My Science Fair Project Essay Example for Free

My Science Fair Project Essay My science fair project is about the sound transmission through different veneers. A veneer is the outer part of the house. It can also be called a siding. The veneers I used were brick, cement fiber, and vinyl. I used these because they were three very common veneers. I thought if I used common veneers it would make the project mean more because people can see sound transmission through common sidings. The way I built the cement fiber and vinyl siding boxes was, I cut plywood sides. After I cut the sides I nailed them together to make a box. After I made the box I wrapped the houses in house wrap. House wrap is used as a moisture barrier. My purpose for the house wrap is not to stop water from coming in, but, I used it because most houses use it. After I wrapped the houses I nailed the siding on. I then used wood putty to fill the holes. The brick box was a different procedure. After I wrapped the brick box I had to build a platform then I had to lay the brick with mortar. I had to attach the brick to the plywood with the wall ties. I tested my buildings by putting a transistor radio into the plywood box. After I put it in the box I turned it on at a low level, I then put the lid on the box and I used my sound level meter. This meter measures the amount of decibels coming out of the house. A decibel is a unit of measurement for sound. I also did the same thing on a loud and a medium sound level. I did this with all of the boxes. The brick box produced an average of 10.33 decibels at a (80) 43 decibel volume, an average of 13 decibels at a (90) 53 decibel volume, and an average of 19.66 at a (100) 63 decibel volume with a total average of 14.33 decibels. The cement fiber box produced an average of 19 decibels at a (80) 43 decibel volume, an average of 22 decibels at a (90) 53 decibel volume and an average of 30 decibels at a (100) 63 decibel volume. The Vinyl box produced an average of 27 decibels at a (80) 43 decibel volume, an average of 26.66 decibels at a (90) 53 decibel volume and an average of 33 decibels in a (100) decibel volume. My results of my project proved my hypothesis of brick producing the least amount of sound transmission.

Alcoholism as the Plot Builder of Fitzgerald’s The Beautiful and Damned Essay Example for Free

Alcoholism as the Plot Builder of Fitzgerald’s The Beautiful and Damned Essay To echo Fitzgerald’s postulation of Antony Patch’s messed up life, â€Å"†¦As winter approached it seemed that a sort of madness seized upon Anthony. He awoke in the morning so nervous that Gloria could feel him trembling in the bed before he could muster enough vitality to stumble into the pantry for a drink. He was intolerable now except under the influence of liquor, and as he seemed to decay and coarsen under her eyes, Glorias soul and body shrank away from himCITATION Fit02 p 111 l 1033 (Fitzgerald, 2002, p. 111)† This is a depiction of a desperate man’s life that has turned to alcohol after experiencing multiple frustrations in life all through his adulthood and a wife who is drawn away from him for this reason. How Antony Patch’s character is molded and developed in the novel is just but a reflection of the messed lives of many uber-rich adults who were lucky enough to be born in rich families but ended up blowing up lifetime opportunities in wasteful escapades of lavish spending during the excessive drinking and partying Jazz Era of the 1920s. Ideally, The Beautiful and Damned is about Anthony Patch who is married Gloria Gilbert and they are hypnotized with the party life. They lead an extravagant life where they enjoy throwing and attending parties which eventually develops to a habit of drinking o a daily basis. Such was the life of Anthony Patch who had mastered the art of laziness leading a valueless life only eager for his grandfather to pass on so as to inherit his multimillion fortunes .Patch’s drinking habits were picked while at school in Princeton where his initial life was tied around books but due to peer influence channeled through his schoolmates who thought of him as being dull and a hopeless romantic, he besought to drinking just like the rest of his peers and vowed to explore the world and party using his family fortune. At some point in life, Anthony Patch is enrolled into Camp Hooker during the war years but he proves to be mentally disoriented as he spends his days in the camp getting drunk and t o cap it all picked up a mistress. Though the move of enrolled into Camp Hooker is considered as a patriotic one, his friends at the camp are another worthless lot who gratify and support his drinking tendencies by indulging in the same with him. His drinking trysts make him a favorite among his camp buddies for he is treated respect for the incessant parties he throws while at camp thus putting to light contemptibility and stupidity of his friends CITATION Mau22 l 1033 (Maunsell, 1922). Patch then meets Gloria Gilbert who beauty is impeccable and he is quickly swept off is feet as he vows to pursue his romantic desires to his life’s death with Gloria. Gloria herself is a replica of Antony for her dogma is satisfaction of worldly pleasures as she selflessly puts it herself, â€Å"If I wanted anything, Id take it I cant be bothered resisting things I want†¦ (Fitzgerald, 2002, p. 235)† It is with the same creed that she detests her husband’s inability to continuously sustain her lavish and innumerable cocktails. Just like everyone else, this couple turns to alcoholism to camouflage their life frustrations to the extent that Anthony cannot do without a taste of the bottle described in Gloria’s own words, â€Å"Oh no, he doesn’t show it anymore unless he can hardly stand up, and  he talks alright till he gets excited. He talks much  better than he does when he’s sober. But he’s been sitting here all day drinking- except for the time it took him to walk the corner for a newspaper†¦ (Fitzgerald, 2002, p. 398)† This entry at towards the end of the novel shows how despicable and dependable Antony patch’s life has been on alcohol after missing out on his grandfather’s fortune and the same being directed towards a servant. Perhaps, Patch’s party and drinking habits were fueled by the fact that he was heir to a rich empire built by his rather strict disciplinarian grandfather who gave no room to unvalued morals. An event where he walks into one of Gloria and Antony’s raucous wild party at their apartment is a representation of his disgust and vilification for irresponsible behavior. His body language and events that transpire after this speaks volumes about his disciplinary antics; at the party, he stares at a white-faced Antony with disgust and in disbelief and utters five denouncing words to the young man in front of him, â€Å"†¦Well go back to Suttleworth..