Active Audience

Active Audience Audience is important in any communication process because the media constructs and conveys information for the people. Moreover, it would not exist if there were no public1. Therefore, an audience is the group of people or the public to which information is being conveyed to.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on Active Audience specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In this case, an active audience is that which assesses and interprets the information that is passed by the media and reacts according to the facts conveyed. The active audience may reply, tell to another person or buy a product as a result of the information received; more generally, people make active discretions according to what they find out from the media. Its importance to the theorization of audience dates back to the 1970s and 1980s when more researchers and theorists, such as David Gauntlett, Frank Biocca, among others, became increasingly focused o n media audience2. Most of them centered on gaining more useful understanding of what people do with the media in their daily lives. Vital characteristics identified include the selectivity by the active audience on the type of media they choose to use, the utilitarianism of active audience to use media to meet their needs and goals intentionality as the media content works on to achieve purposeful and complete involvement of the active audiences, in order to influence it. Polysemy Polysemy is the association of a word to more than one distinct meaning. A polyseme is a word or phrase with multiple meanings. In relation to media audience and the theorization of the audience, a word may have more than one meaning when it is received by the different audiences which may differ from what was intended by the sender of the information3. The audience may interpret information conveyed based on its social background or surroundings or previously received data that is related to the one rece ived at the moment. Therefore, different receivers of the same information may have different understanding of the same information. Therefore, the texts are viewed as polysemic and related to gratification theory which discusses how users proactively search for media that will not only meet a given need but enhance knowledge, social interactions and diversion4.Advertising Looking for assessment on communication strategies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More That is why, the whole society should be very interested in the way of how the media are accepted and work on further to see its influence on people and their lives. According to this approach, it is also emphasized that people decide on their own what type of media to select which will be perfect for them. The theory also states that media is necessary for the current society as a way to meet and satisfy individuals needs and desires5. To sum everything up, it can be concluded that media should always remain competitive in the sphere of entertainment to please its consumers. Public Sphere Public sphere is an area in social life where people can come together to freely discuss and identify societal problems, and through that discussion, influence political action. It is a discursive space in which individuals and groups congregate to discuss matters of mutual interest and, where possible, to reach a common judgment. The public sphere can be seen as a theater in modern societies in which political participation is enacted through the medium of talk and a realm of social life in which public opinion can be formed. Among the institutions that contribute to the make-up of a public sphere in society, the media, perhaps, perform the most critical function6. In fact, the media play an active role in the public sphere because TV, radio as well as press become innovators in the society implementing new things and promoting innovations or even some revo lutionary lifestyles and movements. In this study, it is revealed that media, as a rule, do not agree with some other power that tries to dominate or influence the society as it becomes viewed as a threat that may undermine its authority and/or limit its powers. Thus, the type of the relationships between the media and some country are defined by the level of states intervention and control over the public sphere7. As an example, the case occurred in the 18th century can be given when the opposition of the Bengal Gazette and the British government was too evident to be kept in a secret. After such impudent attacks on the authorities, any attempts of the media to criticize the politics and influence it are excluded.