Journal writting ( refer to the attachment) Essay

Journal writting ( refer to the attachment) - Essay Example However, because there was no distinction between ‘work’ time and ‘pleasure’ time, the concept of ‘leisure’ was not introduced until the rise of the city-states of Greece and Rome. Before the age of the Industrial Revolution, ‘leisure’ took the form of education and introspection as it had developed within Greece’s male elite. With industry, a change took place where ‘work’ time was defined, designating non-work time as ‘leisure’. While this worked for a while, women, because they were usually occupied within the home, had no defined period for leisure. As people, men and women, developed their ideas of leisure activities, the cost of leisure began to rise, but could not keep pace with the cost of living. Today, our concepts of leisure involve a great deal of expense, forcing us to continue to work hard during our ‘off’ hours just to keep up with the pace of technology. As a result, leisure is again becoming a missing element of society. While our available time for leisure activities continues to decrease with the increase in the cost of our toys and the decrease in our wages as compared to our living expenses, there is a significant case for the preservation of leisure time. As we struggle to define ourselves, in terms of the I, which is the way we think about ourselves, and the me, which is the way we feel others think about us, we develop a sense of self-esteem, how we feel about who we are (Bolender, 2005). This concept of ourselves is balanced by our realistic idea of ourselves, our ideal interpretation of ourselves, our idea of what we ought to be and our idea of what we don’t want to be. These concepts are all necessarily formed as we interact with others within a free environment in which we can be just who we are rather than attempting to fill some concept of what we should be as in the workplace or other environment. At the same time, how we feel about ourselves, self-esteem, is

Cultural and Teamwork Map and Self Reflection Essay Example for Free

Cultural and Teamwork Map and Self Reflection Essay 1. Introduction and Purpose Sharing of knowledge across the border is becoming very widespread phenomenon. Companies are well aware that hidden in their disperes, global operations is a treasure trove of ideas and capabilities for innovation(Wilson Doz, 2012). Therefore, working with multicultural groups is getting more and more common very rapidly since last decade. However, in global teams, team memebers have different feed back techniques, different uniqueness levels and different communication patterns. People belonging to different cultures have difference in values, geography, ethencity,belief system and lauguage. These difference can lead to cuture clash . In this paper I am writing about where I find myself in a cultural and team work map and my reflections about my placement thereon. I have judged myself with reference to my placement in high and low context  cultures, cultural paradigm , my preffered and performed roles in my team keeping in mind Belbin‘s team roles and my position in Johari window. Purpose of this assignmnet is to judge where I find myself right now in a cutural map in context of team work and to bring improvement in myself if I am away from the normal scale .The actual purpose of this assignment is to save me from cultural clash by giving a chance to get self-awareness and to make us conscious about behaving accordingly for future interactions. Just like these two rivers in the below mentioned picture are merging, people from different cultures should merge the same way. These two rivers have different native base but after merger nobody can find any clash between them. 2. Self-assessment Below mentioned is my self assessment and reflections thereon. 2.1 First impression My first impression on my team members was that I am trust worthy. When asked, they answered that they made this impression from my body laungauage and my tone of voice. I believe that my such impression was made because of my uniqueness levels i.e. personality culture and human natur. After practicaly working with them my group as well as me have assessed that I focused on working collectively as i believe collectivism is the key to group success. 2.2 Assessment with reference to Communication Patterns On the cultural map I find my self as the person who works better in the middle of high and low context. l worked more better after every next team meeting because in meetings we discussed our desired outcome by spoken words and I shared all my ideas and problems with my team. Secondly, I was not fully relying on what was shared among us through emails. But I cannot say that I am just a high conext person because, contrary to high context couumincation patterns, I wanted detailed information about the assignment and I used direct speech during the whole correspondance .It helped me to exchange ideas quickly . Looking further into communication pattern ,I find myself as a person who is more task oriented than people oreinted.I prefer to do work first.Relations are aligned after task completion. In gropu, I only talked about assignment till the work is finished. After submition of assignemnt I discussed my personal things and hobbies with them. My time orientation