(Fitzgerald, 2002, p. 235)† The mood in the mood is all somber, both Gloria and Patch are frightened by Cross Patch’s presence but he silently walks out of the room after his works. Repercussions that follow are that gets disinherited of his grandfather’s fortune and it is directed towards a servant. They co ntest the decision after his grandfather’s passing but it only makes them more miserable as they entrenched deeper into alcoholism to drown their sorrows. The Damned and beautiful closes as tragic story of an individual who had it all but wasted the opportunity through lavish parties and alcoholism to end up in a wheel chair by age thirty three. References   Fitzgerald, F. S. (2002). The Beautiful and The Damned . New York : Simon Schuster . Maunsell, F. L. (1922, March 5). Latest Works of Fiction: The Beautiful and The Damned . Retrieved October 11, 2014, from The New York Times : http://www.nytimes.com/books/00/12/24/specials/fitzgerald-damned.html Source document

The Power Of Margaret Thatcher

The Power Of Margaret Thatcher The coming to power of Margaret Thatcher in March 1979 was in a context marked by the 1970s in England by crisis in economic, social, political and cultural. The crisis was economical with the 1973 oil crisis, the deindustrialisation, the negative growth in 1974-1975, the rise of unemployment, and the high level of inflation. The crisis is with the social movements of strikes that paralyzed the country, and mass unemployment. The crisis is political with the growing power of unions fighting for wage claims. Unions refuse limitation to 5% of the increase in base salaries that wants to impose the Callaghan government. Winter 1979, called Winter of Discontent, saw successive strikes increasingly unpopular which paralyzed the country. In this winter of Discontent, two out of three manufacturing companies were affected by strikes and stoppages. (Norman Gash, Madsen Pirie, 1989, p2). And finally, the cultural crisis is, in retrospect the success of the welfare state which does neither lead to growth nor full employment. We can not therefore underestimate the seriousness of the situation in Great Britain in the late 1970s. England was the British disease (Green, 2006, p55), through this study we will analyse how Margaret Thatcher and her administration drive the country with economic policy with the objective to break down the inflation and to enable Britain economy to recover balance growth. We will first explore whether it was a Thatcher Revolution? And in a second part we will see if this revolution was a success a miracle. Finally we analyze the statement. Margaret Thatcher won the elections in May 1979 and will be the first woman to rule England. Middle-class daughter of a grocer, she grew in an environment conducive to the Victorian values such as work, the emphasis on family, the sense of nationhood, and free enterprise. With these convictions, she adopted a policy and anti-interventionist philosophy (Green, 2006, p56) to rescue the British economys decline. It is in this context that the elections occur. Margaret Thatcher campaigned on the theme of British decline, socialism was for her as unmitigated evil, a perversion of human nature and a blight upon the land (Jenkis, 1989, p322) imposed by all-powerful unions, who have instilled in the population a culture of dependency. She undertakes to give priority to enterprise culture (Pugh, 1994, p20), free market, curb inflation and to curtail the role of the state (Pugh, 1994, p20). Thatcher decided to follow drastic measures (John Redwood, Madsen Pirie, 1989, P6). She easily wins the elections of May 1979: a vote clearly based on the discontent of the consensus state-employers-unions, became inoperative. She said in Perth during her campaign Today it is socialism which is in retreat and Conservativism which is advancing..'(Jenkins, 1989, p323) Margaret Thatcher created the political revolution has profoundly changed the political life, breaking with the values advocated by the Keynesian model: her primary objective was to fight against inflation before unemployment, she wanted the free market, she seeks to reduce trade union power, and reduce taxes to encourage growth. The Right Approach to the Economy is directly inspired by the partys program of 1970, and monetarist theories of Milton Friedman as the liberalism of Friedrich Hayek. For monetarist, price rises could be restrained by restricting the supply of money to the economy (Pugh, 1989, p303). She wanted to roll back the frontiers of the state (Jenkins, p369) and refocus on its natural function: to guarantee the currency, maintaining public order and National defense. The liberalization of the economy has performed under four themes: the affirmation of the primacy of the market, privatization of some public sector, reform of labour relations and tax reform. The assertion of the primacy of the market was made in 1979 by removing a certain number of controls over income, prices, dividends and wages. Inflation led to price controls, wage controls in order to combat rising public spending (Madsen Pirie, 1989, p12). The government has effectively abolished the incomes policy and price from Callaghan government. The decision