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on Active Audience specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Reception Analysis Based on polysemic understanding of texts or information by different audiences, reception analysis goes beyond the different perception and takes a close look at what is actually going on. Reception analysis concentrates more on the audience and how the people come to a particular understanding view of a text or information8. To some extent, it is obvious that each of us will decode or translate texts in ways that reflect our personal experience. So, gender, class, occupation and personal circumstances are all important in determining how we decode a text. Once it is accepted that audiences are active, it begins to construct meanings; there are obvious implications for research methodology. Quantitative research is not suited to investigate the construction of meaning. To understand the meanings that people take from a text, it is necessary to get closer to individual audience members and engage them at a personal level-qualitative research9. Once this research technique is employed, simple answers become impossible as complexity takes over. Media Ethnography The term ethnograph y has come to be equated with virtually any qualitative research where the intent is to provide a detailed, in-depth description of everyday life and practice10. Another term, which describes this issue, is called thick description; it was suggested and developed by the anthropologist Clifford Geertz who worked on an interpretive theory of culture in the 1970s11. In this case, media ethnography will refer to the means in which mass media interprets using its own tools, and the use of qualitative methods, particularly ethnography, which distinguishes media anthropology from other disciplinary approaches.Advertising Looking for assessment on communication strategies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The interest in and importance of the media increased with the development of studies examining this issue. However, these do not always use the anthropological methods to study ethnography12. Media Ethnography is important to the theorization of audience as it establishes the cause effects through its research processes and hence eliminates room for doubts in the assessment of the audience as it relates to the process of communication with the same. Bibliography Abercrombie, N, Television and Society, Polity Press, Cambridge, 1996. Bauer, RA, ‘The obstinate audience’, American Psychologist, vol. 19, no. 7, 1964, pp. 319-328. Amacher, R Lange, V, New Perspectives in German Literary Criticism, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1979. Bauer, RA Bauer, A, ‘America, Mass society, and mass media’, Journal of Social Issues, vol. 16 no. 4, 1960a pp.3-66. Barwise, TP, Ehrenberg, AS Goodhardt, GJ, ‘Glued to the box: Patterns of TV repetitive-viewingâ₠¬â„¢, Journal of Communication, vol. 32, no. 5, 1982, pp. 22-29. Berelson, B, ‘The state of communication research’ Public Opinion Quarterly, vol. 23, no. 3, 1959, pp. 1-6. Christian, SK, ‘Making sense of audience discourses: Towards a multidimensional model of mass media reception’, European Journal of Cultural Studies vol. 67, No. 3, 2000, pp. 3; 233. Iser, W, The Act of Reading: A Theory of Aesthetic Response, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1978. Jauss, RH, Toward an Aesthetic of Reception, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 1982. Hoey, BA, What is Ethnography?, Brianhoey.com, 2011, 23 March 2012, brianhoey.com/General%20Site/general_defn-ethnography.htm. Holub, RC, Crossing Borders: Reception Theory, Poststructuralism, Deconstruction. University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1992. Wood, H, The mediated conversational floor: an interactive approach to audience reception analysis, Media Culture Society, vol. 29, no. 1, 2007, p. 75-103. Footn otes 1 H Wood, The mediated conversational floor: an interactive approach to audience reception analysis, Media Culture Society, vol. 29, no. 1, 2007, p. 75-103. 2 RH Jauss. Toward an Aesthetic of Reception, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 1982. 3 S K Christian, Making sense of audience discourses: Towards a multidimensional model of mass media reception, European Journal of Cultural Studies Vol. 67, No. 3, 2000, pp. 3; 233. 4 N Abercrombie, Television and Society, Polity Press, Cambridge, 1996. 5 RC Holub, Crossing Borders: Reception Theory, Poststructuralism, Deconstruction, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1992. 6 TP Barwise, AS Ehrenberg GJ Goodhardt, Glued to the box: Patterns of TV repetitive-viewing, Journal of Communication, Vol. 32, no. 5, 1982, pp. 22-29. 7 RA Bauer A Bauer, America, Mass society, and mass media. Journal of Social Issues, vol. 16 no. 4, 1960a pp.3-66. 8 R Amacher V Lange, eds. New Perspectives in German Literary Criticism, Princeton Univers ity Press, Princeton, 1979. 9 RA Bauer, The obstinate audience, American Psychologist, vol. 19, no. 7, 1964b, pp. 319-328. 10 BA Hoey, What is Ethnography?, Brianhoey.com, 2011. 11 B. Berelson, The state of communication research, Public Opinion Quarterly, vol. 23, no. 3, 1959, pp. 1-6. 12 W Iser, The Act of Reading: A Theory of Aesthetic Response, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1978.

