KFC in India Case Study Assignment (Ethical Issue) Essay

Abstract The case highlights the ethical issues involved in Kentucky Fried Chicken’s (KFC) business operations in India. KFC entered India in 1995 and has been in midst of controversies since then. The regulatory authorities found that KFC’s chickens did not adhere to the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954. Chickens contained nearly three times more monosodium glutamate (popularly known as MSG, a flavor enhancing ingredient) as allowed by the Act. Since the late 1990s, KFC faced severe protests by People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), an animal rights protection organization. PETA accused KFC of cruelty towards chickens and released a video tape showing the ill-treatment of birds in KFC’s poultry farms. However, undeterred by the protests by PETA and other animal rights organizations, KFC planned a massive expansion program in India. (see http://www.icmr.icfai.org/casestudies/catalogue/Business%20Ethics/BECG044.htm) Objectives Understand the significance of cultural, economic, regulatory and ecological issues while establishing business in a foreign country. Appreciate the need for protecting animal rights in developed and developing countries like India. Understand the importance of ethics in doing business. Examine the reasons for protests of PETA Identify solutions for KFC’s problems in India. Key Terms KFC, Business Ethics, International Business, People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Food Adulteration, Selling Junk Food, Cruelty against Animals, Animal Welfare Legislation, KFC’s Poultry Welfare Guidelines. â€Å"Each bird whom KFC puts into a box or a bucket had a miserable life and a frightening death. People would be shocked to see our footage of a KFC supplier’s employee who walks through a barn, carelessly lighting lamps and letting flames fall on the terrified birds. The air inside these filthy barns reeks of ammonia fumes, making it difficult for the birds to breathe. No one with a grain of compassion should set foot in KFC.† Ingrid Newkirk, Director, PETA. â€Å"The chicken they serve is full of chemicals, and the birds are given hormones, antibiotics and arsenic chemicals to fatten them quickly.† Nanjundaswamy. PROTEST AGAINST KFC On August 20, 2003, a five-foot tall chicken complete with an ensemble of feathers and beak hobbled on a pair of crutches outside Kentucky Fried Chicken’s (KFC) Indian outlet in Bangalore. The chicken was brought by PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) activists, who carried placards reading, â€Å"Quit India† and â€Å"Stop Playing Fowl† (a pun on â€Å"Foul†). The chicken was placed at the centre and a peaceful protest was held against the alleged ill treatment of birds in KFC’s poultry farms. Media persons were called to give the demonstration a wide coverage. Explaining the rationale behind the protest, Bijal Vachcharajani, special projects coordinator of PETA, said, â€Å"Ours is the land of Gandhi. Just as 61 years back our leaders gave a call for colonizers to quit India, we too are saying we will not tolerate cruel multinationals.† On the 61st anniversary of the ‘Quit India’ movement, PETA India wrote a letter to the Managing Director of Tricon Restaurant International, the parent company of KFC, asking them to close their sole KFC outlet in India. They got no reply. PETA activists decided to protest against KFC by carrying crippled chicken, which represented the birds suffering in the KFC’s farms. PETA claimed that after two years of intensive campaigning to increase animal welfare standards in poultry farms, other foreign fast food restaurants operating in India like McDonald’s and Burger King had improved the treatment of animals specially raised and slaughtered for food. Only KFC had not acted. Though PETA had organized other protests earlier, the crippled chicken campaign became the precursor for more intensive protests. PETA’s was one of the many shows of protest against KFC’s Indian outlet. BACKGROUND NOTE KFC was founded by Harland Sanders (Sanders) in the early 1930s, when he started cooking and serving food for hungry travellers who stopped by his service station in Corbin, Kentucky, US. He did not own a restaurant then, but served people on his own dining table in the living quarters of his service station. His chicken delicacies became popular and people started coming just for food. Kentucky Fried Chicken was born. Soon, Sanders moved across the street to a motel-cum-restaurant, later named ‘Sanders Court & Cafe,’ that seated around 142 people. Over the next nine years, he perfected his secret blend of 11 herbs and spices and the basic cooking technique of chicken. Sanders’ fame grew and he was given the title Kentucky Colonel by the state Governor in 1935 for his contribution to the state’s cuisine. Sanders’ restaurant business witnessed an unexpected halt in the early 1950s, when a new interstate highway was planned bypassing the town of Corbin. His restaurant flourished mainly due to the patronage of highway travellers. The new development meant the end of this. Sanders sold his restaurant operations. After settling all his bills, he was reduced to living on a meager $105 social security cheque. But Sanders did not lose hope. Banking on the popularity of his product and confident of his unique recipe for fried chicken, Sanders started franchising his chicken business in 1952. He called it Kentucky Fried Chicken. He travelled the length and breadth of the country by car, visiting as many restaurants as possible and cooking batches of chicken. If the restaurant owners liked his chicken, he entered into a handshake agreement that stipulated payment of a nickel for each plate of chicken sold by the restaurant. By 1964, Sanders franchised more than 600 chicken outlets in the US and Canada. The same year, he sold his interest in his company in the US for $2 million to a group of investors. However, he remained the public spokesperson for the company. KFC grew rapidly under the new owners and issued shares to the public on March 17, 1966. In July 1971, KFC was acquired by Heublein Inc. for $285 million. By then, KFC had over 3,500 franchised and company-owned restaurants in the world†¦. Sources/Links/References Peta protest KFC – part 1 Peta protest KFC – part 2 NY Times Article http://www.ecomall.com/greenshopping/peta.htm http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/245005 http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,115108,00.html http://multinationalmonitor.org/hyper/mm0196.03.html Analysis There are a number of issues relating to this incident that demonstrate the ethical and moral issues surrounding business. KFC’s business in India leads to a wide range of direct and indirect employment related to the business as a result of the investment by the company. KFC claims that it does not own chicken the farms. How honest are the claims that KFC is making? How reliable are the claims made by those who oppose KFC’s activities? What conflicts arise between the responsibilities that KFC has to the treatment of chickens and the local community, and to its shareholders, suppliers and employees, other external stakeholders? Your Assignment This is an independent assignment. Download and complete the KFC case analysis document. Save the document as named but by adding your last name then first to the end of the file name (separated by an underscore _ ) where indicated. In this document: Answer the above questions. You are to research this case using the above sources and others that you discover. Provide a work cited list only of those sources that you USE. . For full marks, use terminology and concepts from the course and its text. See the rubric at the end of the KFC case analysis document. Submit your completed copy of the KFC hard copy in class and electronic copy to the class email address by deadline date (see class website for due and deadline dates). NO EXTENSION WILL BE ALLOWED.

