Macbeth - Shakespeare :: essays research papers

Act One 1.) Macbeth’s response to the witches prediction is one of shock, and intrigue. He likewise needs to be told more, and ability the witches know these things. Banquo be that as it may, is increasingly wary, and not certain. Banquo likewise questions if the witches were even genuine; he is considerably more suspicious. 2.) Macbeth discovers in scene 4 that Malcolm, not him is picked by the King to be his replacement, this causes Macbeth to conclude that â€Å"chance† won't make him King, and to be King, he should take care of business. 3.) Lady Macbeth’s response to the letter is one of satisfaction for Macbeth, and dread that Macbeth is too acceptable an individual to take advantage of the lucky break and execute the King. â€Å"†¦I dread thy nature, It is too full o’ th’ milk of human generosity To get the closest way.†(p29) Lady Macbeth likewise â€Å"speaks† with â€Å"demons† to give her the fearlessness and fill her with malevolence to permit her to do the homicide of the King. â€Å"†¦fill me from the crown to the toe top-loaded with direst cruelty†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (p30) 4.) This discourse discloses to us that Macbeth wouldn't completely like to continue with the homicide of the King, and that the general thought alarms Macbeth, and appears to be difficult to submit. â€Å"†¦Doth unfix my hair†¦murder yet is yet fantastical†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (p19) Act Two 1.) At first Macbeth sees a blade drifting, driving him to Duncan’s room, which presence he questions. Subsequent to having killed Duncan, Macbeth is anxious and apprehensive, he envisions he hears things when they are owls. He likewise is worried about the possibility that that he is accursed to get lost when he can't state ‘amen’. He is apprehensive he won't have the option to rest in harmony. 2.) At the finish of scene two, Macbeth shows regret that he has murdered the King. At the point when he hears the thumping at the south passage, he says; â€Å"Wake Duncan with thy thumping. I would thou couldst.†(p59) 3.) Malcolm and Donalbain leave Scotland since they presume whoever murdered their dad, will target them next. 4.) The unusual events that have occurred the evening of the homicide are; it is dim when the sun ought to have come up, a bird of prey was slaughtered by an owl and Duncan’s ponies turning wild and turning on the people and afterward eating one another. Act Three 1.) Banquo’s disposition toward the starting to Macbeth having become King, is one of doubt. He presumes Macbeth had something to do with it.

School Vouchers The Wrong Choice Essays - Education Economics

School Vouchers: The Wrong Choice School Vouchers: The Wrong Choice Susie is a little youngster who lives in Florida. Since kindergarten, she has gone to a close by tuition based school. Her folks energetically pay her educational cost, despite the fact that doing so constrains them to compromise. They wouldn't fret these penances, since they realize that their little girl is getting the best training they can give her. Jesse lives downtown, in the downtown. She goes to the nearby state funded school and battles through her classes. Her mom might want to send her to a tuition based school, where there is less viciousness and a more quiet air, yet can't manage the cost of it. At that point, Jesses mother discovers that a voucher framework has instituted for the whole territory of Florida. Jesses downtown, splash painted primary school got a bombing status, so she can get a voucher to go to her preferred school. With the cash she gets from the voucher, Jesses mother can send her little girl to a similar non-public school that Susie joins in. Is it reasonable that Susies guardians save every possible dollar while Jesses mother send her on the transport for nothing? While having good intentions, does the voucher framework accidentally oppress youngsters like Susie whose guardians must work additional hours to get their kids through non-public school? Is the voucher framework actually the response to the issues with American instruction today, or an approach to move them elsewhere? American state funded schools have consistently remained imperfect. In the nineteenth century, schools griped of under-arranged first year recruits; understudies who couldn't compose a paper or even spell. A fundamental debate was bilingual training for recently naturalized migrants. As America entered the mid 1900s, the discussion went to the utilization of diversion in the study hall. Educators felt that they should put on an act so as to keep the consideration of their understudies. The deserting of phonics during the 1920s and 30s was accepted to be the motivation behind why the activity showcase comprised of those with lacking instructive planning. Social advancement and the supplanting of the three Rs with passionate dependability and disposition courses were the reasons for worry during the 1940s. The 1950s brought an attention to low norms. It was discovered that American youngsters were lingering behind the normal gauges of the remainder of the world. Wellbeing in schools li kewise turned into an issue; approaching educators were cautioned of the physical mental fortitude important to instruct. Absence of education turned into the primary spotlight on the 1960s and 70s. Phonics (or the deficiency in that department) was by and by to fault (Rothstein 2). Presently, toward the start of another century, what issues have been fixed? Lack of education is still high, American gauges are still low, and graduates are as yet ill-equipped. Every age feels that schools are more awful than the age previously. America has been endeavoring