made by Thatcher to curb inflation by monetary means was an excellent decision, the value of the British currency has risen and has helped to make the British economy more attractive to investors. (Madsen Pirie, 1989, p12). In mid 1980s, Lord Young was responsible for the deregulation unit and made good progress and results; however, the government was faced with the necessity to regulate the financial services industry, to regulate privatized telephone and gas companies to comply with the creation of an integrated European market (John Redwood, Madsen Pirie, 1989, P12). Deregulation enabled substantial improvement in cus tomer service with lower prices and better services in airline and bus industry. (John Redwood, Madsen Pirie, 1989, P13) Then there was the liberalization of capital movements began in July 1979 that accelerated the internationalization of the British economy and stimulated the activities of the City of London. Mergers, investment of foreign multinationals have thus been encouraged and Great Britain was the European country most open to Japanese investment since 10 years. After a trip to Japan in 1982, Mrs Thatcher did not hesitate to encourage Nissan to set up factories in Britain; it was realized the following year. The export of the British capital has enabled the UK to continue to invest heavily abroad (Leruez, 1991, p146), and assets of the UK exceed 100 billion pounds by the end of 1988. This liberalization of the economy was completed in October 1986 by the deregulation of activities in the City in London. Despite the competition of other capital markets, this revolution has allowed London to maintain its role as a leader and pioneer in the financial industry (Leruez, 1991, p146). Although the privatizations program the most unique success (Madsen Pirie, 1989, p10) is now considered as en essential reform of the Thatcher government, it should be noted that it was not given an importance in the election manifesto of 1979. This show the inherently adaptable character of the action of Mrs Thatcher (Leruez, 1991, p147), and became the centre piece of the Thatcher Revolution (Jenkins, 1989, p370). The economic justifications of denationalization are the following: decrease the influence of state and the political decision making on the economy, increased efficiency and innovation of companies, decentralizing economical decision and negotiations of wages and working conditions. Major privatizations (Britoil, British Telecom, British Gas) and most symbolic (Rolls Royce, privatization of water) (Leruez, 1991, p147) started between 1979-1983. The privatization process enabled success of major industries, British Airways became highly profitable and successful airline. (Madsen Pirie, 1989, p10). Even the British steel became in Europe the most productive and profitable. The Privatization of Jaguar was considered as a signal for a major change of attitudes in that company, with improvement of quality of product, with emphasis on training, cooperation from de workforce as shareholders (Madsen Pirie, 1989, p11). Between 1983 and 1987 under the second term of Mrs. Thatchers privatization program will bring more than 10 billion pounds, or 5 times more than the previous. Privatization enabled companies to decide by themselves concerning investments, strategies, and became synonymous with popular ownership (Jenkins, 1989, p370). In 1978-1979, thirteen out of the eighteen have been privatized (Madsen Pirie, 1989, P11). Harold McMillan denounced privatisation as selling the family silver.(should I give a comment for this, please help me) (Pugh, 1994, p317). In 1988, the public sector accounted for only 4% of employment and 7% of GDP. Its about the quarter of the public sector companies transferred to the private sector and 600,000 employees transferred from the public to private sector (Jenkins, 1989, p369). Thatcher encourages the liberalization of initiative; indeed, we observed the growth of entrepreneurship, more of one million opted to set up their own companies between 1979 and 1987. (Madsen Pirie, 1989, p15). As new opportunities have been allowed for people working in the deregulated sectors (public transport, air transport, catering) which adhere to the advantage of markets and competition. Private companies have realized the importance of quality, training and research and development. (Madsen Pirie, 1989, p15) In the mid 1980s, England experienced a significant rise in industrial and commercial activity with an increased number of investments. Indeed, the North Sea industrial and commercial companies have achieved a rate of 8% return during the 1970s, which reached 4% in 1981, and increased beyond 10% in 1987. (Madsen Pirie, 1989, p15) Politically, Thatcher government has achieved one of its objectives: the expansion of public shareholding. Shareholders were now outnumbering unionized in the adult population: 20% against 3% in 1979. In addition, three quarters of these new shareholders will own shares in newly privatized companies. (Leruez, 1991, p150). There was a revolution by the expansion of shareholding, one in five of the population become shareholders (Jenkins, 1989, p369). From 1979 to 1987, there was an increased from 7 to 20 per cent of the owning shares of the population (Jenkins, 1989, p370) On the other hand, the government decided to implement strategies such as the housing programme to encourage home ownership at the expense of council housing (Madsen Pirie, 1989, p8). The extension of ownership was a revolution, a million council tenants purchased their own homes (Jenkins, 1989, p369) Others reforms were on trade unions in order to regulate their actions. The 1980 law on labour relations merely limit the company closed shop, to prohibit sympathy strikes. The 1982 Act is much more restrictive, yet it limits the closed shop by requiring that it be approved by 80% of staff concerned and for 5 years only. But it has other limitations: while giving a strict definition of a conflict of legal work, it increases the penalties