Contract Law, Exclusion Clause Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Contract Law, Exclusion Clause - Coursework Example Some of the examples of service contracts are providing accounting services , provision of health care , provision of legal services,etc.(Bradgate & White 2007 :211). A service provider who deals with his customer cannot enforce his own printed standard terms of conditions thereby cannot either restrict or exclude his accountability for infringement of contract or offer an incomplete service for which he has to demonstrate that exclusion clause is in line with â€Å" test of fairness or reasonableness.† If he has not taken any reasonable skill or exercise reasonable care, he will be held liable under â€Å"negligence† under the common or contractual law. The act of negligence engrosses any infringement under common law or any contractual duty to exercise reasonable skill or to show reasonable care. This study will analyse whether by including an exclusion clause in a service contract, a party to contract can avoid the liability for any loss caused by the negligence. Exc lusion Clause and Negligence In UK, service contracts do contain limitation or exclusion clauses. Sometimes, these limitation clauses are upheld in the case law. As regards to exclusion clauses pertaining to liability in a contract and in tort are normally valid only if they are rational which connotes in consideration with both contracting parties at the juncture of contract is made as per the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977. An exclusion clause is like a double -edged sword since it will be construed against the party who relies on it as held in Curtis v.Chemical Cleaning Co. 1 (Barendrecht 2007 :685). A service contract may contain an exclusion clause thereby one party wants to restrict his accountability for his negligence or infringement of contract. Moreover, such clause can be relied by a party only if it has been included in the said contract, and for the purpose of elucidation, it is applicable to the loss in the question. Its validity will then be interpreted under the â₠¬Å"Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999† and under the â€Å"Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977.† It is to be observed that the above laws are introduced in UK on the basis ofEU Unfair Consumer Contract Terms Directive. (Lawson 2011:57). A party desirous to trust on the exclusion clause must demonstrate that it is part and parcel of the contract. Through by a notice or by signature or through the process of dealing, an exclusion clause can be inserted in the contract. For exclusion of any liability for negligence, there should be clear words in a contract as held in White v John Warwick2. (Taylor & Taylor: 136). A service supplier is accountable under the statute only for not taking rational care in the provision of service. In normal parlance, there exists no implicit responsibility to accomplish any given outcome by a supplier of service and if a buyer wishes to have such undertaking, it should be provided in the service contract as an express term. (Bradga te & White2007:212). Under s2 (2) of the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977?accountability for any other variety of damage or loss can be kept out provided the notice or term fulfils the prerequisite of reasonableness. A service provider cannot control or exclude his accountability in negligence for loss originating from defects in services provided for either consumption or for private use by means of notice or term included in a guarantee. In an action of

Performance Evaluation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Performance Evaluation - Essay Example Thirdly, there are strong evidences found which represent the inclusion of an element of biasness and partiality in evaluating the performance of the personnel, which in turn may lead to significant deviations from the actual performance of the personnel. Traits are defined as the properties and characteristics of any given person’s personality. Every person always keeps and carries all personality traits with him/her such that these traits become inseparable from the personality of the person. In evaluating the performance of an employee, the personality traits do have their importance as they actually demonstrate what the personality of the employee is all about (Dessler 2010). Is he/she charming, extrovert, sharp, lazy, or arrogant etc? Behaviors are the particular course of action that a person demonstrates in a particular situation. Behaviors are more concerned with the physical activities and dealings that a person displays given the overall theme or mood of a particular environment. These behaviors are also affected by the mood and emotions of the person as well. For instance, the employee may reflect a careless behavior in the work environment which would be referred to as his behavior, but what actually is causing him to behave in such a weird manner, might be the family issues, financial issues or any other issue (Dessler 2010). Job results are the actual outcomes that are achieved as a result of performing a specific task or duty. Whatever task or duty assigned to the worker, is judged by the ultimate outcome or result of that particular task (Dessler 2010). For example, if an employee is assigned to draft a particular report, the ultimate outcome or result of that task would be the final draft report to be handed over to the supervisor. What actually matters to any organization are the results obtained by the employees. Only those organizations prosper and remain successful in developing a result-oriented culture in their

Women offenders and prisioners Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Women offenders and prisioners - Essay Example The special guidelines for the treatment of female prisoners, namely the Bangkok Rules, have been adopted by the United Nations (UN) in the year 2010. Despite the fact that these rules have not been implemented in totality, they represent vast improvement for female prisoners in international law. The main motivator for this astounding development was Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol of Thailand. This redoubtable champion of women’s issues was instrumental in ensuring that the efforts of the Thai delegation to the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice was successful in its efforts (Barberet, 2014, p. 174). It has been acknowledged in these rules that female prisoners have drastically different requirements, in comparison to their male counterparts. To a major extent the Bangkok Rules are evidence based and acknowledge several of the findings of ‘Women Crime and Criminal Justice: A Global Enquiry’, by the eminent scholar Ms. Barberet. Moreover, the Bangkok Rules mirror several of the erstwhile reform efforts that had been undertaken on behalf of females in prison, across the world. For instance, these rules acknowledge the high incidence of victimization of female prisoners and their greater inclination to engage in self-harm and suicide; the lower risk of most female prisoners, but higher classification levels; the special status of female prisoners who are also mothers of children; the stigma encountered by female prisoners; the abuse of women for immoral crimes; and the specific needs of indigenous women prisoners (Barberet, 2014, p. 174). Furthermore, these rules recommend the provision of intimate articles for females, alternatives to invasive or strip searching, alternatives to incarceration for females, and research and data collection regarding the issues pertaining to imprisoned females. Moreover, these rules acknowledge that females, in some nations, are incarcerated, in order to safeguard them,

