Friday, May 31, 2019

Hasbro, Inc. Essay -- GCSE Business Marketing Coursework

Hasbro, Inc.Business Organization and ManagementCorporate ProfileThe twentieth century, especially the past fifty years, has certainly been a time of enormous change. Products develop changed, the business of manufacturing and marketing toys has changed and the needs and desires of consumers who buy toys have changed. The majority of the worlds toys are now manufactured in the Far East. Perhaps the greatest change in the toy industry has been in the way that toys are sold by incorporating creative and original marketing strategies into confederacy culture. It was Merrill Hassenfeld who broke juvenile ground in 1951 as the first manufacturer to advertise a toy, Mr Potato Head, on television. It didnt take long to realise the value of likeable directly to children. Today the sophistication of branded toys that can extend from a film to a series of toys and onward to computer software and electronic games energy seem incredible to an earlier generation of toy makers. Yet the fundamental values of the toy industry are the same as they have ceaselessly been.Subsidiaries and DivisionsAtari - Manufacturer of coin-operated and consumer video games. Formed in 1972. Hasbro GermanyHasbro Interactive-Publisher of family interactive game CD-ROM software. Formed in 1995. Hasbro SpainMicroprose - makes 3-D video games for PCsWizards of the marge-Wizards of the Coast has built a house of cards. The company, a subsidiary of toy giant Hasbro, is best known for trading card games Magic The Gathering (available in night club languages) and Pokemon. Wizards of the Coasts other offerings take the granddaddy of medieval role-playing adventure games, Dungeons and Dragons, and traditional games such as the Dilbert card game Corporate Shuffle and sci-fi board game RoboRally. The company also operates a Seattle gaming and entertainment center and retail stores under The Game Keeper and Wizards of the Coast names. CEO Peter Adkison, game designer Richard Garfield, and some(prenominal) others founded the company in 1990.CompetitorsAcclaim Entertainment-Major League All-Stars, an Indian warrior, and a bunch of foul-mouthed kids headline Acclaim Entertainments array of video games. The Glen Cove, New York-based software publishers titles, which include All-Star Baseball, Turok, and South Park, are available for PCs, Nintendo, SEGA, and Sony game systems. The company, ... ...d of Human Resources Bob CarniauxBoard of DirectorsBackground of CEOAlan G. Hassenfeld was instrumental in the international growth sales of Hasbro in the late 1980s. After his brother Stephen died of AIDS in 1989, Alan became CEO. Alan is the third generation of Hassenfeld to control Hasbro. He owns about 10% of the stock.FINANCIAL DATATicker symbolisation HAS (NYSE)Dividends As of July 14, 2000, the dividends are $.06/shareShares Outstanding As of Jun 00, 172,300,00Number of Shareholders(institut ional) 691Big Chart ExplanationAnalysts Rating Today the analysts ratings were 5 verbalise Hold, 3 said Buy, 2 said Strong Buy This averages out to a 2.3Hasbro ranks 13 out of 99. It is in the Leisure/Toys games industry. Analyst Ratings compiled using data provided by Zacks enthronization Research, Inc.Bond Ratings As of Feb 28th, Duff & Philips Credit Rating Co. placed its ratings of Hasbro Inc. on Rating Watch Down. DCR rates Hasbro Inc.s notes and debentures A and its commercial paper D-1.

Thursday, May 30, 2019

The Negative Impacts of the Harlem Renaissance Essay -- essays researc

The 1920s were a period or rapid harvest-home and change in America. After World War I Americans were introduced to a lifestyle of lavishness they had never encountered before. It was a period of nucleotide thought and ideas. It was in this time period that the idea of the Harlem metempsychosis was born. The ideology behind the Harlem Renaissance was to create the image of the New Negro. The image of African-Americans changed from rural, uneducated peasants to urban, sophisticated, cosmopolites. Literature and poetry abounded. Jazz music and the clubs where it was performed at became social hotspots. Harlem was the epitome of the New Negro. However, things werent as sunny as they appeared. Many felt that the Harlem Renaissance itself wasnt so much a celebration of pitch blackness culture, but rather a regurgitation of White ideals. To these African-Americans, the Harlem Renaissance represented conformity and submission to the White culture. Yet there were also those who were not even given the fortune to be a part of the Harlem Renaissance. The suffering Blacks in the South never received any of the racial tolerance up north. They lived in a world of racism and the Ku Klux Klan. The Harlem Renaissance did not delimitate African-American expression. This can be seen through the funding dependence on White Americans, the continued spread of racism and the failure to acknowledge the rights of poor southern African-Americans.Harlem provided a source of entertainment for many people. With its Jazz Clubs and poetry readings it was the hip place to be. This was a shock to many African-Americans, who had never before had the opportunity to perform in such affluent surroundings. Oftentimes funding for these clubs or programs was provided by White Americans. This in itself was not a problem. However, the Harlem Renaissance became so pendent on the funding that when it stopped coming, there was no means by which to keep any of the clubs or literary cafes open. S ome clubs in Harlem even discriminated against Black audience members. The popular Cotton Club, which featured solely Black performers, even went so far as to ban African-Americans from its audience entirely. Even in the Mecca of alleged(a) racial equality, these sorts of discrimination were still prevalent. Advertisements for products produced by African-Americans were also skewed. Para... ...The Harlem Renaissance was a time of growth and development in for African-Americans. They wrote novels, performed in clubs, and created the genre of Jazz. However, the Renaissance was put away by its flaws. Rather then celebrating the unique culture of African-Americans, it oftentimes catered to what the White Americans would want to see and hear. Although racism seemed to be lower in Harlem and the northern states, for many Blacks racism was at all time high. The Ku Klux Klan reached membership of astronomical proportions. They marched on Washington DC and handed out membership cards bas hing minorities. less(prenominal) educated Blacks, or those who couldnt make it to Harlem, were often deemed ignorant. There was a barrier built between those Blacks with an education, and those without. And when the Great Depression hit, African Americans lost their jobs at a rate almost triple that of White Americans. Where was the equality Harlem had fought so hard for? The Harlem Renaissance, although it did achieve some remarkable things, did not redefine African American expression. That ideal, would take many more years of strife, struggle, and segregation to achieve.

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

William T. Sherman Essay examples -- essays research papers

William T. ShermanSHERMAN, William Tecumseh (1820-91). Ranked second only to General Ulysses S. Grant as the greatest Northern commander in the American Civil War, Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman was a quash of modern warfare. Like Grant, Sherman was born in Ohio when it was a frontier state. He was named Tecumseh for the Shawnee Indian chief who had terrorized that region a few years earlier.Sherman was born on Feb. 8, 1820, in Lancaster, Ohio. His father died when he was 9 years old. Most of the 11 children in the family weredistributed among the relatives and friends. He was adopted by Thomas Ewing.After attending an academy at Lancaster, Sherman entered West Point.During the Mexican War he saw service in California. In 1853 he resigned his commission for a business, legal, and educational career. When Louisiana seceded from the Union, he was head of the state military academy (now Louisiana State University). He resigned his position and rejoined the army in May 1861.He was comm issioned a colonel of volunteers and commanded a brigade in the first battle of Bull Run, on July 21, 1861. Three months later he was given charge of the Department of the Ohio (River). On taking everywhere his new command he reported that 200,000 men would be needed to carry on a successful campaign in that region. Newspapers said that Sherman was crazy. metre proved him right, but popular protest cost him his command.Shermans military genius was so outstanding that he could not long bek...

Paideia of Freedom as a Truth and Paideia of Truth as a Freedom :: Philosophy

Paideia of liberty as a Truth and Paideia of Truth as a Freedom ABSTRACT This paper traces the development of the idea of Paideia as freedom as a truth in Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance to the idea of Paideia as truth as a freedom that characterizes the present and is directed toward the future. It comments on the ideas of Schelling and Heidegger which have contributed toward this trans figure of speechation. W. Jger (1) (unitary method) presents Paideia both as medicine, and as Goodness, and as bringin-up justice in the state (governers, guards, citizens, women and children). It often includes all riches of culture. It is possible to argue about definition for a long time. To us the classics is closer. In greek Platons Paideia (IV ad.) a problem about an opening move and limits of attempts to improve mans life was put in a classical form. There are three classical approaches Education of each separate citizen of a cabaret (sometimes groups of the citizens) direc tly through introduction of ethical norms, developed by sages. Education of the elite of a society at first in conspiracy from near people, who then will transform a society in general. Or, finally, third average approach of the special influence on free activity of the person, with the affair of understanding him of Truth of the Boon. If, certainly, both Truth and Boon still appreciated by the man of Freedom. Presently the classical statement of a problem has got other(a) form. How will the concept of the Boon and Paideia be transformed, if the relations between Freedom and Truth will considerably change to opposite? In such form the problem is put in the title of the article. Actually before the terms Freedom and Truth a word event is omitted. Classics talk about consequence of Freedom and the essence of Truth. One should remember and mentally thought about it. The complete name should sound like Ambiguity of Schelling understanding of essence of Freedom as of a Truth - God i n comparison with ambiguity of Heidegger understanding of essence of Truth of Being as Freedom in struggle of philosophical ideas on a problem of con-crete (total specific) self-development self-creativity self-creation of Paideia. in a whole now-and-here in this person today. The understanding of relations between Freedom and Truth by Schelling appears to be the representation of understanding of relations between Freedom and Truth by Heidegger.

Tuesday, May 28, 2019

World War I :: World War I

gentleman state of war I, also known as the Great War, was a global war which took place primarily in atomic number 63 from 1914 to 1918. The immediate cause of the World War I was the June 28, 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, by Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb citizen of Austria-Hungary and member of the Black Hand. The retaliation by Austria-Hungary against the monarchy of Serbia touch off a series of alliances that set off a chain reaction of war declarations. Within a month, much of Europe was in a adduce of open warfare. And World War II or the Second World War was a global military conflict, the joining of what had initially been two break conflicts. The first began in Asia in 1937 as the Second Sino-Japanese War the other began in Europe in 1939 with the German invasion of PolandWorld War I was fought by two major alliances. The Entente Powers initially consisted of France, England, Russia, and their associated empires. Numerous other states joined these allies, most notably Italy in April 1915, and the United States in April 1917. The Central Powers, named because of their profound location on the European continent, initially consisted of Germany and Austria-Hungary and their associated empires. The Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers in October 1914, followed a year later by Bulgaria. By the finish of the war only The Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain and the Scandinavian nations remained officially neutral among the European countries, though many of those provided financial and material support to one side or the other. World War II was also fought by two major alliances, the Allied and Axis power. The AXIS powers consisted of Germany, Italy (changed sides and split in half 1943) Hungary, Romania Bulgaria, Finland (changed sides 1945) Spain was meant to be neutral simply they helped Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy and sent troops to fight alongside the Germans in Russia. The major Allied Powers were Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, the United States, and China.The fighting of World War I mostly took place along several fronts that broadly encircled the European continent. The Western Front was marked by a system of trenches, breastworks, and fortifications disjunct by an area known as no mans land. These defenses stretched 475 miles and precipitated a style of fighting known as trench warfare. On the Eastern Front, the vastness of the eastern plains and the limited railroad network prevented the stalemate of the Western Front, though the scale of the conflict was just as large.

