The Theory Of Government, Science And The Nature Of Human...

The bed of thought for the Enlightenment in the late 18th and early 19th century was laid down in the 17th century with the commencement of reason. The authority of the Catholic Church had been broken by radicals, such as Martin Luther, and the liberation from orthodoxy meant that there was no longer a single authority. People began to examine the world with reason rather than faith.This intellectual curiosity eventually led to the Era of Enlightenment. The central ideals of the Enlightenment ultimately led to upheavals that transformed Britain, America and France in the late 18th and 19th century. Thomas Hobbes, Baruch Spinoza, Francis Bacon, John Locke, Jean-Jaques Rousseau and Francis Hutcheson are few of the many Enlightenment thinkers that used reason to challenge the structure of government, science and the nature of human beings. For example, Hobbes believed that man was born evil and shared in Aristotle’s belief that government was essentially the preservation of order against man’s instinct for selfishness and violence. In contrast, John Locke believed that each man was born with a ‘blank slate’ and that knowledge came from experience. Locke firmly believed in equality, democracy and toleration. Also against absolutism, Rousseau believed that individuals should submit themselves and their rights to the whole community without reserve, creating a will of the public. In a similar way, Hutcheson believed in submission and the innate desire for social, altruisticShow MoreRelatedScientific Revolution Summary Essay1014 Words   |  5 Pagesrevolution, the Old World view on science placed heavy emphasis on religion and had geocentric beliefs, meaning that it was widely believed that the Earth was the center of the universe. Then, the scientific revolution of the 17th century established a new view of the universe, reexamined the old theories, and emphasized natural philosophy and science. In 1543 Nicolaus Copernicus published On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, a book which criticized the geocentric theory of the universe, challengedRead MoreTok Essay on Natural Sciences1597 Words   |  7 PagesWhat is it about theories in natural and human sciences that make them so convincing? During the course of my Biology HL syllabus, I came across the theory of the fluid mosaic model. I instantly considered this theory to be absolute and accurate. This level of certainty was created with the first reading of the theory, and evoked the question as to what makes the theories formulated in natural and human sciences as convincing as they are. Both Natural and Human scientists take pride in the fact thatRead More The Scientific Revolution and The Enlightenment Essay1004 Words   |  5 Pagesreligion and science. The church supported a single worldview that God’s creation was the center of the universe. The kings and rulers were set in their ways to set the people’s minds to believe this and to never question it. From these ideas, the Enlightenment was bred from the Scientific Revolution. Nicholas Copernicus was the first to question the universal truths and teachings of the church. He devised a theory that the earth along with the other planets revolved around the sun. This theory disagreedRead MoreClassical Theories Vs Psychological And Physical1712 Words   |  7 PagesJohn Anderton, Classical Theories vs Psychological and Physical Passivism 1 The Minority Report movie is about a dubious yet powerful Pre-Crime program that utilizes psychic visions to imprison potential killers before they have acted. The film brings up concerns with the blemishes and disappointments of equity and science against the background of wrongful conviction. The film also deals with mass imprisonment, DNA innovation, and preventive detainment of warehousing criminals on the guise of futureRead MoreIs Politics A Science?1058 Words   |  5 PagesIs politics a science in the first place? Numerous scholars believe politics is too normative to be considered a â€Å"Science† and that the generalizations made in science cannot be implemented in politics, furthermore, some say it is more of an art than science. Aristotle described politics as the â€Å"Master Science† as it relates to all other disciplines such as economy and philosophy. Personally I had my doubts in the beginning of the course of how much science can be in politics and if it is truly aRead MoreThomas Hobbes And John Locke1346 Words   |  6 PagesSocial Contracts Thomas Hobbes and John Locke were two English political philosophers, who have had a lasting impact on modern political science. Thomas Hobbes and John Locke both spent much of their lives attempting to identify the best form of government. Locke and Hobbes were among the most prominent of theorists when it came to social contract and human rights. A Social Contract is an agreement among the members of a society to cooperate for social benefits. Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, areRead MoreEnvironmental Psychology1009 Words   |  5 Pagesthe correlation among human beings and the environment. Clayton and Myers state that, â€Å"Recent quantitative assessments of the human impact on nature give a sobering picture: the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment found that about 60% of the earth’s ecosystem services are being used unsustainably† (2009, p. 1). This study has implies that ecological changes affect the revolutionalization in human behavior. The force of continuing environmental changes persistently influence human behavior and the progressionRead MoreThe Philosophy of Thomas Hobbs Essay1748 Words   |  7 Pagesproblems of social and political order: that how human beings can keep away the terror of civil and difference to live together in peace and got authorize to decide every social and political matter. Otherwise state of nature anticipate us and closely remind us of civil war where there everyone have insecurity and fear violent death and human cooperation. Hobbes himself had complex view of human motivation that most researcher accept. He see that human beings are much more self-interested. (Hobbes) 17thRead MoreHuman Nature Is Good Or Bad?1484 Words   |  6 Pages17 2016 Human Nature Human Nature, human nature to me is how a person gives their life meaning by applying different believes to it, and then continue living their life based on them. No human is perfect nor good or bad. Throughout the history of humanity, our way of thinking, and believes have evolved in some way. Human nature took its turns when everyone started creating new beliefs back then. An example of different ideas being created or asked about was the way lifeRead MoreCopernicus And The First Pioneers Of Science1525 Words   |  7 Pageseach new development in science comes conflict, mostly from those who don’t believe that science follows the teachings of their religion or allies with their beliefs in an almighty power or God. Looking back in history at some of the great names in human scientific achievement, such as Copernicus, Galileo, and Darwin, we see that with each genius discovery came some outcry from religious groups. Nikolaus Copernicus was one of the first pioneers of sci ence. Until 1540 science had long been a servant

Good Relationships Free Essays

Good Relationships Many people have different prospective on good relationships. Relationships are not just two people who are in love and are married. A relationship can be shared between parents and child, best friends, and couples. We will write a custom essay sample on Good Relationships or any similar topic only for you Order Now To have an understanding or good relationship there should be trust, good communication, and respect. Trust is a key ingredient in building a good relationship. Loyalty and honesty fall into the trust category; they play a huge part in trust. Trust is something that has to be earned in any relationship. It takes time to build trust; it is not given to anyone overnight it has to be earned overtime. Many people do not know that communication plays the biggest part in a relationship. Not having communication in a relationship can be a huge problem. It can lead to a lot of misunderstanding. In order to have a healthy relationship, there must be communication. Talking your problems or situations out will resolve many issues and conflicts. For example to resolve most of the issue try spending a day together, going out, or having a dinner. In communicating you have to listen and get an understanding for one another. Respect is what we extend understanding to another person. In any relationship respect should be extended. If respect is not shown, or a lack of respect is given in the relationship; it should be bought to a discussion, and made clear. Effective communication, trusting each other, and having or giving respect are the main keys in building a good and effective relationship. If you are having problems in your relationship look at the three keys and ask yourself if any are ineffective, or needs to be worked on more. If yes, then work toward trying to change and fix the problem and to eliminate whatever the situation maybe. In building and rerouting your relationship keep these keys in mind. You will be sure to have a great relationship. How to cite Good Relationships, Essay examples