The video shop like letters Essay Example for Free

The video shop like letters Essay The task is to create a logo that can promote the video shop, and be put on all to do with the video shop like letters. My logo should be simple but effective, and not to cheesy. It should catch peoples eye, and make them want to read on. I will try to do this with colour and pictures. Software Requirements The software I choose must be able to: Â  Import pictures, so that I can actually create the logo. Â  Move and edit pictures, so that the logo can be tweaked, and the pictures do not stay as their original. Input text, so that the logo has text as well as pictures and so the name Mercury Entertainment can be on the logo. Shade pictures, so that I can make the logo look and have a professional feel. Â  Overlap and underlay objects, again to create a stylish look, and make the logo look the best it can. Change the text colour, font, and size, so that I do not have to keep boring Arial text, and can make a good logo. Â  Convert to pictures, so that I can save the copy as a jpeg file, to save space and time loading the original file, and then copying it from there. I could produce the logo using a word processor. This is a limited, but simple way of doing the logo. It can do everything above, apart from edit pictures in the way that other programs can do. It can wrap text, and edit the brightness, but it cannot edit pictures in the most expert technique that I want, for example, fading different parts of the graphic, or overlapping objects. It would be able to produce the logo, but it might not be as good as if I used another program. I need it to look the best I can because I want to promote the business as much as possible. I could produce the logo using MS Paint , but this a very basic program, more so than the word processor. It does not have import feature, but you can use traditional copy and paste. It cannot overlap and underlay objects with a toolbar button, but of course, you will be able to by just placing one graphic over another. It cannot convert graphics to pictures either; well I cannot find a tool for it. I will produce the logo using Serif PagePlus 8, because it is the most expert program that I have to choose from, and it will help me to create the logo to the full quality. It can import pictures through the typical copy and paste, and through Insert Picture. It can move pictures through the normal method, by clicking and holding the left mouse button over the picture and then dragging it to where you want it to be. It can input text through the keyboard, just as any other program does. To shade a picture, you must highlight the picture and then click on the attributes tab on the right. Then there is a shade slide bar on the bottom, which you can slide to the right to shade lighter and right for heavier. It can over and under lap objects with the two buttons on the arrange toolbar, at the top: With these, the left sends the item to the back, and the right one brings the picture to the front. Text is edited in the standard way, by the toolbar at the top, or by clicking Format Character. It can convert things to pictures. You have to highlight the certain graphics you want to be a picture, and then click Tools Convert to Picture It will then come up with a box: Select JPEG from the combo box, as it provides a picture with small file size, and therefore easiest and fastest to work with. After this, it will be converted to a jpeg; however, it will be inside the page plus publication. To export the picture so that it is a new file, highlight the picture, and click File Export As Picture This will then open a new window, enabling you to save the picture as a certain format. I chose JPEG, because it has the smallest compression size at a 24-bit format. This will enable me to use it quickly and efficiently. Conclusion I am going to use Serif Page plus 8 for my logo, as it is the most professional and enables me to do things in which a word processor and MS Paint cannot. It is much easier to use from a graphic point of view, and it is not hard to put in text. I also know much more about it than I do a word processor or MS Paint, which makes it easier to work with. That means, if I use a word processor or MS Paint, it will be very time-consuming to find out how to do things that I am not sure about doing. Outline Plan I will type Mercury Entertainment straight into the package in a logo art format, so that it is more eye-catching, and can be changed to different shapes and colours, and can have shadows and backgrounds. I will get my graphics from Microsoft Office Design Gallery. This is because it has a wide selection of clipart and graphics, all available for download. I will bring them onto the page by copy and paste. When you download it, the picture appears in the clipart window, and you can easily highlight it, and then copy (Ctrl + C) and then go to the Page plus 8 windows and press (Ctrl + V) to import it onto the display. I will probably use Times New Roman, as it is the easiest to read, and the default font, that is not that boring. See below. I will then export the thing as a picture, after highlighting it, so it can be used universally. Appendix Trebuchet MS Nice font, easy-to-read, and practical. Tempus Sans ITC Sophisticated, but not that clear first time, better for wine lists. Times New Roman Very good, clear, definitely using this, it is very clear for all ages. Verdana Big, very clear, but it does not look attractive. Arial Easy-to-read, but plain, better for kids stories. Book Antiqua Very Attractive, but still clear, definitely using this. Calisto MT Much like Times New Roman, but more kid-like. Comic Sans MS Very plain and young. Graphite Light ATT Sophisticated and cool, but too narrow. Lucida Handwriting Very nice, but not too easy-to-read. Design of Promotion Logo Michael Boulter 11. 7.

