Identify Some of the Factors That Make People Help Others. Free Essays

string(147) " state as it has been said that one allele would be incapable of encoding and identifying all the relevant information necessary \(Henrich 2001\)\." Identify some of the factors that make people help others. Who helps the most, and in what cases (whom) are they especially likely to help? Illustrate your answer with examples. Giedrius Statkus Department of Psychology, Keynes College, CT2 7NP Identify some of the factors that make people help others. We will write a custom essay sample on Identify Some of the Factors That Make People Help Others. or any similar topic only for you Order Now Who helps the most, and in what cases (whom) are they especially likely to help? Illustrate your answer with examples. Many different factors have been shown to influence people’s willingness to help others. The motive behind certain type of help can be certain rewards for helping however other types of help do not always appear to have a clear motive. This was noted by Comte (1875 as cited in Batson Shaw 1991, Baumaister Bushman, 2011) who studied the question of helping others, philosophically and suggests that there are two key types of help displayed by people. He describes these as either Egoistic Helping (EH) or Altruistic Helping (AH). The former refers to the type of help where an individual is clearly aware of a reward for performing the help, such as can be seen in some volunteers workers, whose clear reward is experience and recommendations. The latter however refers to situations where an individual’s willingness to help is unaided by any conscious reward. AH behaviour can be seen in such examples as helping a broken down stranger fix a car tyre on a road (Pomzal Clore, 1973 as cited in Baumaister Bushman, 2011). The factors influencing the latter type of help are the ones mainly considered throughout this essay. However these factors have a varied effect on different people, this variation can be based on gender, age and other individual differences. It has been suggested that one major factor influencing the willingness of people to perform AH is empathy (Batson, Batson, Slingsby, Harrell, Peekna Todd, 1991). The theory suggests that individuals witnessing someone in need of help, as they are displaying distress or pain, will experience similar feelings themselves. This is supported by many studies (Baumaister Bushman, 2011) however of key importance are studies conducted via observing the process of empathy in the brain using Functioning Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) (Singer, Seymour, O’Doherty, Kaube, Dolan Firth, 2004). In their study participants were subjected to electric shocks while undergoing an fMRI scan, after that they had to watch as their spouses undergo the electric shocks. The scans showed that the brain’s responses were similar, for both conditions, and that witnessing the shocks and receiving them affected the same areas of the brain. Other studies have also found empathy between emotional states such as happiness or sadness and other situations (Singer, Seymour, O’Doherty, Kaube, Dolan Firth, 2004). Therefore this confirms Batson’s et al. (1991) suggestion that if an individual is witnessing someone in distress, he also experiences some distress and therefore helping that person would be the fastest way to relieve it. There are many other factors playing roles in influencing willingness to help, however many of them may also be explained via empathy. As these other factors may increase or decrease empathy which could result in increased willingness to help. The fact that reward in AH is not obvious is not to say that it does not exist. As mentioned previously the relieving of distress may be one form of reward experienced through AH. Other rewards to be considered may be the need for praise or some sort of award (Batson, et al. 1988 as cited in Baumaister Bushman, 2011). Another motivation may be fear of punishment, often in the form of social disproval, the fear of people knowing you could of helped, but did not. This can aid understanding of AH on an evolutionary and survival basis. As in some cases AH may mean less resources or putting oneself in danger (Dawkins 1988 as cited in Baumaister Bushman, 2011) it can be said that such behaviour is counterproductive to survival. Except in clear cases of close family AH, where the help would favour the survival of the helping individual’s genes either way. However modern human survival, and therefore chance of reproduction, is highly dependent on social acceptance (Coie, Dodge Coppotelli, 1982). Therefore avoidance of punishment, in the form of social disproval is often a sufficient reward for AH. Empathy can be seen as a major aspect of other factors influencing willingness to help too, for example it has been shown that people feel more empathy for people similar (Frans, 2008) and are more willing to help based on similarity between them and the person needing help, such as similar clothes (Eimswiller, Deux Willts, 1971 as cited in Baumaister Bushman, 2011), personal values (Batson, Duncan, Ackerman, Buckley Birch, as cited in Batson Shaw, 1991) and other features. This may be because people are more likely to experience empathy for people who are ore like them instead of someone who is very different. This can be seen in Batson’s et al. (1981 as cited in Batson Shaw, 1991) study where participants who believed a person undergoing electric shocks held personal values that were very different to the participants’ values, were less likely to take the victim’s place and receive shocks instead of them. This is supported by the green beard theory, a term coined by Dawkins (1976 as cited in West Gardener, 2010) in reference to a theoretical gene that would encode the information of a green beard and make green bearded people more likely to help others with a green beard. In this theory the green beard is an example of an obvious visual feature. Although just a theoretical principal for which the relevant genes have only been observed in the study of micro-organisms (West Gardener, 2010) and other far less genetically complex, than humans, life forms (Fostner, Wensler Ratnier, 2006). It is suggested that a much more complex system may be a viable genetic explanation for the way in which AH is influenced by people with similar features. Although the theory is criticised in its current state as it has been said that one allele would be incapable of encoding and identifying all the relevant information necessary (Henrich 2001). You read "Identify Some of the Factors That Make People Help Others." in category "Papers" This however led others (Jansen Baalen, 2006) to suggest that, instead, a number of genes could encode some features of appearance, or a â€Å"visable tag† (West Gardener, 2010, p. 1344), and a separate, gene would encode the ability to recognise similarity and influence AH when it is recognised. For example it has been shown that people empathise more with close members of their family (Frans, 2007). As well as being more willing to help them (Burnstein, Crandall Kitayama, 1994). This was especially true for close members of the family such as siblings. The willingness to help was found to decrease as the family ties grew weaker. In all cases people were three times more likely to help close family members such as siblings than nephews and cousins, they were even less likely to help strangers or friends. This was especially true if the sibling in question is a monozygotic twin of the individual (Burnstein, Crandall Kitayama, 1994). The willingness to help for un-identical twins was considerably lower, by up to half as willing, suggesting that AH is an important behaviour for successful evolution and survival as it favours identical genes. This staggering difference between identical gene siblings and dizygotic twins could also be related to the green beard theory mentioned earlier. As the perfect visual tag for an altruistic gene to identify would, in the case of monozygotic twins, be a completely identical appearance. AH was also found to be dependent on age (Baumaister Bushman, 2011). For example Burnstein et al. (1994) found that people’s willingness to help young children of age 1 was identical to the amount of willingness seen at age 25. Overall, willingness to help was found to quickly reach a peak at the age of 10 and then steadily decrease as people get older. For the final recorded age, of 75, willingness to help had decreased by a quarter when compared to age 1. People’s health was also noted as an important factor in influencing willingness to help. It was found that people are more willing to help healthy individuals than those suffering from ill-health. This may be due to survival reasons as healthy individuals are much more likely to help the person in return and therefore increase their rate of survival. In cases of AH, it can be said that, the evaluation of ability to reciprocate may be performed unconsciously. The same concept applies to old and very young individuals who are also less able to reciprocate the help they receive. The attractiveness of an individual is also a recognised factor in one’s willingness to help (Harrel, 1978 as cited in Baumaister Bushman, 2011). This is often hard to explain in regards to evolution and survival theories. One aspect considered is that attractiveness may be evaluated as health, as attractiveness and health evaluations have been shown to positively correlate (Taylor and Brown, 1988). However a study by Juhnke et al. (2001) found that attractiveness does not necessarily rely on physical features. He found people dressed more attractively are also more likely to receive help. A possible critique of this finding could be that in this case the more attractive people were seen