Gone with the Wind

The movie Gone with the Wind (1939) is considered the most beloved, popular and of everlasting relevance. It has won several Oscar awards in 1939. Produced by David O Selznick, and directed by Victor Fleming, the film was released a few months after WWII began in Europe. It enabled the American viewers to identify with the war and its theme of survival. It was based on a novel written by Margaret Mitchell about civil war and reconstruction in America. Producer, David O Selznick had obtained the movie right to Mitchell’s novel in 1936 for $50,000. The renowned film was shot in Technicolor which was used very rarely in those times. The historical classic movie of the Old South during civil war period boasts of an eternal cast in a timeless, classic tale of love-hate romance. The movie covers the various romantic pursuits of the resolute heroine Scarlett OHara, against the background of historical events. Ashley, the man she loves marries her cousin, Melanine. She finds it difficult to find love during the civil war years and is forced to seek shelter for herself and her family in the plantation Tara. She defends it against union soldiers, carpetbaggers and even against starvation. Scarlet marries Rhett Butler but the marriage fails due to her indifference towards him. She again returns to Tara. Cinematography: Cinematography is the art of making camera and lighting choices when recording photographic images for the cinema.Techniocolour was not widely used when the film Gone with the Wind was being filmed. Moreover, it carried several disadvantages. Selznick borrowed all the seven heavy, cumbersome cameras of the Technicolor Corporation for shooting. Each picture had colour consulant who had the power to reject any colour scheme she felt was incompatible with colour cinematography. Moreover, the technical advisers, who were supposed to assist the cinematographers, had only worked with black and white film. Technicolor required double the amount of lighting for illumination of a scene. Selznick had previously worked with technicolour. He knew that it would be very important in giving Gone with the Wind visual richness needed for a classic drama. Actually, Selznick wanted the film’s colour to have the same impact as the characters emotions. He was so determined in it and went to the extent of dismissing the first cinematographer, Lee Garmes, for choosing a colour scheme which Selznick thought was very much subdued. The next cinematographer, Ernest Haller, was more successful in obtaining more glowing effects. Selznick had realized that shadow formed an important part in a scene’s visual impact. He asked his colour consultant to shoot Scarlett and her father on the hill at Tara. With the farm gleaming brightly in the distance, the ensuing farming effect strongly emphasizes Gerald’s feeling about the significance of the land. Selznick employs this silhouetting to the similar effect in the film’s final scene, when Scarlett stands on the same mount as she comes home to Tara. Another use of shadow is to highlight moments that focus on relationship between characters in the film. It is first used in the form of the frightening shadows Melanie and Scarlett cast on the walls of temporary hospital. Later on, delivery of Melanie’s baby is lighted with silver streams of light. The darkness in the scene renders it more personal and gives it a powerful simplicity. (Fleming, 1939). The use of Matte painting was another technique which Selznick adapted from black and white film to Technicolour. When a shot is filmed, the area to be painted in afterwards is covered with black matte paint on a glass screen positioned in front of the camera. Afterwards, a colour scale illustration of the omitted portion is shot to cover the blacked out area. Clarence Silfer, the special effects cinematographer of Gone with the Wind used the technique to complete a number of sets that were only partially finished. All, Outhouses, Tara’s side views, background vegetation, the train station roof, the twelve oak plantation, the decorations in the old armoury, some of the wounded soldiers lying on the ground in long shots, and an entire street of burning houses, were matte paintings Film editing Editing is the art of establishing rhythm in film. People often does not notice or acknowledge the contribution of film editor. Major aspects of the editing of a film are created outside the editing room. The director, script writer, and photographer are also involved in editing. One of the responsibilities of the editor is to ensure that intentions of the scriptwriter have correctly been portrayed in the film. Hal C. Kern, the film editor of Gone with the Wind, won the Oscar award for film editing. One can clearly observe that smooth flow of events which are portrayed in the film. In this film, there is an outstanding use of color for the enhancement of dramatic mood. Production design Production designer is the in charge of the film’s art department which consists of an art director, prop master, costume designer and a ser decorator. He works in close association with director, and director of photography to produce film’s feel and look by choosing the right shapes, colours and compositions for each shot. A production designer’s duties cover far beyond extending support because a movie is eventually a visual medium, its visual material is almost like another character, itself producing a mood and bringing out an emotional response from the spectators. Production design involves lot of planning and the production designer should be able to strike a balance between his own creative vision with the film’s need for authenticity of place and time. Lyle Wheeler, the art director of Gone with the Wind, won an Oscar for his efforts in the movie. Work cited Fleming, Victor. Dir. Gone with the Wind, (1939). Selznick I

Macroeconomics Assignment Essay

Refer to the sets of the aggregate demand, short-run aggregate supply, and long-run aggregate supply curves. Use the graphs to explain the process and steps by which each of the following economic scenarios will shift the economy from one long-run macroeconomic equilibrium to another equilibrium. Under each scenario, elaborate the short-run and long-run effects of the shifts in the aggregate demand and aggregate supply curves on the aggregate price level and aggregate output (real GDP). Suppose the household wealth decreases due to a decline in the stock market asset prices (See the set of graphs below and pay attention to the 3-stage shifts in graphs). Answer: In graph one the decline in the stock market asset price causes the AD line to shift downward, decreasing. The long-run equilibrium in the first graph is the point where all three of the lines (LRAS, S1, and D1) are connecting. With a lower GDP, the aggregated demand curve shifts to the left (D1 to D2) creating a new equilibrium point at a lower price level. In the second graph it shows a higher supply with the increase in the SRAS (S1 to S2) curve. It will create a new long run equilibrium at a lower price level. In the last graph it shows both the shift in the AS curve from AD1 to AD2 due to the decrease and it shows the increase in the SRAS curve from S1 to S2 due to higher supplies. It shows both the old and new equilibrium along the LRAS curve. The first one being higher than the other when the shifts to the curves happened it caused the equilibrium to shift down the LRAS curve because of the lower price level. Therefore, there is a wealth decrease due to a decline in the stock market asset price causes the lines to shift causing the price level to lower and the output to increase. b. Assume the government lowers taxes, which increases the household’s disposable income. However, the government purchases (spending) remains the same. (See the set of graphs below and shifts in graphs) Answer: In graph one the aggregate demand curve shifts from D1 to D2 as government lowers taxes and household disposable income increases. It shifts outward to  the right because there is an increase because the quantity of output demanded for a given price level rises. The shift represents an expansion. The long run equilibrium is where the LRAS, AS and AD intersect with one another. The second graph the AS line shifts to the left from S1 to S2 because there is a decrease in aggregate supply caused by the increase in input prices. This creates two different equilibriums the second one is created from the shift in the AS curve. On the third graph it shows all the changes made to the economy through the AD/AS line shifts. The AS line shifts from S1 to S2 and the AD line from D1 to D2. The lower equilibrium shows when all three lines are intersecting. It is the contractionary policy causing output and the price level to decrease in the short run, but only the price level to decrease in the l ong run. The higher equilibrium shows agree when all three lines are intersecting. It is the expansionary policy causing output and the price level to increase in the short run, but only the price level to increase in the long run. 2. Suppose the economy of a hypothetical country has reached its long-run macroeconomic equilibrium when each of the following aggregate demand shocks occurs. What kind of gap, inflationary or recessionary gap, will the economy face after the AD shock indicated by the shift in AD curves? What types of fiscal policy instruments will help move the economy back to the potential level of output (real GDP)? Give specific examples. a. At the long-run macroeconomic equilibrium, the stock market boom occurs and this increases the value of stocks households hold. (See the set of graphs below and shifts in graphs in the two-steps) Answer: A positive demand shock increases demand. Shown in graph one is the increase in the demand curve from SRAD1 to SRAD2 because of the positive demand shock. What an increase in demand does is cause more goods to be consumed at a higher price. This is why the shift occurs to the right of the demand curve because there is more of a demand for the goods being produced. An inflationary gap is when there is a gap between the level of real GDP and the potential output basically when the real GDP is greater than the potential. In the graphs because of the demand shock it shows an inflationary gap with the AS and AD curve intersecting on the right side of LRAS curve. In the second graph it shows that the government intervened in  order to bring the aggregate demand curve back down to its original place. Through the fiscal policy the government increased taxes to suck money out of the economy. The negative side is that it can create a sluggish economy and high unemployment levels. However, the government still has to use the fiscal policy in order to fine tuning the spending and taxation levels. b. The government increases its purchases (spending) due to natural disasters. (See the set of graphs below and shifts in graphs) Answer: To refresh a positive demand shock increases demand. The positive demand shock is occurring in the graphs due to the increase in spending because of the natural disaster. In graph one the SRAD shifts from SRAD1 to SRAD2, which is a sign of the positive demand shock. It means that more consumer goods are being consumed than produced. It causes the curve to shift to the right because of the increase in demand. This causes the government to take action in order to bring it back down to normal, stabilize it. The intervention is shown in graph two where the government stepped in and it brought the SRAD curve back down to its normal position SRAD3. An inflationary gap is in these graphs because of the shifts to the SRAD curve. An inflationary gap is when there is a gap between the level of real GDP and the potential output basically when the real GDP is greater than the potential. The inflationary gap is where the AS and AD curve intersect on the right side of the LRAS. Usually during an inflationary gap the government increases taxes in order to suck money out of the economy. This could also be done through the fiscal policy that dictates government-spending decreasing, which would also cause a decrease in the money circulation. The goal of the fiscal policy is to even out the business cycle. Assume the Central Bank reduces the money supply in the economy, which leads to an increase in the interest rates. (See the set of graphs below and shifts in graphs) Answer: A negative demand shock decreases demand. A negative demand shock usually encounters less quantity of goods being consumed, and the consumers still within the market pay a lower price for the good. Usually during these times  the economy wants to ignite the fire through decreasing taxation-giving people more money to spend. In graph one we see the negative demand shock happening when the SRAD1 shifts to the SRAD2. This change causes a recessionary gap where the SRAD2 and the S1 intersect. A recessionary gap usually indicates that the economy is about to fall into a recession, which is defined by the lower real GDP (level of income) then the full-employment level. This puts downward pressure on pricing in the long run. Consumer spending is down and businesses are not making considerable profits. During a recession means they need to pump money into the economy through the government creating jobs and wages. This happens with the government intervention in graph two where the SRAD2 goes back to the SRAD3. Reference Investopedia. (2014). Fiscal Policy. Retrieved from http://www.investopedia.com/articles/04/051904.asp Investopedia. (2014). Demand Shock. Retrieved from http://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/demandshock.asp Libby Rittenberg and Timothy Tregarthen. (2014).