to take care of the issues with its instruction framework for a long time, yet nothing has changed. As indicated by Rothstein: Schools are not capable of preparing youngsters for the difficulties of the following century. A clearly watered down educational program guarantees that all understudies, whether or not they have aced vital abilities, can graduate. Social advancement without necessities to ace evaluation proper abilities is presently typical, so even world class universities must run therapeutic courses for first year recruits in essential math and education, and business officials whine that secondary school graduates are poorly arranged for even generally untalented employments (2). Are these grievances not similar ones that seemed a century back? Improvement is frantically required, however where would it be advisable for it to begin? Cleveland, Milwaukee, and the territory of Florida have proposed an answer: a school voucher framework. Voucher defenders accept that the framework which they support is a beginning spot. Voucher defenders the country over accept that through this program, which puts the weight of progress upon schools, progress can be made. The voucher framework as of late executed in Florida is worked around rivalry. The government funded schools have norms which they should maintain. Every year the state gives each school a letter grade which rates that schools capacity to keep the given principles. In the event that the school gets a F, it stands to lose a lot of its understudy body as a result of vouchers. This bombing grade qualifies the kids took on the school to partake in the

Business Research Methods Choose Any Topic From Human Resource

Business Research Methods Choose Any Topic From Human Resource Business Research Methods: Choose Any Topic From Human Resource Management (HRM) Or Recruitment And â€" Essay Example > ALLWRITING. NET ORDER: BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODSTitle: The effect of electronic recruitment and selection on the productivity of human Resource management (HRM) departments of organizations. IntroductionThe internet has permeated every facet of business life including that of human resource acquisition, development and management. Increasingly, the internet and related electronic technologies are being used to advertise for positions, assessment of applicants, selection and recruitment of human resources. These technologies include emails, websites, resume banks, employment webpages, electronic scanning technology, applicant tracking system and internal databases of job seekers. According to Bartram (2000) the internet has already had a dramatic impact on the way in which recruitment and selection are carried out in North America and the impact is increasingly being felt in terms of changes in practice in Europe and Asia-Pacific. He further pointed out that this medium has enabled the widespread adoption of computer-based assessment and also predicted that it would replace paper as the default medium before very long. These assertions were made over five years ago. In between that time and now the internet population has witnessed a massive growth and the activities undertaken on it has also widened and become more diversified. Many workplaces in the world have also been connected to the internet. Given the ubiquitous role the internet now plays in the conduct of business activities, it would not be over-exaggeration to say that its impact is being felt worldwide. Presently, all aspects of human resource work in the area of recruitment and selection such as developing the requirements of a position, posting of positions, advertising of position, screening of resumes, interviewing, making the offer and even new employee orientation can be done from a computer and the internet. Galanaki (2002) has catalogued some of the benefits of online recruitment and sel ection as being more cost effective, worldwide coverage and therefore a better pool of human resources to select from. The rest of the benefits are reduced recruitment cycle time, higher response rate, a better quality of response, less effort in getting the desired results and lower administrative cost. A study carried out by Human Resource Management International Digest (2005)revealed that the use of electronic recruitment software known as Active Recruiter reduced the recruitment process from 62 to 42 days. Also, savings amounting to 54 percent of the total recruitment costs was realized. Despite these enormous benefits, the online medium itself also poses special difficulties and challenges to the human resource function. These include issues pertaining to confidentiality, authentication, equality of access to information, impersonation, and inherent abuse of the testing process and the control of assessment conditions. Kerrin and Ketley (2003) identified major challenges for implementing e-recruitment as (a) the cultural approach of the organization towards e-recruitment (b) the lack of knowledge of e-recruitment with the human resource (HR) community, (c) internet usage by the target prospective applicants and (d) commitment of senior management to e- recruitment. Interestingly, while these benefits and challenges are commonly acknowledged, few research work has been carried out to quantitatively measure their effects on the human resource function and productivity. Consequently, there is paucity of information in this area of human resource management to guide managerial decision making. This study is therefore being undertaken to help bridge this information gap. Specifically, it shall seek to measure quantitatively the effect electronic recruitment is having on the productivity of human resource management.