as richer, and therefore their ability to reciprocate would be higher. This would however contradict Burnstein’s et al. (1994) finding, which demonstrates that people would be significantly less likely to help rich people than poor people across every situation. And although based on participants’ conscious evaluation of their willingness to help, the results are consistent across all participants and therefore suggest that Juhnke’s et al. (2001) findings were related to attractiveness, if not as the sole factor than at the very least more than the effect of a ealthy appearance. This finding is also more supported by the survival via reproduction theory since in some cases it appeared to have a sex specific effect, (Pomzal Core, 1973 as cited in Baumaister Bushman, 2011) where male participants were found to be more likely to help females than males, especially if the female is attractive. They also report that males are more willing to help than females overall which is an important finding as this slightly contradicts Batsonâ₠¬â„¢s et al. 1991) theory, of empathy being the most important factor in AH as Davis (1980) has pointed out that females display a much higher level of empathy across many different AH related situations. This may be related to Dawkin’s (1989 as cited in Baumaister Bushman, 2011) theory. He proposes that willingness to help is directly affected by the loss incurred in the process of helping. Therefore although women may want to help more than males, as they feel higher empathy, they may be prevented by fear of loss. This is because most AH requires a form of loss of resources, time or putting oneself in danger (Batson Shaw, 1991) as only in cases of unconscious and reflex powered reactions are people willing to put their survival over the person in need of help. This sort of behaviour is most often seen in combat situations and almost never occurs if people are able to consider the threat posed to them (Batson Shaw, 1991) Individuals’ willingness to help people is affected by many factors as discussed. This can be seen in many forms. Some forms of help are motivated by feelings of distress caused through empathy. This coupled together with unconscious reward seeking and punishment avoidance influences people in making the decision of whether to help or not. Although empathy may be the predominant factor it is also important to mention that it is heavily influenced by other factors such as age, gender, family ties and physical or mental similarities. However empathy at times is affected by other factors such as the cost of helping someone. For example men are less likely to be helped, however are more likely to be willing to help than females. Females, although experiencing higher empathy and therefore maybe higher willingness to help are said to be more aware of fear of loss. This may also be influenced by the fact that males feel higher social expectations, to help, than females. Although another reason may simply be survival as the people most likely to be helped are often the same people who are most capable of reciprocating the help. In the case of 10 year old children and young adults receiving more help than elderly people or young children it may be because they can be said to be evaluated as having more chance of reciprocating this help. Same can be said for the health bias influencing willingness to help. Healthy people are more likely to receive help as they are more likely to have the ability to return the help. The fact that attractive people are more likely to be helped than less attractive people is thought to be highly linked to peoples’ willingness to help healthy people. Helping close family is also affected by health although the predominant factor here is the closeness of the family relationship. Children and parents are as willing to help each other as siblings who are significantly more willing to help each other than they are willing to help nephews, cousins or other family members. The only group more likely to help each other are identical twins, this evidence fits in with the selection of kin theory of evolution and therefore is most likely based on survival of the genes. Genes appear to be the most likely explanation for the fact that people are very likely to help individuals who appear similar to them. As suggested by the theory that certain genes may help their own survival by creating visual tags in people who share the same genes or by encoding recognition of similarity. This visual tag would be recognised by the other individuals carrying the same genes and therefore AH would be increased. When all the discussed factors are considered it can be seen that people’s willingness to help and their choice of whom they help, is motivated and influenced by many factors which all interact in a complex manner. References Batson, C. D. , Batson, J. G. , Slingsby, J. K. , Harrel, K. L. , Peekna, H. M. , Todd, R. M. (1991). Empathic Joy and the Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 413-426. Batson, C. D. , Shaw, L. L. (1991). Evidence for Altruism: Toward a Pluralism of Prosocial Motives. Journal of Psychological Inquiry, 2(2), 107-122. Baumeister, R. F. , Bushman, B. J. (2011) Social Psychology and Human Nature (2ed. ). Belmot, California: Wadsworth. Burnstein, E. , Crandall, C. , Kitayama, S. (1994). Some Neo-Darwinian Decision Rules for Altruism Wighting Cues for Inclusive Fitness as a Function of the Biological Importance of the Decision. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67(5), 773-789. Coie, J. , Dodge, D. K. , Coppotelli, H. A. (1982). Dimensions and Types of Social Status: A Cross-Age Perspective. Developmental Psychology, 18(4), 557-570. doi:10. 1037/0012-1649. 18. 4. 557 Davis, M. H. (1980). A Multidimensional Approach to Individual Differences in Empathy, JSAS Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology, 10, 85-104. Foster, K. R. , Wenseler, T. , Ratnieks, L. W. (2006) Kin Selection is the Key to Altruism. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 21(2), 57-60. Frans, B. M. (2008). Putting the Altruism Back into Altruism: The Evolution of Empathy. The Annual Review of Psychology, 59, 279-300. Henrich, J. (2001) Cultural Group Selection, Coevolutionary Processes and Large-Scale Cooperation. Journal of Economic Behavior Organization, 53, 3–35. Jansen, V. A. , Baalen, M. (2006). Altruism Through Beard Chromodynamics. Nature, 44(30), 663-666. Juhnke, R. , Barmann, B. , Vickery, B. , Cunningham, M. , Hohl, J. , Smith, E. , Quinones, J. (2001). Effects of Attractivness and Nature of Request on Helping Behaviour, Journal of Social Psychology, 127(4), 317-322. Singer, T. , Seymour, B. , O’Doherty, J. , Kaube, H. , Dolan, R. J. , Frith, C. (2004). Empathy for Pain Involves the Affective but not Sensory Components of Pain. Science, 303, 1157-1161. Taylor, S. E. , Brown, J. D. (1988) Illusion and Well-Being: a Social Psychological Perspective on Mental Health. Psychological Bulletin, 103(2), 193-210. doi: 10. 1037/0033-2909. 103. 2. 193 West, S. A. , Gardener, S. (2010). Altruism, Spite, and Greenbeards. Science, 327, 1341-1344. How to cite Identify Some of the Factors That Make People Help Others., Essays

Self Improvement and Motivation free essay sample

If you ask a successful person about what made him reach his goal in life; he would most probably portray the importance of self improvement, motivation and self esteem. It is certain that you will have to face many problems in life, but to overcome them, you need to count on personal development and motivation. When it comes to self esteem improvement, you need to first realize your strengths and weaknesses. Let us know more about self improvement and motivation. Self Improvement and Motivation Self improvement and motivation are two of the most important things that you need to consider if you are thinking of excelling in your life. A majority of the problems in our life arise due to the lack of motivation and great emotional depression. To contribute to self improvement, you can get motivated by changing your mindset altogether. Following are some simple tips that will help you get motivated. We will write a custom essay sample on Self Improvement and Motivation or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Self Improvement Work Only reading self improvement blogs and books will alone not help you overcome your weaknesses. You need to put these theoretical aspects to practice in your day to day lives. In order to make you feel better about yourself, think about the unfortunate people who do not have what you do have. This will surely increase the scope for self improvement in your life. You also have to sort out your strong points and weak points. Maintain what you can do better and improve on what you are not so good at. Have confidence in yourself that you can do things which you think are not possible, and most importantly be positive. Try to fight your fears and start to do things what you have always been afraid of. Make a proper discipline and follow it in your everyday life, which normally would include creating rules of healthy living and codes of conduct and even daily routines. Along with adopting all these things, you also should be in a motivational atmosphere. Try to be with friends and colleagues who encourage and have a good view towards life. To aid in self improvement, you should be able to adjust in every situation that comes in the way. Think about both sides of the coin, and even be prepared for unfortunate circumstances and how you intend to deal with them. Practice goal setting to reach success. Decide on a goal, set the time span, work towards it and achieve it. Doing so will really have a good impact on your positive thinking and personal development. Do not only let your mind be strong, also be fit physically.