A Study of the Relation of Gender and Self-Esteem in Conformity

A Study of the Relation of Gender and Self-Esteem in Conformity Abstract Conformity studies have been extensive following Asch’s (1956) classic line judgement task. Numerous factors have been purported to affect conformity behaviours. The present study investigates gender differences in conforming behaviours, and how self-esteem is associated with conformity, by replicating Asch’s original experiment. The study further explores if self-esteem is associated with conformity differently between gender groups. Twenty-two psychology undergraduates (eight males and fourteen females) were recruited. An independent t-test and bivariate correlation analyses were used to analyse the data. The results revealed 1) no gender difference in conforming behaviours, 2) a significant negative correlation between self-esteem and conforming behaviours, 3) differential association of self-esteem and conformity between males and females. In all, the results suggest that conformity is influenced by an individual’s sense of self-worth instead of a person†™s gender identity; gender may be a moderating variable in self-esteem and conformity research that future studies can explore. Gender and Self-Esteem Differences in Conformity: Revisiting Asch’s Conformity Test People are often faced with situations where they are pressurized to conform to certain norms or behaviours. Conformity is the change in behaviours in response to real or imagined pressure from members of the social environment (Gilovich, Keltner, Chen, Nisbett, 2013). In a classic study by Asch (1956), it was demonstrated that people can give obviously wrong answers even when they knew it was incorrect because of the sense of pressure from others. Specifically, participants in the study were shown three different comparison lines and were asked which line was similar to a target line presented adjacent. The participants were seated among a group of 7 to 9 and had to answer after the others indicated their response. There was only one participant in each group and the rest were confederates who gave unanimous incorrect answers on specified trials, known as critical trials. Approximately 75% of the participants conformed on at least one trial – of these participants, 5% confor med on all critical trials. Qualitative analysis after the experiment revealed that the participants knew the answers were incorrect, but felt the need to conform as they did not want to feel rejected, suggesting that people have a psychological need to fit in with a group. The yielding to group pressure because of a need to fit in is termed normative social influence, as opposed to informational social influence wherein people are uncertain of a situation and look to others for guidance (Asch, 1956; Gilovich et al, 2013). Clearly, Asch’s study explores the aspect of normative social influence. Numerous studies had since found divergent findings (Bond Smith, 1996; Mori Arai, 2010), questioning the external validity of the study. Perhaps the most important limitation to Asch’s study was the use of only male participants, indicating the need for further studies exploring gender differences. Literature on gender differences remains inconsistent – while women was generally found to conform more than men in the past (Bond Smith, 1996), recent studies suggest no gender differences (Rosander Eriksson, 2012), or mixed results in conformity between gender groups (Enjanjan, Zeigler-Hill, Vonk, 2015). Reviewing Gender Differences Women were generally found to conform more than men possibly due to gender roles and the conforming towards such roles during the period (1960s – 1990s) when the experiments took place (Rosander Eriksson, 2012). The social identity of women was arguably more submissive and conforming than present. Good and Sanchez (2010) posited that people conform to gender roles of the society due to intrinsic enjoyment of pulling together an individual’s actual and ideal selves, or due to extrinsic pressure from society. According to the self-discrepancy theory (Higgins, as cited in Gilovich et al., 2013), people are constantly motivated to compare between their actual selves – representing who people truly believe themselves to be – and two other selves, the ideal and ought selves. The former refers to the more positive connotation of people’s ambitions and what others maintain about them; the latter refers to the sense of obligation people feel pressurized to follow. Bond and Smith (1996) meta-analysis seems to substantiate this theory. In retrospect, the review was also done in the 1990s and conformity behaviours might have changed since then. Agreeably, Rosander and Eriksson (2012) found that women did not conform more than men. The study utilized the Asch’s paradigm, but on the internet where participants were not interacting face-to-face with each other. An additional measure of task difficulty (Easy/Difficult) was introduced. The overall conformity result was like Asch’s original study. Additionally, men were