King Edward I of England - Longshanks

What Is an Essay - 1440 Words

Daniel Kim English 101 Prof. Buscemi Essay #3 Rough Draft An essay is a creative written piece in which the author uses different styles such as diction, tone, pathos, ethos or logos to communicate a message to the reader using either a personal experience, filled with morals and parables, or a informative text filled with educational terms. Educational terms could mean the usage of complicated and elevated words or simply information you would get in schools. Some authors, such as Cynthia Ozick, claim that an essay has no educational, polemical, or socio-political use. Others, such as Kathleen Norris, contend that an essay is like story-telling, and that the writer attempts to breathe life into the words on a page. â€Å"Breathing†¦show more content†¦Not only Leach’s essay proves that an essay can be educational, but Michael Lewis’ essay â€Å"The Mansion† also proves that an essay can do the job. In the essay, Lewis talks about his personal experience where he goes from a middle class man living in Califor nia to a extreme wealthy man living in a mansion in New Orleans. He describes his experience of renting a mansion, and noticing the tendency of human beings to always want things that they don’t actually need. He describes a moment when he entered the master-bedroom and found a closet which was the size of the master bedroom they’d left behind in California, and inside this closet he found another secret door, which led him to another closet. Even though he had enough clothes, the extra empty room made him think that maybe, he needed more clothes. In this essay, Michael Lewis gives a moral and educational lesson to the reader. His message is that humans have unlimited wants and they own things that they don’t even need. Even though there isn’t a explicit educational teaching with scientific terms like in â€Å"You Be The Moon† , this essay is still able to transmit a moral and educational teaching to the reader. Regardless of the claims that essay s are non-educational, I still maintain my original claim that an essay is creative written piece in which the author uses different styles such as diction, tone, pathos, ethos or logos to communicate a message to the readerShow MoreRelatedWhat Is An Essay?909 Words   |  4 PagesMom declared the Smiths’ are coming over for movie night, I internally groan before answering, â€Å"Alright.† After dinner, I went back up to my room and took one last check on my essays and assignments before emailing them to my teachers. The moment I emailed my essays and assignments to my teachers, the doorbell rang, signalling that the Smiths are here. I quickly look at myself in my mirror located next to my vanity desk, making sure that I don’t look that bad. I wore short jeans with the hem ofRead MoreWhat Is An Essay741 Words   |  3 Pagesmendacity. To substantiate my protestation, here is a German intelligence report: â€Å"The illegal proliferation-sensitive procurement activities [by Iran] in Germany registered by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution persisted in 2015 at what is, even by international standards, a quantitatively high level. This holds true in particular with regard to items which can be used in the field of nuclear technology.† The coalition of regional resurgence and ballistic-missile tests is wellspringRead MoreWhat Is A Essa y1140 Words   |  5 Pageswouldn’t know, I didn’t find out myself till i was 15 and Delana pretty much forced me into doing it so i haven’t really done it with a guy, i’ve done stuff but not.. it.† I replied frowning at the memory of Delana then flushing at the memory of Buddy. â€Å"What stuff have you done with guys?† he asked curiously. I glanced over and silently cursed his sunglasses. I couldn’t read that look he was giving me. â€Å"Oh uh, well uh you know that guy Buddy at our school? Well he came over to help me out with chemistryRead MoreWhat Is A Essay795 Words   |  4 Pagesonly a few days, I had braced for an uncomfortable and awkward interaction in which I fumble for the Hebrew phrase for â€Å"I don’t speak Hebrew† and gawkily shuffle back to my parents. As a result of my inaccurate expectations, I awkwardly stutter â€Å"w-what† and gawkily attempt to cover for my several seconds of silence following his words. â€Å"Try,† he somewhat frustratedly repeats. I open my palm and he drops a surprisingly large amount of seasoning onto my sweating hand, some of it spilling onto theRead MoreWhat Is A Essay723 Words   |  3 Pagesdivine.† â€Å"But how did I, how did I not notice.† Melissa is still confused. Everything she wrote looks correct, but it’s not at all what they learnt in class. â€Å"You learnt how to let go and stop obsessing with rules like other bound humans.† Tomo says, still smiling. Melissas mouth drops. The pieces of the puzzle fall together in her mind. Potatoes in the morning is what I bought a bag of. Clarissa and Tomo both laugh and nod in agreement. The sun shines in from the window directly behind herRead MoreWhat Is Essay?891 Words   |  4 Pagessensitive. In the article â€Å"A Nation of Wimps† by Psychology Today reveals how students struggle making their own choices, yet don’t have the ability to fix that or to change their mindset as they believe, Life is planned out for us, but we dont know what to want (7). This confusion leads to fear and sensitiveness. According to the Webster’s dictionary, fear is an unpleasant often strong emotion caused by expectation or awareness of danger. However, these students are surrounded in a safety net filledRead MoreWhat Is An Essay?983 Words   |  4 Pagesready to see him yet. But oh, thank god it’s not him. It was just a teenage couple coming in for some brunch. I’m hoping that when he walks in here, everything will be better again. But the truth is, I really don’t know what’s going to happen. What I do know is that he has caused me so much pain, making me stay up all night, crying, physically hurting, and wondering why am I not good enough and why can’t I do anything right? My friends tell me that there’s nothing wrong with me, that he justRead MoreWhat Is A Essay1161 Words   |  5 Pages Echoing throughout the largest house in Strebilee, I heard my, â€Å"Okay, Kaia! Be safe and come back before supper!