What is Macro Environment Essay Example

What is Macro Environment? Paper The macro-environment consists of larger societal forces that affect entire micro-environment. The six forces making up the companys macro- environment include demographic, economic, natural, technological, political/ legal, and social-cultural forces. Companies must constantly watch and adapt to the marketing environment in order to seek opportunities and ward off threats. The marketing environment comprises all the actors and forces influencing the companys ability to transact business effectively with its target market (Armstrong and Kettle 2003, p. 149). In this report, use PEST to analyze macro-environment forces how to impact on PepsiCo in China. As we know, the PepsiCo was the first U. S. Company to distribute its products in China after China implement reform and opening up policy in 1979. Through many years business operation in China, the company fully understands their development worldwide must adapt Chinas macro-environmental various forces and must put into practice their localization strategy Think local, Act local. In this report, by serious study and literature review, with refer to relevant books, journals, search information from internet. According to Kettle and Keller (2005), in the demographic environment, arresters must be aware of worldwide population growth, changing mixes of age, ethnic composition, educational levels and the move to micromanaging and away from mass marketing. In the economic arena, marketers need to focus on income distribution and levels of savings, debt, and credit availability. In the social-cultural arena, marketers must understand peoples views of themselves, organizations, society, nature and the universe. We will write a custom essay sample on What is Macro Environment? specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on What is Macro Environment? specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on What is Macro Environment? specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer They must market products that correspond to societys core and secondary values, and address the needs of different subcultures within a society. In the tartar environment, marketers need to be aware of raw materials shortages, increased energy costs and pollution levels, and the changing role of governments in environmental protection. In the technological arena, marketers should take account of the accelerating pace of technological change for innovation, varying RD budgets, and the increased governmental regulation brought about by technological change. Finally, in the political-legal environment, marketers must work within the many laws regulating business practices and with various special-interest groups. In this report, use PEST to analyze macro-environment forces how to impact n PepsiCo in China will be presented. Through many years business operation in China, the company understands their development worldwide must adapt Chinese macro-environmental various forces and must put into practice their localization strategy Think local, Act local. COMPANY PROFILE PepsiCo was founded in 1965 through the merger of Pepsi-Cola and Frito- Lay. Tropical was acquired in 1998 and PepsiCo merged with The Quaker Oats Company, including Storage, in 2001. PepsiCo is a world leader in convenient foods and beverages, with 2006 revenues of more than $35 billion ND 1 68,000 employees. PepsiCo presence in China dates back to the earlier days of the nations reforms. In 1981, Pepsi-Cola became one of the first American investors in China by signing an agreement with the Chinese government to build a bottling plant in Sheehan. To date, PepsiCo has established more than 40 joint or wholly owned ventures in China with a total investment over IIS$I billion, directly employing 10,000 staff (Official website of PepsiCo). MACRO-ENVIRONMENT IMPACT ON MARKETING ACTIVITIES OF PEPSICO In analyzing the macro-environment, it is important to identify the factors that eight in turn affect a number of vital variables that are likely to influence the organizations supply and demand levels and its costs. A PEST analysis is one of them that is merely a framework that categorizes environmental influences as political/legal, economic, social/cultural and technological forces. Such external factors usually are beyond the firms control and sometimes present themselves as threats. Use PEST tool to analysis macro-environment influence on PepsiCo in China is necessary. ;The political-legal environment Before you play the game, learn the rules. Some businesspeople exhibit a memorable lack of knowledge about markets nags political-legal environment. Ignorance of or noncompliance with laws, ordinances, and regulations can lead to fines, embarrassing negative publicity, and possibly expensive civil damage suits. As a foreign company, PepsiCo intend to invest in Chinas beverage industry which is tightly controlled and subject to government approval. According to Chinese governments regulation, a new bottling plant cue reentry requires about three-year wait for government approval, and concentrate production volume must be re-authorized annually. In addition, PepsiCo has a global strategy of TV advertising, PepsiCo has included everything from Chinese zodiac animals to Spring Festival couplets in its television commercials. This approach, combined with relatively long advertising history in the country has made Pepsi Cola the most recognized soft-drink brand in China. However, governments policy and regulation can also impact on the companys market strategy. Being a communist country, in China, although people now are very much free of expression in ordinary life, there is still no free media. The media is still very controlled by the overspent and there is always the risk of having more regulations especially to foreigners. The economic environment The health of the economy influences how much consumers spend and what they buy. Consumer buying plays an important role in the economys health- indeed, consumer outlays make up some two-thirds of overall economic activity. According to Boone and Kurt (n. D. ), economic environment consists of those factors that influence consumer buying power and marketing strategies. They include the stage of business cycle, inflation, unemployment, resource availability, and income. As we know, Chinas economy grew at an average rate of 10% per year during the period 1990-2006, the highest growth rate in the world. However, Chinese inflation ran at 5. % for the second consecutive month in August in 2006, according to official figures. PepsiCo has already met great challenge because inflation is a general rise in price resulting in decreased purchasing power. Inflation will increase the companys costs like expense to purchase materials for production, and may lead to declining sales. Marketers of PepsiCo understood clearly that inflation will cause consumers to react in two ways: 1). Decrease their brand loyalty. In a recent research, most Chinese consumers are willing to use cheaper brand, and honesty, because it works just as well. ). Stickup. Many consumers take advantage of coupons and sales to stock up (Hair et al. 1992, p. 52). In addition, income is another important factor in marketings economic environment because it influences consumer buying power. The price of the product has to be affordable however there should be a premium that consumers are willing to pay for the health benefit as well as for the modern and higher status image it will offer. The risk here is to fail in selling the alee of the product and to set the premium to be higher than consumers are willing to pay. The social-cultural environment Component of the marketing environment consisting of the relationship between the marketer, society, and its culture. Doing business in China successfully requires an understanding of China as a nation and of the culture of the Chinese people. A societys culture determines how it members communicate and interact with each other (Griffin Pastas 2003, p. 85). A nations culture can impact on foreign countrys products and service. In China, many people are very interested in soft drinks. A result of this has been growing rates of obesity both Chinese adults and children. Due to Chinese culture, it is necessary that what they drink offers some benefits to their health. Nowadays, more and more Chinese people have already pay attention to obesity problem. If soft drinks can not consider healthy, although increasing their market share, this is the risk the PepsiCo have to face. In addition, an understanding of the cultural practices in both the business and social environments is essential for being successful when doing business with Chinese companies (Patchworks LLC. 003). Initially when PepsiCo entered into Chinese market, the company has already lost some business opportunities in China because they expected the Chinese people do it my way. The Chinese culture is long established and does not adapt quickly. For example, doing any business in China will require negotiation of contracts, prices, and terms, etc. The negotiation process in China, compared to Western standards, will be very slow and deliberate. One difficulty in negotiation with Chinese companies is knowing what means no. Culturally, saying no directly is seen as rude and unacceptable. Many times when the company hears we will consider it, it really means no. ;The technological environment The technological environment represents the application to marketing of knowledge based on discoveries in science, inventions, and