A Study on Futures and Potions

A STUDY ON FUTURES AND POTIONS Project submitted in partial fulfillment for the award of the degree of MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION DECLARATION I hereby declare that this Project Report titled, â€Å"A STUDY ON THE DERIVATIVES† submitted by me to the Department OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, XXXX and is a bonafide work under taken by me and it is not submitted to any other University or Institution for the award of any degree diploma / certificate or published any time before. Name and Address of the StudentSignature of the student Date : ACKNOWLEDGEMENTI wish to express my sincere deep sense of gratitude and also thank my guide XXX, Faculty of Finance for his significant suggestions and help in every aspect to accomplish the project work. His persisting encouragement, everlasting patience and keen interest in discussions have benefited me to the extent that cannot be spanned by words. I take my pleasure to acknowledge XXXX for the facilities provided and constant encouragem ent. Finally I express bows to everyone who are involved with this project. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION METHODOLOGY 1 FUTURES 2 OPTIONS ANALYSIS OF THE STUDYSUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS BIBLIOGRAPHY INTRODUCTION Nature of the problem: The turnover of the stock exchanges has been tremendously increasing from last 10 years. The number of trades and the number of investors, who are participating, have increased. The investors are willing to reduce their risk, so they are seeking for the risk management tools. Prior to SEBI abolishing the BADLA system, the investors had this system as a source of reducing the risk, as it has many problems like no strong margining system, unclear expiration date and generating counter party risk.In view of this problem SEBI abolished the BADLA system. After the abolition of the BADLA system, the investors are seeking for a hedging system, which could reduce their portfolio risk. SEBI thought the introduction of the derivatives trading, as a first step it has set up a 24 member committee under the chairmanship of Dr. L. C. Gupta to develop the appropriate regulatory framework for derivative trading in India, SEBI accepted the recommendations of the committee on May 11, 1998 and approved the phased introduction of the derivatives trading beginning with stock index futures.There are many investors who are willing to trade in the derivative segment, because of its advantages like limited loss and unlimited profit by paying the small premiums. IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY: To evaluate the profit/loss position of option holder and option writer. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY: ? To analyze the derivatives market in India. ? To analyze the operations of futures and options. ? To find out the profit/loss position of the option writer and option holder. ? To study about risk management with the help of derivatives. SCOPE OF THE STUDY:The study is limited to â€Å"Derivatives† with special reference to futures and options in the Indian context and the Hyder abad stock exchange has been taken as a representative sample for the study. The study can’t be said as totally perfect. Any alteration may come. The study has only made a humble attempt at evaluating derivatives market only in Indian context. The study is not based on the international perspective of derivatives markets, which exists in NASDAQ, NYSE etc. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY: The following are the limitations of this study. The scrip chosen for analysis is STATE BANK OF INDIA and the contract taken is March 2005 ending one-month contract. ? The data collected is completely restricted to the STATE BANK OF INDIA of March 2005; hence this analysis cannot be taken as universal. METHODOLOGY The emergence of the market for derivative products, most notably forwards, futures and options, can be traced back to the willingness of risk-averse economic agents to guard themselves against uncertainties arising out of fluctuations in asset prices.By their very nature, the financial ma rkets are marked by a very high degree of volatility. Through the use of derivative products, it is possible to partially or fully transfer price risks by locking–in asset prices. As instruments of risk management, these generally do not influence the fluctuations in the underlying asset prices. However, by locking-in asset prices, derivative products minimize the impact of fluctuations in asset prices on the profitability and cash flow situation of risk-averse investors. Derivatives are risk management instruments, which derive their value from an underlying asset.The underlying asset can be bullion, index, share, bonds, currency, interest etc. Banks, securities firms, companies and investors to hedge risks, to gain access to cheaper money and to make profit, use derivatives. Derivatives are likely to grow even at a faster rate in future. DEFINITION: Derivative is a product whose value is derived from the value of an underlying asset in a contractual manner. The underlying a sset can be equity, forex, commodity or any other asset. Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956 (SC(R) A) defines â€Å"derivative† to include – 1.A security derived from a debt instrument, share, loan whether secured or unsecured, risk instrument or contract for differences or any other form of security. 2. A contract which derives its value from the prices, or index of prices, of underlying securities. PARTICIPANTS: The following three broad categories of participants in the derivatives market. HEDGERS: Hedgers face risk associated with the price of an asset. They use futures or options markets to reduce or eliminate this risk. SPECULATORS: Speculators wish to bet on future movements in the price of an asset.Futures and options contracts can give them an extra leverage; that is, they can increase both the potential gains and potential losses in a speculative venture. ARBITRAGEURS: Arbitrageurs are in business to take advantage of a discrepancy between prices in two different markets. If, for example, they see the futures price of an asset getting out of line with the cash price, they will take offsetting positions in the two markets to lock in a profit. FUNCTIONS OF DERIVATIVES MARKET: The following are the various functions that are performed by the derivatives markets.They are: ? Prices in an organized derivatives market reflect the perception of market participants about the future and lead the prices of underlying to the perceived future level. ? Derivatives market helps to transfer risks from those who have them but may not like them to those who have an appetite for them. ? Derivative trading acts as a catalyst for new entrepreneurial activity. ? Derivatives markets help increase savings and investment in the long run. Types of derivatives: the following are the various types of derivatives. They are: Forwards:A forward contract is a customized contract between two entities, where settlement takes place on a specific date in the futu re at today’s pre-agreed price. Futures: A futures contract is an agreement between two parties to buy or sell an asset at a certain time in the future at a certain price. Options: Options are of two types – calls and puts. Calls give the buyer the right but not the obligation to buy a given quantity of the underlying asset, at a given price on or before a given future date. Puts give the buyer the right, but not the obligation to sell a given quantity of the underlying asset at a given price on or before a given date.Warrants: Options generally have lives of upto one year; the majority of options traded on options exchanges having a maximum maturity of nine months. Longer-dated options are called warrants and are generally traded over-the-counter. LEAPS: The acronym LEAPS means Long-Term Equity Anticipation Securities. These are options having a maturity of upto three years. Baskets: Basket options are options on portfolios of underlying assets. The underlying asset i s usually a moving average of a basket of assets. Equity index options are a form of basket options. Swaps:Swaps are private agreements between two parties to exchange cash flows in the future according to a prearranged formula. They can be regarded as portfolios of forward contracts. The two commonly used swaps are: Interest rate swaps: These entail swapping only the interest related cash flows between the parties in the same currency. _ Currency swaps: These entail swapping both principal and interest between the parties, with the cash flows in one direction being in a different currency than those in the opposite Direction. Swaptions: Swaptions are options to buy or sell a swap that will become operative at the expiry of the options.Thus a swaption is an option on a forward swap. RATIONALE BEHIND THE DEVELOPMENT OF DERIVATIVES: Holding portfolio of securities is associated with the risk of the possibility that the investor may realize his returns, which would be much lesser than what he expected to get. There are various factors, which affect the returns: 1. Price or dividend (interest). 2. Some are internal to the firm like – ? Industrial policy ? Management capabilities ? Consumer’s preference ? Labor strike, etc. These forces are to a large extent controllable and are termed as non Systematic risks.An investor can easily manage such non-systematic by having a well – diversified portfolio spread across the companies, industries and groups so that a loss in one may easily be compensated with a gain in other. There are yet other types of influences which are external to the firm, cannot be controlled and affect large number of securities. They are termed as systematic risk. They are: 1. Economic 2. Political 3. Sociological changes are sources of systematic risk. For instance, inflation, interest rate, etc. their effect is to cause prices of nearly all individual stocks to move together in the same manner.We therefore quite often find s tock prices falling from time to time in spite of company’s earnings rising and vice versa. Rationale behind the development of derivatives market is to manage this systematic risk, liquidity and liquidity in the sense of being able to buy and sell relatively large amounts quickly without substantial price concessions. In debt market, a large position of the total risk of securities is systematic. Debt instruments are also finite life securities with limited marketability due to their small size relative to many common stocks.Those factors favour for the purpose of both portfolio hedging and speculation, the introduction of a derivative security that is on some broader market rather than an individual security. India has vibrant securities market with strong retail participation that has rolled over the years. It was until recently basically cash market with a facility to carry forward positions in actively traded ‘A’ group scrips from one settlement to another b y paying the required margins and borrowing some money and securities in a separate carry forward session held for this purpose.However, a need was felt to introduce financial products like in other financial markets world over which are characterized with high degree of derivative products in India. Derivative products allow the user to transfer this price risk by looking in the asset price there by minimizing the impact of fluctuations in the asset price on his balance sheet and have assured cash flows. Derivatives are risk management instruments, which derive their value from an underlying asset. The underlying asset can be bullion, index, shares, bonds, currency etc.DERIVATIVE SEGMENT AT NATIONAL STOCK EXCHANGE: The derivatives segment on the exchange commenced with S&P CNX Nifty Index futures on June 12, 20007. The F&O segment of NSE provides trading facilities for the following derivative segment: 1. Index Based Futures 2. Index Based Options 3. Individual Stock Options 4. Ind ividual Stock Futures |COMPANY NAME |CODE |LOT SIZE | |ABB Ltd. ABB |200 | |Associated Cement Co. Ltd. |ACC |750 | |Allahabad Bank |ALBK |2450 | |Andhra Bank |ANDHRABANK |2300 | |Arvind Mills Ltd. ARVINDMILL |2150 | |Ashok Leyland Ltd |ASHOKLEY |9550 | |Bajaj Auto Ltd. |BAJAJAUTO |200 | |Bank of Baroda |BANKBARODA |1400 | |Bank of India |BANKINDIA |1900 | |Bharat Electronics Ltd. BEL |550 | |Bharat Forge Co Ltd |BHARATFORG |200 | |Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd |BHARTI |1000 | |Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. |BHEL |300 | |Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. |BPCL |550 | |Cadila Healthcare Limited |CADILAHC 500 | |Canara Bank |CANBK |1600 | |Century Textiles Ltd |CENTURYTEX |850 | |Chennai Petroleum Corp Ltd. |CHENNPETRO |950 | |Cipla Ltd. |CIPLA |1000 | |Kochi Refineries Ltd |COCHINREFN |1300 | |Colgate Palmolive (I) Ltd. COLGATE |1050 | |Dabur India Ltd. |DABUR |1800 | |GAIL (India) Ltd. |GAIL |1500 | |Great Eastern Shipping Co. Ltd. |GESHIPPING |1350 | |Glaxosmithkline Pharma Ltd. |GLAXO |300 | |Grasim Industries Ltd. |GRASIM |175 | |Gujarat Ambuja Cement Ltd. GUJAMBCEM |550 | |HCL Technologies Ltd. |HCLTECH |650 | |Housing Development Finance Corporation Ltd. |HDFC |300 | |HDFC Bank Ltd. |HDFCBANK |400 | |Hero Honda Motors Ltd. |HEROHONDA |400 | |Hindalco Industries Ltd. |HINDALC0 |150 | |Hindustan Lever Ltd. HINDLEVER |2000 | |Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. |HINDPETRO |650 | |ICICI Bank Ltd. |ICICIBANK |700 | |Industrial development bank of India Ltd. |IDBI |2400 | |Indian Hotels Co. Ltd. |INDHOTEL |350 | |Indian Rayon And Industries Ltd | INDRAYON |500 | |Infosys Technologies Ltd. INFOSYSTCH |100 | |Indian Overseas Bank |IOB |2950 | |Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. |IOC |600 | |ITC Ltd. |ITC |150 | |Jet Airways (India) Ltd. |JETAIRWAYS |200 | |Jindal Steel & Power Ltd |JINDALSTEL |250 | |Jaiprakash Hydro-Power Ltd. JPHYDRO |6250 | |Cummins India Ltd |KIRLOSKCUM |1900 | |LIC Housing Finance Ltd |LICHSGFIN |850 | |Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. |M&M |625 | |Matrix La boratories Ltd. |MATRIXLABS |1250 | |Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd. MRPL |4450 | |Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. |MTNL |1600 | |National Aluminium Co. Ltd. |NATIONALUM |1150 | |Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd. |NEYVELILIG |2950 | |Nicolas Piramal India Ltd |NICOLASPIR |950 | |National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd. NTPC |3250 | |Oil & Natural Gas Corp. Ltd. |ONGC |300 | |Oriental Bank of Commerce |ORIENTBANK |600 | |Patni Computer System Ltd |PATNI |650 | |Punjab National Bank |PNB |600 | |Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. RANBAXY |200 | |Reliance Energy Ltd. |REL |550 | |Reliance Capital Ltd |RELCAPITAL |1100 | |Reliance Industries Ltd. |RELIANCE |600 | |Satyam Computer Services Ltd. SATYAMCOMP |600 | |State Bank of India |SBIN |500 | |Shipping Corporation of India Ltd. |SCI |1600 | |Siemens Ltd |SIEMENS |150 | |Sterlite Industries (I) Ltd |STER |350 | |Sun Pharmaceuticals India Ltd. SUNPHARMA |450 | |Syndicate Bank |SYNDIBANK |3800 | |Tata Chemicals Ltd |TATACHEM |1350 | |Tata Consultancy Services Ltd |TCS |250 | |Tata Power Co.Ltd. |TATAPOWER |800 | |Tata Tea Ltd. |TATATEA |550 | |Tata Motors Ltd. |TATAMOTORS |825 | |Tata Iron and Steel Co. Ltd. |TISCO |675 | |Union Bank of India |UNIONBANK |2100 | |UTI Bank Ltd. UTIBANK |900 | |Vijaya Bank |VIJAYABANK |3450 | |Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd |VSNL |1050 | |Wipro Ltd. |WIPRO |300 | |Wockhardt Ltd. |WOCKPHARMA |600 | REGULATORY FRAMEWORK:The trading of derivatives is governed by the provisions contained in the SC ( R ) A, the SEBI Act, the and the regulations framed there under the rules and byelaws of stock exchanges. Regulation for Derivative Trading: SEBI set up a 24 member committed under Chairmanship of Dr. L. C. Gupta develop the appropriate regulatory framework for derivative trading in India. The committee submitted its report in March 1998. On May 11, 1998 SEBI accepted the recommendations of the committee and approved the phased introduction of Derivatives trading in India beginning with Stock Index F utures.SEBI also approved he â€Å"Suggestive bye-laws† recommended by the committee for regulation and control of trading and settlement of Derivatives contracts. The provisions in the SC (R) A govern the trading in the securities. The amendment of the SC (R) A to include â€Å"DERIVATIVES† within the ambit of ‘Securities’ in the SC (R ) A made trading in Derivatives possible within the framework of the Act. 1. Any exchange fulfilling the eligibility criteria as prescribed in the L. C. Gupta committee report may apply to SEBI for grant of recognition under Section 4 of the SC (R) A, 1956 to start Derivatives Trading.The derivatives exchange/segment should have a separate governing council and representation of trading / clearing members shall be limited to maximum of 40% of the total members of the governing council. The exchange shall regulate the sales practices of its members and will obtain approval of SEBI before start of Trading in any derivative co ntract. 2. The exchange shall have minimum 50 members. 3. The members of an existing segment of the exchange will not automatically become the members of the derivative segment. The members of the derivative segment need to fulfill the eligibility conditions as lay down by the L.C. Gupta Committee. 4. The clearing and settlement of derivates trades shall be through a SEBI approved Clearing Corporation / Clearing house. Clearing Corporation / Clearing House complying with the eligibility conditions as lay down By the committee have to apply to SEBI for grant of approval. 5. Derivatives broker/dealers and Clearing members are required to seek registration from SEBI. 6. The Minimum contract value shall not be less than Rs. 2 Lakh. Exchanges should also submit details of the futures contract they purpose to introduce. 7.The trading members are required to have qualified approved user and sales person who have passed a certification programme approved by SEBI. FUTURES DEFINITION: A Futur es contract is an agreement between two parties to buy or sell an asset at a certain time in the future at a certain price. To facilitate liquidity in the futures contract, the exchange specifies certain standard features of the contract. The standardized items on a futures contract are: ? Quantity of the underlying ? Quality of the underlying ? The date and the month of delivery ? The units of price quotations and minimum price change ? Locations of settlementTYPES OF FUTURES: On the basis of the underlying asset they derive, the futures are divided into two types: ? Stock futures: The stock futures are the futures that have the underlying asset as the individual securities. The settlement of the stock futures is of cash settlement and the settlement price of the future is the closing price of the underlying security. ? Index futures: Index futures are the futures, which have the underlying asset as an Index. The Index futures are also cash settled. The settlement price of the Inde x futures shall be the closing value of the underlying index on the expiry date of the contract.Parties in the Futures Contract: There are two parties in a future contract, the Buyer and the Seller. The buyer of the futures contract is one who is LONG on the futures contract and the seller of the futures contract is one who is SHORT on the futures contract. The pay off for the buyer and the seller of the futures contract are as follows. PAYOFF FOR A BUYER OF FUTURES: [pic] CASE 1: The buyer bought the future contract at (F); if the futures price goes to E1 then the buyer gets the profit of (FP). CASE 2: The buyer gets loss when the future price goes less than (F), if the futures price goes to E2 then the buyer gets the loss of (FL).PAYOFF FOR A SELLER OF FUTURES: [pic] F – FUTURES PRICE E1, E2 – SETTLEMENT PRICE. CASE 1: The Seller sold the future contract at (f); if the futures price goes to E1 then the Seller gets the profit of (FP). CASE 2: The Seller gets loss when the future price goes greater than (F), if the futures price goes to E2 then the Seller gets the loss of (FL). MARGINS: Margins are the deposits, which reduce counter party risk, arise in a futures contract. These margins are collected in order to eliminate the counter party risk. There are three types of margins: Initial Margin:Whenever a futures contract is signed, both buyer and seller are required to post initial margin. Both buyer and seller are required to make security deposits that are intended to guarantee that they will infact be able to fulfill their obligation. These deposits are Initial margins and they are often referred as performance margins. The amount of margin is roughly 5% to 15% of total purchase price of futures contract. Marking to Market Margin: The process of adjusting the equity in an investor’s account in order to reflect the change in the settlement price of futures contract is known as MTM Margin.Maintenance margin: The investor must keep the fut ures account equity equal to or greater than certain percentage of the amount deposited as Initial Margin. If the equity goes less than that percentage of Initial margin, then the investor receives a call for an additional deposit of cash known as Maintenance Margin to bring the equity up to the Initial margin. Role of Margins: The role of margins in the futures contract is explained in the following example. S sold a Satyam February futures contract to B at Rs. 300; the following table shows the effect of margins on the contract.The contract size of Satyam is 1200. The initial margin amount is say Rs. 20000, the maintenance margin is 65% of Initial margin. |DAY |PRICE OF SATYAM |EFFECT ON BUYER (B) |EFFECT ON SELLER (S) |REMARKS | | | |MTM |MTM | | | | |P/L |P/L | | | | |Bal. in Margin |Bal. n Margin | | | | | | | | |1 | | | | | | | | | |Contract is entered and| | |300. 00 | | |initial margin is | | | | | |deposited. |2 | | | | | | | | | | | | | |+13,200 | | | | | | |-13,200 |B got profit and S got | | |311(price increased) | |+13,200 |loss, S deposited | |3 | | | |maintenance margin. | | | | | | | | | | | |B got loss and | | | | | |deposited maintenance | |4 | |-28,800 | |margin. | | |+15,400 |+28,800 | | | | | | | | | |287 | | |B got profit, S got | | | | | |loss. Contract settled| | | | | |at 305, totally B got | | | |+21,600 | |profit and S got loss. | | | |-21,600 | | | | | | | | | |305 | | | | Pricing the Futures: The fair value of the futures contract is derived from a model known as the Cost of Carry model. This model gives the fair value of the futures contract. Cost of Carry Model: F=S (1+r-q) t Where F – Futures Price S – Spot price of the Underlying r – Cost of Financing q – Expected Dividend Yield T – Holding Period. FUTURES TERMINOLOGY: Spot price: The price at which an asset trades in the spot market. Futures price: The price at which the futures contract trades in the futures market.Contract cycle: The period over which a contract trades. The index futures contracts on the NSE have one-month, two-months and three-month expiry cycles which expire on the last Thursday of the month. Thus a January expiration contract expires on the last Thursday of January and a February expiration contract ceases trading on the last Thursday of February. On the Friday following the last Thursday, a new contract having a three-month expiry is introduced for trading. Expiry date: It is the date specified in the futures contract. This is the last day on which the contract will be traded, at the end of which it will cease to exist. Contract size:The amount of asset that has to be delivered under one contract. For instance, the contract size on NSE’s futures market is 200 Nifties. Basis: In the context of financial futures, basis can be defined as the futures price minus the spot price. There will be a different basis for each delivery month for each contract. In a normal market, basis will be positive. This reflects that futures prices normally exceed spot prices. Cost of carry: The relationship between futures prices and spot prices can be summarized in terms of what is known as the cost of carry. This measures the storage cost plus the interest that is paid to finance the asset less the income earned on the asset. Open Interest:Total outstanding long or short positions in the market at any specific time. As total long positions for market would be equal to short positions, for calculation of open interest, only one side of the contract is counted. OPTIONS DEFINITION: Option is a type of contract between two persons where one grants the other the right to buy a specific asset at a specific price within a specified time period. Alternatively the contract may grant the other person the right to sell a specific asset at a specific price within a specific time period. In order to have this right, the option buyer has to pay the seller of the option premium. The assets on which optio ns can be derived are stocks, commodities, indexes etc.If the underlying asset is the financial asset, then the options are financial options like stock options, currency options, index options etc, and if the underlying asset is the non-financial asset the options are non-financial options like commodity options. PROPERTIES OF OPTIONS: Options have several unique properties that set them apart from other securities. The following are the properties of options: ? Limited Loss ? High Leverage Potential ? Limited Life PARTIES IN AN OPTION CONTRACT: 1. Buyer of the Option: The buyer of an option is one who by paying option premium buys the right but not the obligation to exercise his option on seller/writer. . Writer/Seller of the Option: The writer of a call/put options is the one who receives the option premium and is there by obligated to sell/buy the asset if the buyer exercises the option on him. . TYPES OF OPTIONS: The options are classified into various types on the basis of var ious variables. The following are the various types of options: I) On the basis of the Underlying asset: On the basis of the underlying asset the options are divided into two types: ? INDEX OPTIONS: The Index options have the underlying asset as the index. ? STOCK OPTIONS: A stock option gives the buyer of the option the right to buy/sell stock at a specified price.Stock options are options on the individual stocks, there are currently more than 50 stocks are trading in this segment. II. On the basis of the market movement: On the basis of the market movement the options are divided into two types. They are: ? CALL OPTION: A call options is bought by an investor when he seems that the stock price moves upwards. A call option gives the holder of the option the right but not the obligation to buy an asset by a certain date for a certain price. ? PUT OPTION: A put option is bought by an investor when he seems that the stock price moves downwards. A put option gives the holder of the op tion right but not the obligation to sell an asset by a certain date for a certain price. III. On the basis of exercise of Option:On the basis of the exercising of the option, the options are classified into two categories. ? AMERICAN OPTION: American options are options that can be exercised at any time up to the expiration date, most exchange-traded options are American. ? EUROPEAN OPTION: European options are options that can be exercised only on the expiration date itself. European options are easier to analyze than American options. PAY-OFF PROFILE FOR BUYER OF A CALL OPTION: The pay-off of a buyer options depends on the spot price of the underlying asset. The following graph shows the pay-off of buyer of a call option: S-Strike priceOTM – Out of the Money SP -Premium/LossATM – At the MoneyE1 – Spot price 1 ITM – In The Money E2 – Spot price 2 SR – profit at spot price E1 CASE 1: (Spot price > Strike Price) As the spot price (E1) of the underlying asset is more than strike price (S). The buyer gets the profit of (SR), if price increases more than E1 than profit also increase more than SR. CASE 2: (Sport price < Strike Price) As the spot price (E2) of the underlying asset is less than strike price (s). The buyer gets loss of (SP), if price goes down less than E2 than also his loss is limited to his premium (SP). PAY – OFF PROFILE FOR SELLER OF A CALL OPTION:The pay-off of seller of the call option depends on the spot price of the underlying asset. The following graph shows the pay-off of seller of a call option: [pic] S-Strike priceITM – In the Money SP – Premium/profitATM – At the Money E1-Spot price 1OTM – Out of The Money E2 -Spot price 2 SR-profit at spot price E1 CASE 1: (Spot price < Strike price) As the spot price (E1) of