† that was near ritualic from my dear father who was no doubt whiling away in his office with his governor-ing stuff, as I had no idea what exactly he did despite my eight years after living with the man. After waiting a moment for the a-okay, I closed the heavy oaken door behind me. Strebilee is cold, plain and simple. In the summer, we have maybe one month without snow. It’s relativelyRead MoreWhat Is A Essay801 Words   |  4 Pagesit with the guys. She wasnt afraid of any dirt. She looked at the clock another hour had gone by, unlike before the sun was now shining, and the heat was starting to kick in. Ash hadnt texted or even open her picture. Maybe he was still sleeping, what if he missed the flight. That was terrifying to her, why though? She didnt know, she needed the company of her new good friend. She stopped on the sidewalk taking another picture. Captioning it You still sleeping?!?! She jogged back to the houseRead MoreWhat Is A Essay956 Words   |  4 Pageshe know the last part? He totally hasn’t eavesdropped on Dmitry’s conversations. He remembered the first time he saw him. A tall, lean teen complete with a fitted black hoodie and a blue beanie inscribed with a symbol. He overheard a classmate ask what the symbol meant to which he responded that it was his home football team, Leeds United. The moment Spence heard his accent, he melted inside. It was a smooth mix of a British accent coupled with a Russian accent. It didn’t sound cruel or angry,

Story That Makes No Sense Free Essays

I’m in big trouble. I can feel it. I don’t exactly know what I did or what I am running from, but I keep on running. We will write a custom essay sample on Story That Makes No Sense or any similar topic only for you Order Now I ran without stopping. I don’t know what is giving me this unlimited energy to run without stopping but I know if I stop, I will be in trouble. I see all these big columns and high vault ceiling as I run. Where am I? I don’t know. If this was any normal, ordinary day, I probably would like to take a slow walk and enjoy all these grand architecture elements. However, I don’t know how I know this, but if I stop I will be in big trouble. I heard a loud noise behind me and I look back. I see a giant clown running, chasing me. He is calling my name while chasing after me. The clown is holding something. While I am busying looking at the running clown, I didn’t notice there is a pole right in front of me. I bang right into it. My head is spinning and I pass out. When I wake up, I am back on my bed. It was the weirdest dream that I ever had. As I walk out of my bed toward the door, it seems like everything slows down. Moreover, as I try to crab the doorknob it seems to get further and further away from me. Everything is in slow motion, and then I decide to jump for the doorknob with the slightest of luck. Luckily, I grab on to it and quickly open the door. I run out the room but everything seems different. I could see object floating on the air. It’s weird. It is like I am in outer space. I quickly close the door behind me and jump out the window. Then I see a strange man approach me. He is wearing all black but he is too far away for me to recognize anything else. However, as he approaches closer to me, I could see there is blood trooping down his sleeves. Suddenly, my body shivers. I try my harder to pull myself together and run. That scary man is chasing after me. I run and run. While I am running, I stop on the way to pick up laundries. I always like to keep my clothes clean and in perfect condition. The man in black is still chasing after me. Then I think of an idea when I see the lady sitting outside selling fruits. I pay her with money then take the fruits throw it at the scary man. Out of nowhere, he pulls out a sword and starts to cut up all the fruits that I threw at him. Nothing seems to stop him, therefore, I continue to run. As I run, I see my life splashing back on my mind, all the good and bad times. At that moment, I didn’t want to run anymore. I turn around and scream out to the bloody man: â€Å"What do you want from me? † He answers: â€Å"I have come to take you with me, where you belong. † I didn’t like his answer and it makes no absolute sense to me. This time, I see a police station right in front of my eyes. I know in there will have the things that I need to protect myself. I spin fast toward it and I closer I get, I saw a lot of policemen pointing guns at me. I hesitate for a moment then I hear one of them scream at me: â€Å" Come quick! We wont hurt you! † As I turn my head around, I see hundreds of zombies trying to infest the station. How to cite Story That Makes No Sense, Essay examples

Social stratification and social class free essay sample