A Critique on Fat Acceptance

â€Å"Fat Acceptance: A Basic Primer† by the Vancouver-based author Cynara Geissler is a remonstration against the relentless pursuit of conforming to the socially approved body structure by paining one’s body and soul (3). Appearing in Geez Magazine for the first time this essay germinates new energy in the fat-acceptance movement in 21 st century. The author in this essay heavily protests against food moralizing and idealizing a certain parameter for body dimension. It has been an important issue indeed in the contemporary world, where everything including human body is being precariously rhapsodized under the influence of glamour industry. The author precisely points out the perils of blindly following the ideal of a thin body pleasing to the eyes of society and presents her argument on how this vain pursuit has been affecting the overall physical and mental health of the people. Geissler happens to be a staunch supporter of fat acceptance movement since she herself has experienced the consequences of hazardous dieting due to the plight of mind body shaming caused to her. She describes how people crossing the limit of size and weight dictated by the fashion magazines or movies become victims of society’s pre-conceived notions. They are often termed as â€Å"lazy, undisciplined, incapable and out of control† for no good reason (Geissler 2). Ironically, this adverse pressure comes from the health and diet industry itself who oblivion of the fact that health is to be fit and strong and not conforming to a particular body shape consistently tends to criticize the term fat. This has made the stigma of fat so ingrained in the minds of people that they forget to be tolerant of even normal sized people, â€Å"The West, especially the U.S., operates under gendered ideas of beauty that emphasize thinness as the ideal body type† (Williams 15). Apart from people in the society, this obsession also works in the persons who look at themselves with the eyes of established norms and start condemning their own body. Thus begins the relentless process of dieting and losing of weight without caring about the very idea of health. This compelling pressure comes from the very circle of â€Å"misinformed friends, relatives and health care professionals† who try to fit the non-conforming people into the size boxes which glamour industry has created over the years (Clair et al. 230). Sometimes this vain pursuit results in deadly consequence to the body or if not that leaves the mind in a dispirited state. The inevitable reaction that they develop for their body is self-denigration and an intense revulsion for their own self, which arise out of the rejection they face in their social existence (Bombak 15). This increases an inclination to the falsely advertised solutions claiming to fix one’s body; undoubtedly, this busines s trend capitalizing on the degrading approach to human body is harmful beyond imagination. The fat acceptance movement has, therefore, immense importance in this context since it primarily teaches people to be tolerant of all body sizes and weight as well as rejects all myths that make people suffer in the name of diet. The movement, which includes all successful professionals from different fields, questions about â€Å"efficacy of shame as a motivational tool†; quoting Allison it can be said â€Å"that suffering does not ennoble; it destroys†. It shatters not only the necessity of the compelling act of repentance in food and working habits but denies the efficacy of self-sacrifice to achieve the self-styled success of possessing a ‘perfect’ body (Geissler 2). We can fairly agree to the idea of accepting fat because undoubtedly it is a noble initiative. Fat shaming does not really do anything positive for one’s body rather only builds up hostility and aversion between the obese person and the rest of the society. By the virtue of the move ment, people have relearned to live their life without being worried about the social fixity- â€Å"thinner is better†. It entitles body autonomy to a person and reaffirms the fact that the concept of health is not necessarily affixed to any specific size or weight. In addition, fat acceptance endows a person with all the gratification about oneself and grants access to an enjoyable life. Probably the most important reason for agreeing to Geissler’s idea of fat acceptance is that it formulates acceptance to ‘Health at Every Size’ (Geissler 3). Besides, the movement has always emphasized liberty in the choice of food, personal presentation and physical activity that gives forth the need of that person and mere imitation of body shaming views. While we can agree to the most part of Geissler’s views, there remains some domains in her essay that are likely to catch objections. She takes body autonomy to another level where she has almost denied the necessity of having healthy food at times. According to her experience, having healthy food and working out has been a punishment whereas it cannot be denied that these things are intrinsic to a fit and healthy body. The autonomy of food may catalyze the peril of obesity but surprisingly the author evades such a significant relevant issue in this context. On the other hand, the idea of ‘Health at Every Size’ seems to be very vague in the essay. While it proclaims that, having anorexia cannot be considered as a sign of health and that it is damage for the body, it continues to maintain the idea of an extremely obese person being capable of leading an active life despite the diseased physical condition. In fact, both the extreme poles of weight scale are equally dangerous and the essay has missed to profess this vital medical truth. Apart from this, food addiction often leads to serious medical problems, which the fat acceptant people either consciously or unconsciously do not admit. Thinking that one’s own body is his or her own business and the person can feed it to any extent is entirely a misconception for it really cannot be approved to feed oneself to ill health. This is especially applicable to the rapidly increasing child obesity problem all over the world and the major cause aggravating the problem is the arbitrary food habit among children. It should not be that the fat acceptance movement carries any wrong message to them making them ailing and sedentary. The movement of fat liberation, therefore, must not give opportunity to people to be unapologetic and remain gratified despite their excess weight. Having discussed all the aspects of the essay, both that have been explored and those of the possible approaches that have been missed by the author it can be concluded that approving fat is not the goal but accepting the fat ones as equal is. The author successfully holds up the idea that it is high time the fat people accept their body image in a positive light instead of constantly living in the shadow of a fat-fearing culture. The concept of ‘Health at Every Size’ necessarily involves spontaneous yet conscious eating while regulating weight at the same time. Therefore, while acknowledging the words of Geissler, it can be stated that there is nothing indecent and degrading in a fat body that should be associated with shame and subjected to agonizing diet and excruciating physical exercise. Rather, as the author conveys, fat acceptance is that one revolutionary idea that advocates tolerance, size acceptance, equality for all body types, weight neutrality and most signi ficantly body positivity. Bombak, Andrea E. "The Contribution Of Applied Social Sciences To Obesity Stigma-Related Public Health Approaches". 2014. Clair, Matthew, Caitlin Daniel, and Michà ¨le Lamont. "Destigmatization and health: Cultural constructions and the long-term reduction of stigma."  Social Science & Medicine  165 (2016): 223-232. Geissler, Cynara. "Fat Acceptance: A Basic Primer". Geezmagazine.Org, 2010, https://geezmagazine.org/magazine/article/fat-acceptance-a-basic-primer/. Williams, Apryl A. "Fat People of Color: Emergent Intersectional Discourse Online."  Social Sciences  6.1 (2017): 15.

Federalists and Republicans Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Federalists and Republicans - Essay Example The Constitution of 1787, drafted to replace the original Articles of Confederation, was instrumental in the formation of the Federalist government. Taxes had long been seen as intrusive and oppressive . In the Constitution, Article 8 states, "The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence (sic) and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States" ("Transcript of Constitution of the United States (1787)"). Thomas Paine had written in his landmark book The Rights of Man that, "To say that any people are not fit for freedom, is to make poverty their choice, and to say they had rather be loaded with taxes than not". (qtd in Smith). Paine was noting that taxation was a redistribution of power from the common man to the national government. This Federalist position would assure the strength of the central government over the powe r of the individual states. To further control the states and the people, The Alien and Sedition Act of 1798 impeded the ability to congregate or organize any movement against the power of the Federalist government.

Two sides of the Same Coin Called Love Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Two sides of the Same Coin Called Love - Essay Example These poems illustrate the theme of eternal love, although in My Mistress' Eyes, the speaker uses a realistic approach and constructs the poem as a parody of traditional sonneteers’ romanticized descriptions of their mistresses, while A Summer’s Day underscores the speaker’s everlasting love through undermining the inability of a traditional notion of summer in capturing his beloved’s magnificence. My Mistress' Eyes lampoons the usual similes and metaphors of romantic sonneteers, whereas A Summer’s Day employs eternal summer and lasting lines as fitting metaphors for his eternal love and his beloved’s beauty. The theme of these poems is undying love, although love is depicted in different approaches. In My Mistress' Eyes, the speaker does not even start with the usual compliment given to women’s physical attractiveness. Instead, he immediately begins with a negative depiction: â€Å"My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun† (Shakespeare line 1). The rest of the lines are all contradictions of the common similes and metaphors of love poems, such as comparing women’s beauty or their facial parts to corals, snow, roses, perfumes, and goddesses. Nevertheless, in line 13, the speaker asserts his undying devotion to his mistress when he says: â€Å"And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare/As any she belied with false compare† (Shakespeare 13-14). The speaker stresses that his love may probably be more lasting than those who describe their mistresses in unrealistic terms. As one article notes: â€Å"†¦he thinks his beloved is as unique as any other woman wh o has been lied about by other poets through the use of false comparators† (Grace 1).... He finds â€Å"summer† inadequate, however, because it is too short, â€Å"†¦summer's lease hath all too short a date† (Shakespeare 4), â€Å"too hot† (Shakespeare 5), â€Å"dimm’d† by the clouds (Shakespeare 6), and â€Å"declines† in beauty (Shakespeare 7). Apparently, the summer’s day is incomparable to the love he feels for his audience and the kind of beauty his beloved possesses. Instead, the only object that he can compare his love to is with his â€Å"eternal lines† (Shakespeare 12). Only through these lines can his love breathe forever and that is how much he loves his target audience. The speakers of these two poems emphasize that their love is rare and undying, but My Mistress' Eyes satirizes the traditional sonneteers’ idealized descriptions of their mistresses, while A Summer’s Day underscores the speaker’s everlasting love through comparing his love to summer and poetry. The speaker in My Mistress' Eyes does not think twice in saying what he â€Å"sees† in his mistress. He is direct in his tone, when he says that his mistress is nothing like the sun, corals, snow, roses, perfumes, and goddesses. He matter-of-factly states: â€Å"Coral is far more red than her lips' red;/If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun† (Shakespeare 2-3). Her lips are not at all red and her breasts are even dun or brownish gray. Roses are red, but the speaker asserts that these roses are not found in his mistress’ cheeks. He even notes that her breath is far from perfume and that it â€Å"reeks† (Shakespeare 8). And yet he loves hearing her speak, even when â€Å"†¦music hath a far more pleasing sound† (Shakespeare 10). He also cannot compare her to a goddess, for he has not seen one in his lifetime. At the same

The Future of the U.S. Health Care System Essay

The Future of the U.S. Health Care System - Essay Example The Obama administration has also moved out the certain way to introduce universal medical care treatment in the United States of America. The current health care system of United States has introduced Act to change the way of medical care coverage. It is also revealed that Americans used to pay more compared to other nations (Southwestern, 2012). The poor health issues and shorter lifespan are some of the primary issues faced by United States healthcare management. The utmost visible health rights crisis is 50 million people are without any healthcare insurance. The prime purpose of the project is to focus on the thesis statement. Furthermore, the report also explores the benefits provided by healthcare system of United States to the population. It is believed that the health care system of United States is one of the most complex and largest healthcare systems. The U.S. health system analyses the health financing, health system performance, health reforms, health-care provision and developments in organizations. This system has notable weaknesses and significant strengths. Some of the considerable strengths of the system are high quality of medical specialists, robust health care research program and well trained medical department workforce. However, it also has some weaknesses such as incomplete attention towards health expenditure and citizenry, lack of instructing effective health information technology and unequal distribution of outcomes and resources. It is supposed that these drawbacks of healthcare system can heavily influence the sustainable development of the country. There are large numbers of evidence to state that Federal Government is heavily focusing on improving the healthcare issues of United States of America. But it can be predicted that the result of poor access towards the health care system is the prime reason for occurrences of these problems.  

MHE514 Module 2 - Case, Natural Disasters Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

MHE514 Module 2 - Case, Natural Disasters - Essay Example re ready to provide assistance, but the paranoid rulers of Burma refused to consider any such assistance for its suffering population (Burma Reels as Storm Toll Rises, 2008). Ratnesar 2008, in his article â€Å"Is It Time to Invade Burma?† takes a look at the inadequate response of the rest of the world to the human disaster unfolding in Burma, due to the lack of concern of the ruling Burmese Junta to their sufferings and thereby denying the required and available international aid. In the face of this refusal to accept international aid, which sets a precedent for the rulers of any country to remain indifferent to human suffering, Ratnesar suggests that it is time for the rest of the world to act, through military action by the invasion of Burma, to provide relief for the suffering people. Negotiations to permit the international community, may not succeed with Burma, and hence the need for a more vigorous reaction from the rest of the world. This would have the added benefit that of letting know to rulers with a similar disposition to their citizens as the rulers of Burma that the world would not tolerate human suffering and has options to deal with it (Ratnesar, 2008). Viewed from the moral perspective, the recommendation of the author is justified. There was a human disaster unfolding in Burma, which was many hundred times the disaster that the United States faced in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina (Burma Reels as Storm Toll Rises, 2008). The paranoia of the ruling junta in Burma became an obstacle to international humanitarian aid to reduce the human suffering in Burma (Beech, 2007). This paranoia of the ruling Burmese junta had led to curtailment of movement of international NGOs, such that at the time of this human disaster there was minimal aid infrastructure in the country and hardly any international aid flowing in (Burma Reels as Storm Toll Rises, 2008). Yet, the response of the world community was lukewarm. Pressure on the rulers of Burma to relent

International Business Plan for a Distance Education Company Term Paper

International Business Plan for a Distance Education Company - Term Paper Example Proven alternative research into alternative medicine is now available on numerous ailments including enhancement of longevity, safer hormone treatments, cancer treatment without radiation or chemotherapy, and normalization of diabetes induced high sugar levels (Goldstein 55). Most doctors in the developing world do not have training, time, or staff resources to handle alternative medicine in the developing countries. Most providers of health care have trouble keeping up with professional reading without having to learn more regarding alternative medicines. Patients in developing countries, which now are the fastest growing market for internet-enabled mobile phones, are increasingly turning to the internet for information on symptoms and diseases (Keegan 67). At the grass-root level, demand for alternative medicine driven by patients before the disease gains pace has gained momentum over the last few years. Leading futurist medicine advocates, including Dr. Eisenberg of Harvard Medic al School, point to various factors regarding the future of medicine in the developing world. The consumer now drives totally the demand for physical well-being and CAM is health care’s next wave. Additionally, CAM shows all the signs of social reform (Keegan 67). Resulting from this demand and new information supply, the internet-literate consumers of health care are now ahead of health care providers (Rakel et al 22). â€Å"Traditional† medicine is attempting to catch up to the consumer. SIL aims to become a vital and important provider of information to academic institutions, governments, and corporations. The World Wide Web and the internet are vital in the delivery of information seamlessly and instantly around the developing world to B2B clients, who... This paper approves that most doctors in the developing world do not have training, time, or staff resources to handle alternative medicine in the developing countries. Most providers of health care have trouble keeping up with professional reading without having to learn more regarding alternative medicines. Patients in developing countries, which now are the fastest growing market for internet-enabled mobile phones, are increasingly turning to the internet for information on symptoms and diseases. The World Wide Web and the internet are vital in the delivery of information seamlessly and instantly around the developing world to B2B clients, who are in need of providing this information that consumers seek so eagerly. Courseware in E-learning is a key system of delivery in the training of professionals in academic institutions, government, and corporations in the provision of accurate information on CAM. E-learning is ranked as the most promising and fast growing market segment in t he education industry. The primary target markets for SIL’s E-learning products and services are inclusive of four vertical markets. This essay makes a conclusion that this business plan is an E-learning and internet venture that is dependent on the financial prospects of developing countries and their parallel growth in the E-learning and internet world. In order for it to work financially, SIL has to increase schedule valuation in order to bring in added capital. The tables below define investor’s investing offerings.