IT Ethics for Sensitive and Proprietary- MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about theIT Ethicsfor Sensitive and Proprietary. Answer: Internet is World's 'Greatest Spying Machine' According to the statement made by the Wikileak founder, Julian Assange internet has been speculated as the most threatening tool that deprives a person of their fundamental human rights and freedom of expression by means of spying actions (smh.com.au, 2017). The practice of procuring confidential and personal information without the knowledge and permission of the holder of the information consists of the act of cyber espionage. Data types comprising of the sensitive, proprietary, classified and personal nature are usually obtained from the individuals, competitors, governments and enemies for gaining advantage under suitable circumstances by virtue of utilizing the cracking strategies and deploying malicious software through internet usage. The perpetration is normally carried out online by computer trained professional spies or by criminal offences by software programmers and amateur malicious hackers. Recent evidences has provided an insight into the National Security Agency init iatives to expand its internet spying at the U.S. borders as a measure to track down the hackers thereby offering the scope for mitigating the internal threats (Savage et al., 2015). Many across the globe have condemned the large-scale surveillance of the Americans carried out by the U.S. government, thereby suggesting that encryption is not sufficient to prevent the unauthorized circulation of data. There have been efforts coming from the powerful web browsers like that of Mozilla that aimed to abate the interception due to information being sent to and from the servers to the third party. The data are generally scrambled to avoid such actions. Thus, the internet and inequality has garnered attention in the recent years as part of the spying process (Gilreath, 2014). With the advent of technology and the rampant usage of internet, the issue of spying has gained even more relevance as the line between disclosure of personal and public information is gradually blurring. The breach of personal space in ones life has been argued in the context of cyber crime. The threats are ever increasing with the changing times and scenarios This trend has been attributed to the changing scenarios that drive the alarming threats in the internet. The heightened sophistication of these changing patterns of threats has majorly influenced the social and political governance in the context of various nations. The increased use of the social networking sites such as those of Facebook, Twitter in the virtual world have threatened the safekeeping of the data. Analysis of the public activity by these platforms have thwarted the maintenance of the safekeeping and confidentiality of the data obtained. The increased dependence of the information and communication technology by the users of the modern times has further paved the way for increasing the cyber spying. The business and entrepreneurships management strategies have further suggested the performance of standard risk a nalysis to highlight the cyber risk issue for the sake of filling in the gap of the research undertaken (Vande Putte Verhelst, 2014). Further, the exponential growth in the domain relevant to the cyberspace has been explicitly discussed in recent works whereby the issue pertaining to the access to information for all parties involved has been raised. This has raised the threats even more for the professionals and individuals working with the information technology based industry to protect and handle the data in a deft manner. Minimization of the damage and recovery time is also done by means of taking measures appropriate to reduce the vulnerability of cyber attacks. Crimes against individuals, properties, governments or organizations are analyzed by definite means of contemporary preventive techniques through catering to the continuing trends and practices (Arora, 2017). Hence, mitigation of the spying issue calls for greater intervention. In the era of the internet, the breach of privacy has gained even more prominence whereby the various ethical and legal implications of such misuse have been exposed. In this connection, the case of Edward Snowden, former employee of the Central Intelligence Agency may be cited as a prime example who disclosed many of the classified documents from the National Security agency database without authorization. His revelations brought to the forefront numerous global surveillance programs by the US and British intelligence agencies. This exposed the measures adopted by this organization to crack the online encryption trusted by millions of people across the globe in an effort to protect the privacy of the personal data, emails, online transactions. The most threatening part of these revelations was that the documents came with warnings over the maintenance of absolute secrecy and decryption capabilities. The violation of the online data protection as followed by the various super powers were revealed that in later times prompted the foreign targets to change to newer forms of encryption or communications (Ball, Borger Greenwald, 2013). The collaboration of the ATT company, and the U.S. government harbored productive outputs in terms of working in coalition with the American telecommunications companies. This further threatened the internet security of the information provided in the virtual platform by individuals and the governments. However according to the ATT spokesperson, information is not disclosed unnecessarily to any third party or investigating organization without any proper reason. A vast expanse of the internet communications via the internet cables further strengthens the foreign-to-foreign traffic (Angwin et al., 2015). The hacker, hoaxer, whistleblower and spy issue have been further highlighted in other studies. Thus, the network surveillance programs has been found to monitor the illegal activity by means of noteworthy measures and prudent polici es (Coleman, 2015). Following the stringent measures and policies that were in vogue in the pre-Snowden phase, significant modifications underwent that aimed to address the internet governance. Elevation of internet governance in the realm of high politics has been a debatable topic that requires strict guidelines and competing governance developments. Thus, the incident following the Snowden case has opened up newer avenues for participating in the internet regulatory policy. In this regard, the national governmental regimes adopted by countries like China, Russia, Syria, turkey, Venezuela and Pakistan is of importance as they have asserted stringent national controls (West, 2014). Further studies have highlighted the influence and transformation in information security that revealed the recent measures adopted by the relevant countries to safeguard and protect the rights of the citizens from any foreign surveillance. Furthermore, lessons have been derived from the Snowden incident that the companies m ust not rely on the internet providers for the management of their data and efforts must be taken to enhance the security systems (Mahmoud Zeki, 2016). Thus, the recommendations made in order to curb the internet spying issues needs to be confronted in an effective manner with setting up of global consensus to mitigate the issue. The justification behind the government measures and regulations are debated where the concerns over privacy has been overruled. Thus, the question of internet freedom is shrouded in controversy. The notion of confidentiality through anonymity has now been questioned whereby the protection has been designated as a thwarting matter. The efforts and measure of the internet giants like that of Google and Yahoo must come up with novel technologies and strategies to protect the rights of its users without causing any harm. The true purpose of the internet can only be felt if the regulation is properly executed to suit the demands and needs of its clients. References Angwin, J., Savage, C., Larson, J., Moltke, H., Poitras, L., Risen, J. (2015). ATT helped US spy on Internet on a vast scale.The New York Times. Arora, B. (2016). Exploring and analyzing Internet crimes and their behaviours.Perspectives in Science,8, 540-542. Ball, J., Borger, J., Greenwald, G. (2013). Revealed: how US and UK spy agencies defeat internet privacy and security.The Guardian,6. Coleman, E. G. (2015). Hacker, hoaxer, whistleblower, spy: The many faces of Anonymous. Gilreath, S. (2014). The Internet and Inequality: A Comment on the NSA Spying Scandal.Wake Forest L. Rev.,49, 525. Mahmoud, F. Z. M., Zeki, A. M. (2016). Edward Snowden disclosures turn the fears of surveillance into reality: the impact and transformation in information security.Journal of Theoretical and Applied Information Technology,83(2), 173. Savage, C., Angwin, J., Larson, J., Moltke, H. (2015). Hunting for Hackers, NSA Secretly Expands Internet Spying at US Border.The New York Times,4. Smh.com.au. (2017).Internet is world's 'greatest spying machine': Assange.The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 11 May 2017, from https://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/internet-is-worlds-greatest-spying-machine-assange-20110316-1bwoz.html Vande Putte, D., Verhelst, M. (2014). Cyber crime: Can a standard risk analysis help in the challenges facing business continuity managers?.Journal of business continuity emergency planning,7(2), 126-137. West, S. M. (2014). Globalizing Internet governance: negotiating cyberspace agreements in the post-Snowden era.

Projectile Motion Physics Lab Essay Example

Projectile Motion Physics Lab Paper In this lab we will compare different parameters of a launched projectile. This includes time of flight, initial velocity, initial vertical velocity, initial horizon natal velocity, range, time of Max height. All these data points are collect Ted for 300, 400, 450, 500, 600, 700. Date for the 00 angle is was only in tail velocity, and time of flight. We will then study the relationship of these data points as a function of launch angle. Discussion: We fired the first projectile at O degrees, with the piezoelectric landing pad at the same height as the launcher. After inputting the diameter of the ball into Data a Studio we commenced our first shot. Adjusted the landing pad accordingly. T hen preceded to collect data. We were very careful to ensure that the launcher was at the same launch speed every shot. And we made sure the launch angle e was also dead on. We put a pen down the barrel to ensure that the ball bear inning was fully seated into the barrel. There were no problems recording the data. There was a consistent error throughout out data collecting. The predicted value s were further in range than the actual values. Because the error was consists NT we believe that it somewhere in the sensors used to collect information. Conclusion: its apparent that there is a relationship between the angle of launch and the e distance the ball bearing fired. We will write a custom essay sample on Projectile Motion Physics Lab specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Projectile Motion Physics Lab specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Projectile Motion Physics Lab specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Whats even more interesting is the optimum m angle for firing the projectile. Which is 45 degrees. Then the absolute value of the distance in degrees from 45 degrees will produce the same RA Eng. For example our data showed that 45 degrees will launch a projectile 88 meters. When the gun is adjusted to 30 degrees it shoots the projectile . 75 meters, and when the gun is 60 degrees it shoots the projectile .

CITY OF GLAS essays

CITY OF GLAS essays The image of the screaming child is linked to the death of Daniel Quinns wife and child. The image reoccurs five times within the story once for every year they have been dead. There are several aspects about the drawing that make it important to the story and to understanding the character of Quinn. Firstly the drawing itself is different from the other panels it is the kind of stick figure that a child about the age of Quinns son would drawn. After their death Quinn tried very hard not to think abut them and changed his life in order to remove himself as far as possible from that painful memory. The picture therefore represents his repressed emotions regarding his son. He has denied his feelings for so long that the can only be portrayed as a stick figure. He doesnt allow himself to remember so the image doesnt look life like because he hasnt allowed their deaths to be a real part to his life. Secondly it is interesting that the image is not always the same the third time we see it in the story it is one face among many different images of Quinn be hind bars. This gives us a clue that the figures connected to Quinn and that no matter how hard he tries to change himself it will always be part of him. The fourth time we see the image it is not only screaming but it also looks angry it is as if screaming is not getting Quinns attention and the child is now frustrated and angry. It is also important to note when the image occurs in the story. It appears when Quinn is sleeping. When he lets himself think about his son when he is waiting for Mr. Stillman Senior at the train station, And the last time it occurs Quinn is writing about all the sad destitute people in the world. No matter how hard Quinn tried to hide his feeling he cant control his dreams or stop something from triggering the memory. It does not matter hard he tries to change his life, he cant ge ...

Why the Water in a Nuclear Reactor Glows Blue

Why the Water in a Nuclear Reactor Glows Blue In science fiction movies, nuclear reactors and nuclear materials always glow. While movies use special effects, the glow is based on scientific fact. For example, the water surrounding nuclear reactors actually does glow bright blue! How does it work? Its due to the phenomenon called Cherenkov Radiation. Cherenkov Radiation Definition What is Cherenkov radiation? Essentially, its like a sonic boom, except with light instead of sound. Cherenkov radiation is defined as the electromagnetic radiation emitted when a charged particle moves through a dielectric medium faster than the velocity of light in the medium. The effect is also called Vavilov-Cherenkov radiation or Cerenkov radiation. Its named after Soviet physicist Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov, who received the 1958 Nobel Prize in Physics, together with Ilya Frank and Igor Tamm, for experimental confirmation of the effect. Cherenkov had first noticed the effect in 1934, when a bottle of water exposed to radiation glowed with blue light. Although not observed until the 20th century and not explained until Einstein proposed his theory of special relativity, Cherenkov radiation had been predicted by English polymath Oliver Heaviside as theoretically possible in 1888. How Cherenkov Radiation Works The speed of light in a vacuum in a constant (c), yet the speed at which light travels through a medium is less than c, so its possible for particles to travel through the medium faster than light, yet still slower than the speed of light. Usually, the particle in question is an electron. When an energetic electron passes through a dielectric medium, the electromagnetic field is disrupted and electrically polarized. The medium can only react so quickly, though, so there is a disturbance or coherent shockwave left in the wake of the particle. One interesting feature of Cherenkov radiation is that its mostly in the ultraviolet spectrum, not bright blue, yet it forms a continuous spectrum (unlike emission spectra, which have spectral peaks). Why Water in a Nuclear Reactor Is Blue As Cherenkov radiation passes through the water, the charged particles travel faster than light can through that medium. So, the light you see has a higher frequency (or shorter wavelength) than the usual wavelength. Because there is more light with a short wavelength, the light appears blue. But, why is there any light at all? Its because the fast-moving charged particle excites the electrons of the water molecules. These electrons absorb energy and release it as photons (light) as they return to equilibrium. Ordinarily, some of these photons would cancel each other out (destructive interference), so you wouldnt see a glow. But, when the particle travels faster than light can travel through the water, the shock wave produces constructive interference that you see as a glow. Use of Cherenkov Radiation Cherenkov radiation is good for more than just making your water glow blue in a nuclear lab. In a pool-type reactor, the amount of blue glow can be used to gauge the radioactivity of spent fuel rods. The radiation is used in particle physics experiments to help identify the nature of the particles being examined. It is used in medical imaging and to label and trace biological molecules to better understand chemical pathways. Cherenkov radiation is produced when cosmic rays and charged particles interact with the Earths atmosphere, so detectors are used to measure these phenomena, to detect neutrinos, and to study gamma-ray-emitting astronomical objects, such as supernova remnants. Fun Facts About Cherenkov Radiation Cherenkov radiation can occur in a vacuum, not just in a medium like water. In a vacuum, the phase velocity of a wave decreases, yet the charged particle velocity remains closer to (yet less than) the speed of light. This has a practical application, as it is used to produce high power microwaves.If relativistic charged particles strike the vitreous humor of the human eye, flashes of Cherenkov radiation may be seen. This can occur from exposure to cosmic rays or in a nuclear criticality accident.

