How does Shakespeare use confusion as a theme in A Midsummer Nights Dream Essays

How does Shakespeare use confusion as a theme in A Midsummer Nights Dream Essays How does Shakespeare use confusion as a theme in A Midsummer Nights Dream Paper How does Shakespeare use confusion as a theme in A Midsummer Nights Dream Paper Confusion is often used by Shakespeare in A Midsummer Nights Dream, so how does Shakespeare use confusion as a theme in A Midsummer Nights Dream? Shakespeare uses confusion a lot in this play, A Midsummer Nights Dream, to make it more interesting and enjoyable and it adds a few twists to the story line which wouldnt be expected by the audience, for example, when Nick Bottoms head gets turned into an ass head, and all the mechanicals are scared and confused about the ass head in place of Nick Bottoms head, and they all run away, and Nick Bottom is confused why they are all running away from him as he does not notice the ass head. I think that Shakespeare uses a lot of confusion in a Midsummer Nights Dream as it relates to the real world, like when Queen Elizabeth I was the reigning Queen of England (1533-1603), as she did not marry any person, and she did not want to marry anyone whom she did not truly love. She also did not have any heirs to the throne so Elizabethan England was in mass confusion as they did not know who will be on the throne next. Near the beginning of the play, Hermias father Egeus, wants her to marry Demetrius, but she does not love Demetrius and she infact loves Lysander. Egeus said to Theseus, the Duke of Athens Stand forth, Demetrius! My noble lord, This man hath my consent to marry her. Stand forth, Lysander! And, my gracious Duke, This man hath bewitched the bosom of my child. I : i 24-27, so Egeus wants Demetrius to marry Hermia, and not Lysander, as he thinks that he is bewitched Hermia. Hermia pleads to be allowed to marry Lysander instead of Demetrius for her husband. But Theseus warns Hermia that if she does not chose to marry Demetrius before his marriage with Hippolyta, she will be executed or she will be sent to a convent. As Theseus takes Demetrius and Egeus away to talk to them, Lysander and Hermia are left alone, and they both agree to run away from home as it says in this quote, From Athens is her house remote seven leagues; And she repects me as her only son. There, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee; And to that place the sharp Athenian law cannot persue us. If thou lovst me, then steal forth thy fathers house tomorrow night, and in the wood, a league witout the town I : i 159-165 and the reply to the quote, Tommorrow truly will I meet with thee. I : i 178, So that means that Lysander and Hermia have planned to meet in the woods the very next day, so that they can go to Lysanders widow aunts house to marry each other. This make the Elizabethan audience confused because women during that period of time obeyed what their father said as women had no control of their lifes, and because Hermia said she didnt want Demetrius as a husband, this confuses everyone as this was unheard of, a women standing up for herself, and taking control. The lovers are also confused because of the havoc the love flower has created, due to Oberon making a mistake, as he said to Puck A sweet Athenian lady is in love with a distainful youth; anoint his eyes, But do it with the next thing he espies May be the lady. Thou shalt know the man By the Athenian garment she hath on. But the mistake Oberon made is not obvious, but he did not tell Puck the names of the two lovers he wants together, so Puck squeezes the love flower into the wrong persons eyes, who is Lysander, and when Lysander wakes up he then see Helena. So Hermia still loves Lysander, Lysander now loves Helena and Demetrius loves Hermia so its like a love circle, but then Oberon tries to correct his mistake by putting some love flower juice into Demetrius eyes so he loves Helena instead of Hermia. Later on the play, as well as dispelling Titania from the love flower, he also tells Puck to dispel Lysander so he can return to Hermia. The other two lovers Demetrius and Helena were former lovers, as Lysander tries to state, Demetrius, Ill avouch it to his head, Made love to Nedars daughter, Helena, and won her soul; and she, sweet lady, dotes I : i 106-108. But Helena still loves Demetrius, but Demetrius does not love her anymore, so Helena tries her hardest to win Demetrius love back. Helena is Hermias best friend, and vice versa, and Lysander and Demetrius seem to be worst of enemies, due to the argument about who will marry Hermia. Dramatic confusion works to make us laugh because of the franticness of the movements of the characters in a Midsummer Nights Dream, like when all the mechanicals run away from Nick Bottom because they are all confused about his ass head. I think that it does not make us question the fairness of the confusion because when Demetrius marries Helena at the end, the audience just accept it as it being fair, as its a happy ending, and as long as everyone is happy the audience is happy. But Demetrius does not really love Helena truly, as he is under the influence of the love flower, and it isnt his personal choice to marry Helena under his own will. There is a group of people who are named the mechanicals, who are called Quince, Snug, Bottom, Flute, Starveling, and Snout. They all plan to act out a play in front of the Theseus the Duke of Athens wedding. Quince tells all the mechanicals what parts they are acting. Bottom is Pyramus, Flute is Thisbe, Snug is the lion, Snout is Pyramus father, Starveling is Thisbes mother, and Quince is Thisbes father. Nick Bottom wants to play most of the parts, like the lion, as he says he can play a great lion. The mechanicals all plan to meet in the woods to practice the play before the big day, the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. When they all arrive in the woods to prepare the play, Puck or Robin Goodfellow