Today,stratification, a system by which society ranks its members in a hierarchy, is the norm throughout the world. All societies stratify their members. A stratifiedsociety is one in which there is an unequal distribution of society’s rewards and in which people are arranged hierarchically into layers according to how much of society’s rewards they possess. Historical Stratification Systems Slavery is a system of stratification in which one person owns another, as he or she would own property, and exploits the slave’s labor for economic gain. Slaves are one of the lowest categories in any stratification system, as they possess virtually no power or wealth of their own. Slavery’s Global History Many Americans view slavery as a phenomenon that began with the colonization of the New World and ended with the Civil War, but slavery has existed for a very long time. Slavery appears in the Old Testament of the Bible, as well as in the Qur’an. It was common practice in ancient Greece and Rome . The Causes of Slavery A common assumption about slavery is that it is generally based on racism. Though racism was the primary cause of slavery in the United States, it was not the main reason that people in other areas were enslaved. Reasons for slavery include debt, crime, war, and beliefs of inherent superiority. Debt: Individuals who could not pay their way out of debt sometimes had to literally sell themselves. If a slave’s debt was not paid off before his or her death, the debt was often passed down to his or her children, enslaving several generations of the same family. Crime: Families against whom a crime had been committed might enslave members of the perpetrator’s family as compensation. Prisoners of war: Slaves were often taken during wartime, or when a new territory was being invaded. When Rome was colonizing much of the known world approximately 2,000 years ago, it routinely took slaves from the lands it conquered. Beliefs of inherent superiority: Some people believe that they have a right to enslave those who they believe are inherently inferior to them. Slavery in the United States Slavery in the United States was unique for several reasons. First, it had a fairly equal male-to-female ratio. Slaves also lived longer than in other regions. They often reproduced, and their children were born into slavery. In other countries, slavery was not permanent or hereditary. Once slaves paid off their debts, they were set free. In the United States, slaves were rarely freed before the Civil War. The Estate System An ancient stratification system that no longer exists today was the estate system, a three-tiered system composed of the nobility, the clergy, and the commoners. During the Middle Ages, much of Europe was organized under this system. Nobility Members of the nobility had great inherited wealth and did little or no discernible work. They occupied themselves in what we would term leisure pursuits, such as hunting or riding. Others cultivated interests in cultural pursuits, such as art and music. To ensure that their inherited wealth passed smoothly from one generation to the next without being dispersed to members of the extended family, the nobility of the Middle Ages practiced the law of primogeniture. The word primogeniture comes from Latin and means â€Å"first born. † The nobility’s law of primogeniture stipulated that only a first-born son could inherit his father’s wealth. Members of this stratum developed an ideology to justify their privileged positions, the divine right of kings, which posited that the authority of the king comes directly from God. The king delegated authority to the nobles. Because the king and the nobles were God’s representatives, they had to be obeyed. Clergy The eldest son was guaranteed a healthy income upon the death of his father, but other sons had to find their own means of income. Few, if any, were trained for work, so many became members of the Roman Catholic clergy, a body of religious officials. The clergy was very powerful in European society in the Middle Ages, and membership offered long-term job security and a comfortable living. The higher up the ladder a priest went, the more power he had over the masses. Commoners The third tier of the estate system consisted of the masses of people known as thecommoners. They spent their lives engaged in hard physical labor, with virtually no chance of moving up in society. Indentured Servitude Some commoners, searching for a way out of their situation, found it by agreeing to indentured servitude, in which one individual agrees to sell his or her body or labor to another for a specified period of time. Once the time period is over, the individual may leave. Indentured servitude differs from slavery in that the individual chooses to enter into the agreement, while slaves have no say in deciding the course of their lives. In today’s world, three main systems of stratification remain: slavery, a caste system, and a class system. Slavery Slavery still exists today. As many as 400 million people live under conditions that qualify as slavery, despite laws prohibiting it. In Mauritania, the Sudan, Ghana, and Benin, slavery exists much as it did 800 years ago. In other parts of the world, including Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan, debt slavery is common. Sex slavery, the forcing of girls into prostitution, is prevalent in Asia. Caste System A caste system is a social system based on ascribed statuses, which are traits or characteristics that people possess as a result of their birth. Ascribed statuses can include race, gender, nationality, body type, and age. A caste system ranks people rigidly. No matter what a person does, he or she cannot change castes. People often try to compensate for ascribed statuses by changing their nationality, lying about their age, or undergoing plastic surgery to alter their body type. In some societies, this strategy works; in others, it does not. India’s Caste System The Indian government officially outlawed the caste system in 1949, but vestiges of it remain today. The system originated with the Hindu religion, which subscribes to the concept of reincarnation, the belief that while the physical body dies, the soul of a person is immortal and goes on to be reborn into another body. People who are