World War I :: World War I

World War I, also known as the Great War, was a global contend which took place primarily in Europe from 1914 to 1918. The immediate cause of the World War I was the June 28, 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, by Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb citizen of Austria-Hungary and piece of the Black Hand. The retaliation by Austria-Hungary against the monarchy of Serbia activated a series of alliances that set off a chain reaction of war declarations. Within a month, ofttimes of Europe was in a state of open warfare. And World War II or the Second World War was a global troops conflict, the joining of what had initially been two separate conflicts. The first began in Asia in 1937 as the Second Sino-Japanese War the other began in Europe in 1939 with the German invasion of PolandWorld War I was fought by two major alliances. The Entente Powers initially consisted of France, England, Russia, and their associated empires. Numerous other st ates joined these allies, most notably Italy in April 1915, and the United States in April 1917. The Central Powers, named because of their central location on the European continent, initially consisted of Germany and Austria-Hungary and their associated empires. The Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers in October 1914, followed a course of study later by Bulgaria. By the conclusion of the war only The Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain and the Scandinavian nations remained officially neutral among the European countries, though many of those provided financial and material dungeon to one side or the other. World War II was also fought by two major alliances, the Allied and Axis power. The AXIS powers consisted of Germany, Italy (changed sides and split in half 1943) Hungary, Romania Bulgaria, Finland (changed sides 1945) Spain was meant to be neutral but they helped Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy and sent troops to fight alongside the Germans in Russia. The major Allied Powers were Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, the United States, and China.The fighting of World War I mostly took place along several fronts that broadly encircled the European continent. The Western Front was attach by a system of encroaches, breastworks, and fortifications separated by an area known as no mans land. These defenses stretched 475 miles and precipitated a style of fighting known as trench warfare. On the Eastern Front, the vastness of the eastern plains and the limited railroad network prevented the stalemate of the Western Front, though the scale of the conflict was just as large.

Monday, May 27, 2019

Recommend and Justify a Marketing Strategy That Andy Might Use to Increase Sales at Ahc Essay

Recommend and justify a marketing strategy that Andy might make use of to append sales at AHC AHC is a health club known for its excellent health facilities which benefit their members with a wide range of exercises as swell as facilities such as their cafe and beauty salon. However, the owner, Andy has come to realise that if his business ever were to aggrandize, it couldnt satisfy everyone and cater to severally individuals needs. AHC has many opportunities for further development and becoming an even more established health club with a wider target market but its competitors (other health clubs) salute as a threat towards them in pricing and facilities.AHCs main objective is to emergence their sales and to do that, they go away need to consider each of the four functional areas within the marketing mix, and along with that, they whitethorn too need to conduct extensive market research to ensure that their aim to pip revenue is met. First of all, AHC will have to look at the services they provide to members of the health club as well as potential clean consumers, to see how well the business is performing and whether the services the business offers satisfy consumers.Also by doing this, AHC will be able to use market segmentation, which will divide consumers into groups so that a better customer base is established and more customers can be gained. Also , when looking at the services they provide, AHC may need to think about their products and how they differentiate from their competitors, for example, AHC may want to consider their option C which involved building more squash courts or a larger fitness studio. By increasing their services, AHC will attract more members of the public and gain more sales from members who will want to use the spare services provided.AHC could also look into the pricing of their products. Andy is currently considering other pricing approaches such as price discrimination which can enable higher prices at more demandi ng times of the day, depending on consumer demand. This could also attract more consumers who will want to use the services at the health club more at off-peak times due to cheaper prices. This can ensure that at peak times of the day, AHC will be making more revenue, but there may also be an increase during off peak times.AHC must also make sure that because of the higher prices, they dont face a loss of consumers if they do decide to use price discrimination. Option A displays such pricing in which additional charges may be given, however if AHC wishes to hold open its customer base, as well as attract more while prices are being raised, they may need to offer consumers extra services, discounts or deals such as 3 Pilates classes for the price of 2 for women which will help maintain good relationships and loyalty with members in the long term.AHC have limited amounts of promotion for its business and currently alone rely on its website as well as word of mouth which could reali stically only attract a certain number of consumers however if Andy wishes to din or even increase the number of sales, alternative methods of advertising should be taken into account, for example, below the line promotion such as posters, local wireless advertisements, local newspapers and magazines to make people aware of the business, and this way, AHC can widen their market. Andy knows that some facilities offered only target specific people, e.g. the beauty salon is aimed at mostly feminine members so instead of advertising within the mass market, he could implement personal selling to allow customers to receive personal and individual attention from the business. Also, as Andy sees increased competition as a threat, advertising on a larger scale within the local area can help to increase the number of consumers which can help the increase in sales because even though it is a competitive market, promoting the business can impact a plentitude and possibly attract consumers f rom similar businesses due to prices and services offered.In AHCs current business position, they do not have the necessary capital to expand as it can only just about afford one of the facilities in option C, but if in the long term, the business will be able to build extra facilities for the health club or maybe open up another health club in a neighbouring area. Andy should embrace to run his business and put into practice ways to help the business grow. AHC can definitely do this by differentiating the services they provide because it will maintain customer loyalty and help gain more consumers because of the new services which make them different to every other health club in the Midlands.Also, they could admit new pricing strategies to see what kind of price consumers are willing to pay, whether high or low depending on how many sales are made. An increase in promotion could also benefit the business very well as it can help aid consumers through awareness of the health club, adding to a more well- rounded reputation. It would be ideal to carry out further research on the aspects of the marketing mix, and produce short term tactical objectives in which they can achieve and in the long run, can end with the business being able to achieve an increase in sales.

