Max Weber Analysis Essay Sample

Max Weber Analysis Essay Sample Critique of Max Weber Analysis Essay Sample Critique of Max Weber Analysis Essay Sample Max Weber was born Maximilian Karl Emil Weber in April 21, 1864. He was a German sociologist, a philosopher and a political economist who left a significant mark in the discipline of sociology and social theory. While his mother was a staunch Calvinist with an inclination towards ascetism, Max was not exactly religious individually, but his views were greatly influenced by Calvinist doctrines and these were the basis of most of his works. Max got his doctorate in law from the University of Berlin in 1889 and soon after he joined the Universitys faculty as a lecturer and government consultant all as a result of his growing influence in the study of sociology. Max had an estranged relationship with his dad, obviously due to the fact that there were constant domestic issues in which he took his mothers side. In 1897, Max Weber Senior passed on leaving his son to suffer from insomnia, depression as well as nervousness. However, this was only the beginning of his battle with mental illnes s and it led him to quit teaching and devote himself to social sciences as an associate editor in a journal. In his time, as a Reserve Officer during the First World War, Max totally changed his opinion on the German expansionism and started advocating for constitutional reforms, democracy as well as universal suffrage. It is during this period that he actively got into politics and at one time he even tried unsuccessfully to clinch a parliamentary seat. Max Webers thoughts were majorly influenced by German idealism and Neo-Kantianism. Among his greatest inspirations one would notice Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche and Georg Simmel. This paper critically analyses Max Webers thoughts and opinions presented in his book The Protestant Ethic and The Spirit of Capitalism, in addition, the paper relates Webers ideologies to current thoughts and occurrences and seeks to establish whether the great philosopher has managed to remain relevant in the current society. History of Max Weber Max Weber was born in a cultured family with a long line of accomplished scholars and politicians, with his parents representing diverse lifestyles in that his father was a worldly statesman with an affinity for the pleasures of life while his mother was an ascetic scholar drawn to the doctrines of her Calvinist religion. This fact greatly shaped Maxs life since he was constantly polarized between religion and politics, and he ended up contributing significantly to both fields and even presenting the world with the possibility of connecting the two aspects of life through economy. He grew up learning both religion and politics, with special inclination towards religious ethics due to his close relationship with his beloved mother. However, he did not follow her ascetic interests and even asserted himself as an irreligious individual as a grown up. After studying law in the University of Heidelberg, Weber joined the University of Berlin. While studying at the university, Max got into sociology carrying out researches and writing papers that eventually earned him significant recognition to the point of being admitted to the faculty as a lecturer and government consultant. It is during this time that he started his infamous campaigns against the influx of laborers from Poland into Eastern Germany. He noticed during a study that while many Germans were leaving their homes in the east to work in industrialized towns; Polish laborers were moving in to replace them as farm workers in such large numbers. This worried him for one reason or another and set him on a path that earned him as many enemies as admirers (Weber 2001). In 1893 he married his distant cousin Marianne, an accomplished scholar and feminine activist herself. Thus, this move gave him a platform to financial freedom from his parents and moving to Freiburg a year later. He became a professor of economics at the University of Heidelberg in 1896 and it is here he became the center of the Weber circle which constituted mainly of great intellects of that particular time. Within this circle, he was the center of every discussion and shared about sociology and his thoughts on political economy as well as religion. In 1897, his father died after a great argument with him, an incident that greatly affected the renowned sociologist rendering him incapable as a teacher. This left him with a nervous breakdown, insomnia and depression thus culminating into a mental illness of some sort. The condition, however, did not affect his work in sociology since he became an associate editor and even went ahead to publish some famous works including The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (Weber 2001). During his incapacitation, it was rumored that he had chronicled his days of torment since he dealt with the mental illness, but his wife destroyed the accounts out of fear that it could have put his reputation and the reception of his subsequent works at stake. This rumor is yet to be proven and may be as unfounded as its source. In 1912, Max showed great interest in politics and even tried to combine the social democrats and the liberals. This attempt was unsuccessful as the liberals were not entirely comfortable with the ideals of the social democrats. While it was a noble idea to have a left wing political outfit, the attempt failed because it wasn’t such a good time to be courageous in Germany. The political situation was more about aligning oneself with strategic partners and not risking conspicuousness especially with such revolutionary ideals as those of the social democrats. During the First World War, he voluntarily got conscripted into the army as a Reserve Officer given that he was around 50 years of age. It is from this experience that he got a new view on the expansionism policies of Germany (Weber 2001). At first, Max thought the war as necessary for Germany to establish itself as a significant state in the world. After experiencing the war, however, he started campaigning for constitutional reforms, a democratized system of government and universal suffrage. He became actively involved in politics and after the war he tried his hand at becoming a parliamentarian through a Party he had co-founded, the German Democratic Party. After his failure to clinch the parliamentary seat, and his day to day frustrations in German politics based on the way people were not willing to do the right thing for fear of making unwanted enemies and loosing influence, he decided to go back to his teaching career. With his exposure in politics and sociology, he was a more renown scholar with great reputation albeit subtle influence given just how vocal a critic he had been for the Kraiser government. While teaching, he compiled some great works and even gave his world famous lectures on Politics as a Vocation and Science as a Vocation. His death in 1920 came as a shock to many, and a disappointment to the intellectuals at the time. He died of pneumonia after having battled with the Spanish flu. He was 56 years and most of his works were yet to be published at the time. His wife Marianne, however, played a significant role in ensuring that the great scholars works got published even after his death, giving him just about the recognition that he deserved. As a scholar and philosopher, Max Weber was a great mind and he continues to shape the social sciences as well as the political sciences of the world even today. His great thoughts include his definition of capitalism, Calvinism and the Protestant work ethic. Capitalism Capitalism has been used to mean different things in different contexts and by different individuals. To Max Weber, capitalism meant having capital assets owned privately by individuals and offering goods and services for profit. Moreover, he stated that for capitalism to thrive there must be some form of market exchange, voluntary supply of labor and a planned system of labor division. To Max, capitalism was about rationalizing the need to acquire economic wealth for the purpose of reinvestment and eventual multiplication of assets. He believed in individual effort as a building block to the prosperity of the economy in the society as a whole (Weber 2001). Max Weber believed that capitalism could only be successful if it is entrenched in peoples way of life through culture or religion. To prove this point, he examined the ease with which the citizens of Protestant countries like the Netherlands had embraced capitalism and successfully due to the doctrines of their religion that justified the pursuit of economic success through hard work (Weber 2001). Protestantism at that time merged vocation, profession and calling into one, creating satisfaction in even the most subtle of the careers provided there was some form of economic gain being received. In this religion, it is that he founded the idea of the capitalist spirit which aims at rationalizing daily life activities that are in pursuit of economic growth of the individual and thence the society as a whole. Through his rationalization idea, he justified the exploitation of laborers by the rich entrepreneurs provided they were willing to work for their pay. He also justified the way wo rkers allowed themselves to be exploited in that they were working with the belief that their work was a calling from God while the wages were the economic gain that they sought, the ultimate reward would be God’s blessings and salvation as a result of their obedience in responding so willingly to His calling. Calvinism Calvinism basically refers to the Reformed faith that deviated from the Roman Catholic Church. Calvinists were Protestants who were drawn to an ascetic lifestyle by virtue of their teachings on salvation. To these Protestants, economic prosperity was one of the ways acquiring self-confidence, and a lack of this confidence was a sign of insufficient faith. Thus, one of the ways through which one could be assured of salvation was by accumulating wealth to become self-confident and exude sufficient faith. Material wealth was thus a symbol of approval and blessings from God. Unlike other religions that assured believers of salvation based on their devotion and commitment to the religious activities, the Calvinist theology did not provide any assurance and thus the believers were forced to seek it from material manifestations. The religious teachings of the Calvinists further encouraged the believers to seek economic gain by considering the secular vocations to be of equal importance to a religious calling (Durkheim 2008). The Protestant Work Ethic In his book â€Å"The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism†, Max Weber wrote that the capitalism that swept across Northern Europe was as a result of the influence of the Calvinist doctrines or ethic which encouraged believers to embrace secular vocations just as they would religious callings. The Calvinist teachings likened secular work to a calling from God and thus encouraged people’s devotion to their work provided they ended up getting some form of income. The protestant work ethic, also known as the Puritan work ethic is founded on the concept of hard diligent work for the sake of economic success and self-confidence. Unlike in the catholic tradition where salvation is assured and faith displayed through acts of attendance, confession and other sacraments, Protestants were not assured of salvation and thus sought out economic prosperity as a way of manifesting God’s approval and sufficiency of their faith. In this way, they grew to learn to associate economic success with hard diligent work and God’s blessings. According to Weber (2001: 246) the protestant work ethic encouraged individuals to pursue economic advancement by terming their secular vocations as a calling from God; moreover, the Protestant theology encouraged even the most humble of professionals to dedicate themselves to enhancing their financial status in order to increase their self-confidence and appear to have enough faith in God. Max supported this concept by noting just how the protestant countries at that time were advancing in terms of capitalism or