is ploy cronic. I was working on the assignment as well as I was seeing the others part also. More over, I was comparing my work with the wok done by other groups in the class. I kept on updating the absent team mebers about activities (relevent to assignment) conducted in class through a social network simultaneously. Hence I can say that my communication pattren is neither high context nor low context.Its somewhere in the middle of both. 2.3 Assessment regarding Placement in Belbin’s team roles My preferred team role is team worker. The reason of saying so is that I remain mild and gentle. I like to work in depth but I am not willing to work in pressure and tried to avoid working under stressful situations. I played the role of team worker in practical. We revised the work plans many times  initialy and I accepted that without much resistance which indicates that I am easy to be influenced. I remained mild and friendly. I worked on that part of assignment which required extensive out of the box research and long working hours. My second preference is the role of resource investigator. I always look to find smart opportunites or methods to get work done effectively, efficiently and economically. I performed the role of resource investigator in passive manner in the group. I was enthusiastic in suggesting my fellow colleagues which part of assignment should be done by whom. I also shared few articles with them.I guided one memeber about how he can do his part more accuratly. However I was little over optimistic because we spent alot more hours on assignment then i initially predicted. My third preference was to perform the role of Shaper because I am having tendencies to fit things into frame and strives to get the action start immediately. However I could not execute this role in my group as the assignment work was very dynamic and it was being revised too quickly. Secondly, one of my fellow colleagues was performing this role better than me. My third performed role was of finisher. I proof read the document many times, found the errors and gave ideas to team members to revise few workings. I was not willing to rely on other team members for final proof reading and I was worried for the acuracy of assignment. I focused to create a balance in three roles that I performed in group and tried to avoid overlapping. However team worker was the frequently performed role. 2.4 Johari Window The Johari Window, named after its inventors, Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham, is a model that provides a dynamic framework for understanding and improving self-awareness. Helping one to become more self-reflective, to learn about oneself, and to become more therapeutic is an exercise in self-awareness(South, 2007). In the context of Johari window, my arena (open area), has increased and I became aware of blind spots. Eventually my hidden areas are disclosed. During the group work, I experienced that my open arena has been gradually broadened and my blind spot has been subsequently decreased after every next working step. 3. Conclusion The combination of roles i.e. two from people oriented frame (resource investigator and team worker) and one from task oriented frame (shaper)  shows that I am not on any of extreme on cutural map. On the culture paradigm, I find myself on the middle, niether too weak nor too strong. I can infer that I am flexible, observant and non-judgmental. l Communicated respect and sake knowledge and understanding. I am in the last stage of confrontation and entring into adjustment phase. I am passing through W-model quickly because of level of education and support from family and network i.e. swede friends.In Johari’s window, my arena has broaden which indicates that I am more self aware after completion of group assignment. Bibliography Wilson, K. Doz, Y.L. (2012). 10 Rules for Managing Global Innovation. Harvard business review, 85 (10), 84-90. South, B. (2007). Combining mandala and the Johari Window: An exercise in self-awareness. Teaching Learning in Nursing,2 (1), 8.

Inequality Gender Stereotyping In Hong Kong

Inequality Gender Stereotyping In Hong Kong According to the Womens Commission (Woc) Survey on Community Perception of Gender Issues (2009), it finds that gender stereotyping is still prevalent in Hong Kong and gender inequality still persists in society. Moreover, the Chairperson Ms Sophia Kao also said The survey findings reflect that the concept that women are to take care of the family while men are to work outside is still deep rooted in society, leading the majority of the respondents to believe that womens contribution was confined to the family setting and understate their contributions to society in other areas. This affects womens development opportunities in different aspects such as employment and community participation. And under the long-term influence of traditional values, women themselves might also endorse some of these gender stereotypes. Besides, the survey also found that the public generally consider that women should focus more on family than their careers, while taking care of the family is the most im portant among the contributions of women. More women than men consider that women play a more important role in the family than men do. And educating and taking care of children was perceived by most women as the