for illegal actions, authorized or even just tolerated by the union involved, with potential fines. The 1984 Act contains mains provisions: It stipulates that a referendum, secret ballots (Jenkins, 1989, p370) of members must be held before the strike, without a prior vote conflict becomes illegal. The law requires the election of union executive (Jenkins, 1989, p370) every 5 years. With the 1984 Act, we passed from the definition of the legal framework of trade union action to the control of the internal democracy of trade unions. In 1979, the Briti sh trade unionism was 13 700 000 members or 54.6% of the workforce (Leruez, 1991, p153). In 1988, union members were only just over 10 000 000, the unionization rate fell to 35%. The primary cause of the decline in unionization is the fall in industrial employment (coal, steel) between 1979 and 1986. The culture that encourages individualism and the poor public image of unions led to the decline of unions. In 1987 only one per cent of voters would consider trade union power to be the chief issue facing the country, when in May 1979, 73 per cent of people had believed to be so. (Jenkins, 1989, p369). The marginalised membership in Trade unions shows the revolution in the British beliefs, mentalities and is the most singular of her [Thatcher] achievements (Jenkins, 1989, p370) The Strikes launched against Thatcher or during Thatcher Administration have been failures (The steel strike in 1980, The strike of public service in 1981). The defeat of the miners in 1984 after a conflict during a year from March 1984 to March 1985 marked a turning point. It was a revolution, the government has managed to resist and endure for a year of strikes in the coalfields and put an end to Arthur Scargill actions. (Jenkins, 1989, p369) The other structural reform in the economy was the taxation. This reform is directly linked with the general objective of liberation of the individual initiative and to decrease the weight of government on individuals and on businesses. The VAT rate is replaced by a single rate of 15%. The corporate tax decreased from 50% to 35%, but employer contributions to the functioning of social security had greatly increased (under Labour was down). However, individual contributions to Social Security grew faster than the cost of living. The general effect of this global redistribution of taxes was an increase of the poorer part of the population poverty with the existence of inequalities in income and living conditions across regions. (Leruez, 1991, p157) Through these reforms, the government had a budget surplus of 3, 6 billon pounds in fiscal year 1987-1988 and 14 billion from 1988-1989 (including 6 billion pounds from privatizations) The Thatcher measures helped the British economy to perform: between 1979-1983, productivity was 2, 1%, above EEC and OECD performances. Between 1982 and 1988, Britain will record better results than the major OECD partners (Layard Nickell, 1989, p215). The brutal measures of 1979-1981 have allowed a dramatic improvement in the years 1982-1988, which shows the undoubted vitality of the economy. (Leruez, 1991, p159). This miracle some observers said that something surprising has happened to British productivity (Layard Nickell, 1989, p215). Thatcher actions in 1979, by doubling the VAT and suppression of the incomes policy had consequence on increase of the inflation in 1980. In 1979 inflation was 13, 2% and decreased to 5,6% in 1988, a decrease of 7,6 points. (Layard Nickell, 1989, p216). After 12 years of Thatcherism, we highlight structural problems in the British economy: For Jenkins (1989, p329), the greatest failure of the Thatcher Revolution has been in the application of market economics to the Welfare state. The priority of the government was to get rid of inflation before creating employment. (Madsen Pirie, 1989, p13) Unemployment double from 4,7% in 1979 to 8,5% in 1988 and concerned primary wage earners (Layard Nickell, 1989, p216). We thought that in 1986, unemployment fell but in reality it was a decrease of the number of people receiving benefits (Layard Nickell, 1989 p216). The Government created training programmes such as Manpower Services Commission (Madsen Pirie, 1989, p13) but it was a mismatch between skills demanded and skills held by the unemployment (Layard Nickell, 1989, p218). The inadequacy compounded by the socio-economic disparities between regions: Development disparities between north and south of England have increased since the rece ssion of 1979 to 1982. In January 1987 there were 1 740 800 unemployed in the North and 1 185 000 in the South. In January 1989, there were 1 878 000 unemployed in the whole country, 1 102 700 in the North. 94 per cent of the 1979-1986 job losses had been in the Midlands and the North (Jenkins, 1989, p330). Immobility of labour and the decline in manufacture explained theses regional disparities. (Jenkins, 1989, p330) The Two nations, The privileged and the People (Jenkins p372) as Disraeli described characterised the polarisation (Jenkins, 1989, p372) of the British population with the emergence of two entirely different socio-economic systems (Andrew Broadbent in New Society, 14 May 1986, quoted in Jenkins, 1989, p372). Inequality increased by inequality in pre-tax earning and even by the unequal distribution of the average direct tax rates. The number of families with children in poverty rose by 580,000 to 1,171,000 in 1986 (Church of England, Not just for the Poor, 1986, p46) Nigel Lawson characterised the economic growth improvement by 4% between 1883 and 1988 as economic miracle. The measures implemented have reduced inflation from 22% in 1980 to 7% in 1985 and a decrease of 3% in 1986. (Pugh, 1989, P306). However, deep-seated problems of the economy remained (Pugh, 1989, p304) with a high level of unemployment. (3,2 millions in 1985) (Pugh, 1989, p306). This economic miracle defined by Nigel Lawson was actually an economic mirage: The rise of the demand for consumer goods has been artificial, it