individual wealth accumulation. With a great example of the Scandinavian countries, Protestantism was encouraging hard work and commitment in order to better the lives of the individuals. People were held responsible for their faith in God, their confidence in themselves and their contribution to the economy. In this sense, more and more people were encouraged to develop personal enterprises and generate wealth while creating employment opportunities for the less fortunate. These ‘less fortunate’ people were also encouraged to earn their wages since their work was a ‘calling’ predestined for them by God in His wisdom. The Critique Max Weber was as an individual, quite torn between two polar personalities. First he was his mother’s son, a scholar with an interest in religion. He also was his father’s son, a politician with parliamentary aspirations. At some point, he even suffered a mental illness that was never really brought out since his wife destroyed every documentation of it, fearing what it could do to his reputation as a renowned scholar and sociologist after his death. However, this did not stop him from making his mark in sociology as well as political and economic history. His works are in one way or another still relevant to this day. Max Weber and the Protestant Work Ethic In his analysis, Weber (2001: 24) believes that the current economic organization is heavily founded on the protestant view of work. Weber (2001:26) states â€Å"the concept of the Protestant work ethic, which stipulated that the spirit of capitalism has to be rooted in the people’s culture or religion if it is to thrive and be successful†, Weber’s views remain relevant to this day. Protestantism may not have necessarily reduced in the world today, but the Protestants are not as devoted to the teachings of their faith. The protestant countries, and particularly the Scandinavian countries as a specific example, have witnessed some level of decline in capitalism and thence accumulation of individual wealth and dedication to hard diligent work. All these values were embedded in the protestant theology and largely contributed to the success of the economies of all these countries way back in history. The boom of industrialization in the Scandinavian countries was gre atly attributed to the existence of the spirit of capitalism which originated from the Calvinist theology. People were encouraged to work hard and create economic enterprises to maximize on the potential of their assets and create opportunities for others. The religion also encouraged the migration of individuals to the industrial centers to seek employment as a way of earning their living. Employment in this case was seen as a calling, and thus is greatly elevated regardless of its stature. More and more people opted to work in the most humble of occupations for as little as the entrepreneurs were willing to pay them, rather than stay in abject poverty and be seen to lack sufficient faith. Economic wellbeing was associated with the amount of faith that one possessed and this drove believers to strive for success in one way or another. Furthermore, this may have created some class divisions in that the rich were considered as more religious and more righteous in the eyes of God and thus they could exploit their unfortunate counterparts by paying them less for work done. Putting this ideology into perspective, the concept of a secular profession being regarded as a calling did serve as a motivation for capitalism in the protestant countries. Using current statistics, as a reference point, religion is of a great influence in inculcating the spirit of capitalism into the masses. The devotion to religion has been on a steep decline since more and more people become too busy to engage in religious activities and learn the necessary doctrines. According to Soto (2002: 43), â€Å"countries that were previously largely protestant or catholic have now become mixed up in that there are just as many irreligious persons as there are the religious ones. The religious ones are also not entirely religious, as they are more engaged in other worldly activities thus they lack the time to really learn their faith.† What this implies is that the formerly protestant or catholic countries can no longer be identified by their dominant religion because there has bee n a great mixture in recent years due to migration, exposure and liberalization in terms of freedom of worship. As a result of the changing dynamics with regards to religious composition of countries, the spirit of capitalism has seemingly eroded in the previously protestant countries while seeming to increase in the catholic countries. The economies of states like the Netherlands and Germany may have led the world in capitalism back in the day, but they are currently at the same level, if not lower than Italy and Spain at present. Devotion to religion is no longer as strong as it was back then, and thus a country cannot be considered as a Protestant or Catholic state. This has eroded the spirit of capitalism and thus greatly affected the economy of the state. This simply proves that Max Weber was right about the connection between religion and capitalism. With the death of the spirit of capitalism, laborers are no longer proud of their work and are not content with their wages. This has been seen in the way workers continue to strike and fight for better wages and better working conditions. Also, there have been more establishing enterprises other than just economic empowerment and creating opportunities for the less fortunate. While sticking to the basics of multiplying wealth and accumulating capital assets, people are no longer bent on creating opportunities for others since the wealthy end up employing only their families and other well connected members of society to work in the top positions of their businesses (Durkheim 2008). Historically, states that had a majority of Protestants and more specifically Calvinists were able to embrace and pursue capitalism aided by the spirit of capitalism that is embedded in the Calvinist theology. This is the major reason, according to Weber, that led to the exponential growth in the economies of these protestant countries. With the decline in religious devotion, it follows that the spirit of capitalism is eroded and thus a decline in capitalism in these states. The seeming increase of capitalism in the Non-protestant states is simply because their spirit of capitalism was borrowed from their Protestant counterparts and thus is not affected by their devotion to religion, or a lack of it. The growth is actually steady, and only appears significant due to the steep decline witnessed by the Protestant states. In this way, Max established the connection between religion and economy despite his not being religious himself. The connection continues to hold water, and this has been proven by the way devotion to labor has gone down with devotion to religion. Currently, there have been recurring reports of industrial mass action where workers down their tools to protest against low wages or unfavorable working conditions. In this way, more and more workers are deviating from the ideal situation in which they would be content with their wages and view their work as a calling from God thus disregarding the inferior quantity of the compensation received. While the purpose of working in the Protestant ethic is to acquire some economic gain, the job is considered more important than the compensation as the laborer is considered to be responding to a calling from God and thus expects eventual salvation as an obedient son or daughter of the Father. Workers in the present day do not persevere in unfavo rable conditions as can be seen in the formation of unions and holding of protests as well as class actions against employers. This however does not disqualify Max Weber’s ideals. It is clear that people are no longer devoted to the doctrines of the religions. Religious teachings are now considered as opinions, and individuals have given themselves the liberty to decide whether to follow a theology or not. In this regard, the fact that not many people pay any attention to religious teachings may have played a greater role in creating this breed of laborers who value their wages more than the work that they are actually being paid to do. Max Weber and Calvinism Max was exposed to Calvinist theology at a tender age given that his mother was a devout Calvinist drawn to an ascetic lifestyle. Although he did not embrace the religion himself, he had quite a great understanding of the concepts and this shaped the ideologies in most of his social works. In his book, Weber (2001:80) wrote â€Å"terming a secular profession as a calling was a great way to motivate the entrepreneur and justify their scramble for economic success.† He also stated that the concept of the calling served as an encouragement to the hard working laborers to view their devotion as a mean of achieving salvation for their faith. While recognizing that the entrepreneurs were using this doctrine to exploit their workers, he looked at this from a greater perspective which was the benefits that this arrangement gave to the society as a whole. He looked at the positive impact of capitalism to the economy regardless of the undertones of exploitation experienced by the labore rs (Weber 2001:92). Max showed just how Calvinism was encouraging the pursuit of economic gains by endowing secular activities with a moral significance. At that time, religion was known to shy away from worldly pursuits in favor of salvation, but Max brought out the side of Protestantism that did not assure salvation to those who attended the religious activities, took to the confession regulations and participated in the required sacraments. He brought out the side of religion that required for one go above the usual religious obligations and uphold hard diligent work, sufficient faith and self-confidence in order for one to claim salvation. Comparing this to Catholicism, Max was quite right. The Catholics were assured of salvation based on how they attended to their religious obligations, confessions and other sacraments. They shied away from the pursuit of economic gains, and limited their participation in secular activities. In this way, the Catholics who were born poor remained comfortably while the rich lived off their inheritance. This limited their economic growth and even led to the large gap between the Protestant countries and the Catholic countries. Overman (2011) concurs with Weber to a certain extend in regard to the present day, Catholic doctrines still limit indulgence in secular activities. For example, while protestant clergy can be involved in entrepreneurship the Catholics are still confined to the convents and seminaries or parish houses where they fully devote themselves to the work of the church. The leaders of the Catholic Church are still expected to live within the means of the church and even observe celibacy as a way of setting themselves apart from the world. In emphasizing on how the Protestant theology permitted involvement in pursuit of economic gains, Weber justified the economic gaps between the religiously defined countries. In the present day, this ideology justifies the difference between the lifestyles of the devout members of these two religions. By looking at Protestantism as a religion that rationalizes the way secular activities are perceived, as a way of earning economic gains and boosting self-con fidence, as a calling with both a moral and spiritual value and not just an unnecessary worldly indulgence, Weber (2001: 46) justifies the gap between the two religions in terms of glamour and affluence especially since most protestant church leaders continue being world famous for their glamorous lifestyle and accumulated wealth unlike the Catholics who by far remain relatively unknown with regards to their worldly possessions. While Protestant states can no longer boast of being more capitalistic than Catholic states that individuals who still follow the teachings of their religion still hold a remarkable difference with regards to how they perceive work and spirituality. The Catholics still seek to separate themselves from the pursuit of economic gains at the expense of their religious obligations while the Protestants willingly merge their spiritual lives with their economic lives maneuvering in between the two with so much ease. This is evident in the number of prominent tycoons who are actually church leaders in the Protestant churches, against the number of Catholic Church leaders who have made a mark in the business world. Max Weber and Capitalism As a social scientist, Max Weber viewed capitalism based on its advantages to the people and society as a whole. Weber (2001:155) described capitalism to be a â€Å"situation in which individuals are allowed to own capital assets, where there is a market exchange of goods and services, and where the supply of labor is on a voluntary basis.