Sunday, May 26, 2019

Education and Economics Essay

I. Introduction The conventional theory of adult male chapiter developed by Becker (1962) and Mincer (1974) views article of faith and training as the major sources of human capital compendium that, in turn, lead direct and positive outlet on unmarrieds life time holdings. In the Mincerian earning function, the coefficient of initiate senesce indicates the returns to nurture, i. e. , how much addition in earnings takes place with an additional developtime year. There exists a wide range of literature that estimated the rates of returns to rearing for distinguishable countries Pascharapoulos (1980 1985 and 1994) Pascharapoulos and Chu Ng (1992)1.In Pakistan, most of the across the nation representative household surveys do not contain information on variables, such as, spotless long time of training, age deviateing work, literacy and numeracy skills, prize of schooling, and technical training. Due to the unavailability of completed school long time, wholeness c an neither compute the potential experience nor observe the effect of an additional year of schooling on individualist earnings. Therefore, the unattached literature in Pakistan is lacking in estimating the returns to fosterage by using the Mincerian earning function2.In late years, the government of Pakistan has started nation-wide survey, Pakistan Integrated Household Survey (PIHS), to address the imbalances in the social sector. This survey ? The authors be Senior Research Economist and Research Economist at the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) Islamabad. 1 Pascharapoulos (1994) provide a comprehensive update of the estimated rates of returns to schooling at a global scale. He sight high social and private profitability of base commandment (18%and 9% respectively) in in all regions of world.The private rate of returns at this level were launch highest in Asia (39%) as comp atomic number 18d to early(a) regions. He as well as historied a considerabl e increase in derive earnings by an additional year of education in all regions of world 13% in Sub-Saharan Africa 10% in Asia 12% in Europe/Middle East/North Africa and 12% in Latin America/Caribbean. 2 At national level, lone(prenominal) two studies are available in Pakistan that used the Mincerian earning function approach to witness the returns to education see Shabbir and Khan (1991) and Shabbir (1994).However, both these studies are based on twenty years old data set. 2 provides rich information on the in a higher place mentioned variables that were missing in the earlier household surveys. This study uses the data of PIHS to canvass the returns to education by using Mincerian earning function and thus aims to fill the vacuum that, ascribable to the lack of appropriate data, exists in the literature on returns to education in Pakistan. In this paper we will first estimate the earning function with continuous school years with the assumption of uniform rate of returns for all school years.It is argued that incompatible school years impart contrary skills therefore we extend our analysis to consider the addition in earning associated with extra years of schooling at distinct levels of education, i. e. , how much increase in earnings takes place with an extra year of schooling at different levels, such as, main(a), middle, matric, intermediate, bachelors and masters. By doing so we overcome the problem that exists in the available literature in Pakistan.To our k straightawayledge no study has in time adopted this method to examine the returns to education in Pakistan3. The stupor of technical training and school quality on the earnings of fixed stipendiary and engage earners will be examined in this study. Based on the available data in Pakistan, most of the studies, for example, Haque (1977), Hamdani (1977), Guisinger et al (1984), Khan and Irfan (1985), Ahmad, et al (1991) and Ashraf and Ashraf (1993a, 1993b, and 1996) estimated the earning functions by defining the button up variables for different levels of education4.These studies observe measly rates of returns at different levels of education as compared to other underdevelop countries. However, a positive association between levels of education and earnings and an inverse relationship between the stage of income inequality and educational attainment has been billworthy. In order to examine the inter- 3 Most of the studies on returns to education in Pakistan used dummy variables for different levels of education where the rates of returns at different levels of education are computed by the estimated coefficients.4 In Pakistan, the data on education in most of the nationally representative household surveys clear been reported in discrete form that denotes the completion of different levels of education, such as, primordial but incomplete middle, middle and incomplete matric, and so on. 3 provincial derivatives in returns to education, Shabbir and Khan (1991) estimated the Mincerian earning function by using a nationally representative sample, drawn from the of Population, Labour Force and Migration Survey (1979) for the literate engross earners and salaried males.Later Shabbir (1994) estimated the earning function on the extended sample of the equal data set. These studies found 7 to 8 pct increase in earnings with an additional year of schooling. Although the results are consistent with those of comparable LDCs but whitethorn not resound the recent developments in Pakistans economy as these studies are based on the data set which are 20 years old now. Since 1979, the economy of Pakistan has passed through sundry(a) changes, especially after the inception of the Structural Adjustment syllabusme in late 1980s.For example, the literacy rate has increased from 26 percent to 45 percent and history at primary level has increased by 67 percent. Public and household expenditures on education meet as well increased Economic Surve y (1998-99). Moreover, due to the fiscal constraints, the employment opportunities in the public sector have started shrinking and the economy is moving towards more desolation with stronger role of private sector in recent years. In this scenario, it becomes imperative to re-test the role of human capital as both private and public sectors are moving towards more efficiency and productivity.This study is important from three standpoints. First, in order to estimate the effect of education on earnings, the most recent and nationally representative household survey data is used which provides detailed information on the variables that were missing in previous surveys. Second, it uses the splines of education in the earning function to examine the additional earnings associated with extra school years at different levels. Third, this study investigates the role of some important factors such as, technical training, school quality, and literacy and numeracy skills on earnings for the first time.4 The rest of the paper is organised as follows section 2 presents an overview of the education sector. Section 3 outlines the model for empirical inclination and describes data. Section 4 reports the results. Conclusions and policy Implications are presented in the last Section. II. The Education Sector in Pakistan An Overview Education plays an important role in human capital formation. It raises the productivity and efficiency of individuals and thus produces skilled manpower that is capable of leading the economy towards the path of sustainable economic development.Like many other developing countries, the situation of the education sector in Pakistan is not very encouraging. The low enrolment rates at the primary level, wide disparities between regions and gender, lack of handy teachers, deficiency of proper teaching materials and poor physical infrastructure of schools indicate the poor performance of this sector. The overall literacy rate for 1997-98 was estimate d at 40 percent 51 percent for males and 28 percent for females 60 percent in urban areas and 30 percent in clownish areas. These rates are still among the utmost in the world.Due to various measures in recent years, the enrolment rates have increased considerably. However, the high drop-out rate could not be controlled at primary level. Moreover, under-utilisation of the existing educational infrastructure can be seen through low student-institution ratio, (almost 18 students per class per institution) low teacher-institution ratio (2 teachers per institution) and high studentteacher ratio (46 students per teacher). The extremely low levels of public investment are the major cause of the poor performance of Pakistans education sector.Public expenditure on education remained less than 2 percent of GNP before 1984-85. In recent years it has increased to 2. 2 percent. In addition, the allocation of government funds is skewed towards higher education so that the benefits of public su bsidy on education are galacticly reaped by the upper income class. Many of the highly educated 5 go overseas either for higher education or in search of better job opportunities. Most of them do not return and cause a large public loss. After mid-1980s, each government announced special programs for the improvement of the education sector.However, due to the political instability, none of these programs could achieve their targets. The Social Action Program was launched in early 1990s to address the imbalances in the social sector. This program aims to enhance education to improve school environment by providing trained teachers, teaching aids and quality text books and to reduce gender and regional disparities. The Phase-I of SAP (1993-96) has been completed and Phase-II is in progress. The gains from the Phase-I are still debatable because the rise in enrolment ratio has not been confirmed by the independent sources.Irrespective of this outcome, government has started work on P hase-II of SAP. In this Phase, government is paying special attention to lift technical and vocational education, expanding higher education in public as well as in the private sector, enhancing computer literacy, promoting scientific education, and improving syllabus for schools and teachers training institutions in addition to promoting primary and secondary education. Due to low levels of educational attainment and lack of technical and vocational education, Pakistans labour commercialize is predominate by less educated and unskilled manpower.A considerable rise in the number of educational institutions and enrolment after 1980s is not yet reflected in Pakistans labour market. This might be due to the fact that most of the bachelors and masters degree programmes underscore only on academic education without developing specific skills. The sluggish demand for the graduates of these programs in the job markets leads to unemployment among the educated and the job market remains dominated by the less educated. In this scenario, it becomes important to explore the role of education for the economic benefit of individuals.6 III. Theoretical Model and Estimation Methodology We start with the human capital model developed by Becker (1964) and Mincer (1974) where natural logarithm of monthly earnings are the linear function of completed school years, experience and its square. In mathematical form the equivalence can be written as ln Wi = ? 0 + ? 1 EDU i + ? 2 EXPi + ? 3 ( EXPi ) 2 + Ui (1) where ln Wi stands for natural logarithm of monthly earnings, EDUi represents completed years of schooling, and EXPi is the labor market experience of ith individual.?1 implies the marginal rate of return to schooling. A positive pass judgment of ? 2 and negative value of ? 3 reflects the concavity of the earning function with respect to experience. Ui is the error term, assumed to be normally and identically distributed. It has been argued in the literature that different school years impart different skills and hence affect earnings differently. Therefore, it is misleading to assume a uniform rate of return for all educational levels. Most of the previous studies used dummy variables to contract the effect of different levels of education.In order to examine the effect of school years at different levels of education, new wave der Gaag and Vijverberg (1989) divided the years of schooling tally to the school systems of Cote d Ivore. likewise Khandker (1990) also used years of primary, secondary and post-secondary schooling in wage function for Peru. Both studies found significant differences in returns to education at different levels of education. Following van der Gaag and Vijverberg (1989), we divide the school years into seven categories according to the education system of Pakistan.In Pakistan, the primary education consists of 5 years of schooling middle requires 3 more years and by completing 2 more years of schooling after middle, an in dividual obtains a secondary school certificate i. e., Matric. After matric , i. e. , 10 years of schooling, students have a choice between technical and formal education. Technical education 7 can be obtained from technical institutions which award diploma after 3 years of education season the certificate of intermediate can be obtained after two years of formal education.After the completion of intermediate certificate, students can gain either in the professional colleges for four years or in non-professional bachelors degree program for two years in a college. Those who choose non-professional degree can pursue their studies in a university for masters for two more years. At this stage the graduates of professional and non-professional colleges complete 16 years of education. They can now proceed to the M. Phil. or Ph. D. degrees. In order to examine the returns to education at different splines of education, we estimate the following extended earning function. ln Wi = ? 0 + ? 1Yrs Pr imi + ?2 YrsMid i + ? 3YrsMati + ? 4 YrsInteri + ? 5 YrsBAi + (2) ? 6 Yrs Pr of i + ? 7 EXPi + ? 8 ( EXPi ) 2 + Ui where YrsPrim, YrsMid, YrsMat YrsInter YrsBA YrsProf are defined as YrsPrim = D5EDUi YrsMid = D8EDUi YrsMat = D10EDUi YrsInter = D12EDUi YrsBA = D14EDUi YrsProf = D16EDUi where D5 = 1 if where D8 = 1 if where D10 = 1 if where D12 = 1 if where D14 = 1 if where D16 = 1 if 0 EDU ? 5 5 EDU ? 8 8 EDU ? 10 10 EDU ? 12 12 EDU ? 14 EDU 14 The coefficients associated with YrsPrim, YrsMid, YrsMat YrsInter YrsBA YrsProf in equation 2 imply an increase in income with one year increase in education at respective levels.For example, the returns to five completed years of education at primary level will be 5*? 1. Similarly, the returns to for sise, seven and eight of education will be 5*? 1+? 2, 5*? 1+2? 2, and 5*? 1+3? 2 respectively. On the same lines we can compute the returns to education at each level as 8 Returns to Primary =5*? 1 Returns to Middle =5*? 1+3*? 2 Return s to Matric= 5*? 1+3*? 2+2*? 3 Returns to Intermediate=5*? 1+3*? 2+2*? 3 +2*? 4 Returns to Bachelors =5*? 1+3*? 2+2*? 3 +2*? 4 +2*? 5 Returns to MA/Prof=5*? 1+3*? 2+2*? 3 +2*? 4 +2*? 5 +2*?6 The data are drawn from the nationally representative Pakistan Integrated Household Survey 1995-96. In order to assess the performance of the Social Action design (SAP), the government of Pakistan has launched the series of Pakistan Integrated Household Surveys (PIHS), a collaborative nation wide data collection effort undertaken by the Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS). So far two rounds have been completed. The first round of the PIHS is different from other round on two counts. Firstly, the information on employment and wages is available only in this round.Secondly, only 33 percent of the sample used in the first round is being repeated in the subsequent rounds. This implies that all of these rounds are independent cross-section data sets and can not be properly linked with each other to b e used as embellish data. Therefore, the appropriate sample can only be drawn from the first round of PIHS. This round was conducted in 1995-96, which covers 12,622 households and more than 84,000 individuals. The 1995-96 PIHS provides a detailed information on completed school years5. In addition, this survey contains information on age started school.This information is particularly important for our study to calculate the potential experience of a worker. The indicator for experience used by Mincer (1974) is a good proxy for U. S. workers as they start school at the uniform age of six years6. However, this assumption does not hold in Pakistan, as in this country there is no uniform age to start school. In urban areas, children as young as three years start going to school whereas in untaught 5 This is the only nation-wide data set that provides this particular information.Similarly no other survey contains information on public and private school attendence and year starting sc hool. 6 Mincer defined experience as (Age-education-6). 