found to conform more than women on difficult task (specifically on difficult and logical questions, for details see Rosander Eriksson, 2012). This is corroborated by Enjanjan and colleagues (2015) where men with varying levels of self-esteem were found to conform more on difficult trials. Furthermore, women might not have been more conforming but that men tend to report less conformity depending on the context (Rosander Eriksson, 2012). Recent explanation of why men conform less alludes to the idea that non-conformity portrays uniqueness, thus making an individual stand out and increase prospective opportunities such as leadership roles (Griskevicius, Goldstein, Mortensen, Cialdini, Kenrick, 2006; Rosander Eriksson, 2012). Taken together, the findings suggest no concrete direction of gender difference, and hints a relationship between conformity and self-esteem. Reviewing Self-Esteem in Conformity Following the self-discrepancy theory, conformity towards ascribed norms may increase self-esteem due to inherent positive feelings. Conversely, conforming due to feelings of pressure may induce lower levels of self-esteem (Good Sanchez, 2010; Gilovich et al., 2013). Alternatively, this paper aims to identify if self-esteem levels affect people’s conforming behaviours. One of the main reasons people conform is the desire to fit in or to be correct (i.e. normative and informational social influences, Gilovich et al., 2013). Since these desires are associated with self-esteem (Enjanjan et al., 2016), it is intuitive to think that people with low self-esteem conforms more. Truly, studies converge on the notion that individuals with low self-esteem tend to conform more than individuals with high self-esteem (Enjanjan et al., 2016), possibly to protect their weak sense of self and mitigate the damaging impacts of failure (Ardnt, Schimel, Greenberg, Pyszczynski, 2002). Research on the relationship of gender in self-esteem and conformity remained scarce, with identifiable studies placing self-esteem as the outcome/dependent variable in their study instead of conformity (Good Sanchez, 2010). Due to inconsistencies in the literature, this paper expects a non-directional gender difference in rate of conformity. Next, it is expected that self-esteem is negatively correlated with conformity. Finally, this paper further explores if self-esteem levels between gender groups is differently associated with conformity. Methods Design There were two designs of the study – a between-subject quasi-experimental design for test of group difference and a correlational design for test of association. The independent variable for the former test was gender; the dependent variable was social conformity operationalised as the rate of conformity (out of 12 critical trials) of Asch’s (1956) conformity test. Self-esteem, measured using Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES; Rosenberg, 1965a), was correlated with the dependent variable. Participants responded to both RSES and the conformity experiment. Participants A total of 22 Participants (8 Males, 14 Females), age ranging from 18 – 25 years (M = 20.7, SD = 2.35 years) were recruited from James Cook University as part of their course requirement PY3102. Majority of the participants (N = 19) were First year students, and the remaining (N = 3) were Second year students. All participants were included in the study as all relevant details were filled up in both the demographics form (Gender, Age, and Year of study in college), and all participants completed the experiment. Materials Asch’s (1956) line judgement task. Microsoft PowerPoint 2016 was used to create the stimuli and presented through in-class overhead projector in James Cook University Singapore, room C2-06. The stimuli (Appendix A) consist of 18 trials of line judgement test, 12 of which were critical trials whereby the researcher recorded responses of the participants. The confederates were told to give wrong responses unanimously on the critical trials. The target lines were copied exactly (copy-paste function) from the correct comparison line while the remaining lines were created such that the correct answer was always obvious. All lines were between 2 – 10 inches (5.08cm – 25.40cm) following the original study. Rosenberg self-esteem scale (RSES; 1965a). The RSES is a 10-item scale that measures feelings of self-worth by assessing both positive and negative feelings about the self (Rosenberg, 1965b). The items are scored on a 4-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Items 2, 5, 6, 8, 9 are reverse scored. Item scores are summed and higher scores indicate higher self-esteem (Appendix B). The scale was found to have good internal consistency, a = .91, and demonstrated good internal and external validity (Sinclair et al., 2010). Procedure Participants were given an information sheet and were told that their participation is completely voluntary; they could leave at any point in the experiment. Only one participant was present for each experiment. Upon agreeing to informed consent and filling up of the demographics sheet, participants completed the RSES. Participants were told that they were in a group study of visual judgement together with three other confederates, and were assigned to the last seat in the row. The researcher presented the line judgement task on screen (5 metres away) and participants had to answer: â€Å"Which comparison line A, B, or C is the same as the target line?