Occupational hygiene survey Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Occupational hygiene survey - Essay Example The weight of dust sample was used to determine the exposure level of dust. Besides, the samples were chemically analyzed to determine the level of resin acids. In addition to that the details of the subject, environmental factor like temperature and relative humidity was recorded Air samples were collected too for analysis of microbiological content. Sampling was done several areas. Samples were collected simultaneously for a sampling period of 5 minutes. A sample was collected outside the gate of the factory to be a representative of ambient condition. Samples were then sent back to the laboratory for analysis. A seven-hole inhalable dust sampler (JS holdings, UK) was used to collect dust sample. The sampler was with 0.45m pore sizes, 25mm diameter Teflon Filters (Costar). This device was used to collect sample inhalable, as if inhalation through one's nose. The resemblance of the mechanism allowed study on health hazards by the dust inhaled. Teflon filter were used in order to collect particles for resin acids analysis. In the study, air was drawn through the sampler at the speed of 2 litre/minute. Four samples were taken for each location respectively. The weight of dust was determined by subtracting the pre-weight of the filter from the post-weight. All the weight measurement was conducted on the micto-balance (0.001mg sensitivity). Samples were equilibrated to the same temperature and relative humidity. All readings were taken at temperature 20+0.5 C and 50% relative humidity. Resin Acid Analysis There are two categories of resin acids: abietic and pimaric acid. The amount of acids exist in the dust depends on the species, maturity and storage condition. Method used to analyze resin acid was developed by Victor Leong and Mary Ellen Cassinelli (Pengelly, 1994). The quantity of abietic and pimaric acid was determine by a gas chromatography methodology. From the previous analysis, the Teflon filters were shifted into 100mm glass tubes with phenolic caps. 3ml of dichloromethane was used to extract the filters under ultrasonic bath for 30minutes. The extract was filtered with 24mm diameter 0.45 m pore nylon syringe filters. It was then washed with 0.5 ml of dichlorometh

Some advantages and disadvantages of a questionnaire Essay Example for Free

Some advantages and disadvantages of a questionnaire Essay All lecturers come in contact with questionnaires whether it is the standard end of year course questionnaire or one that is used in research. These questionnaires come in many different forms from: factual to opinion based, from tick boxes to free text responses. Whatever their form, questionnaires are often viewed as quick and easy to do. This is not always the case. To get useful responses, in a cost-effective way, it is important to be clear about the aim of the questionnaire and how the responses will help you improve the learning technology or its implementation. Think also about the analysis of results. It can be sobering to consider the amount of data you will generate and the time it will take to analyse. Some advantages and disadvantages of questionnaires follow. Notes on how to deal with some of the disadvantages are also provided, as are some references to more comprehensive information on questionnaires. Some disadvantages of questionnaires: Questionnaires, like many evaluation methods occur after the event, so participants may forget important issues. Questionnaires are standardised so it is not possible to explain any points in the questions that participants might misinterpret. This could be partially solved by piloting the questions on a small group of students or at least friends and colleagues. It is advisable to do this anyway. Open-ended questions can generate large amounts of data that can take a long time to process and analyse. One way of limiting this would be to limit the space available to students so their responses are concise or to sample the students and survey only a portion of them. Respondents may answer superficially especially if the questionnaire takes a long time to complete. The common mistake of asking too many questions should be avoided. Students may not be willing to answer the questions. They might not wish to reveal the information or they might think that they will not benefit from responding perhaps even be penalised by giving their real opinion. Students should be told why the information is being collected and how the results will be beneficial. They should be asked to reply honestly and told that if their response is negative this is just as useful as a more positive opinion. If possible the questionnaire should be anonymous. Some advantages of questionnaires: The responses are gathered in a standardised way, so questionnaires are more objective, certainly more so than interviews. Generally it is relatively quick to collect information using a questionnaire. However in some situations they can take a long time not only to design but also to apply and analyse (see disadvantages for more information). Potentially information can be collected from a large portion of a group. This potential is not often realised, as returns from questionnaires are usually low. However return rates can be dramatically improved if the questionnaire is delivered and responded to in class time.

Recent Organisational Changes in the Virgin Group

Recent Organisational Changes in the Virgin Group These assignments discuss the organisational changes that the Virgin Group has been during the last few years, and how they are adapting to the changes in the operating environment. This will be in the context of the employees perception of the changes, and how the Virgin Group can lower their resistance to change. This is a natural feeling from employees, when faced with uncertainty, and this needs to be managed. The assignment focuses on the Virgin Group airline operation, Virgin Atlantic. Virgin Atlantic Airways was founded in 1984, and it is the UKs second largest carrier. The company is based at Gatwick, Heathrow and Manchester airport; Virgin Atlantic operates long haul services to over thirty destinations globally. The organisation has been recognised through awards from top business, consumer and trade (www.virgin.com). 2.0 THEORECTICAL FRAMEWORK 2.1 Meaning of Change management Change management is not a distant discipline with rigid and clearly defined boundaries. Rather, the theory and practice of change management draws on a number of social science disciplines and traditions. Three schools of thought form the central plank on which change management theory stands. This includes: The Individual perspective school: This school is split into Behaviourist and Gestalt-Field theory. The Gestalt-Field theorists believed that behaviour is not just a product of external stimuli; rather it arises from how the individual uses reasons to interpret the stimuli. The behaviourists, on the other hand seek to achieve organisational change solely by modifying the external stimuli acting upon the individual. The Group Dynamics school: This originated from the work of Kurt Lewin. According to Lewin (1974) people in organisations work in groups, and individual behaviour must be seen, modified or change in the light of groups prevailing practices and norms. HENCE the focus of change must be at the group level and should concentrate on influencing and changing the groups norms, roles and values (Cummings and Huse, 1989). The Open Systems school: The school is concerned with understanding organisations in their entirely. It attempts to take a holistic rather than a particularistic perspective. This is reflected in its approach to organisational change. Change management can be defined as a systematic approach to dealing with change, both from the perspective of an organization and on the individual level. A somewhat ambiguous term, change management has at least three different aspects, including: adapting to change, controlling change, and effecting change. A proactive approach to dealing with change is at the core of all three aspects. For an organization, change management means defining and implementing procedures and/or technologies to deal with changes in the business environment and to profit from changing opportunities. Daft (2000) states that change is a necessary evil and all organisation undergo change at one time or another if not continuously. Organisations usually change in response to political, economical, social, technological and legal forces. There are four different types of change that an organisation can undertake, they are technological change, new product based change, structural change, and cultural change. According to Bass (1985) successful adaptation to change is as crucial within an organisation as it is in the natural world. Just like plants and animals, organisations and the individuals in them inevitably encounter changing conditions that they are powerless to control. The more effectively you deal with change, the more likely you are to thrive. Adaptation might involve establishing a structured methodology for responding to changes in the business environment (such as a fluctuation in the economy, or a threat from a competitor) or establishing coping mechanisms for responding to changes in the workplace (such as new policies, or technologies). 2.2 RESISTANCE FOR CHANGE Many authors (Lawrence, 1954; Maurer, 1996; Strebel, 1994; Waddell and Sohal, 1998, among others) stress that the reasons for the failure of many change initiatives can be found in resistance to change. Resistance to change introduces costs and delays into the change process (Ansoffs, 1990) that are difficult to anticipate (Lorenzo, 2000) but must be taken into consideration. Resistance has also been considered as a source of information, being useful in learning how to develop a more successful change process (Beer and Eisenstat, 1996; Goldstein, 1988; Lawrence, 1954; Piderit, 2000; Waddell and Sohal, 1998). Undoubtedly, resistance to change is a key topic in change management and should be seriously considered to help the organisation to achieve the advantages of the transformation. To manage resistance change effectively, the following methods could be used: Communication and Education: This is by far one of the most effective implementation tactics that can be used by an organisation. Communication is used when solid information is required to ensure that employees buy into the process and education should always be used when the change pertains to the introduction of a new technology or product or service (Bunker and Alban, 1992). Participation: This will help with the smooth transition from the pre change phase to the post change phase and if employees were encouraged to participate in the change initiation phase then most of the problems that can occur when the change is implemented could be eliminated as the issues and problems may have been identified and solved in the initiation process (Buller, 1988). Negotiation: This can be used when there is severe resistance and management needs to sell the idea to the employees. Top Management: The visible support of top management to the change process can help reduce and eliminate resistance (Daft, 1982). 3.0 IMPLEMENTING CHANGE IN VIRGIN GROUP One of the largest internal change moves by the Virgin Group, was when Sir Richard Branson, became disillusioned by the public listings, obligations and corporate bureaucracy of a publically listed organisation, he sought after to taking the organisation back to private ownership (Johnson, G Scholes J 2004). This was from the philosophy that forgoing short-term profits for long-term expansion is the way forward (www.virgin.com). This contingency approach of the Virgin Group is formed from the business requirements, and the structure (which will take the shape of what is needed to operate within the change environment) as this has a considerable direction on the overall organisational performance (Burnes, B. 2000). The structure of the Virgin Group and its accomplishments, are contingent the environmental influences. As a result by changing the structure, this is an internal driver of change in reaction to the external markets (Mullins, L 2005). With the change in the listing of the organisation, came the reduction in organisational bureaucracy. The need for bureaucracy and a hierarchical structure in the Virgin Group was reduced greatly (Johnson, G Scholes J 2004). As a result Sir Richard Branson assumed a hands-off stance, with the managers, encouraging them to use their initiative, skills and experiences (www.virgin.com). This change to the organisational structure has led to a separation of the employees, through now working in specific groups or parts of the business. The variety in locations that the Virgin Group operates, and the wide range of services and goods they offer has led to divisions in the work force. Therefore they are not a centralised team; some divisions could operate in an insular manner, which is easier said than done to change, without altering the structure (Burnes, B. 2000). Some of the internal drives of change the Virgin Group faced with, were the several layers of managers, which can slow down the management reporting systems and their reaction to situations they are faced with. With the contemporary environment, this is negative to change and will slow down the internal management process (Burnes, B. 2000). There have been internal issues since the structural change, with communication across the group and this was particularly noticeable in the middle and lower levels of employees. They were not receiving enough information on the proposed changes, leaving them unable to instruct employees on the organisational changes (Johnson, G Scholes J 2004). The organisational structure of the Virgin Group is a group de-centralised; this could encourage silo behaviour, from the different business teams and the different locations in which they operate. There is a natural competiveness between groups, and operating under this structure can encourage competitive behaviour between them (Johnson, G Scholes J 2004). To encourage the Virgin organisation working as a group, and to reduce silo behaviour caused by the structural change they started using a single web address, Virgin.com, for the whole of the organisation customers has entrance to all the Virgin services under a solo portal. These strategies assist in supporting the organisational parenting strategy and improve the synergies already imitative from the organisational branding of the Virgin Group (www.virgin.com). Virgin Atlantic service is very much customer focused with a prominence on value for money, quality, fun and innovation. The organisation is 51% owned by the Virgin Group and 49% owned by Singapore Airlines, and employees over 9000 people (www.virgin.com). This change has led to two internal parent organisations, but with Virgin retaining the majority share. Changes to organisations are almost at an epidemic status, reducing the organisations control of the external environment. All organisations are faced with incessant change; this is in their operational environment and the organisational context. In the modern-day organisational situation, there is enormous attention and spotlight on the human resource. The drivers from this change can be both internal and external to the organisation (Coram,  R Burnes B 2001). The human resource is not excluded from this change process, and is a significant part of the organisational context (Frank F et al 2004). Contemporary theorists advocate that if organisations want to be effectual, in both their current and future operating environment, they must focus on the composition and motivation of their human resource (Beardwell, I. et al. 2004). Virgin Atlantic values their employees and trains them to maintain the high service levels and to be able to remain effective (www.virgin.com). As a result of the change it is vital to manage the human resource fairly. When organisations use human resource management as a tool, it will assist them to encourage and motivated their employees to adapt to the proposed changes. The future prospects for all organisations are unpredictable and it is difficult to confirm what is required from the human resource, when an organisation is changing (Bratton, J Gold J 2003). An internal driver of change is the HR responses to market forces. The HR function should mix the current issues of their human resource with the wider financial and business requirements, that change will force upon them (Bratton, J Gold J 2003).The Virgin Group including Virgin Atlantic focus on their employees, as they see the value in managing the resource. Employees are recruited who fit within the culture and support the Virgin ethos. Internal change is driven by an organisations strategy (Bellin, B Pham C 2007). The strategy is a consciously created plan, which will include the methods and actions, to achieve the desired result. An organisation mission statement is normally a non monetary realisation. This mission is the future direction of the organisation (Johnson, G Scholes J 2004). The internal forces for change includes making the organisational structure more effective, reducing diversification through streamlining the portfolio and identifying new and emerging markets. This change has realigned the organisation on their mission, focusing employees to assist in the transformation (Groucutt, J. et al 2004).   Virgin Atlantic is reliant on their branding, this is recognisable when they enter new markets, and this has been an internal driver of change (Groucutt, J. et al 2004). The Virgin brand name is the most significant benefit and asset to the organisation. This brand of Virgin and Sir Richard Branson was capitalised on, when an adverts for Apple Computers, Sir Richard Branson was connected to Einstein and Ghandi, as a shaper of the 20th century (www.virgin.com). The management of Virgin Atlantic has been very strong, during the changes over the past five years. This strong leadership of the organisation will focus the employees during periods of change. An organisations efficiency and survival during periods of change, is dependent on the ability of their management and leadership team. (Bailey, J. 2009). Gupta (2004) concluded that the ideal world of vision, the leadership transfers this to the real world, making it happen (Gupta, S 2004). The virgin group is a good parent to Virgin Atlantic, with Richard Branson as an effectual leader (Bailey, J 2009). This will assist in the stabilisation of the organisation during times of change, and reduce employee resistance. The success of the organisation is, in addition, dependant on clear-cut communication and management of the behaviours that motivate employees performance to be an effective organisation (Gupta, S 2004). Through proving freedom of decision making to the managers with Virgin Atlantic, encourage a responsibility of their actions and ownership of the organisation. This provided an organisational culture that encouraged growth with the managers. When recruiting new management, potential employees are shortlisted for innovation, abilities and competitive nature (www.virgin.com). In addition, Virgin Atlantic is capable to cope with the possible downsides of this autonomy and decentralisation. To prevent the failing of communication links and the potential threat of single business units chasing their own strategies, the Virgin Charter sets out a management system and internet business strategy that takes gains from the of information technology, further extending the Virgin brand (www.virgin.com). External forces have led the separate business within the Virgin Group to move towards the tactically five pillar realm. The core strategy is the heart of Virgins core strategy to develop the five pillars of the business empire: travel, leisure, mobile phones, entertainment retailing and personal finance (www.virgin.com). This during periods of change keeps employees focused on the organisational goals, and unites the organisation (Groucutt, J. et al 2004). The accomplishments of the Virgin Group are reliant on their corporate parenting strategy, and the competitive advantage is dependent on the culture (Groucutt, J. et al 2004). The Virgin Groups strategy is executed through the decentralisation of the businesses and the unified branding. In the short run, the strategy looks very strongly constructed, and some commentators believe it is near enough unstoppable (Johnson, G Scholes J 2004). On the other hand, in the long term, they need to be a succession plan, to replace the natural wastage of management, with individuals that believe in Virgin Charter. They will need to continue the legacy of the Virgin Groups corporate ethos, through successful execution of the Virgin Charter (Groucutt, J. et al 2004). Virgin Atlantic must also carefully consider the new markets they plan to enter. One solitary slip-up can blemish or even destroy the Virgin Brand, and this could be disastrous for the group (Johnson, G Scholes J 2004). Diversifying too much could weaken the Virgin brand, especially when a service or product does not meet the expected Virgin standard. The news on a loss of reputation will travel faster than the success of a product or service. Therefore the association of a single Virgin brand can also have a negative effect on the group (Kotler, P et al 2005). As previously discussed, organisational change is an existing and inevitable aspect of organisational life. The environment surrounding the organisation in the operational and market context is in a continuous situation of change, this through the worldwide economy and the speed and change of technology. As a result, organisations should take action to reduce the impact of forced change, through predicting and assessing the possibilities (Groucutt, J. et al 2004). There are numerous external factors, which will have an effect on the Virgin Atlantic, and how they manage their operations. The external political environment includes the administrative and legal systems, which govern the organisation where they operate. The external operational environment for the Virgin Group will influence the internal procedures and ultimately the organisational effectiveness. These external political influences can be drivers of change, which manage over the organisation. For example an unfavourable political environment can prevent expansion into the location (Klein, L 2008).   The national financial trends will also be a driver of change, for example a down turn on the economy will impact on an organisations expansion plan. This driver of change can reduce the economic stability of the finances of the organisation; as a result, less investment will be attracted. The state-run legal systems are made up from the policy, laws, and regulations of the host country.   As a result the organisation must survive within this legal framework, and audit their systems to ensure compliance to local regulations (Baldry, C et al, 2007). This economic stability is vital for organisational survival. This is achievable through re-evaluating their present market position, and tactically plan where they want to be. This is the organisations strategic fit, aligning their strategy with the environment, through matching their core competencies and skills, to the required strategy. This is a simple process that some organisations overlook (Kotler, P et al 2005). This continuous organisational change has an effect on the employees; this can impact the workplace, these changes can leave the workforce unsettled and can leave individuals uncertain of their role, and how this fits in with the organisations strategy. Change is unsettling for employees, and in times of economic downturn, they can become fearful of their job security (Hunter, D 2006). The very structure of an organisation can add to employees uncertainty in periods of change. The organisation hierarchical structure can put off the workforce from acquiring the details of the planned change. This is a basic change process, which is regularly overlooked, to the determent of the strategy (Hesketh, A Fleetwood S 2006). Consequently, the workforce is not aware of the full extent of the organisational change strategy, or their role within it. The structure of the organisation is capable of covering up what is really is occurring, frequently with just the summit of the management team being conscious of the full strategic intent of the organisation (Groucutt, J. et al 2004). The constant change in the Virgin Atlantic can lead to uncertainly with some employees. This uncertainly can lead to resistance to the change. This resistance is not malicious, and is not intended to disrupt, but some employees feel more secure through holding on to the way things are, and not changing working patterns and behaviours. When the employee relationship is not as strong as it should be, then any change to the working environment will be met with resistance (Beardwell, I. 2002). The most important tool that the management has during periods of organisational change is communication. Through setting up formal and informal communication channels, the employees can be given the information on the changes, leading to them understanding the rationale and the benefits to the organisation. The employee voice is a fundamental human right, for free speech, which should be encouraged in the workplace (Hunter, D 2006). These employee forums can be used as a platform for the Virgin Atlantic to discuss organisational changes that will affect the employees working lives. This will give the employees a voice, to openly discuss their concerns. Prosser (2001) concluded that the collective voice of the employees achieves what the lone voice could never do: it humanises and civilises the workplace (Prosser, M 2001). Therefore, it is vital to give employees a collective voice. The Virgin Group can also measure the employees feelings, fears and attitude to the proposed change, through employee surveys. This is good human resource management practice. This method of gauge the employee attitudes is only of assistance to the organisation when they are surveyed on a regular basis, to be used as benchmarks of the progress of the organisation in the employee relationship (Marchington, M et al, 2001). There are arbitrating factors when employees attitudes are surveyed, and this is further enhanced to benefit the organisation, when they are used with other forms of listening to the employee, for example discussion and communication (Hesketh, A Fleetwood, S 2006). When concerns are discussed it is imperative to pay attention to the motivational factors, which will maintain the employee interaction with the employer (Parker, S (2000) cited in Dorenbosch, L et al 2005). Not all theorists agree that employee attitude surveys are the way forward in industrial relations. When they have the results from the surveys employers do not have to respond to the conclusion from them, sometimes it is just lip service (Blyton, P Turnbull, P 2004). Union representation in organisations is frequently viewed as ideal in employees voice, and there is support that there is considerably more to the employees voice, than any survey can reveal (Dundon, T 2003). Virgin Atlantic has successfully managed organisational change through changing the structure of the organisation. This is in reaction to the different markets they operate in and the changes individually to their environment. This has led to an insular culture; this can be addressed through communication across the group. One of the major issues the organisation has faced is the employees rà ©sistance to the changes, sparked by uncertainty of their current and future working environments. Employees as individuals enjoy security, and when this becomes uncertain, there is a natural reaction to resist the change. 4.0 CONCLUSION The objectives of the assignment is the implementation of change in an organisation through understanding of the theoretical aspects of change management and the best way change management can be effectively implemented. It is absolutely clear that the support of senior management staff need to be sorted, development of effective strategies, tackling staff resistance to change, and implementing plans for accomplishing each goal stated need to be taken serious during implementation process to gaining comparative advantage over competitors. Virgin Group, are successful and encourage innovation. They must now ensure that all employees are committed to organisational strategy, and will through the knowledge accept the change.