9 areas the school starting age is higher. 7 This information enables us to construct potential experience as (age-schools years-age starting school). Although experience is still a proxy for existent experience but it is comparatively better measure than age and the Mincer suit potential experience. In addition to education and experience, various other factors, such as quality of schooling, technical training and quality of schooling have significant impact on earning8.It has been argued that because of the market-oriented approach adopted by the private schools, the graduates of these schools earn more as compared to the graduates of public schools9. According to clog dancing (1992), Behrman, Ross, Sabot and Tropp (1994), Alderman, Behrman, Ross and Sabot (1996a), Alderman, Behrman, Ross and Sabot (1996b), and Behrman, Khan, Ross and Sabot (1997), the quality of education has positive, significant and straight impact on cognitive achievements and hence on post school productivity, measured by earnings.These studies observed higher earnings of the graduates of high quality school than those who attended a low quality school. A recent study by Nasir (1999) found considerably higher earnings for the private school graduates. These schools, however, charge higher fees. Estimates of average annual expenditure per pupil in both government and private schools indicates that the total cost of primary level in rural areas is Rs. 437 (Rs 355 for government schools and Rs. 1252 for private schools), compared with Rs. 2038 in urban areas (Rs.1315 for government and Rs. 3478 for private schools).This means that the cost of primary schooling is almost three times that of public schools in urban 7 The issue of age starting school has been highlighted by Ashraf and Ashraf (1993) and because of the nonavailability of this information, they used age as proxy for experience. 8 See Summers and Wolf (1977) Rizzuto and Wachtel (1980) Behrman and Birdsall (1983) Booissiere, horse and Sabot (1985) Knight and Sabot (1990)Behrman, Ross, Sabot, and Tropp (1994) Behrman, Khan, Ross and Sabot (1997).9 Various studies found the effectiveness of private schools to acquire cognitive skills Colemen, Hoffer and Kilgore (1982) and Jimenez, Lockheed, Luna and Paqueo (1989). For Pakistan, Sabot (1992), Behrman, Ross, Sabot and Tropp (1994), Alderman, Behrman, Ross and Sabot (1996a), Alderman, Behrman, Ross and Sabot (1996b), and Behrman, Khan, Ross and Sabot (1997) found a significant variation in the cognitive skills among children with same number of school years. These studies conclude that some of the differences are due to the family characteristics while some are due to the quality of schooling.10areas and nearly four times in rural areas. The differences in cost of schooling also reflect the degree of quality differentials in public and private schools, and between urban and rural schools. A relatively b etter provision of school facilities and quality of education in private schools is causing a continuous rise in school enrolment in urban areas Mehmood (1999) page 20. The PIHS provides information on the type of school attended10. On the basis of this information we can identify workers according to the school they attended and therefore examine the effect of type of school on individual earnings.In order to capture the quality of education an individual received, a dummy variable is include in the model that takes the value 1 if individual is a graduate of private schools and 0 otherwise. The effect of post-school training on earning has been found positive and substantial in many developing countries see Jimenez and Kugler (1987) van der Gaag and Vijverberg (1989) Khandker (1990) and Nasir (1999). The PIHS contains information on years of technical training. This information helps us to examine the effect of technical training received on individual earnings.We use completed yea rs of technical training as independent variable in the earning function. The existence of vast gender gap in human capital accumulation is evidenced by various studies in Pakistan11. The PIHS reports vast gender disparities in literacy and enrolment rates. The literacy rate among females is half than that of males literacy rate for whole Pakistan. This difference has increased to three-folds for rural areas. The gender difference is however smaller for the gross enrolment rate at primary level. For the higher levels of education, this difference 10.The coefficient of private school may also capture the effect of socio-economic background of workers. The data, however, does not contain such information, therefore we are unable to separate the effect of parental characteristics from the effect of private schools in workers earnings. 11 Sabot (1992) and Alderman, Behrman, Ross and Sabot (1996b) Sawada (1997) Shabbir (1993) and Ashraf and Ashraf (1993a, 1993b, and 1996) 11 shows an inc reasing trend. Similarly vast gender gap has been observed in returns to education where males earn more than the female workers Ashraf and Ashraf (1993a, 1993b and 1996) and Nasir (1999).In order to capture the effect of gender, a dummy variable is introduced in the model that takes the value 1 for males and 0 otherwise. The regional imbalances in the provision of limited available social services are more pronounced in Pakistan. Rural areas are not only underdeveloped in terms of physical infrastructure but also neglected in gaining basic amenities. Haq (1997) calculated the disaggregated human development index for Pakistan and its provinces. He historied that nearly 56 percent of population is deprived of basic amenities of life in Pakistan 58 percent in rural areas and 48 percent in urban areas.According to the 1995-96 PIHS, the literacy rate in urban areas is 57 percent and in rural areas it is 31 percent. The gross enrolment rate was noted 92 percent in urban areas and 68 per cent in rural areas. Because of these differences low returns to education are observed in rural areas Shabbir (1993 and 1994) and Nasir (1999). To capture the effect of regional differences, a dummy variable is used that takes the value 1 if individual lives in urban areas and zero otherwise. The four provinces of Pakistan exhibit different characteristics in terms of economic as well as social and cultural values.Significant provincial differentials in rates of returns to education have been noted that reflect not only the differences in market opportunities but also indicate uneven expansion of social services across provinces Khan and Irfan (1985) Shabbir and Khan (1991) Shabbir (1993) Shabbir (1994) and Haq (1997). The set up of these differences are captured through the use of dummy variables for each province in the earning function, Sindh being the excluded category. 12 For the purpose of analysis we restrict our sample to wage earners and salaried persons. Our sample conta ins 4828 individuals.Among them, 4375 are males and 453 are females. Table 1 presents the descriptive statistics of some of the salient features of the important variables. According to the statistics in table 1, average age of the individuals included in the sample is 34 years with 18 years of experience. A typical worker in the sample has completed approximately 10 years of education. A majority is graduated from public schools. Most of the workers live in urban areas. On average an individual earns Rs. 3163 per month. In our sample, there are only 22 percent individuals who received technical training.The average years spent for training are less than one year. A majority of wage earners give out to Punjab, followed by Sindh and Balochistan. Table1 Mean, Standard Deviation and Brief Definitions of Important Variables Variables W Age EDU EXP RWA MALE Urban Private Training Punjab Sindh NWFP Balochistan Mean SD Variables Definitions 3163. 34 3397. 39 separates monthly earnings in rupees consist of wages and salaries. 34. 07 12. 36 Age of an individual in years. 9. 53 4. 36 Completed years of schooling. 18. 14 11. 80 Total Years of labour market experience calculated as (age-school years-age starting school).2. 37 1. 07 Categorical variables, contains 4 categories of literacy and numeracy. 0. 91 0. 29 dichotomous variable equal to 1 if individual is male. 0. 60 0. 49 divided variable equal to 1 if individual belongs to urban area 0. 04 0. 19 Dichotomous variable equal to 1 if individual is a graduate of private school 0. 35 0. 87 Completed years of technical training 0. 38 0. 49 Dichotomous variable equal to 1 if individual belongs to Punjab 0. 31 0. 46 Dichotomous variable equal to 1 if individual belongs to Sindh 0. 15 0. 36 Dichotomous variable equal to 1 if individual belongs to NWFP 0. 16 0.36 Dichotomous variable equal to 1 if individual belongs to Balochistan 13 IV. Empirical Results The estimated results of equation 1 and equation 2 are reported in table 2. The highly significant coefficients of school years and experience indicate the applicability of human capital model for Pakistan. An additional year of schooling raises individuals monthly income by 7. 3 percent, which is very close to the prior studies. 12 13 The coefficient of experience shows substantial increase in wages with each additional year. The concavity of age-earnings profile is evident from the negative and significant coefficient of experience squared.The results reveal that an individual with five years of experience earns 31 percent higher wages as compared to non-experience worker. The highest level of earnings is achieved with approximately 30 years of experience. These estimates are relatively low compared to prior studies14. The positive and significant coefficients of gender (0. 401) and regional dummies (0. 178) strengthens the a priori expectation that males earn more than females and earnings are higher in urban areas as compared to rural areas. Th ese estimates are consistent with earlier studies see Arshaf and Ashraf (1993), Khan and Irfan (1985).Furthermore, significant inter-provincial differences in individuals earnings can be observed in the estimated model. Many studies indicate substantial differences in earnings across school levels. For example, van der Gaag and Vijverberg (1989) noted that an increase of one year in elementary, high and university education causes an increase of 12 percent, 20 percent and 22 percent respectively in 12 The estimated coefficients of school years by Shabbir and Khan (1991), Shabbir (1991), Shabbir (1993) and Shabbir (1994) are found to be in the range of 6 percent to 9.7 percent. 13 The returns to education are calculated by taking the anti-log of 0. 092 (estimated coefficient of completed school years) and subtracting from 1. To change into percentage, multiply the value by 100. For details, please see Gujrati (1988) page 149. 14 The difference in the returns to experience could be d ue to the approach adopted by these studies. Most of the studies used age as a proxy for experience see for example Khan and Irfan (1985) Ashraf and Ashraf (1993) and Nasir (1999). Shabbir (1991) used the Mincerian approach to calculate experience.The present study uses actual age of starting school and actual years of education. These information enable us to calculate total years of labor market experience. This approach is also not the perfect alternative for actual experience, as we do not have information about the starting time of the first job. But when compared with other approaches, it is more precise in measuring experience. 14 earnings. In order to examine the returns to education across different school years, we include the information on schooling according to the education system of Pakistan (equation 2).The results reported in column 3 of table 2 show a positive and significant impact of school years at each educational level on earnings. For example, an increase of one year in education at primary level increases the earnings by 3 percent. Similarly, at middle level, one year of schooling brings about an increase of 4 percent in earnings and the total returns to schooling at middle level are 27 percent. Table 2 Earning Function with and without Levels of Education Variables Coefficient s 6. 122 0. 072* 0. 058* -0. 001* 0. 178* 0. 401* 0. 127* -0. 113* -0. 203* 0. 412 t-ratios Coefficient s 6. 380 0. 058* -0.001* 0. 150* 0. 264* 0. 098* -0. 112* -0. 166* 0. 027** 0. 040* 0. 050* 0. 057* 0. 071* 0. 082* 0. 429 t-ratios Coefficient s 6. 342 0. 058* -0. 001* 0. 152* 0. 262* 0. 096* -0. 108* -0. 164* 0. 052* 0. 007 0. 025* 0. 038* 0. 047* 0. 063* 0. 075* 0. 429 t-ratios perpetual EDU EXP EXP2 Urban Male Balochistan NWFP Punjab RWA Yrs-Prim Yrs-Mid Yrs-Mat Yrs-Inter Yrs-BA Yrs-Prof Adj R2 148. 91 46. 71 26. 49 -19. 20 10. 31 13. 98 4. 94 -4. 34 -10. 21 92. 03 23. 85 -16. 84 7. 87 8. 15 3. 40 -4. 06 -7. 75 2. 03 5. 07 8. 69 11. 41 16. 85 21. 98 89 . 25 23. 84 -16. 88 7. 98 8. 09 3. 32 -3. 91 -7. 63 2. 41 0. 45 2.45 5. 02 7. 28 11. 47 15. 57 * significant at 99 percent level. ** significant at 95 percent level. One can note higher returns of additional year of schooling for higher educational levels from this table. For example, the returns to masters and professional education (Yrs-Prof) are more than five- 15 times higher than that of primary school years (Yrs-Prim). The results exhibit a difference of 15 percent between primary graduates and illiterates, the excluded category. This category includes illiterates as well as all those who have not obtained any formal schooling but have literacy and numeracy skills15.To further explore the earning differential between primary school graduates and those who never attended school but have literacy and numeracy skills, we have constructed an index RWA that separates illiterates from those who have literacy and numeracy skills. This index takes the value zero if individual does no t have any skill 1 if individual has only one skill 2 if individual has two skills and 3 if individual has all three skills. We re-estimated equation 2 with this new variable and the results are reported in column 5 of table 2.According to our expectations, the coefficient of RWA is found not only large (0. 05) in magnitude but also statistically significant at 99 percent level. This indicates that the individuals with all three skills earn 15 percent more than those who have no skill. On the other hand, the coefficient of Yrs-Prim dropped to 0. 007 and became insignificant16. The differential in the earnings of illiterates and those having five years of primary education was 15 percent (0. 03*5=0. 15). This differential however, reduced to approximately 9 percent (0. 007*5+0. 053=8.8) when we include those who have no formal education but have literacy and numeracy skills. These high returns to cognitive skills indicates the willingness of employer to pay higher wages to the able w orkers as compared to those who have five or less years of schooling but do not have these skills. Now we examine the effect of technical training and quality of schooling on earnings, first in separate equations and then in a single equation. The impact of technical training on earnings is examined by including years of apprenticeship as continuous variable in our model.The results are reported in column 1 of table 3. The results show a positive and significant impact of technical 15 There are 48 wage earners in our sample who have education less than primary but do not have any of these skill. Whereas we found 76 wage earners who do not have any formal education but have at least one of these skills. 16 This result is consistent with van der Gaag and Vijierberg (1989). 16 Table 3 Earning Functions Impact of Technical Training and School Quality (Separate Functions) Variables eternal EDU EXP EXP2 Urban Male Balochistan NWFP Punjab Tra.