innovations. Major developments in technology can have enormous marketing implications because they can drastically alter industries. Despite the technological promise of this new product, the development stage of such innovations is lengthy and complex. Company must often gamble on technology to attain success, and many companies have gambled and lost. PepsiCo had spent millions of dollars working on growing salad vegetables market to fast food chain in China. Technically the venture was sound-the infrastructure was set and the product was of high quality. The company had even arranged a machine to process and packages the fresh vegetables to give them a shelf life of two weeks, therefore opening up the Chinese market. However, the quality of the companys marketing did not match that of the technological planning stages. The fast food chain chosen not to buy the stock and the company had nowhere to off-land its vast quantity of ripe vegetables- it had lost its markets. MACRO-ENVIRONMENT FORCES ON PEPSICO MARKETING ACTIVITIES As mentioned above, in business arena, one of the difficulties facing marketing managers is that environmental forces are generally beyond their control. Marketing organizations must try to adapt changing environmental conditions. Not only can environmental opportunity become threat; environmental threat can also become opportunity (1989, p. 55). Marketers must overcome various macro-environmental clash and barriers between Chinese macro-environment and international business. Laws and regulations affect all aspect Of marketing operation and decision aging-designing, labeling, distributing, advertising, and promoting goods and services. The management of PepsiCo realized that major regulation has already impact on their marketing activities. To cope with the vast, complex, and changing nature of the political-legal environment, many larger companies maintain in-house legal department like PepsiCo. In addition, as a foreign company, marketers must comply with Chinas laws and regulations, however, noncompliance can scar a companys reputation and hurt profits. Marketers should take steps to control forces in political-legal environment. PepsiCo has invested heavily into adapting its operations and business strategies to the local culture and practice. It currently has 24 bottling joint- ventures indirectly through two Hong Kong-based companies that it partly owns and maintains a strong market presence through partnerships with the Chinese government and domestic companies. PepsiCo has established its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Shanghai running its operations for many countries. Companies must scan, monitor, forecast, and assess the health of economies outside their host nation because nations are interconnected as a result of he global economy. Inflation rate is currently reaching to 5% in China, inflation pressures consumers to make more economical purchases. PepsiCo should realize that despite what happens to the sells cost, the buyer is not going to pay more for a product than the value he or she places on it. When the economy is characterized by high inflation, a series of special pricing tactics are often necessary. Marketing managers should develop an effective cost-forecasting system and use anticipatory pricing. According to Hair et al. (1992), these tactics can be subdivided into cost-oriented and demand-oriented. Cost-orientated tactics consist of delayed-quotation pricing and escalator pricing. Delay-quotation pricing is a very popular pricing tactic that price is not set on the product until item is either finished or delivered. Demand- orientated pricing methods include price shady and increasing demand through increasing selected demand, unique offering, and system selling. As we know, the Chinese people are still to well-off life and their income are not very high. The pricing strategy is a very important part of the marketing mix, because it can affect both supply and demand for a company such as PepsiCo. Therefore the companys pricing strategy must adapt economic environment. One of the most important price factors of PepsiCo is customers affordability. If the price is too high, Consumers will spend their money on other goods. As a multinational company, it always must appeal to Chinese consumers, especially in the era of globalization. The company have had adapt to the local economic environment in order to success. Most Chinese can afford an occasional soft drink a can of Coke cost RMI . 90($0. 24) in Shanghai today. Due to rationality of Cokes price, their products currently reach about 60% of Chinas population. The social-cultural environment is made up of institutions and other forces that affect a societys basic value, perceptions, preferences, and behaviors. Product decisions are also affected by cultural variables. As mentioned onwards, increasingly Chinese people have already focused on obesity problem. If soft drinks can not consider healthy, this is the risk the PepsiCo have to face. So, PepsiCo decided to carry out a feasible solution that reduce calorie intake from soft drinks. At the same time, PepsiCo decision-making for product and service should also consider local customers purchase habits. It will also reflect a nations culture. For instant, the Chinese like hot, incorporated soft drinks with nature ingredients or herbs that they believe are good to human health, in particular, they like hot teas. Tea is so popular in China that people call it Tea Culture. PepsiCo realized Chinese peoples drinking habits, then they introduced Lipton Tea quickly, a line of incorporated drinks through cooperate with local partner. PepsiCo long-term strategies of localizing production promote their market share. In order to avoid lost opportune ties and bring about misunderstandings, consciousness have to realize anothers cultural background. Understanding manners and customs is especially important in negotiations. If the company expected the Chinese people do it my way, they will lose more chances. China has a unique culture that dates back to thousands of year, combined with the factor of about 60 years ruling of communist one-party totalitarianism. Foreign business people and companies should try to adapt quickly. Consequently, you need learn do it their way. Technological trends are critically important in identifying marketing opportunities. These trends include new directions in research and velveteen (R) that might lead to new products or even to new industries (Easel 1990, p. 72). For the experience of failure in new product development the company remains undaunted, they plan to return to the fast food market with salad vegetables. This time, the company promises it will not forget the importance of inventory. PepsiCo fully understand that in the low-margin soft-drink business, one of the key com appetite advantages lies on the efficiencies in every aspect of business process, from procurement of raw and semi-finished material to inventory management, from production landing to material requirements planning, from distribution to service, etc. As the leader in this industry, PepsiCo knows how critical role information technology plays in its success. In fact, it has a long history of employing advanced information technology to support its direct-store-delivery business model and management. In China, PepsiCo China use Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implemented by FIAT. Moreover, PepsiCo ultimate weapon in maintaining its market leadership is Research and Development. Since product formulations are kept as trade secrets most of the patents are related to technology that supports beverage industry. PepsiCo will use its patents to increase its market share in each and every market it serves R D delivers true value to coke consumers worldwide. The key areas of technologies where most of the patents filed are Packaging, Vending Equipment, Fountain Equipment, Water Treatment and alternative refrigeration technologies. In China technologies related to water treatment and vending equipment will come handy in gaining market share. The company will also be forced to develop new technologies for Chinas country specific use. Several new technologies will be used in designing and packing ewe products. Research and Development will also try to add local herbal products to add more energy to the drink and give a local flavor to the product. Research and Development will use a small-scale bottling system to test bottling runs of new product. It will make sure that the new drink can be produced and bottled in a massive scale. PepsiCo will also take its testing of new product on road and test it in various regions of China to make sure that it will be acceptable in all regions of China. CONCLUSION Most films face external environment that are highly turbulent, complex, and lobar-conditions that make interpreting them increasingly difficult (Ireland and Hit 1999, p. 43). In todays complex and rapidly changing environment, marketing managers need use PEST analysis to make effective and timely decisions. Understanding one nations macro-environment diversity that could positively impact your business relationship is the key to success in this country. The PepsiCo is a good example in this report. The PepsiCo entirely understands Chinas various external environments, consumers behaviors and practices that localization is their long-term market strategy. As Porter (1985) stated the importance of analysis the macro-environment: every industry has an underlying structure or set of fundamental economic and technical characteristics.