as he is also know as, see the mechanicals acting out the play, and Puck thought it would be rather comical if he turned Bottoms head into an ass head. Quince, Starveling, Snout, Snug, and Flute are all scared and confused as they all spot Bottoms new head, and due to the confusion they all run away in a panic. After that Bottom himself is left confused about why they had run away, and due to Bottom speaking he woke up Titania, who is the Queen of the fairies, and is under the influence of the love flower, and who ever is under the influence of the love flower will instantly fall in love with who ever they see first, and in this case it is Nick Bottom. When Oberon, The King of the fairies, spots Titania with Bottom and he feels bad about using the love flower on Titania so he dispells her, and she no longer loves Nick Bottom. Oberon explains all about Nick Bottom to her. Oberon also commands Puck to change Bottoms head back to normal and so he does. Bottom then wakes up thinking that it was all a dream as he says I have had a most rare vision. I have had a dream, past the wit of a man to say what dream it was. Man is but an ass if he go about to expound his dream. methought I was and methought I had but man is but a patched fool if he will offer to say what methought I had. IV : i 197-200. He also thinks that the mechanicals are playing a trick on him as they are nowhere to bo seen, but then he thinks that they abandoned him and left him to sleep in the woods as he says in this quote When my cues comes, call me, and I will answer. My next is Most fair Pyramus. Heigh ho! Peter Quince? Flute the bellows mender? Snout the tinker? Starveling? Gods my life! Stolen hence and left me asleep? I dont think that it was fair to use Bottom in this way, even though it does add comical value to the play, because Nick is really confused about what is happening and its not his fault, as this is a joke by Puck, and he really thinks that Titania loves him due to Oberon being selfish, but he then realises his mistake. There is confusion in the relationship between Oberon and Titania because they argued about the Indian boy, which Titania is looking after, as the Indian boys mother died a child birth, and Oberon wants this boy as it seems to him as the most important and valuable possession around as during Elizabethan England, India was only just discovered, and one of the things that they brought back were slaves but they were rare. What Oberon thinks is that as long as you have that Indian boy you will be the most important person/fairy around. Oberon wants that Indian boy so he drugs Titania with the love flower so that he can take the Indian boy as Titania does not want to part with the boy. This leads to nature being confused as floods and storms are happening because they are conflicting, and nature will not turn back to normal until they make friends again. Puck cause dramatic confusion as he makes Nick Bottoms head turn into an ass head, which causes dramatic confusion as all the mechanicals run away from Bottom. He also causes dramatic confusion as he anoints the wrong person as this leads to a chain reactiom, when Lysander longer loves Hermia and loves Helena, and Demetrius also loves Helena, and this results into an argument, and they almost start fighting. He causes all this confusion because he enjoys it, but the putting the love juice into the wrong persons eyes was a mistake, but with Nick Bottom, that was just Puck wanting to see what the mechanicals reactions would be, and he found that rather funny. The natural father and daughter relationship is in confusion because Hermia is disobeying him about the marriage between her and Demetrius, and during Elizabethan England, women were not allowed to have a choice and their lives were directed by their father. This is confusing to the Elizabethan audience because women in Elizabethan England werent expected to stand up for themselves, as it was unheard of at that time, but now, to a modern day audience, no one really takes notice of this and just thinks its a father daughter argument. During Elizabethan England, Queen Elizabeth was in control of the country she ruled from 1558-1603. The confusing thing to the Elizabethans is that Queen Elizabeth did not want to marry anyone whom she didnt truly love. The problem is that there was no heir to the throne, so England was in confusion about what is going to happen next. Queen Elizabeth is similar to Hermia, as Hermia defied the unwritten rules of the time, and did what she wanted and not what her father wanted. She is also similar to Harmia because she didnt marry anyone who she didnt love, like when Hermia was told to marry Demetrius, but she really loved Lysander, and Queen Elizabeth did not marry anyone who she did not love. I think that confusion is a strong theme in A Midsummer Nights Dream as it is used a lot, and without the confusion theme the play would have not been very exciting and interesting, and instead it would have been very dull and lifeless. I did enjoy the play, but there are some boring parts to the play like the beginning where there is no or very little comedy, but there is just the decision of who is going to marry whom. My favourite part is near the end where the mechanicals are chosen to act out their play in front of the Duke of Athens. This part is good because this is where the mechanicals are truly confused about what their lines are, and the way it is written is awful. I think that Shakespeare added this to A Midsummer Nights Dream because he wanted to show his audience that he writes better plays then most people, as the mechanicals play was over the top and terrible, and there was too much alliteration as well. I think that the audiences in the Elizabethan period would have found this play either very scary, due to the fact that women can speak for themselves or that it was too far fetched that none of the events that happened in the play could happen in the real world.