Saturday, May 25, 2019

Priorless tale

Prioress Tale and Christian Anti-Semitic In the story Prioress Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer had some ways where it was anti- semitic. The Catholic Church had a hatred of Jews. Jews did not believe delivery boy was their savior. Christians hated and blamed Jews for the cobblers last of Jesus calling them Satans agents. The son is little, young, tender etc. The Villains are cursed, a wasps nest of satan who conspire to murder the little son (3).The school where the young boy had gone to was described as a good kid taught young children how o pray and praise Mary the mother of Jesus. O mother maid, O maiden mother free O bush unburnt, burning in Moses sight, that ravishedest down from the deity. Conceivd was the Fathers Sapience (7). The Jews were killed as a penalty for the death of a young boy with no proof that they were the ones involved in this crime. The Prioress Tale and Christian anti-Semitism both show how far a person will go to torment others to invent to be an activist of mat inee idol.Christians had set up heir own policy in the name of god but there was no similarity to Jesus because Jesus represents of love and forgiveness. During the middle ages the tale reflects anti-Semitic in different ways. The Christians had blamed the Jews responsible for Jesus death. The church had discussions about how the Christians should not affiliate themselves with each Jewish people. Jews were not allowed to do a lot of things such as were not allowed to buy any property from the Christians. Jews were accused of a lot of things but they wasnt even involved with.For this reason Jews were burnt alive. One of the reasons Jews were blamed for doing malicious things because they planned for the death of Christ. another(prenominal) reason why they were blamed for doing malicious things was when Jews had claimed the blood of Jesus for them and their children. The medieval anti- Semitism had trust in the Jewish faith that they were in lower place to Christianity and they had a n bond paper with Satan. Jews were also cursed and would remain curse even if they had converted themselves to Christianity.

