the shortest processing time. Since all scheduled jobs are then the shortest jobs, more jobs are completed more quickly so that downstream work centers do not wait for work. Non-bottleneck work centers can be scheduled to include completing their setup after the bottleneck is set up, to use them fewer hours per day and/or days per month, and to schedule them for jobs that do not need to go through the bottleneck.MINSOP: Minimum Slack time per Operation is a scheduling rule that can work well for non-bottlenecks. Using this rule, each next-scheduled job is the one that has the least slack (down) time so that production increases per hour. MINDD: Minimum Due Date may be the best option for non-bottlenecks and includes consistently scheduling the next job that is due first in order to meet due dates effectively. REFERENCES Goldratt, E. M. (December 1999). Theory of Constraints. Great Barrington, MA: North River Press.

The eNotes Blog Ode to Adolescence and Maybe John Green #VeryRealisticYA GetsReal

Ode to Adolescence and Maybe John Green #VeryRealisticYA GetsReal If theres one thing we love here at its literature.  We also love wit, and the latest trending hashtag combined both. Last week  #VeryRealisticYA began trending and the results were nothing short of hilarious and harshly truthful. The YA (young-adult) fiction genre is alluring and entertaining for many audiences,  but can be melodramatic and oftentimes unrealistic.  The hashtag participators sought to bring light and realism to the genre.  Theres nothing quite as postmodern as the ironic, honest words of the Twitterverse. Here are a few of our favorites: Broody bad boy says something sexist to quiet, bookish girl. Girl puts him in his place. They never go out ever. #VeryRealisticYA Ava Jae (@Ava_Jae) March 29, 2015 On his 15th birthday, a young man smokes cigarettes and realizes no one really gets The Smiths the way he does. #VeryRealisticYA Saladin Ahmed (@saladinahmed) March 29, 2015 Boy goes to wizard school. Incurs crushing debt; graduates; wizard job market is terrible. Does nothing with wizard degree. #VeryRealisticYA Jeff Zentner (@jeffzentner) March 29, 2015 Girl gets a note reading I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER. Shes relieved someone is finally reading her tumblr. #VeryRealisticYA (@TheBloggess) March 29, 2015 Boy steals camera. Makes film to impress girl. Creates modern German cinema. #VeryRealisticYA Werner Twertzog (@WernerTwertzog) March 29, 2015 Rebel teens get decent jobs maintaining Dystopian System, decide that its not so bad after all. #VeryRealisticYA Nick Mamatas (@NMamatas) March 29, 2015 Where are you going, young lady? To help the Outsiders overthrow the Authority. Not on a school night, youre not. #VeryRealisticYA Paul Krueger (@NotLikeFreddy) March 29, 2015 Girl of unearthly beauty shows up. Her dark secret? She spends a fortune on moisturizer. #VeryRealisticYA Christina Ladd (@OLaddieGirl) March 30, 2015 Girl doesnt base relationship expectations on Twilight. Becomes a successful, emotionally balanced human being. #VeryRealisticYA Emily M. (@EmiWHEEEEEEEEEE) March 30, 2015 guy playing human wizard rolls a 1 for his skill check while asking out girl playing elvish archer in-game #VeryRealisticYA todd dillard (@toddedillard) March 30, 2015

Free Essays on F. Douglas And M.Rolands

Mary Rowlandson’s, â€Å"A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson† and Frederick Douglass’, â€Å"Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave† are separated by 142 years of history, yet their accounts of captivity parallel the occurrences in American under New World conditions and link the span of time between them. Both, Mary Rowlandson and Frederick Douglass experience the evils of slavery against their will, while succumbing to the conditions the New World presents to them. Through their times of desperation, both take comfort in the fact that America is a land of freedom and prosperity to which they will attain salvation. Both of their definitions of America are altered through their encounter of captivity and slavery. America becomes a land of the free that will prosper and remain when all the evils perish and cease to exist upon their escape. Both of these accounts, written after escaping signal the impo rtance of their captivity and the effect it had on each of them. Each account demonstrates the power of the written word as well as strong personal perspective. Mary Rowlandson, a Puritan woman lived in American since childhood. Her matrimony to the Reverend Joseph Rowlandson brought the responsibilities of mother and frontier wife. In 1675, she was taken captive by Indians in their assaults on the Massachusetts colonists and remained in captivity for eleven weeks, finally ransomed for twenty pounds. Her account of captivity documents her strong Puritan faith as the force that allowed her to survive. Mary viewed her capture as a test of will as well as a punishment from God. Her release to freedom was a gift from God, which strengthened her faith in Him, and America. Her account evokes individualism as well as nationalism for America, in her view, the home of the colonists that will forever prosper and be plentiful under the Lord. Frederick Douglass, an African-American, experien... Free Essays on F. Douglas And M.Rolands Free Essays on F. Douglas And M.Rolands Mary Rowlandson’s, â€Å"A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson† and Frederick Douglass’, â€Å"Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave† are separated by 142 years of history, yet their accounts of captivity parallel the occurrences in American under New World conditions and link the span of time between them. Both, Mary Rowlandson and Frederick Douglass experience the evils of slavery against their will, while succumbing to the conditions the New World presents to them. Through their times of desperation, both take comfort in the fact that America is a land of freedom and prosperity to which they will attain salvation. Both of their definitions of America are altered through their encounter of captivity and slavery. America becomes a land of the free that will prosper and remain when all the evils perish and cease to exist upon their escape. Both of these accounts, written after escaping signal the impo rtance of their captivity and the effect it had on each of them. Each account demonstrates the power of the written word as well as strong personal perspective. Mary Rowlandson, a Puritan woman lived in American since childhood. Her matrimony to the Reverend Joseph Rowlandson brought the responsibilities of mother and frontier wife. In 1675, she was taken captive by Indians in their assaults on the Massachusetts colonists and remained in captivity for eleven weeks, finally ransomed for twenty pounds. Her account of captivity documents her strong Puritan faith as the force that allowed her to survive. Mary viewed her capture as a test of will as well as a punishment from God. Her release to freedom was a gift from God, which strengthened her faith in Him, and America. Her account evokes individualism as well as nationalism for America, in her view, the home of the colonists that will forever prosper and be plentiful under the Lord. Frederick Douglass, an African-American, experien...