† By setting all these conditions in his definition of capitalism, Weber sought to have a society in which every individual is free to pursue economic gains and wealth accumulation on a voluntary basis. Weber (2001:26) reiterated â€Å"the current definition of capitalism is not complete because it does not include the organization skills.† In a social standing, a capitalist would thus be anyone who owned capital assets, participated voluntarily in the labor market, or actively engaged in the exchange of goods and services. Translating this into a state, a capitalist state would be one which allows for all the above conditions meaning that the ruling class is more of the entrepreneur’s club than the politicians. Taking the example of the United States, state capitalism basically implies that the state operates like a large corporation. While the means of production is privately owned at a large scale, the government controls it through regulatory bodies that are supposedly independent and with lots of mandate. However, the state is seen to operate like a protector to the interests of the private corporate who dominate the market in partnership with the government. In such a system, most if not all corporations are jointly owned with the government and this puts the owners in good positions. Contrary to Weber, Soto (2003) emphasizes that a capitalist state basically operates as an economic system. It is for a reason that all the decisions are made based on the interests of the economic powerhouses of the country. The political class that consists mainly of elected representatives thus remains as a bunch of ‘croaking frogs’ that have no effect on the elephant that empties their po nd. They are there to entertain the country with colorful arguments and debates, but the main decisions are made in the boardrooms of corporations and pushed on them by the corporate executives, their lawyers and sometimes even professional lobbyists. The political powers are thus usurped by the already very powerful economic system. The United States may not have initially been a largely protestant country, but its culture and education system were greatly influenced by the Puritans who immigrated into the country during its colonization. These Protestants inculcated in the Americans the unmistakable spirit of capitalism such that all people of power were expected to have come from poor backgrounds and work their way up through diligence and commitment. The doctrine of working hard to better the economic status of individuals eventually led to formation of classes and the economic class ended up with more powers than the political class despite the politicians being democratically elected. In this sense, the adoption of capitalistic tendencies at the state level undermined democracy. This is where Weber failed even himself seeing as he was an enthusiast of democracy himself. State capitalism has numerous discrepancies unlike the ideals that were propagated by Weber’s ideology. First of all, the major decisions affecting the people are made by those who are not directly affected by it. The economic class is given the mandate to deliberate on issues that do not affect them in any way. This means that they only look out for themselves and the working class or common citizens are left to struggle for their survival (Soto 2003). This system tends to widen the gap between the poor and the rich, in a bid to prevent the acquisition of wealth that may threaten the status quo. The close ties between corporate and the government in the business sector provides opportunities for corruption and illegitimate deals due to the lack of transparency witnessed since the government seek to serve the interests of its business allies. This system centralizes the corridors of power and grants it to the private corporate owners, leaving the government as just but a symbol of state authority. In this case, the legislature lacks authority, the executive is under the control and manipulation of the economic class, and the judiciary has a price tag. Such is state capitalism, even in the United States. The United States is a capitalist state in that the country has a political framework that implies democracy but the electorate is constantly shortchanged by the corporate firms that influence major decisions to protect their interests. People of the United States have been against so many policies that were adapted anyway, simply because some corporate somewhere sat in a boardroom and agreed to lobby for that policy as it served their interests whether directly or indirectly. This is a system of colonization whereby the powerful members of society are first class citizens and have much more weight in the running of state affairs. The US government has been a capitalist state, with a militarized outfit for quite a while. The elected representatives have been puppets of the giant corporations rather than representatives of the will of people. The political class has shown little initiative towards becoming a true democracy like a libertarian socialist society. While people are lobbying for democracy, their elected and non-elected ‘rulers’ are getting comfortable knowing that a social revolution would not only hurt the entire nation but the entire human civilization seeing as the US is among the most influential economies of the world (Soto 2003). The country is thoroughly militarized with a really high military budget in the pretext of defense from powerful possible enemies like Korea and a rebellion would prove suicidal. However, all throughout history, men risked their security, their wealth and their lives for the sake of gaining or retrieving their freedom. Thus, the possibility of such a recur rence is there and it could happen on such a large scale that the results will not be negotiable in any forum. This, however, will require the commitment and dedication of all societal factions so as to ensure uniformity in the demands and thus results. With all these in mind, it is important to note that while Weber was right about the roots of capitalism, the fruits are quite a different story. His encouragement and inclination was founded on the benefit of giving people the freedom to engage in income generating ventures for their benefit and that of the society. This, however, resulted in far too many disadvantages including the rich holding the rest of the country at ransom by commanding the reins of power without having to be elected. They only watch out for themselves thus leaving the voiceless poor to fend for themselves under such oppressive conditions. The roots of capitalism were indeed in the religion of the Puritans or rather Calvinists whose doctrines allowed and encouraged their participation in secular vocations as callings from God to attain economic empowerment and thence self-confidence and stronger faith in God. All these were considered as blessings and a sign of favor in the eyes of the Lord. Weber noted this quite well, and they continue to manifest in the decline of the spirit of capitalism along with the decline in devotion to religion across the world. He, however, did not envision the way capitalist states would end up ruining the economic freedom that he was advocating for when he hailed capitalism in the first place (Weber 2001). Having established that Max Webers thoughts were majorly influenced by German idealism and Neo-Kantianism it follows that most of his opinions have managed to remain relevant even in todays society. Historically, states that had a majority of Protestants and more specifically Calvinists were able to embrace and pursue capitalism aided by the spirit of capitalism that is embedded in the Calvinist theology. This is the major reason, according to Weber, that led to the exponential growth in the economies of these protestant countries. With the decline in religious devotion, it follows that the spirit of capitalism is eroded and thus a decline in capitalism in these states. The seeming increase of capitalism in the Non-protestant States is simply because their spirit of capitalism was borrowed from their Protestant counterparts and thus is not affected by their devotion to religion, or a lack of it. The growth is actually steady, and only appears significant due to the steep decline witn essed by the Protestant states. In this way, Max established the connection between religion and economy despite his not being religious himself. The connection continues to hold water, and this has been proven by the way devotion to labor has gone down with devotion to religion. With regards to Weber’s thoughts on capitalism, the roots of the spirit of capitalism were indeed in the religion of the Puritans or rather Calvinists whose doctrines allowed and encouraged their participation in secular vocations as callings from God to attain economic empowerment and thence self-confidence and stronger faith in God. All these were considered as blessings and a sign of favor in the eyes of the Lord. Weber noted this quite well, and they continue to manifest in the decline of the spirit of capitalism along with the decline in devotion to religion across the world. He, however, did not envision the way capitalist states would end up ruining the economic freedom that he was advocating for when he hailed capitalism in the first place. As for Calvinism, he wrote that terming a secular profession as a calling was a great way to motivate the entrepreneur and justify their scramble for economic success. He also stated that the concept of the calling served as an enco uragement to the hard working laborers to view their devotion as a means of achieving salvation for their faith. While recognizing that the entrepreneurs were using this doctrine to exploit their workers, he looked at this from a greater perspective which was the benefits that this arrangement gave to the society as a whole. He looked at the positive impact of capitalism to the economy regardless of the undertones of exploitation experienced by the laborers. Max showed just how Calvinism was encouraging the pursuit of economic gains by endowing secular activities with a moral significance. At that time, religion was known to shy away from worldly pursuits in favor of salvation, but Max brought out the side of Protestantism that did not assure salvation to those who attended the religious activities, took to the confession regulations and participated in the required sacraments. He brought out the side of religion that required for one go above the usual religious obligations and uphold hard diligent work, sufficient faith and self-confidence in order for one to claim salvation. Comparing this to Catholicism, Max was quite right. The Catholics were assured of salvation based on how they attended to their religious obligations, confessions and other sacraments. They shied away from the pursuit of economic gains, and limited their participation in secular activities. In this way, the Catholics who were born poor remained comfortably while the rich lived off their inheritance. This limited their economic growth and even led to the large gap between the Protestant countries and the Catholic countries. As a sociologist, and a political and religious economist, Max Weber continues to live on in his great works that continue to shape the ideologies of scholars around the world. His old works form the basis of most new studies on politics, sociology as well as religion, thus he continue to remain relevant regardless of the changes witnessed by mankind after all these years.