Contemporary Theories of Political Economy Assignment

Contemporary Theories of Political Economy - Assignment Example Power in such regimes is completely centralized enabling power to concentrate on a few people and all those who dare to challenge or oppose them are cut out. Corruption and other forms of oppression are used to ensure that this person stays in power. The rules in most instances are not sensible but the people are sanctioned to fear rather than respect the laws as the rules are not aimed at improving the relationship between the leaders and the ones being led but to keep the leader in power.   In authoritarian regimes power is concentrated on an individual dictator, a group of dictators (junta) or a group of political elite individuals. The power they seek to control is political power. While a totalitarian regime is focused on all aspects of the state even private life’s for instance in Libya the north African state during the Gaddafi era. Totalitarianism stemmed from Italian fascism. In the 1920’s leaders such as Benito Mussolini were striving to sell dictatorship in a new package such that it would acceptable to the people. The Italian philosopher Giovanni Gentile an Italian philosopher played a big role in making people see this system in a positive light. Seeing as this was a new political system, it blossomed because of the curiosity, people wanted to see whether or not this system would work and whether it was going to be beneficial to both the leaders and the people. At around this time (1920-1930) most state leaders were striving to unite their people as there was political tension due to world war one. This was after all the period countries were gearing to world war.

Gender in the Colonial period Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Gender in the Colonial period - Essay Example For instance, mothers were trusted and expected to pass along the teachings of the Puritans and Christianity to the children. Husbands could, and often did, entrust their wives to handle various legal and financial matters of the household or family farm but the extent of power the wife possessed always remained at her husband’s discretion. Wives that happily accepted their role and conformed to Puritan societal standards were openly referred to and addressed as ‘goodwife.’ However, the authoritative figure in the family and throughout all facets of Puritan society was clearly the man. The only role that wives served in the male dominated public psyche was caring for children and completing household chores, at all times subordinate to their husbands. Though it was customary for Puritan men to show a general respect for women and they were thought of as handy helpmates in the household, the majority of men were deeply suspicious of women. Thought of as the physica l, intellectual and emotionally weaker gender, they were thus more likely to give in to the temptations of the Devil. Women were the images of Eve, lustful for sexual gratification, power and money. This common view of Puritan men â€Å"made women susceptible to charges of witchcraft, particularly those who stood to inherit large estates that would have endowed them with uncommon economic influence† (Karlsen, 1987: 52). The Puritan ideology included an intense belief that the devil endeavored to tempt Christians from following God’s laws. According to Puritanical beliefs, they are responsible to observe and then eliminate the presence of evil in society. â€Å"The problems that the first... This research paper tells us about the role of a woman during the period of Puritanical system. The authoritative figure in the family and throughout all facets of Puritan society was clearly the man. The only role that wives served in the male dominated public psyche was caring for children and completing household chores, at all times subordinate to their husbands. Thought of as the physical, intellectual and emotionally weaker gender, they were thus more likely to give in to the temptations of the Devil. Women were the images of Eve, lustful for sexual gratification, power and money. The Puritan ideology included an intense belief that the devil endeavored to tempt Christians from following God’s laws. According to Puritanical beliefs, they are responsible to observe and then eliminate the presence of evil in society. In the early days, immediately following the Puritans’ arrival in America, women exercised some considerable freedom, especially if unmarried, to take up professional positions among the colonies. As the educational requirements for these types of positions increased, women’s inability to obtain the proper education prevented them from entering these fields. Because women were not generally sent to higher education centers, typically obtaining only the ability to read among their other subjects which rotated around becoming a good housewife and mother, most women were forced to work in professions that consisted of factory labor, home maintenance (maids), seamstresses or other menial tasks.