the underlying asset is less than strike price (S). The seller gets the profit of (SP), if the price decreases less than E1 than also profit of the seller does not exceed (SP). CASE 2: (Spot price > Strike price) As the spot price (E2) of the underlying asset is more than strike price (S).The seller gets loss of (SR), if price goes more less than E2 than the loss of the seller also increase more than (SR). PAY-OFF PROFILE FOR BUYER OF A PUT OPTION: The payoff of buyer of the option depends on the spot price of the underlying asset. The following graph shows the pay off of the buyer of a call option: [pic] S-Strike priceITM-In The Money SP-Premium/profitOTM-Out of The Money E1-Spot price 1ATM-At The Money E2-Spot price 2 SR-profit at spot price E1 CASE 1: (Spot price < Strike price) As the spot price (E1) of the underlying asset is less than strike price (S). The buyer gets the profit of (SR), if price decreases less than E1 than the profit also increases more than (SR). CASE 2: (Spot price > Strike price)As the spot price (E2) of the underlying asset is more than strike price (s), the buyer gets loss of (SP), if price goes more than E2 than the loss of the buyer is limited to his premium (SP). PAY-OFF PROFILE FOR SELLER OF A PUT OPTION: The pay off of seller of the option depends on the spot price of the underlying asset. The following graph shows the pay-off of seller of a put option: [pic] S-Strike priceITM-In The Money SP-Premium/profitATM-At The Money E1-Spot price 1OTM-Out of The Money E2-Spot price 2 SR-profit at spot price E1 CASE 1: (Spot price < Strike price) As the spot price (E1) of the underlying asset is less than strike price (S), the seller gets the loss of (SR), if price decreases less than E1 than the loss also increases more than (SR). CASE 2: (Spot price > Strike price)As the spot price (E2) of the underlying asset is more than strike price (S), the seller gets profit of (SP), if price goes more than E2 than the profit of the seller is limited to his premium (SP). FACTORS AFFECTING THE PRICE OF AN OPTION: The following are the various factors that affect the price of an option. They are: Stoc k price: The pay-off from a call option is the amount by which the stock price exceeds the strike price. Call options therefore become more valuable as the stock price increases and vice versa. The pay-off from a put option is the amount; by which the strike price exceeds the stock price. Put options therefore become more valuable as the stock price increases and vice versa. Strike price:In the case of a call, as the strike price increases, the stock price has to make a larger upward move for the option to go in-the –money. Therefore, for a call, as the strike price increases, options become less valuable and as strike price decreases, options become more valuable. Time to expiration: Both Put and Call American options become more valuable as the time to expiration increases. Volatility: The volatility of n a stock price is a measure of uncertain about future stock price movements. As volatility increases, the chance that the stock will do very well or very poor increases. Th e value of both Calls and Puts therefore increase as volatility increase.Risk-free interest rate: The put option prices decline as the risk – free rate increases where as the prices of calls always increase as the risk – free interest rate increases. Dividends: Dividends have the effect of reducing the stock price on the ex dividend date. This has a negative effect on the value of call options and a positive affect on the value of put options. PRICING OPTIONS The Black Scholes formulas for the prices of European Calls and puts on a non-dividend paying stock are: CALL OPTION: C = SN (D1)-Xe-rtN(D2) PUT OPTION: P = Xe-rtN(-D2)-SN (-D2) C – VALUE OF CALL OPTION S – SPOT PRICE OF STOCK X – STRIKE PRICE r – ANNUAL RISK FREE RETURN – CONTRACT CYCLE D1 – (ln(s/x) +(r+ )/2) t)/ D2 – D1- Options Terminology: Strike Price: The price specified in the options contract is known as the Strike price or Exercise price. Option Premium: O ption premium is the price paid by the option buyer to the option seller. Expiration Date: The date specified in the options contract is known as the expiration date. In-The-Money Option: An in the money option is an option that would lead to a positive cash inflow to the holder if it is exercised immediately. At-The-Money Option: An at the money option is an option that would lead to zero cash flow if it is exercised immediately. Out-Of-The-Money Option:An out of the money option is an option that would lead to a negative cash flow if it is exercised immediately. Intrinsic Value of an Option: The intrinsic value of an option is ITM, if option is ITM. If the option is OTM, its intrinsic value is ZERO. Time Value of an Option: The time value of an option is the difference between its premium and its intrinsic value. DESCRIPTION OF THE METHOD: The following are the steps involved in the study. 1. Selection of the scrip: The scrip selection is done on a random basis and the scrip selec ted is RELIANCE COMMUNICATIONS. The lot size of the scrip is 500. Profitability position of the option holder and option writer is studied. 2. Data collection:The data of the RELIANCE COMMUNICATIONS has been collected from the â€Å"The Economic Times† and the internet. The data consists of the March contract and the period of data collection is from 30th December 2008 to 31st January 2008. 3. Analysis: The analysis consists of the tabulation of the data assessing the profitability positions of the option holder and the option writer, representing the data with graphs and making the interpretations using the data. ANALYSIS ANALYSIS The objective of this analysis is to evaluate the profit/loss position of option holder and option writer. This analysis is based on the sample data, taken RELIANCE COMMUNICATIONS scrip. This analysis considered the March ending contract of the SBI.The lot size of SBI is 500. The time period in which this analysis is done is from 30/12/2007 To 31/0 1/2008 Price of SBI in the Cash Market. |DATE |MARKET PRICE | | | | |30-Dec-07 |685. 1 | |31-Dec-07 |714. 65 | |1-Jan-08 |695. 6 | |2-Jan-08 |706. 4 | |3-Jan-08 |717. 1 | |4-Jan-08 |713. 45 | |7-Jan-08 |726. 6 | |8-Jan-08 |724. 05 | |9-Jan-08 |720. 85 | |10-Jan-08 |742. 1 | |11-Jan-08 |736. | |14-jan-08 |734. 1 | |15-Jan-08 |731. 75 | |16-Jan-08 |728 | |17-Jan-08 |726. 2 | |18-Jan-08 | | | |727. 8 | | | | |21-Jan-08 |722. 7 | |22-Jan-08 |693. 25 | |23-Jan-08 |657. 7 | |24-Jan-08 |664. 4 | |28-Mar-08 |665. 6 | |29-Jan-08 |641. 7 | |30-Jan-08 |661. 05 | |31-Jan-08 |654. 8 | pic] The closing price of SBI at the end of the contract period is 654. 80 and this is considered as settlement price. The following table explains the amount of transaction between option holder and option writer. ? The first column explains the trading date. ? The second column explains the market price in cash segment on that date. ? The call column explains the call/put options which are considered. Every call/ put has three sub columns. ? The first column consists of the premium value per share of the contracts, second column consists of the volume of the contract, and the third column consists of total premium value paid by the buyer. ?NET PAYOFF FOR CALL OPTION HOLDERS AND WRITERS |MARKET PRICE |CALLS |VOLUME (‘000) |PREMIUM (‘000) |PROFIT TO HOLDER|NET PROFIT TO |NET PROFIT TO | | | | | |(‘000) |HOLDER (‘000) |BUYER (‘000) | | | | | | | | | |654. 8 |640 |199. 5 |3634. 15 |2952. 6 |-681. 55 |681. 55 | |654. 8 |660 |1463 |21600. 35 |0 |-21600. 35 |21600. 35 | |654. |680 |2008 |51831. 53 |0 |-51831. 525 |51831. 525 | |654. 8 |700 |3297 |85603. 45 |0 |-85603. 45 |85603. 45 | |654. 8 |720 |3796. 5 |74881. 93 |0 |-74881. 925 |74881. 925 | |654. 8 |740 |2309. 5 |30208. 4 |0 |-30208. 4 |30208. 4 | OBSERVATIONS AND FINDINGS: ? Six call options are considered with six different strike prices. ? The current market price on the expiry date is Rs. 654. 80 and this is c onsidered as final settlement price. The premium paid by the option holders whose strike price is far and greater than the current market price have paid high amounts of premium than those who are near to the current market price. ? The call option holders whose strike price is less than the current market price are said to be In-The-Money. The calls with strike price 640 are said to be In-The-Money, since, if they exercise they will get profits. ? The call option holders whose strike price is less than the current market price are said to be Out-Of-The-Money. The calls with strike price of 660, 680,700,720,740 are said to be Out-Of-The-Money, since, if they exercise, they will get losses. [pic] FINDINGS:The premium of the options with strike price of 700 and 720 is high, since most of the period of the contract the cash market is moving around 700 mark. [pic] FINDINGS: ? The contracts with strike price 660, 680, 700, 720, 740 get no profit, since their strike price is more than the settlement price. ? The contract with strike price 640 gets the profit. NET PAY OFF OF PUT OPTION HOLDERS AND WRITERS. |MARKET PRICE |PUTS |VOLUME (‘000) |PREMIUM (‘000) |PROFIT TO HOLDER |NET PROFIT TO HOLDER |NET PROFIT TO WRITER| | | | | |(‘000) |(‘000) |(‘000) | | | | | | | | | |654. |600 |25 |47. 625 |0 |-47. 625 |47. 625 | |654. 8 |640 |323. 5 |993. 5 |0 |-993. 5 |993. 5 | |654. 8 |660 |1239. 5 |9506. 575 |6445. 4 |-3061. 175 |3061. 175 | |654. 8 |680 |1399. 5 |21894 |35267. 4 |13373. 4 |-13373. 4 | |654. 8 |700 |1858 |30871. 28 |83981. 6 |53110. 325 |-53110. 325 | |654. |720 |1468. 5 |23727. 83 |95746. 2 |72018. 375 |-72018. 375 | | | | | | | | | OBSERVATIONS AND FINDINGS: ? Six put options are considered with six different strike prices. ? The current market price on the expiry date is Rs. 654. 80 and this is considered as the final settlement price. ? The premium paid by the option holders whose strike price is far and greater than the current market price have paid high amount of premium than those who are near to the current market price. The put option holders whose strike price is more than the current market price are said to be In-The-Money. The puts with strike price 660,680,700,720 are said to be In-The-Money, since, if they exercise they will get profits. ? The put option holders whose strike price is less than the current market price are said to be Out-Of-The-Money. The puts with strike price of 600,640 are said to be Out-Of-The-Money, since, if they exercise their puts, they will get losses. [pic] FINDINGS: ? The premium of the option with strike price 700 is higher when compared to other strike prices. This is because of the movement of the cash market price of the SBI between 640 and 720. [pic] FINDINGS: The put option holders whose strike price is more than the settlement price are In-The-Money. ? The put options whose strike price is less than the settlement price are Out-Of-The-Money. DATA OF SBI THE FUT URES OF THE JANUARY MONTH |DATE |FUTURES CLOSING PRICE (Rs. ) |CASH CLOSING PRICE (Rs. ) | | | | | |30-Dec-07 |689. 6 |685. 1 | |31-Dec-07 |720. 65 |714. 65 | |1-Jan-08 |700. 5 |695. 6 | |2-Jan-08 |710. 9 |706. 4 | |3-Jan-08 |720. 85 |717. 1 | |4-Jan-08 |716. 85 |713. 45 | |7-Jan-08 |729. 2 |726. 6 | |8-Jan-08 |728. 25 |724. 05 | |9-Jan-08 |723. 35 |720. 5 | |10-Jan-08 |745. 3 |742. 1 | |11-Jan-08 |741. 35 |736. 9 | |14-Jan-08 |738. 95 |734. 1 | |15-Jan-08 |735. 7 |731. 75 | |16-Jan-08 |733. 15 |728 | |17-Jan-08 |730. 75 |726. 2 | |18-Jan-08 |732. |727. 8 | |21-Jan-08 |725. 25 |722. 7 | |22-Jan-08 |695 |693. 25 | |23-Jan-08 |660. 1 |657. 7 | |24-Jan-08 |666. 7 |664. 4 | |28-Jan-08 |667. 75 |665. 6 | |29-Jan-08 |642. 7 |641. 7 | |30-Jan-08 |662. 5 |661. 05 | |31-Jan-08 |655. 95 |654. 8 | [pic] OBSERVATIONS AND FINDINGS: The cash market price of the SBI is moving along with the futures price. ? If the buy price of the futures is less than the settlement price, then the buyer of the f utures get profit. ? If the selling price of the futures is less than the settlement price, then the seller incur losses. SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATINONS SUMMARY ? Derivatives market is an innovation to cash market. Approximately its daily turnover reaches to the equal stage of cash market. Presently the available scrips in futures are 89 and in options segment are 62. ? In cash market the profit/loss of the investor depends on the market price of the underlying asset. The investor may incur huge profits or he may incur huge losses. But in derivatives segment the investor enjoys huge profits with limited downside. ? In cash market the investor has to pay the total money, but in derivatives the investor has to pay premiums or margins, which are some percentage of total money. ? Derivatives are mostly used for hedging purpose. ? In derivative segment the profit/loss of the option holder/option writer is purely depended on the fluctuations of the underlying asset. CONCLUSIONS In bullish market the call option writer incurs more losses so the investor is suggested to go for a call option to hold, where as the put option holder suffers in a bullish market, so he is suggested to write a put option. ? In bearish market the call option holder will incur more losses so the investor is suggested to go for a call option to write, where as the put option writer will get more losses, so he is suggested to hold a put option. ? In the above analysis the market price of State Bank of India is having low volatility, so the call option writers enjoy more profits to holders. RECOMMENDATIONS ? The derivative market is newly started in India and it is not known by every investor, so SEBI has to take steps to create awareness among the investors about the derivative segment. In order to increase the derivatives market in India, SEBI should revise some of their regulations like contract size, participation of FII in the derivatives market. ? Contract size should be minimiz ed because small investors cannot afford this much of huge premiums. ? SEBI has to take further steps in the risk management mechanism. ? SEBI has to take measures to use effectively the derivatives segment as a tool of hedging. BIBLIOGRAPHY BIBLIOGRAPHY BOOKS: FUTURES AND OPTIONS – N. D. VOHRA, B. R. BAGRI DERIVATIVES CORE MODULE WORKBOOK – NCFM MATERIAL FUTURES AND OPTIONS – R. MAHAJAN WEBSITES: www. nseindia. com www. equitymaster. com www. peninsularonline. com NEWS EDITIONS: THE ECONOMIC TIMES BUSINESS LINE