good in their current life will come back to improved circumstances in the next life, but if they are evil, they will be punished in the next one. Therefore, those who are poor or ill are suffering punishment for having done something wrong in a past life. One should not interfere in the life of another person because that individual’s circumstances are the result of what he or she has done in a previous incarnation. Some might view reincarnation as religious tradition. Others might view it asideology, a set of values that people devise to rationalize a particular social custom. In the case of the caste system, the custom being rationalized is inequality. If an individual is poor, for example, blaming his or her circumstances on what he or she did in a past life absolves others in the society of the responsibility for providing any assistance. Ideology also attempts to explain why some are in positions of wealth and power. Hindu tradition would say that the wealthy and powerful are being rewarded for what they did in a past life, and therefore they deserve every privilege they have. The Five Castes The Indian caste system has existed for about 3,000 years. There were four original castes, and one caste so low that it was not even considered to be part of the caste system: 1. The Brahman caste usually consisted of priests or scholars and enjoyed a great deal of prestige and wealth. 2. The Kshatriya caste, or warrior caste, was composed of those who distinguished themselves in military service. 3. The Vaishva caste comprised two sets of people—business-people and skilled craftspeople. 4. The Shudra caste consisted of those who made their living doing manual labor. 5. The Harijan, Dalit, or Untouchable caste was thought to comprise only inferior people who were so repulsive that an individual who accidentally touched one would have to engage in extensive ritual ablutions to rid himself or herself of the contamination. There is no social movement in a caste system. An individual born into the Harijan caste cannot change his or her fate. Nor can someone be demoted to a lower caste; the caste into which a person is born is the caste he or she will have for life. Castes and Work Caste dictates the type of work an individual is allowed to do. Members of the Shudra caste, for example, are relegated to performing hard physical work regardless of their skill, intelligence, or ambition. Those born into the Brahman caste must attend university or become a member of the clergy, even though they may show no interest or aptitude toward that end. Castes and Marriage In a true caste system, societies practice endogamy, or marriage within one’s own group or caste, with marriage between castes strictly forbidden. Traditionally, love is not used as a basis for marriage in a caste system. Rather, parents arrange marriages, sometimes when the future bride and groom are still children. The Indian concept of marriage is that while love is wonderful, it is neither a necessary nor desirable condition of marriage. If the couple is considered compatible in terms of major demographic variables, then the marriage is considered appropriate. Caste is one of the important variables, along with religion and educational level. Modern India’s caste system has many more than the original five castes. Because the distinctions between these numerous castes have blurred over time, some people marry outside their caste. In general, however, caste is still considered an important determinant of whom one will marry. When people do marry outside of their caste, they are likely to marry someone whose caste is only a few levels away from their own. Castes and Socializing One’s caste also determines social contact. Friendships, and relationships in general, are rare among members of different castes. They neither live nor work near each other and rarely have any contact with one another. South Africa’s Apartheid System The apartheid system of South Africa is another example of a caste system. The term apartheid refers to the total separation of the races. White Europeans colonized South Africa starting in the seventeenth century, and the area remained part of the British Empire until its independence in 1961. The policy of apartheid, introduced in 1948, relegated black people to a caste far below that of whites. Black people could not vote, receive an education, or mix with whites in any way. The work of Nelson Mandela and others who fought for black equality have made apartheid illegal in South Africa, but, like the caste system in India, some prejudice and discrimination remain. Class System In a class system, an individual’s place in the social system is based on achieved statuses, which are statuses that we either earn or choose and that are not subject to where or to whom we were born. Those born within a class system can choose their educational level, careers, and spouses. Social mobility, or movement up or down the social hierarchy, is a major characteristic of the class system. Social class (attributes, categories). For centuries, sociologists have analyzed social stratification, its root causes, and its effects on society. Theorists Karl Marx and Max Weber disagreed about the nature of class, in particular. Other sociologists applied traditional frameworks to stratification. Karl Marx based his conflict theory on the idea that modern society has only two classes of people: the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. The bourgeoisie are the owners of the means of production: the factories, businesses, and equipment needed to produce wealth. The proletariat are the workers. According to Marx, the bourgeoisie in capitalist societies exploit workers. The owners pay them enough to afford food and a place to live, and the