rested on an inflated debt and spending on imports helped to unbalance trade deficits with more than  £15 billion from 1988 to 1989. (Pugh, 1989, p306). The Statement of Thatcher may be compared to important social marginalization of a significant proportion of the population that appears even in the unemployment statistics a disaster. It was a revolution; in that she broke sharply with the principles that guided economic policy in Britain since 1945 (Callaghan, Healey Government, Welfare State, Keynesianism policy). They [Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher] were revolutionaries in their thinking and in their ability to inspire others to accept fundamental change (Martin Feldstein, Project Syndicate, 2009), and also because it was implemented as a routine set of ideas that were a world view. Peter Jenkins (1989) returns to his ascension, puts into context and shows how her policy in stark contrast with everything that has been done before. Margaret Thatcher was indeed a revolution, a political belief, a philosophy and style beyond the umpteenth administration, yet another government. There is a before and after Thatcher, was discovered here in what her legacy will be decisive for the British political landscape for years to come. For Martin Feldstein (2009), Margaret Thatcher brought such profound improvements that there is no going back. Regarding to the miracle, it must be taken to mean economic miracle, because in the 1970s, Britain was really the sick man of Europe. The growth, prosperity and productivity performance in England can be considered as a miracle. However, this revolution does not take advantage and do not concern the whole population. Jenkins used the word half revolution, because Britain remains divided into Two nations, but at the same time two ideals between the new Enterprise ideal and the Welfare ideal.(Jenkins,1989, p378) Thatcher modified the British economic governance (Green, 2006 p56), she neglected the human consequences of her economic policies. The reforms of Mrs Thatcher allowed her to fully address the globalization of the years 1980-1990.

Our Prison System Sucks :: essays research papers

Our Prison System Sucks Good afternoon ****** and fellow class mates. To many of you, the word prison might frighten you. To some, you welcome the idea of prison. To others, well, you just don't care. Well I am for the idea of prison, but I don't support the way our prisons in north america are being run. These people deserved to be punished! I don't want them to waste our money, get "paid" for television interviews, book rights and all the other goodies that come from doing a crime. And then slapped on the hand saying: "You be a good boy/girl now" and sent them off to a place we call prison, but in reality, some of the prisoners, find prison to be just like a strict camp. I have personally talked to some people who had gotten out of prison a few weeks prior to our talk, and they where telling me how they learned how to make certain crafts, learn how to sow, and many other things. To me, that sounds awfully like a camp I was made to go to when I was young. Some people in prison even have television, others treat it like a hotel. This disgusts me! This doesn't sound at all like a prison. A prison is a place where people are supposed to be punished. Not treated like guests. There is a fin line between being punished and being over punished however. I'm not saying that each person should be beaten daily, or made to stay in a cell by themselves with no one to talk to for an eternity. The person should be punished according to the crime. "An eye for an eye." This brings me to the subject of capital punishment. I'm sure some of you are disgusted by the word, but I am not. I am disgusted with the fact that it is not here in Canada. I believe that for major crimes, such as that of Paul Bernardo certainly deserve the death penalty. If someone can go out and kill dozens of children, or adults. They surely have the guts to go though with the end of their lives. The amount of grief a family has to suffer when a loved one is lost is tremendous, and to have to go through life worrying weather or not you safe because your afraid the killer will get out of jail with good behavior.

Parking on Campus :: essays research papers

Parking on campus needs improving. Students entering the university are allowed to have a car on campus. With every new freshmen class entering parking posses a problem on campus. The campus is already limited in its parking on campus and since freshmen are allowed to have cars, the students before them are faced with the dilemma of how many new freshmen will be bringing a car to school.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Parking by the dormitories is almost impossible. Students who live at particular dorms find themselves faced with the problem of having to park on the other side of campus. Those who live in Brown Hall, which is behind the Thompson center, have the most parking problems on campus. This is because the Thompson center is a very large building housing various departments on campus. Therefore it receives a lot of traffic all day. Visitors to the campus are taking over the parking lots around the Thompson center, which is forcing students to park other places on campus and some students chose to disregard the signs posted for reserved parking.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There needs to be additional parking on campus made for those visiting the campus and also for students, faculty already has reserved parking; however the limited amount of parking on campus is forcing students and visitors to reserved faculty lots. Our school is limited in funding for certain projects such adding additional parking to solve the parking problem on campus. The student body should take responsibility for the raising of these funds to build additional parking on campus. The rising sophomore class should organize fund raising events to build additional parking on campus.