Peter Kolchin’s “American Slavery: Origins and Consolidation” Essay

Peter Kolchin’s book entitled, â€Å"American Slavery: Origins and Consolidation† discusses the problems and the evolution of slavery in the United States of America. The opening sentence of his first chapter is indeed quite interesting. According to him, Americans have this wrong perception that the U.S. is â€Å"conceived with liberty† because the reality is that, the so-called â€Å"New world† tolerates slavery. Kolchin believes that African slaves, more importantly, should not be treated by the Americans as inferior individuals but rather be grateful to them. One of the greatest sources of income actually came from the continuous importation of African slaves to the U.S. Because of the increasing number of slaves in the country during the early 16th-17th century, coercion in their labor actually provided for the country’s foundation of agriculture. He further believes that, slavery became widely accepted in the U.S. because of two factors namely, religious and economic. The concept of slavery as a labor system in the U.S. was patterned after the imperialistic attempts of European countries. The emergence of this kind of system is brought by the shortage in workers, especially in the agricultural aspects. A big number of workers are needed by the rich landowners during the harvest season in order for them to meet the existing demands of the market. Because of this, Africans were being imported to become farm workers. The more laborers that they have, the greater is the production, and therefore the greater is the possibility of an economic growth since there has been demands made in both international and local market, which is very apparent today in the U.S. (Kolchin, p.5) The second factor deals with religion. Since slaves are considered as subordinates to their masters, everything that the master will tell them, the slave will follow, including their master’s religion (which is mostly Christianity as Kolchim discussed). Unlike their masters who have religious backgrounds in the form of doctrines and teachings, the slaves do not have. Because of this, the slaves settled in potion-makings, superstitious beliefs, and the like. However, by being introduced to Christianity, they became more civilized and at least, knowledgeable because they already follow â€Å"legal rituals.† Surprisingly, the Christian bible tolerates the presentation of stories depicting slavery. For instance, the bible suggests that God blessed and protected the Christians while the non-Christians were punished and viewed as slaves, serving their Christian masters in building religious temples or religious images. In general, slavery in the United States of America has evolved throughout the years. In fact, two historical periods sought to explain this evolution. One is the colonial era wherein slaves were still powerless and submissive individuals, and the other is during the period of antebellum. During this period, there were calls and proposals to the slave-owners to treat their subordinates as humans, providing them with their basic needs (Kolchin, p. 28) I do agree that Kolchin has a basis in saying that economy and religion are the factors why slavery was accepted in U.S. because his arguments are very apparent. If we are to trace back history, the rich American landowners, there are a number of them who became the country’s chief executives, hired African slaves to attend to their agricultural business. In fact, he was quoted in his book saying â€Å"[slavery] helped propel the economic transformation of the leading colonial powers.† (Kolchin, p.5) Meanwhile, in terms of religion, many of the country’s leaders are Christians. As such, they follow the bible. A passage from the Book of Genesis 9:25 which states that, â€Å"Cursed be Canaan; a slave of slaves shall he be to his brothers,† Christian believers are quick to say that this passage is the cornerstone of the belief that God made the blacks suffer from slavery (Kolchin, p.145). The most important new information that I discovered about America’s history is the irony of former President Thomas Jefferson. While he announced that â€Å"all men are created equal† during his declaration of Independence, he was a large-scale slave owner himself. Apart from that, his all men are created equal contradicts his racist remark when he said that black’s â€Å"depravity† is caused by their slave status, and more offensively, the distinct nature of their innate characteristic (Kolchin, p.88). The reason why I considered it also as an important learning for me is because the African slaves suffered too much pain, physically and emotionally, under the Americans’ hands. Even former Presidents have their own share of taking advantage of these â€Å"blacks† despite their call of equality. African slavery will always be a part of American history. As such, this article further strengthens Kolchin’s arguments that slavery was caused by both economic and religious factors. The Americans, thinking that they are superior individuals, took advantage of the Africans. They used their power in order to force these Africans to work doubly hard and in case the slave masters were not satisfied, they will maltreat them. Meanwhile, the Americans use their influence in religion to further manipulate not only the actions of the slaves but more importantly, their way of thinking also. However, despite the influence of the Americans, it is not still safe to conclude that African slaves were â€Å"Americanized.† In fact, even if Americans do influence their thinking, they are still â€Å"Africans† themselves. It’s just that, Africans were exposed to two different cultures. Reference: Kolchin,P. Unfree Labor: American Slavery and Russian Serfdom. Harvard University Press, April 1987.

Donner Party Disaster Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Donner Party Disaster - Essay Example Defining the events, circumstances and the effects which occurred can also create a deeper understanding of what occurred and how the matter should be looked into. This will help to justify the tragedy and create an understanding of the dangers that come with traveling to California. The Donner Party disaster began in 1846 with 500 wagons that decided to move west for independence and to be a part of the growth in California. This was based on the ideology of creating a large Catholic community and with the concept of Manifest Destiny as a part of the application. The proposal of route was defined first by George Donner, who was going west to help with re-building a life in which Catholic beliefs could easily be practiced. It was also associated with James Reed who was interested in helping with his wife’s recovery, who was suffering from tuberculosis. The leader of the group through Wyoming was William Russell who set the route for all 500 wagons. This created the first probl em, which was a delay because of an uprising in the river and which caused many to reconsider the approach needed to cross the river (McGlashan, p. 16). This first problem which arose was one of circumstance but what is led to the final outcome of the event. The initial problem with the route was defined when Hastings sent letters to emigrants interested in starting a new wife. The experience which Hastings had also created a recommendation to start a new route and to travel in large groups. However, this explanation didn’t provide information on what the new route should be with most of the territory being unexplored. This was followed by the leaders who tried to work on the trailer, including Donner, Bryant and Jim Bridger. The approach which was taken was to avoid hostile Indians and to take an approach based on an easier route than Hastings took. Similar to the first problem, the decision made by all leaders was based on finding a simpler route and looking for solutions t o the main problem. From this perspective, none can be blamed over the unknown circumstances which were faced. Hastings was also riding ahead with the new trail, specifically to assist with the difficulties; however, the objective of getting over the mountain passes led most with the need to continue to move through the journey. It was the leadership that was based on a difficult journey that led to mishaps and difficulties during the travels (Rarick, p.11). The last consideration to make was when the families began to split on the journey. This is key to the outcome of the tragedy, specifically beginning with the distrust between Reed, Donner and the Eddys. The first problem was circumstantial, specifically because the families had to try to move before the snow fell. The decision to disperse instead of ride together because of the growing distrust was the largest mistake made. This was followed by the families getting stuck in a blizzard, which was also circumstantial and led to t he desperation of those in the mountains to eating each other’s flesh. When looking at the diaries and other pieces of evidence, each points to the blizzard as the main problem, which led to the lack of a crew coming to save the emigrants and a lack of capabilities in trying to move forward (Stewart, p. 21). When looking at the circumstances, it can be seen that there was no fault that took place among those who were trying to make it to the west. The circumstances of weather, taking in a new path and trying to find easier routes for travel were all situations which could not be helped. Holding the Donners or others responsible for the unknown then becomes problematic. This is combined with the misunderstandings of the lack of