The First Day :: Personal Narrative Essays

The First Day      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It was a bright sunny day, the sky was a soft shade of blue and there was a slight breeze in the air. I stepped out of my moms red shiny CRX as she said ‘Good Luck' to me. I forced up a weak smile as I shoved the door, and it made a woosh noise as it closed. I took a deep breathe and started walking towards the man entrance. I thought to myself, ‘Why does the school have all the buildings seperated?'      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   I slowly walked forward as I started looking at all the other kids, most were in groups and all talking laughing and smiling. I felt very small, like I was an alien who had just landed on planet Earth. I thought to myself, ‘I should be at home, with my friends talking and laughing'. But I wasn't,   I was in Rocklin, California. Id moved here at the begging of August. And I'd hated it ever since. But I was willing to give Rocklin a shot, even though ever kid I'd met in town so far had said ‘Rocklin is the worst school'. As I walked forward with the white scrunched up piece of paper that told me my classes, I tried to look like I fit in. As I looked around for my class, I noticed I was on the wrong side of the building. ‘At least I know where the main building is,' I said to myself.   The main building looked bright and cheery, like the sun.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   I trudged over to the main building trying not to look at anyone,   the pavement looked really white. When I got to the main building I walked up to a Miss Kerby, sitting behind a desk and asked her if she could tell me where this building was. Instead I felt like I had just been arrested for murder. I was bombarded with about 5 questions all at once. I answered them all, and with a negative tone she told me ‘I cant help you, you need your mom to go sign these'. I felt shocked and a huge amount of anger mounting up inside me. I walked straight out of the building. I didn't need to get crap from some lady when I was trying to get used to a state that I had never been too. I walked home and slammed the front door shut, and screamed at the top of my lungs ‘I hate it here, I am moving back to Illinois with my dad!' And ran upstairs to my room, slammed The First Day :: Personal Narrative Essays The First Day      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It was a bright sunny day, the sky was a soft shade of blue and there was a slight breeze in the air. I stepped out of my moms red shiny CRX as she said ‘Good Luck' to me. I forced up a weak smile as I shoved the door, and it made a woosh noise as it closed. I took a deep breathe and started walking towards the man entrance. I thought to myself, ‘Why does the school have all the buildings seperated?'      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   I slowly walked forward as I started looking at all the other kids, most were in groups and all talking laughing and smiling. I felt very small, like I was an alien who had just landed on planet Earth. I thought to myself, ‘I should be at home, with my friends talking and laughing'. But I wasn't,   I was in Rocklin, California. Id moved here at the begging of August. And I'd hated it ever since. But I was willing to give Rocklin a shot, even though ever kid I'd met in town so far had said ‘Rocklin is the worst school'. As I walked forward with the white scrunched up piece of paper that told me my classes, I tried to look like I fit in. As I looked around for my class, I noticed I was on the wrong side of the building. ‘At least I know where the main building is,' I said to myself.   The main building looked bright and cheery, like the sun.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   I trudged over to the main building trying not to look at anyone,   the pavement looked really white. When I got to the main building I walked up to a Miss Kerby, sitting behind a desk and asked her if she could tell me where this building was. Instead I felt like I had just been arrested for murder. I was bombarded with about 5 questions all at once. I answered them all, and with a negative tone she told me ‘I cant help you, you need your mom to go sign these'. I felt shocked and a huge amount of anger mounting up inside me. I walked straight out of the building. I didn't need to get crap from some lady when I was trying to get used to a state that I had never been too. I walked home and slammed the front door shut, and screamed at the top of my lungs ‘I hate it here, I am moving back to Illinois with my dad!' And ran upstairs to my room, slammed

Prejudice and Racism in Canada Essays -- Sociology Racism Prejudice Es

Racism is a Problem in Canada A few years ago in Smalltown, CA a burning cross was placed in the lawn of a visible minority family. Although the media seemed shocked at this explicit racial attack and portrayed the attackers as a group of abnormal, twisted deviants, I was not surprised. As an Asian student who is writing her Sociology honours thesis on visible minorities in Canada, I know on a personal and academic level that racism in Canada does exist. Although explicit racial incidents are not a common occurrence, they do happen. Here at school, a visible minority student left the school when a car sped past her, while the young men inside shouted racial slurs. Two weeks ago The school paper published an article about a group of International students who experienced racially motivated discriminatory service at restaurant. Last month I attended a meeting about racism, and a number of students related explicit stories about experiencing racism in Tinyville. More often, racism is expressed in subtle ways, and is not recognized as racism. Although social scientists do not like using the term race since it is a socially constructed category based on inaccurate assumptions about phenotypical and biological differences between human groups, race still holds social currency since perceived racial differences leads to unequal power, privilege, and social prestige. Ignoring race would mean ignoring the reality of racism. Racism takes forms that include social ostracism, employment discrimination, and racial prejudice. One Mt. A student related experiencing social ostracism and prejudice at Mt.A. "People are less willing to get to know me and most people view Black people negatively. 'Yo, whatsup?!' That stereotypical treat... ...ral nation. Multiculturalism is unfortunately only a vague discourse that tokenizes cultures, ignoring the reality of racial conflict. Mary Pipher, discussing sexism, observes that "The lip service paid to equality makes the reality of discrimination even more confusing." Although overt forms of racism are rare, covert forms of prejudice and discrimination against visible minorities still exist. Further, racism is not only evident in individuals, but on institutional and national levels. Although it is tempting to ignore racism and deny that it exists, ignoring racism will not make it go away. Source: Miedema, Baukje (Bo) and Evangelina Tastsoglou. "But Where Are You From Originally? Immigrant Women and Integration in the Maritimes." Atlantis 24.2 (Spring/Summer 2000): 82-91. 25 Jan. 2003. http://www.stmarys.ca/academic/arts/sociology/tasto/pubs/atlantis.pdf