Analysis of Gypsy perfomrance group Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Analysis of Gypsy perfomrance group - Essay Example Their parents were Spanish Romani people who had fled from Catalonia during the time of the Spanish Civil War in the 1930’s. (BBC) However, an exception was Chico Bouchikhi who was of Moroccan and Algerian descent.  (BBC) The group was quite famous for introducing audiences to a pop- oriented music the ‘Rumba Catalana’ that was distantly derived from the traditional Flamenco music but with pop influences. (BBC) Their music well suited social dances like the ‘Rumba’ and the ‘Salsa’ which became quite popular. The band members were of Spanish Gipsy origin and their growing years were spent in making music while traversing the south of France and harvesting. Their roots were steeped firmly in Romany tradition. In their initial stages the group played at weddings and parties or just jammed on the streets of Cannes. They made use of South America’s rumba rhythm along with the flamenco guitars and introduced the world to the ‘Rumba Gitano’ with their classy debut titled ‘Bambolero’. (Official Home page, gipsykings.com) Thus they began their epic musical journey and there was no turning back for them. Though their lives have changed with their popularity, they still remain gypsies at heart. (Official Home page, gipsykings.com) The members hardly speak any English. They converse and sing in ‘Gitane’ which is a Gypsy dialect that involves both Spanish and French. The popularity of the group is driven by their upbeat and danceable music. The Gipsy’s lead singer is Nicolas Reyes who is the son of the famous Flamenco singer Jose Reyes who during the 60’s and the 70’s sold millions of records after having joined forces with his friend Manitas de Plata. The duo contributed a great deal towards placing the ‘Flamenco’ on the map of international music. The Gipsy Kings comprise of two families of brothers. On one hand, we have the Reyes family with Nicolas, Canut, Paul, Patchai, Andre, and on the other we have the

Intervention process Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Intervention process - Essay Example Therapist and psychologist dealing with intervention must be careful about the practice to prevent any legal problems that may occur from the act of organizing an intervention. There are laws regarding psychotherapist/patient privilege which govern their actions when it comes to the situation regarding a client dangerousness to self, others, and property of others (Sonkin & Liebert). The therapist has to take every possible precaution to ensure the intervention session does get out of control. He must prepare the team well and may have to enforce some type of security measures such as a guard if the client profile justifies such a preventive measure. Ethics are a part of psychology and their different ethical aspects that must be considered during interventions. Three ethical considerations during this affair are veracity, beneficence, and fidelity. Veracity refers to telling the truth (McGuinness). During an intervention, the persons involved might have to tell the patient harsh wor ds and relive very emotional and personal events that occurred due to the addiction of the patient. The harshness of the message of the group is an ethical dilemma to consider. Beneficence involves making decisions for are incompetent and do not have the faculties to decide for themselves (McGuinness). Intervention with drug addicts has beneficence dilemmas associated with them. The addict, in reality, is not competent to make his own decision since the drugs have full control over his reasoning and judgment.

The Role Of Brand Extension

The Role Of Brand Extension In over two decades, the business strategy of introducing new products as extensions has become popular (Maoz and Tybout, 2002; Hou, 2003). Similarly, brand extension is considered as a key to develop brand. In details, it is widely used as eight out of ten new products are introduced as a brand extension in the market (Keller 2003; Simms, 2005; Volckner and Sattler, 2006). Brand extension strategies are broadly applied in order to reduce marketing expense in launching new product, enhance well-known and quality of core brand, and lessen risk for companies (Keller and Aaker, 1992; Taylor and Bearden, 2002). On the other hand, exploiting valuable core brand to built up for the brand extensions are an obvious strategy for growth (Keller and Aaker, 1992) but it is not without risks for firms (Swaminathan, Fox, and Reddy, 2001; Hem, Chernatory and Iversen, 2003) in the new economic environment. Prior studies on brand extension have indicated that a successful brand extension depends a lot on firm characteristics (Hou, 2003), core brand characteristics (Keller and Aaker, 1992; Park and Kim, 2001; Hou, 2003), customer characteristics (Keller, 1993; Swaminathan, et al., 2001), extended brand characteristics (Hou, 2003), and marketing strategies (Desai and Keller, 2002; K.L Washburn, Till and Priluck, 2000; Park and Kim, 2001; Hou, 2003). Brand extensions offer many potential benefits but also can pose many problems (Keller, 2003, p.623). As a result, understanding brand extension evaluation in terms of its core brand, its characteristics and customer behaviors are very important for marketers and firms in order to expand and increase sales revenue. Thus, this paper is designed to additionally examine the relationship between parent and extended brand and its influence on customer. Furthermore, this paper will study the impact of brand extension characteristic on customer purchase intention. 2. The role of brand extension 2.1. Definition and types of brand extension As an interesting research topic, brand extension can be defined and classified into many types as well as many researchers have done about this topic. The need to differ clearly brand substitutions and changes in brand design had led to define brand name extension as the replacement of at least one of the verbal denominations of a product by another, accompanied by the disappearance of the former denomination (Collange, 2008). Brand extension is also defined as a product whose nature and function differ from those of products currently commercialized under the brand name (Cegarra and Merunka, 1993 cited in Collange, 2008). In other words, brand extension is defined as using an established brand name so-called parent brand or core brand (Volckner and Sattler, 2006) to introduce a new product (Keller, 2003). As one of the most frequently tool branding development (Volckner and Sattler, 2006) brand extension is classified into two categories: depth and width of parent brand (Keller, 2003). Keller (2003, p.581) claimed that brand extensions can come in all forms. A core brand is replaced by sub-brand (Collange, 2008) or using new feature added to the host product (Densai and Keller, 2002). In another research, Edward classified brand extension into some categories, what he calls a franchise-extension based on the brand extension characteristics and its correlation to the parent brand. Those are introduction new product as a different form with the core product, or as a component of parent product, or as a compassion product, or as a relevant product for the brand (Tauber, 2004). 2.2. The advantages of brand extension strategy As the efficient strategy, brand extension have become a usually occurrence over the last fifteen years. There are a lot of firm like Apple, which has succeeded with the extension of Apple iPod digital music player. It is concerned as a tool for firm to improve brand image when consumers inferences to the performance of new product based on what they really know about the brand itself. These inferences are noted by Keller (2003) that can improve the strength and uniqueness of the core brand. Sony is the great example for this point, when a new personal computer for multimedia application is introduced consumers may have been more likely to feel comfortable with its anticipated performance because of their experience of other Sony products than if the product had been branded by Sony as something totally new. This extension is one of factors that are seen to create and enhance the competitive advantages of Company in order to develop their product line. As competitive economic environment, extending brand is often seen as a popular (Maoz and Tybout, 2002) and beneficial strategy to introduce different product into market in order to reduce costs, risks of failure and to increase successful opportunity (Taylor and Bearden, 2002). In addition, a lot of firms are using this way expected to generate quicker positive reciprocal effects and heavier purchase by consumers (Swaminathan, et al., 2001). Moreover, another potential benefit is to facilitate the acceptance of extended brand (Keller and Aaker, 1992). Extending brands both within and beyond the original product category is deemed to be profitable. In over fifteen years, these extensions are usually motivated by the need to decrease a portfolio of brands due to the increasingly in advertising expenditure (Cegarra, 1994; Villemus, 1996 cited in Colange, 2008) or price promotions (Volckner and Sattler, 2006). For example, McDonalds has expanded broadly around the world especially in A sia, Europe and Middle-Earth with extended brands. They were successful with McNuggets in England, Maharaja Mac in India even with new product categories such as McCafe, McTreat, or non-food brand extension Golden Arch Hotel in Switzerland (Studer and Ordonez, 2000). 2.3. The risk of brand extension As the cost of opportunity, the success of brand extensions is uncertain (Nkwocha, Bao, Johnson, and Brotspies, 2005). As an innovation can be very risk (Kotler and Amstrong, 2001, pp.337), a brand extension can create negative reciprocal consequences that enhance or diminish the equity of the parent brand (Swaminathan, et al., 2001). In some specific circumstances, it is an extremely risk for firms or would be doubted (Collange, 2008). As a result, these extensions may not be successful (Martin and Stewart, 2001) and it could lead to a tangible drop in sales and market share. Extending brand in marketplace today seems to be more challenging (Hansen and Hem, 2004) and needs to select and manage very carefully (Park, Kim K., and Kim J., 2002). Besides, it requires companies to have knowledge and understanding how customer evaluate brand extensions (Bottomley and Holden, 2001) and research further how customer react upon brand extensions in order to maximize profit. In some cases, extended brand cause consumer feel unappreciated, this confusion may lead consumer to question the integrity and competence of the brand. It is noted as one of the most popular reason for the failure of brand extension (Park, Milberg and Lawson, 1991). Besides, the worst possible consequence with an extension brand is that not only does it fail, but it also diminishes the parent brand. Audi is classic example, its sales declined from USD $ 74,000 in 1985 to 21,000 in 1989 as the result of failure of Audi 5000 had launched in 1986. Each of brands created its own image and associations and introduced into the markets absolutely different from those that currently placed in the market by the Company. As the research, Keller (2003) claimed that introduction a new brand as brand extension always have significant and potentially hidden costs, it requires a new brand should be introduced and updated in the most competitively advantageous way possible. Similarly, brand name ex tended is extremely risk for firms because consumer may no longer recognize it on the shelf or doubt its quality. As the result, this could lead to a drop in sales and market share of core brand (Kapferer, 2007). Moreover, understanding unsuccessful brand extensions may harm the parent brands is very important. It also leads to research and address in this topic, when the role of brand extension and its evaluation have been finding for a long time. Therefore, before extend brand image, company must find out and measure the potential impact on brand evaluation and purchase intention (Changeur, 2004). 