Loss of Species and its Impact on the Human Spirit

Loss of Species and its Impact on the Human Spirit Bonnett, M. (2004). Retrieving nature: Education for a post-humanist age. Malden, MA:  Blackwell Publishing. Michael Bonnett is one of Britains well known philosophers of education.  In his book Retrieving nature: education for a post-humanist age, he focuses on the issue of an environmental ethos for living and for education purposes.Advertising We will write a custom annotated bibliography sample on Loss of Species and Its Impact on the Human Spirit specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Bonnett questions how education can respond to the present day problems regarding the environment and postulates an innovative thesis regarding establishing a connection between the human spirit and environment. Bridgen, A.F. (2007). A Heuristic Journey of Discovery: Exploring the Positive Influence of the Natural Environment on the Human Spirit (Master’s thesis). Retrieved from http://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10063/168/thesis .pdf?sequence=2 A heuristic Journey of Discovery: Exploring the positive influence of the natural environment on the human spirit by Annette Frances Bridgen is a thesis submitted to the Victoria University of Wellington in 2007 which explores the positive impact of nature on the human spirit. As part of the background literature supporting his study, Bridgen quotes examples of writers who have experienced physical healing by contact with the environment. Coffin, B. Pfannmuller, L. (1988). Minnesotas endangered flora and fauna  (Minnesota Archive Editions ed.).  Minneapolis, MN:   University of Minnesota Press. This is a report published by the Minnesota. Dept. of Natural Resources, authored by Barbara Coffin and Lee Pfannmuller that provides detailed information regarding the flora and fauna of Minnesota region in the United States. The figures for rare and endangered species are particularly significant. In the foreword, there is useful discussion on the value of natural re sources to mankind and how the loss of species will diminish the value of the planet. The foreword includes a very relevant quotation by Philosopher Holmes Rolston III. Colfer, C.J.P. (2008). Human health and forests: A global overview of issues, practice, and policy. London, UK: Earthscan Publishers. Carol J. Pierce Colfer takes a global overview of issues, practice and policy matters of forests in the context of human health. Many people live and work in the forests and they face the unique challenge of maintaining their good health in the forest environment.Advertising Looking for annotated bibliography on philosophy? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In the second chapter dealing with Human Health and Forests, Colfer talks about Cultural services and discusses the psychological and spiritual relationships that exist between human beings and the ecosystems in which they live. He gives several examples from around th e world. According to him, the loss of biodiversity affects the health and livelihood of people living there and also hurts scientists and conservationists. This book adds to the existing knowledge on the environment and can be useful to all types of readers. Fischer, F.    Hajer, M.A. (1999). Living with nature: Environmental politics as cultural discourse. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Fischer and Hajer have compiles some essays that focus on the present day problem of the environmental sustainability. They have approached the issue from different angles and elucidate the social and cultural backgrounds of the problem and suggest how the problems may be solved. The third chapter titled Nature in spiritual traditions: Social and cultural implications for environmental change is particularly relevant to the study of the connection between human spirit and the environment. In this chapter, the author traces the love-hate relationship of humans with the natural environment and the historical evolution of socio-natural relationships. They conclude that transformational changes to save the environment can be made only through the spiritual consciousness of humanity. They also describe several spiritual traditions that are centered on the natural environment. Gottlieb, S.(2004). This sacred Earth: Religion, nature, environment. Milton Park, UK: Routledge Publishers. Roger S. Gottlieb, in this book has discussed in detail religion’s complex relationship to the environment. He particularly focuses on the growth and transformation of religious environmentalism through the ages adopting a cross-cultural investigative perspective. He cites the spiritual practices of ancient religions and also Christian ecotheology. His writing is interspersed with scholarly studies, theological concepts, historical analysis and real life problems. By analyzing the global environmental crisis in the light of spirituality, the book proves to be a very valuable teaching r esource.Advertising We will write a custom annotated bibliography sample on Loss of Species and Its Impact on the Human Spirit specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Hassan, M.R., Scholes, R. Ash, N. (2005). Ecosystems and human well-being: current state and trends: Findings of the condition and trends working group of the millennium ecosystem assessment. ‎Washington, D.C. , Island Press. The book by Hassan et al (2005) reports on the findings of the Condition and Trends Working Group of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. It begins by first detailing how humans have affected ecosystems negatively due to their growing demands for natural resources. They point to the fact that though mankind has benefitted from these natural resources, they have also caused some damage to the environment. The authors warn that environmental degradation can get worse in the coming decades and lead to disasters of many types. There is particular focus on the coastal systems. Hassan et al holds that the coastal systems have a great deal of spiritual significance to many people around the world. The book includes good examples of different cultures where the oceans are considered to be of high value to the people. Krech, S. (2004). Encyclopedia of world environmental history: A-E volume 1 of encyclopedia of world environmental history. Milton Park, UK:   Routledge Publishers. Shephard Krech in his book Encyclopedia of World Environmental History Volume I have entries for terms beginning with alphabets A to E. Of particular interest to the subject of environment is his entry on emergence of environmentalism. He talks about the first wave of environmentalism. Kreche points to the fact that there were two key figures of the conservation movement- Gifford Pinchot and John Muir. Both sought to protect the environment for different reasons. Lauzen, L. Hales, D.R. (2009). An invitation to health. San Francisco, CA: Cengage Learning. D ianne R. hales and Lara Lauzen in their book titled An Invitation to Health have explored various facets of health such as stress management, psychological health, fitness, nutrition, communication and sexuality, reproductive choices, abuse of drugs, etc. However, the book also includes a chapter on The Spirit of Health and Wellness which is very relevant to the present paper. Lauzen and Hales hold that being spiritually well is a personal process that can be found through connecting with nature.Advertising Looking for annotated bibliography on philosophy? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Wilson, O.E. (1992). The diversity of life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Edward O. Wilson, a famous Harvard entomologist in his book The diversity of Life divulges many facts regarding the diversity of life on earth and how it is being currently endangered by mankind. He pleads eloquently to save the rich biodiversity of the planet. The book is written in simple language and will be of interest to readers of all ages.

Over the next 30 years, what are the risks to National Security posed Essay - 1

Over the next 30 years, what are the risks to National Security posed by increased competition for energy and food resources; and what initiatives might Qatar pursue to reduce these risks - Essay Example sks, as it will increase vulnerability to deterioration in the terms of trade between food and oil or the exhaustion of their reserves.3 These risks can lead to increased violence or foster another Arab Spring.4 Subject to the significance of the risks to national security, Qatar must pursue measures aimed at reducing these risks. Indeed, strategic storage and investments in port and rail infrastructure to create a regional import and transport network, economic diversification, trade diversification, price controls and consumer subsidies, strategic stockholding, and investing at home can help Qatar to reduce these risks.5 Moreover, Qatar can reduce these risks by securing imports and securing food at home to prevent terrorists from contaminating the food supply with hazardous materials.6 Ultimately, Qatar can reduce these risks by using the Qatar National Food Security Programme to achieve sustainability, adopt technology in conserving water and electricity, and abhorring research technology, and innovation to enhance food security.7 Bailey, Rob, and Robin Willoughby. â€Å"Edible Oil: Food Security in the Gulf.† CHATHAM HOUSE. January 22, 2014.