the truth :: essays research papers

Shona is an agglutinative language, employing both prefixes and suffixes. Nouns, verbs, and adjectives are all identifiable, as well as personal pronouns, demonstratives, positional prefixes, and various types of agreement markers. All agreement morphology in Shona is prefixal. Nouns are divisible into a number of classes, based both on the agreement morphology in the verb and on the morphology of the noun itself. Verbs: Finite Verbs The order of elements in the Shona finite verb is shown in (1). (1) (NEG)-SUBJ-(TMA)*-(OBJ)-Ãâ€"-(DERIV. SUFF.)*-(PASS.)-FV-(OBJ2) The asterisk is a convention adopted from syntactic phrase structure rules; however, whereas there it is used to indicate that an element may appear an indefinite number of times, we use it here to indicate that we are unsure of the maximum number of TMA elements and derivational suffixes allowed in a single verb. We are also unsure how stringently the TMA elements and derivational suffixes are ordered. "FV" is a convention borrowed from Bantuist notation. It stands for "final vowel". This vowel is /a/ in the positive indicative for almost all verbs. A few verbs (/ri/ "be", /si/ "not be", /ti/ "say") appear to have an intrinsic final /i/, while some others (/NÆ’ge/~/NÆ’gi/~/NÆ’ga/ [an auxiliary (perhaps a sort of copula)], /ne/~/na/ "have", /Ve/~/Va/ "be") alternate between /e/ and /a/ (and sometimes /i/) in ways we do not yet understand. In the negative indicative, the final vowel for all verbs except those just mentioned is /a/, except in the present habitual, where the final vowel is /e/~/i/ (our consultant indicated that these are in free variation). See the section on the imperative for more about the final vowel. The Shona personal agreement morphemes for the subject are given in Table 1. Person Singular Plural 1p nÆ’d"$- t"$Ãâ€" 2p u$- mu$- 3p a@- ~ wa@- Va@- Table 1: Personal subject prefixes Our consultant indicated that /waÃâ€"/ for the third-person singular conveys slightly more respect than /aÃâ€"/. Respect may also be shown by using second- and third-person plural forms for singular referents. First- and second-person subject prefixes appear to have low tone underlyingly, while third-person subject prefixes have underlying high tone. Subject agreement appears to be absolutely obligatory for all Shona verbs. The personal agreement morphemes for the object are given in Table 2. Person Singular Plural 1p -nÆ’di- -ti- 2p -ku- -ku-†¦-i 3p -mu- -Va- Table 2: Personal object prefixes. Note that the first-person singular and plural and the third-person plural are identical to the subject prefixes, while the rest differ. The second-person plural object marker consists of two parts, /ku/ immediately before the root and /i/ at the end of the verb, after the final vowel. the truth :: essays research papers Shona is an agglutinative language, employing both prefixes and suffixes. Nouns, verbs, and adjectives are all identifiable, as well as personal pronouns, demonstratives, positional prefixes, and various types of agreement markers. All agreement morphology in Shona is prefixal. Nouns are divisible into a number of classes, based both on the agreement morphology in the verb and on the morphology of the noun itself. Verbs: Finite Verbs The order of elements in the Shona finite verb is shown in (1). (1) (NEG)-SUBJ-(TMA)*-(OBJ)-Ãâ€"-(DERIV. SUFF.)*-(PASS.)-FV-(OBJ2) The asterisk is a convention adopted from syntactic phrase structure rules; however, whereas there it is used to indicate that an element may appear an indefinite number of times, we use it here to indicate that we are unsure of the maximum number of TMA elements and derivational suffixes allowed in a single verb. We are also unsure how stringently the TMA elements and derivational suffixes are ordered. "FV" is a convention borrowed from Bantuist notation. It stands for "final vowel". This vowel is /a/ in the positive indicative for almost all verbs. A few verbs (/ri/ "be", /si/ "not be", /ti/ "say") appear to have an intrinsic final /i/, while some others (/NÆ’ge/~/NÆ’gi/~/NÆ’ga/ [an auxiliary (perhaps a sort of copula)], /ne/~/na/ "have", /Ve/~/Va/ "be") alternate between /e/ and /a/ (and sometimes /i/) in ways we do not yet understand. In the negative indicative, the final vowel for all verbs except those just mentioned is /a/, except in the present habitual, where the final vowel is /e/~/i/ (our consultant indicated that these are in free variation). See the section on the imperative for more about the final vowel. The Shona personal agreement morphemes for the subject are given in Table 1. Person Singular Plural 1p nÆ’d"$- t"$Ãâ€" 2p u$- mu$- 3p a@- ~ wa@- Va@- Table 1: Personal subject prefixes Our consultant indicated that /waÃâ€"/ for the third-person singular conveys slightly more respect than /aÃâ€"/. Respect may also be shown by using second- and third-person plural forms for singular referents. First- and second-person subject prefixes appear to have low tone underlyingly, while third-person subject prefixes have underlying high tone. Subject agreement appears to be absolutely obligatory for all Shona verbs. The personal agreement morphemes for the object are given in Table 2. Person Singular Plural 1p -nÆ’di- -ti- 2p -ku- -ku-†¦-i 3p -mu- -Va- Table 2: Personal object prefixes. Note that the first-person singular and plural and the third-person plural are identical to the subject prefixes, while the rest differ. The second-person plural object marker consists of two parts, /ku/ immediately before the root and /i/ at the end of the verb, after the final vowel.