3. Components of the literature 3.1. Parent brand and brand extension evaluation Core brand equity According to previous researchers, the parent brand characteristics have influenced on brand extension evaluation (Hou, 2003) and play an important role in successful brand extension (Keller and Aaker, 1992). Specially, the relationship between core and extended brand is linked to the dominant and nature of the core brand (Bridges, Keller and Sood, 2000). As most of new products are extended brands from the core brand (Keller 2003; Simms, 2005; Volckner and Sattler, 2006), previous researchers have shown the positive effect of parent brand on brand extension evaluation. One of these reveals that extended brands from the high equity core brands will be shaped more favorable attitudes (Washburn, Till and Priluck, 2000). On the other hand, the core brand image is not affected negatively by brand extension failure (Keller and Aaker, 2000) and has a low risk relation with brand extension (Maoz and Tybout, 2002). The literatures on brand extension have shown the essential role of brand equity in shaping consumer attitudes about an extension (Collange, 2008). Later researches have revealed that stronger parent brand equity is, whether formed by the brands quality (Keller and Aaker, 2000) or its awareness (Reddy, Holak and Bhat, 1994) the more brand extension is appreciated and to be successful. The core brand equity has not disappeared, and it remains engraved in customers mind even though it is replaced by the extended brand. This is demonstrated by the fact that many companies continue to refer a new product by its former name (Collange, 2008) as the warranty of success. Quality of parent brand Moreover, brand extensions are perceived by customers perceive about the quality of the core brands (Densai and Keller, 2002; Taylor and Bearden, 2002). An existing brand name provides an assurance of quality, thereby reducing the risks involved in purchasing a new product (Swamanithan, et al., 2001). Extension brands from high quality parent brands are perceived as substitutes tend to be less favorably received than those from lower quality brands (Bottomley and Holden, 2001). As the importance of quality, brand extensions which are from strong quality brand are benefited more than those from the weak brands (Park, et al., 2002). Also, in the later research, those effects should depend on the level of perceived quality of the core brand and a high level of both perceived core brand quality between the original and extension product categories was necessary for favorable extension evaluations (Keller and Aaker, 1992). Customer-brand relationship The customer-brand relationship quality interacts significantly and positively with brand extension evaluation (Park, et al., 2002). In the context of introduction new brand extensions, this strong relationship helps to obtain customers acceptance on the new extensions (Park, et al., 2002) and extended brand will be formed better in customers mind (Densai and Keller, 2002). Besides, the greater customers beliefs about the core brand, the better brand extension will be evaluated (Swamanithan, et al., 2001). In addition, customer with greater perception of core brand will accept the proposed extension more favorable (Keller and Aaker, 1992). 3.2. Brand extension characteristics are most concerned in evaluating brand extension There are some brand extension characteristics which are considered by customer in evaluating brand extension (Hou, 2003). Brand attachment Due to the limitation of knowledge about new offering (Taylor and Bearden, 2002), customer may evaluate extended brand by their experience about the core brand (Swamanithan, et al., 2001). As a definition above, firstly, brand extension is integrated the variable of attachment to the initial brand (Collange, 2008). Furthermore, brand attachment is defined as an emotional relationship of consumer with the parent brand (Lacoeuilhe, 2001 cited in Collange, 2008). It means consumer who is emotionally attached to the core brand will be unhappy if it disappears, regardless of the qualities of the substitution brand. It was claimed that the stronger the consumers attachment of extended brand to the initial the more purchase intention will deteriorate. Indeed, the third condition for extended brand to be a success is that consumers must not be too attached to the brand that will eventually disappear (Collange, 2008). On the other hand, the evaluation of brand extension seems to be difficult because consumers have an established relationship to the parent brand in the extension category (Hansen and Hem, 2004). Perceived fit Another characteristic of brand extension, which is recognized as one of the key success of brand extension is perceived fit of the extended brand to the core brand (Hou, 2003). According to previous researches, perceived fit can impact brand extension evaluations in some ways. First, it affects the extension to which consumers transfer their core brand awareness to an extension (Densai and Keller, 2002). Second, consumer may fit as a cue to make their inferences about an extension (Hou, 2003). Besides, perceived fit of brand extension is an important component of extension evaluations (Bridges, et al., 2000). In other words, brand extension must fit with the core brand is considered as the first condition (Collange, 2008). It leads to evaluate brand extension more positive (Michel and Cegarra, 2002; Collange, 2008). Otherwise, lack of category fit can cause the failure of brand extension (Park, et al., 2002; Yeo and Park, 2006). An earlier research has shown that perceived fit betwe en a brand and an extension is high; consumers are more likely to base their evaluations of the new product on their attitudes toward the parent brand (Bridges, et al., 2000). Therefore, as one of the key success factor of brand extension, it is needed to manage and emphasize carefully the transfer of the brand in terms of customer perspective (Collange, 2008). In prior researches, transfer has been examined as the greatest impact on extension evaluations among these dimensions (Hou, 2003), which are complement, substitute and transfer (Keller, 2003). Moreover, these types of features involved in fit judgments (Keller, 2002) have suited. Perceived fit is not only the extensions functional similarity to the brand category but also its relevance to abstract brand benefits (Broniarczyk and Alba, 1994). Furthermore, consumers may evaluate brand extension perceived fit on deep features or surface features (Zhang and Sood, 2002). It might be the main reason leaded to the mixed results above. Perceived similarity Furthermore, perceived similarity is characterized as a factor which influence consumers acceptance of extensions (Hem and Iversen, 2008). An important reason, also, is that similarity has been found to be a major determinant of brand extension evaluations (Hansen and Hem, 2004). It is defined in terms of the features shared by the core product and extension product (Keller and Aaker, 2000). Historically, similarity is understood in terms of internal operating synergies that arise when a new product can leverage on existing market (Hem, Gronhaug, and Lines, 2002). Perceived similarity is found to be the most relevant variable that can influence on the successful result of extensions (Volckner and Sattler, 2006; Hem and Iversen, 2008). The similarity between parent and extended brand might influence on perceptions of customer to brand extension and a similar extension of a brand is evaluated more favorably than a dissimilar one (Yeo and Park, 2006). Besides, a customer perception of new brand extensions is related to similarity (Taylor and Bearden, 2002). In addition, the extension information must be deemed relevant in the parent category and the similarity between the extension and parent brand is necessary for the extension information to be considered relevant (Swaminathan, et al., 2001). In the last ten years, researchers have concerned about brand extensions. The higher similarity between the extension and the core brand, the more favorable brand extensions are assessed (Taylor and Bearden, 2002; Park, et al., 2002), the higher purchase intension will be (Collange, 2008). This result was also found in the research of Sony and Nike about extension and new brands, when perceived similarity is a positive effect on brand extension evaluation (McCarthy, Health and Milberg, 2001). Otherwise, when the extension is seen as unrelated to the core brand, extension will not be evaluated favorably this association will not be seen as relevant to judging the extension (Boush and Loken, 2003). In contrast, a number of successful extensions that lack an overall perceived similarity with the parent brand have been launched into the market (Maoz Tybout, 2002). For example, the Virgin brand has been extended to a huge range of products, such as magazines, a music retailing chain, music label, airlines, trains, holidays, personal computers, wine, cola, financial services, radio stations, bridal services, movie theatres, perfume and cellular phones (Keller, 2003). The role of similarity is to influence both positive and negative reciprocal effects (Swaminathan, et al., 2001). As these researches, thus, perceived similarity should be focused deeper on further research in order to evaluate it important role in terms of customer purchase intention (Volckner and Sattler, 2006). 3.3. Customer attitudes towards brand extension Attitudes and purchase intention Customer attitudes towards brand extension may be affected and varied in terms of age, mood and culture (Hou, 2003). As consumer is heterogeneous, they may evaluate differently brand extension (Fu, Ding and Qu, 2009). This difference is the main reason caused to the mixed results in the prior studies. For example, Zhang and Sood (2002) measure the brand extension in terms of customers age groups and they found that teens evaluate brand extensions by relying more on surface cues and less on deep cues. Similarly, the difference in culture can lead customers to uncommon response to brand extensions. Customers from Eastern culture, characterized by holistic thinking, perceive higher brand extension fit and evaluate brand extension more favorably than those in Western culture, characterized by analytic attitudes (Monga and John, 2007). Customer purchase products to obtain benefits and products deliver benefits to customers (Osselaer and Alba, 2003). In terms of customer intent to purchase extended brand, there are some opinions about the dependent on customer relationship and satisfaction in the core brand (Park, et al., 2002). An important factor that leads to customer purchase intention is a lower affective commitment to parent brand (Hansen and Hem, 2004). This means the parent brand experience has no impact on repeat purchase of the brand extension (Swaminathan, et al., 2001). In the same way, the evolution of product purchase intention corresponds to the difference in the degree of purchase intention between the product with the substitution brand and the one with the initial brand (Michel and Cegarra, 2002; Collange, 2008).On the other hand, consumers willingness to buy is influenced by perceived value of the core brand (Taylor and Bearden, 2002). Similarly, purchase decision to buy extended brand is depended on consumer level of involvement in core brand (Hansen and Hem, 2004). Customer knowledge Besides, consumer knowledge is considered as the most important factors that might influence on their attitudes towards brand extension (Hou, 2003). In a research, Brucks (1985) had described three categories of consumer knowledge: subjective knowledge, objective knowledge and prior experiences with the product category. And in the further research, subject knowledge that is what consumer think they know is considered as the strongest motivation of purchase intention for extended product (Hem, et al., 2002). Also, when consumers encounter a new product in the marketplace, they are unlikely to engage in extension cognitive deliberation. This means they might base their evaluations of an extended brand on their subjective to the core brand without considering any specific or different features that the extended brand might have (Yeung and Wyer, 2005). However, in the past research of brand extension show the mixed results for the effects of consumer knowledge on extension brand. For in stant, perceived