3.2 The Internal Environment Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

3.2 The Internal Environment - Research Paper Example At present, Health Ascension is identified to follow an innovative organizational structure. The implementation of this structure facilitates the authorities of the healthcare organization to make decisions in a centralized manner. The corporate structure of the organization is clearly conveyed to every employee associated with the same. The organization has developed a new structure for managing operations in accordance with its business objectives as well as mission. In this context, the corporate structure is recognized to be consistent with the organizational objectives, policies and strategies among others (1Ascension Health, 2015). The changes in the organizational structure within Health Ascension as compared to BJC Healthcare has been quite different, as Health Ascension is focused on providing special attention to the patients based on the transformations observed in the healthcare system within the US (1Ascension Health, 2015; BJC Healthcare, 2015). Ascension Health is recognized to get developed based on a well-defined culture consisting of shared expectations, values and beliefs. The organization has developed a culture based on the principle of ‘Living the Mission and Values Awards.’ By following this principle, it can be found that the individuals associated with the aforesaid healthcare organization get support as well as become motivated for performing their respective operations in accordance with the organizational mission and values. The organizational culture of this healthcare firm is also recognized to be in alignment with ethics and workplace spirituality with the development in culture based on the legal healthcare provisions in the US (2Ascension Health, 2015). 1. Marketing. Ascension Health does not make any marketing initiative for its promotion. It must be mentioned in this context that the healthcare organization is involved in implementing sponsorship strategies in terms of clarity as well as responsibility to develop itself

Sexuality In North By Northwest

Sexuality In North By Northwest While the Cold War conjured diverse anxieties, I will center my presentation on the idea of Domestic Containment, specifically the containment of homosexuality in America (Cohan). I came across this concept in Elaine Tyler Mays Homeward Bound. It deals with the political and ideological reasons 1950s America insisted on promoting rigid heterosexuality and capitalist drives, ridding itself of backward men and Communist traitors, something completely in line with Hitchcocks mission in the film Moreover, by invoking the homophobic categories of Cold War political discourse, in particular the construction of the homosexual as a national security risk, N by NW virtually guaranteed that gender and nationality functioned as mutually reinforcing categories of identity. In this presentation, I will discuss sexuality as related to ideas of nation-hood and argue that there is a mini cold war being waged in North by Northwest, one that deals specifically with advancing the American heterosexual couple over the Soviet homosexual one coded throughout the film. With the American, heterosexual couples triumph on screen comes an ideological victory for America in 1959. SLIDE Before I analyze clips and stills from North By Northwest that deal with currents of sexuality and nationality, I wanted to show this clip from the latter half of the film to show that Hitchcock makes it abundantly clear that we are supposed to read North by Northwest as a Cold War film concerned with sexuality. CLICK!!! I want you to take away from this clip the obvious language of the cold war as well as how sexuality or bedding down is wrapped up in this international struggle. In this way, North by Northwest presents in biting form America immersed in Cold War ambiguity in which people on both sides were served up as sacrificial lambs. N by NW was made and released during the latter phase of the second term of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a time when the Cold War was in full force, with the US and rival Soviet Union utilizing the most sophisticated spy techniques. This new kind of war required constant vigilance and readiness to fight on a moments notice. The Cold War lasted longer than any other war in our countrys history, starting when the United States introduced nuclear terror to the world by dropping its first atomic bomb on Japan on August 6, 1945, and lasting into our lifetime with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Although the Cold War shaped and distorted virtually every aspect of American life, perhaps more than anything else, nuclear weapons changed the world. With them, an element of vulnerability existed unlike anything in history. Nuclear threat escalated during the 1950s, the decade were concerned with today. In August 1949 the Soviets had their first successful nuclear bomb test. Both the US and the Soviet Union held hydrogen bomb tests in 1952 and 53 and in October 1957 the Soviets launched Sputnik. Americas nuclear buildup, global mobilization, and interventionism during the Cold War were justified in the name of stopping Soviet communism, a foe policymakers deemed so diabolical that its defeat warranted the risk of destroying civilization itself. The fact that the Soviet Union was not just a military, economic, and geopolitical but an ideological foe, posed a unique kind of challenge to a resolutely capitalistic nation. This ideological antagonism between socialism and capitalism polarized the world along new lines. And it is against this backdrop that Hitchcock gave birth to his suspense thriller North by Northwest. SLIDE Certain historical trends and demographics are crucial to understand before analyzing the films comments on sexuality. During the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s, an amazing rise in the birth rate, a declining age of marriage, a growth in the marriage rate, and low divorce rate all converged in the midst of the most intense years of nuclear fear and ideological and surrogate warfare. Since family formation and fertility respond to both positive and negative economic and cultural stimuli, it is not surprising that this era of comparatively good times brought increased marriage and fertility. At the same time, however, increased sexual activity at younger and younger ages, especially for women in the late 1950s and beyond, problematically, included increasing instances of pre-marital sex Thus the history of sexuality in postwar America is the story of increasing liberalization Men, too, participated. The rebellion of men against marriage and the increasingly permissive fantasy life associated with the playboy lifestyle of the late 1950s, appears to be the kind of life our protagonist and hero, Cary Grants character Roger Thornhill, ascribes to. And, in terms of female rebellion, perhaps even more dismantling is the sexual promiscuity of Eve Kendall, played by Eva Marie Saint. Thornhill is typed as a womanizer, with two failed marriages to boast of, and Eve, as if completely aware of the expectations of her 1950s culture, introduces herself to Thornhill curtly stating that shes 26 and unmarried, and thats all he needs to know. SLIDE Examining domestic containment in relation to national identity has multiple advantages. It allows us to see that what we have heretofore regarded as a unique Cold War phenomenon was in fact part of the larger, ongoing process of defining America. The very meaning of America had become greatly problematized in the 1950s. Perhaps this instability of American identity is why Hitchcock constantly reasserted distinctly American values and American locations throughout North by Northwest, on screen are just a few of the most memorable sites Hitchcock takes us. AD-LIB I will present many facets of North by Northwest that deal specifically with America and American life in order to further ground the containment of homosexuality as a Cold War strategy in the film. I first want to discuss the opening credits of the film. Understanding Hitchcocks brilliant beginning gives us-the viewers and our class today-a lens through which to understand Hitchcocks understanding of Cold War America, homophobia, heterosexuality and communism. SLIDE Designed by American graphic designer and Academy award winning filmmaker Saul Bass, the credits provide a kind of map meant to locate or orient the spectator. A series of intersecting lines, clearly intended to invoke a map or graph, traverse a blank screen placed at an angle to the camera. They eventually dissolve into a shot of an office building whose glass and steel faà §ade reflects the moving traffic on the busy street below. The mirror like surface of the faà §ade that emerges from the intersecting lines functions as a screen on which the images of the busy street below are not so much reflected as projected. Consequently, according to Robert Corber in his book In the Name of National Security: Hitchcock, Homophobia, and the Political Construction of Gender the opening titles seem to suggest that, as a semiotic practice, the film has the ability to organize and define reality, to construct a map of it that fixes its meaning for the spectator. In this way, they call attention to the artificiality or constructed-ness of the films representation of reality. It provides the spectator with coordinates that enable him/her to locate and define his/her position in the world and thereby make sense of it-a concept integral to audience reception that we have discussed at length this semester, and that I will touch on in greater depth shortly. By beginning in this way, according to Corber, the film demonstrates its ability to conjure reality, to construct a representation of the world that the spectator does not question but assumes accurately reflects contemporary society b/c of its perceptual intensity or so-called impression of reality à   thus, from the beginning, we are meant to assume that Hitchcock s representation of America in 1959 is how it really was. Another important element of the films beginning is that our protagonist Roger Thornhill appears as if plucked from the crowd at random, as he is initially shown emerging from an elevator jammed with office workers. He is completely typical of New Yorks crowded people, lacking direction. Indeed, purely by accident, he is kidnapped shortly after he arrives at the hotel by two of Vandamms men, who mistake him for the fictitious American agent George Kaplan. Thus, Hitchcock makes us think that anyone of us, too, could have been sucked into this crazy plot. One other interesting thing to glean from the title sequence is that it alludes to the traps in which the protagonists find themselves throughout the film as well as frames