Competitive Strategy Essay Example for Free

Competitive Strategy Essay â€Å"Successful and unsuccessful strategies shape a company’s destiny† – R.A. Burgelman, Strategy is Destiny†¦ Competitive Strategy is the high-level strategy used by the firm to realize its business goals, and in particular, profitability, in the face of competition. We study competitive strategy within the overall context of technology firms, which operate within a so-called industry, e.g., the computer industry, the consumer electronic industry, the cellular phone industry. Each industry, ideally, serves a market, which denotes the buyers or customers of the products and services offered by the industry. The function of strategy, which has a time horizon of years, is, in general, to set the long-term direction or position of the firm, for example define the technology, product, or service that the firm intends to develop, and determine the intended market for the product or service. The function of planning, which, in general, has a time horizon of several months to years, is to translate long-term strategy into medium-term activities, e.g., the portfolio of projects that the firm should execute the time-phased planning of these projects, and resource allocation. The function of operations, which has the time-horizon of days to months, is, in general, to translate medium-term planning activities into short-term product design, development, and delivery activities such as prototyping, manufacturing, product release, and shipment. No company can follow only one strategy. For example, Johnson Johnson uses one marketing strategy for its common product such as BAND-AID Johnson’s baby products; and different marketing strategy for its High Tech healthcare products such as Vicryl Plus, antibacterial surgical sutures or NeuFlex finger joint implants. There are several different types of strategy, including competitive strategy, technology strategy, product market strategy, financial strategy, and supply-chain strategy. For a technology company to be successful all these strategies need to be aligned with each other, and with the business goals of the firm. Competitive strategy, is the highest level of strategy in the firm, and is intimately related to the mission and vision of the firm and also to setting the direction for all the other strategies in the firm. There are several schools of strategy formation: design, planning, positioning (Mintzberg, 1998). We focus on two important schools or frameworks for strategy-creation or â€Å"strategy-making† that are particularly important for high-technologycompanies. The first framework is the so-called â€Å"positioning† approach due to Porter (Porter, 1980), In this approach strategy is viewed as taking a generic position in a competitive market and which views strategy-making as an analytic process performed at the industry-market structural level (Porter, 1980) and the resulting dynamics between functional groups of players (e.g., competitors, suppliers) in the industry. The second framework analyzes strategy-making at the industry-level, company level, and intra-company level using evolutionary organization theory (Burgelman 2002). In this evolutionary organizational theory approach, each company is an organizational ecology within which strategy emerges through two basic mechanisms, external selection and internal selection. When companies start, because they are new and small ¸ the external selection mechanism dominates. As a company grows in size and becomes more established, internal selection plays an important role. Based on e volutionary organization theory, views strategy-making as an evolutionary process performed at three levels: industry-company level, company-level, and intra-company level. When these two frameworks are combined, an integrated approach to competitive strategy emerges: from industry-market level all the way to intra-company level. A unique aspect of creating competitive strategy for a company, and in particular, a high-technology company, is that the time-scales for the evolution of markets, industries, and technologies are, in general, much shorter (â€Å"faster†) compared to other industries. Therefore, the strategy frameworks of the positioning school needs to be augmented with functional maps (Clark and Wheelwright, 1993), which capture the evolution of the market, industry, and technology relevant to the company, and which can therefore be used to create strategy. The objectives of this chapter are as follows: 1. Describe the positioning framework for the creation of competitive strategy. 2. Provide an integrated competitive strategy process which is useful in developing competitive strategy in a technology company. 3. Demonstrate the application of the process of competitive strategy The objective of technology strategy (Clark and Wheelwright, 1993) is to guide the technology company in developing, acquiring, and applying technology for competitive advantage. An important part of technologystrategy is the definition of technical capabilities (e.g., advanced device design, rapid prototyping, automated assembly) that provide competitive advantage. The objective of product/market strategy is to clearly establish the following: define what differentiates the product from its competitors; identify market segments for the product, the customer needs of these segments, and the corresponding products (i.e., product lines) that will be offered to these segments; etc. An important outcome of produc t/market strategy is to define the product roadmap, including sales volume and price, necessary to realize the business goals. However, in the rapidly evolving industry and market landscape of high-technology, competitive strategy, in turn, depends on three levels of â€Å"strategy-making† as follows (Burgelman, 2002): 1. Industry-company level. At this level the firm must determine its strategic position, its core competencies, and its strategic action. 2. Company level: At this level strategy-making involves induced strategy and autonomous strategy. 3. Intra-company level: At this the internal level autonomous strategy is created. In successful companies, it is the tight coupling of strategy these three levels of strategy-making with the highest-level (i.e., industry-market level) competitive strategy that, results in successful strategic action where what the company actually does, e.g., the product lines it develops and markets, results in the realization of its business goals. It is also useful to mention two other strategies that are closely related to competitive strategy. Financial strategy in cludes issues such as capital budgeting and portfolio management, i.e., deciding on which technology and product development projects to fund in order to maximize the cumulative expected profit. Another important and related strategy is supply chain strategy (Chopra), which specifies the service, distribution, and operations functions, performed either in-house or outsourced, that the company should do well in order to successfully realize its intended competitive strategy. The â€Å"Positioning† Framework We first present a historical overview of the positioning or analytic school of strategy. Then, we develop the five forces framework (Porter, 1980) and the approach to creation of competitive strategy that is closely related to the five forces framework. We will use the personal computer industry to illustrate the approach. The positioning school of strategy which emerges from the competitive school is based on the following assumptions (Mintzberg, 1998): the marketplace is competitive strategy is a generic position in the marketplace; strategy formation is the selection of a generic position based on analysis. The underlying assumption is that industry or market structure drives position which drives the organizational structure of the firm. Matrices like the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) introduced two techniques: the growth-share matrix, and the experience curve. The growth-share matrix for a firm, developed in the early 1970s, is a 22 matrix with â€Å"growth† along one dimension, and â€Å"market share† along the other dimension. Each of these variables can take two values, â€Å"high† or â€Å"low† resulting in a 22 matrix. Therefore, the product portfolio of a firm can be decomposed into four combinations of growth and market share, each with a well defined meaning: (High growth, high market share) or â€Å"stars†, (high growth, low share) or â€Å"question marks†, (slow growth, high share) or â€Å"cash cows†, and (slow growth, low share) or â€Å"dogs†. The approach to strategy using this matrix would be to have a portfolio balanced mainly between cash cows (the stable business of the firm, e.g., â€Å"MAC† computers in the case of Apple) and stars (e.g., the iPod, in the case of Apple). The experience curve, developed in 1965-66, is based on the idea that accumulated experi ence by a firm influences costs and prices. The claim â€Å"for the experience curve was that for each cumulative doubling of experience, total costs would decline roughly 20% to 30% because of economies of scale, organizational learning, and technical innovation† (Ghemawat, 1999). In 1971, the consulting firm McKinsey came up with the GE/McKinsey nine-block matrix called the Industry Attractiveness-Business Strength matrix (Ghemawat, 1999), which plotted business strength [High, Medium, Low] along one axis, and industry attractiveness [High, Medium, Low] along the other axis. The basic idea was to divide the company into â€Å"strategic business units (SBUs)†, and then make the appropriate strategic recommendations for each SBU depending on its â€Å"location† in the matrix. The Five Forces Framework and Competitive Strategy In this framework there are two high-level stages in the creation of competitive strategy, each stage corresponding to a high-level determinant of profitability mentioned in the previous section. The first stage is the assessment of the attractiveness of the industry in which a given company is embedded based on a structural analysis of the industry. In this stage, called the five forces framework, five forces that influence industry attractiveness are identified, as well as the factors (e.g., number of competitors, size of competitors, capital requirements) that determine the intensity of each force and therefore the cumulative intensity of the five forces. The purpose of the five forces framework is to relate the degree (or intensity) of competition in a given industry, as qualitatively measured by the combined strength (or intensity) of five forces, to the attractiveness of the industry, defined as its ability to sustain profitability. Based on the structural analysis, a particula r company may be in a very attractive industry (e.g., pharmaceuticals) or in an unattractive industry (e.g., steel). However, though a firm exists in an unattractive industry, it can still be highly profitable by choosing the proper competitive position within the industry, for example, e.g., a mini-mill such as Nucor in the steel industry in the nineteen-eighties (Ghemawat). The second stage of strategy creation addresses the competitive strategy available to the firm in order to achieve a strong competitive position. Ideally, a firm would want to be in a very attractive industry (e.g., pharmaceuticals) and have a strong competitive position (e.g., large pharmaceutical firms such as Smith Klein or Glaxo) within the industry. The five forces framework for the structural analysis of an industry is as follows. First, we define the following terms used in the structural analysis of the industry: industry, market, competitors, new entrants, substitutes, buyers, and sellers. The term ind ustry denotes (1) the manufacturers (or producers) and (2) the suppliers of a primary product or service, as well as (3) the manufacturers of alternative products and services that could serve as a substitute. For example, the (conventional) personal computer (PC) industry would include PC manufacturers like Dell and Apple, suppliers of semiconductor chips like Intel and Micron, suppliers ofdisc drives like Seagate, suppliers of software such as Microsoft, etc. Substitute products could be pen-based tablet PCs or small hand-held personal digital assistants (PDAs). In the five forces framework described below, manufacturers and producers will designated as (1) competitors in the industry if they already have established products, or (2) new-entrants if they are trying to enter the industry, or (3) substitutes, if they provide alternative (substitute) products. The term market denotes the buyers (or customers) of the product or service. For example, the market for PCs would include enterprises and individual consumers. The analytical process of strategy analysis and creation can be decomposed into the following five steps. 1. Create a map of the industry in which the technology company is em bedded. There are five key sets of players that constitute the business landscape: competitors, new entrants, substitutes, suppliers, and buyers. Identify key players (companies) for each industry. 