The Articles of Confederation Versus the Constitution Assignment - 9

The Articles of Confederation Versus the Constitution - Assignment Example In order to understand the differences between these two historical and pivotal documents is to discuss them more deeply and individually. The Articles of Confederation were enacted in March of 1781 and were maintained until 1789, nearly 8 years to the day (Kelly). The Articles were chosen as ideal for a fledgling and inexperienced government to have a better chance of winning the Revolutionary War and defeating the British forces. However, many of the colony’s settlers had a negative experience with governments who had too much power and control and no real experience in the forming of government (Morgan 1). They specifically wanted a government with limited power. Many commented that the Articles of Confederation were essentially a â€Å"friendship agreement† between the 13 original colonies in the war against a shared enemy (Painter 3-4). The Constitution replaced the Articles in 1789. The Constitution was considered to be a â€Å"progressive† document; one th at represented a long term government that was different than those the settlers left behind. This is one of the first things that separate the Articles and the Constitution. The Articles intended to facilitate a favorable end to the war and the latter was intended to develop a long term, stable government structure (Winkler 1). However, the differences go much deeper.  There are several specific differences between the two documents. First, in the Articles, the individual states are sovereign and not accountable to the federal government, whereas the Constitution shares the powers between states and the federal government.

Government as a Social Tool or Business Partner Essay

Government as a Social Tool or Business Partner - Essay Example It should be noted that when the governments prioritizes corporate subsidies and allocate less fund for welfare payments, it just emphasizes that corporations are much needy than the public. This is even more strongly felt now that the country is operating on a tight budget. Theory then states that the private sector should be solely responsible for the provision of social programs. This paper opts to offer an insight to this issue by looking at the economic argument for and against corporate welfare. It is irrefutable that corporate welfare is one of the most debated social and economic issues. The term "corporate welfare" is coined by Ralph Nader in 1956 in order to describe the "benefits conferred on corporations as compared to any corporate payment, or goods or services provided, to the government." With this definition, Nader looks beyond the benefits conferred and costs incurred by a particular program by looking at the government's costs and benefits. For example, if a program involves the government giving more to private companies than it gets back, then it is considered as corporate welfare. ... Corporate welfare can take the form of direct grants to business, programs that provide research and other services for industries, and programs that provide subsidized loans or insurance to business. A good example is the Ohio Loan Law in 1837 which "required the State to give tax revenues to private canal, turnpike, and railroad corporations while permitting them also to charge tolls" (Nader 1999). Others include the Market Access Program for the agricultural department, the Advanced Technology Program, and Technology Reinvestment Program (Stansel n.d.). These moves emphasize these companies importance to the local government. The common argument for corporate welfare is more economic than social. It should be noted that tax perks like tax holidays and tax breaks are commonly used by governments in order to encourage the inflow of foreign direct investment. This is more apparent in developing countries where the economy is largely dependent on foreign players. The main argument for this is that "economy is dependent on business stability and that corporate development is directly linked to job growth" (Perryman 1996). When tax breaks are offered, companies can operate more efficiently by cutting down on operational costs. Tax breaks are also potent ways to attract more companies thereby increasing the locality's production and income. The presence of corporate subsidies also ensures the stability of the business sector. When the government provides corporate welfare, it in fact, works in ensuring that companies continue to operate efficiently. It should be noted that corporate welfare includes provision o f funds, projects, and programs which aids business organizations in research and development, marketing, and in their production efforts.