Marx and Law

JOURNAL OF LAW AND SOCIETY VOLUME 20, NUMBER 4, WINTER 1993 0263-323X Marx and Law ANDREW VINCENT* There is no sense in which Marx can be described as just a legal theorist. He did not write any systematic works on legal science or jurisprudence; however, his observations on law are both immensely penetrating and contain an extremely subtle interweaving of philosophical, political, economic, and legal strands. Marx was also at the centre of many crucial intellectual and political debates of his time.In order to try to unpack some of these debates, elucidate his views on law, and retain some overall clarity, I divide my remarks into five sections, which will inevitably overlap. The sections covered are: the problems of discussing Marxist jurisprudence; the philosophical background to the analysis of law and the state; materialism, political economy, and law; base, superstructure, and the ideology of law; and finally, law, politics, and the state. PROBLEMS OF MARXIST JURISPRUDENCE Ther e are a number of problems for any student of jurisprudence or politics trying to grasp Marx's approach to law. First, there is the puzzling point that neither Marx nor Engels had a positive normative theory of law, crime or deviance. In fact, much of the time Marx appears predisposed simply to ignore the question of law as peripheral, or at least to treat crime as a symptom of the conflict within a class-based society. ‘ He certainly offers no clear encompassing definition of law. Marx's jurisprudential thought is often premised upon a critique of law per se, and what he has to say tends to be overwhelmingly negative in character.This is fine if one's purpose is ‘critique' and nothing else, but it is a definite handicap if one wishes to say something more positive about the nature of law, law reform rather than its overthrow, or the future of law (e. specially if one believes that law has a future role in society). A second problem relates to the sources for Marx's obse rvations on law. It has already been noted that Marx did not have a normative theory of law. It is also clear that what he does say about law, by way of negative critique, does not appear in any systematic format. There are works which begin to *School of European Studies, University of Wales, Cardiff CF1 3 YQ, Wales 371 C Basil Blackwell Ltd. 1993. 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 JF, UK and 238 Main Street. Cambridge. MA 02142. USA HeinOnline — 20 J. L. & Soc'y 371 1993 say something more systematic, like The German Ideology. However, Marx never allowed its publication in his lifetime and it is commonly dismissed (although not by all writers by any means) as either a work of immature juvenilia or a flawed piece of philosophical polemic which does not come up 3 to the systematic and scientific standards of Capital.Marx, it is also commonly asserted, had intended to write a work on law and the state 4 (possibly as an extension of Capital), but he never realized his ambition. Thus, in consequence, the writings and observations on law that we do have are incomplete and must be picked out from a diverse body of writings. Marx's writings are in fact markedly eclectic and can be roughly divided into four often overlapping types: first, the early, more philosophicallyinclined pieces, clearly more inspired by the German philosopher G.W. F. Hegel. Under this rubric would be included the Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts (1844), The Holy Family (1844), The German Ideology (1845/6), and The Poverty of Philosophy (1847). The second type of writing is the polemical pieces written for particular political objectives. The most famous of these is the Communist Manifesto (1847/8). The overt character of these polemical writings- despite their wide dissemination, immense influence, and popularity – is their simplification of issues and doctrines.This can be a problem in assessing what Marx actually believed, rather than what he needed to put forward for polemical thrust and cogency. The third group of writings relate to Marx's observations on particular historical events. Probably the most famous of these, and the most convoluted and ambiguous, is the 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte(1852). The writings in this context employ Marx's immensely sophisticated method of close historical analysis, although the final upshot of such pieces has given rise to many hostages to fortune especially over the theory of law and the state.The final group of writings settle upon his systematic economic theories. The most famous of these are the earlier Grundrisse (1857/8) and the later Capital (1867-85), which remained incomplete at Marx's death. In sum, Marx's observations on law must be, and usually are, picked out from these diverse writings. It is hardly surprising that there should be oddities, fierce contestation, and discrepancies over such fragments. A related point to the diversity of the above writings is the fact that many commentators on Marx arg ue that there is a marked shift or break in his perspective.The break usually occurs between the ‘younger' and ‘older' Marx. The character of the shift, which was called the ‘epistemological break' by the French Marxist, Louis Althusser, is between an earlier philosophically and morally-inclined Marx, clearly inspired by Hegel, and the mature Marx, focused on political economy and intent upon constructing 5 an empirically-based social and economic science of history and society. This judgement on the distinction between the late and early Marx is often supposed to direct our attention to the late Marx and a consequent dismissal of the early philosophical Marx.In this reading, Marx's early interest in ‘alienation' is superseded by a social scientific theory of economic ‘exploitation'. The development of a clear vision of the early Marx was perhaps 372  © Basil Blackwell Ltd. HeinOnline — 20 J. L. & Soc'y 372 1993 partially hampered by the fact t hat the key early writings – the Economic and PhilosophicalManuscripts – were not actually discovered and published till the 1920s. Marx certainly never contemplated their publication during his lifetime.Whether one takes the epistemological break seriously or not, there are undoubtedly changes in Marx's perspective on many issues including law. 6 These cannot be ignored by the student of Marx, although what one reads into these changes remains contestable. Another problem concerns Marx's intellectual relation with Friedrich Engels. There has been a strong tendency in Marxist writings to associate the two men closely with one pristine doctrine. It appears that in fact Marx's definite turn to economics (political economy) was confirmed through his initial contact with Engels' writings.As editor of the Deutsch-Franziisische Jahrbiicherin Paris, in November 1843, Marx had received an article from Engels, entitled ‘Outline of a Critique of Political Economy', which s timulated the economic turn in his own work. Their working relation began a year later in 1844. 1 However, despite their collaboration on works like The German Ideology and The Communist Manifesto, it is far from clear that we should associate them, especially on questions of their philosophical beliefs or their subsequent ideas on law and the state.This point has been made by a number of scholars, although it is still far from resolved. It is clear, for example, that Marx did not formulate a lucid doctrine of materialism, whereas Engels clearly lays out such a doctrine, particularly in popularizing works like Socialism: Utopian and Scientific (1880), the Anti-Diihring (1885) and the Dialectics of Nature. Marx nowhere used terms like ‘dialectical materialism' or ‘historical materialism'. Neither did he coin terms (which are relevant to the discussion of law) like the ‘withering away of the state'.This latter idea, again, was Engels's terminology from the Anti-Diihr ing. Marx did not apply the notion of dialectics to nature itself. His belief remained firmly fixed in the social sphere of human emancipation. Engels was far more ambitious, some would say foolhardy, extending dialectics to the natural world. ‘ The ultimate consequence of Engels's doctrine was a virtual reenactment of an older form of mechanistic materialism resonant of the French Enlightenment, which Marx had attacked in his early unpublished work, the Theses on Feuerbach.Engels's doctrines later became established in the writings of Lenin, particularly Lenin's philosophical work Materialism and Empirio-Criticism and Plekhanov's Materialism Militant, and subsequently it dominated much of the theoretical output of the Second International and the leading Marxist party of the time in Germany – the Sozialdemokratische ParteiDeutschlands(SPD). 9 However, Marx's theory of knowledge, if it can be summarized, hung uneasily between a classical materialism and an idiosyncratic use of Hegelian idealism.One can overemphasize the differences between Engels and Marx; however, we ignore them at our cost. If we are trying to understand Marx, it is not wise to place too much reliance on Engels's own personal output. One final problem concerns Marx's use of the concept of law itself. There are two terminological points to note here. The first concerns the German 373 D Basil Blackwell Ltd. HeinOnline — 20 J. L. & Soc'y 373 1993 word, Recht. It is virtually equivalent to the terms jus, droit or diritto, as distinct from lex, loi or legge. This distinction does not really work in English.Recht in German is not limited to law or jurisprudence but can encompass the issues of civil law, justice, right, and morality. In Hegel, the initial focus of Marx's interest in law, Recht embodied the above themes, but also what he called the ‘ethical life', the state and, ultimately, aspects of world history. In fact, the work on which Marx spent so much time in his early years, Hegel's Grundlinien der Philosophiedes Rechts, is sometimes translated as The Philosophy of Law, The Philosophy of the State and, more usually, The Philosophy of Right. 0 It is important to bear in mind this ambiguity when considering Marx's observations on law (as Recht); when Marx addresses law, it is not strictly parallel to English usage. The above connects up with the second point, which is often confusing to audiences from the British or Anglo-Saxon legal traditions. Hegel's work, referred to above, was, as much as anything else, a theory or philosophy of the state. This is encompassed, to some extent, in the broad use of the term Recht. Thus, the treatment of the state might be said, inclusively, to be also a treatment of law.This kind of approach resonates more with the Roman law and civil law traditions of continental Europe than with the common law tradition of Britain. † However, it is worth taking note of this point since it throws a ray of light on so me of Marx's writings; namely, his critique of the state is to a large extent also a critique of law. ‘2 One small biographical detail could be added here, which might add some substance to this point. When Marx was writing in a more reflective way on the state and law, he was in Germany and France.His early legal training had been in Germany (although he gave it up for philosophy) and he was reflecting and writing within the Hegelian genre. Much later in his life, in the late 1870s, when puzzling over whether to write more on law and the state, he had been living and working for a number of years in Britain, enough time to pick up on the peculiarities and idiosyncracies of the English legal tradition and its odd relation to the state. This might explain some of his later ambiguities, as opposed to his earlier certainties, on the state. Finally, the interest in Marx on law, despite the ork of the Soviet jurist Evgeny Pashunakis in the 1920s and 1930s, and Karl Renner in Austri a, was not really a subject of wide-ranging debate until the 1970s. As Maureen Cain and Alan Hunt have commented: the prevailing trend from the 1930s to the 1960s displayed an almost exclusive emphasis on the repressive or coercive character of law, conceived as the direct embodiment of the interests of the ruling class. In this conception law itself is unproblematic: the analysis of legal development or new legislation has the task merely of exposing the class interest 3 contained in them.What was discovered in the 1970s, presumably under the impact of the surge of interest in the Italian Marxist, Antonio Gramsci, was the conception of law as ideology and, in consequence, law as a crucial part of the intellectual hegemony of capitalist societies. In this sense, the more wide-ranging and 374 (D Basil Blackwell Ltd. HeinOnline — 20 J. L. & Soc'y 374 1993 popular interest in Marx on law is a relatively recent development. It is thus very tempting, in dealing with this topic, to refer to the developments in Marxism itself to the present day.The major danger with this path is that the discussion can become wholly enmeshed in the recent material and Marx becomes a distant memory. I have tried to avoid this trap here. Although contemporary developments are not ignored, the principal focus is on Marx's writings. THE PHILOSOPHICAL BACKGROUND TO THE ANALYSIS OF LAW AND THE STATE There are three points to note concerning Marx's philosophical background which are relevant for his later project and his overall understanding of law. First, the premises for his critique of law are derived from his initial philosophical criticism of religion and the state.Secondly, his analysis of the conception of ideology and the ‘illusory' character of bourgeois thought (including law) lies in early essays like ‘On the Jewish Question'. Finally, his first inkling of the economic roots to social and political thought can also be found in his early essays – particu larly the Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts and his article on ‘Law on Thefts of Wood' in the Rheinische Zeitung (1842). 1 take the first two issues as most significant. The last point, to a large degree, follows from the first two.From the late 1830s, Marx had determined to get to know Hegel ‘from beginning to end'. 4 Together with Bruno and Edgar Bauer, Arnold Ruge, Max Stirner, and Ludwig Feuerbach (the so-called young Hegelians), Marx studied Hegel's works assiduously through the late 1830s and early 1840s. Feuerbach was the most influential figure in the group. Initially he had been a disciple of Hegel's philosophy, and in some ways he never abandoned it. 5 Feuerbach, however, did engage in a dialectical critique of Hegel – using Hegel's own method to criticize him.Hegel's definition of humanity through its thinking abilities, specifically through the notion of Spirit (Geist), is, for Feuerbach, one step short of reality – or, at least, it is inve rted reality. Hegel explained humanity through consciousness (or mind); however, for Feuerbach, it is sensuous and materially-rooted humans who think, not some abstract consciousness or mind. The transcendental ego of Kant, the absolute ego of Fichte, or Hegel's notion of Spirit (the great themes of German philosophy) were all seen by Feuerbach as sensuous human creations.Thus, the basis of Feuerbach's critique of Hegel is that the latter was offering, unwittingly, an ‘esoteric theology'. Humans are not vehicles for Spirit (Geist); rather, humans create the notion of Spirit. In fact, for Feuerbach, humans create God in their own image. Thus, in Hegel, ‘What was a logic of Being becomes [in Feuerbach] a psychology of human concept formation'. 6 Philosophy, in actuality, reflects human wants and needs. This critique of Hegel's ontology was directly related to Feuerbach's equally important critique of religion in The Essence of Christianity. Hegel's 375 n Basil Blackel1 I t dHeinOnline — 20 J. L. & Soc'y 375 1993 philosophy is, in point, interpreted as the last speculative outpost of God. Speculative philosophy and religion needed to be led from the realm of mental abstractions into the realm of sensuous humanity. For Feuerbach, in essence, all ‘theology is anthropology'. The true object of religion is not God but idealized humanity. Religion is the alienated form of the individual's recognition of his or her own nature. God is the creation of the human imagination, unknowingly idealizing itself. Thus, Feuerbach claimed that some radical demythologizing was needed.Love of God is really love of humanity in symbolic inverted form. Theology is kind of psychic pathology. The separation between God and humanity is really a separation within humanity itself. Religion is a form of alienation from our essential natures. The demythologizing was to be accomplished by the technique Feuerbach called ‘transformative criticism', namely, the interc hanging of the subject and predicate of propositions. For example, an understanding of God is not crucial for understanding humanity; conversely, an understanding of humanity is crucial for understanding the idea of God.The real subject is humanity, the predicate is God. These arguments affected profoundly the thinking of the young Hegelians. Marx, particularly, was initially enthralled, but soon turned to his own critique of the young Hegelians, especially Feuerbach. In his Theses of Feuerbach, he argued that Feuerbach's great achievement had been to bring holy ideas down to earth. However, he had retained an abstract materialism and theoretical humanism. What was needed was a practical humanism and a new understanding of materialism which took account of the social and economic reality.Philosophy must be moved away from mental abstractions and contemplation into the realm of social, political, and economic realities. Feuerbach was thus also subject to the demystification of transf ormative criticism. Practical and sensuous humanity, embroiled in economic and social realities, is the real subject, not theoretical humanity. I7 This critique of Feuerbach also forms the basis for Marx's critique of Hegel, religion and, finally, the state and law. It also led him to his crucial life project – the study 6f political economy. Marx accepted, implicitly, one theme in both Hegel and Feuerbach.Philosophy is about emancipating human beings. History was imbued with teleological significance as to the growing possibility for and realization of freedom, although this theme become very shrouded in his later writings. Religion purported to be about emancipation; however, for Marx, again, the reality was inverted. As he stated: ‘The criticism of religion ends with the doctrine that man is the highest being for man'. 8 Religion per se could not be overcome by simply drawing people's attention to its inverted logic (with due respect to Feuerbach).For Marx, one had t o grasp, critically, the social, political, and economic roots as to why people sought consolation in religion. A criticism of religion was, in essence, social and economic criticism. This exactly paralleled his criticisms of Hegel's notion of the state. For Hegel, humans were self-constituting and self-producing creatures. There was no sense in which we were simply the passive products of historical 376 D Basil Blackwell Ltd. HeinOnline — 20 J. L. & Soc'y 376 1993 forces. For Marx, Hegel's view was correct, but again the reality had been inverted.Hegel's Geist (Spirit or Mind) was really labouring humanity. Hegel, for Marx, made the ‘exoteric esoteric'. 9 Hegel had grasped the centrality of labour (self-production) but only in its mental form (in consciousness). Thus, Marx refers to Hegel's philosophy as ‘concealed criticism that is still obscure to itself. 20 For Marx, humans produce themselves by actual labour and through the ensuing social relations in the wor ld. Thus, Marx moved from regarding Hegel's philosophy as an esoteric psychology gradually to regard it as an esoteric economic thesis.Hegel's philosophy of the state (and law) had a correct content but in an inverted and mystified form. Marx in fact treats Hegel's Rechtsphilosophieas summing up German reality at that time (in its mystified form). As Marx put it: The criticism of German philosophy of the state and of law which was given its most consistent, richest and final version by Hegel, is †¦ the critical analysis of the modem state and the reality that depends upon it'. 