subjective knowledge about the extension category was found that it has negative effect on brand extension evaluation, it means the evaluation of brand extensions are more positive when perceived subjective knowledge of consumer is low than when it is high (Park and Smith, 1992). In the other hand, the positive effect was found in further research (Dacin and Smith, 1994) or there is no effect on extension evaluations (Keller and Aaker, 1992). As mentioned in the research, this conflicting finding could be explained by the limited number of items used to evaluate consumer knowledge (Hem and Iversen, 2008). Therefore, the effect of subjective knowledge on evaluation brand extension is required to research further (Czellar, 2003). Customer attitudes and the characteristics of brand extension Also, as the strong relationship between the extended brand and the core brand, customer attitudes brand extension might transfer from parent brand (Keller and Aaker, 1992; Volckner and Sattler, 2006). However, customer awareness of brand extension may cause a negative effect on customer attitudes towards the core brand except the high quality of core brand and perceived fit between the core and extension brand (Hou, 2003). Besides, brand extension characteristics have the most weight in the evolution of purchase intention for the brand that has changed name (Collange, 2008). Purchase intention toward the extension is directly influenced by the perceived similarity (Swaminathan, et al., 2001). However, this influence of perceived similarity will be mediated by a categorization construct, called brand meaning (Martin and Stewart, 2001). This minor conflict is needed to research further and provided more evidence to understand customer purchase intension in relationship (Collange, 2008 ) with core brand characteristics and brand extension characteristics as well. Along with the importance of perceived similarly in the studies of brand extension, researchers have suggested that explain how and why similarly is important for successful brand extension is necessary as well. Consumers first consider there is a match between what they know and experience about the parent brand and what they believe to be true about the parent brand in a new product category (Hem, et al., 2002). If the match is perceived good, consumers might expect to transfer their attitudes to the extended brand. Hem and his co-authors (2002) have noted that consumers may also evaluate the extended brand in a more piecemeal fashion. 4. Brand extension evaluation in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry Brand extension is used widely in many industries (Hou, 2003) and in order to evaluate brand extension effectiveness, this research scope will be narrowed down to one of the most popular and typical area industry of brand extension, FMCG. In FMCG industry, brands are viewed as the key assets of the company, and all investments will be made to create brands. The focus of the organization is on brands and all departments work together towards the brand development. Using new brand name and cooperating brand names are two of three basic brand development strategies for FMCG industry (Schuiling and Moss, 2004). The success and high rank of Procter Gamble (PG) or Nestle in this industry are the great examples for the importance of brand extension in brand development strategies. Moreover, due to very high cost needed to launch a new product and difficult marketing approaches, the use of brand extension approaches in FMCG companies is increasing for the last few years (Juda, 2007) and as the result of globalization, FMCG companies tend to take an existing brand name and then extending it to other product categories has been applied increasingly (Schuiling, 2001). Therefore, FMCG is seen as the most typical industry where required study further and deeper about brand extension. 5. Conclusion In the competitive environment, the use of brand extension is the efficient tool for many firms in order to place higher position in the market. To achieve this goal, brand extensions have been evaluated for a long time. These studies have provided the understanding of the importance of brand extension and the need to address brand extension evaluation in this paper. Also, the relationship between the core brand and the extended brand is shown clearly, especially in terms of brand extension characteristics and customer attitudes towards brand extensions. However, to date, the conflicts in the literatures have existed and deeper understanding brand extension evaluation and its relation to customer purchase intention require researching further (Collange, 2008). Moreover, the limitation in number of items used to measure is reason that cause to the irrelevant results in the past researches. There are still some mixed results about the impact of perceived similarity and perceived fit on customer purchase intension, the lack of information about the correlation between the parent brand and the extended brand. These confusions need to re-solve in further research. As mentioned in the background and literature review, the extended brand is strongly affected by the parent brand. When an extended brand is being created, it would be necessary for marketers to understand how customers look at the brand extension and how it will impact on their purchase intention. In order to have further understanding this issue in the FMCG industry in Vietnam, the below questions and hypotheses have been developed: Q1: What are the factors of parent brand affect on brand extension evaluation? H1: High equity of parent brand will provide more favorable effects on extended brand. H2: Perceived quality of parent brand correlates to extended brand perceived quality. H3: Customers relationship of the parent brand positively correlates to the acceptance of extended brand. H4: Customer attitude toward parent brand will relatively affects on the extended brand. Q2: How brand extension characteristics influence on customer purchase intention? H5: The more similarity to the parent brand, the higher level of customer purchase intention of extended brand. H6: The higher of perceived fit of extended brand to the parent brand will positively impact on the customer purchase intention of extended brand. H7: Customers attachment to the parent brand is correlated to the customer purchase intention of extended brand. H8: Customer awareness of the extended brand is correlated to the level of their purchase intention of extended brand.

Language Development multi-disciplinary

Language development is a multi-disciplinary field containing inputs from psychology, academics, behavioral science, neurology and speech development. It’s marked by the culmination of a series of processes, which begin early in human life where an infant goes through imbibing primary language skills from the environment surrounding him, starts remembering words and phrases without the need for understanding their meaning, slowly build connections and visual imagery to understand patterns in language, and finally, as the child grows older, new meanings and new associations are created and his vocabulary increases as more words are learned.Language development as a term, should not be confused with â€Å"language acquisition† of which it is only a subset. The latter also deals with second language learning ability. Linguists and researchers like Noam Chomsky, Elizabeth Bates and Catherine Snow have developed hypotheses, that recognize and measure the specific learning re sults from general cognitive abilities and the interactions between learners, and their surrounding language environments.Language development contains several discussion points. In this paper, we shall look into the following points, based on past research done in relevant area. The main objective of our research is to infer the importance of each and every building block, in facilitating the language learning ability of children. Understanding these concepts have special significance to the case studies of dyslexics (slow learners), auditory and visually challenged kids, children with a stammering problem and kids of immigrant parents for whom English is not a spoken language at home. The articles selected for this purpose have one theme in common: they offer tips and suggestions, and also the roadmap for applications within a children learning environment.Transduction: Having worked in the field of cognitive development among children, Jean Piaget, a famous Swiss development psyc hologist, has described â€Å"transduction† as the first logic of reference in the primary form of reasoning used by children during the preoperational stages of development (2-7 years). The logic here is: if A causes B today, then A always causes B.The basic definition of transduction is â€Å"reasoning† without the reversible nestings of a hierarchy of classes and relations (Mathcs.edu, p.12). Accordingly, the first verbal reasoning is identified as practical and somewhat, based on perception or imagination. It is one step advancement of something known as â€Å"preconcepts†, identified by early language specialists wherein a child merely learns to associate certain â€Å"semi-concepts† which fit into the notion of what the child observes from surroundings (p.10). An example might be, â€Å"Is worm an animal?† It basically means that at the preconceptual level, the child identifies words with â€Å"shapes† and â€Å"patterns† (p.11) , rather than actual denominators of valid reasoning.In contrast, Piaget identified transduction as an advanced stage of cognitive learning, because the child’s thinking pattern carries less of an egocentric point-of-view, and it is more oriented toward finding the meaning to a desired end (p.12). However, even at this stage, the child doesn’t think of representation based on logic at most times, and can distort reality to suit his own â€Å"perception† about the world (p.12). Transduction, has been identified as the â€Å"discovery of lying†, and also the â€Å"dawn of reasoning† (p.12). The essential prerequisites of a study on transduction in language development for children, would consist of   in the preconceptual stage: 1)a symbolic thought, 2)representations derived from motivation, individual perception, daydreaming, and logical reasoning. In the transduction stage, it matures into a vivid construction of the image, and this constitutes t he child’s first grasp with reasoning, and intellect (p.12).Concept   formation:   There is a close relationship between language and concept forming ability   (Xu, p.2). Fei Xu, at the University of British Columbia contends in her research on cross-linguistic behavior patterns, that concept forming abilities reflect certain correlations between aspects of language, and the guiding blocks of reasoning that present a state-of-the-fact reality for the child, slowly whetting his appetite for gaining knowledge on words, based on situations (p.3).The first feature of this concept forming ability starting with infants began, in â€Å"count nouns† and categorization. Quoting from relevant research, Xu points out that children first learn to differentiate between countable and uncountable nouns, as the object is displayed before them. A familiarization tone might be: â€Å"a rabbit†, â€Å"a pig†, and also â€Å"wheat†, â€Å"sugar† (p.5). Th ere is a natural propensity to learn â€Å"novel nouns† (p.6), which are basically words, that are amusing and pleasant to hear. Studies have shown kids can be unusually brilliant in their intuitive ability to grasp new words, to attach their meaning with words they already know. E.g. â€Å"engineer†, â€Å"medicine† and â€Å"President† (p.7).Once the foundation for nouns are clear, Xu offers examples in which children learned differences between adjectives and nouns, which come â€Å"immediately† after learning nouns. E.g. â€Å"good† boy, â€Å"red† apple (p.7). For infants, conceptual ability at an early stage is not a complete process by itself, as they lack understanding of other signposts of intelligence (p.11). In an experiment suggested in the article, small children faced trouble in counting objects of similar shape. To them, articles of different shapes and sizes offers more intrigue and curiosity into counting. Also, many couldn’t tell if a toy train moving in a circular path was