The Psychology to Sams Rebellion Essay Example for Free

The Psychology to Sams Rebellion Essay The Psychology 2 In the movie Life as a House, Georges son, Sam goes through new changes in behavior. When the movie begun Sam was a rebellious young teen with negative feelings toward his father. Throughout the plot of the movie Sam goes through experiences with his father as they spend time together over the summer, which brings them closer together and allows them to have a better relationship. Sams acting out and unwanted actions were results of his parents divorce and not having a healthy relationship with his father. In Psychology, the basic concept of Nature vs. Nurture is said to Influence Development. Nature, according to Laura A. King (2010), includes â€Å"the individuals biological inheritance, especially his or her genes† (p.264). Nurture involves a persons environment and experiences. In her book King (2010) also states â€Å"early experiences are important contributors to development† (p.266). In the movie you could easily understand the nurture side of Sams behavior. Knowing and hearing about what kind of people Sam hangs out with we can kind of understand why he dresses a certain way and why he partakes in certain activities, such as drugs. The people he hangs out with leads us back again to the divorce. Sam chooses to hang out with others like him who fell pain inside. His behaviors are a cry for help. In the movie Sam says â€Å"I like how it feels not to feel†. He does drugs to forget his problems and not feel pain. The emotions that young kids and teens go through when parents get a divorce usually include depression, anger, sadness, and the feeling that maybe they could have done something to have made the situation better. While some children and teens choose to hide their feelings, Sam didnt. He acted out with disrespect and constant anger. â€Å"No one knows whether there are actually more depressed kids today or just greater awareness of the problem, but some researchers think that the stress of a high divorce The Psychology 3 rate, rising academic expectations and social pressure may be pushing more kids over the edgeâ€Å" (Wingert, Pat, Barbara Kantrowitz, 2002, p. 52). The emotions that Sam has and also his Development contribute to his Personality. Sam has what is called an Introverted personality, because he is not very social and mostly keeps to himself. We see an example of his introverted behavior toward the beginning of the movie when he locks himself in his room and pushes his mother out. He prefers to be alone, and is not very social. Sams primary defense mechanism is Displacement. He â€Å"shifts feelings toward an unacceptable object to another† (King, 2010, p.343). The anger he has about the divorce , he shifts onto everyone else, especially his father. His parents divorce had a significant impact on his personality, emotions and development. Motivation is â€Å"the force that moves people to behave, think and feel the way they do† (King, 2010, p.305). Motivation is usually triggered by an incentive, or a reward for certain behaviors. The most common incentive is money. When George flushes drugs that he found that Sam was supposedly holding for a friend in the toilet, Sam freaks out because he has to now pay his friend back. He is then motivated to work to make money to pay for the drugs. He asks his father to give him ten dollars an hour to help George build the house. At first, the money was his primary motivation, but as he started getting closer with his father it became less about the money and more about building their father-son relationship and also building himself back up again. After George had opened up about his father and his past, Sam says â€Å"I havent used anything [drugs] in two days, Im trying†. His father motivates him to become a better person and to change his life around. When Sam acts out, his parent dont usually know how to handle him, so Sam The Psychology 4 continues to rebel. If his parents were to use Operant conditioning to reinforce Sams behavior, he most likely wouldnt have rebelled as much. He would still have Negative feelings but his actions wouldnt have been so extreme. Nurturing come in again with learning and conditioning. If his father was around more to reinforce his behavior, he wouldnt have been the young teenaged boy who lashed out. Operant Conditioning is a way of learning and Sam needed to learn that his actions have consequences. Sam has a problem with substance abuse. In an intense seen with his father, he admits to have been using since he was twelve years old. Along with the stress of his parents divorce his drug abuse is a factor contributing to his extreme behavior. It is said that â€Å"a striking consequence of drug use by young people is its association with violence and delinquency† (Winters, 2010, p.118). Sam has become so accustomed to the use of drugs, since hes been taking them for so many years, that he even steals his fathers Vicodine. Anything to ease his pain. Not only does he suffer with drug abuse he also seems to have depression. Depression is a common illness for those who have divorced or absent parents. â€Å"Depressed teenagers are more reactive to the environment than depressed adults. In addition, they act irritable. In classical depression, you are depressed allor almost all-of the time. Depressed teens moods are much more changeable. If an adult male gets depressed and you take him to a party, he is still depressed. In fact, he may depress others at the party. A teenage boy who is depressed and gets taken to a party might brighten, might actually want to have sex. If pursued, he might enjoy himself. But if he goes home alone, he is likely to become very depressed again. These mood changes are very hard for parents to understand† (Winters, 2010, p.118). The changes and behaviors seen in Sam, in the movie Life as a house, are caused The Psychology 5 due to a divorce between parents. And many aspects of the young adults behavior can be analyzed with psychology. Sams emotions, personality, learning and development all pertain to one another. Sams father helped motivate him, enabling him to turn his life around. His emotions had changed, not completely, but he became less angry and less violent then when he was in the beginning of the movie. His Personality had also changed a bit, he was no longer as introverted as he was, he became a little more social. The Psychology 6 References King, L. (Ed.). (2010). Experience Psychology (1st ed.). New York, NY: McGraw- Hill. Wingert, Pat, Kantrowitz, B. (2002, October 07). Young and Depressed. Newsweek. 52. Winters, Ken C. (1998, October). Kids and Drugs. Corrections Today. 118.