The Gender Pay Gaps

The Gender Pay Gaps The U.K gender pay gap is nowadays one of the highest of Europe. Men earn 21, 1% more than woman, based on the average difference between gross hourly earnings (figure 1, statistics.gov.uk, 2009). Even if the pay gap between men and women has fallen quite dramatically over the past 30 years, the headline masks some less positive developments in recent years. UK is used to each generation of women making progress relative to the one before. But this process has slowed with the current generation doing only slightly better than the previous one. After several researches, the complexity of the topic arises; many factors and proofs demonstrate this inequality, thus leading to a high diversity of opinions. This gap varies according to the kind of work; in April 2009 hourly rates for men were  £12.97 for full-timers,  £7.71 for part-timers. For women, hourly rates were  £11.39 for full-timers,  £7.86 for part-timers (R. Barnett, Sky News, 2010). Between the private sector and the public sector, the gap is considerably changing. In 2008, in the private sector the pay gap was 21.7 % while in the public sector it was 13.8 % (The Times, 2008). Paradoxically, as point the Office of National Statistics in 2009, full-times 16-17 years-old females earned 12.6% more than males, on the other hand, part-times females earned 1.3% less than males. Thus, surveys underline real contradictions existing in the English system of payment. The goal of this essay is first to review the possible causes and origins of this inequality by analysing the political and socio-cultural values of United Kingdom relating the pay gap, and secondly show the measures that should and could be taken to fight it. The first part treats of the major discrimination facing females, the stereotyping of womens careers, perception of womens work, and how social roots act on todays women life. In the second part we talk first about the precedent government actions, then the actual actions and state of mind of UK, and the European precautions to fight the pay gap. 1- The reasons of this pay gap. Many causes can explain the pay gap existing in United Kingdom; recent researchers have pursued a number of hypotheses, sometimes exploiting unique features of specific data sets, in attempts to answer this question. The trade Union Congress (TUC) in its report of 2008 explained the UK actual pay gap in terms of 4 explanations. 36% of the pay gap could be explained by differences in lifetimes working patterns, 18 % is caused by labour market rigidities, 38% is caused by direct discrimination and individuals careers preferences, and 8% is caused by the fact that older women had power educational attainment. Discrimination is the most current argument used to explain the gender pay gap. Evidences from a range of sources indicate that recruitment and selection processes, and a substantial degree of job stereotyping, perpetuate an industry profile in which the men dominate the high-earning jobs and women the low-earning jobs. As point the Telegraph magazine the 5 September 2007, the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) published a survey founding that mal managers were paid 12.2% more than females in 2007. It shows that with the same job, females are still pay much less than males. Another study published by the UK government called National Equality Panel, states that Women under the age of 44 are better qualified than their male counterparts but receive 21% lower wages. Another idea largely sustained by the professor J. Shackleton of the University of East London. He argue that the differences came down to individual lifestyle preferences (dailymail.co.uk, 2008)  « female graduates tend to choose subjects such as psychology or education, which lead to lower-earning careers, while few opt for maths or engineering, which are more likely to result in lucrative jobs à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ã‚ » . This idea is supported by a survey of 2007 stating the womens top ten occupations (Table 1) Table 1: Womens top ten occupations, second quarter 200741 Standard Occupational Classification Total in employment (000s) 1 Sales Assistants and Retail Cashiers 1,094 2 Teaching Professionals 873 3 Healthcare Related Personal Services 801 4 Secretarial and Related Occupations 793 5 Childcare Related Personal Services 721 6 Administrative Occupations: Finance 600 7 Health Associate Professionals 586 8 Elementary Personal Service Occupations 567 9 Administrative Occupations: General 556 10 Elementary Cleaning Occupations 483 Total of these 10 occupations 7,074 Total women in employment 13,196 Source: TUC report 2008 The report points the fact that females are more likely to work in service occupations and males to management and skilled trades. Moreover this job segregation is accentuated by the fact that girls are steel stereotyped into careers they should pursue. The neoclassic way of thinking of the 1960s says that there are womens jobs and mans jobs and promotes the disproportionate success of patriarchy and male dominance. Women are only 22% of computing students and 15% of engineering students, and when it comes to the first employment therefore the choice is different, on the womens top 25 preferring graduate jobs, 12 are in the public and voluntary sectors, and in this case high pay is unusual. Moreover, women look for lower first salary than men expect, less likely to attempt to negotiate over pay, less likely to seek promotion and do not look for other jobs in pursuit of higher pay (The Sunday times, 