† after responses from all confederates. The confederates were instructed to give unanimous correct responses on trials 1, 2, 6, 10, 15, and 16 (randomly generated order, except for 1 and 2, following Asch’s original study), while incorrect responses for all other trials (critical trials). Only responses from the critical trials were recorded. Finally, participants were debriefed and given the true nature of the experiment. Statistical Analysis IBM SPSS 22 was used to analyse the data. An independent t test was used to test for gender differences and bivariate correlation analysis was used to test for the relationship between self-esteem and the dependent variable. Results The present study explored gender differences in social conformity, and its relationship to self-esteem. Table 1 presents the descriptive statistics of each group. Contrary to the hypothesis, an independent t test revealed no significant differences between male and female, t(20)= -0.067, p = .947, 95% CI [-0.256, 0.240]. A significant moderate negative correlation was found between self-esteem and social conformity, r(20) = -.58, p = .004, indicating that people with higher self-esteem tend to conform less. Finally, this study further explored if self-esteem levels between males and females would be associated differently with rate of conformity. A bivariate correlation analysis between gender groups indicated differential association with conformity – there was a significant strong negative correlation in the female group, r(12) = -.73, p = .003; there was no significant correlation in the male group, r(6) = -.31, p = .45. Discussion In all, the results revealed no gender differences in rate of conformity, a significantly moderate negative correlation of self-esteem and conformity, and different associations of self-esteem and conformity in males and females – women with higher self-esteem seems to conform less, while there was no significant correlation in men with varying levels of self-esteem. Contrary to previous findings, it appears that males and females do not differ in their rate of conformity. One possible explanation can be that gender roles in the current globalized society are not as prominent and people are more liberal in their social identity, thus blurring the distinction between gender. The result was consistent with the hypothesis of negative correlation of self-esteem and conformity, thus supporting previous findings and the notion that conforming behaviours seem to be a form of defensiveness toward threats to the self (i.e. fear of criticism or judgement by others, feeling excluded etc). Additionally, this paper showed that different levels of self-esteem in males and females are associated with conformity, consistent with Enjanjan et al.’s (2016) findings. It is likely that females with low self-esteem value the desire to be liked by others more than men with low self-esteem, while women with high self-esteem is more confident to make autonomous decisions. Conversely, men probably do not consider conforming behaviours as being impactful to their self-esteem as they may feel that uniqueness is a preferable trait rather than being liked by others. However, it is puzzling that no gender difference emerged overall, but differential associations emerged at var ying levels of self-esteem in males and females. The findings imply that conformity in people may be related more to an individual’s sense of self-worth rather than to gender, and complex interactions may exist between gender groups and self-esteem levels. The findings may be of interest to people working in groups, especially leaders – to identify the tendency for people to conform and therefore impeding productive generation of ideas. Limitations and Future Directions This study is limited due to the small sample size (N = 22), and very low count of male participants (n = 8). Also, all participants were psychology students and they might have guessed the nature of the study. This was controlled by asking for the year of study – with older-year students having the tendency to guess the true nature. Furthermore, due to the quasi-experimental nature, random assignment was not possible thereby confounding the results. Future studies may recruit more participants and include a question at the end of the experiment (â€Å"What is the study about?†) to exclude participants who know the true nature of the study. This was not done in the present study due to restrictive sample size. Perhaps with adjustments to the study and with more advanced statistical procedures, complex interactions between gender, self-esteem, and conformity can be discovered.