William Faulkners Use of Shakespeare Essay -- William Faulkner

William Faulkner's Use of Shakespeare Throughout his career William Faulkner acknowledged the influence of many writers upon his work--Twain, Dreiser, Anderson, Keats, Dickens, Conrad, Balzac, Bergson, and Cervantes, to name only a few--but the one writer that he consistently mentioned as a constant and continuing influence was William Shakespeare. Though Faulkner’s claim as a fledgling writer in 1921 that â€Å"[he] could write a play like Hamlet if [he] wanted to† (FAB 330) may be dismissed as an act of youthful posturing, the statement serves to indicate that from the beginning Shakespeare was the standard by which Faulkner would judge his own creativity. In later years Faulkner frequently acknowledged Shakespeare as a major inspiration and influence, once noting, â€Å"I have a one-volume Shakespeare that I have just about worn out carrying around with me† (FIU 67). Faulkner’s recorded interviews and conversations contain references to a number of Shakespeare's works and characters, inc luding Hamlet, Macbeth, Henry IV, Henry V, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet, the sonnets, Falstaff, Prince Hal, Lady Macbeth, Bottom, Ophelia, and Mercutio. In 1947 he told an Ole Miss English class that Shakespeare’s work provides â€Å"a casebook on mankind,† adding, â€Å"if a man has a great deal of talent he can use Shakespeare as a yardstick† (Webb and Green 134). In one of his last interviews shortly before his death in 1962, Faulkner said of all writers, â€Å"We yearn to be as good as Shakespeare† (LIG 276). The parallels in the lives and careers of the two writers are remarkably striking. Both were born in provincial small towns but found their eventual success in metropolitan cities, Shakespeare in London and Faulkner in New York and... ...n August: Faulkner's Structural Motifs." Master's thesis, Southeast Missouri State University, 1995. Greenblatt, Stephen, and others, eds. The Norton Shakespeare. New York: W.W. Norton, 1997. Gwynn, Frederick L., and Joseph L. Blotner, eds. Faulkner in the University: Class Conferences at the University of Virginia, 1957-1958. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1959. Cited as FIU. Meriwether, James B., ed. Essays, Speeches, and Public Letters by William Faulkner. New York: Random House, 1965. Cited as ESPL. --------, and Michael Milgate, eds. Lion in the Garden:  Interviews with William Faulkner, 1926-1962. New York: Random House, 1968. Cited as LIG. Rowse, A. L. William Shakespeare: A Biography. New York: Harper and Row, 1963. Webb, James W., and A. Wigfall Green, eds. William Faulkner of Oxford. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1965.

Community Colleges Essay

Does everyone that attends community colleges know the role of them? Most people don’t know the achievement gaps or knows the importance of them. Many teens today are so excited about attending college the last decision on their mind is commuting. This is because most are ready for the dorm life, freedom, and partying. Education does cross their mind, but other times it isn’t until the hard work kicks in. This also goes for charter schools. Charter schools and community colleges are very beneficial and helpful. The two are very similar when it comes to academic reasons. Today many people work hard to close achievements gaps for people coming from high and low income families who want a better education. Many people face obstacles due to family income. Whether it’s high or low income, children fight for available educational opportunities. Everyone deserves a chance at being successful and achieving goals. It is said to be that people living in poverty won’t have the same benefits as others living on the â€Å"brighter side†. People that live on the brighter side have easier chances at getting successful. This refers back to school system, and how education is involved. (1st link) The education law center stated that the Christie administration has been moving too slow. It is suggested that they build more schools for children in struggling cities. Recently, the state of Department of Education failed to move as quickly as they should, now there are many different ranges of requests for many school repairs and fix other things in some of the poorest cities. Charter schools are very different from schools such as private and public schools. In Newark, children are grouped by ages consisting children five and younger that live in poverty. Schools are trying to help these children. Charter schools are private schools that give everyone a chance. For example, in the book Outliers, KIPP was a middle school that Marita attended. KIPP was a middle school that has a high standard of academic conduct and achievement. The success of this school is continuous with its low-income students. These students end up going to college in overwhelming numbers. (2ndlink) Gladwell has questions children being given the opportunity of getting too much schooling. (book) Gladwell compares that theory to agriculture. Rice paddies are planted multiple times a year and they follow a steady schedule. In other countries, students attend school for countless numbers of days. KIPP is introduced to the same strategy for their students. They attend school from 7a. m until 7p. m. Even on Saturdays and in the Summer they are in school learning. Marita lived in poverty and decided to change her cultural legacy by attending KIPP to better herself. Most if not all of her time is spent going to school and doing homework. This allows Marita to get out of poverty. Her grade level increases tremendously. More than half of the students will graduate, including being the first to do so. (book) Charter schools focus their studies on the children. Compared to community colleges, time is spent on the people more. Universities and public schools do not receive the same attention. New Jersey’s high school students receive less standardized test based on their education system. This made charter schools easier to open. Christopher Cerf, an education commissioner, considers the state options on allowing students who take standardized testing to get into colleges to be substituted for high school proficiency test. Also, he feels that the community college entrance exam and high school test be the same. He believes in this so the test could be based on individual subjects. Cerf is trying a new system where a charter can be in Elizabeth, but children in Newark can attend. Community colleges try to close this gap by allowing the opportunity for anyone to attend. Professors interact with students more at community colleges. For community colleges do not have to have any