2. Perform a five forces analysis of the industry structure. The five forces that influence the intensity of competition in a particular industry, and therefore the profitability of the firms within the industry: Force 1: the degree of rivalry (or competition) between the competitors; Force 2: the threat of new entrants (or the inverse of this force, the barrier to entry); Force 3: the threat of substitutes; Force 4: Buyer Power (to demand lower prices); Force 5: Supplier Power (to increase material prices). For each force, determine the key structural determinants which affect the intensity of the force. Porter and Ghemawat provide a detailed set of the determinants for each force, some of which are given in the table below. In the last column of this table we indicate plausible values o f each force for the PC industry in the nineteen nineties. Table 1 |Force |Key Determinants |Strength of the force | |Rivalry between competitors |Concentration (number) and size of |Medium to high | | |competitors | | | |Fixed costs/value added | | | |Brand indentity | | |Barrier to entry |Economies of scale |Medium to high | | |Brand identity | | | |Capital requirements | | |Threat of substitutes |Price/Performance of substitutes |Low to medium | | |Switching costs | | |Buyer Power |Buyer concentration | | | |Buyer size (volume) |Medium to high | | |Switching costs | | |Supplier Power |Supplier concentration |Low to medium | | |Supplier size (volume) | | | |Switching costs | | In theory, one would, qualitatively determine the strength of each force, as indicated in the third column of the above table, and then determine the cumulative or combined intensity of the five forces. The collective intensity or strength of the forces will determine the structural strength of the industry, as characterized by attractiveness, or the profit potential of the industry. The profit potential is measured by the long term return on invested capital (ROIC). If the collective strength of the forces is high, as in the steel industry, then the corresponding profit potential or attractiveness is low, and vice-versa. At one extreme of this analysis is the perfectly competitive free market, where there are numerous firms alloffering very similar products that cannot be differentiated (therefore, the force of rivalry is high), entry is free (therefore, the threat of both new entrants and substitutes is high), and bargaining power of both suppliers and buyers is low. Using the PC industry of the 1990’s as an example, the qualitative values of the forces shown in the last column of the above table would lead one to conclude that the cumulative strength of the five forces was medium to high, and therefore the attractiveness of the industry, i.e., its profitability, was medium to low. The PC industry in the nineteen-nineties would therefore not be attractive to new entrants, and in fact, in the early 2000s, HP’s computer business was unprofitable, and IBM sold its computer business to Lenovo. (It is important to note that HP’s unprofitability in computer business in the early 2000s cannot be attributed solely to industry attractiveness being low, but is also due to issues associated with its acquisition of the computer company Compaq.) 3. Select a competitive positioning strategy The basic premise of Porter and Hall was that for a firm to be successful (in a market) it had to compete based on one of two sources of competitive ad vantage: cost, i.e., by providing low cost products, or differentiation, i.e., by differentiating its products from its competitors with respect to quality and performance. Porter also proposed that a firm needs to select its strategic target: either offering a product to the entire market (â€Å"market-wide†), or offering a product for a particular market segment. Using these two dimensions (source of competitive advantage, and strategic target), Porter proposed the following three generic competitive strategies: 1. Cost Leadership: offering the lowest costs products to the entire market 2. Differentiated: offering highly unique products (as perceived by the customer) to the entire market 3. Focus: offering products which serve the needs of a niche segment of the market Porter’s claim is that for a company to be successful in the industry in which it operates it must choose between one of the three generic strategies: cost leadership, differentiated, and focus. If one uses the personal computer industry in the US during the 1990’s as an example, then the competitive strategies of the major players was as follows: Dell was the low-c ost leader; HP had a differentiated strategy with high-quality products; Apple had a focus strategy, targeting a narrow marketsegment of users who whom the user-experience (look, feel, and graphical user interfaces) were extremely important; and IBM had a mixed strategy. 4. Link competitive strategy to strategic planning (Ghemawat 1999) In order for a company to derive competitive advantage (or position) within its industry, the company needs to maximize, relative to it competitors, the difference between the buyer’s willingness to pay and the costs incurred in delivering the product to the buyer. Therefore, the next step in the competitive analysis is for the company to link competitive strategy to strategic planning by analyzing all the activities involved in differentiation and cost, and, to this end, a value chain (Porter, 1985) is an extremely important tool. According to Porter, â€Å"the value chain disaggregates a firm into its strategically relevant activities in order to understand the behavior of costs and the existing and potential sources of differentiation.† A three step process for using these activities, first to analyze costs, then to analyze buyer’s willingness to pay, and finally to explore different strategic planning options to maximize the difference between willingness to pay and cost, is developed in (Ghemawat, 1999). 5. Competitive strategy needs to evolve, especially in a high-technology company where markets, industries, and technologies, are changing relatively rapidly. A good example of the evolution of competitive strategy is IBM’s strategic decisions to evolve from a product-based company in the early nineties to a services-led company at the present time. In the early nineties, when the company was in trouble, IBM closely examined its business model and strategic direction, and decided to â €Å"stay whole† by moving its focus from products and hardware to solutions. One result of this strategic shift was the creation of IBM Global Services in the mid-nineties. By the late-nineties the company moved into e-business solutions, and extended this model in the 2000’s to â€Å"business-on-demand†. One result of these shifts in strategy was IBM’s decision to exit the Personal Computer Market by selling its PC business to Lenovo. Functional Maps A functional map essentially is a time-based evolutionary map of a key metric for an important organizational function, e.g., a product performance metric map for the engineering function in a technology firm, e.g., the well-known Moore’s Law in the semiconductor industry. Since the time-scales for the evolution of markets, industries and technologies for technology companies, especially â€Å"high-tech† companies, is short compared to other industries, the creation of the appropriate functional maps is critical to strategy formation in a technology company. As an example, in the relatively short span of four decades, information technology evolved from mainframes through workstations, servers and personal computers to internet-based and mobile computing. An important feature of our approach to developing competitive strategy in a technology firm is the integrated approach to strategy for a technology company, which relates company strategy to the company’s busin ess goals, business strategy, technology strategy, and product marketing strategy. Since, markets, industries, technologies, and products for a technology company are continually evolving, an important concept that plays a vital role in the creation of strategy, and, in particular, competitive strategy, is the functional map (Clark and Wheelwright, 1993). Here are some useful â€Å"dimensions† along which to create functional maps for strategy creation: a) Evolution of the industry in which the enterprise operates (changes in technology, customer needs, competitive landscape, etc.) b) Evolution of strategy business, technology, and market of the enterprise c) Evolution of technology (including manufacturing), product platforms, and product lines of the enterprise. The processes used for technology, product, and process development within the enterprise. d) Growth (or decline) of the enterprise with respect to of market share, revenues, costs, profits, etc. e) Organizational structure of the enterprise f) Key decisions made at different stages in the life of enterprise, and the drivers for these decisions g) The interconnections and relationships between all the above dimensions A multi-dimensional functional map for Intel is given in the next section. A very simple example of how functional maps can shape strategy is in the information technology industry. A functional map of the Information Technology Industry from the 1990s to the 2000s would reveal a shift from â€Å"products† to services†. The Services business in 2007-08 is approximately $750 billion, with IBM, whose share of this market is $54 billion, being the leader. HP, whose own share in the market is $17 billion seeing this shift in the industry and the need to build competitive strength, acquired EDS, whose share of the market is $21 billion. The combined share of HP and EDS would then be $38 billion, allowing it to compete more strongly with IBM. Another simple example of the use of a functional map in creating strategy is in the software industry. In the 2000s the software market is moving from a â€Å"packaged† product to online software, where individuals can get software that is mostly free, supported by advertising. Google is using its leadership on the Web to provide online softwa re that competes with Microsoft’s packaged software. Understanding this shift from packaged to online, and the corresponding change in the revenue model from direct sales (of product) to advertising, Microsoft is aggressively entering the online advertising business. Process for developing competitive strategy in a company If we combine the positioning framework for competitive strategy due to Porter, the evolutionary organization theoretic framework due to Burgelman, and augment these with the creation of relevant functional maps, then the resulting process of developing competitive strategy in a company can be decomposed into four stages, as follows. Stage 1: Company Analysis 1. Establish the business goals and objectives (ROI, %market share, revenue, and growth aspirations). 2. Determine the technology strategy and product market strategy for the company. 3. Define the overall development goals and objectives to align business goals, technology, and market strategies. 4. Develop the functional evolutionary maps of the markets and industry in which the company is embedded. Create functional maps (time-based evolutionary maps) for technology, product market, and manufacturing strategy of the firm. These maps will be useful in the process of assessing and creating competitive strategy. Stage 2: Industry Analysis 1. Perform the structural analysis of the industry in which the company is either an active competitor, or a new entrant, or a substitute. 2. Determine the existing competitive strategy of the company within the industry. 3. Determine the relationships between the company and the other players in the industry Stage 3: Assessment and Evolution of the company’s strategy within the relevant markets and industries 1. Using the functional maps of the overall markets and industry in which the company is embedded, as well as the company specific functional maps, assess the evolution of the company’s competitive strategy. 2. Decide on what the company’s future competitive strategy should be, and the corresponding technology strategy, product market strategy, and manufacturing strategy. Glossary Autonomous Strategy (also see induced strategy). Autonomous strategy refers to actions of individuals or small groups within the company that are outside the scope of current high-level corporate strategy. While autonomous strategy is constrained by the company’s distinctive (core) competencies, it usually (1) involves new competencies that are not the focus of the firm, and (2) results in so-called â€Å"disruptive technologies† that could change the strategic direction of the firm (Burgelman, 2002). Company Structure (vertical vs. horizontal). A vertical company is one which uses only its own proprietary technologies. A horizontal company is one which (usually because of the existence of open-standards) which does not solely rely on its own proprietary technologies, but usually uses technologies and products from other suppliers. In the computer industry, traditionally, Apple is an example of a vertical company, while Dell is an example of a horizontal company. The co mputer industry, itself, moved from a vertical structure to a horizontal structure in the 1980s (Ghemawhat, 1999). Corporate Strategy (official corporate strategy). Corporate strategy is top management’s view of the basis of the company’s success. It includes distinctive (core) competencies, product-market domains, and core values (Burgelman, 2002) Industry. The term industry, e.g., the consumer electronics industry,denotes (1) the manufacturers (or producers) and (2) the suppliers of a primary product or service, as well as (3) the manufacturers of alternative products and services that could serve as a substitute (Porter, 1980). Market. The term market denotes the buyers (or customers) of the product or service. Typically markets are segmented, for example, a two-dimensional segmentation based on the types of product (product segmentation) along one axis, and the types of customers (customer segmentation) along the other axis. The market, as represented by â€Å"Buyers† is an important part of the industry analysis in Porter’s framework. Once youve established the key assets and skills necessary to succeed in this business and have defined your distinct competitive advantage, you need to communicate them in a s trategic form that will attract market share as well as defend it. Competitive strategies usually fall into these five areas: 1. Product 2. Distribution 3. Pricing 4. Promotion 5. Advertising Many of the factors leading to the formation of a strategy should already have been highlighted in previous sections, specifically in marketing strategies. Strategies primarily revolve around establishing the point of entry in the product life cycle and an endurable competitive advantage. As weve already discussed, this involves defining the elements that will set your product or service apart from your competitors or strategic groups. You need to establish this competitive advantage clearly so the reader understands not only how you will accomplish your goals, but why your strategy will work. [pic] References Burgelman, R.A., â€Å"Strategy is Destiny†, The Free Press, New York, 2002. Chopra, Sunil, and Peter Meindl, â€Å"Supply Chain Management, Strategy, Planning, and Operations†, Third Edition, Pearson Prentice-Hall, 2007. Clark, K. B., and S.C. Wheelwright, Managing New Product and Process Development, Text and Cases, The Free Press, New York, 1993. Edwards, Cliff, â€Å"Intel†, Business Week, March 8, 2004, Pages 56-64. Ghemawat, Pankaj, Strategy and the Business Landscape, Text and Cases, Addison Wesley, 1999. Mintzberg, Henry and Bruce Ahlstrand, and Joseph Lampel, Strategy Safari, The Free Press, New York, 1998 Porter, Michael, Competitive Strategy, New York, The Free Press, 1980 Porter, Michael, Competitive Advantage, The Free Press, New York, 1985 Figure 1: A strategic view of the technology firm, showing different types of strategy Revenue ($), Growth (%), Etc. Purpose of the company Financial Strategy Competitive Strategy Market Strategy Technology Strategy Business Goals †¢ Vision †¢ Mission