the films trajectory This grid recurs throughout the film, in railway cars, deserted prairie crossroads, and national monuments. From the very beginning, moreover, I want you to note that the film is an exploration of Cold War AMERICA, as seen in the vertical top shots of the Madison Avenue skyscraper, UN headquarters and Mount Rushmore and the horizontal shots of the railway car and of the empty Midwestern plane I will now show a hilarious trailer for North by Northwest from 1959, which gives a brief but comprehensive geographical tour of Hitchcocks locations, which I wont have time to flesh out on my own in this presentation, but are extremely important. SHOW TRAILER HERE! SLIDE Having recently discussed how the opening credits situate and control the spectators view of the film, and, by extension, portray the Cold War climate according to Hitchcocks construction, I want to specifically link this form of control with the viewers sexual identification. Hitchcocks films contributed indirectly to the pathologizing of same-sex eroticism by suggesting that in order for the individual to achieve a relatively stable heterosexual identity she/he had to successfully negotiate the Oedipus complex Because Hitchcocks films occupied the subject position, the spectator became complicit with her/his own Oedipalization, which, in the 1950s, was tantamount to accepting the terms of the postwar settlement. By examining N by NW in the context of the postwar settlement, I want show to that Hitchcocks films participated in a regime of pleasure that helped to consolidate the emergence of the national security state. His representational practices were complicit with the dominant construction of social reality during the Cold War era. Hitchcocks tendency to subjectivize the individual spectators experience constitutes one of the principal links b/w his films and the anti-Stalinist project of American Cold War officials. Thus, in N by NW, Hitchcock demonstrated how the discourses of national security produced fantasies that brought the individual spectators desire into alignment with the nations security interests. SLIDE Now I will move into the meat of my presentation: the politicization of sexuality. The Cold War persuaded millions of Americans to interpret their world in terms of insidious enemies who threatened them with nuclear and other forms of annihilation. McCarthyism contributed heavily to viewing the world through this dark, distorting lens and setting global and domestic policies to counter these threats. According to the Federal Government, if homosexuals felt alienated from mainstream American society, that was b/c they were maladjusted, their problems were not political but personal and were best remedied in a doctors office. On the other hand, however, the dominant discourse of same sex eroticism tried to show that homosexuality promoted communism and therefore politicized gay identities. The gay community, which had emerged with new cohesion and visibility in the wake of World War II, found itself a prime target for anticommunist crusaders. It was believed that they were especially vulnerable to blackmail by Soviet agents eager to recruit intelligence sources As a result, the early 1950s witnessed widespread purging of homosexuals from the State Department, the military, and other federal agencies. However, more than just a greater risk of blackmail was involved. Homosexuals were seen as deficient in character, moral integrity, and real masculinity. Unfit as Cold Warriors, they were thus undesirable citizens. This stigmatization, as historian John DEmilio points out in his study of Cold War sexual politics, was carried still further by conservative politicians who linked homosexuality directly to communism, re-conceptualizing homosexuality as a contagious disease spread by communists to weaken the nation from within. A single homosexual, officials maintained, could easily contaminate an entire government office. The oppression of homosexuals at all levels became yet another act of containment in the fight against communism. Homosexuals, further, were seen as especially dangerous to the extent that a gay male character was virtually indistinguishable from straight male ones, thereby demonstrating that homosexuals, like communists, could dangerously escape detection. During its highly publicized hearings in the 1940s and early 1950s, the House UnAmerican Activities Committee did not limit its investigation to the Communists who had supposedly infiltrated the federal Government, but extended it to include homosexuals who passed as heterosexual. On the basis of testimony from psychiatrists and other medical experts who testified that they were susceptible to blackmail by Soviet agents b/c they were emotionally unstable, thus officially pinning homosexuals as national-security risks. The publication of the Kinsey reports on male and female sexual behavior, in 1948 and 53 respectively, only reinforced the politicization of homosexuality. The reports provided scientific evidence suggesting that sexual identities were fluid and unstable rather than exclusively and permanently heterosexual or homosexual. In recognizing the fluidity of sexuality, hindering the attempts of gays to define themselves as members of an oppressed minority The pervasive allusions to homosexuality in North by Northwest enables me to stress the centrality of the politicization of same-sex eroticism to post-war American culture and to show that containment of homosexuality was necessary to conditions of the Cold War. Thus, North by Northwest epitomizes this tight bond between sexuality and national security in the Cold War era. SLIDE Now I will begin my analysis of sexuality in the film with what I call a montage of references to homosexuality. When looking at these stills from the movie, keep in mind how Cary Grant, our dashing American protagonist, too, can be wrapped up with homosexuality, speaking to the pervasiveness and dangers of homosexuality infiltrating American lives. SLIDE The films drama basically begins with Roger Thornhill going to an all-mens bar in the Plaza Hotel. Although he has a date for that evening, it is with his mother no less, a problem I will discuss shortly! SLIDE The theme of the kidnapping of the hero, Thornhill, by two sinister men, with the hero often seated in a car, tightly between them, recurs throughout the film in myriad forms. Pictured above are just a few examples that represent this theme of Thornhills encounters with homosexuality. CLICK FOUR TIMES. SLIDE Now we arrive at the Villain Phillip Vandamms home who is played by George Mason. I want you to keep this seemingly benign image on screen in mind throughout the remainder of my presentation. While no scholar has mentioned the significance of the cars pulling into Vandamms gate, I think this action is importantly mirrored in the iconic ending of the film that I will show later. For now, however, just keep in mind that a car driven by a man and with our protagonist squished tightly b/w two other men in the backseat, penetrates the gate to a Soviet home. SLIDE Vandamm, the lead villain, unsurprisingly is connected with homosexuality. His masculinity should be suspect because of his relationship with his sadistic, overtly homosexual associate, Leonard, played by Martin Landau, who Hitchcock notes in the screenplay should be read as gay. The slide above features Leonard, with the help of two male henchmen, forcing the neck of a liquor bottle between Thornhills lips, making him drink its full contents-an obviously phallic reference of homosexual rape SLIDE As I noted a few minutes ago, a central facet of the politicization of sexuality in the 1950s, came with associating homosexuality with communism. While Hitchcock doesnt specifically mention the country of origin of the foreigners in the film, he locates Vandamms home importantly in Glen Cove, New York. This location directly implies that Vandamm and his associates are from the Soviet Union, who at the time had a mission in that town on northern Long Island. This fact sheds particular light on the stills of homosexuality I am showing, as they are directly linked with communism. Further, later in the film, the Professor describes Vandamm as an importer exporter of government secrets, thereby coding him as a Soviet agent involved in the Cold War. SLIDE Before I move on to show and discuss the famous crop-dusting scene-the scene I regard as the most compelling, and famous, visual representation of the threat of homosexuality to our protagonist-I must first discuss another aspect of Thornhills unsuitable sexuality: his unhealthy relationship with his mother. In order to Contain Thornhill and set him on the proper sexual path, his relationship with his mother needs to severely change. The basic mother-son story line goes as follows: the film opens with an ageless male, Thornhill, identifying himself first of all as a son. He speaks of his efforts to keep the smell of liquor on his breath from the watchful nose of his mother, and he comes to the attention of his enemies because of an unresolved anxiety about getting a message to his mother, whereupon he is taken captive. (Cavell) Hitchcock suggests that Thornhills involvement in the Communist underworld, an underworld marked by sexual as well as political deviance, is not purely coincidental but is indirectly related to his devotion to his mother. The film tries to show that b/c he has failed to internalize the Law of the Father and remains emotionally dependent on his mother, there is a sense in which his irresponsible behavior is complicit with the Communist infiltration of the American government. The discourses that linked communism and homosexuality actually warned against the potentially pernicious effects of motherhood specifically and point to a reaction against the emergence of the feminine mystique of the 1950s. On the one hand, as we have seen throughout seminar, post-war American culture experienced a proliferation of glorified representations of motherhood designed to lure women back into the home following the war. On the other hand, many Americans resented the glorification of motherhood b/c it gave women supposedly too much power in the domestic sphere. With the outbreak of the Cold War, Mom-ism too became linked to the spread of communism and led to the creation of a demonology of motherhood. Suddenly, mothers risked making their sons susceptible to Communist propaganda. The discourses of mom-ism limited womens empowerment in the domestic sphere and ensured that their child-rearing practices conformed to the nations security interests. For, if women disregarded the expert advice of psychiatrists and other trained professionals, they risked producing children who were Communists as well as homosexuals. In N by NW this aspect of the demonization of motherhood is obvious