special talents, income, or anything to attend a community college. People fail to realize they have many benefits attending these schools. These colleges aren’t for anyone of a specific age. Everyone is treated equally. The gaps are being closed because you are worked with unlike other school where you’re more independent. For example, in Outliers, the University of Michigan only enrolled 10% of minorities’ entrance chance, when their chance was just as good as the whites. Also, Christopher Logan dropped out of Montana State because the professor showed no interest in helping him. Charter schools close these gaps by allowing them to learn equally but based on a higher level than the same grades as public schools. Christie wants to replace many of the school contract performances and set specific standards. Focusing more on test results than regulatory compliance. (4th link). In the cities with the most poverty, children fail because they haven’t had anything new. The Urban Hope Act will allow private nonprofit to build new schools in Camden, Trenton, and Newark. This will only happen if they can prove experience in education. No state or other public bond dollars will be used on these schools. They will receive 5% less per student state funding than regular district schools. They do plan on promising to do much better with less. (link 5) In conclusion, enough work is being provided. It doesn’t have to always involve money. The financial issues are slowly but surely taken care of. Attention wise, these bridges are being close with enough time and patience to help children learn in charter schools and others in community colleges. Government needs to expand to allow everyone the same opportunity, instead of allowing high incomed people have certain opportunities and advantages rather than others. It is said that prodigies have a less creative mind than a student with a lower IQ. It is not true that certain people need to be smart enough to succeed in the real world. Hard work, dedication and the right education gives low incomed people the same advantage as everyone else. http://weblib. ucc. edu:2188/iw-search/we/InfoWeb? p_product=NewsBank&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=1449450EEA63BEE0&p_docnum=4&p_queryname=2. http://weblib. ucc. edu:2188/iw-search/we/InfoWeb? p_product=NewsBank&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=1445F9C7B95F9388&p_docnum=5&p_queryname=2 http://weblib. ucc. edu:2188/iw-search/we/InfoWeb? p_product=NewsBank&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=139BE64F7B69B398&p_docnum=4&p_queryname=2 http://weblib. ucc. edu:2188/iw-search/we/InfoWeb? p_product=NewsBank&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=134F1CD19D623F50&p_docnum=7&p_queryname=2 http://weblib. ucc. edu:2188/iw-search/we/InfoWeb? p_product=NewsBank&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=13C7A18781A29440&.

Contrast and Compare the Union Membership of Employment Relations in the UK and the USA - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 9 Words: 2673 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2019/02/13 Category Career Essay Type Compare and contrast essay Level High school Tags: Employment Essay Did you like this example? Introduction According to Rose (2004), the study of the regulation of the utilization relationship between employer and worker, each collectively and separately, and therefore the determination of substantive and procedural problems at industrial, organisation and working place levels. Concerns about how work and employment relationships are regulated, experienced and contested (Williams 2013) can help people find out the inter relations and enlarge utilisations. Although the study of employment relations focuses on work regulation, the broader economic and social influence on the relative power of capital and labour and the interactions between employers, workers, their collective organizations and the state must also be taken into account (Bamber and Lansbury, 2011). Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Contrast and Compare the Union Membership of Employment Relations in the UK and the USA" essay for you Create order No matter in which country, North and South, workers, employers and governments have both same and different interests, short term and long term. The different interests must be accommodated and reconciled. International comparisons will definitely bring out and explain where those differences and similarities of national industrial relations systems come from (Eaton 2000). According to Frege and Kelly (2013), the Comparative Employment Relationship (CER) study must be based on the global economy and its impact on regional, national and sub national employment relationship regulation. This report will compare comparative employment relations in the aspect of union membership in USA and UK . It will illustrate the historical and political background of the USA and the UK respectively, the employment relations will be analyzed with the history and policies together. Then, a chart comparison of union membership between the USA and the UK will be illustrated. Some opinions and a conclusion will be given at the end of this report. The USA Since the late-nineteenth century, giant industrial enterprises were established with bureaucratized labour management systems and a high-wage system, which is also known as ‘Fordism’ (Frege and Kelly, 2013). Fordism is assembly line mass-production manufacturing for mass consumption, following Taylorist principles (like division of labour, planning, surveillance, and performance related pay). However, it was not the workers getting rich, it was their bosses. Those bosses had made large profits, by paying worker very low wages per hour. In the case of that, industrial workers had created unions to fight for their benefits, which is called labour movement. First, they accomplished the work-free weekends. They fought for reducing their working hours to make time for family relaxation. The most famous one was the Haymarket Riots, happened in Chicago on May 1st , 1886(YouTube, 2019). Child labor was also protected by labour movement. In 1886, unions forbade that kids under 14 were not allowed to be employed. Most of those protests had got results. Right following the Pre-New Deal Industrial Relations Period (1886-1933), the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 marked the beginning of the New Deal Period (1933-1945). The National Mechanical Recuperation Act of 1933 (NIRA) was a US labour law and consumer law passed by the US Congress to authorize the President to direct industry for reasonable compensation and costs that would fortify financial recuperation. It