21 Hegel had argued that humanity and civil society were the product of the state.The state is seen to stand above the conflicts of society. However, for Marx, again the reverse is true. Individuals in civil society, embroiled in economic forces and classes, and hedged about by private property rights, produce the state which, of necessity, reflects differential and unequal property relations and powers. Abstract property rights are embodied in the state. The state exists to maintain this interest. The modern state gives people legal rights and freedoms, premised on the idea of humans possessing property.However, such property is of necessity premised upon the alienation and denial of such freedom to a large proportion of the population. As Marx observed, the critic must now grasp ‘the essential connection of private property, selfishness, the separation of labour, capital and landed property, of exchange and competition, of the value and degradation of man'. 22 The logic of private property is the same as that logic of religion. As human beings alienate their essence into God, so workers alienate their essence into the production of goods.Workers, in receipt of wages, only secure a small proportion of what they produce. Thus, they alienate their essence into goods which others consume, use or embody in their private property – a property upheld by the state and legal s ystem. Moving now to the second point of this section, Marx's early essay ‘On the Jewish Question' deals, on the surface, with question of the repeal of legal disabilities for Jews in Germany. The essay is interesting on a number of counts; however, one point will suffice for the present discussion.Marx indicates that the illusions that were to be found in the religious consciousness could also be found in law. The basic point was that humans turned to religion in particular historical circumstances. Young Hegelians, like Bruno Bauer, had argued that the demands for Jewish emancipation precluded genuine emancipation, since the demand was formulated in religious terms namely, Jews. The state, for Bauer, must abolish all religious categories. The secular state provided the real solution for Bauer. Marx responded to this by 377 C) Basil Blackwell Ltd. HeinOnline — 20 J. L. & Soc'y 377 1993 rguing that religion per se was not the problem, but, rather, the state and legal sy stem itself. Religion is an illusory (if crucially important) pathology, but it is a reflection of a broader ‘illusion' pathology within the secular state. A secular state does not free human beings. Rather, the state embodies as many, if not more illusions than religion; illusions of secular states are structurally similar, and, in fact, related to religion. As Marx put it, in somewhat tortuous prose: We do not insist that they must abolish their religious limitations in order to abolish secular limitations.We insist that they abolish their religious limitations as soon as they abolish their secular limitations. We do not change secular questions into theological ones. We change theological questions into secular ones. History has for long enough been resolved into superstition: we now resolve superstition into history †¦ We criticize the religious weakness of the political state by criticizing the secular construction of the 23 political state without regard to its reli gious weaknesses. In short, for Marx, the political world of the secular modern state was as much a tissue of illusions as religion. 4 Underpinning the modern state are the illusions about private property and commerce, and the legal structures which uphold them. The final theme, with regard to his early writing, concerns his essay on the ‘Theft of Wood' in the Rheinische Zeitung in late 1842. The ‘Wood Theft' essay, as Marx later observed, was the first time that he saw clearly the socioeconomic issues which underpinned law (viewed through the lenses of the transition from feudalism to capitalism). The common feudal and customary right of gathering wood was effectively being ‘privatized' by commercial society.Rural poverty was itself the product of the redefinition of property as ‘private property'. In this sense, law was facilitating capitalism. Oddly, in this essay, Marx's solution was a restoration of older customary rights (although a slightly odd use of them) against the new right of private property. As he put it: ‘We reclaim for poverty the right of custom which is not a local one 5 but which is that of poverty in all lands'. 2 It is worth noting, though, that many of Marx's early writings do not envisage the abandonment of law or the state.He adopts, in fact, a quasi-natural law or customary law position (from a strictly secularist position), arguing, in essence, that certain newer laws are not really valid or real in the context of what real law ‘ought' to be like – namely law ought to be, as Marx put it, ‘the positive existence of freedom'. 26 It is also clear that he was not envisaging the abolition of the state; conversely, he anticipated a more radical democratic state upholding the fundamental rights and freedoms of the masses. In many ways these uasi-natural law themes and radicalization and democratization of the state do not disappear in his later writings; rather, they are submerged below the intellectual surface. The surface, in many later writings, becomes more positivist and economic in character; however, the underlying themes of human emancipation as a genuine need of human nature, the correct ways in which humans ‘ought' to act towards each other, and the future structural character of society, still subsist, but certainly not in any easy or comfortable relation to the positivism. 378 (D Basil Blackwell Ltd.HeinOnline — 20 J. L. & Soc'y 378 1993 MATERIALISM, POLITICAL ECONOMY, AND LAW Marx was a materialist of sorts, although, as pointed out earlier, he never described himself as a historical or dialectical materialist. There are various senses which can be attached to the term materialism. Marx had no interest in materialism in the colloquial sense of a ‘seeking after consumer goods' which we might now call consumerism. Neither does he have much interest in mechanistic Enlightenment materialism, seeking to explain humanity via certain mechanical analogies – l'homme de machine.Neither strict physical 2 materialism nor behaviouralism were of any interest. 7 Marx's concern with materialism must be set against his reaction to Hegel's idealism, as examined in the previous section. Put at its simplest, Marx wanted to insist that human beings must subsist (and labour to subsist) before they cognitively speculate or think a great deal about their condition. Our social and economic being is thus prior to our reflective consciousness. The material conditions of our lives form the true basis for both our cognitive life and our social and political structures.We can observe here the ‘transformative criticism' at work again in the basic rudiments of Marx's thought. The ‘subject' is not self-conscious thought, nor is material life the ‘predicate': the converse is true. Subject and predicate must be transformed. It is important to bear this method in mind: namely, that Marx comes to his basic materialist conclusi ons from a philosophical direction. Marx does not suddenly ‘see the empirical light' on some Damascus road or come to such conclusions from empirical observation.His route to such premises is philosophical. One problem here is that even if we focus on Marx's particular type of materialism there are still distinct and competing versions of it. We might call these the stricter and looser versions. We will encounter parallels to this distinction in other areas of Marx's thought and there remains considerable debate as to where Marx's sympathies lay. The stricter materialism might be called ‘unidirectional determinism'. Material conditions causally determine thought and political and social structures.This is the dimension that Engels, Lenin, Plekhanov, and Kautsky picked up on, and it reappears in structuralist Marxism, amongst other varieties in the later twentieth century. This materialism looks, and occasionally tries to act more like a natural science. † In some m ore recent analyses of Marx it is connected to the idea of the ‘epistemological break'; that is, the mature Marx is the ‘scientist' and ‘unidirectional determinist'. The alternative looser materialism can be observed in the elusive Marxist doctrine of ‘praxis' (where ‘theory' and ‘practice' have a symbiotic and reciprocal relation).The basic logic of a praxis argument denies the basic premise of the unidirectionality claim; that is, it asserts that reflective thought and consciousness (as embodied in philosophical, economic or legal thought) can actually affect our material conditions. We can accommodate our theory to our practice and vice versa. Put simply, human reflective thought has definite efficacy; it is not just an epiphenomenon of the material conditions of life. This form of looser materialism can be observed in some of Marx's 379  © Basil Blackwell Ltd. HeinOnline — 20 J.L. & Soc'y 379 1993 writings and in the subsequent Marxis t tradition in writers like Antonio Gramsci, Georg Lukfcs, and Karl Korsch. 29 Such a looser materialism is also more aware of the contestable nature of economic and social categories. The particular form of Marx's materialism is premised on political economy. The basic components of the doctrine can be stated as follows: human beings must subsist in order to survive and in so doing they labour. In labouring, humans use certain material technologies (crudely) or modes of production.In working within a mode of production, whether in a medieval rural context with a plough or within a nineteenth century factory with a machine, humans come into relations of production, that is, relations with other human beings within the productive process. Relations of production crystallize into groups called classes whose relations are determined by the particular form or mode of production. As forces of production change, so do relations of production. 3†³ In capitalism, for example, there are two fundamental classes. Proletarian workers sell their labour for a wage. Workers produce more than receive.The wage only provides subsistence. The capitalist class sells the products of the workers to gain profit. Capitalism thus subsists by extracting labour value from its workforce. The interests of the capitalist class necessarily conflict with those of the proletariat. Thus, material conditions of economic life form the real basis to social existence. Political and legal structures can only be understood via these material conditions. Marx, in one of his more synoptic semi-autobiographical pieces of writing, Preface to the Critique of Political Economy, called this whole 31 process the ‘leading thread' of his studies.It is worth remarking at this point that Marx's views on this ‘leading thread' have given rise to another debate which parallels the stricter and looser senses of materialism. There are interactive and passive notions of economic reductionism. On the passive view (which corresponds to stricter materialism), law and the state emerge instrumentally from economic forces. They have no independent efficacy or reality. The state and law are not understood to arise from conscious human intention; rather, they reflect the 32 class struggle that takes place in the context of the economic base of society.Many Marxists writers find themselves uniformly uneasy with this form of passive reductionism. 3 3 In this more sceptical reading, Marx's Preface (mentioned above), as well as many works by Engels, are not regarded as adequate representations of the totality of Marx's views. Antonio Gramsci, for example, regularly dismissed this more passive view in the curt phrase ‘economism'. For such critics, passive reductionism contains an impoverished and simplistic conception of the state and law. It does not grasp the more interactive quality of the state and legal system, and it ignores the conflicts between classes over authority within st ate.Neither does it explain how the economic base actually ‘determines' law. The actual causal mechanism remains inchoate in Marx's writings. Marx's texts, it is argued, are rife with potential for more interactive readings. However, the Marx of the Preface could reply to this criticism by arguing that such a view is in imminent danger of ‘legal fetishism', where law is seen as both necessary for 380 D Basil Blackwell Ltd. HeinOnline — 20 J. L. & Soc'y 380 1993 the existence of society and autonomous from economic or class factors. There is nothing unique about law in the passive reductionist reading.However, most exponents of interactionism would not want to argue that law has total autonomy; rather, that the law can, in certain circumstances, act upon economic life and can either facilitate or work against a particular mode of production. The ambiguities over these various positions can be observed in Marx's classic account of the transition from feudalism to ca pitalism. As commercial capitalism slowly develops at the economic base it, of necessity, erodes feudal relations. It is no use to capitalists that a workforce is tied by feudal bonds to a particular aristocratic landowner or piece of ancient property.In addition, communal land (or wood), which all can freely utilize as a common resource, is also deeply inconvenient for capitalism. Property, for capitalists (as in Marx's observations in the wood theft article), must be privately owned and tradable. Labour must also be free of feudal ties in order to travel where the work is needed by capitalists. These processes were obviously facilitated by coercion and outright violence, as in many cases of enclosure; however, as Marx noted, law also expedited the whole process in developing sophisticated systems of property law, contract law, and tort.In creating a landless poor (‘free labour') and a contractual private property-based law, the groundwork for capitalism was gradually laid. T he problem is how to read these events. On the one hand, law could be seen (as in the interactive thesis) as semi-autonomous, providing intentionally the conditions for changes in the mode of production. In fact, it is arguable that law consciously constituted the integuments of a mode of production. This argument throws doubt on the unidirectional determinism and passivity thesis.On the other hand, law can be read as a coercive structure representing the actual dominance of the bourgeoisie of the means of production, but determined by the laws of the economic base. In this latter reading, law has no autonomy whatsoever. It simply and instrumentally reflects the economic base. Support for both lines of argument can found in Marx. BASE, SUPERSTRUCTURE, AND LEGAL IDEOLOGY The basic idea of base and superstructure follows neatly from the previous section. In fact, once again, we find similar disputes being echoed from previous sections.One theory sees a precise causal relationship. The other theory sees a looser tendency and more interactive quality in base and superstructure. This latter theory leads some critics to bewail even the use of terms like ‘base' and ‘superstructure'. It is argued that it would be far better if we treated these terms as more or less useful metaphors, not referring to any empirical reality. 34 As in many of Marx's writings, half the problem here might simply be because Marx never really addressed the problem head on. 5 The terms occur in certain writings, but Marx did not appear to have any inkling of how much significance was going to be placed on them by 381  © Basil Blackwell Ltd. HeinOnline — 20 J. L. & Soc'y 381 1993 subsequent generations. The older instrumental causal account of base and superstructure sees a clear correspondence between laws and political institutions (superstructure) and the economic base. As Marx put it unequivocally in his Preface to a Critique of PoliticalEconomy: With the change of the economic foundation the entire immense superstructure is more or less rapidly transformed.In considering such transformations a distinction should always be made between the material transformation of the economic conditions of production, which can be determined with the precision of natural science, and the legal, political, religious, aesthetic or philosophic – in short, ideological forms in which men become conscious of this conflict†¦ Just as our opinion of an individual is not based on what he thinks of himself, so we can not judge such a period of transformation by its own consciousness; on the contrary, this consciousness must be explained rather from the contradictions of material life. For example, laws on land tenure in the feudal period (a superstructural phenomenon) changed markedly with the development of capitalism. The real foundation for these changes and the explanation of them would be sought in the actual change in the modes and relations of productio n – the material base. There are a number of minor problems with the above view. First, it is not easy to see how the above thesis explains why certain types of law occur. For example, how, on the above model, would one explain factory legislation, which controlled the activities of capitalists?Alternatively, what of social welfare legislation or legislation which enacts progressive redistributive taxation? Admittedly, it could be replied here that such laws indirectly help capitalism by improving the condition of the working class and preventing revolution, while paying a minimum cost. Thus, despite appearances, such legislation aids capitalism: it is in essence still a business proposition. This counter argument might hold for some legislation, but what of other laws which prevent abuse to children, punish rape, or ensure the proper care of the mentally handicapped?What of laws which define the roles of an official in local or central government or, alternatively, traffic l aw? Surely it is not as easy to explain these as clearly causally related to the economic base of capitalism. Any attempt to do so would surely look very far-fetched. In other words, the instrumental thesis does not account for the totality of law. Secondly, certain legal rules appear to be part of the relations of production, for example, contract law. The relations of production are held together by such contractual rules. They form a kind of social glue for such economic practices.The question arises, therefore, can we separate out contractual law and the relations of production? If the relations of production are constituted by legal vocabulary then there can be no clear determination of the superstructure by the base. Thus, for these, and many other reasons, a number of commentators have felt distinctly uneasy with the instrumental/ causal base superstructure model. 3 7 In fact, Marx did not use the model with any great frequency and late in life Engels also wrote a number of o ft-quoted 3s qualifying letters which appear to give a lot of ground to sceptics.As noted above, in the quotation from Marx's Preface, Marx often tended 382 (C Basil Blackwell Ltd. HeinOnline — 20 J. L. & Soc'y 382 1993 to view ideology from a similar causal perspective. One way of viewing an important dimension of the superstructure is as the body of ideas of a society. Marx refers, in the above quotation, to the legal, political, religious, aesthetic, and philosophical ideas of a society. The quotation clearly takes a ‘reductionist' and ‘instrumental' view of ideology. Ideas are explained via their connection to the material base.Legal ideology is thus, once again, part of the consciousness of bourgeois society, and, as Marx clearly observed: ‘Just as our opinion of an individual is not based on what he thinks of himself, so we can not judge of such a period of transformation by its own consciousness'. Thus, overt legal ideas and forms tells us virtually n othing substantive – they merely reflect deeper economic changes. 