My Reaction To The Sociological Imagination Chapter One: The Promise Essay

After reading The Sociological Imagination Chapter One: The Promise by C. Wright Mills, I had mixed emotions about multiple topics in which he discussed. The overall subject of the Sociological Imagination is one that I found to be confusing. Firstly, I agree with his statement that, â€Å"Nowadays people often feel their private lives are a series of traps,† (Mills 1). This statement is then followed by the acknowledgement that humans, as individuals, are nothing but spectators of our everyday milieu. When going about our daily lives, many individuals feel as if they must do certain things because they cannot overcome the obstacles standing in their way. I agree with this idea because I personally feel as if some days I am â€Å"trapped† in my own life, and there is nothing I can do to escape. Whether this is with my daily high school schedule, daily work schedule, or even my weekly CCAC schedule, I feel as if there is no way out. I become so caught up in everything at once that I just want to â€Å"break free† in a sense, escaping for just an hour, so I can relax. The second point he conveys, is the idea that individuals can only vision their fate in accordance to the knowing of their place in the hierarchy of one’s surroundings. One example indicating social stratification is how ranking individuals allows for the knowledge of fate, such as a given class rank in high school. The class rank is a numerical value given to each student allowing for them to know where they stand while being compared to their peers. The previous example demonstrates how I also agree with Mills’ idea. However, there were also numerous topics that contradict my opinion and I am not in complete accordance with. One of these topics that Mills discusses, but I do not agree with is when he states, â€Å"Neither the life on an individual nor the history of a society can be understood without understanding both,† (Mills 1). My reaction to this quote is that I believe it is false. I personally believe that to understand the life of an individual, one does not need to know the history of their society. If one would trace history back far enough, everyone will end up back at the same few places. Therefore, making all history of society even and unnecessary to understand the life of an individual. Although I disagree with this idea, I understand Mills’ idea of the historical involvement. Overall, this chapter of Mills’ work left me with a reaction of mixed emotions. I agreed with some aspects of his work, yet disagreed with certain aspects of his work. I never thought of an  individual and history in a co-ordinance together. I also would have never thought of a daily life being â€Å"trapped†. This chapter led me to want to further read into the ideas of social positions, social values, and social troubles and issues. My final reaction to this chapter is that Mills’ has a uniqu e way of thinking, and it led me to personally have mixed emotions to his overall work. The first main point of C. Wright Mills’ chapter that I found to be appealing is the idea of social positions. It should be clarified that social position is not discussing positions in terms of physical location, but as a hierarchical stature. It is similar in that of the location on the totem pole. Mills notes that,â€Å"†¦[Sociological Imagination] is the idea that the individual can understand her own experience and gauge her own fate only by locating herself within her period, that she can know her own chances in life only by becoming aware of those of all individuals in her circumstances,† (Mills 2). This quote is showing that in order for individuals to know their own future, they must know where they rank in place with everyone else. Another phrase that may also seem applicable here, is self-consciousness. Knowing everyone’s locations allows individuals to estimate where they may be in a few years, without over or under estimating themselves. If they see someone who is relatively close to their own social status being successful, they can then come to the conclusion that they too, will be successful. Their social position can then help them look back in history and see where they may be able to assist in the current making of history. Every person lives out a biography during their lifetime, and it helps shape society, even though their input is minor to the current history making (Mills 2). Social positions have helped shape history from generation to generation. The second point I would like to discuss, is the idea of social values. A value is something that holds importance and meaning to someone or a group of people. When asked a question regarding public issues and private troubles, Mills responds quite simply that, â€Å"To formulate issues and troubles, we must ask what values are cherished yet threatened, and what values are cherished and supported, by characterizing trends of our period, (Mills 5). By this quote, Mills shows the importance values have on society, and that they must be characterized depending on how they make people feel. The state of an individual is directly related to the state of their values. People  experience well-being when they have values that are not being threatened. This is due to the fact that they have nothing to worry about, and they can go through their day in a normal fashion. However, when the opposite occurs, and the individual has values that they feel are being threatened, the individual then experiences a crisis. A crisis is a sudden change or a stage of danger. Furthermore, if all of the individual’s values are threatened at the same time, they experience a full panic, overwhelming fear. In continuance, if one does not know of any cherished values nor experience any threat, they are in a state of indifference. In addition to the above, the final feeling is the experience of uneasiness or anxiety. This occurs when the individual is unaware of cherished values, yet feels a threat. Often people have these feelings, but are unaware of the direct cause of them. One example Mill uses in his work is the time period after World War Two. He mentioned how not everyone was aware of the values, but all felt a threat. From the previous one can conclude that there was a full feeling of uneasiness in America. As one can now see, values play in important role in society and in the individual. The final idea that I would like to acknowledge is the idea of social troubles and issues. There is a distinct