2008). In an international comparison this high UK pay gap exists because a lot of women work. For example, Italy has a gender pay gap half the UKs one, but its overtaxed and overregulated create few opportunities for women to work. But its tending to change, as point C. Hakim in her book Work-lifestyle choices in the 21st century: preference theory (2000) The equal opportunities revolution means that the full range of occupations and activities become accessible to all women For several reasons, the womens work is under-valued. This undervaluation have two facets: females tend to be paid less than males for the same work, and the jobs that they do tend to attract lower wages then mens jobs. D. Grimshaw and J. Rubery of the Machester Business School have identified fives Vs involving to create lower pay. The Visibility, Large and undifferentiated pay and grading bands do not recognise womens skills that conceal different skills and experiences. The Valuation, it means that there is a tradition in the British culture for not giving a high value to womens skills. The Vocation, it determines that the skills of women are natural, which accentuate there low valuation. The Value added, tends to say that jobs of men are more likely to imply a higher value to a process. The Variance, for both employers and women themselves, part times work is often seen as synonymous with unskilled work Another cause of this gender pay gap is that it has been seen that women are more likely to work in part-time jobs. This is quite a big problem for womens pay, as point a survey done by the ONS in 2009, the average hourly wage for a full-time job was  £11.39 and  £7.86 for part-timers. In addition to a lower wage for the part-timers, women have more interruptions to their careers. A research for the Equalities Review found that three kinds of people have disadvantages in getting jobs, the disable people, Pakistani and Bangladeshi women and mothers (R. Berthoud, M. Blekesaune, 2007). A study of 2007 of seven industrial countries found that there were considerable negative effects on mothers wages. United Kingdom had the highest penalty, 8% for one child, 24% for two children and 31% for three children. As point previously, 53.6% of women worked in the top ten occupations in 2007, moreover the influences of gender-stereotyped early environment limited choices for girls at school. Whats more whatever industry or occupations women work for; men were earning more than women with graduations in the same subject. Some studies justify this pay gap because of the better productivity of men over women. First women would be more concern with childbearing, second there is the argument that women are less competitive and more-risk averse than men. As a result they select lower-paid occupations. (fazeer.wordpress.com, 2009) Politically talking, David Laws the Liberal Democrats families spokesman, said that the TUC reports proved the damage done by the Britains society in the 1980s by the Conservative Government Finally, gender pay gap is caused by many little factors contributing on their way to this inequality. While good progress had been made in several areas like childcare and the right to request flexible working, the women and work commission remained disappointed in the deficiency of progress. Mentalities are changing but the persistence of a significant gender pay gap (21.1%) in UK state not only impacts on womens life but also womens continuing experience of discrimination. To fight this phenomenon, national as international organizations such as the European commission or the Government Equality Office of England, plan to use a series of measures aiming to reduce significantly the pay gap. 2- How to fight the gender pay gap? Since the equal pay act of 1970 which aim to prohibit in terms of pay and conditions of employment, any less favorable treatment between men and women, criticized as it fails to address the gap between ethnic minorities, a lot of things have changed. In 1997, the Single Status was intended in order to establish whether jobs were of equal value, and to delete the need for equal pay claims bring in a pay model. Another regulation was bringing to the equal pay amendment in 2003. Nowadays several actions are implemented at the national level as European to deliver real results. The making up 40 years later is not positive; it lacks a requirement for transparent reporting. Several institutions start making pressure on the English government. The Women and Work Commission accuses the government for not having encouraged girls to choose non-traditional jobs and look for the promotion of qualifies flexible and part-time work. (Dailymail reporter, 2009). Several progresses have been done on the public sector, in 2007, in the form of the public sector duties, England welcomed a new generation of equality legislation. The duty tiled the way for greater transparency across the sector, and moved the onus onto public sector employers to address and identify pay inequalities within its workforce. (R. Lewis, S. Smee, 2009). In 2008, the public sector had a pay gap of 13.8 %, the private sector 21.7 % (The Times, 2008). The Equal Opportunities Commission has developed a five step model to be used by company to avoid inequalities. A full pay audits provide a measurement of pay but also they ensure that employer takes action to remove any injustice. The first step decides the scope of equal pay review and identify data required, the second step identify where males and females do the equal work. The step three to identify any pay gaps