most significant aspect that undermines the development of their potential to the full. Above this survey, the conscious of gender perception about the different aspect had seemed to increase than the before. But I find it very interest point that female seems trend to accept and identify the role which contribute the family work and child care work. These stereotyping limit the development of the female. So the survey reflects interviewed female recognize housework limit their development. I feel that the reason why the female accept these stereotyping is due to the long term socialization and culture construction. These guide and control the female how to do the right expectation in society under invisible. Chinese traditional culture and value how to construct inequality of female Before five thousands year age in China, the period of patriarchy had begun to budded, the status of females were decrease. Moreover, since slavery society prevailed, the females become no autonomy and status. They lost their freedom and controlled by male. They become slave for man property. They also accepted the system of polygyny. When feudal system was formed, more regulation oppressed to the female and advantages to male. Then, Confucian though become social mainstream for discipline people how to do the right things especially control female behavior. Such as female, some discourse is starve to dead is small things but virginity is very important( à ©Ã‚ ¤Ã¢â‚¬Å"à ¦Ã‚ ­Ã‚ »Ãƒ ¤Ã‚ ºÃ¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¥Ã‚ °Ã‚ , à ¨Ã‚ ²Ã… ¾Ãƒ §Ã‚ ¯Ã¢â€š ¬Ãƒ ¤Ã‚ ºÃ¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¥Ã‚ ¤Ã‚ §), it emphasize pure virginity is very important. If female can keep pure their virginity, they will be respected and appreciate. Besides, cripple feet (à §Ã‚ ºÃ‚ Ãƒ ¨Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ ³) was constructed a beautiful model and standard , it control female to go a step further. These regulation and discourse construct inequality but female are willing to follow because of moral standard. Chinese female tasted no end of bitterness in their short, mostly poverty ridden lives. In fact Chinese family life was marked by a shocking degree of brutality. The Confucian emphasis on filial piety and loyalty was a euphemistic prescription for absolute subordination of young to old and, more important for our purposes, female to male. Indeed, the structure of the Chinese family looks very different depending on which genders perspective you choose to view it from. The dominant male perspective conjures and unbroken lineage with power, property, and esteem passing in orderly and gradual fashion from generation to generation. From the female perspective, family life appears dramatically opposite. During her lifetime a Chinese female lived in two distinctly different families respectively her natal and marital homes. Instead of an unbroken lineage, the woman was never in her lifetime fully a member of any family. Her name was not even recorded in her fathers genealogy, and when she died only her family name surname was entered in the genealogy charts of her husbands fa mily. In this system and discourse characterized by filial piety, womans life was described by the three obedience(à ¤Ã‚ ¸Ã¢â‚¬ °Ãƒ ¥Ã‚ ¾Ã… ¾) respectively to her father during childhood, to her husband during marriage and to her son during widowhood. Above these traditional cultures, systems discourse, they construct people how to do the right things related the gender role. These constructions have oppression of the female. Some post-modernism scholars theory explain why people accept discourse and moral standard under invisible According to West and Zimmerman (1987), most people find it hard to believe that gender is constantly created and re-created out of human interaction, out of social life, and are the texture and order of that social life. Yet gender, like culture, is a human production that depends on everyone constantly doing gender. Based on these assumption, we also find more discourses are recognizing man has power of domination, female should believe in her role as the subordinated being in the process of socialization. Then, Horrocks (1997) states ideological and cannot be neutral as it claims. In other words, there is no objective truth since science is still constructed within political parameter. However, we still have not discussed why these discourses work so effectively that most of us do not attempt to challenge them. That would be answered by Michel Foucaults explanation about the reign of power. According to Madan Sarup (1993) quotes from Foucault that power produces reality, it produces domains of objects and rituals of truth, so it is not possible for power to be examined without knowledge, it is impossible for knowledge not to produce power because the exercise of power constructs the new object of knowledge too. Moreover, according to Foucault (à ¦Ã‚ ¥Ã…  Ãƒ ¥Ã‚ ¤Ã‚ §Ãƒ ¦Ã‹Å" ¥1995), power is not as centralized, authoritarian and organized as the sovereign one. However, it regulates the most intimate and minute element through multiple processes from different locations. It formulates the production of docile bodies through discipline which made possible the meticulous control of the operation of body including its movement, gesture and