GOA Essay -- Ecoturism, Konkan

GOA Goa is also known internationally in various names like: "Rome of the East", "Tourist Paradise" and "Pearl of the Orient" the state of Goa is located on the western coast of India in the coastal belt known as Konkan. Goa has a unique history, natural beauty and rich culture that have attracted tourists from around the world, over the past. Churches, museums, old streets and homes, beaches, and wildlife are the main tourist attractions of this place. (Goa tourism, 2011) Goa is the smallest state in India by area and population. Most of Goa is a part of the coastal country known as the Konkan, which is an escarpment rising up to the Western Ghats range of mountains, which separate it from the Deccan Plateau, and has 103 kilometres of coastline. The nearness to Arabian Sea and being a tropical zone, Goa has a hot and humid climate for most of the year. The vast green expanse of the Sahyadri mountain range ensures that Goa has an abundance of water. The sea and rivers abound in seafood - prawns, mackerels, sardines, crabs and lobsters are the most popular with the locals and the visitors. Along with English which is widely spoken all over Goa, Konkani and Marathi are the other recognized languages. Goan cuisine is a blend of different influences the Goans had to endure during the centuries. The staple food in Goa is fish and rice, both among the Hindus and the Catholics. The long period of Portuguese rule has strongly influenced the Goan cuisine. (Goa tourism, 2008) Traces of former Portuguese domination can be seen throughout when travelling through Goa; this creates an exotic ambience. Beaches, which are Goa’s greatest assets are illuminated with high mast lights allowing the tourist to roam around, even in the nights, safel... ...h wood furnishing and tiled floors inside. Guests get the chance to enjoy nature walks, bonfires, folk dances, and village excursions. This resort also rated as one of the beast eco resort of India by MSN Green (MSN, 2010). The Nature Conservation Facility has established at Chorla Ghats to help researchers and ecologist who monitoring and studying about the Western Ghats. They organize range of programs like making aware to the others about the importance of conservation and also support activities related to conservation of natural and cultural heritage, the Nature Conservation Facility is also being recognized as a hub of activity for volunteers and students who train here under researchers of international repute and carry forward the torch of nature conservation. Now the nature conservation facility is in the process of documenting about the local community.