difference between troubles and issues, and Mills makes that very clear in his work. According to Mills, â€Å"Troubles occur within the character of the individual and within the range of his or her immediate relations with others†¦,† (Mills 4). In other words, troubles are the problems that are concerned with the self and personal awareness within their direct surroundings. Troubles are private matters to an individual and occur when their values seem threatened. He also states that, â€Å"Issues have to do with matters that transcend these local environments of the individual and the range of her inner life,† (Mills 4). This also means that they are public matters, and become a problem when the public values become threatened. Issues are public matters and can range as small as one group of people to as large as a few communities. There are many common examples showing the difference between troubles and issues. Unemployment is a perfect example to differentiate between the two. Unemployment as a trouble is if one man is unemployed, and as an issue is if ten percent of the nation’s workers are unemployed. As one can see, the trouble is personal and the issue is public. Another example is war. The trouble of war is the need to survive and to  make money out of it as a career. The issue of war is the cause and effects on others, therefore making it public. Those are examples of the major differences between troubles and issues. In conclusion, after reading the article The Sociological Imagination Chapter One: The Promise by C. Wright Mills, I had an overall feeling of mixed emotions. I strongly agreed with some of his topics, while disagreeing with others. Throughout the entire paper I was capable of understanding Mills, even while is disagreement. The topic I found to be most appealing was the fact that some individuals feel a sense of being â€Å"trapped† within their own lives. Although it sounds contradicting, Mills was capable to explain the idea thoroughly and fully. I also believe that with the understanding of social position, values, along with troubles and issues one is fully capable of understanding the Sociological Imagination. Social positions is knowing where the individual stands comparatively in their society, or if taken broader, in history. Social values are the ideas that individuals cherish and when threatened causes different experiences within one’s self. Social troubles occur when values are threatened, but at a private and small scale. In opposition, issues occur when the same or different values are threatened, but at a public or macro scale. Overall, I believe that Mills’ Sociological Imagination is a grand topic that may be analyzed to help new ideas begin. Works Cited Mills, C. Wright. The Sociological Imagination

General Electric Strategic Position – 1981

General Electric (â€Å"GE†), similar to many major corporations in the 1980s and 1990s, underwent a restructuring phase in line with the McKinsey Restructuring Pentagon. Through this restructuring, General Electric implemented a portfolio-planning model to manage the ever-increasing demands of a company involved in over 190 businesses. Ultimately, this model allowed GE to formally? GE set lofty goals of increasing earnings per share 25% faster than the growth of GNP. In order to achieve this the company needed to address productivity and possible realms of expansion, but the systems in place often led to a lack of focus. Reginald Jones attempted to create value and compete in the market by implementing strategic planning and then integrated strategic planning to address productivity. Through GE’s engagement of McKinsey & Co. they devised a structure of Strategic Business Units along with Portfolio Planning. The development of strategic business units allowed the company to stay competitive in their respective industries by acting somewhat autonomously from GE Corporate. In the restructured GE, the SBUs were responsible for identifying crossovers to expand their competitive position by utilizing the entire GE network. The Portfolio Planning Model allowed GE to allocate resources to each SBU based on Industry Attractiveness and Business Unit Strength. The allocation of resources focused development on specific projects instead of â€Å"sprinkling money across a variety of businesses. † This matrix later would be called the GE matrix, which allowed GE Corporate to quickly analyze a business plan by highlighting the potential industry growth (using a Five Forces-style analysis) and looking at the relative knowledge within GE to capitalize on the industries market share. After the allocation of resources, GE identified business unit strategy. This strategic planning was ahead of its time in terms of management theory. Strategic Planners were required at each business unit to assess the strategic positioning of opportunities (including potential divestment) and to identify portfolio balance. This portfolio assessment identified the overall business unit balance in terms of cash-flow generation and growth prospects. After these metrics were defined, performance targets were set based on the business strategy and perceived competitive position. When combined with the BCG Matrix, GE was capable of making allocation decisions readily, addressing the productivity issue while maintaining its competitive advantage in industries viewed with positive growth potential. One can say the creation of value at GE in the 1981 depended on its use of metrics to focus on specific industries and growth opportunities. This created value by allocating resources more effectively in order to predict market trends and anticipate demand within markets before customers were able to clearly identify what was needed. In addition, this created value in terms of the shareholder value maximization model as GE innovated in order to outpace growth in GNP. Returning to the McKinsey Restructuring Program, it stands that GE created additional value and became an even greater competitive force across their broad industry footprint by capitalizing on the linkages between their SBUs. Part of Reginald Jones’ theory on implementing Sector level managers exemplified this value creation through corporate linkages. In order to stay away from a Holding Company status, GE Corporate realized it needed to add-value from the top-down. The end results was a structure whereby SBUs developed new business opportunities by ‘extending into contiguous product-markets;’ Sectors ‘developed new SBUs by diversifying within