protected collective bargaining and union organizing rights in the private sector. National Labour Relations Act of 1935 , which is also known as the Wagner Act, had set rules for union organizing, remains in part applicable to modern US employment relations. It set up a lawful right to creat independent unions to deal collectively with their bosses. Closed, union, agency and open shop four agreement types were raised. In 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act has been enacted. This law established ‘minimum wage,minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and child labor standards affecting full-time and part-time workers in the private sector and in Federal, State, and local governments’ (Dol.gov, 2019). In 1930s and 1940s, workers were also able to negotiate health benefits plan from their employers. Compared with the earlier period, the rate of unemployment had decreased and per capita income had grown dramatically faster during the New Deal era. Till nowadays, the union memberships are still undeniable. American live, work, even relax are all changed by the labour movement. During World War II, National Labour Relations Act of 1935 did not contributed a lot. Instead, it was the War Labour Board that forced employers to recognize unions to ensure the labour rest time. Business Unionism Period (1945-1980) came after World War II. By 1947, employees in numerous northern businesses, involving rubber, steel and metal creation, trucking, mining, autos, and clothing, had shaped solid unions, but somewhere else, in retail exchange, office work, household benefit, and within the South as a entire, unions remained minimal. Business Unionism has established. Labor associations working as ‘businesses’ in which the unions give labourers with an cluster of administrations, involving the transaction of collective haggling understandings, and contract organization in trade for member’s union levy (Devinatz, 2013). According to Freeman and Medoff (1984), Unions and the New Deal state changed USA, raising efficiency and guaranteeing labourers of a rea sonable share of efficiency picks up. Within enterprise, unions raised efficiency. However, Race, gender and region were all limited The New Deal Industrial Relations System seriously. According to Frege and Kelly (2013), The Wagner Act, the Reasonable Labor Guidelines Act and the retirement and unemployment protections arrangements of the Social Security Act unequivocally avoided rural employees, household workers, and the representatives of the little foundations that utilized numerous Southerners, ladies, and African-Americans. Moreover, unions remained some problem in the south of the USA. Though the national legislation had already been extended to employees in South, its impact were still limited by racist and reactionary state officials. According to Friedman et al. (2000), New Deal Legislation actually had coverred many labourers in the region’s booming textile industry, but attempts to unionize foundered on the opposition of local and state officials. Unemployment insurance and Aid to Families having dependent kids in the south were supposed to bene fit southern employees, however, local governments, who were in charge of those programme mentioned above, had limited access to workers’ benefits. Then, Globalisation and Business Unionism Decline Period (1980-1995) had arrived. During this period, threats on both political and economical aspects were considered. For economical aspects, it was already more than 30 years after the World War II, the economy of a large amount of countries had already been recovered and raised up. Globalization is an inexorable historical trend, which has brought unavoidable problems, for instance, outsourcing/competition with cheap labour abroad, union busting consultants. In terms of political threats, Reagan, who is known as the Neoliberal President was elected. Meanwhile, union busting model has been established by Air Traffic Controllers Strike. What was worse, North American Free Trade Agreement exacerbated globalization threat to unions. After Business Unionism Decline Period, Sweeney Social Movement Unionism Period (1995 – 2009), which is named after a labor leader and served as president of the AFL-CIO from 1995 to 2009, has arrived. Under Sweeneys tenure, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) created speedy gains in membership. The union began the last decade with concerning 625,000 members. however Sweeney began pushing for speedy enlargement into new sectors and base areas. SEIU joined with the National Association of Working Women to prepare workplace staff, and therefore the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) to prepare home staff. The union additionally dramatically swollen its reach among maintenance staff within the health care field and business offices. Sweeney additionally pushed for mergers with variety of different unions, engrossing the National Association of Government Employees (NAGE) and different public worker unions. By 1993, SEIU had over a meg members. it had been the prim ary federation union to succeed in the million-member mark in additional than twenty years. It additionally advocated for legally-mandated paid family leave, health care reform and a raise within the earnings. Internally, Sweeney devoted nearly a 3rd of the unions budget to organizing new members and pushed for stronger diversity within the unions ranks. From 2009 to present, it is called Post Great Recession Period. Two presidents have to be mentioned here. President Obama has proposed Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, which helps file a pay discrimination claim at each new paycheck time by restarting the six months statute. Of limitations. Also, in April 2014, he has signed for Non-Retaliation for Disclosure of Compensation Information in Executive Order 13665. Taking the place of Obama’s position, President Trump fights alongside labour movement to achieve NAFTA re-negotiation. However, on the other hand, he also aims to reverse nearly every victory the Obama administration laid down that helps working people, especially vital members who had significant contribution to growing economy. The UK According to Fredge and Kelly (2013), some of the most crucial characterizes can be traced back to nineteenth century, British employees were seeking for ways to improving their terms and conditions of employment. By organizing collectively, weakness of isolated individuals had been overcome, so they tried to establish some unions and negotiate with their bosses. At the late of nineteenth century, those workers had reached some very limited legal freedoms, but