Education as a Primary Defender of Human Rights Essay - 1

Education as a Primary Defender of Human Rights - Essay Example Not every child receives an education, not every woman receives the same rights as her male counterparts, and the voice of the poor remains unheard. A black, lower-class woman, for instance, has less chances of getting her opinions across than a while male belonging to the upper crust of the society, whose voice yields the power to influence society’s major institutions. The Magna Carta of 1215, the most important legal documents to date, set the initial foundations of human rights in the society. One of its key principles stated, "No freeman shall be taken, imprisoned, disseised, outlawed, banished, or in any way destroyed, nor will We proceed against or prosecute him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers and by the law of the land. To no one will We sell, to no one will We deny or delay, right or justice" (The Magna Carta). This centuries old charter was the first legitimate document passed to protect the rights of the people. It evolved over time to form the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which the United Nations passed in 1948. This was, in effect, the turning point for the human rights campaign; indeed, issues of race, social class, and gender inequality would still traumatize society today were it not for the Declaration. The concept of human rights works very well in theory; it is easy to advocate equality for all in text. Reality, however, is an entirely different story. There are still a considerable percentage of men, women, and children who are marginalized and discriminated within the society for one reason or the other. It is precisely for them that human rights defenders function. As the term suggests, human rights defenders are individuals who advocate the provision of human rights to all; they are endorsers of the victimized, and aim to champion the rights of all humans. However, the term ‘human rights defenders is not just restricted to human beings. Instead, it encompasses anything and everything that

Investments class (Measure for t-bond & funds historical data) Assignment

Investments class (Measure for t-bond & funds historical data) - Assignment Example Theoretically, a bond is like a stock or a share which gives a sort of dividend to its holder. It is one of the most important categorizes that comes under the ambit of finance and it is important from the viewpoint of financial consultant to analyze the same (Bodie, Zvi, Alex Kane, and Alan, pp. 44-55). There is a significant relationship has been found among the interest rate and bond valuation. A rate at which the interest is paid by the borrowers in consequences of using the money specifically borrows from a lender. Interest rate in particular is a percent of principal paid by a certain amount per annum. Interest rate is one of the most important from the standpoint of a country and it is also deems a positive and significant tool come under the ambit of monetary policy. Countries with a high interest rate would not be deemed as economically viable because the cost of doing business in these countries would be high. Interest rate has its own recognition for the companies, especia lly for the new companies who want to enter in a new country. There are number of countries which decreased its key policy rate merely to increase the level of borrowing in the economy which may increased the financial and economic potential of the economy as a whole. There are number of methods to value a bond and it is essential to value it accordingly, in order to increase the recognition. Bonds depend heavily upon yields, interest rates and maturity provisions. The main perspective of this assignment is to answer some of the questions related to bond analysis and valuation. There are four different tasks which have been required for the same analysis. The dynamics of funds with respect to the changes in time has been linked to the advancements or the trends registered in the contemporary world. The preference of each model against another has been pegged on the associated risks and the profitability that may be developed from the option of preference. The distinction of one mode l of funds to another can be presented via the evaluation of the procedures or methodologies that are deployed through the realization of the eventual aims. Other contributory factors that assist in the evaluation of the advancements made by a model of preference can be sourced from the governing principles in terms of contribution and subscription. Mutual funds focus on pooling together risks in terms of investment. Small investors pool their monetary value under one basket, thus aligning themselves for a strengthened investment. The caption point that is routinely developed via this approach is the fact that the investment is modeled along with an intelligent platform (Kent, Mark, Russ and Sheridan, pp. 15-20). The flow of monetary investments under mutual funds has posted significant adjustments across the twenty year period. A reflection on the annular performance of a mutual fund based investor, such as Cohen & Steers Realty Shares (CSRSX), reflects the indicated trend. This or ganization has been posting mixed adjustments in its annular revenue overview. The flutualtion of mutual funds in the analysis could be analyzed here with the below mentioned table and chart, Â   Mutual Funds Close End Funds ETFs UIT Total 1995 2,811 143 1 73 3,028 1996 3,526 147 2 72 3,747 1997 4,468 152 7 85 4,712 1998 5,525 156 16 94 5,791

Censorship of pornography Speech or Presentation

Censorship of pornography - Speech or Presentation Example In 1973, the Supreme Court tried to define what could be considered as obscene in the case of Miller v. California. It was held in the said case that pornography is obscene if applying community standards and viewing such material as a whole, (1) the "dominant theme taken as a whole appeals to the prurient interest" (2) that it depicts or describes sexual conduct in a patently offensive way; and (3) that it lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value (Miller v. California 1976). Community standards may have evolved, as more people are becoming more liberated and open-minded. But the average person as a whole still defines what is proper. Pornography injures not just the community but also, the self-respect lost by its subjects. The abuse that it contemplates is not limited to what could be shocking to the conscience of men, but what is proper to humanity. Obscenity is never a matter of individual belief or perception, it is not how one can be impressed or satisfie d by such material, rather, it is the perception of the community as a whole which is genuinely taken. In our modern time where media and the Internet are accessible to every person, even to a child, the State must act upon its authority to provide the sanctity and safety of every individual through regulation.

Jesus Language Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Jesus Language - Essay Example Jesus parables had elements in them that differentiated from parables used by others during his time. These features made his parables effective and memorable. It drew listeners and audiences because they talked of things familiar to the average man on the street and yet provided unusual endings. There are several theories why Jesus used parables in his teachings, one of which is to conceal his teachings and made him less susceptible to charges of sedition as he had then many enemies ready to seize on his every word and use them to destroy him in the eyes of the public. Although His use of parables as a teaching tool was effective immortalizing these teachings and messages even after His time, the application of parables to contemporary times is not desirable. For one, there are many modern teaching tools available today that can more than substitute the purpose of parables like visual aids. In addition, the condition in Jesus time is not the same as today. The word ‘parable’ is an umbrella term that covers many parts of figurative speech. Parables are used both in the Old and New Testaments. The Old Testament’s equivalent for the word is â€Å"Mà £shà £l† which means proverb, similitude or parable and applied broadly to all those in which ideas are presented in imagery. An example of this is Proverbs 10:2 â€Å"Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, but righteousness delivereth from death.† In the New Testament, the word parable does not confine itself to Christ’s parables, characterized as lengthened narratives, although they are the most numerous. Two Greek words - parabolà ¨ and paroimia -, correspond to the word parable in the NT. The first word means â€Å"likeness or resemblance.† The second means â€Å"â€Å"adage, dark saying, wayside saying, a proverb, a presentation deviating from the usual means of speaking.† The importance of a

Amitav Ghosh's The Glass Palace Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Amitav Ghosh's The Glass Palace - Essay Example Amitav Ghosh's "The Glass Palace" starts off in Burma in the year 1885, showing monarchy, at its last gasp at the hands of the British, through a stark contrast between the life of a penniless orphan who would later become rich and the unfortunate royal family with its luxurious graces to be condemned to downfall and destitution. The change of power is sudden, and dramatically affects the lives of those involved: "This is how power is eclipsed: in a moment of vivid realism, between the waning of one fantasy of governance and its replacement by the next, in an instant when the world springs free of its moorings of dreams and reveals itself to be girdled in the pathways of survival and self-preservation."But there is more; the sweeping saga that covers continents and generations in its span is at once a political and social commentary on colonialism, an epic tale of the dehumanizing effects of racism and dispossession. Also remarkably, it is a few family chronicles intertwined as a rom antic narrative of serendipitous meetings and reunions between more than a dozen characters.Rajkumar, the primary protagonist, is an orphan eleven-year-old stuck in Mandalay. An extremely resourceful boy, he is a survivor, a child with no relations who forges some as he goes along in the form of Saya John and his son, Matthew. He witnesses the tragic irony that marks the deposition of the King Thebaw and Queen Supayalat, and the subsequent loot of abode of the most venerated couple in the country at the hands of his simple, worshipful subjects who turn to robbery at the combined behest of desperation and unforeseen opportunity, and it is here he meets the memorable Dolly, the "most beautiful girl he had ever seen". Ghosh's depiction of the court are picturesque, painting a Burma of former glory and his description of the King's exile in its anguish and inevitability is almost lyrical, "He sat in one of the armchairs and watched the ghostly shadows of coconut palms swaying on the room's white plaster walls. In this room the hours would accumulate like grains of sand until they buried him." The story continues with the plight of the royal family in Ratnagiri, India, where Dolly is still taking care of the daughters. The family is under the protection of District Collector Dey, (who is somewhat of a motif for oppression by those who were not British, but served Britain nevertheless, a continuing theme in the novel) whose restless, intelligent and vivacious wife Uma befriends Dolly, to begin a relationship that would last a lifetime. Rajkumar, on the other hand remains with Saya John in Burma, where under his tutelage and support works in the lumber industry, because the British have turned their ravenous eyes on teak by this time, and there is much money to be made. Again here is an underlying theme of Indians and not the colonial Britishers being the direct agency of exploitation, because the Indians profited out of the business that drained Burma, a fact that does not escape the author's scathing notice. Rajkumar, after earning his riches sets off to find Dolly, and with some help from Uma, marries his first love. The rest of the novel spans the generations of connections between Rajkumar, Dolly, Saya John's family, and Uma's family against the backdrop of Burma, India, Malaya, New York and modern Myanmar. From the breed of those that worked within the confines of a British-ruled system, by harvesting teak and rubber using slave labor in order to build a prosperous family dynasty, like Rajkumar and Saya John, we come to a generation of those that are caught up in the dilemma between a British upbringing and education and the conscience that speaks to them of an independent India, like Uma's nephew, Arjun. Once widowed, Uma sets about traveling the world and gains radical views on India's independence. The ties between her and Dolly are further reinforced when her niece Manju marries Dolly's son Neel. Neel's brother, Dinu, meets and falls for Alison, the granddaughter of Saya John, who had taken Rajkumar under