Introduction to Accounting & Finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Introduction to Accounting & Finance - Essay Example is that all the partners can be held liable for the acts of other partners which is done in the name of the firm that they form and a person may be held responsible for acts that he has not committed. (Business guide n.d.) An advantage of this business structure is that there are very little formalities in the establishment of the business and all the partners can pool their expertise and resources for a common purpose and profit sharing. (All business n.d.) Once the capital has been input by the firm, it will take 2 weeks for the raw material to be supplied to the firm and 6 weeks from there to manufacture the raw material and transform it in to finished goods. (Bized n.d.) During the period, i.e. after 2 weeks from the payment of raw material and 6 weeks from the date on receipt of raw material, the goods will be converted in to finished goods. They may face some blockage with the liquidity and the working capital as they have given the customers a credit period of 2 months and the suppliers a credit period of 1 month which means that the customers will take longer to pay for the goods while the suppliers will have to be paid in lesser time, therefore the firm will always be short of cash and will depend on the customers as to when they return the money only then they can produce more goods. This may cause some idle periods in the production as they will have to wait for the payment to be made to them. They can obtain a greater credit period from the suppliers which is longer than the period that they are offering their customers of try and reduce the credit period of the customers through renegotiation which will allow them to generate the cash from its customers and purchase more raw material will enable the production process to go on without any halt and the working capital will be available without interruption in the production. It cannot be said to be a correct representation of the company’s cash position at the end of October. This is because

RESEARCH AND THEORY METHODS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

RESEARCH AND THEORY METHODS - Essay Example In addition, the literature argues that the nature of gender bias changes as women and men mature from elementary school children through adolescence, to college undergraduate and graduate students (Kelley & Parsons, 2000) Given that men and women participate in gender bias behaviours, research provides limited qualitative insight to explain why men and women accept such behaviours in a classroom environment (Fritschner, 2000). This paper compares the perceptions of male and female graduate students regarding the influence of gender in the classroom. Once gender influences are better understood, women and men may also have the opportunity to improve their understanding of each other. Literature Review The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 outlawed discrimination based on several characteristics, including gender. However, long ­standing attitudes, traditions, and practices continued to subtly subjugate minority groups based on race, gender, ethnicity, age, and sexual orientation. As note d by Haslett and Lipman (1997), "As overt, visible discrimination was challenged in the 1960s and 1970s, it became replaced by subtle and covert discrimination" (p. 36). Beginning in the early 1980s, popular research by Sadker and Sadker (1985), Hall and Sandler (1982), and others explored subtle mechanisms that marginalised women in the classroom. As defined by Mary Rowe (1977), gender bias produces "micro inequities" reflecting "everyday interactions in which individuals are often treated differently because of their gender" (Sandler, Silverberg, and Hall, 1996, p.1 0). Haslett and Lipman (1997) observed: Micro inequities are particularly ubiquitous because in each instance the harm seems too small to bother with. In the aggregate, however, they constitute a serious barrier to productivity, advancement, and inclusion. Micro inequities are particularly difficult to respond to because of the face issues involved as well as the seeming "smallness" of each single instance. (p. 38) As summarised by Fassinger (1995), research efforts produce conflicting opinions. For example, Hall and Sandler's widely referenced 1982 report provided anecdotal documentation of gender bias in academia, concluding that gender bias created a "chilly climate" for women in colleges and universities. However, Howard and Henney (1998) dispute the existence of a chilly climate. While Young (2001) explores biases that have an adverse impact on boys, most gender bias research examines the marginalising behaviours committed by men against women. However, gender bias includes more than men marginalising women's efforts. Haslett and Lipman (1997) observed that "women may discriminate against other women through their reluctance to support other women. And women may discriminate against themselves through limiting their own aspirations or an unwillingness to take risks" (pp. 35-36). King (1998) found that women unconsciously favor academic papers based on the assumption that the paper was writte n by a man. Research on gender bias provides a rich assortment of quantitative and anecdotal investigations into the nature and impact of gender bias in academia. As examples, Karp and Yoels (1976) quantified classroom participation among undergraduate and graduate students. Hall and Sandler's chilly classroom reports (Hall & Sandler, 1982) were based primarily on anecdotal research. Jamison (1999) evaluated interviews with more than 340