meanwhile, their employers had also generated the significant mistrust of the legal system and the judiciary. Since there was not effective enough political voice to help workers protect their organisations and conditions by legislation, the labour party was not established until the beginning of twentieth century, which was tend to protect their rights by bargaining and strike, free from legal regulation. Any of government regulate issues programme related to low wages, firing employees were all strongly against unions. This s ituation lasted until the end of twentieth century. During the World War II period, the ‘voluntarist’ system of employment relations was promoted by abundant employment. This kind of employment relations were also considered to improved labours’ power of bargain. Which is worth to mention that, most employers stood on the side of ‘voluntarist’ system as well, since they were very satisfied avoiding legal regulation, where unions had widely rights. Employers also preferred solving problems by bargaining just like unions. This system did not start to dissolve until 1960s. Compared to the USA, the economic performance and productive growth of British were relatively low. From 1968 to the late of 1970s, there were attempts to organise some large-scale negotiated reforms of collective bargaining. However, they were failed because of strong resistance from those powerful unions. Government policy within the Nineteen Seventies was powerfully influenced by the economist read that the key role of the state was to make sure economic condition through policies of demand management. one in every of the implications of economic condition was a strong trades union movement whose impact on wages, productivity and employment dominated governmental policy at that point. Governments appointed 2 committees of inquiry into industrial relations – in 1965 (the Donovan Commission) and 1975 (the Bullock Committee) – and additionally tried to restrain wage growth through state-imposed incomes policies limiting the allowable annual increase in wage rates. The Conservative government, elective in 1979, was the primary post-war administration expressly to abandon the goal of financial condition and to reject the standard knowledge that government ought to get to work with union power instead of curb it. below the leadership of Prime Minister Iron Lady, it pursued a neo-liberal policy of deregu- lating markets, reducing taxation and cutting public outlay within the belief these measures would stimulate growth and cut back state. One mechanism of public outlay reduction was the wholesale privatization of state industrial firms. The Labour governments of 1997–2010 preserved most of the Conservative employment relations laws, however, it departed in three ways: first, a statutory national pay was introduced in 1998. Second, the use Relations Act (1999) introduced a legal procedure whereby trade unions might secure recognition from AN leader for talks. Third, the Labour governments reversed the Conservative 1992 opt-out from European policy and started to implement European Directives within the field of employment relations. These measures introduced a 48-hour limit on weekly operating hours, prescribed a minimum of twenty days paid annual leave, harmonious several of the use rights of part-time and full-time staff and set a four-year limit on the period of serial fixed-term contracts. The Union Membership Chart Comparison The dimension of two figures are different, so they can only be able to compared just by their tends. The union membership in the USA is established earlier than it in the UK. From figure 1, it is found dramatically instability before 1933. It could be discovered that the beginning of Pre New Deal Period (1986) and New Deal Period had stimulated the increase of membership. The peak of the membership is at the end of World War II. It dropped mainly because of economical reason, the globalization. Trade union membership has declined in both the USA and the UK since the early 1980s but the scale of decline has been more severe in the UK. Unlike the USA having a very unstable data, since 1945 the union membership in the UK can be broken down into four phases from figure 2. From 1945 to late 1960s, trade union membership has risen slowly and steadily from 8 million to 10.2 million. From 1968, the membership increased quickly, peaking at 13.3 million in 1979. Since 1979, the next two decades, the amount of membership has dramatically declined till 1997. Though both of the USA and the UK has dropped during this period of time, the reason are totally different. The membership in the UK has dropped because of the policy published by the conservative party. Then from 1997, it has continued decline but not as fast as the previous decades. Conclusion Emerging from war, in the 1940s, the United States got rid of exceptionalist visions, instead, it led the capitalist world to a brand new variety of capitalism, one of high wages and productivity sustained by long-term relationships and negotiation between organized labour and organized capital. What Obama did for public schools, state-support for health care, and to protect unemployment insurance and social security in this era, can be considered equivalent to New Deal era programmes, which was for unions and allowance for employment-based health insurance and private pensions. British employment relations have developed over the past 30 years or so. the British government continues to play variety of distinct roles working relations: it is always the most important employer in Britain, with about six million staff in 2011 (around twenty percent of total employment). The failure of collective bargaining between 1968 to 1970s had prepared the way for Margret Thatcher, who came from the more radical Conservative Governments. From 1979 to 1997, Conservative Governments tried to find a path to totally change the balance of power supporting employers and against to unions. They had abandoned the national support to full employment, approved statute to limit strike, and directed a extreme decrease in union membership and affects (Howell, 2009). Compared with 1979, the number of union memberships in 2011 has only be half. Nowadays, the UK is still in the midst of a economic recession (Newstatesman.com, 2019), the warning sign is the extremely low GDP increasing and severe weak services sectors. If the union membeship change or the strike policy easing would stimulate economy remains to be seen. References Bamber, G. and Lansbury, R. (2011). International and comparative employment relations. Los Angeles: Sage. Devinatz, V. (2013). 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