workers, who do not realize they are being exploited, have a false consciousness, or a mistaken sense, that they are well off. They think they can count on their capitalist bosses to do what was best for them. Marx foresaw a workers’ revolution. As the rich grew richer, Marx hypothesized that workers would develop a true class consciousness, or a sense of shared identity based on their common experience of exploitation by the bourgeoisie. The workers would unite and rise up in a global revolution. Once the dust settled after the revolution, the workers would then own the means of production, and the world would become communist. No one stratum would control the access to wealth. Everything would be owned equally by everyone. Marx’s vision did not come true. As societies modernized and grew larger, the working classes became more educated, acquiring specific job skills and achieving the kind of financial well-being that Marx never thought possible. Instead of increased exploitation, they came under the protection of unions and labor laws. Skilled factory workers and tradespeople eventually began to earn salaries that were similar to, or in some instances greater than, their middle-class counterparts. Max Weber took issue with Marx’s seemingly simplistic view of stratification. Weber argued that owning property, such as factories or equipment, is only part of what determines a person’s social class. Social class for Weber included power and prestige, in addition to property or wealth. People who run corporations without owning them still benefit from increased production and greater profits. Prestige and Property Weber argued that property can bring prestige, since people tend to hold rich people in high regard. Prestige can also come from other sources, such as athletic or intellectual ability. In those instances, prestige can lead to property, if people are willing to pay for access to prestige. For Weber, wealth and prestige are intertwined. Power and Wealth Weber believed that social class is also a result of power, which is merely the ability of an individual to get his or her way, despite opposition. Wealthy people tend to be more powerful than poor people, and power can come from an individual’s prestige. Sociologists still consider social class to be a grouping of people with similar levels of wealth, prestige, and power. Davis and Moore: The Functionalist Perspective Sociologists Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore believed that stratification serves an important function in society. In any society, a number of tasks must be accomplished. Some tasks, such as cleaning streets or serving coffee in a restaurant, are relatively simple. Other tasks, such as performing brain surgery or designing skyscrapers, are complicated and require more intelligence and training than the simple tasks. Those who perform the difficult tasks are therefore entitled to more power, prestige, and money. Davis and Moore believed that an unequal distribution of society’s rewards is necessary to encourage people to take on the more complicated and important work that required many years of training. They believed that the rewards attached to a particular job reflect its importance to society. Melvin Tumin Sociologist Melvin Tumin took issue with Davis and Moore’s theory. He disagreed with their assumption that the relative importance of a particular job can always be measured by how much money or prestige is given to the people who performed those jobs. That assumption made identifying important jobs difficult. Were the jobs inherently important, or were they important because people received great rewards to perform them? If society worked the way Davis and Moore had envisioned, Tumin argued, all societies would be meritocracies, systems of stratification in which positions are given according to individual merit. Ability would determine who goes to college and what jobs someone holds. Instead, Tumin found that gender and the income of an individual’s family were more important predictors than ability or what type of work an individual would do. Men are typically placed in a higher social stratification than women, regardless of ability. A family with more money can afford to send its children to college. As college graduates, these children are more likely to assume high-paying, prestigious jobs. Conversely, people born into poverty are more likely to drop out of school and work low-paying jobs in order to survive, thereby shutting them off from the kinds of positions that are associated with wealth, power, and prestige. 3. Elite theory (value, altimetry approach). Elite theory developed in part as a reaction to Marxism. It rejected the Marxian idea that a classless society having an egalitarian structure could be realized after class struggle in every society. It regards Marxism as an ideology rather than an objective analysis of social systems. According to Elite theory man can never be liberated from the subjugation of an elite structure. The term Elite refers to those who excel. The classical elite theorists identify the governing elite in terms of superior personal qualities of those who exercise power. However later versions of elite theory places less emphasis on the personal qualities of the powerful and more on the institutional framework of the society. They argued that the hierarchical organization of social institutions allows a minority to monopolize power. Another criticism of the elite theories against the Marxian view of distribution of power is that the ruling class too large and amorphous a group to be able to effectively wield power. In their view power is always exercised by a small cohesive group of the elite. Elite theory argues that all societies are divided into two main