consists in collecting pay data. In case of gap found the step four establish the causes of pay gaps. The step five consists in developing an equal action plan, reviews and monitors. Today this action plan is already performed by several employers. (R. |Lewis 2009). The government now have to work with the private sector in particular to develop guidance for managers on how to use flexible working in order to bring benefit to their business and employees. The UK government now knows the imperative for raised transparency around pay system, the GEO (Government Equalities Office) in its business plan 2009/10 outlines several reforms and objectives promoting transparency and equality. Among those, develop the cooperation with organisms such as the EHRC (European Human Right Commission) and the TUC (Trades Union Congress) is a priority to better palliate to the pay gap problem. Introduce a new power in the Equality bill to request large private sector employers to report on their gender pay gap if there is no progress made on voluntary reporting by 2013. However, overture within the bill contain a power to require private sector employers with at least 250 employees to report the gender pay gap. That is to say that over 4, 7 millions businesses in UK, approximately 6,000 organisations have over 250 employees, which is quite unlikely to have a significant impact. Looking abroad, France and Sweden inspire good pay equity framework. They have adopted in 2001 compulsory pay legislation. Organisations with 50 or more employees are required to negotiate agreement son equality at work and submit an annual report including information on pay range, number of women in highest paid position, and average monthly pay (R. Lewis, S. Smee, 2009). In order to force European governments to tackle the gender pay gap, the European parliament takes resolutions. In its report of the 10 February 2010, by managing the governments initiative, the social partner initiatives and good practices initiatives, the gender pay gap would progressively disappear. Thus the European commission will put forward a new EU strategy for gender equality for 2010-2015, augmenting sanctions, furnish pay transparency and regular reporting on the pay gap. The commission will also elevate the awareness among employee and employers, encourage the equality at the workplace with equality label awards and charters. In France, in 2004 the label à ©galità © professionel has been created, thus companies can obtain it if they follow a special procedure. Whats more the commission assists the development of tools to help employers understand gender pay gap within their organisation. Germany developed software calculating the wage gap helping employers become aware of the situation. The last objective is to improve the supply and quality of the statistics on the pay gap (europa.eu, 2010) Finally, solutions are multiples to tackle the UK pay gap, organisations and administrations just have to apply the actual and future reforms, the European commission is conducting a study on initiatives, the result will be presented on 5 may 2010. Conclusion This pay gap raises the debate above the nature versus nurture. That is to say, should the UK society take of the individuals innate qualities to fix a wage? The answer is probably much more complex than the previous essay. As seen previously, the causes are multiple and controversy, as old is the debate, mentalities first have to change to completely remove this inequality. As point the surveys and studies of the TUC organisation and the WWC, this discrimination is far to be over. Local and international organizations are mobilizing to close it. United Kingdom will have to take example of others countries experience for remove the pay gap. Finally, only a few initiatives have been done to target female choice of profession, career ad sector. Raising awareness and promoting sectors and professions could help to undertake the root of this problem; UK does not need to reside in a vicious circle.

Sir John A. Macdonald Essay -- Canadian History

Sir John A. Macdonald Sir John A. Macdonald was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on January 10, 1815. His fathers name was Hugh Macdonald and his mothers name was Helen Shaw. His father had migrated to Glasgow from the town of Dornach. His father was a very pleasant and easy going guy and he alwasys wanted to make everyhting better but he usually made things worst. He was a man that had lots of friends, he would talk a lot and drink too. His mother came from Spey Vally. His mother was a very smart girl, she was like the opposite of his father. His mother and father got married on 1811, and after 8 years they had 5 children, the eldest child died and after John was the eldest. In Glasgow his fathers business wansn't doing that good and he thought that if they would move to upper Canada they would have a better life there. So finally in 1820 they sailed to upper Canada. They arrived at Kingston in mid July, and John was only five years old. When he arrived his thought about Scotland just disapeard. The M acdonald family decided to stay in Kingston. Sir John A. only went to school untill 1829, when he was only 15. His parents couldn't afford to send him to University. He says that if had went to University he wouldn't have went into politics. When he turned 15 Sir John A. articled to a Kingston lawyer, George Mackenzie, so he was learining Law. In 1832 Mackenzie opened a branch office where he put Macdonald in charge of it. Later on he had taken over another law practice i...