Primus Sales Force Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Primus Sales Force - Case Study Example If the researcher gets the questions wrong, chances are that the respondents will get it wrong too and this means that the credibility of the findings will be compromised (Babbie, 2001). In order to eradicate this problem, it is imperative that the questions are asked with utmost clarity and efficiency. The following is an analysis of the quality of the survey questions administered to the sales representatives and managers of Primus Financial Company. It will analyze the issues that pertain to phrasing, the extent to which the questions measure the impact on the attitudes and behaviors and the extent to which they are actionable. Phrasing of the survey questions is as important as the content of the question. The phrasing should enhance the respondent’s understanding (Crossman, 2014). Therefore, the question should be phrased in the simplest and clearest way possible. To that end, these questions did not err a bit. The questions are very simple, clear and objective. For example, question number 2, which asks whether the intranet portal provides useful information in helping the employee do their job. It is simple and straightforward. All the seven questions that were employed asked for one piece of information, using simple wording and avoiding technical jargon. But despite being simple, these questions are vague. For example, question 1 and 2 which ask whether the monthly sales magazines and the intranet portal provide ‘useful’ information to the employees which aids in the performance of their jobs. The term ‘useful’ is vague. Coupled by the fact that the scale method is us ed to rate the answers, it becomes subjective as what level is useful to one employee may not be useful to another. Also, the amount the sales representative may find useful may not be the same for a sales manager. There is therefore an element of vagueness and ambiguity which if not addressed will compromise the validity

Traditional Personnel Management and Human Resources Management Essay Example for Free

Traditional Personnel Management and Human Resources Management Essay Personnel management was the previous trend in the nineteenth century before it evolved into human resources management. Personnel managers during that time were called â€Å"welfare officers.† Welfare officers became active in the work environment due to the harsh conditions that employees are experiencing. Primarily, labor unions and organizational movements influenced the emergence of welfare officers who were mostly female. Their goal was to defend the rights of the female population from injustices brought about by organizations and companies. (CIPD) After World War I, the role of welfare officers as personnel managers evolved, as the responsibility of handling absenteeism, recruitment and hiring, talks about bonuses and wages, etc. The most important role of personnel management in the 1920’s was to handle negotiations between the management and the staff over wage disputes. At this point in time, business organizations and companies have begun listening to the concerns of staff members. Since companies are suffering from losses due to absenteeism and lack of work force, they also started addressing the concerns of their staff by developing benefit programs that are proven to entice applicants, and retain staff members. (CIPD) In the latter part of the 1970’s, several changes brought about by post-World War II and the prevalence of unions, influenced the added roles of personnel management. Personnel management was tasked to take on five roles such as collective bargaining, legislation, bureaucracy, social conscience and business, and growing performance improvement. In collective bargaining, personnel management handles communication and negotiations between the business organization or company and the staff. Personnel management focuses most on unions, and has studied several strategies and practices in establishing communication lines with them. Legislation involves the understanding of current situation of the working environment and implementing legislations that follows moral and ethical principles in the workplace and setting limits in the responsibilities of personnel management. The bureaucratic role of personnel management looks to handle specific needs and problems in the workplace such as setting rules and guidelines that staff should follow. Social conscience is all about establishing mores and norms within the working environment. Lastly, the role of personnel management for growing performance improvement promotes professional development and strategies in career improvements. (CIDG) Personnel management, born out of need to protect the rights of the workers, seemed to be unimportant during the early years of the nineteenth century. Business organizations and companies often disregarded the need for personnel management, which caused them the loss in work force and labor. Moreover, the roles of personnel management were ambiguous until the latter part of the 1970’s when roles were assigned to them. The structure of personnel management at that time was also disorganized, such that there were no set rules or standards for them. This was about to change, however, when, due to changes in trends, personnel management shifted to human resources management. The term human resources management was coined in 1980. The increase in labor unions all over the country forced business organization and companies to value human resources management. Due to the changes in business strategies and the valued role of personnel management, human resources management became involved in the accomplishment of company goals and objectives. Business organizations and companies established a clear goal and objective for human resources management and began consulting them for advice regarding employee concerns. The implementation of human resources management was also a way for business organizations and companies to motivate staff members into cooperating and committing their time and effort for company missions and goals. (CIDG) Human resources management was also organized, such that it follows a cycle or a process, members of the human resources management team are assigned clear goals and objectives and the roles and responsibilities are laid out for their understanding. For instance, the work of the human resources management team starts off with planning, handles recruitment and selection, socialization, appraisal of performance, the administration of rewards or demerits system, and the implementation of several programs for career development. Human resources management became a valuable aspect in business management, and decisions were primarily based on human resources practices. (MDF) The roles and responsibilities of the human resources management were also complex and crucial. Clearly, the personnel management industry has grown intellectually. With the shift to human resources management, strategies became equally important in improving human resources management skills. Moreover, specific roles and responsibilities were particular with its alignment to company goals and objectives. For instance, staffing and hiring requires consultation with moral and ethical guidelines, assessment tools and techniques, performance appraisals, willingness to undergo training, etc. (Answers) Logically speaking, the role of human resources management since its evolution from personnel management became a complex and particular process. What used to be a form of protecting the rights of staff, became a collaborative department which balances the accomplishment of goals and objectives of the company, as well as to protect the interest of employees. Roles and responsibilities are clearly stated, as compared to the ambiguous role of personnel management in the past. Business organizations and companies now depend on the human resources department for company success, therefore, improving the standards and quality judgment of human resources department staff. Advancements in intellectual management has increased awareness and relevance of strategies and techniques in improving human resources management and the administration of professional development programs and the acquisition of best practices in the particular industry. Works Cited Answers. â€Å"Human Resources Management (HRM).† 2008. Retrieved from Answers Corporation. 05 May 2008 http://www.answers.com/topic/human-resource-management?cat=biz-fin. CIPD. â€Å"Personnel Management: A Short History.† HR Trends. 2008. Retrieved from CIPD. 05 May 2008. http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/hrpract/hrtrends/pmhist.htm. MDF. â€Å"International Human Resources Management.† 2008. Retrieved from MDF. 05 May 2008 http://www.mdf.nl/index.php/page/80/international-human-resources-management?mod[MDFCourseCalendarModule][item]=120.

Literary History and the Concept of Literature Essay Example for Free

Literary History and the Concept of Literature Essay Literary history and the concept of literature I From the 1970s onwards, much has been said about the writing of history and literary history that has cast doubt on its intellectual credibility. For example, Hayden White’s Metahistory (1973) included an influential analysis of the metaphorical foundations of 19th century history writing. In 1979, Jean-Francois Lyotard criticized grand narratives in La Condition postmoderne (The Postmodern Condition), and in 1992 David Perkins presented a whole array of sceptical epistemological and methodological arguments directed against literary history in Is Literary History Possible?. The questioning of literary history has not however resulted in the abandonment of large-scale literary-historical projects, rather it has inspired attempts to base such ventures on better designs and better foundations. Not least, many new ideas about the field have been put forward in connection with the preparation of two major works of literary history sponsored by the ICLA. It is also natural to point to two theoretical publications from 2002: the collection of essays, Rethinking Literary History, edited by Linda Hutcheon and Mario J. Valdes, and Marcel Cornis-Pope and John Neubauer’s brief presentation of the ideas behind a history of literary cultures in East-Central Europe. [ii] The Swedish project â€Å"Literature and Literary History in Global Contexts†, which was started in 1998 and will terminate in 2004, focuses specifically on some theoretical problems associated with the writing of literary history. We who participate come, mostly, from various fields within oriental studies or from comparative literature. Since the project is sponsored by the Swedish Research Council we all work, or once worked, at various Swedish universities. One of the special features of the project is the interest devoted to world histories of literature, a genre where the general problems of literary history become especially visible and acute. (I shall return to this perhaps unfamiliar genre in a moment. ) Three important cruces in connection with world histories of literature have been singled out for special discussion within the project: (i) the understanding of the notion of literature, (ii) the understanding of genres, and (iii) the understanding of interactions between literary cultures. These three sets of issues will be made the subject of four volumes of literary-historical studies and theoretical reflections, and these volumes will represent the main concrete outcome of the project. In this paper, I shall concentrate on the first of the questions, about the notion of literature. I shall say a few words about the concept of literature itself, point out some of the difficulties that it occasions in a world history of literature, and conclude with a brief discussion of how such problems may be approached and dealt with. II In a sense, of course, there are very many concepts of literature: if every nuance is taken into account, it may well be the case that each person has their own. Yet if, conversely, one looks at the situation very broadly, one can say that there is an everyday concept of literature in Western culture which is widely shared. That concept came into being in the course of the 18th century. Before that, no exact counterpart to our present concept of literature existed either in Western culture or elsewhere, and the distinction between imaginative literature and non-fiction was not of primary importance in the classification of texts. Wilt Idema and Lloyd Haft have given a concise and clarifying account of how earlier cultures thought about texts and their basic divisions. As long as no more than a few written works are in circulation in a given society, all texts are more or less equally important and valuable. If there is a dramatic increase in the number of writings, with a corresponding differentiation in their content and character, the texts are likely to be subdivided into the categories of â€Å"high† literature, professional literature, and popular literature. â€Å"Literature† (or high literature) is then the term for texts which are felt to be of general educational value and which are, accordingly, regarded as part of the necessary intellectual baggage of every cultured person†¦. Works which contain useful knowledge but remain limited to one specific area, such as medicine or military science, are classified as professional literature. Works intended only to amuse, and which have (or are considered to have) no educational value, fall outside the scope of â€Å"literature†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. We may call these more or less despised writings â€Å"trivial literature†. In the kind of intellectual culture described in this quotation, the fundamental distinction among texts is the one between culturally important texts and culturally less significant ones. In most such cultures – classical antiquity, classical Chinese culture, classical Sanskrit culture, and so forth – the class of culturally important texts would comprise most of what we call poetry, history writing, and philosophy, and normally also other kinds of texts – some administrative texts, some texts concerning magic, some letters, et cetera. Oral vernacular texts, or relatively unadorned fictional narratives, what we call fictional prose, would normally form part of popular or trivial literature. For complex social, economic, and cultural reasons, this way of classifying texts came to undergo great though gradual transformations in Western Europe from the late 17th to the early 19th centuries. One of the very many crucial factors behind the process must have been the growing importance of a new, more rigorous conception of empirical truth, associated with the natural sciences. High literature, in the special sense described by Idema and Haft, had always aspired to truth in the sense of great human significance. As the distinction between empirical truth and empirical non-truth became more rigid and more significant – and as many other, more or less related developments were taking place – new groupings began to emerge in the textual universe. Poetry became dissociated from scientific writings, and successively also from history, philosophy, oratory, and letters. On the other hand, fictional prose, especially in the guise of the increasingly appreciated novel, came to be regarded as one of the genres of poetry. With this, our modern notion of literature had effectively taken shape, and the term â€Å"literature† (whose main meaning in the 17th and 18th centuries had been something like â€Å"education† or â€Å"culture†) successively developed into today’s normal designation of the concept. [v] III The late 18th and early 19th centuries saw the beginning of the writing of literary history – of the history of national European literatures, of the history of European literature as a whole and, at least from the 1830s onwards, of the world history of literature. World histories of literature thus comprise a genre which has existed for around 170 years. Among its modern instances are such impressive works as the German twenty-five volume Neues Handbuch der Literaturwissenschaft (New Handbook of Literary Studies), published between 1972 and 2002, and the Russian Istorija vsemirnoj literatury v devjati tomach (History of World Literature in Nine Volumes) from 1983-94. [vii] However in the English-speaking world the genre is more or less extinct, and its very existence appears to be overlooked in the contemporary international discussion about the globalization of literary studies. These debates are primarily inspired by the widespread interest in colonial and postcolonial studies and place the last few centuries at the centre of attention, while the traditional world histories of literature are, in principle, universal in scope, and are meant to cover all times and cultures. In many respects, it seems a good idea to have a world history of literature to fall back on. Such works can relate the various literary cultures of the world to one another and put them into perspective. Thus they may create a much needed overview, much as a map of the world helps us to comprehend certain fundamental geographical realities. To some extent, works like the Neues Handbuch der Literaturwissenschaft and the Istorija vsemirnoj literatury do just that, and of course they also contain a wealth of information and intelligent discussion. Yet, despite their often remarkable qualities, world histories of literature are typically profoundly problematic for a number of reasons. Two major problems have their roots in the very concept of literature. First, the concept is, in itself, an everyday notion. If employed without additional explications or stipulations, it is too imprecise and inconsistent to form the basis of a reasonable classification. Second, the concept of literature is a relatively recent Western invention. Its application to other times and cultures will easily lead to anachronistic and ethnocentric distortions. On the whole, world histories of literature are content to sweep such problems under the carpet. They typically prefer to rely on the everyday notion of literature and to include the resulting contradictions in the bargain. For instance, the concept of literature is traditionally used in such a manner that the criteria for a work to be classified as literature vary depending on the time and the culture one is speaking of. Modern literature is most often seen as consisting of just fictional prose, poetry, and drama. When there is talk of older periods, the concept of literature is however used very inclusively. [ix] For example, ancient Roman philosophy, history, and oratory are not excluded as being non-fiction; instead, such writers as Lucrece, Caesar, and Cicero are considered part of the European literary heritage. The same duality appears in the treatment of other literary cultures. Thus, for instance, the sacred Vedic texts (circa 1200 – circa 500 B. C.).