attitude. It also assumes the constant subjection of the force of the body and imposed upon them a relation of docility-utility. In addition, it produces subject and practiced bodies, docile bodies that may operate as one wishes with the techniques, the speed and the efficiency that one determined. The above disciplinary practice of power is epitomized in Foucaults description of an architectural device called the Panopticon by Jeremy Bentham. According Foucault In Discipline and Punish (Foucault, 1977), he makes the following explanation about Panopticon. Each Individual, in his place, is securely confined to a cell from which he is seen from the front by the supervisor; but the side walls prevent him from coming into contact will his companion. He is seen, but he does not see; he is the object of information, never a subject in communication. Thus, as Foucault (Foucault, 1977) remarks in detail, the whole design has the effect to induce innate state of consciousness and prevent visibility that assures the automatic functioning of power. The power is visible but unverifiable because the inmate will constantly have before his eyes the tall outline of the central tower from which he is spied upon. However, he/she never knows whether he/she is being looked at in any particular mo ment. From this one side effect, he/she must assume that he is always under surveillance. Thus, surveillance is everywhere wherever inside or outside the panopticon thereby homogenous effect is producing for innate to discipline them. Besides, a poststructuralist Judith Butler (Butler, 1990) applies Foucaults emphasis into the field of gender representations. She illustrates from Foucault that the juridical system produces the subject that are represented and constituted through discourses. As we have remarked that discourses are naturalized as a belief through the practice of power which cannot be challenged, it will be concretization as a foundational promise to exclude those who fail to conform within the normative requirements. Then, Butler (Butler, 1990) also argues that gender is a cultural means by which the biologically determined sex is produced and established as pre-discursive, prior to culture, a politically neutral surface on which the culturally constructed gender acts. Butler (Butler, 1990) also says in the later part of her book Gender Trouble that the notion of identity and coherence is not a logical and analytical feature, but rather it is socially instituted norm of intelligibility. Thus, we believe that our identity is a core that sustains through temporal change. Illusion of being and substance cultivated by that the grammatical formulation of subject and predicate reflects the prior ontological reality of substance and attribute. The metaphor of substance leads people to believe that one can be a sex or gender. Furthermore, Butler (Butler, 1990) explains that there is no gender identity that underlies the expressions of gender. The apparent identity is performativity constituted by the very expression that is said to be its result. Thus, Butler (Butler, 1990) said, there is no being behind doing, effecting, becoming; the doer is merely a fiction added to the deed the deed is everything. Hence, the idea of gender is relational and contextual since it is a repeated stylization of the body, a set of repeated acts within a highly rigid regulatory frame that congeal over time to produce the appearance of substance, of a natural sort of being that the acts, gestures, enactments in gender performance are performativity in the sense that the essence or identity that they otherwise purport to express be fabrications manufactures and sustained. So, it becomes what one puts on his or her body, how one behaves and presents in front of people are only the gestures based upon the regulations under gender division in a particular cultural context with regardless to any ontological truth. From the Foucault theory, we know that the complex differential power relationships extend to every aspect of our social, cultural and political lives. In the analysis of gender identity of Butler, we also see that power also extends to the aspect about the construction of our gender identity. The whole process of power relationship involves the manner of subject-position, and securing our asset not only by the threat of punitive sanctions, but also persuading us to internalize the norms and values that prevail within the social, or in the theories of Butler, the patriarchal order. How to increase gender sensitivity of social work practitioners in Hong Kong Firstly, according to Foucault (1991), he said that Penopticon like as a metaphor for social control. Disciplines success is due to its simplicity, hierarchical observation, normalizing of judgments, and their combination such as prison, penitentiary, rehabilitation center, hospital, social worker, school, etc. It was combining punitive system with normalizing practices. It forces people fulfill the social expectation and make the right things through punishment, surveillance and reinforcement under invisible. So, we need to understand us may be one of the surveillance institutions causing this phenomenon. So, we need to aware of gender sensitivity of social work practitioners. As a gender sensitivity of social work practitioners, the worker need to become