Pentecostal Movement Its Impact Among the Dalits and Tribal in India Essay

I. Introduction The prime focus of this paper is to explore the modern Pentecostal or charismatic movement and its impacts among the Dalits and the tribal in India. In this paper the presenter will also try to bring out a brief origins and historical development of Pentecostalism, in order to understand the movement and its impact on the Dalits and the tribal in India. 1. Etymology of the term Pentecostal The term Pentecostal is derived from the Greek word pentekostà © which literally means ‘fifty’. It is the Greek name for the Jewish festival known as the ‘Feast of Weeks’ in the Old Testament, which celebrates the fiftieth day after Passover observances. The New Testament used the term to refer to the established Jewish feast. However, since the gift of the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2), Christians reinterpreted the meaning of it in terms of this event. One of the features of the Pentecostals is the doctrine of baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. 2. Who are the Dalits? Dalit is a designation for a group of people traditionally regarded as untouchable. Dalits are a mixed population, consisting of numerous social groups from all over India; they speak a variety of languages and practice a multitude of religions. There are many different names proposed for defining this group of people, including Panchamas (â€Å"fifth varna†), and Asprushya (â€Å"untouchables†). Dalits are outcastes falling outside the traditional four-fold caste system consisting of the hereditary Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Shudra classes; they are considered impure and polluted and are therefore physically and socially excluded and isolated from the rest of society. 3. Who are the Tribal? All over India tribal are generally known by the word Adivasi, Pazhanguli, etc., literally meaning indigenous people or original inhabitants of India. It is believed that the prehistoric India was inhabited first by the Negritos, later added to by the Australoids and then by the Dravidians and  the Mongoloids. The first of the above four, viz., the Negritos, entered India as early as the 4th millennium B.C. 1. The Negritos, still exist in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andaman and Nicobar, 2. Australoids represented by the linguistically Austro-Asiatic Kolarian speaking, viz. Mundas and Kharais and Santals, and the Indo Aryan speaking non-Aryan Bhil family, 3. Mongoloids of the Sino Tibetan language family of the whole of north-eastern India, and 4. The Dravidians are the Dravidi speaking race represented now in the entire southern India population and in Madhya Pradesh by the large tribes of Gonds and Khonds, the Kuis in Orissa and the Oraon and Maler in Bihar. Almost the entire tribal po pulation of India is non-Aryan by race and religion. 4. Origin of Pentecostalism The modern Pentecostalism movement was started by a charismatic revival as early as 1901 in Topeka, Kansa. However, April 1906 is generally credited as the beginning date for the modern Pentecostal Movement. On that date at the Azusa Street in Los Angeles, there occurred an outbreak of speaking in tongues. Charles Fox Parham and William J. Seymour, a white and a black respectively were monumental figures in Pentecostalism around whom the Azusa Street revival evolved. Parham and Seymour developed the doctrine that speaking in tongues was the evidence of the baptism in the Spirit. Most of the scholars credited Charles Fox Parham as the founder of the Pentecostal Movement, the founder of the Bethel Bible College at Topeka in Kansas City. He encouraged his students to discover the biblical teachings on baptism of the Holy Spirit and the exercise of the spiritual gifts. On January 1, 1901, Miss. Agnes Ozman requested Pastor Parham to lay hands on her and pray for her and after the prayer she spoke in a Chinese language. The Pentecostal fire experienced by Agnes Ozman and other students at Charles Parhamn’s Bethel Bible College at Topeka, Kansa was just the beginning of a worldwide movement that spread like wild fire. Although there were some contemporary revivals of a similar nature taking place in other countries, most of the world-wide spread of Pentecostalism can be traced directly or indirectly to Asuza Street. After the Azusa Street revival on April 1906, â€Å"Azusa Street soon became the ‘Mecca’ for thousands of visitors around the world.† The people who visited this place went back to their homelands spread this new  experience and spread the Pentecostalism to other parts of the world and formed Pentecostal churches. From the Azusa Street revival in Los Angeles, Pentecostalism spread rapidly around the world and began its advance toward becoming a major force in Christendom. 5. Pentecostalism Movement in India We have observed the modern Pentecostal movement in the 20th century that sparked out of the revivals that took place at Azusa Street, Los Angeles, which spread rapidly to the ends of the earth. Most of the scholars traced back the origin of Pentecostalism to the Azusa Street revival in 1906. However, it is not yet firmly established as to when the Pentecostalism started in India because prior to the coming of Pentecostal missionaries in the 20th century there were Pentecostal like events in the history of Christianity in India. According to Gary McGee, the eminent historian of Assemblies of God, Pentecostalism had already established itself in India long before word of Azusa reached the subcontinent. He validated by showing the documentary evidence that Pentecost, with all the associated phenomena, came to Tirunelveli and Travancore (South India) long before the Azusa revival. The powerful revival was witnessed in the second half of the 19th century in the following years first in 1 860, second in 1873 and third in 1895. People experienced the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues in all these revivals though the recipients did not know that they were experiencing Pentecostal power as taught in the book of Acts. Another incident was witnessed in 1906 at Pandita Ramabai’s Mukti Mission in Maharashtra, in which young women baptized by the Spirit had seen visions, fallen into trances and spoken in tongues, began before the Azusa Street revival, there is no indication that this was precipitated by events in Los Angeles. According to various authorities as stated by Roger E. Hedlund, Pentecostalism in India has its roots in Maharashtra at the Ramabai Mukti Mission. The Mukti Mission revival was understood by Ramabai herself to be the means by which the Holy Spirit was creating an independent Indian Christianity. However this does not mean that the Azusa revival had no impact on Indian Pentecostalism. The Western missionaries who are the products of the Azusa revival came to India and spread the Pentecostal message to certain parts of India and gave birth to the classical  Pentecostalism in India. The first Pentecostal missionary who came to India in 1907 at Calcutta was A.G Gar who repre sents Azusa Street. There were also other missionaries likes Thomas Barrett, George Berg, Robert F. Cook and Mrs. Mary Chapman who was the first Assemblies Missionary to India who came to Madras (Chennai) in 1915. 6. History of Dalits in the Pentecostal Church In India Christianity has been in existence two thousand years in the south-western and South-eastern corner of India. However, Pentecostalism in India began only at the dawn of the 20th century. George Berg, an American Pentecostal missionary of German descent, was the first to introduced modern Pentecostal movement in Kerala in 1909. George Berg brought number of other Pentecostal missionaries in Kerala he brought Robert Cook in the year 1914, Mary Chapman in 1916, John Burgess in 1926, and Miss Mildred C. Ginn in 1930. Among all these missionaries, Robert Cook was known as the Missionary to Dalits because his main concentration was among the Dalits. From the very inception of the Pentecostal church in the central Kerala both the communities of Syrian and Dalits were attracted and they co-existed together in the church. At the beginning the Syrian Christians has no problem in identifying with the Dalit Pentecostals because they are also from the very low socio-economic background. Dalits on the other hand wanted to escape from caste discrimination, and continues search for liberation from all aspects of life, joined the Pentecostal movement which appeared to them non-structured, non-liturgical emotional Christian movement in the beginning. However, from the third decade of the century denominationalism came out among the Pentecostals and the peaceful co-existence began to change. The number of the Syrian Christians started to denied the rights and privileges of the Dalits especially in church administration and leadership. They were also discriminated by the uppercaste Christian within the churches because of their economical and social status. Thus Dalits felt alienated in the Church. This development has cause caste division between the Syrians and the Dalits Christians within the Pentecostal churches. As a result there was a split between the Syrian and the Dalits in 1930 under the leadership of Robert F. Cook and K.E. Abraham respectively. 7. Reasons for Dalits Embracing Pentecostalism On the basis of being labelled ‘Untouchables’ or ‘Outcasts’, Dalits have suffered extreme forms of disadvantage and oppression for centuries. They were in continuous search for their liberation from all aspects of life and their identity. It was in the 20th century the modern Pentecostal movement with its message of oneness, equality, fellowship, dignity for all races and castes and other several related subjects reached India. The Dalits found the movement appealing to their aspirations in life and began responding to the movement. One of the reasons for Dalits embracing the Pentecostal movement is that they saw several factors common to their pre-Christian culture and lifestyle, which facilitated their entry into the movement. They were able to see some continuity with many of their pre-Christian culture and practices. This aspect of continuity and discontinuity is not only among the Dalits but even among the tribal of Northeast India. Another main reason is the discrimination to the Dalits by the mainline churches basing on their caste origin. Though they became part of the church, they did not share equal status in the mainline Churches. This discrimination encouraged a better spiritual atmosphere where they can have better opportunities. There are many other reasons for Dalit inclination to the new faith, the above given are just some of the basic reasons for better understanding of the topic. 8. Tribal and the Pentecostal Movement It was only in the later part of 18th century Northeastern region came under the influence of the gospel which has brought a tremendous transformation in the region. One of the greatest transformations is stopping the barbaric practice of head hunting especially among the Mizos and the Nagas. When Christianity came in the region Khasis tribe was the first to embraced Christianity among the tribal. According to Dr. J. Edwin Orr, the first revival experienced took place in the Khasi Hills in the 1903. From Khasi Hills the wave of revival spread to other regions in the North East. In the year 1905 the church Mawphlang in Khasi Hills of central Assam, people experienced an unusual fervour manifested by intense prayer, weeping, praise, confession of sin, prophecies, dancing etc. Similar things was happened at Pariong, Nowgong, North Lakhimpur, Golaghat, Sibsagor, Naga  Hills and several other places. The tribal people of North East India has felt the impact of Pentecostal or charismatic movement during the 20th century. This movement has both positive and negative impacts. In Meghalaya the Pentecostal movement has brought change and new congregational life. This movement give the church a missionary zeal, a new vision for missionary outreach resulting in new churches and outreach into six other states as well as outside India. Leadership development and outreach continued to extend among the Garos and into Haryana, Punjab and Mumbai. However, this movement also brought division which led to the formation of new denominations. In Mizoram the Pentecostal movement has greatly impacted on the development of leadership and the formation of mission societies among the Baptist and the Presbyterian churches, which also led to the emergence of a large number of indigenous Christian movements. Today Mizoram is the main centre for the rise of independent Pentecostal charismatic groups in North East India. In the late 1950s out of much suffering and adverse political circumstances till the early 1980s, there was a revival which swap across Nagaland thousands of people turn to Christ as Lord and Saviour. The zeal for the Lord and missions grew among the people which remain through this day. Today over whelming majority of Nagas are Christians consisting of all denominations. The main independent model, growing out of the revival movement is the Nagaland Christian Revival Church founded in 1962. In Manipur United Pentecostal C hurch was introduced in 1953 as the result of Pentecostal movement. Assam and Arunachal Pradesh are recently growing. As result of revival movement in Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram, major Pentecostal denominations include the Assemblies of God and the United Pentecostal Church are said to be increasing, apart from the indigenous Christian groups. Today in North-eastern part of India we have several Pentecostal or charismatic Churches who are characterized by speaking in tongues, prophesying, healing, and other spiritual gifts. 9. The Impact of Modern Pentecostal/charismatic Movement The Pentecostal message of oneness and equality has attracted many followers especially people from the marginalised group. The Dalits and the tribal in their long search for justice, equality, freedom and status in the society found the Pentecostal movement appealing to them and they responded to it. This Pentecostal or charismatic movement has made a great impact and spread across various denominations in India. 9.1. Social Impact: The Pentecostal movement has brought a great transformation in the lives of the individuals and families in the communities not only spiritually but socio-economically as well. The Pentecostal teaching of oneness in the body of Christ made the untouchables become the children of the Kingdom of God. To some extend this teaching has alleviated caste discrimination. Social evils like alcoholism, slavery, casteism were not tolerated in the church. Pentecostal movement has awakened the self among the Dalits and the tribal which shook the very foundations of the caste-based social structure especially in Kerala. They began to gain self-respect, identity and dignity. This movement also has largely influence some of the largest Pentecostal churches in Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai to actively engaged in various social programs for the benefits of the poor and the Marginalized. In Madhya Pradesh the Indigenous Pentecostal-Charismatic mission agencies like Blessing Youth Mission, India Evangelical Team, Native Missionary Movement, along with others are engaged in a number of translation, literacy, medical, evangelistic and community development projects as part of their ministry of social and spiritual service in this state. 9.2. Ecclesiastical Freedom: Pentecostal movement is mark by strong congregational ecclesiology. This movement gained a principle of ecclesiastical freedom, which maximizes the role of the local congregational. A movement of the Spirit not controlled by ecclesiastical structures or hierarchy. Pentecostalism promotes corporate and individual discipline and spiritual autonomy among the Dalits and the tribal. As a result of this movement every members of the Dalits Pentecostal churches are allow to fully participate in all activities of the church like prayer, reflections, singing and decision making. Their participations are not based on physical qualifications but on the basis of their experience of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Dalits worship is the expression of real democracy and equality. There is no social discrimination among the worshippers they all come together as one family in Christ. In Dalit Pentecostalism salvation  is essentially the same for men and women. 9.3. Spirituality: The outpouring of the Holy Spirit, variously called revival, renewal, Pentecostal and charismatic movement, always produced a sense of sin and one’s unworthiness especially before God, a fresh realisation of sin forgiven, a fresh outburst of love for God and humanity, afresh burden to share God and his gospel to others, a new release of divine power manifested in prayers, praise, spiritual power encounters and healing. Pentecostal movement help the Dalits and the tribal to personally encounter with the Spirit of God and experienced its transformational power in their lives. 9.4. Emergence of Dalit Theology: According to V.V. Thomas, Pentecostalism has provided the Dalits with an experience of God in their everyday life. They experienced God through healing, financial blessings etc. They do not have any carefully written dogmas and theology but they narrate their experiences of God which give them a lot of satisfaction. In Dalit Pentecostal church they testify, pray spontaneously, and preach without written manuscripts but with a lot of theology in it which relates their everyday lives of the people, struggles, agonies, and burdens. It is said that some of the best preachers in the Pentecostal Movement in Kerala have come from the Dalit background. The Dalits Pentecostal formulated their theology through narrative form. The Dalits prefer a narrative expression of their theology and witness. 9.5. Mission: One of the greatest impacts of early Pentecostal revivals in India, as in most parts of the globe, was its missionary passion. The Pentecostal spirit took its people beyond their boundaries. The missionary waves from various revivals like Mukti, Kerala, and, others impelled the people to be witnesses of the Pentecostal message in many parts of India. Pentecostal has influence the Dalits in the area of mission, one of the chief reasons for Pentecostal growth is its strong emphasis on mission and evangelism. Even in tribal region in Northeast the charismatic movement has resulted in remarkable church growth in many places. Part of the Pentecostal expansion in Kerala is due to outreach ministries to tribal and other  deprived population. Pentecostals have established many churches among hill tribes and estate labourers in remote areas where they have found abundant response. In South Indian Pentecostals became involved in educational and community development programmes along with the expansion of evangelistic and church-planting activities. The missionaries from south India play a vital role in making Pentecostalism a movement in Rajasthan which became a predominantly tribal religion in the state as more tribal people became involved in the movement. 10. Evaluation Pentecostalism has been described as one of the fastest growing global religion of the 20th century. Indian Pentecostals understand the manifestations of the Holy Spirit as a transforming and an empowering experience. Being filled with the Holy Spirit enables people to do extraordinary things otherwise impossible. Pentecostals believe that living in the life of the Spirit can lead to deliverances from all types of oppressions even physical healing. The Holy Spirit is seen as encompassing all of life’s experiences and afflictions. Through Pentecostalism Dalits expressed their opposition to the caste system in Hinduism as well as to the caste based hierarchy of the Church. This is one reason I find that people of different faith traditions to join in the Pentecostal movement on a basis of millennial equality because they just wanted to become people with full dignity before God. Pentecostal therefore became a sanctuary for people who were seeking better social status. Dalits and tribal has a long history on struggle for freedom from various domains. They go through discrimination, inequality, injustice and oppression from the high caste and also from within the church. It was in this context the modern Pentecostal movement message of oneness, equality, dignity regardless of castes and races reached India. The Dalits whose situations are worse than the tribal found this movement appealing to their aspiration in life began to respond to the movement. By 20th century the Dalit actively take part in the Pentecostal movement which has its great impact upon them. This movement has arose the self-awareness within the community and they became conscious of their social identity and they responded to the movement. The Dalit-led congregations tend to emphasize emotionalism, spontaneity, and the  priesthood of all believers, and to conceive salvation in collective terms and as the overcoming of worldly oppression. The Dalits and tribal are the weaker ones in the society and in many ways they have been subjugated and discriminated by the high caste people and their history of struggle still continue. However, the tribal have better status and position than Dalits in the society. Dalits embraced Pentecostal movement mostly with the hope of physical aspect of liberation, whereas, the tribal mostly on the aspect of spiritual liberation. Though Pentecostal movement has made a great contribution towards the Dalits and tribal Pentecostal, ther e are also some areas where this movement has its negative impacts upon the Dalits and tribal. Especially in tribal region in the North east the coming of the Pentecostal movement has divided the church into denominations which has become one of the biggest hindrances to the non-Christians to accept Christ. In the present generation many of the charismatic churches has lots of nominalism. There are instances where their charismatic activity has become a hindrance to others because there are some people who pretend to speak tongues and prophesies which is not from the Spirit but from their own heart. These things are creating confusions and doubts in the working of the Holy Spirit. There are also some people who carry two different personalities in them, inside the church they are different person and outside the church another different person. When we reflect to the beginning of the Pentecostal movement, the early believers received the gifts of the Holy Spirit and they were moved by the Spirit. But today speaking of tongue, using of symbols like â€Å"Hallelujah† or â€Å"Praise the Lord† are becoming a mere traditional in the charismatic churches. These are some of the negative impacts rising in the charismatic churches which are dangerous for our churches. Pentecostal churches needs to be biblically grounded and go back to the earlier emphasis on purity of life and transparency in one’s relationship with God and with one another. The central focus should be on God and not in any other else. II. Conclusion Revival in the Christian community has paved way for the emergence of Pentecostal movement in India. This movement has a great impact to the Dalits and the Tribal. However, as to my observation very few documentation  or research work has been done on the Pentecostal movement in India. In fact among the tribal we hardly have any research works on Pentecostalism especially in North East India. Therefore, with the limited source the presenter has tried to bring to our understanding of modern Pentecostal movement and its impact among the Dalits and the Tribal of India in this paper. To sum up the paper Pentecostal movement aims to achieve human dignity, respect, equality, and for more freedom both in social and spiritual aspects. In spite of the progress and the changes resulted by the Pentecostal movement, the Dalits and the tribal struggle and quest for further freedom still continue in India. ——————————————– [ 1 ]. The terms â€Å"Pentecostal† and â€Å"Charismatic† are used interchangeably with the same meaning. [ 2 ]. J.C. Rylaarsdam, ‘Pentecost’ in The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible: An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Edited by. George Arthur Buttrick, et.al. (New York, Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1962), 727. [ 3 ]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalit, accessed on 01/07/2013. [ 4 ]. http://www.ncdhr.org.in/ncdhr/general-info-misc-pages/wadwiu, accessed on 22/07/2013. [ 5 ]. Ebe Sunder Raj, Conversion- A National Debate (Horizon Printers and Publishers: Delhi, 2004), 127. [ 6 ]. Ebe Sunder Raj, Conversion- A National Debate, 75. [ 7 ]. V.V. Thomas, Pentecostalism in the Post Modern Era: Potentials/Possibilities, Problems and Challenges. Paper presentation as part of the requirement for promotion to full Professorship (Pune: Union Biblical Seminary, 2013), Unpublished Material, 3. [ 8 ]. http://www.yoyomaster.com/ministry.file/Pentecostalism.pdf, accessed on 23/07/2013. [ 9 ]. Cheryl Bridges Johns, Pentecostal Formation: A Pedagogy Among the Oppressed (Sheffield: Sheffeild Academic Press, 1998), 37. [ 10 ]. Nancy A. Hardesty, Faith Cure: Divine Healing in the holiness and Pentecostal Movement (Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 2003), 103. [ 11 ]. A.C. George, Trailblazers for God: A History of the Assemblies of God of India (Bangalore: SABC Publications, 2004), 29. [ 12 ]. ‘The Pentecostal and Charismatic Movement’, by. Robert J. Koester, in http://www.wlsessays.net/files/KoesterPentecostal.pdf. Accessed on 23/07/2013. [ 13 ]. V.V. Thomas, Dalit Pentecostalism: Spirituality of the Empowered Poor (Bangalore: Asian Trading Corporation, 2008), 56. [ 14 ]. Roger E. Hedlund, eds. Missiology for the 21st Century: South Asian Perspectives (Delhi: ISPCK/MIIS, 2004), 138. [ 15 ]. Roger E. Hedlund eds. Missiology for the 21st Century: South Asian Perspectives, 208. [ 16 ]. A.C. George, Trailblazers for God: A History of the Assemblies of God of India, 29. [ 17 ]. A.C. George, Trailblazers for God: A History of the Assemblies of God of India, 30. [ 18 ]. A.C. George, Trailblazers for God: A History of the Assemblies of God of India, 34. [ 19 ]. Allan Anderson, eds. Asian and Pentecostal: The Charismatic Face of Christianity in Asia (Philippines: Regnun Books International, 2005), 215. [ 20 ]. V.V. Thomas, Pentecostalism in the Post Modern Era: Potent ials/Possibilities, Problems and Challenges, 4. [ 21 ]. A.C. George, Trailblazers for God: A History of the Assemblies of God of India, 25. [ 22 ]. V.V. Thomas, Dalit Pentecostalism: Spirituality of the Empowered, 5. [ 23 ]. T. S. 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Literature and It’s Relevance in Modern Times Essay