Shift In Plagued Society :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many aspects of European life changed as a result of â€Å"the Black Death.† Not least among these changes was the shift that occurred among the economic standing of the medieval family and the ultimate â€Å"ushering out† of the feudalistic age. Prior to the plague, society in Europe remained largely feudalistic. Kings had their lords, lords their dukes, dukes their barons, and so on and so forth, with the majority, the peasants, sitting at the bottom virtually providing for all the nobility above them. Providing for the masters of the land was not easy for the peasants, taxes here and there kept there worth low, and their only assets to begin with were the little they had, â€Å"their land, family labor, and capital†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Hanawalt, p112)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Regrettably, for the nobles, things began to shift in the economic make up of Europe. As a noble, one was expected to maintain an army at call in return for land received from the king. Each successively lower noble had less land and a smaller army to maintain, but it remained that in order to be a noble one had many expenses to provide for. As the trade routes began to reopen after the plagues, people began to find the cities much more attractive than the farms that entailed a life of servitude to a lords.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Prior to the plagues, the population of Europe as a whole had been largely stagnant, while there were famines rather frequently, they were merely a result of population overspill, and society as a whole did not topple. (Herlihy, p39) With the introduction of the plague to Europe, the city populations rapidly declined, thus making room in the cities for the farmers who eagerly entered the cities. Because they were, of course, not farming in the cities, people had to take up trades and so Europe began to flourish again economically. But because the people were living in the cities, they had little need to pay taxes to a lord, and thus emerged the middle class, a class that was able to make good money off of their trade, but, unlike the nobility, had no need to spend their money on armies and land maintenance, and could save for themselves. Furthermore, with the sharp drop in overall population peasants who continued to farm had a much smaller population to support, and as some peasants moved to the city, so did the farming peasants move to take over the land left over.

Bridget Jones Diary Essay

In the novel Bridget Jones Diary, author Helen Fielding portrays men and women as superficial observers who act on their superficial judgment and are mentally affected by this. There are many different social messages being conveyed but they all seem to be of some superficial nature. They mostly express a man or a woman’s sexual lust or interest to some extent, and are shown as superficial. One of the gestures of superficiality is Bridget’s constant documentation of her weight. It shows how her weight directly affects her appearance towards men which affects her mood from happy to sad vice versa. Bridget states â€Å"Today is a historic and joyous day. After eighteen years of trying to get down to 119 lbs. I have finally achieved it. †(90) and then goes on to argue how if it’s a tapeworm then its staying which shows how she’s content with whatever makes he make her attractive no matter the cost towards health. Bridget then says â€Å"I am not in love with Daniel anymore. I am free. †(91) Which conveys how Bridget’s loss in weight made her instantly feel more confident. This shows her superficiality because she lets her weight become a gauge for how she should feel about herself which leads to her more positive thoughts. Bridget would change her personality to adapt to situations and cause certain reactions from people like Daniel. When Daniel attempted to undo Bridget’s skirt for the first time Bridget reacted to his brash actions by denying him saying she isn’t interested. After a few weeks however, Bridget said â€Å"Still no word from Daniel. Cannot face thought of entire Sunday stretching ahead with everyone else in the world except me in bed with someone giggling and having sex. †(37) which shows her fickleness after denying Daniel which I believe started with her talk with Sharon when she says â€Å"†¦ Emotional