aware of and take an objective look at the belief system, reflect the gender biases and judgmental convictions. Moreover, the worker realizes how the culture has influenced the belief system and recognizes that gender and sexual de finition do not have to conform to societal norms. Besides, the worker facilitates self-actualizing behaviors for clients rather than socially prescribed conduct. In the counseling aspect, we need to be aware of the dangers inherent in conforming to social stereotypes and to recognize our own, possibly unhealthy, rigid, gender beliefs and behaviors. If gender biased by cultural definitions of male and female roles, counselors may facilitate social conformity, rather than individual growth and self-expression, with their clients. Moreover, Gender stereotyped intervention negatively impact clients. As a result, the counseling process may turn into oppression imposed on the actual client. Most unfortunately, those who deviate from the cultural norm tend to be denigrated and discriminated against. So the counselors may employ different clinical techniques and make disparate diagnoses and treatment plans based on assumptions about gender. The clients may disclose certain information based on the therapists gender. Counselors who also ascribe to rigid definitions of appropriate gender roles and sexual conduct may tend to help clients conform to cult urally acceptable behaviors and practices rather than helping them to define individually appropriate roles. Besides, the goal of gender-sensitive psychotherapy is helping clients to become aware of and confront limiting gender-role stereotypes and creating a more equalitarian and empathetic society by expanding choices for both sexes. In the advocacy, based on the Womens Commission (Woc) Survey on Community Perception of Gender Issues (2009), the stereotyping of gender is still serious. The social worker still educates public through community work for deconstruct the role of gender and spread both equality of gender. Moreover, the social worker also organizes some groups for man and women. They are educated to become leadership and increase their gender awareness. As a result, they similar the seeds continuous spread to others even though to participate social affairs about the both equality of gender. I believe that through the different aspect to increase people genders awareness, the both equality of gender will achieved in future. Conclusion Several thousand Chinese culture and system is the deeply socialization construct the gender role. It makes the inequality of gender till today. Although many research reflects the equality of man and women had improved. But the gender awareness is not still enough. If we are thoroughgoing to change this inequality, we will make more and more effort in gender affairs.

Feminism in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen Essay -- Papers Jane Au

Feminism in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen Jane Austen, the author of Pride and Prejudice, holds feminist views and uses the novel to show her opinions about women's issues. Pride and Prejudice is a personal essay, a statement of Jane Austen's feelings about the perfect lady, marriage, and the relationship between the sexes. Jane Austen's characters, plot, and dialogue are biased to reflect her beliefs. The biased process and importance of marriage are introduced with the first line of the book. Jane Austen writes: It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possesion of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering the neighborhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families that he is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters. (5) This implies that the man wants a wife and the woman is not in a place to turn him down. The man becomes her claim, and for him she fights with other women. It seems as if women are plentiful and men are rare. The man has freedom and the option to choose any girl that he wants, while the women are desperate and fight for whichever man they can get. Jane Austen points this out and shows how dependent the woman is on a man in her English society. This dependence is viewed as a necessary part of upper class England by most and was not criticized. If Jane Austen had written a book simply about English society, these sentiments would not have showed up. The fact that they are introduced and expressed again and again in Pride and Preju... ...r woman in her society take away their free will and encourage conformity, and her main ?good? character is independent and rebels against those ideas, showing the character?s independence and creating Jane Austen?s ideal woman. This cannot be a coincidence because in this time these views are often disagreed with and are not very frequent. If Jane Austen is writing without the influences of her ideas, she would not make that choice. Harsh criticisms of English 19th century society that are very controversial at the time are not in the book to make it interesting, they have to be based upon some kind of feelings. These feelings are very deliberately placed into Pride and Prejudice in order to use the book as an indirect thesis for Jane Austen?s feminist beliefs. Works Cited: Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. Ed. R.W. Chapman. New York: Oxford UP, 1988.