Conflict Theory

The several social theories that emphasize social conflict have roots in the ideas of Karl Marx (1818-1883), the great German theorist and political activist. The Marxist, conflict approach emphasizes a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical method of analysis, a critical stance toward existing social arrangements, and a political program of revolution or, at least, reform. Marx summarized the key elements of this materialist view of history as follows: In the social production of their existence, men inevitably enter into definite relations, which are independent of their will, namely relations of production appropriate to a given stage in the development of their material forces of production. The totality of these relations of production constitutes the economic structure of society, the real foundation, on which arises a legal and political superstructure and to which correspond definite forms of social consciousness. The mode of production of material life conditions the general process of social, political and intellectual life. It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness (Marx 1971:20). Marx divided history into several stages, conforming to broad patterns in the economic structure of society. The most important stages for Marx's argument were feudalism, capitalism, and socialism. The bulk of Marx's writing is concerned with applying the materialist model of society to capitalism, the stage of economic and social development that Marx saw as dominant in 19th century Europe. For Marx, the central institution of capitalist society is private property, the system by which capital (that is, money, machines, tools, factories, and other material objects used in production) is controlled by a small minority of the population. This arrangement leads to two opposed classes, the owners of capital (called the bourgeoisie) and the workers (called the proletariat), whose only property is their own labor time, which they have to sell to the capitalists. Economic exploitation leads directly to political oppression, as owners make use of their economic power to gain control of the state and turn it into a servant of bourgeois economic interests. Police power, for instance, is used to enforce property rights and guarantee unfair contracts between capitalist and worker. Oppression also takes more subtle forms: religion serves capitalist interests by pacifying the population; intellectuals, paid directly or indirectly by capitalists, spend their careers justifying and rationalizing the existing social and economic arrangements. In sum, the economic structure of society molds the superstructure, including ideas (e. g. , morality, ideologies, art, and literature) and the social institutions that support the class structure of society (e. g. , the state, the educational system, the family, and religious institutions). Because the dominant or ruling class (the bourgeoisie) controls the social relations of production, the dominant ideology in capitalist society is that of the ruling class. Ideology and social institutions, in turn, serve to reproduce and perpetuate the economic class structure. Thus, Marx viewed the exploitative economic arrangements of capitalism as the real foundation upon which the superstructure of social, political, and intellectual consciousness is built. (Figure 1 depicts this model of historical materialism. Marx's view of history might seem completely cynical or pessimistic, were it not for the possibilities of change revealed by his method of dialectical analysis. (The Marxist dialectical method, based on Hegel's earlier idealistic dialectic, focuses attention on how an existing social arrangement, or thesis, generates its social opposite, or antithesis, and on how a qualitatively different social form, or synthesis, emerges from the resulting struggle. ) Marx was an optim ist. He believed that any stage of history based on exploitative economic arrangements generated within itself the seeds of its own destruction. For instance, feudalism, in which land owners exploited the peasantry, gave rise to a class of town-dwelling merchants, whose dedication to making profits eventually led to the bourgeois revolution and the modern capitalist era. Similarly, the class relations of capitalism will lead inevitably to the next stage, socialism. The class relations of capitalism embody a contradiction: capitalists need workers, and vice versa, but the economic interests of the two groups are fundamentally at odds. Such contradictions mean inherent conflict and instability, the class struggle. Adding to the instability of the capitalist system are the inescapable needs for ever-wider markets and ever-greater investments in capital to maintain the profits of capitalists. Marx expected that the resulting economic cycles of expansion and contraction, together with tensions that will build as the working class gains greater understanding of its exploited position (and thus attains class consciousness), will eventually culminate in a socialist revolution. Despite this sense of the unalterable logic of history, Marxists see the need for social criticism and for political activity to speed the arrival of socialism, which, not being based on private property, is not expected to involve as many contradictions and conflicts as capitalism. Marxists believe that social theory and political practice are dialectically intertwined, with theory enhanced by political involvement and with political practice necessarily guided by theory. Intellectuals ought, therefore, to engage in praxis, to combine political criticism and political activity. Theory itself is seen as necessarily critical and value-laden, since the prevailing social relations are based upon alienating and dehumanizing exploitation of the labor of the working classes. Marx's ideas have been applied and reinterpreted by scholars for over a hundred years, starting with Marx's close friend and collaborator, Friedrich Engels (1825-95), who supported Marx and his family for many years from the profits of the textile factories founded by Engels' father, while Marx shut himself away in the