in Thornhills relationship with his mother. Thornhills sexual immaturity thus is incompatible with the nations security interest. In the postwar period, the nations political stability and economic prosperity were thought to depend upon the production of subjects who had internalized the rules and regulations governing Oedipal desire. Thus Thornhill was not so different from the films Communists and homosexuals. ADLIB-mom younger than Grant, problematic. SLIDE To close this section on homosexuality, I want to look at the famous scene where Thornhill is attacked by a crop-dusting plane. This iconic sequence of events is both the central image of Thornhills victimization and surprisingly, or unsurprisingly as my presentation is attempting to prove, a powerful instance of homosexual attack. The night before this scene takes place Thornhill and Eve violate a taboo. We know that Thornhill spent the night with Eve, boldly and obviously suggesting pre-marital intercourse. I understand the attack Im about to show, which once again occurs the very next day, to be a powerful visualization of punishment for intercourse CLICK SHOW CLIP!!! CLICK AFTER! The linkage of this scene with sexuality is evident in Hitchcocks filming. The association of the prairie with the sexual landscape of the train compartment where Thornhill and Eve had sex the night before is signaled by his camera shots. Right before the clip I just showed, a close-up of Eves face at the train station dissolved into an aerial shot of the road and fields of the plane attack, explicitly linking these scenes. This shot transition begs for an allegorical identification of the woman and this stretch of land, the very land where Thornhill undergoes his attack. To discuss this scene I will rely on the analysis of Theodore Price from his book Hitchcock and Homosexuality. He notes that firstly, we must note the phallic symbolism associated with birds and of flying objects in general. According to Price, aside from the birds shape, and its darting, pecking beak, a bird is, to everyones unconscious, a phallic symbol because it flies. Flying also is a symbol for getting an erection, for potency, and for sexual intercourse in general according to Ernest Jones. Thus, in a way, the crop-dusting plane scene can conjure undertones of homosexual rape from above. There are several meanings that arise when looking at this scene from this angle. 1) This scene could represent a fear on the part of Thornhill of homosexual rape-and/or fear in his strange attraction to homosexual rape. This connection is clear especially when considering the homosexual rape still I showed earlier of Leonard forcing liquor down Thornhills mouth. The phallic bird-plane then may be interpreted as Grants fear of his former attraction to homosexuality as he starts out on still another new love affair with a woman. 2) The plane could also stand for the avenging phallus of the father figure in the film, here Vandamm, who is understandably angry at the son figure, Thornhill, for making time with the mother figure, Eve. 3) Additionally, the sequence could mean that the plane represents the Castrator, Eve, who set him up in the cornfield to begin with. For, from the psychoanalytic view, birds can be woman or vagina symbols too. SLIDE Regardless of which way we read this scene, a powerful avenging phallus, sent by Communists, launches its bullets-take this fact as an allusion to ejaculation-at our male hero. Luckily for Thornhill, he finds safety in the cornfields of America-which, in my opinion, represents finding protection from this Communist phallus in the heartland of America. SLIDE Having catalogued countless instances of the presence and associated dangers of homosexuality in the film, I now need to show how these dangers were contained by the insistence on heterosexual couple. To do so, I will use Mays analysis of 1950s Domesticity in Homeward bound. In this work, May linked the exaggerated domesticity that characterized the long fifties-from 1945-1965-that weve discussed at length in seminar to homosexuality and anticommunist imperatives. May readily acknowledged the extraordinary stresses placed upon the American family by the Great Depression and World War II. Postwar Americans, finding additional threats to traditional family life in rising rates of out-of-wedlock pregnancy and sexual promiscuity, as I discussed before, juvenile delinquency, as Willi discussed two weeks ago, and the ultimate threat of nuclear war, Americans understandably sought normalcy in marital sex, pro-natalism, and suburban domesticity during this time. Further, just as anticommunism required the containment of Sino-Soviet expansion abroad, so, too, May argued, gender revolution and deviant expression of sexual desire had to be effectively contained at home, hence domestic containment. Promotion of family values, policymakers believed, would ensure not only a place for men to return to the workforce, but also the stable family life necessary for personal and national security, a kind of Cold War victory on the domestic front. Hitchcock too received the memo, as he promoted the heterosexual couple throughout the film. Hitchcock, by associating homosexuality with the soviets coded as communists, both comments on its pervasiveness of both groups in America at that time and establishes it as the inferior sexual bond that must be checked and contained by the heterosexual couple. Thus, no mere exercise in nostalgia, domestic containment was part of a new Cold War consensus about the meaning of America and deeply embedded in the plot of North by Northwest. Now Im going to show you a series of slides that blatantly show the heterosexual couple of Thornhill and Eve. CLICK AND ADLIB SLIDE When contextualized within the domestic politics of marriage during the cold war, heterosexuality and Re-Marriage take on great importance. We come to see that Thornhill and Eves adventures throughout the film serve as trials for their suitability to get married. Eve is sexually immature before she becomes an agent for the American government, according to the terms of the postwar settlement. Although she is partially redeemed by acting as an American agent-showing her willingness to perform her patriotic duty-she nevertheless continues to occupy a position outside the law. This is so because to perform her patriotic duty she must violate the rules that govern female sexuality in the 1950s, making her only partly rehabilitated. She is a treacherous little tramp and uses sex like a fly swatter according to the movie so she remains a marked woman throughout. However, when Thornhill rescues her from Vandamm, he enables her to do something genuinely worthwhile for the nation: become a proper wife and mother The relationship b/w gender and nationality suggests that Thornhills activities as an American agent also need to be reconstructed according to the post-war settlement. His activities as an American agent create a scenario that puts an end to his womanizing. Thornhills mix-up within the CIAs efforts to combat communism actually increases his desire for marriage and domesticity. To Thornhill, the domestic sphere not only provides a refuge from the government which has recklessly endangered his and eves lives, but also constantly restages his pre-Oedipal attachment to his mother. In this way, his espionage activities ensure that the organization of sexuality and his identity as a citizen are mutually reinforcing. Thus, Hitchcock stresses the ability of the American government to regulate and control the construction of the individuals subjectivity-as it is only once he is involved in its activities that he is redeemed. According to the discourses of national security then, Thornhills resistance to his role as a husband is un-American, and his activities as an American reorganize him as a proper citizen. This scene shows how the series of events that have unfolded have transformed both protagonists views of marriage, and suggest that re-marriage in the name of national security is on the horizon. CLICK SHOW CLIP As you just saw Thornhill uses the loaded word proposal that explicitly suggests marriage. Also, they discuss his former failed marriages, alerting the viewer that we are dealing with re-marriage here. Also, Cary Grants sly wit about leading too dull a life suggests that as a result of his involvement in matters of state, he has achieved a level of excitement suitable for marriage and can now enter into a proper relationship. SLIDE I want to show you a series of images and a clip from the end of the film that pit homosexuality explicitly against heterosexuality. With their placement at the end of the film they attain great significance, suggesting that the winner of this sexual battle is the victor in a mini cold war. In addition, I show images with men and women, homosexuals and heterosexuals, in these clips, to show both strains of sexuality at odds within a single frame. SLIDE Before I show these stills and clips, I need to discuss the importance of the Vandamm house itself, where the majority of these clips take place. Situated in a fictitious forested plateau atop the Mount Rushmore, Vandamms house dominates a devotional shrine of American democracy-its positioning alone reveals how even Americas most iconic monuments are endangered by Soviet penetration. Further, the houses Midwestern location-in the Black Hills region, near Keystone, South Dakota, is also important. The move toward the west, evoked by the films title, brings the protagonists to the American heartland, the spine of the continent. Additionally, the houses placement atop a mountain has wider implications. It expresses visual domination and panoptic control. The fact that blatant homosexuality pervades a site that serves simultaneously as a great threat to an iconic American monument and exerts intense control, suggests how dangerous the threats of homosexuality and communism have at once become at the end of the film. CLICK THROUGH CLIPS and ad-lib CLICK, SHOW CLIP! In this clip, we see Leonard using phrases like his womans intuition aligning himself with homosexuality, or femininity at the least and Vandamm noting that hes touched by jealousy. SLIDE Now I would like to move into the final phase of my discussion: a comprehensive discussion of Mount Rushmore, and the battle between the US and Soviet Union that occurs atop its democratic faces. First and foremost, we must understand Mount Rushmore to be a place so definitely and undeniably American. Using a carved rock containing the gigantic granite portraits of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln as a backdrop, Hitchcock suggests that what happens there is of NATIONAL IMPORTANCE. After a few savvy moves, Thornhill and Eve leave Vandamms house and find themselves atop monument being chased by Vandamm, Leonard and their henchmen.