The Missouri Compromise

Coming back to the beginning of the American history, when the United States consisted of only thirteen states, the representatives of the northern (lets call them as â€Å"free†) and southern (lets call them as â€Å"slave†) states had almost the equal rights in the Congress. Also, it should be pointed out that slavery problem didn’t arise during that period of time. However, the situation was completely changed, when the boundaries of United States approached to West. Both the northern and southern parts were worried about the advantages in the parliament, which, as it is known, was formed on the basic of the following principles: the members of House of Representatives and two deputies from each state – the Senate. In fact, just the Senate became the main reason of the â€Å"battle† between the North and South later. It should be emphasized that in the first half of the nineteenth century two main tendency or saying in other words two main ways of bourgeois development took place in the U.S.: one – in the North, other – in the South. So, the main questions of the second American Revolution were the following: Would the further development of capitalism in the U.S. be provided with a way of slavery destruction and would the victory of a free farmer over the slave-owning system take place in the future? Firstly, the main reason of mass contradictions and conflicts became customs tariffs. The point is that, the Northern bourgeoisie was interested in selling the production and therefore demanded high customs for the manufactured goods which were brought from abroad. Slave-holders didn’t support them. So, Legislative Assembly of the South Caroline state in 1832 demanded the complete cancellation of customs tariffs, threatening to disconnect from the U.S.A. The main its argument was so-called â€Å"nullification† doctrine, according to which, states can ignore the decisions of the federal authority if they didn’t correspond the constitution. It is clear, that such kind of explanation was very profitable for the separatism representatives, especially in the South of the country. In general, collisions of interests of industrial bourgeoisie and slave-owners led to the unavoidable conflict, which afterwards caused the civil war.   It is obvious that, the given conflict became the beginning of the very tense fight between the following economical systems:   strengthening bourgeois system and weakening slave-holding one.   On the background of the given fight, the political history of America at the period between the independence and civil wars was more visible. Also, at the beginning of the 19-th century various disagreements arose between the representatives of the following political parties: the party of federalists and the party of democrat-republicans. The first party was established by Hamilton. So, focusing on the huge bourgeoisie and successful planters, federalists didn’t want to support the democratization of the constitution. As to the Republican party, at the head of Jefferson, it was highly supported among the industrial bourgeoisie, small planters, farmers and craftspeople. The main purposes of the given party included: the development of bourgeois-democratic freedoms and restrictions of the huge planter’s activity. The beginning of the long conflict was considered to be raising a question on Missouri State. Coming back, we can see that when the territory of Missouri applied for admission to statehood, the Congress and the nation were confronted with a unique substantive question that had far-reaching implications both for the settlement and for the future political status of all the states that might be carved from the vast area acquired from France in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Nevertheless, despite all faced difficulties and problems Missouri managed to become a state in 1818   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  (Bartelby, 2006, p.1). However, the settlers from Missouri also wanted their state to be a slave state. So, the question: â€Å"Should slavery be allowed in the new state of Missouri?† was suggested to be the most important for the citizens of that state at that moment (Blaustein, 1968, p.16).   The fact that southern slaveholders had already migrated into the Missouri territory made the question more than academic. The Congressmen from the North did not want another slave state. Also, at the same time Maine asked to be admitted to the Union ( p.17 ).   The discussion on the given problem was very dangerous for the U.S. because it could lead to the split of the country into two enemy sides. Planters tried to create the special law, according to which, the state would have to receive slave status, however they faced mass protests from the delegates of free states. Nevertheless, the given conflict was finished by the Missouri Compromise in February of 1820. As a result, the new agreement was reached, according to which, Missouri had a slave status, but the new Maine State was simultaneously accepted to statehood as a free one. Also, the territory north of 36†² 30†² north latitude was considered to be free ( p.17 ). Afterwards, the act of March 6, 1820 took place, according to which, fugitive slaves could be apprehended north of the compromise line and returned to their owners. As the American history showed, Missouri Compromise was regarded to be the most long-lived, because no states applied for admission to the statehood of the U.S.A. during the next thirty years. Coming to the conclusion, we can say, that obviously the acceptance of free states undermined the positions of the slave-holders in the Senate. In fact, the Missouri Compromise managed only to suspend the open battle between two economical systems. Later, it was broken when the question, which was connected with the future of such states as California, New Mexico and Utah, was raised. In 1854 the dispute over two