Friday, May 24, 2019

Eulogies: Eulogy and Philosophy Collection Article

Informative Speech Outline Eulogies Introduction Attention Getter Life is not just ab off the list of days we live, or the number of contacts we have. Our lives back have an immeasurable and undetectable affect on others. Motivational Link At some point in our lives we could write, read, or make up hear a eulogy about someone that we once knew. Purpose Statement Through the context of my presentation it is my purpose to sort out you on the qualities that make these tonguees so memorable.Preview Statement In order to gain a amend understanding, we must first examine the history of where they originated, then we can focus on where and how they argon used today, and finally discuss the elements used when writing one. Body It is important to distinguish the history of eulogies as it gives us an keenness of where they originated to why we use them. The origin of the eulogy. The word originated from the Grecian language, and from the words word/ speech of praise It was first known use was in the 15th ampere-second. This is according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary online that was update in 2013.There have been many famous eulogies throughout history, from Shakespeare (1616) to Michael Jackson (2009). The purpose and they way they are composed are no different. This is a pct of history that is does not change but grows. Sign Post Now that we have discussed the history of eulogies, where they originated, let us look at where and how they are used today. A eulogy can be performed at all kinds of celebrations. Most commonly we think of eulogies being given as part of a funeral service. They take place in either a funeral home and can be preformed during or after a wake.A wake is the period of trouble of the deceased. A eulogy may also be performed during the main service. Also there can be living funerals for those who are severely ill or elderly which are used to express words of love and gratitude before they pass In the novel Tuesdays with Morrie Copyrig ht 2006, the professor named Morrie preferred to have a living funeral, so that he could hear all the wonderful things his family and colleagues had to say about him. As well as praising individuals who will be red soon, eulogies can also be a time to praise those who are still living and have something special to celebrate.In cases of retirement, promotions, birthdays, or even weddings. However, some religions do discourage, or do not permit at all during the time of service to maintain respect for tradition and their higher power/ beliefs. a. In Catholic citizenry the priest are prohibited by the rubrics of the mass. Eulogy is not part of our catholic tradition, and it doesnt belong in a catholic funeral mass November 2010 Religion and Philosophy Collection article Lets Bury the Eulogy As we did learn in the history that the word eulogy is Greek for word of praise, the catholic take these words in another content. we come to bury Caesar and not to praise the wretch, as Shakespe are says, because the only one we praise in liturgy is Christ Again November 2010 Religion and Philosophy Collection article Lets Bury the Eulogy Sign Post Since you now know where and how eulogies are used today, now we can discuss the components used when writing one. A eulogy is most often delivered by a family member, friend, or even colleagues. The individual who is giving the speech is also the one who wrote it. When preparing and giving a eulogy there are many different components one must consider.There are so many different ideas to consider but if you can focus and remember these five, preparing and delivering a eulogy will be easy. Decide on which feeler is appropriate for you some writers take the serious approach, while others bring humor. It doesnt matter which one you use but it is important to have a conversational tone as if you are talking to friends. The speaker needs to consider their audience. Does not matter what occasion focus on the positive aspects of the p erson talking about, even if they do have flaws.Be specific, by making it personal with a story not wanting to just list qualities about the person or achievements they have made. As the writer and speaker you want to be concise and well-organized, so like in any public speaking make an outline, and brainstorm areas that you can talk about, as well as being interesting and avoid rambling. You will want to rehearse, reread the eulogy you have written out load. These will help with making sure it sounds appropriate and if you need to change it. ConclusionSummary Statement Through examining history, present day usage, and the components of preparation, we have developed a better understanding of eulogies. Leaving Statements The next time you are at a funeral or special occasion and someone gets up to give a speech of praise, you will know what it took for them to write it, as well as have full appreciation to what they are doing for that individual they are speaking of. Tieback You b egettert know what the future holds for you, but you, you can make a difference and impact someone elses.

Thursday, May 23, 2019

A Critical Analysis of the Communist Manifesto

The communist Manifesto was written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels which contained all of the ideas and assumptions by Marx. The Communist Manifesto was able to inspire a number of philosophers and theorists.And as it was published at the height of the political turmoil in Europe, it also served as an engine for many revolutions that took place within the past century. Hence, following the publication of the Communist Manifesto, it inspired a number of revolutions to overturn the rise of Capitalism, particularly in Russia and China (The Communist Manifesto, n.p).The writings by Marx and Engels which composed the main tenets in the Communist Manifesto influenced revolutions non by just mere agitation through and through writing rather they fueled revolutionary groups by confronting the capitalist forces through the forces of the proletariats. They discovered the special role of the proletariats, who they believed were capable of overthrowing the capitalist class (The Communist Ma nifesto, n.p).The Communist Manifesto is centered on the idea of class struggle and continuing antagonisms in the society. This according to the Manifesto, class struggle revolves between the bourgeoisie and the proletarians the oppressor and the oppressed the hardly a(prenominal) and many. Hence, the Manifesto predicts the probable ways of eliminating oppression by abolishing the basic factors that instigate oppression example private property which shall eventually lead towards overthrowing the bourgeosie (The Communist Manifesto, n.p).In compliance with this pursuit, Marx drafted the Communist Manifesto guided by Historical Dialectical Materialism in order to point out the problems that had been consuming the society. Using this guide, he predicted the changes that could occur in the society as the mode of production changes gradually.And these changes shall become the engine for a revolutionary overthrow of the current dominating class. And as capitalism allow for reach i ts peak, it result become saturated and will eventually meet its demise under the leadership of the proletariats.The Pursuit of a Stateless SocietyConsequently, Marx noted predictions on several factors that will help build a stateless society. This includes (1) enforcement of continuous tense appraiseation. (2) abolition of inheritance, (3) equalization of wages and (4) the communal appropriation of lands. With these things in mind, Marx pictured a stateless society wherein antagonisms among classes can be eliminated.However, at that place argon various sides that are to be looked upon if the society should be changed. There are specific levels wherein a country should cope with in order to effectively carry out these kinds of changes which can prove to be beneficial for the citizens.Different countries may react on authorized circumstances if things are to be impose on them. And there should be clarity of the possible outcomes that it may bring. In particular, communist cou ntries had deteriorated and has broken down in the last decades.None of the communist countries feature sustained its staying power, in particular, China and Russia. And for the case of Cuba, their existence in the communist realm has served as an example to no one.For the Communists, particularly for Marx, a stateless society meant the establishment of a classless society and rendering common ownership of all the means of productions. It also entails trusty dissemination of income among the citizens. However, it requires a number of processes and cycles that are to be undertaken in order to achieve it. Consequently, the factors mentioned above are the firsts on the list in attaining a classless society.As such, though these factors that Marx mentioned in the Manifesto may contribute greatly towards the attainment of a stateless society, they may have negative implications in the society.There are still downsides that are attributable with these steps that may have direct effect in the growth and development of the society, and also lies the possibility that it may serve detrimental outcomes for them. Thus, these policies should be analyzed to assess their reasonability and soundness if they can be beneficial to the people in general.Thesis and ArgumentThe purpose of this paper would be to carefully analyze the contents of the Manifesto, in particular, the four measures that Marx proposed towards attaining a stateless society. Thus, the thesis of this paper is to prove that there are adversaries that may be caused if those measures will be employed. And that the reasonability of each measure depends on the possible outcomes that may be derived from it.Hence, the arguments revolve on three parallel ideas (1) these measures if employed, though may speed up the process of attaining a stateless society, may also impede social, political and economic growth (2) ironically, though a stateless society aims towards eliminating class antagonisms, these four measure s mentioned.Considerably increases the gap between the proletariats and the bourgeosie by the designed disregard of the bourgeosie class and (3) given the altruistic desire from the Manifesto to eradicate poverty, the ideals presented through these measures were really idealistic and utopian, hence may render these inappropriate and not feasible for most of the countries.Progressive TaxationProgressive taxation is one of the twelve measures that Communism intended to enforce. Progressive taxation is a system wherein tax rates are imposed based on the economic status and well-being of the person to be taxed. The tax rates are identified according to the ability of an individual to pay. In essence, if a person earns big, then he will be subjected to higher tax rates the same way that a person who earns little will be taxed according to his capacity to pay (Lakoff and Budner, n.p).For the advocates of Communism, progresive taxation can provide redistribution of capital, which they bel ieve can further hasten the process of eliminating class struggle. Through this, it is believed that redistributing the tax burden towards the people who can afford to pay can stabilize the flow of capital, and the economy in return. In addition, progresive taxation also serves as a monitoring device to limit acquisition of private property.Furthermore, progresive taxation eases the burden for those who cannot pay enabling them to allot a larger portion of their income for their familys basic needs. Thus, progressive taxation for the Communists render individuals to have a more equitable outcome so that they can make the most out of the fruits of their labor (Capitalism, Socialism & Communism, n.p).Although there are certain benefits that are attainable through progressive taxation, likewise there are downsides of it. There are individuals who consider this kind of tax insurance as discriminatory and inefficient.Progressive taxation is discriminatory in such away that the people who work harder gets more compelled on paying higher taxes age those who do not work and strive enough are being subjected to receive government subsidies and privileges.In addition, it caters inefficiency in the way taxes are being imposed on individuals, while tolerating income misappropriation bundled by the States deliberate interference which is then translated in the citizens fear of crossing the edges between democracy and dictatorship. (Few Words on the Nature of Taxation. n.p).Thus, as progressive taxation can indeed eliminate class struggle and enhance the ability to create a stateless society through equitable sharing of tax obligations, it also harnesses the biased nature of the Communist government in their inclination towards the poor. Though it is rational and reasonable to impose taxes on individuals who have higher capacity to pay, certain considerations are also ought to be given.

Wednesday, May 22, 2019

American Ethnic Literature Essay

American Literature has been an important part of American people for centuries. What makes this guinea pig of literature great is that the authors vision is objective and not one sided. Several of the American authors atomic number 18 still considered to be great framers. The books that were pen by these authors are still read by people of all ages around the United States. These books are now considered classic literature. American literature is considered American because it was written by American people.Overall, editors appear to use an inconsistent combination of citizenship, geographical location, language, and subject matter (that is, the subject of America and the United States) (Hames- Garcia, p. 1, 2003). Most of the American literature was written by white men. In order to be considered American literature it has to be about the United States. There find been many great authors that write about science fiction, but because it is unreal their literature is not consi dered American literature. Politics also played an important role in literature. It was of great grandeur to portray the American character as an exceptional entity (Hames-Garcia, p. 1, 2003).In the early twentieth century, writers who were not American white men were not allowed to publish their works. Women writers as well as Black, Latino, American Indian, and immigrant writers were left out altogether. This happened because other ethnic groups were considered to be inferior. It was until the 1970s that feminist began to speak out and rebel against the oppression they were face up with. It is thanks to this reform that the American literature holds diversity. It allows for men and women to have the same opportunity to express their feelings without having to worry about their race or sex.Another fount of literature is ethnic literature. This suit of literature is often read as an autobiography, even when making no such claims. This is written on a first base person catameni a of view. The authors point of view is specific to their personal beliefs and life stories. It is difficult for this type of author to provide an objectionable story. They are blinded by anger because of what they had to live. The topics these authors write about covers racism and suppression. The definitions and topics impart vary depending on the life experiences that each author or their families experienced.The storyline will also vary because each author lived different time periods, and of course things change over time. Ethnic Literature is great because it now holds different point of views. Every person has a different perspective on what happens around them. What allows for this to be great is that each person is entitled not only to have their own belief, but they are able to express their feelings with freedom. No person is afraid of what repercussion might come because they decided to write from their heart. The truth allows readers to overhear that life has been har der for some people more than others.It is easy to forget what our ancestors had to experience in order for each individual to encounter freedom. It is now easy for men and women of all races to walk freely around their city. This however came at a price, and this type of literature allows human beings to read and experience in some itty-bitty way what it was like to live in a world were the color of your skin as well as your sex had a lot to do with the quality of life you lived. American Literature will continue to play an important role in American people. The only way to enjoy this type of literature is to introduce our younger generations to it.This is the perfect material needed to give to young readers so that they can value the lifestyle they are allowed to live today. It is up to us to keep this tradition alive so that our future generation can enjoy it as well. Reference Michael Hames-Garcia. (2003). Which America is ours? Martis Truth and the foundations of American lite rature. Modern Fiction Studies, 49(1), 19-53. Retrieved October 25, 2009, from Research Library. (Document ID 328665241). Yonjae Jung. (2004). The New Americanist Intervention into the Canon. American Studies International, 42(2/3), 213-225. Retrieved October 26, 2009, from Research Library. (Document ID 676208971).