Before the importance of literature is discussed we must ask ourselves: â€Å"What is literature?† Many individuals that are asked that question will often give a complex answer for it seems to be a complex word. Some of the answers may include â€Å"it involves reading† or â€Å"it’s when you write†. These are both true, but when you actually think about it, literature is so much more than that, especially with how often we use it in our day-to-day lives; we speak it, we observe it, we use it in science, etc. Ever since the beginning of time, literature has always been present among men. It has been useful to depict their feelings, thoughts, desires, tragedies, and history. Before the technological advancements and benefits that we use today for entertainment or learning existed, learning was in one way or another completely tied in with literature. As time progressed, mankind eventually found other ways to display their feelings, ideals or thoughts without the use of literature, but that doesn’t mean it’s still not important. The best overall way to describe literature today is that it is lost in transition with the rise of technology and other forms of popular entertainment. Literature is just as important as it always has been; it’s just not as popular and as it once was. It should still be a top priority for society, considering the first things we learn in school are how to read and write. In old times, when a child started attending school, the first things they learned were how to read and count. Nowadays, that hasn’t seemed to change; methods might be different, but literature makes its presence known to us even when we are young and is a great asset to developing other skills needed to be successful later in life. In a recent study undertaken by Literary Research and Instruction, the observed second-grade teacher Mae Graham used â€Å"class readings to foster engagement and student-initiated talk with open discussions†¦.emphasizing the power of dialogue in providing a space for students to meaningfully use language.† (Worthy 308). Literature is just as important and meaningful in our lives from the very first time we begin to use it. From the days of elementary school to college, there is reading and writing involved. Even if one doesn’t realize it, literature is present almost everywhere, but it’s just hiding in plain sight. It can be located in items such as digital environments, films, graphic novels, and comic books. Movie and the famous lines within them are derived from literature, comic books and graphic novels may have pictures, but there are words to go along with the plot, and even when you use take a photo, pictures can be worth a thousand words. Any individual that believes they don’t experience enough literature in their lives needs to realize that books and essays are not its only limitations. When you attend a play, such as Hamlet, you are experiencing literature. If you read a Batman comic book, you’re taking in literature. If you go to the theatres and watch a Harry Potter movie, literature is related to the film at hand. If you take a picture of a typical downtown setting, literature is helping tell the story from what the viewer’s eyes can see. Literature does exist everywhere, but it doesn’t influence individuals as much as it did in the past. In order to understand how important literature is in modern times, we must also understand how it has taken a huge drop in terms of daily importance. Before TV, internet, video games, and other advancements in society were developed, the only forms of entertainment were as such, but not limited to; storytelling, reading, and plays. Many of them were mainly told, written, or performed to so that the audience could use their imagination and let it run wild to interpret the meaning. In modern society, if one doesn’t understand the story, play or text at all, they just look up the answer on the internet. There isn’t anything wrong with this strategy, but over time, one eventually becomes dependent on the â€Å"newer† resources over the oldest and most genuine resource; the brain. Literature is present in films, especially the ones made after novels and book but nowadays, it’s easier and more fun to watch the film rather than to read the book. If you were to ask someone if they would prefer to watch the film â€Å"Troy† starring Brad Pitt as Achilles or reading Homer’s â€Å"The Iliad†, nine times out of ten they will respond with the movie instantly. Not because they prefer movies over reading, but in actuality the movie just seems more entertaining and the movie requires less strain on the brain. Back then, the epic surrounding this tale was read and analyzed by individuals all over the world for were very entertained by it. Today, all someone has to do is just look at Sparknotes or Cliff-notes to trick themselves into thinking they truly understand the story or the message the author is trying to convey. By using these sources, you are not making your own opinion what the story means, but rather just borrowing it from someone who actually analyzed the story in-depth. With the way things are going, literature will soon be a thing of the past and irrelevant to the future. All that will matter is if someone has internet handy to look up a theme or analyze a plot that they can’t muster their brain to figure out. So why does literature still matter? Well it is very important in the sense of not being able to grasp it while at a very young age will result in irrelevance to an individual in later life. Recent research in England suggested that little explicit attention has been paid, either in research or policy documentation, to why literature still has a clear role to play in English education. In the study, teachers themselves were looked at along with their reading habits to see if that had any reflection on how the students were grasping literature and reading. Students that were interviewed on the matter at hand said they have reasons for reading in the first place such as entertaining themselves, to imagine, feel and reflect (Cliff Hodges 60, 67). The mind is so fresh at a very young age and it is very hungry for knowledge. If we feed the right materials to the young throughout the world, they will have so many opportunities ahead of them to succeed. By denying the young individual the chance to use their thought to interpret or imagine what is occurring as they read will only limit the extent of their abilities as they go on with their lives. Many may think that technology and the newer styles of teaching are â€Å"easier† for the youth, but in actuality, we are going to make it harder for them later in life. Anglo-Indian novelist Salman Rushdie once said â€Å"Literature is where I go to explore the highest and lowest places in human society and in the human spirit, where I hope to find not absolute truth but the truth of the tale, of the imagination and of the heart.†(Introduction to World Literature). Without literature, there would be no imagination or heart to what we do in our daily lives. Literature has been present since the beginning of time, and although it is being driven out by the new advancements in technology, we must do our best to preserve the older traditions that help make us better at thinking and understanding. Literature is all around us in our everyday lives, and even though we sometimes can’t see it, it is involved either directly or indirectly with what we do. It is still very important, particularly in the education field. Teaching young individuals to read and write is the biggest part of the foundation being laid out for the house of their future. Math and science might be at top priority right now in the learning environment, but even math and science involve writing and reading. Literature is still important, with its only downside being its decline in popularity. Sources Cliff Hodges, Gabrielle. â€Å"Reasons for Reading: Why Literature Matters.† Literacy: UKLA. 44.2 (2012): 60,67. EBSCO:Host. Web. 3 Feb. 2013 http://web.ebscohost.com.libezproxy.tamu.edu:2048/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=8211ba49-180a-4590-9183-1f76a451f34b@sessionmgr11&vid=12&hid=25>. â€Å"Introduction to World Literature.† Invitation to World Literature. Annenberg Foundation, n.d. Web. 2 Feb 2013. . Worthy, Jo, Katharine Chamberlain, et al. â€Å"The Importance of Read-Aloud and Dialogue in an Era of Narrowed Curriculum: An Examination of Literature Discussions in a Second-Grade Classroom.† Literacy Research and Instruction. (2012): 308-310. EBSCO:Host. Web. 2 Feb. 2013. http://web.ebscohost.com.libezproxy.tamu.edu:2048/ehost/detail?vid=9&sid=8211ba49-180a459091831f76a451f34b%40sessionmgr11&hid=25&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d