library of the British Museum. Later, Vladimir I. Lenin (1870-1924), leader of the Russian revolution, made several influential contributions to Marxist theory. In recent years Marxist theory has taken a great variety of forms, notably the world-systems theory proposed by Immanuel Wallerstein (1974, 1980) and the comparative theory of revolutions put forward by Theda Skocpol (1980). Marxist ideas have also served as a starting point for many of the modern feminist theorists. Despite these applications, Marxism of any variety is still a minority position among American sociologists. Functionalism is the oldest, and still the dominant, theoretical perspective in sociology and many other social sciences. This perspective is built upon twin emphases: application of the scientific method to the objective social world and use of an analogy between the individual organism and society. The emphasis on scientific method leads to the assertion that one can study the social world in the same ways as one studies the physical world. Thus, Functionalists see the social world as â€Å"objectively real,† as observable with such techniques as social surveys and interviews. Furthermore, their positivistic view of social science assumes that study of the social world can be value-free, in that the investigator's values will not necessarily interfere with the disinterested search for social laws governing the behavior of social systems. Many of these ideas go back to Emile Durkheim (1858-1917), the great French sociologist whose writings form the basis for functionalist theory (see Durkheim 1915, 1964); Durkheim was himself one of the first sociologists to make use of scientific and statistical techniques in sociological research (1951). The second emphasis, on the organic unity of society, leads functionalists to speculate about needs which must be met for a social system to exist, as well as the ways in which social institutions satisfy those needs. A functionalist might argue, for instance, that every society will have a religion, because religious institutions have certain functions which contribute to the survival of the social system as a whole, just as the organs of the body have functions which are necessary for the body's survival. Functionalist theories have very often been criticized as teleological, that is, reversing the usual order of cause and effect by explaining things in terms of what happens afterward, not what went before. A strict functionalist might explain certain religious practices, for instance, as being functional by contributing to a society's survival; however, such religious traditions will usually have been firmly established long before the question is finally settled of whether the society as a whole will actually survive. Bowing to this kind of criticism of the basic logic of functionalist theory, most current sociologists have stopped using any explicitly functionalistic explanations of social phenomena, and the extreme version of functionalism expounded by Talcott Parsons has gone out of fashion. Nevertheless, many sociologists continue to expect that by careful, objective scrutiny of social phenomena they will eventually be able to discover the general laws of social behavior, and this hope still serves as the motivation for a great deal of sociological thinking and research. RATIONAL CHOICE AND EXCHANGE THEORY {text:bookmark-start} {text:bookmark-end} SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM Symbolic interactionism, or interactionism for short, is one of the major theoretical perspectives in sociology. This perspective has a long intellectual history, beginning with the German sociologist and economist, Max Weber (1864-1920) and the American philosopher, George H. Mead (1863-1931), both of whom emphasized the subjective meaning of human behavior, the social process, and pragmatism. Although there are a number of versions of interactionist thought, some deriving from phenomenological writings by philosophers, the following description offers a simplified amalgamation of these ideas, concentrating on points of convergence. Herbert Blumer, who studied with Mead at the University of Chicago, is responsible for coining the term, â€Å"symbolic interactionism,† as well as for formulating the most prominent version of the theory (Blumer 1969). Interactionists focus on the subjective aspects of social life, rather than on objective, macro-structural aspects of social systems. One reason for this focus is that interactionists base their theoretical perspective on their image of humans, rather than on their image of society (as the functionalists do). For interactionists, humans are pragmatic actors who continually must adjust their behavior to the actions of other actors. We can adjust to these actions only because we are able to interpret them, i. e. , to denote them symbolically and treat the actions and those who perform them as symbolic objects. This process of adjustment is aided by our ability to imaginatively rehearse alternative lines of action before we act. The process is further aided by our ability to think about and to react to our own actions and even our selves as symbolic objects. Thus, the interactionist theorist sees humans as active, creative participants who construct their social world, not as passive, conforming objects of socialization. For the interactionist, society consists of organized and patterned interactions among individuals. Thus, research by interactionists focuses on easily observable face-to-face interactions rather than on macro-level structural relationships involving social institutions. Furthermore, this focus on interaction and on the meaning of events to the participants in those events (the definition of the situation) shifts the attention of interactionists away from stable norms and values toward more changeable, continually readjusting social processes. Whereas for functionalists socialization creates stability in the social system, for interactionists negotiation among members of society creates temporary, socially constructed relations which remain in constant flux, despite relative stability in the basic