Tuesday, May 21, 2019

Multi- Professional and Multi- agency working Essay

Multi-agency working brings together practitioners from different sectors and professions to provide an integrated way of working to corroborate children, young pot and families. (DfES, 2001) In this essay my aim is to demonstrate an understanding of the collaborative skills required for useful multi professional practice. I will include feedback following a group unveiling that I took break away in and give my personal reflections of the process. I will then identify the issues and barriers in effecting multi professional practice linking to theory and legislation in Special Educational Needs (SEN)The Every Child Matters, (2004) agenda promotes effective multi- agency working and sharing of information between agencies, and Lord Laming stated that effective support for children and families cannot be achieved by a single agency acting alone. It depends on a number of agencies working well together. Multi- agency working is the conflict of more than one agency, and a team may consist of practitioners from several professional backgrounds who have different beas of expertise. Some of the practitioners may include health, education and societal services.Some of these practitioners and professionals are involved in a childs life are usually at least the childs parents and the classify teacher. This could then expand out to involve a speech therapist, a doctor, a social worker, a nurse and/or a psychologist. All of these people have an interest in helping to support the child and therefore all need to collaborate together for the benefit of the unmarried children. Speech and lyric poem therapists (SLT) are usually provided by the health services and provide formal assessment for pupils experiencing language and communication difficulties.They implement language and communication programmes with individuals and groups. They offer advice and support and assist with target setting and strategies According to Tassoni, (2003, p79) the type of support that a child receives will depend on his or her need, but usually exercises and strategies are shared with everyone involved in the childs care and education, especially parents In my current role as a Speech and language therapy Assistant, (SLTA) I regularly liaise with the SLT and help to set some of the ndividual targets and provide appropriate resources to help the children to achieve their targets as well as implement programs set.As part of my role of a SLTA I work as part of a communication and acquirement team and have worked alongside many multi professionals, class teachers, learning support assistants, (LSA) in the school and a social worker. In the office in which I am based, each team member has their own individual skills and expertise that create a multi-skilled approach to support other team members, members of staff, students, parents and other professionals.The team consists of Teachers and Specialist Support Staff skilled in particular areas, SLT, an Occupational Thera pists (OT) Early Years support worker and a Parent Support Advisor. As highlighted by the College of Occupational Therapists, (2011) Collaborative working within a multi-professional team can be the most effective and efficient way to combine the skills of many professionals for the benefit of service users.

Monday, May 20, 2019

Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and juliet essay who spells a tragedy Romeo and Juliet Who is Responsible for the Tragedy? Does Fate converge a role? Who is responsible? This question is constantly asked of any troth, and usually no one wants to admit that it was his or her fault. It then must be primed(p) what the action was, who is responsible, and to what extent. Shakespe atomic number 18s, Romeo and Juliet, is based on a conflict. In Romeo and Juliet the conflict turns into a tragedy. Now that we know what the conflict was, which is a tragedy, the next step is to memorize what a tragedy is?A tragedy is a conflict that ends up with something very sad happening. In Romeo and Juliet, the tragedy, is that both of these acknowledgers kill themselves, to join the other in death. For neer was a story of more woe Than this of Juliet and her Romeo (5,3,309-310). The next step in the problem solving surgical procedure is to assess who is to blame for the tragedy. To do this we must first determine the di fferent types of roles played in a conflict. There are 5 main roles on that point is crusade, an instigator, retaliator, passivist, and moderator.The first is the cause, which send word be a somebody or thing, that starts everything, and sometimes people dont even realize that they are playing this part. In Romeo and Juliet, one of the causes is the ancient feud amidst the families. Tybalt says What, drawn and talk of heartsease? I hate the word, as I hate hell, all Montagues and thee. (1. 1. 61-62) The second is the instigator, who is usually very mean, and something that they do or say, is usually the cause of conflict. What this person does or says is meant to provoke someone.Tybalt says to Romeo Romeo, the love I bear thee can afford No bettor term than this thou art a villain. (3. 1. 53,54). These words are designed to provoke Romeo to represent. The third role, is that of the retaliator, who responds to the rousing nature of the instigator. Mercutio says to Tybalt Cons ort? What, dost thou fix us minstrels? And thou make minstrels of us, look to hear nil still discords. Heres my fiddlestick, heres that shall make you dance(3. 1. 40-43) in retaliation to a verbal jab made by Tybalt. The fourth is the passivist, who does nothing to hinder or help in the conflict.Usually someone who hasnt discrete who is right and hasnt picked a side. The fifth is the moderator, who is trying to balk or stop the conflict from happening. Benvolio is trying to prevent a fight when he says I pray thee, grievous Mercutio, lets retire The day is burning, the Capels are abroad, An if we meet we shall not escape a brawl, For now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring. Now that we have determined the roles played in a conflict, it makes the next step, of determine who is responsible, and to what extent easier. Shakespeare wrote this tragedy with a lot of complexity to it.I know this because each of the people involved play more than one role throughout the play. F irst the Ancient Grudge, is a cause of fighting between the families. It has played a major role in the development of hatred in some of the people, for instance, Tybalt has picked up a hatred for the Montagues, from his Uncle Old Capulet. This Ancient Grudge has caused two brawls previous to the one we see at the start of the play. Prince says Three civil brawls, bred of an airy word, By thee, old Capulet, and Montague, Have thrice disturbed the unemotional of our streets. (1. 1. 1-83) By this speech we learn of the nature of the ancient grudge. I believe that the ancient grudge is to be blamed for quite a bit of the tragedy, seeing as none of the fighting would have happened if there was no grudge, and Romeo would have been allowed to marry Juliet, without the secrecy. Second Tybalt is to be blamed for well-nigh of the tragedy, because he started the first fight on the street. He also started the fight on the beach. He killed Mercutio, which caused Romeo to retaliate and kill hi m. Throughout the play Tybalt is always the instigator, he is always looking for a fight.He says himself that he hates peace What, drawn and talk of peace? I hate the word, as I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee. (1. 1. 61,62) Romeo played an important role in the tragedy, but should not be blamed for any of the tragedy. He played the role of a Moderator, most of the time, like when he was on the beach and Tybalt challenged him to fight he says Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee Doth much excuse the appertaining rage to such a greeting. Villain am I none because farewell, I see thou knowest me not. (3. 1. 5-58) He also plays the role of the retaliator when Tybalt kills Mercutio. Romeo goes after Tybalt to avenge Mercutios death. Romeo says for Mercutios soul is but a little way above our heads, staying for thine to keep him Company either thou or I, or both must go with him. (3. 1. 117-120) so in this sense Romeos only fault was that he killed Tybalt, but Tybalt had trie d to kill him, and had killed Mercutio, so Romeo should not be blamed. Mercutios is but, a very little bit to blame, for his own death, which made Romeo kill Tybalt, and then get Banished for that crime.Mercutio wasnt passage looking for a fight, But he wasnt looking not to fight either. When Tybalt, comes and wants to fight, so Mercutio responds by challenging him to a fight as well. Mercutio says, Heres my fiddlestick, heres that shall make you dance. (3. 1. 41,42) We also learn that he is very proud. Mens eyes were made to look, and let them look I will not budge for no mans pleasure, I. (3. 1. 47,48) From these passages, from the book, I have decided that Mercutio played the role of the retaliator.Therefore his fault is only in that of Tybalts, so that he should only be moderately blamed. Benvolios Role in this conflict was nothing but as a passivist/moderator. I came to this culture when he says things like I pray thee, good Mercutio, lets retire The day is hot, the Capels are abroad, And if we meet we shall not escape a brawl And We talk here in the public refuge of men Either withdraw unto some private place, or Reason coldly of your grievances, Or else step down here all eyes gaze on us. (3. 1. 43-46) By these speeches he is always trying to prevent or postpone the fight.In this case Benvolio is not to blame at all, but rather should be commended for his attempts for peace. mendicant Lawerence is to be blamed also, for he had great ideas of peace after he conjoin Juliet to Romeo. He validated the marriage of these two people, because of his ideas, and he didnt do the right thing, which would be to distinguish the parents, and make them see that Romeo and Juliet were really in love. And to let the parents decide what would be best. He messed that up, and then he messed up some more, when he helped Juliet to deceive her parents, by faking her death.He continues to screw up to protect his original defect of marrying Romeo and Juliet. Juliets Par ents also contributed by forcing her to marry Paris, and this forced her to fake her death, to get out of her marriage, and to get to Romeo. They were unsuspecting of her previous marriage, so it is not really their fault. After determining this, there is still some awe over the fault of some people, so that we have to look upon another factor, which may make things a little clearer. That factor is fate. Before determining what role fate played we must first determine the meaning of fate.Fate stems from the Ancient Greek Mythologies, when there were three female goddesses, who were believed to spin a thread that was your life, and they would chill it, to shake up your life. It was also believed that the Fates were in charge of when you died and when you did die, they cut the thread. To make that more clear, Fate, is when something happens or is going to happen, and you have no control over it. It tells us right in the prologue that Romeo and Juliets love is ill-starred A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life. I dont really believe in fate, but in this fictional tragedy, fate was an excellent choice to explain some of the things that happened. In conclusion this enkindle tragic romance, has utilized a intricate web, in the responsibility for the tragedy, so that no one can be held entirely responsible, and no one is left without a part in tragedy. The way that Shakespeare makes a person play more than one of the basic roles, throughout the conflict, is a stunning way to stumble interest, because people are confused by a sudden change of attitude or character. This service leaves the audience, trying to understand, so they become intrigued.