their macroindustry scopes;’ and Corporate developed ‘new sectors by diversifying into unserved macroindustries. ’ This renewed focus allowed GE to add value across its hierarchy, competing quicker and more efficiently than competitors while leveraging the full breadth of resources available to a truly diversified company. Additionally, due to GE’s restructure hierarchy; corporate was able to focus on what Jones called â€Å"arenas. † These arenas extended into nontraditional management, integrating new developments in techniques, motivation, and measurement, but were designed to create a vision for the future, which then linked back to the portfolio planning model in order to more appropriately allocate resources. As a result, GE decided to focus on the following arenas – Energy, Communications, Energy Applications-productivity, Materials and Resources, Transportation & Propulsion, and Pervasive Services. These arenas drew direct linkages between organizations within GE, further leveraging the company’s resources to compete more efficiently while creating shareholder value. Additionally, GE said that planning helps a company focus, but implementation and execution is the key to success. To this end, they developed their people internally at a faster rate then competitors, often shifting managers to completely new organizations in order to provide a fresh perspective on innovation and market potential. Planning became a way of life, but implementation and execution were the breath of the company, even as they faced a dynamic and continually changing organizational structure. General Electric in 1981 created value and became more competitive due to their focus. GE executives realized the shifting dynamics within a diversified company and provided a formal framework to identify opportunities and to put money to work in those arenas. Additionally, their ability to capture leverage from linkages, both with products and human resources, helped the company remain competitive and quicker then each industry player within their respective units. The overall restructuring and portfolio planning provided a framework for their growth and value creation, which Jack Welch capitalized on after the departure of Reggie Jones. We believe that the strategic planning approach implemented by Reginald Jones, CEO of GE was revolutionary and necessary for the time but the methodology remained unchanged and ineffective as the company grew through the 1970s. Jones was a person who had a clear vision for corporate growth and effective performance during recessionary times in the United States. He believed in creating a change, recognizing the problems the company was facing and implementing strategies to reshape the decision-making process in the corporation. The focus of the corporation was to impose the creation of business strategic units in order to gain a broader view on corporate management strategies. The main goal was to implement the company’s vision across all business units across various industries. GE introduced a strategic planning system where management was expected to take strategic decisions and be involved pro-actively in the decision-making process. The corporate approach was to introduce clarity of the job functions in order to avoid ambiguity and miscommunication between the business units. Management was encouraged to strengthen their relationships with the team to integrate communication between the departments. Through the strategic planning system, the company recognized certain sectors that were less profitable than others and decided to prune the business units that did not grow rapidly or remain static. GE focused on further developing growing business units in new sectors by diversifying in unexplored industries. Overall, the corporation showed an average growth of 16% annually on their income statement for the decade between 1970 and 1980. GE delivered 26 consecutive quarters of improved earnings through two recessions; however, it faced some structural problems. The internal audit showed that strategic planning was slow and inefficient. Integration and cooperation between the business units was non-existent, which deprived innovation and opportunism within the corporation. The decentralized management led to the proliferation of 150 strategic business units. Additionally, financial analysis and control was rigid and did not promote cooperation between the business units. The strategic planning processes were heavily infringed by paperwork creating bureaucracy. In order to control the information, new management layers were created which resulted in expanding the staff of the organization. The paper-driven processes, in combination with the large staff at the business unit level, increased the costs and reduced the efficiency of personnel, reflecting the overall performance of the corporation. The large amount of paper reports slowed the decision-making process by the corporate management team that was inefficient to take action in search of further market growth. Due to these issues, the financial performance of GE was moderate and it matched the GNP index but did not outperform it. The corporate management focused on increasing growth while fighting inflation when the company was growing in size in both personnel and business units. We propose a different approach to confront the issues that GE was facing in their initial proposition for corporate strategic management. The company should focus on reducing the bureaucracy and improving the efficiency of the strategy decision-making process. This may be achieved by implementing regular face-to-face meetings with the corporate strategy management unit. GE could introduce more flexible financial controls to promote innovation and intrapreneurship while providing more integration across the business-level managers. A major problem to resolve was the excess cost of duplication and uncoordinated actions. GE’s focus should be on pruning less efficient business units that are not profitable and strengthening the SBUs that will provide the highest ROI. As mentioned above, the company was increasing its labor size while the SBUs remained inefficient. There are still some departments that are not as profitable as others but remained in operation. GE should concentrate in its comparative advantage in the industry to retrieve new rivals. Therefore, looking for new opportunities, along with undiscovered sectors, will provide the corporation with a greater competitive advantage in those industries.