framework governing those relations. These emphases on symbols, negotiated reality, and the social construction of society lead to an interest in the roles people play. Erving Goffman (1958), a prominent social theorist in this tradition, discusses roles dramaturgically, using an analogy to the theater, with human social behavior seen as more or less well scripted and with humans as role-taking actors. Role-taking is a key mechanism of interaction, for it permits us to take the other's perspective, to see what our actions might mean to the other actors with whom we interact. At other times, interactionists emphasize the improvisational quality of roles, with human social behavior seen as poorly scripted and with humans as role-making improvisers. Role-making, too, is a key mechanism of interaction, for all situations and roles are inherently ambiguous, thus requiring us to create those situations and roles to some extent before we can act. Interactionists tend to study social interaction through participant observation, rather than surveys and interviews. They argue that close contact and immersion in the everyday lives of the participants is necessary for understanding the meaning of actions, the definition of the situation itself, and the process by which actors construct the situation through their interaction. Given this close contact, interactionists could hardly remain free of value commitments, and, in fact, interactionists make explicit use of their values in choosing what to study but strive to be objective in the conduct of their research. Symbolic interactionists are often criticized by other sociologists for being overly impressionistic in their research methods and somewhat unsystematic in their theories. These objections, combined with the fairly narrow focus of interactionist research on small-group interactions and other social psychological issues, have relegated the interactionist camp to a minority position among sociologists, although a fairly substantial minority. Bureaucratic Form According to Max Weber — His Six Major Principles Before covering Weber's Six Major Principles, I want to describe the various multiple meanings of the word â€Å"bureaucracy. A group of workers (for example, civil service employees of the U. S. government), is referred to as â€Å"the bureaucracy. † An example: â€Å"The threat of Gramm-Rudman-Hollings cuts has the bureaucracy in Washington deeply concerned. † Bureaucracy is the name of an organizational form used by sociologists and organizational design pr ofessionals. Bureaucracy has an informal usage, as in â€Å"there's too much bureaucracy where I work. † This informal usage describes a set of characteristics or attributes such as â€Å"red tape† or â€Å"inflexibility† that frustrate people who deal with or who work for organizations they perceive as â€Å"bureaucratic. Weber noted six major principles. 1. A formal hierarchical structure Each level controls the level below and is controlled by the level above. A formal hierarchy is the basis of central planning and centralized decision making. 2. Management by rules Controlling by rules allows decisions made at high levels to be executed consistently by all lower levels. 3. Organization by functional specialty Work is to be done by specialists, and people are organized into units based on the type of work they do or skills they have. 4. An â€Å"up-focused† or â€Å"in-focused† mission If the mission is described as â€Å"up-focused,† then the organization's purpose is to serve the stockholders, the board, or whatever agency empowered it. If the mission is to serve the organization itself, and those within it, e. g. , to produce high profits, to gain market share, or to produce a cash stream, then the mission is described as â€Å"in-focused. † 5. Purposely impersonal The idea is to treat all employees equally and customers equally, and not be influenced by individual differences. . Employment based on technical qualifications (There may also be protection from arbitrary dismissal. ) The bureaucratic form, according to Parkinson, has another attribute. 7. Predisposition to grow in staff â€Å"above the line. † Weber failed to notice this, but C. Northcote Parkinson found it so common that he made it the basis of his humorous â€Å"Parkinson's law. † Parkinson demonstrated th at the management and professional staff tends to grow at predictable rates, almost without regard to what the line organization is doing. The bureaucratic form is so common that most people accept it as the normal way of organizing almost any endeavor. People in bureaucratic organizations generally blame the ugly side effects of bureaucracy on management, or the founders, or the owners, without awareness that the real cause is the organizing form. Iron cage is a sociological concept introduced by Max Weber. Iron cage refers to the increasing rationalization of human life, which traps individuals in an â€Å"iron cage† of rule-based, rational control. He also called such over-bureaucratized social order â€Å"the polar night of icy darkness†. The original German term is stahlhartes Gehause; this was translated into ‘iron cage', an expression made familiar to English language speakers by Talcott Parsons in his 1958 translation of Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Recently some sociologists have questioned this translation, arguing that the correct term should be ‘shell as hard as steel' and that the difference from the original translation is significant. A more literal translation from German would be â€Å"steel-hard housing. Weber wrote: â€Å"In Baxter’s view the care for external goods should only lie on the shoulders of the ‘saint like a light cloak, which can be thrown aside at any moment. ‘ But fate decreed that the cloak should become an iron cage. † Weber became concerned with social actions and the subjective meaning that humans attach to their action s and interaction within specific social contexts. He also believed in idealism, which is the belief that we only know things because of the meanings that we apply to them. This led to his interest in power and authority in terms of bureaucracy and rationalization