states Kansas and Nebraska, which were located north of   Ã‚  Ã‚  36†² 30†² north latitude touched upon the Missouri Compromise again. As the result, the 36 °30 ´ proviso held until 1854, when the Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise completely. References Bartelby, Inc. The compromises of 1820 and 1850. Retrieved July 20, 2006 from http://www.bartelby.net/65/mi/MissrComp.html    Blaustein A.P. (1968). Civil Rights and the Black American. A Documentary History, 9, 16-19                         The Missouri Compromise Coming back to the beginning of the American history, when the United States consisted of only thirteen states, the representatives of the northern (lets call them as â€Å"free†) and southern (lets call them as â€Å"slave†) states had almost the equal rights in the Congress. Also, it should be pointed out that slavery problem didn’t arise during that period of time. However, the situation was completely changed, when the boundaries of United States approached to West. Both the northern and southern parts were worried about the advantages in the parliament, which, as it is known, was formed on the basic of the following principles: the members of House of Representatives and two deputies from each state – the Senate. In fact, just the Senate became the main reason of the â€Å"battle† between the North and South later. It should be emphasized that in the first half of the nineteenth century two main tendency or saying in other words two main ways of bourgeois development took place in the U.S.: one – in the North, other – in the South. So, the main questions of the second American Revolution were the following: Would the further development of capitalism in the U.S. be provided with a way of slavery destruction and would the victory of a free farmer over the slave-owning system take place in the future? Firstly, the main reason of mass contradictions and conflicts became customs tariffs. The point is that, the Northern bourgeoisie was interested in selling the production and therefore demanded high customs for the manufactured goods which were brought from abroad. Slave-holders didn’t support them. So, Legislative Assembly of the South Caroline state in 1832 demanded the complete cancellation of customs tariffs, threatening to disconnect from the U.S.A. The main its argument was so-called â€Å"nullification† doctrine, according to which, states can ignore the decisions of the federal authority if they didn’t correspond the constitution. It is clear, that such kind of explanation was very profitable for the separatism representatives, especially in the South of the country. In general, collisions of interests of industrial bourgeoisie and slave-owners led to the unavoidable conflict, which afterwards caused the civil war.   It is obvious that, the given conflict became the beginning of the very tense fight between the following economical systems:   strengthening bourgeois system and weakening slave-holding one.   On the background of the given fight, the political history of America at the period between the independence and civil wars was more visible. Also, at the beginning of the 19-th century various disagreements arose between the representatives of the following political parties: the party of federalists and the party of democrat-republicans. The first party was established by Hamilton. So, focusing on the huge bourgeoisie and successful planters, federalists didn’t want to support the democratization of the constitution. As to the Republican party, at the head of Jefferson, it was highly supported among the industrial bourgeoisie, small planters, farmers and craftspeople. The main purposes of the given party included: the development of bourgeois-democratic freedoms and restrictions of the huge planter’s activity. The beginning of the long conflict was considered to be raising a question on Missouri State. Coming back, we can see that when the territory of Missouri applied for admission to statehood, the Congress and the nation were confronted with a unique substantive question that had far-reaching implications both for the settlement and for the future political status of all the states that might be carved from the vast area acquired from France in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Nevertheless, despite all faced difficulties and problems Missouri managed to become a state in 1818   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  (Bartelby, 2006, p.1). However, the settlers from Missouri also wanted their state to be a slave state. So, the question: â€Å"Should slavery be allowed in the new state of Missouri?† was suggested to be the most important for the citizens of that state at that moment (Blaustein, 1968, p.16).   The fact that southern slaveholders had already migrated into the Missouri territory made the question more than academic. The Congressmen from the North did not want another slave state. Also, at the same time Maine asked to be admitted to the Union ( p.17 ).   The discussion on the given problem was very dangerous for the U.S. because it could lead to the split of the country into two enemy sides. Planters tried to create the special law, according to which, the state would have to receive slave status, however they faced mass protests from the delegates of free states. Nevertheless, the given conflict was finished by the Missouri Compromise in February of 1820. As a result, the new agreement was reached, according to which, Missouri had a slave status, but the new Maine State was simultaneously accepted to statehood as a free one. Also, the territory north of 36†² 30†² north latitude was considered to be free ( p.17 ). Afterwards, the act of March 6, 1820 took place, according to which, fugitive slaves could be apprehended north of the compromise line and returned to their owners. As the American history showed, Missouri Compromise was regarded to be the most long-lived, because