indeed â€Å"one† train (p.12). However, the start of concept-forming ability is the dawn of wisdom for infants.Imagery: Imagery refers to any word that creates a â€Å"picture† in the head of children. For older kids (3-4 years and above), imagery using similes, metaphors, personifications (mainly) and other audio-visual tools are a crucial ingredient in learning language (Savich, 1984). Not only do these methods facilitate an increase in handy vocabulary, but they also develop spatial learning abilities in children. Imagery is recommended for older children, because by then their brain cells in the cerebral hemisphere, are divided enough to allow such functions (Savich, 1984).Some of the methods used are: â€Å"the Big, Black barn†, â€Å"Snow White with pink feathers and velvet hands†. For children, the intuitive ability to render strong associations with these image vocabulary, is so po werful that many of them are able to visualize elements that many adults might ignore; e.g. the differences in colors in mosaic tiles; any object (and that includes human beings) readily start getting associated with the child’s cultivated imagination. Also, unlike the early concept-forming stage, this time children have lesser tendency to   face problems in identifying different words and expressions for similar shapes.Patricia Savich, at the University of Los Angeles, in her research on language-disabled children, has contended that they are facing problems in retaining a strong anticipatory imagery ability (Savich, 1984), compared to other children. In an experiment described, she assigned five spatial tasks to two groups of children based on age, sex, native language and background. In all assignments specified, language-disabled children lagged behind their counterparts in identifying words, from the assortment of visual imagery at their disposition (Savich, 1984).Memo ry: Memory has several study areas in the field of language development: recall memory, visual recognition memory (VRM), social communication, and the emergence of language skills. According to Heimann et al (2006), recall memory involves the technique called â€Å"deferred imitation† or DI as the most scientific method of enabling words, to stick in the memory of children. A lot of research in this field, has successfully established the cosmopolitan reach of the method to enable children to learn new words, sentence structures and also intonations of language. DI basically involves showing a picture to the child, make him repeat the word after the instructor, pursue a delay for 10 to 24 minutes, and come back with the picture again, to retain the word in the child’s sphere of imagination, â€Å"permanently†. There is plenty of flexibility, in how and why DI must be conditioned, for specific child-learning initiatives.VRM is applied to children, 3 years and abo ve, and deals with providing close attention for familiar pools of information. VRM is a close indicator of receptive language skills, and along with imagery, helps the child associate connections between different visual stimulus to form an idea of the world where he’s living in. Social communications consist of two aspects: 1)Joint Attention (JA) where the child learns words by studying the gaze patterns of other children in the creche or play group, and 2)Turn-taking skills (TT), which is the beginning of the first steady â€Å"conversation† between the child and the instructor/parent. The parent familiarizes the child with a situation, and it is his responsibility to come back with an answer. Heimann et al (2006), have contended that the onset of a steady conversation, even though in incorrect grammar, is the fist milestone for children’s language development program.Environmental influence: Finally, apart from the four techniques discussed in our framework, the most pivotal influence kids could derive for learning language programs, lies in the influence laid out by the environment in which they live. According to a cognitive behavior study, by Janellen Huttenlocher, a William S Gray Professor in psychology at the University of Chicago, the language environment in which children live, influences considerably their command over individual differences in syntax acquisition (Harms, 2002). There are dramatic differences between 3- and 4- year olds speech and comprehension, depending upon the â€Å"way† teachers and parents spoke to them.The study was based on 305 children across 40 classrooms in 17 preschool areas comprising people of all income-levels. Sentences used for testing were very descriptive, livid and tested all aspects of grammar retention ability: â€Å"the boy is looking for the girl behind a chair, but she is sitting under the table†, and â€Å"the baby is holding the big block and a small ball†. Natura lly, in classrooms that were extremely exposed to complicated sentences, children were more easily capable of using the correct â€Å"syntax† in language tests, compared to under-privileged downtown Chicago neighborhood schools, that are often under-staffed and children come from much less-privileged backgrounds. Even for lower-income background children, those who came to classrooms with qualified language instructors, the curiosity to learn the proper syntax of conversations, was much higher (Harms, 2002).According to Huttenlocher, the foundations of speech due to environment in childhood sticks for life. Children who grow up listening to â€Å"full† sentence syntaxes, are much more likely to use them comfortably when they grow up, compared to many American adults who really enjoy â€Å"skipping† words and have limited vocabulary for use, even though they might know the meaning of several words (Harms, 2002).SourcesHarms, W. (Nov 21, 2002). Researchers discove r environment influences children’s ability toform, comprehend complex sentences. The University of Chicago Chronicle. Vol.22,No.5Heimann, M., Strid, K., Smith, L., Tjus, T., Ulvund, S.E., Meltzoff, A.N. (Aug 1, 2006).Exploring the relation between memory, gestural communication and the emergence oflanguage in Infancy: a longitudinal study. Public Medical Central. 15(3): 233-249.Mathcs.edu. (Date unknown). Cognitive precursors to language. Accessed :www.mathcs.duq.edu/~packer/Courses/Psy598/Precursors,%20Cognitive.pdf [Dec 16, 2006]Savich, P.A. (December 1984). Anticipatory imagery ability in Normal and Language-disabledchildren. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research. Vol. 27: 494-501.Xu, F. (in press). Concept formation and language development: count nouns and object kinds.University of British Columbia, Oxford handbook of psycholinguists. Oxford UniversityPress (OUP). 2-12.

Family marriage Essay

On the night of Feb 28th, the last day of classes, Nilesh proposed to Geeta, his MBA classmate of nearly a year and a half. Geeta agreed immediately and wondered if all her classmates will be able to attend their wedding as once they all go back to their homes it would be really very difficult for everyone to get together again. Suddenly, Nilesh came up with the idea: what if they got married on March 22nd? â€Å"But how could it be? Our convocation is on March 21st Geeta said. â€Å"Exactly! All our classmates will definitely come here for convocation and they would not mind staying an extra day for the wedding. In fact, we will get the blessings of even their parents as many are planning to come for the convocation. † Geeta: Right. But so many things have to be done. That is also when the wedding season starts and all the reception halls become unavailable. For our send-off party, juniors were saying that hotels were insisting on 17 days notice. Of course, for Rs 5000/- extra the notice period can be reduced to 10 days. Nilesh: I want my brother and sister-in-law to come for the wedding. Geeta: But, they are in US and working. They will require at least 10 days before they can be here. Also my parents will have to buy your sister-in-law a sari-set (sari with matching blouse and petticoat) as per the tradition. She will have to be here well in time so that they can be fitted well. Nilesh: And catering! It takes two days to choose the menu and Pandal decorations. Hotel Sayaji wants at least 10 days notice period before the formal engagement ceremony (one night before the wedding). Geeta: And what about our dresses? These days, it is better to get it made after choosing the pattern and buying the material yourself. It would take three days to choose the pattern and eight days to order and receive the material after Nilesh: Yes. But the material supplier can deliver in five days if we pay an extra of Rs 1000/- for expediting it. Geeta: I want Joyti of Asha Boutique to work on our dresses. Nilesh: But she charges Rs 500/- for one day of work. Geeta: If I got my mother to do all the services, we could finish the dresses in 11 days. If Joyti helped, we could cut that down to six days, at a cost of Rs 500/- for each day less than 11 days. Nilesh: It would take another two days to do the final fitting. Then dry-cleaner will take two days to clean and press the dresses unless we pay Ps 1000/- for the express service of single day delivery. Geeta: That’s right. By the way, have you thought about invitations? Nobody will come unless we invite them formally. Nilesh: Anand Printing Press will take 12 days to print the invitation cards. Of course, they do have an express service and can deliver in five days if we pay them extra Rs 1500/Geeta: It will take three days to prepare the matter which will be printed and select the styles. Nilesh: Given the postal delays, the invitations have to go out at least 10 days before the wedding. Geeta: Mailing them will take a day and that cannot be done until we write addresses on them. Addressing will take four days unless we hire some help. We can finish addresses in two days if we hire a part-time help for Ps 200/-. Geeta: We also have to buy some jewellery items to be given as gift to my brother-in-law. It will take a day to do that Nilesh: But before we start writing address, we will have to prepare a guest list. We can’t afford to miss out on anyone important, as that will have an impact on the relationship with them forever. We will have to be really thorough on that. I think it will take four days to prepare an exhaustive guest list. Geeta: That does sound like a lot. Now it certainly looks much easier to earn an MBA degree than get married!!! QUESTIONS:1. Given the activities and precedence relationships described in the (A) case, develop a network diagram for the wedding plans. 2. Identify the paths. Which are critical? 3. What is the maximum cost plan that meets the March 22nd deadline? Case -2 {Continuation of Case 2} Marks-15 Several complications arose during the course of trying to meet the deadline of March 21, for the Nilesh— Geeta engagement. Since it was important for Nilesh and Geeta to get married on March 22nd, the implications of each of these complications had to be assessed. 1. All hotels informed that the express booking had to be withdrawn that year as there was a mad-rush for getting married, and therefore Nilesh and Geeta would have to give 17 days’ notice. 2. A call to the US revealed that brother and sister-in-law couldn’t leave till March 1st as they had urgent deadlines at work. 3. Nilesh came down with four day flu just as he started to work on the guest list. 4. The dress material was lost in transit. Notice of loss was delivered to Geeta on March 10th. 5. There was an unplanned repair work at Sayaji on March 8. They informed that they would be closed for two to three days. QUESTIONS :1. Given your answers to the (A) case, describe the effects on the wedding plans of each incident noted in the (B) case. SECTION B Attempt any 5 questions:- Marks-50 1) What is the linkage between product choices and process choices in an organization? 2) How can the internet affect the practice of operations management? Does it have any implications for operations strategy? 3) Does the organization structure influence the product development process and way? Explain. 4) Distinguish between assignable and common causes of variations. Why is this distinction important quality control? 5) How does the choice of the layout affect of the operational performance of an organization? 6) Explain how forecasting helps an organization handle uncertainties.