groups a ruling minority and the ruled. This situation is inevitable. If the proletarian revolution occurs it will merely result in the replacement of one ruling elite by another. Classical elite theory was propounded by Pareto and Mosca. Social mobility (vertical, horizontal) Social Mobility Individuals are recognized in society through the statuses they occupy and the roles they enact. The society as well as individuals is dynamic. Men are normally engaged in endless endeavor to enhance their statuses in society, move from lower position to higher position, secure superior job from an inferior one. For various reasons people of the higher status and position may be forced to come down to a lower status and position. Thus people in society continue to move up and down the status scale. This movement is called social mobility. The study of social mobility is an important aspect of social stratification. Infact it is an inseparable aspect of social stratification system because the nature, form, range and degree of social mobility depends on the very nature of stratification system. Stratification system refers to the process of placing individuals in different layers or strata. According to Wallace and Wallace social mobility is the movement of a person or persons from one social status to another. W.P Scott has defined sociology as the movement of an individual or group from one social class or social stratum to another. Types of Social Mobility Horizontal And Vertical Social Mobility A distinction is made between horizontal and vertical social mobility. The former refers to change of occupational position or role of an individual or a group without involving any change in its position in the social hierarchy, the latter refers essentially to changes in the position of an individual or a group along the social hierarchy. When a rural laborer comes to the city and becomes an industrial worker or a manager takes a position in another company there are no significant changes in their position in the hierarchy. Those are the examples of horizontal mobility. Horizontal mobility is a change in position without the change in statue. It indicates a change in position within the range of the same status. It is a movement from one status to its equalivalent. But if an industrial worker becomes a businessman or lawyer he has radically changed his position in the stratification system. This is an example of vertical mobility. Vertical mobility refers to a movement of an individual or people or groups from one status to another. It involves change within the lifetime of an individual to a higher or lower status than the person had to begin with. Forms Of Vertical Social Mobility The vertical mobility can take place in two ways individuals and groups may improve their position in the hierarchy by moving upwards or their position might worsen and they may fall down the hierarchy. When individuals get into seats of political position; acquire money and exert influence over others because of their new status they are said to have achieved individual mobility. Like individuals even groups also attain high social mobility. When a dalit from a village becomes an important official it is a case of upward mobility. On the other hand an aristocrat or a member of an upper class may be dispossessed of his wealth and he is forced to enter a manual occupation. This is an example of downward mobility. Inter-Generational Social Mobility Time factor is an important element in social mobility. On the basis of the time factor involved in social mobility there is another type of inter-generational mobility. It is a change in status from that which a child began within the parents, household to that of the child upon reaching adulthood. It refers to a change in the status of family members from one generation to the next. For example a farmers son becoming an officer. It is important because the amount of this mobility in a society tells us to what extent inequalities are passed on from one generation to the next. If there is very little inter-generational mobility . inequality is clearly deeply built into the society for people life chances are being determined at the moment of birth. When there is a mobility people are clearly able to achieve new statuses through their own efforts, regardless of the circumstances of their birth. Intra-Generational Mobility Mobility taking place in personal terms within the lifespan of the same person is called intra-generational mobility. It refers to the advancement in ones social level during the course of ones lifetime. It may also be understood as a change in social status which occurs within a persons adult career. For example a person working as a supervisor in a factory becoming its assistant manager after getting promotion. Structural mobility Structural mobility is a kind of vertical mobility. Structural mobility refers to mobility which is brought about by changes in stratification hierarchy itself. It is a vertical movement of a specific group, class or occupation relative to others in the stratification system. It is a type of forced mobility for it takes place because of the structural changes and not because of individual attempts. For example historical circumstances or labor market changes may lead to the rise of decline of an occupational group within the social hierarchy. An influx of immigrants may also alter class alignments -especially if the new arrivals are disproportionately highly skilled or unskilled. Social Classes in the United States Socioeconomic status is just a way of describing the stratification system of the United States. The class system, also imperfect in classifying all Americans, nonetheless offers a general understanding of American social stratification.