fuckwittage, which is spreading like a wildfire among men over thirty. As women glide from their twenties to thirties, Shazzer argues, the balance of power suddenly shifts. Even the most outrageous minxes lose their nerve. †(17) This was the introduction of â€Å"Emotional fuckwittage† which was the reason that Bridget denied Daniel. This depicts that women can see through men for their desire to mess with women’s emotion by their lust. The social message being conveyed about men shows that men are only interested in sex with no regards to collateral damage to women’s emotions. Thus Bridget let her view of men affect her emotionally. There were many portrayals of what women and men wanted out of relationships and were also based off of superficial judgments of men and women, where men wanted sex, and women wanted marriage. Throughout the book Bridget is pressured to get married by her family and acts as if there is some sort of obligation at her age to be married which is conveyed when she responds to her mom’s pressure by saying â€Å"Mum, I’ve told you. I don’t need to be fixed up with. †(9)

Exercise in Sentence Combining with Adverb Clauses

As discussed in part one and part two, adverb clauses are subordinate structures that show the relationship and relative importance of ideas in sentences. They explain such things as when, where, and why about an action stated in the main clause. Here well practice building and combining sentences with adverb clauses. Practice Exercise:Building Combining Sentences with Adverb Clauses Combine the sentences in each set below by turning the sentence(s) in bold into an adverb clause. Begin the adverb clause with an appropriate subordinating conjunction. When youre done, compare your new sentences with the sample combinations on page two, keeping in mind that multiple combinations are possible. Example:Sailors wear earrings.The earrings are made of gold.Sailors always carry the cost of a burial.They carry the cost on their own bodies.Combination 1: So that they always carry the cost of a burial on their bodies, sailors wear gold earrings.Combination 2: Sailors wear gold earrings so that they always carry the cost of a burial on their bodies. It is unlikely that Cleopatra actually committed suicide with an asp.The species is unknown in Egypt.The boy hid the gerbil.No one would ever find it. Our neighbors installed a swimming pool.The pool is in their backyard.They have gained many new friends.My parents and I watched in awe.We watched on a hot August evening.Erratic bolts of lightning illuminated the sky.The bolts of lightning were from a distant storm. Benny played the violin.The dog hid in the bedroomThe dog whimpered.Natural rubber is used chiefly to make tires and inner tubes.It is cheaper than synthetic rubber.It has greater resistance to tearing when wet. A Peruvian woman finds an unusually ugly potato.She runs up to the nearest man.She smashes it in his face.This is done by ancient custom.Credit cards are dangerous.They encourage people to buy things.These are things that people are unable to afford.These are things that people do not really need.I kissed her once.I kissed her by the pigsty.She wasnt looking.I neve r kissed her again.She was looking all the time.Some day I shall take my glasses off.Some day I shall go wandering.I shall go out into the streets.I shall do this deliberately.I shall do this when the clouds are heavy.I shall do this when the rain is coming down.I shall do this when the pressure of realities is too great. When youre done, compare your new sentences with the sample combinations on page two. Here are sample answers to the practice exercise on page one: Building and Combining Sentences with Adverb Clauses. Keep in mind that multiple combinations are possible. Because the species is unknown in Egypt, it is unlikely that Cleopatra actually committed suicide with an asp.The boy hid the gerbil where no one would ever find it.Since our neighbors installed a swimming pool in their backyard, they have gained many new friends.On a hot August evening, my parents and I watched in awe as erratic bolts of lightning from a distant storm illuminated the sky.Whenever Benny played the violin, the dog hid in the bedroom and whimpered.Natural rubber is used chiefly to make tires and inner tubes because it is cheaper than synthetic rubber and has greater resistance to tearing when wet.By ancient custom, when a Peruvian woman finds an unusually ugly potato, she runs up to the nearest man and smashes it in his face.Credit cards are dangerous because they encourage people to buy things that they are unable to afford and do not really need.I kissed her once by the pigsty when she wasnt looking and never kissed her again although she was looking all the time.(Dy lan Thomas, Under Milk Wood)Some day, when the clouds are heavy, and the rain is coming down and the pressure of realities is too great, I shall deliberately take my glasses off and go wandering out into the streets, never to be heard from again.(James Thurber, The Admiral on the Wheel)