no states applied for admission to the statehood of the U.S.A. during the next thirty years. Coming to the conclusion, we can say, that obviously the acceptance of free states undermined the positions of the slave-holders in the Senate. In fact, the Missouri Compromise managed only to suspend the open battle between two economical systems. Later, it was broken when the question, which was connected with the future of such states as California, New Mexico and Utah, was raised. In 1854 the dispute over two states Kansas and Nebraska, which were located north of   Ã‚  Ã‚  36†² 30†² north latitude touched upon the Missouri Compromise again. As the result, the 36 °30 ´ proviso held until 1854, when the Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise completely. References Bartelby, Inc. The compromises of 1820 and 1850. Retrieved July 20, 2006 from http://www.bartelby.net/65/mi/MissrComp.html    Blaustein A.P. (1968). Civil Rights and the Black American. A Documentary History, 9, 16-19                        

Definitions and Examples of Isoglosses in Linguistics

Definitions and Examples of Isoglosses in Linguistics An isogloss is a geographical boundary line marking the area in which a distinctive linguistic feature commonly occurs. Adjective: isoglossal or isoglossic. Also known as  heterogloss.  From the Greek, similar or equal tongue. Pronounced  I-se-glos. This linguistic feature may be phonological (e.g., the pronunciation of a vowel), lexical (the use of a word), or some other aspect of language.   Major divisions between dialects are marked by bundles of isoglosses. Examples and Observations [S]peakers in southern Pennsylvania say bucket, and those in the north part of the state say pail. [The line of demarcation between the two] is called an isogloss. Dialect areas are determined by large bundles of such isoglosses.Several noteworthy projects have been devoted to mapping the features and distribution of dialects across the United States, including Frederic Cassidys Dictionary of American Regional English [DARE] (begun in the 1960s and [completed in 2013]), and William Labov, Sharon Ash, and Charles Bobergs The Atlas of North American English (ANAE), published in 2005.Regional DialectsEnglish is made up of a number of regional dialects... Linguists can identify the main characteristics of different regions, and the isoglosses establish boundaries which group together non-standard dialect forms with similar distinctive linguistic features. Inevitably, there are some overlapsalthough non-standard lexis tends to be located in specific regions, non-standard grammatical featu res are similar across boundaries. Drawing an Optimal Isogloss:  The task of drawing an optimal isogloss has five stages:Selecting a linguistic feature that will be used to classify and define a regional dialect.Specifying a binary division of that feature or a combination of binary features.Drawing an isogloss for that division of the feature, using the procedures described below.Measuring the consistency and homogeneity of the isogloss by the measures to be described below.Recycling through steps 1-4 to find the definition of the feature that maximizes consistency or homogeneity.Focal Areas and Relic AreasIsoglosses can also show that a particular set of linguistic features appears to be spreading from one location, a focal area, into neighboring locations. In the 1930s and 1940s Boston and Charleston were the two focal areas for the temporary spread of r-lessness in the eastern United States. Alternatively, a particular area, a relic area, may show characteristics of being unaffected by changes spreading out from one or more neighboring areas. Places like London and Boston are obviously focal areas; places like Marthas Vineyardit remained r-pronouncing in the 1930s and 1940s even as Boston dropped the pronunciationin New England and Devon in the extreme southwest of England are relic areas. Kinds of Linguistic FeaturesFurther distinctions can be made in terms of the kind of linguistic feature being isolated: an isophone is a line drawn to mark the limits of a phonological feature; an isomorph marks the limits of a morphological feature; an isolex marks the limits of a lexical item; an isoseme marks the limits of a semantic feature (as when lexical items of the same phonological form take on different meanings in different areas).The Canadian Shift IsoglossA given region may have optimal conditions for a given sound change, which may affect almost all speakers. This is the case with the Canadian Shift, involving a retraction of /e/ and /ae/ . . .; it is especially favored in Canada because the low back merger that triggers the shift takes place well to the back of the vowel space for almost everyone. Homogeneity for the Canadian Shift isogloss, which stops at the Canadian border, is .84 (21 of the 25 speakers within the isogloss). But the same process takes place occasio nally throughout other areas of low back merger in the U.S., so that consistency for the Canadian isogloss is only .34. Outside of Canada, the instances of this phenomenon are scattered throughout a much larger population, and leakage is only .10. Homogeneity is the crucial measure for the dynamics of the Canadian vowel system. Sources Kristin Denham and Anne Lobeck,  Linguistics for Everyone: An Introduction. Wadsworth, 2010Sara Thorne,  Mastering Advanced English Language, 2nd ed. Palgrave Macmillan, 2008William Labov, Sharon Ash, and Charles Boberg,  The Atlas of North American English: Phonetics, Phonology, and Sound Change. Mouton de Gruyter, 2005Ronald Wardhaugh,  An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, 6th ed. Wiley-Blackwell, 2010David Crystal,  A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics, 4th ed. Blackwell, 1997William Labov, Sharon Ash, and Charles Boberg,  The Atlas of North American English: Phonetics, Phonology, and Sound Change. Mouton de Gruyter, 2005