39 It is understandable in this reductionist reading that Engels and others should thus have referred to ideology as the ‘false-consciousness' of a class like the bourgeoisie.Lawyers might thus be regarded as professional ideologists or ‘waged hacks' (in fact like most intellectuals, professional groups, and academics) for the bourgeoisie. Subsequently Marx's ideas came under certain pressures and a number of questions arose 0 In his early writings Marx appeared to be contrasting ‘ideology' with ‘reality as practice' – a form of philosophical materialist ontology. Liberal capitalism was in an equivalent position to religion as a distortion of the human essence. Later this contrast became ideology (as distortion) as against natural science (as truth or knowledge).The change in perspective here refers, once again, to the idea of an epistemological break in Marx's writings. However, in both these views, it remained unclear as to what to include within the term ideology. In some writings it appeared to be widely inclusive – consciousness in general. In other writings he appeared to limit himself to economic and political ideas. The question arose at the time (which is still unresolved) as to whether natural science was part of ideology or was wholly distinct. Marx also did not explain, as mentioned earlier, the precise mechanisms of determinism.For example, it is not clear (taking A as the economic base and B as legal ideology), whether ‘determine' means that A causes B, tends to affect B, or sets parameters to B, or alternatively, whether there is a symbiotic relation of A to B. 41 In strictly practical terms, such corrosive ambiguities do link up to quite ordinary questions on legal activity. As Hugh Collins observes: ‘The question is whether a judge follows instrumental considerations with a class character or operates a discrete 42 mode of reasoning'. Marxists have gone on struggling with the concept of ideology.Some, like Gramsci, found inspiration in ideas of ‘relative autonomy', which allows some leeway for ‘a discrete mode of legal reasoning'. In Gramsci's thesis (which for some is present in Marx's writings like the 18th Brumaire), domination under capitalism is not simply achieved by coercion, but, subtly, through the hegemony of ideas. The ideology of the ruling class becomes vulgarized into the common sense of the average citizen. Power is not just crude legal force, but, conversely, domination of language, morality, and culture. Laws, for example, become internalized within the consciousness of 383  © Basil Blackwell Ltd.HeinOnline — 20 J. L. & Soc'y 383 1993 each citizen. The masses are quelled and co-opted by this internalization of ideas. The hegemonic ideas become the actual experiences of the subordinate classes. Bourgeois hegemony moulds the personal convictions, norms, and aspirat ions of the proletariat. Gramsci thus called for a struggle at the level of ideology. Organic intellectuals situated within the proletariat should combat this by developing a counter-hegemony to traditional intellectuals upholding bourgeois hegemony – which might be considered as the basis of a credo for critical legal studies.In sum, this perspective does not consider law as just instrumental. Law does not necessarily uphold the interests of the ruling class and it is not simply determined by the economic base; in fact, it may have some counter-determining role on the base itself. These themes will be pursued more intently in the final section. LAW, POLITICS, AND STATE One view of the state and law, which predominates in Marx's writings, is that they are a condensation of the economic interests of the dominant class.The state is thus viewed as the ‘executive committee to manage the affairs of the bourgeoisie'. The state acts as its oppressive agent in civil society, su ppressing proletarian interests in favour of capital accumulation. The personnel of the state owe allegiance to one particular class – the bourgeoisie. Lawyers would be viewed as waged lackeys of the bourgeoisie. Law is part of this oppressive mechanism and embodies the ideological mystifications of bourgeois intellectualism. The bourgeois capitalist class dominates political power hrough its domination of economic power. This is the more traditional view of the state, epitomized in The Communist Manifesto. As Marx stated unequivocally in the latter work: Your very ideas are but the outgrowth of the conditions of your bourgeois production and bourgeois property, just as your jurisprudence is but the will of your class made into law for all, a will whose essential character and direction are determined by the 43 economical conditions of existence of your class. The above argument is a form of class reductionism.The bourgeois state and legal system are class-based phenomena. Cl ass, for Marx, refers to large social groups linked together in certain social relations within a mode of production. Each class receives differential rewards, power, and status. Relations between classes tend to be conflictual. Within the instrumental perspective, the state and legal system are seen to condense the interests of one class. The state is not a representation of any collective good or impartiality. It is, rather, integral to certain specific economic interests in society.Class interests are seen to manage the state apparatus in the interests of that class – the bourgeoisie in capitalist society. The history of states is therefore subsumable under class interest. Marx tended, in many writings, to interpret nineteenth-century legislation, particularly in Britain, in such class terms. For example, the passing of the Reform Bill and Ten-Hours Bill, and 384 (D Basil Blackwell Ltd. HeinOnline — 20 J. L. & Soc'y 384 1993 the repeal of the Corn Laws, were seen as aspects of the economic conflict between the bourgeoisie and landed aristocracy.The above view reflects dolefully on a number of issues. First, there does not appear to be any difference between a democratic rule-of-law constitutional state (Rechtsstaat) and an unconstitutional, undemocratic despotism. Both are simply exploitative class-based entities. † The former state simply shields its basic exploitative character more successfully, particularly under guises like the ‘rule of law'. Secondly, both the ‘general' rule-of-law principle and ‘particular' property, contract or criminal laws, are simply there to buttress the property owners of capitalism.The rule of law is a typical example of legal fetishism, namely, giving law a false autonomy from the economic and class base of society. In times of high productivity, the constitutional capitalist state will give the appearance of some concern, via state spending, but it will show its true colours during perio ds of economic crisis. The first cuts will always be to the welfare of working people. The rule of law is thus an elaborate confidence trick. 45 Thirdly, Marx suggests that the so-called equal rights of liberal states have grossly unequal effects.The rights 4 of human beings are in reality the rights of bourgeois men in civil society. 1 They protect individual capitalists in their exploitative practices and they protect the unequal economic results of such practices. Rights are associated with individuals who ‘own' them in order to protect private interests. Rights thus shield the basic inequalities and exploitative practices of bourgeois culture. Bourgeois culture ignores material inequalities and slavishly adheres to formal legal, moral or political equality of rights.Marx found this whole scenario profoundly objectionable. Equally, from the same perspective, the justice that we observe in liberal societies is another aspect of the ideology of capitalism. It concentrates min imally on how goods might be distributed (if it gets as far as distributive justice) and ignores the massive inequalities implicit in the production process itself. In other words, it shuts the stable door after the capitalist horse has bolted. Justice is not a virtue for communists. Marx thus quite explicitly takes an anti-justice and anti-rights stance.With genuine communism, there would be no classes, no coercion, no conflict, and no private ownership; in consequence, there would be no need for justice or right claims. If there is abundance and communal ownership, then there is no reason for principles of allocation or any allocating or adjudication mechanisms. In sum, Marx objects, in this reading, to the whole notion of the juridical legal state as a complex sham. As law is integral to the idea of the state in Marx, so the antistatist stance of communism implies the abolition of law.The traditional account above is not without some internal ambiguity, particularly over notions like ‘the dictatorship of the proletariat'. This latter doctrine envisages the state as not so much a negative, coercive, backwardlooking institution, as rather an instrument of positive revolutionary change utilized for the benefit, ultimately, of humanity (even if it is still viewed as a transitional entity). Marx's own qualified fervour for the state can be observed, even in Capital,where he remarked enthusiastically on the work of 385 0 Basil Blackwell Ltd. HeinOnline — 20 J. L. Soc'y 385 1993 the Factory Inquiry Commission in Britain, specifically the work of Leonard Horner, as rendering ‘undying service to the English working class. He [Leonard Horner] carried on a life-long contest, not only with the embittered manufacturers, but also with the Cabinet'. 47 Marx later commented, with evident relish, that British manufacturers compared the factory inspectorate 4 8 with revolutionary commissioners of the French National Convention. However, this was hardly a n egative coercive vision of a class-based state functioning only in the interests of the bourgeoisie.The stricter class view of the state and law also suggests that if there were no class there would, in turn, be no law and no state. Class conflict is the prerequisite of the state. This view was later crystallized in Lenin's work, The State and Revolution. This idea, in turn, gives rise to the idea (initiated by Engels and carried on by Lenin, although many would contend it was also present in Marx) that the state and legal order will ‘wither away'. In this sense a communist society would be stateless and lawless (in a strictly descriptive sense).Thus, from the standpoint of a strict materialism, the state is not a major player. The end. result of this looks very much like communist anarchism, although Marx himself argued fiercely against such a conclusion and showed only vitriolic contempt for anarchists like Proudhon and Bakunin. However, Marx never resolved this issue of the relation between communism and mainstream anarchism. However, the class reductionist and instrumental perspective does not represent the totality of Marx's writings. Let us take the question of class first.Class, in certain works, is seen as more complex, fragmented, and containing fractions with no overt connection to political or legal domination. The state and its legal system, in this reading, clearly does not embody the interests of a ruling class. In addition there can be, as Marx demonstrated with great verve in the 18th Brumaire, intra-class conflict between fractions. Marx mentions four fractions within the bourgeoisie who often conflict: landed property, the financial aristocracy, the industrial bourgeoisie, and commercial bourgeoisie.In addition, the lumpenproletariat are kept separate from the proletariat, and the petty bourgeoisie from the peasantry. As one commentator has remarked, ‘the recourse to â€Å"fractions† of classes . . . indicates that . . . â €Å"class† is not a sufficiently precise concept to be of value in explaining particular events'. 49 Law, in this fraction perspective, can actually become a ‘site of class struggle'. 50 Laws are therefore not always oppressive in the interest of one class. In fact, many laws can benefit the working class, for example, factory legislation. Certain laws also result from pressures from multifarious groups outside social classes. In addition, the notion of class remains deeply ambiguous since Marx nowhere explains its precise relation to property ownership. The doubts over the relation between class and state, outlined in the 18th Brumaire,led Marx to suggest that in the conditions that pertained in France in the period 1848-50, the state did not represent any bourgeois fractions, or even the bourgeoisie in general. In fact, Marx contends that the state and law may work against the interests of the bourgeoisie. 52 This effectively under386  ©D Blackwell Basil Ltd. HeinOn line — 20 J. L. & Soc'y 386 1993 ined both the idea of the direct synonymity of ‘class' to ‘law' and ‘state', and also the necessity of class for analysing the state (although both these views are strongly maintained by Marx in The Communist Manifesto, amongst other writings). It is these qualifying arguments of Marx which enabled the development of what is now called ‘state autonomy theory', which has powerfully shaped late twentieth-century Marxist studies. The theory, in varying degrees, sees the state and law as a factor of cohesion, a site of struggle between fractions of classes, and an institution which may even regulate class conflict.The basic point is that legal reasoning takes on a relative autonomy from the economic base of society. It is not totally to be explained via modes or relations of production. This relative autonomy thesis might make us consider anew the curt dismissals of notions like the rule of law. Certainly a number of recent commentators have picked up on this theme in Marx, suggesting that the theory of unidirectional determinism of base and superstructure does not really work for explaining the nature of law itself.Laws are actually integral to certain types of relations of production. E. P. Thompson, following this line of thought, has spoken of law in eighteenth-century England as ‘deeply imbricated within the very basis of productive relations, which would have been inoperable without law'. He continues that we cannot ‘simply separate off all law as ideology, and assimilate this also to the state apparatus of a ruling class'. 53 Taking on board the Gramscian thesis of ideological hegemony being a sphere of struggle, Thompson contends that disputes are fought out in the sphere of law.Law certainly still expressed class power; however, part of the success of legal ideology itself was its appearance of impartiality. As Thompson notes, law ‘cannot seem to be so without its own logic and criteria of equity; indeed, on occasion, by actually being just†¦ even rulers find a need to legitimize their power, to moralize their functions, to feel themselves to be useful and just'. 54 The rhetoric was not therefore empty, even if it was still rhetoric. Semi-autonomous legal logic was thus often used against dominant groups – which was precisely a central aspect of Marx's argument in the 18th Brumaire.Thus, for Thompson, law does not equal raw class power. It was certainly involved in class power and it redefined property rights in undermining feudalism, but its focus was not exclusively on class interest. Its own logic and rhetoric gave it a partial autonomy which inhibited, in some cases, the dominant groups. It was also a site of struggle between fractions of these dominant groups. As Thompson concludes, such a notion of the rule of law is markedly different from arbitrary despotism. It is, in fact, he notes, a ‘cultural achievement'. 5 The effort to redeem Marx from his anti-statist and anti-law stance, via some notion of relative autonomy, has also had other defenders. Some critics have found in Marx's early writings a number of themes which add support this vision. For example, in one of his early writings, Marx speaks -oflaw as ‘the positive, bright and general norms in which freedom has attained to an existence that is impersonal, theoretical and independent of the arbitrariness of individuals. A people's statute book is its Bible of freedom'. 56 He also 387 Basil Blackwell Ltd. HeinOnline — 20 J. L. & Soc'y 387 1993 makes favourable noises, at points, about customary law established over 7 time, as against the new laws of the bourgeoisie. 5 Others have noted, with surprise, that Marx draws distinctions between ‘real' and ‘unreal' law. For example, on the same page of the article referred to above, Marx speaks of law becoming active: as soon as it is transgressed for it is only true law when in it t he unconscious natural law of freedom becomes the conscious law of the state. Where law is true law, i. . where it is the existence of freedom, it is the true existence of the freedom of man. Thus laws cannot prevent man's actions, for they are the inner laws of life. Paul Phillips remarks on this point that: ‘The significance of this distinction is that it posits the existence of an order superior to that of mere man-made law 58 and, to that extent, it is a Natural Law Theory'. Marx, even in his later writings, appeared to believe that there is a condition of freedom and wholeness for human beings, where their real natures will flourish.There is, as one critic has put it, a ‘myth of transparency' in Marx (as in Hegel) – this is ‘the vision of a society in which something â€Å"standing behind† the set of available social roles and relations†¦ will be revealed in a social order which will have become â€Å"obvious† to the participants'. 59 This notion of positive freedom, wholeness, and perfectibility behind the veil, is both implicit in the discussion of alienation (in the earlier writings), and restlessly present just under the surface of the later discussions of exploitation and communism.  ° This vision of freedom is subtly linked to Marx's strong (if unstated) communitarianism, namely, his deeply-rooted belief that humans are social creatures and can only develop freely within a particular type of community. This is the community which is distorted and lost in capitalism and will be recovered in communism. Humans are meant to develop historically toward such a society. Marx did not like to be associated with such a view, since it smacked of romantic utopianism. However, it is undeniably there throughout the corpus of his writings. Alienation is a prime example of such erfectibility lost and regained. The notion developed initially in a theological context. Humans were alienated from God through their sin. In H egel, the alienation is philosophical: spirit (or mind) externalizes itself in the world. It becomes alien to itself. The task of thought is to overcome the self-alienation of spirit, to perceive itself at home in the world. Overcoming alienation is realizing that the world is not alien to our thought. For Feuerbach, however, the real alienation is that human beings have placed their essence into either God or the Hegelian Spirit.To overcome alienation is to transform the subject and object – to realize that God is idealized humanity. For Marx, on the other hand, alienation takes on a number of subtle forms. 61 The basic idea is that human alienation is more immediate and practical, and subsumes all the other notions. In discussing the topic, Marx speaks initially of alienation through labour. Labour creates capital and capital escapes the control of labour and takes on a supposedly independent existence, which in turn dominates the original producer. Workers thus find they a re alienated from the product of 388 (D Basil Blackwell Ltd.HeinOnline — 20 J. L. & Soc'y 388 1993 their labour. Labour, in this capitalist context, is no longer free and creative. It is necessary for subsistence and thus exercises alien compulsion over the worker. In consequence, workers are alienated from free creativity (which is the true nature of human beings) and they are thus also alienated from their fellow human beings. Overcoming human alienation implies ultimately overthrowing the economic and social forms which generate the loss of reality and the self. The solution to the riddle of history and human alienation is communism. 2 There is strong sense here of a definite underlying human nature, with certain specifiable needs, which can flourish under a specific type of community, which recognizes certain ‘natural laws', not necessarily as overt imperatives from some external authority, but more as natural non-coercive norms derived from reason. Despite Marx's a ppearance as an anti-law theorist, some writers have claimed that it is possible to identify a communist theory of law and justice, and also, possibly, of state (given Marx's early interest in a radical democratic participatory state). 3 In certain writings, particularly The Critique of the Gotha Programme, Marx does indicate that there would be a principle of justice under communism – ‘from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs'. 64 Such a notion of justice would presumably prevent unequal access to the means of production and also prohibit alienation and exploitation. It would also respond distributivelyto human needs – although Marx leaves the concept of ‘need' fairly open. Needs for social relations, satisfying labour, and the like, move well beyond physical subsistence.It is difficult not to consider some of Marx's needs as ‘wants' or ‘interests', which are surely markedly different notions. Tom Campbell, amongst a number of recent theorists, believes that we can reconcile Marx's historicism, and aspects of a looser materialism, with a belief in communist justice and the moral superiority of such a society. He di