Understanding Difference Diversity to Develop Empathy

Understanding Difference Diversity to Develop Empathy Phil Makins 13th December 2016 Session 8 The topic of discussion today was Understanding Difference Diversity to Develop Empathic Understanding. We explored why an understanding of difference and diversity was important when using counselling skills in helping roles. We then went on to broaden that understanding and consider difference and diversity within our own personal relationships and in the wider social context to understand how this impacts on counselling. The reason difference and diversity is an important part of counselling training is to recognise that we are not all the same, everybody on the planet is a unique individual, even identical twins will have many differences in the way they feel and respond to different things. Whilst researching this topic I have come to realise that it is more complex than I first thought and goes far beyond the common diversity issues of gender, race, religion, and disability. Diversity runs much deeper than this and also comprises diversity of personalities, experiences, beliefs, and reactions to events. It is important to recognise such diversity if empathic understanding is to be provided to clients, but what is empathic understanding? And why is it so necessary? Empathic Understanding is one of the three core conditions of Person-Centred Counselling, the other two being Unconditional Positive Regard and Congruence. To be empathic has been described as seeing the world through the eyes of another person or walking in another persons shoes. It means that the counsellor accurately understands the clients thoughts, feelings, and meanings from the clients own perspective. When the counsellor perceives what the world is like from the clients point of view, it demonstrates not only that that view has value, but also that the client is being accepted. Could I show empathic understanding to a person or group whom I harbour stereotypical views or prejudice about? I doubt that I could be truly empathic in that situation so I would either change my mindset and try to remove the prejudice or take advice from my clinical supervisor. Further to this, empathy has often been confused with sympathy but they are very different. Empathy is something that is don e with someone whereas sympathy is a reaction to someone. Sympathy suggests feeling sorry for someone and that in turn suggests some sort of power imbalance, i.e. the person sympathising is in a greater position of power. Empathy is about being on an equal footing by entering into the clients world to try and understand and also communicating with each other to clarify and confirm that understanding. Without recognising diversity, it would be all too easy to impose our own thoughts and feelings onto a client, especially if the client is experiencing something we have experienced as It is human nature to look for similarities in other people and to identify with them. As counsellors, therefore, the challenge comes in identifying difference and being ok with it working with it, rather than being threatened by it. The counsellor who cant do this is merely placing more conditions of worth onto the client, which is incompatible with another one of the Core Conditions mentioned, namely, Unconditional Positive Regard. I started to think about my own beliefs and prejudices, do I have any prejudices? Surely not, I am a trainee counsellor and I work in a bank! But whenever I hear a Birmingham accent I`m afraid I do think that the person talking must be stupid. When I hear a Liverpool accent I think of youths, hoodies and joyriding. A quick bit of internet research shows that the three most disliked accents in the United Kingdom are Birmingham, Liverpool and Glasgow in that order with Birmingham being the most disliked. I know that for me to think all people from Birmingham are stupid and all youths from Liverpool are criminals is incorrect and wrong but our prejudices are deeply ingrained in us and difficult to remove as they have probably been instilled in us over a period of many years, possibly (probably) since childhood. So, how do we start to work towards removing our own prejudices? I should imagine one good way would be to Increase your exposure to or contact with those who belong to the groups toward which you have learned some prejudicial stereotypes. Misconceptions remain effective only when you avoid contact with those about whom you have misconceptions but, unfortunately, I do not know anyone from Birmingham or Liverpool. However, whenever I have prejudicial thoughts now I try and examine these thoughts and analyse why I am thinking them. I normally find that there is no real reason for my generalisation or prejudice and try and tell myself to remove the prejudicial feelings. If I keep reinforcing this I am sure it will start to work. We all experience things in a different way. A situation that could upset or annoy me could be viewed completely differently by another person. An example of this could be when theres a traffic accident and the police ask for witnesses to come forward and describe what happened. They like to have as many witness statements as possible so that they can build up enough evidence to give them a broader, more realistic version of events. In a traffic accident, there will be many different perspectives on what happened. The driver of one car will have one view, another driver or a passenger will have yet another view. Each onlooker who witnessed the accident will have a slightly different perspective, depending on where they were, how far away they were, how good a view they had, what else was going on, how much danger they felt they were in, how the accident affected them, what the accident means to them etc. Its the same principle with everything each situation, event or conversation means something different to all those involved, and also to those not involved. We give different meanings, according to our belief systems, and how we are affected by the event.

Global Inequalities Essay -- essays research papers

I found the book Global Inequalities quite interesting as well as being very informative. I enjoyed reading this book because unlike many other texts it was not very â€Å"cut and dry†, rather it was easy to read and Bradshaw and Wallace did a good job illustrating major points. This made the book easy to read because it did not require me to re-read many passages to understand the ideas presented. Prior to reading this book, I did not have too much knowledge about world events that have occurred in the past. I learned a great deal about international events, it also clarified many ideas that I had previously learned but was not too sure about the details. I found it extremely interesting learning about all of the different cultures and lifestyles that many countries enjoy around the world. I only have one complaint about the book; it is that the book is not very up-to-date. Many of the ideas pointed illustrated by Bradshaw and Wallace is out dated. In fact a couple of the id eas that are talked about have changed over time or even been solved since the book went to print, however even though some of the ideas are out dated many are still very interesting to read about. In general I thought that Bradshaw and Wallace did an excellent job composing a book that clearly illustrates many of the cultures including ours and the problems facing them over time.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Throughout the book Bradshaw and Wallace have presented many ideas that illustrate several inequalities throughout the world. There were three major points that I felt were the most important to my overall understanding of how cultures greatly differ from each other and the global inequalities around the world. In my opinion these ideas were important because they explain many of the problems that both developing and developed countries face on a daily basis. They were colonization, the Modernization Theory and World Systems Theory and the section about Baseball in Asia. Although Bradshaw and Wallace have presented many ideas and issues, I felt that these easily explained some main reasons as to why global inequalities transpire.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The first point that I felt was significant was the theory of colonization. Colonization was how many underdeveloped countries were formed; this also led to many problems in those respective countries. Colonization caused many ... ...ican’s have definitely seen plenty of fights, arguments, and off-field problems. In Japan this stuff would most likely never occur. Another major difference between Japanese baseball and American baseball is the fact that in Japan there is such a thing as a tie, however not in the U.S. In the United States a baseball game would not end until there was no longer a tie, no matter how long it took. In Japan the game will go no longer than four hours or twelve innings. These are some very big differences between our â€Å"American Pastime† and Japanese baseball. These are all ideas the Bradshaw and Wallace clearly illustrate as being â€Å"Global Inequalities†.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Throughout this book, Bradshaw and Wallace really helped me grasp more of an understanding about how much the world differs going from one culture to another. Being an athlete myself, the section about how much baseball differs from the U.S. to Japan really pointed out how the differences are extensive. The first two issues have led to many countries becoming underdeveloped. All of these issues are very important and are a learning process for all societies that wish to become a success in the near future.