Essay about Milton’s Justification of God - 1163 Words

Milton’s Justification of God In the epic poem Paradise Lost, the author John Milton tells his story of Man’s fall from paradise and God’s punishment on mankind. Milton, in his opening statement, says that he will â€Å"justify the ways of God to men† (Milton 1.26). Milton achieves this purpose by addressing the issues of the paradox of man’s free will and God’s introduction of evil to mankind, and giving a logical explanation as to why each was rightfully intended as part of God’s plan. The argument against God states that if God is the creator of everything and that everything starts in him, and he knows everything that is and will be, then we cannot justify his ways because that implies that he created man knowing man would fall. This†¦show more content†¦With free will comes God’s punishment for disobedience and the introduction of evil by God. The argument saying that God is the origin of evil because everything or iginates from him is a controversial and difficult statement. It is not possible to completely refute this statement as it holds some truth because God is the author of everything in the Christian doctrine, unless one chooses to be blind about the Christian religion. To say that God is evil because of this is also an inaccurate statement. One could refer to Jacques Derrida to justify this action of God. Derrida states that one can not truly know one thing unless one knows what that thing is not; meaning that an object or idea is nothing special if there is nothing to compare it to. Thus man cannot truly know good without knowing evil. So God introducing evil would be necessary for man’s true happiness. This idea is supported by Adam himself after being punished, â€Å"That all this good of evil shall produce, and evil turn to good† (Milton 12.470). Adam is relieved after hearing from the archangel Michael that goodness will come out of their temporary punishment. This shows that God’s actions were necessary for the prolonged happiness of humanity. God in Paradise Lost intended not for a permanent stay in Eden. He had intended for man to prove himself to God, just as the angels did before him. God’s actions towards man are also justifiable in a sense of manShow MoreRelatedMiltons Paradise Lost and His Justification of the Ways of God to Man.1418 Words   |  6 PagesParadise Lost is just that. It is Miltons own take on the biblical story of Satans fall from grace as well as mans fall. Milton was not only armed with an extensive knowledge on the Bible, but in everything a man of his time could learn. With his wisdom he emersed himself into his work, making Paradise Lost not only a tale of epic perportions, but one that would Justify the ways of God to Man. (I 26) Even before reading Paradise Lost, I had always wondered why God allowed evil, and why he allowedRead MoreInnocence or Freewill? A critique of Milton’s Theodicy Using Paradise Lost)1000 Words   |  4 Pagesall. In Paradise Lost, by John Milton, he attempts to present the reasoning behind all the actions on Earth, positive and negative. To fully understand though, you must learn Milton’s theodicy, or the defense of Gods goodness and omnipotence in view of the existence of evil. (â€Å"Theodicy† Merriam-Webster) Part One Milton’s theodicy is his attempt to justify God’s ways to man. Not only does he reference the traditional teachings from the bible, but he elaborates on certain points to better createRead More Predestination in Book III of John Miltons Paradise Lost Essay1643 Words   |  7 Pagesin Book III of Paradise Lost    Miltons purpose in Paradise Lost is nothing less than to assert eternal providence and justify the ways of God to men - a most daunting task.   For Milton to succeed in his endeavour, he has to unravel a number of theologiccal thorns that have troubled christian philosophers for centuries.   Since his epic poem is, essentially, a twelve book argument building to a logical conclusion - the justification of the ways of God to men - he will necessarily have toRead MoreTaking a Look at John Milton1988 Words   |  8 Pageswith Mary Shelly and William Blake but Milton’s career took place during the Late Renaissance and the Restoration Age. Paradise Lost and On His Blindness are two of Milton’s finest works; Milton incorporated the sacred telling’s of the Bible into these two poems by analyzing and elaborating on the teachings of Christianity to a depth that had not previously been reached. The reoccurring theme found in his work are disobedience, eternal provi dence and justification. Milton was not only a poet butRead MoreMilton s Paradise Lost By Milton1203 Words   |  5 PagesIn Milton’s â€Å"Paradise Lost†, Milton undertakes a major feat by justifying the way of God to man, through his re-telling of the Bible in an epic poem. His work has been criticized to be â€Å"of the Devil’s party without knowing it†; however, to take such a binary interpretation of his work undermines its complexity. It is both true and false that he wrote in â€Å"fetters† for god and â€Å"liberty† for the devil, as well justified the way he wrote however the primary question arises w as he conscious or unconsciousRead MoreA Discussion of Milton’s Theodicy in Paradise Lost745 Words   |  3 PagesWhat is free will? Milton explains in Paradise Lost that free will is the answer to the justification of Gods ways to man. There are three parts, or triangle, of theodicy, they are that God is all powerful, all good, yet there are still b ad things that happen. Milton wrote to explain and justify why there are still bad things even though God is all good, and all powerful. Milton’s answer to this is that there is all good and all power, but the bad is not God’s fault. Milton has three key ideas toRead MoreJohn Milton s Paradise Lost1371 Words   |  6 PagesJohn Milton’s Hell John Milton’s Paradise Lost is most known for being one of the last epics ever to be written in literature. Milton’s epic was also extremely known for having one of the most detailed descriptions of Hell since Dante’s Inferno, written in the 14th century. Milton’s 17th century work was centered on the fallen angels of heaven, especially Satan, who were sent to Hell by God. Originally chained to the lake of fire in Hell, the devils are released by God. Milton’s epic then describesRead MoreMary Shelley s Frankenstein 1646 Words   |  7 Pagesmirror, reflecting Milton’s Paradise Lost explicitly throughout the text. Milton’s purpose in writing Paradise Lost was to â€Å"justify the way of God to man†, this was successful in the Restoration period but during the Romantic period people were not convinced. Romantics reinterpreted Paradise Lost as the Creator being the cause of all suffering and evil, William Blake put it as â€Å" Milton was secretly of the devil’s party without knowing it.† Shelley’s novel mirrors this idea of justification, in that VictorRead MoreJohn Milton Opens Paradise Lost Essay2170 Words   |  9 Pagesgoal, claiming that his book would be sufficient means by which â€Å"[He might] assert Eternal Providence, / And justify the ways of God to men† (Paradise Lost 1.25-26). So the reader should treat his epic poem as the attempted justification that it is, and ask themselves this: does this argument successfully justify God’s ways? A key—perhaps even the key—part of Milton’s book, and therefore of his argument, is God’s behavior with regards to the fall, whether that be action or lack of action. Thus toRead MoreJohn Milton s Paradise Lost1047 Words   |  5 PagesJohn Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost explores themes of divine power to justify the ways of God. His portrayal of Satan as the protagonist rather than the vi llain allows reader’s to see that God doesn’t control people’s actions, and that instead we all have free will even though He does have the power to manipulate it. By including Satan’s side to the story as well as his fall, Milton is able to inform readers about the reason for the happy fall as well as include themes of pride, deceit, and communication