The Effect Pollution Has On the Planet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

The Effect Pollution Has On the Planet - Essay Example In addition, many of these waters ultimately find their way to ocean waters which has cause large areas of the seas to be barren of life. Air pollution causes respiratory problems and, more importantly, is causing the Earth’s climate to change, the consequences of which are far-ranging and potentially catastrophic. Lawmakers have focused their efforts to address the pollution of America’s waterways by passing legislation intended to reduce the amount of contaminants discharged from factories but the American fresh water systems remain polluted. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, roughly 40 percent of the country’s lakes, rivers and streams still are unsafe for fishing or swimming because they are overburdened with silt and chemicals from thousands of small sources, a circumstance known as â€Å"non-point† pollution. This phrase refers to polluting the waterways other than by dumping chemicals directly into the water such as improperly discarded motor oil, pesticides, lawn chemicals, fertilizers or animal waste from commercial farms. Fertilizers and pesticides from agricultural sources, point of contact, cause more of the pollutants affecting the fragile water systems than commercial pollutants. These systems run across the â€Å"Breadbasket† areas of A merica then are deposited in ocean waters of the East Coast and oxygen-depleted Gulf of Mexico. Large areas of these seas have been designated as ‘dead zones.’ Vast areas of East Coast waters and the Gulf of Mexico can no longer support life such as crabs and shrimp. These dead zones are constantly expanding. â€Å"The dead zone fluctuates in size each year, extending a record 8,500 square miles during the summer of 2002 and stretching over 7,700 square miles during the summer of 2010.† (â€Å"Facts,† 2010) Ammonia, a lethal gaseous form of nitrogen released during waste removal, can travel hundreds of miles through the air before falling back to Earth either on the ground or in the water, where it produces algal blooms which kills fish. â€Å"Fertilizers and animal waste from factory livestock farms have helped trigger an unprecedented number of algal blooms, destructive growth spurts that clog waterways and suffocate fish.† (Warrick, 2001). Most i nfamous were outbreaks of deadly algae, including Pfiesteria piscicida, an organism blamed for the deaths of a billion fish along the coast of North Carolina. The quantity of fresh water for drinking continues to be significantly reduced because of chemical pollutants. This regretful circumstance is especially difficult for drought-stricken areas. This critical situation is reversible but must involve educating small and large-scale farmers to more environment friendly means of growing crops and requiring its implementation. A water restoration program initiated by the federal Clean Water Act of 1972 determines the maximum quantity of a pollutant that a body of water can have and still meet federal quality standards by using a calculation named The Total Maximum Daily Load. This is the primary legal remedy for government intervention concerning non-point water pollution. Federal regulations require state administrative bodies to take into consideration all sources of pollution acros s the watershed (drainage basin) of a river. â€Å"Watershed is the term used to describe the geographic area of land that drains water to a shared destination† (â€Å"Report,† 2011). Water, in the form of melting snow or rain, drains toward the lowest point in a

Performance Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Performance Management - Essay Example Therefore, the system of performance management generally involves evaluating and developing the skills, behaviors, and the performance of individual employees, for ensuring that the organization competes favorably in the market through its high performance. Performance management is used as a measuring and management instrument of employees in the organization. This process mostly benefits the big international companies, and those companies, whose workforce is greatly distributed. As a process, performance management comprises different types of activities aimed at achieving the objective of the general process. These include reward and remuneration for employees, coaching and mentoring of employees, team working, measuring, competencies, and personal development plans, among others. Today, performance management is characterized by various changes, as the way it is approached today differs with how the process was approached in the past centuries. The changes in performance management today have contributed to its increased efficiency, and help organizations retain their high-performing employees. Performance management today is a holistic process, which embraces different processes, and this is efficient in people management in compa nies (Kreitner 2008). Armstrong & Baron (2005) note that performance management is not a new process. This has lasted for the past seventy years, since its inception in the 1940’s. Initially, managers of companies developed performance management during this period, in order to establish whether the different salaries and remuneration for the employees were justified or not.... The difference between performance management of those days, and the performance management today, is reflected in the complexity of the process. Today, performance management process is more sophisticated, as managers have incorporated more elements, which lacked in the past. For instance, managers have incorporated the aspects of development planning, competencies, and 360-degree feedback, among others, in the recent times (Armstrong & Baron 2005). According to Hale and Whitlam (2000), it is possible to trace the roots of performance management back to through the various past themes of organizational development. In this case, there was a work-study performed. Work would be broken down into different tasks in a way that is analytical. This helped with time planning, supervision, and cost planning. Additionally, this would help in determining the incentives for employees on the job. In this case, the aspect of competency took a different approach, as we know it today, since this di d not apply to more diverse work, and not only limited to work-study (Hale &Whitlam 2000). Another situation in past organization that reflects performance management is the use of merit schemes. The merit schemes in organizations were historically used to provide the generic definition of effective performance, in addition to providing a scale, with which performance would be assessed and rated against. However, today, the merit schemes have been disregarded due to their weaknesses. For instance, merit schemes cannot be used to measure aspects of a job that are unique, therefore, this is limiting. Additionally, the merit schemes could not be used to measure behavioral characteristics, which