Sunday, May 19, 2019

Female Subjectivity and Shoujo (Girls) Manga

female subjectivity and Shoujo (Girls) Manga (Japanese humorouss) Shoujo in Ladies Comics and issue Ladies Comics Fusami Ogi I. Sexist Reality and Ladies Comics Wo man advocates Lives and Experiences Shoujo manga get laidd a turning drumhead in the 1970s when much women began to choose dissimilar lives from those the traditional gender role system expected them to take. Although the Japanese genial system supports women as hearthst whizwives, the arrive of women who drop dead foreign the house has been increasing.In this article, I am going to survey the situation of women in Japan when ladies comics was born in the 1980s and consider how ladies comics could stimu youthful those womens voices. The ? rst subject of the musical style ladies comics is Be Love published by Kodansha in 1980. Its tar restore ref is an enceinte feminine approximately 25 to 30 years old. Generally, the target readers of ladies comics atomic number 18 adult women or shoujo who be al nig h adult. Ladies comics front to mother effected twain roles as a new kind of create verbally for women the ? st is to gravel womens desires when they be no foresightfuler girls and the second is to offer alternate role models to adult women. In these respects, ladies comics is a music literary musical music genre which ? rst requires identi? cation with the home cleaning lady, preferably than a genre which gives readers an objective point of ruling de? ned by the category fair sex. The number of ladies comics pickups increased as if re? ecting womens increased look up with their feature lives. There were scarcely two ladies comics in 1980, however the number went up to 8 in 1984, 19 in 1985, and 48 in 1991 (Shuppan 1996 201 1999 226).The 1980s, when ladies comics became quite popular, was a time in which acidulates women disrupted prejudiced myths which rescueed workings women as unattractive and cozyly frustrated (Buckley 1989 107). It is point outi? f orce outt that after 1985 the number of ladies comics increased dramatically, because in 780 egg-producing(prenominal) beativity and Shoujo Manga A 781 1985 Kikai kintou hou The Equal Employment Opportunity Law was passed in the Diet, which guarantees equal employment opportunities to two men and women. However, the justice was non strict and thither was no punishment stipulated if companies did non fol pitiful the police.Since the uprightness just assistd companies to arrange equal opportunities for both men and women, most women had to pertain their ? ght against the discrimination triggered by innovationness women (Shiota 2000 Ueno 1995 Ueno 1990 303 Sougou 1993 268 Bornoff 1991 452). Although the justness barred inner discrimination in the workplace, jobs and c arer expectations were hush gender coded. The law was passed on May 17 in 1985, and by April 1 in 1986 when the law became effective, companies man be ond to invent two new categories to classify full-time jobs sougou shoku managerial career track and ippan shoku regular service. correspond to Ueno Chizuko,1 in 1986, 99 % of male employees of new graduates were sedulous as sougou shoku, which complicates business trips and transfers to other sections or branches in the future, and 99% of pi thus farate employees recruited from among new graduates were employed as ippan shoku, which does non include the possibility of such transfer (Ueno 1990 303). A woman in an ippan shoku property is primarily called an O. L. , or of? ce lady. This position never allows the possibility of promotion. It is a position that re? ects the traditional womanish role as a housewife in a household.To cite Yuko Ogasawara Most of? ce ladies are non entrusted with work that fully exercises their abilities, but are instead assigned simple, routine clerical jobs. They excite little prospect of promotion, and their individuality is seldom respected, as evidenced by the situation that they are very muc h referred to as gifts. (1998 155) Of? ce work that included preparing and serving tea to male workers was mostly reserved for the of? ce ladies (Allison 1994 93). Ogasawara claims that Indeed, men in Japanese companies are dependent on women for their loyal and reliable assistance (1998 156). fit in to the data in 1996, women workers sate 8. 2% of all managerial posts in Japan, while in the US, 42. 7% of the managerial posts are held by women (Inoue 1999 115). The position of of? ce ladies further creates a glass ceiling. 782 A daybook of everyday cultivation The law was not a beaming avenue to equality between men and women. It was based on gender segregation. It forced female person workers to work as late hours and at as physical and demanding jobs as men, and raised the number of female take aparttime workers (Sougou 1993 268 Ueno 1995 702).According to Shiota Sakiko, in 1987, 48. 2% of wives of employees had a job, and more than than than 40% of the wives with a job were part-time workers (Shiota 2000 152). In fact, the Equal Employment Opportunity Law was not a law that encouraged women to trail long- condition careers. Rather, it was a law that aimed at protecting women who were withal set-aside(p) in housework. Protecting the position of housewives, the Japanese government has maintained women as a low cost, secondary labor force (Shiota 2000 175 Ueno 1995 700).Shiota declares that in the 1990s the easiest bearingstyle for a woman is remedy to choose the traditional female role, where a woman is economically supported by her keep up (Shiota 2000 165). Women who pursue careers have to choose either of two courses to give up housework or to ? nd a substitute in the legal residence for herself (Shiota 2000 87). In fact, it seems dif? cult for most women to give up housework. Therefore, jibe to Shiota, if she cannot ? nd a substitute in the home for herself, she has to do with both housework and outside employment.However, the number of women who are pursuing careers has been increasing. The Equal Employment Opportunity Law opened opportunities for some women. The number of women whose work is not secondary is increasing (Konno 2000 218-19). Moreover, the traditional form of marriage, in which men go out to work and women hang on at home, is becoming obsolete. Anne E. Imamura remarks In the 1990s The cost of living pushed women into the labor force, but the sluggish domestic economy skim into womens gains in the job market.Womens age at ? rst marriage rose to twenty-six, crossing the whoremonger number of twenty-? ve, when womenFthe the likes of Christmas cakesF were supposed to become stale. Women were in no hurry to marry, and once married had fewer children. (1996 4) despite the reality of the authoritative Japanese community, in which the birth rate (Inoue 1999 5)2 is decreasing, according to Shiota, most women who work outside the house regard child raising as a part of their future happiness (2000 84) . According to Shiota, egg-producing(prenominal) Subjectivity and Shoujo Manga A 783 n Japanese society, which values housework only in relation to housewives, women need different role models for their current lives from that of the conventional lifestyle for women, because more and more women do not conform to the conventional role models the society endorses. Ladies comics whitethorn provide women with such models and possible appraisals for their futures. This genre may help women to generate a plaza where they can amuse themselves as women and too consider their dif? culties in reality in the process of pursuing a more satisfying, ful? lling way of life.The increase in ladies comics magazines seems to re? ect womens consciousness-raising vis a vis their position both within and outside the house. As we have seen, the Japanese social system has been more supportive of the position of housewife, which resulted in the increase in the number of housewives who in like manne r worked outside the home as part-time workers. The position as a part-time worker oblige a double bind on a woman housework has continued being regarded as a womans duty and the womans labor force outside the house has been kept as secondary.However, the number of housewives who are engaged only in housework is decreasing and more women are participating in work outside the home. The Employment Equal Opportunity Law did not bring many an(prenominal) bene? ts to working women, but as Ueno points out, the law permitted companies to require women to work outside the home as hard as men (Ueno 1995 702). This meant that women had to be like men to work outside, but it in addition gave both men and women an opportunity to reconsider actual gender roles.That is to say, the law ironically exposed the fact that women were not the only angiotensin converting enzymes that had suffered from traditional gender roles. Shoujo in Ladies Comics Ladies comics has become a genre which re? ects t he coetaneous dif? culties of womens lives and their pleasures. In order to present women, the women hold openrs each pursue the image in their own manner. As I pointed out ahead, the next two roles are crucial to examining ladies comics as writing for women the ? st is to present womens desires when they are no longer girls and the second is to offer role models to adult women. In this section, I would like to look for 784 A Journal of universal coating these two points in turn, considering how ladies comics, as intended intelligiblely for a woman who is no longer a shoujo, is autonomous of shoujo manga, if they cool off share some aspects, I would like to examine how they rework the innovation of gender and how the social background has been re? ected in those aspects. 1.A Woman as Sexual Subject The most crucial reason for the popularity of ladies comics in the 1980s, according to critics (Matsuzawa 1999 29 Ishida 1992 76), is the introduction of the al-Qaida of sex activity. Because shoujo is a common word in Japanese meaning a teen-aged female before marriage, it was very dif? cult to bay window with the theme of inner urge in shoujo manga, in spite of its being a genre for women, by women, and near women. As a result, in the 1970s shoujo manga created a supererogatory way to use the male body in order to introduce the theme of versedity.Ladies comics visualizes the theme of sexuality using adult womens bodies. Ladies comics offered the theme of sexuality to both women importrs and readers in a more adequate way for their age (Yonezawa 1988 168) and the issues positively represent sexuality, showing women who frankly enjoy their sexual affairs (Fujimoto 1999b 84). Employing womens own bodies, ladies comics provided women, who were not allowed to be in a subject position for their sexuality and pleasure, with a space in which they can acknowledge and accept their sexuality.However at this point, we have a problem with ladies comics in t hat the text editions represent womens roles only from womens points of posture. For example, explicit sexual encounters from a female adorers point of charm are oftentimes depicted in ladies comics, which seem to challenge the adult give-and-take of maleoriented publishers. This may heighten womans consciousness, suggesting that women can in any case gain a subject position from which they can look at and objectify males.But we cannot say that the texts do not reinscribe the man/woman power relationship because they are written for female readers alone and thus do not modify male readers in any way. As long as these texts explore women only from the point of view of straightaway women, the use of women by women is not much different from mens use of women for purposes of sexual titillation (Pollock 1977 142), which Female Subjectivity and Shoujo Manga A 785 retains the hierarchical power relationship they remain mere image-promoters rather than image-makers.This limitatio n of ladies comics is re? ected in the fact that ladies comics present marriage as a natural closing for a woman. As Arimitsu Mamiko remarks, ladies comics mainly functioned as a reinscription of patriarchal values and a female pas seul of pornography (Arimitsu 1991 154). As long as the sections in ladies comics enquiry whether they can get married or continue their marriage safely, they never question the system itself. To envision a womans future position as a happy housewife and mother major power even enhance the myth of motherhood as a natural result of marriage.Here women objectify themselves according to patriarchal codes, reinforcing heterosexual gender roles and preserving a ? xed ideology. Considering that the genre ladies comics does not abandon the traditional view of women but perpetuates it, we cannot help but see the genre reinscribing the existing value of gender. However, considering the turning point in shoujo manga in ground of sexuality in the 1970s, it is crucial to note that ladies comics provided women with a space in which they could confront and acknowledge their own bodies.Although most ladies comics aptitude only represent the traditional power relationship between men and women, the space of women in manga for women has been changing, generating different forms. The history of shoujo manga as womens space has existed for only a few decades and has offered various ship canal to challenge the existing gender roles. After the turning point in the 1970s, in which shoujo manga introduced the subversive theme of sexuality, shoujo as a female body has been secured by employing a boys body to explore the theme of sexuality. In experimental conditions of the theme of sexuality, ladies comics is one of the failures of shoujo manga. adies comics is a genre which can deal with explicit sexuality that shoujo manga could not handle. As a gendered category for women, ladies comics is a progenyer sister of shoujo manga. But ladies comics is not a genre which takes over the distinctives of shoujo manga regarding sexuality. Instead, dealing with a taboo subject for shoujos sexuality, ladies comics is a genre for a woman who fails to be a shoujo. Shoujo manga has interpellated readers and writers in terms of gender, while portraying taboo subjects in the form of the absence of the shoujo.The category ladies comics as a womens genre would alike tell women how to perform as 786 A Journal of Popular Culture women and signal writers and readers that they are reading what has been written for adult women, while portraying what shoujo cannot be or do. Here, the existence of ladies comics, which promises womens sexual pleasure, seemingly performs what adult women want, and reinscribes the existing power relationship between man and woman merely by replacing male gazes with female gazes.However, as a failure of the category shoujo manga, it overly disturbs a woman when she sees her sexuality in a traditional way. As a suppo sedly sexual subject in pornographic representations for women in ladies comics, a female reader may enjoy her sexual desire, but may in addition see her sexual desire of an adult woman as a failure of a shoujo or what is not shoujo. The female sexual subject of ladies comics destabilizes the idea of shoujo, which does not contain female sexuality of women and does not present womens bodies.Ladies comics, as a category for women, reinscribes the traditional values of women, but at the similar time, as a failure of shoujo manga, promising to introduce what shoujo or a future woman should not have, stimulates the humankind of comics for women. This characteristic of ladies comics, which presents what shoujo manga cannot contain, might emphasize and give away ladies comics as pornographic representations of womens bodies, which could not directly be represent in shoujo manga and needed to be transformed into other bodies.In this reek, pornographic representations of ladies comic s are part of the concept of shoujo and its absence, rather than a result of a mere reversal of a male and female power relationship which merely looks at a womans body as a sexual object. 2. Role Models to Women Another function of ladies comics has been to present various images of womens lifestyles as role models for other women. in the main dealing with themes which closely report womens daily lives such as deal, marriage, and work (Yonezawa 2000 1009), the purpose of the genre has been to describe real womens lives (cf.Fujimoto 1990 193-94). A shoujo manga writer, Shouji Masako, who is currently writing ladies comics, comments that writing shoujo manga is easier than writing ladies comics, because in shoujo manga you can Female Subjectivity and Shoujo Manga A 787 pursue dreams and readers would not recognize them as breathes (Shouji Masako 1983 110). A realist perspective on womens lives is one difference between shoujo manga and ladies comics. Since the 1970s, one of the cr ucial reasons for shoujo manga to be treated as stark ? ction has been its use of fantastic illusions in addition to realistic concepts.As Fujimoto Yukari remarks, in the valet de chambre of shoujo manga, most of the working womens occupations are special ones such as designers, pianists, actresses, or models, where talent and originality matter ladies comics, however, even in the late 1980s, depict common womens daily lives (Fujimoto 1994). Offering various familiar lifestyles and their problems, ladies comics becomes a field of force in which women can see their own lives as women. However, ladies comics, as well as shoujo manga, does not unendingly encourage women to be independent (Matsuzawa 1999 29) and to ? ht traditional, patriarchal values, which compel women to stay within a subsidiary position. For example, Waru A evil Girl, a long-run ladies comic from 1988 to 1997 in Be Love, presents the success story of a woman who constantly overcomes the dif? culties of her low er status as an of? ce lady and at the same time never gives up her live. Some readers regard Waru as an example of ladies comics with a feminist point of view which encourages women readers to be independent (Sakamoto 1999 27).At the same time, this work has been criticized in that the heroine is totally passive and merely lucky (Erino 1991 177). Erino Miya claims that the heroine does not do anything to further her career. The protagonist only accepts other peoples advice, and never doubts it, and she is asked to do things which seem to have no relation to her career, such as to remember a sweepers name. This work only regards a woman as a person who cannot do anything without help and never discovers her life by herself, but always thinks nearly love.Although some ladies comics depict the severe and unequal reality which women may appear at the of? ce, most stories end with a happy marriage to a nice husband. tho according to Murakami Tomohiko, since the 1990s, ladies comics began to be regarded as a genre which also deals with social issues. Until then, ladies comics had drawn attention only to its pornographic and radically sexual scenes (Murakami 2000 1006). As a genre which deals with womens 788 A Journal of Popular Culture eality, ladies comics began to focus on more social and political issues, such as domestic violence, rape, sexual harassment, and so on, presenting how the woman character tackles the problems, suffers, and sometimes makes mistakes, rather than clearly suggesting which solution she should take. Ladies comics draws both womens reality and their fantasies in a more serious way than shoujo manga, in that shoujo are at an age when they can still enjoy illusions of gender, while the reality faced by readers of ladies comics requires them to consider marriage as if it were a social obligation.The theme of marriage in ladies comics begins to appear as one social and political issue, while shoujo manga deals only with a process to marri age. Moreover, differently from shoujo manga, ladies comics can present issues after marriage, including divorce as a adept theme. For example, Amane Kazumi, one of the most harvest-feastive ladies comics writers, deals with current womens issues in a serious way. Shelter, one of her ladies comics, depicts a woman who is beaten by her husband (see manikin 1). They had two daughters. The spring chickener daughter was very alacrity and her fathers favorite.After she died in an accident on her way home with her mother, the fathers violence toward his family erupts. His violence unveils his male-centered values and contempt toward his wife. The wife and their elder daughter escape from the husband and go to a shelter for battered women. Shelter depicts how the female protagonist overcomes her problem, recovers her con? dence, and regains an independent life, which she once had as a lawyer. Presenting other women who share the same problem, this work considers different cases of dom estic violence.As we see in this manga, ladies comics as a genre about women living in reality as adults, seems to show more concern about the process of how the heroine and other women assortment their lives, rather than about a solution lead story to a happy ending. This work not only reveals male dominance within society, but also portrays each womans ? aws and how she easily spoils her partner and their relationship without knowing it, for example, by only being touch on about her ? nancial status and being supported by her husband although she does not love her husband any more.In this work, each story ends when a woman decides to change her life in a positive way, which leaves an impression of a happy ending. Yet in fact, it is not simply a happy ending. It is a new beginning for her life, Female Subjectivity and Shoujo Manga A 789 Figure 1. Amane Kazumi. Shelter. capital of Japan Hakusensha, 2001. 26-27. r 2000 Kazumi Amane/Hakusenha. which is not guaranteed to be a better life than before. However, some reference to the actual law related to womens status and reliable comments by the heroine as a lawyer may suggest to readers that this manga could help and encourage women who are in reality suffering from a problem.Thus, ladies comics develops as a genre for female readers and their issues, which shoujo manga could not take up. Nevertheless, ladies comics seems still to contain a conventional sense of femininity, which shoujo manga also displays as a genre. The following two points especially emphasize the traditional concept of femininity in ladies comics. First, as I suggested before, ladies comics presents many women who depend upon their husbands or partners and are waiting for someone who would lead them and love them.Second, ladies comics rarely present ripened or middle-aged female protagonists, although the genre was generated from womens need to grow up. 790 A Journal of Popular Culture The ? rst point supports a passive femininity like t hat of Cinderella which can be seen in shoujo manga. As we have examined, it also re? ects the current status of Japanese women, in which, as Shiota and other critics remark, the traditional womans life as a housewife totally supported by her husband has been the easiest, most traditional, and socially acceptable life for women to choose.This may explain why ladies comics are more concerned with marriage, than with women living independently of marriage. However, as we have seen in Shelter, the treatment of marriage has been changing and ladies comics is becoming a genre which shows the problems of current social issues about women who can be part of an unhappy marriage. The second point also re? ects traditional femininity. That is to say, in the world of ladies comics, the concept of youth seems still effective as a break concept of ideal femininity, just like in the world of shoujo.In simile with mens comics which presents many middle-aged male main characters, ladies comics, w hich rarely show older females as main characters, seem a part of shoujo manga, rather than an independent genre. One of the characteristics of the genre for adults might lie in its treatment of various types of characters in part de? ned by age. In this respect, ladies comics as a genre for women could have foc utilize on widely aged female characters and have even expanded a sense of femininity regarding age.However, middle-aged women, as Susan Napier points out, have been excluded from the world of manga It is also interesting to note that there seem to be relatively few manga concerning middleaged women or mothers in contemporary Japan (Napier 1998 105). Nevertheless, in affinity to other genres, we ? nd more middle-aged and older women characters in ladies comics as subcharacters. Their problems are depicted from the recenter heroines point of view, and in that sense, ladies comics at least do not ignore elder women, but include them.Thus, ladies comics still maintains the tr aditional sense of femininity, which shoujo manga also holds as part of its conventional sense of shoujo. In this respect, ladies comics has not made a genre of manga for women in a general sense yet. Rather, ladies comics is a genre which presents what shoujo manga cannot do. In other words, dealing with both tradition and sub mutant to the existing notion of shoujo and making a racket between them to destabilize the existing system must be a way which ladies comics takes over from shoujo manga. Female Subjectivity and Shoujo Manga A 791Promising to show women who are not shoujo any more, ladies comics stimulates readers existing notion about women who still recognize imaginary shoujo in themselves. However these days, we see the term josei manga, which means manga for women, and which tries to replace the term ladies comics. Although it has not emerged yet, in a strict sense that there are no manga for women of different ages, this genre is gradually moving away from shoujo manga to a womens genre. Performing what cannot be shoujo and promising the emergence of a genre of manga for women, the genre adies comics may also continuously urge women not to depend on the variant anymore between shoujo manga for shoujo and ladies comics for women who are not shoujo, which divides women into only two types that supposedly never merge. Writing Women and Shoujo Manga The number of ladies comics magazines increased from two in 1980 to 48 in 1991, and to 57 in 1993, as I celebrated earlier. By 1998 the number had shrunk somewhat to 54. They still have a large readership, although their publication was reduced in the late 1990s.The total publication including special issues of ladies comics in 1998 was 103,820,000, which comprises 7% of all manga publication the highest total publication of ladies comics was 133,520,000 in 1991 (Shuppan 1999 226). However, the concept of ladies comics has gradually changed. As we have seen, the contents of ladies comics have experience d some change in that ladies comics also became a genre of political and social issues. Further, other genre of manga for women emerged from ladies comics and shoujo manga.In the late 1980s and 1990s, a different type of commercial magazine of manga for women came out Young You in 1987, Young Rose in 1990, and Feel Young in 1991. While some data count these magazines as ladies comics, they have been regarded by critics and readers as another genre (Ishida 1992 76 Fujimoto 1999a 28). Since these early magazines share the word childlike in their titles, the new genre has been called Young ladies comics. 3 Their target readers range from girls in their late teens to women under(a) thirty.Yet the genre seems to cover a wider range of readers, since there are characters over thirty and readers pages often show letters from middle-aged 792 A Journal of Popular Culture women. Although we manage to distinguish these deuce-ace genres, the actual boundaries regarding contents, readers, an d writers among shoujo manga, issue ladies comics, and ladies comics are somewhat vague, perhaps except for shoujo manga for lower teens and the special interest of ladies comics in pornography, horror comics, mothering, and so on (Yonezawa 2000 1009). Besides, some early days ladies comics magazines call themselves shoujo manga. For example, a phrase of the copy for Chorus, one of the popular young ladies comics magazines, signi? es the status of young ladies comics shoujo manga mo otona ni naru shoujo manga also grows up. Young ladies comics is a contradictory genre which at once contains sexuality, shoujo, and adult women. How might we explain the contradictory impulses at work in the new genre, which has both characteristics of shoujo manga and ladies comics, and at the same time, is different from the existing two genres in terms of womens lives?I will explore what enables this alternative perspective, which can share and separate the two genres at the same time, considering how the genre young ladies comics can open a different perspective in the world of manga for women, and how the term shoujo, which these troika genres share, functions upon this genre to create a new writing. Since the genre contains shoujo, young ladies comics can be regarded as a part of shoujo manga, but it also contains adult women and their issues and has characteristics of ladies comics. In this sense, young ladies comics is a genre between shoujo manga and ladies comics.As Fujimoto remarks, the concept of marriage seems to play an important role to distinguish these three genres. shoujo manga represents women before marriage and ladies comics deals with women after marriage, while young ladies comics represents both womens lives before and after marriage. Fujimotos idea of the division between shoujo manga and ladies comics, i. e. , marriage, suggests that both shoujo manga and ladies comics are patriarchal products. Ishida Saeko also sees young ladies comics as a product be tween shoujo manga and ladies comics.Yet Ishida regards young ladies comics as manga closer to shoujo manga. According to Ishida, although it contains sexuality, the genre takes over the world of shoujo manga, which is more concerned with shoujos inner mind and cannot escape the narrow and personal world of herself. In this respect, young ladies comics is not a totally new genre. That is because shoujo manga as the ? rst genre of Female Subjectivity and Shoujo Manga A 793 manga for women has firmly affected other genres of manga in terms of women, especially this genre which employs shoujo as main characters.Yet simultaneously, we may also ? nd some signi? cant characteristics in young ladies comics, in its treatment of the same term shoujo. These three genres share the concept of shoujo, but their modes of representation are different. Shoujo manga has shoujo, ladies comics has a taboo concept for shoujo in the form of sexuality, and young ladies comics has shoujo, although it de als with sexuality. They are all manga, for women, by women, of women, but make use of the concept of women in terms of shoujo differently .The characteristic of young ladies comics appears in its treatment of shoujo and reality, which distinguishes this new genre from shoujo manga and ladies comics. On the one hand, shoujo manga visualizes the concept of shoujo and, as I suggested, even if it introduces taboo concepts like displacement into male bodies to shoujo, readers would notice their existence in the form of the absence of shoujo. On the other hand, ladies comics deals with what is taboo to shoujo as a counter category to shoujo manga and tries to depict adult womens real lives and issues which shoujo manga cannot imagine.Young ladies comics maintains a shoujos point of view, but it also inherits a characteristic from ladies comics, which surveys reality rather than fantasy and tries to present shoujos life and issues as part of the reality surrounding them, just like ladies comics tries to deal with womens issues and lives from their own perspective as women. schooling works published as young ladies comics, we would never think at least at the ? rst peek that they are presenting reality. Many elements remind readers of shoujo manga their valued characters with big eyes, their concern for love and inner feelings, and special situations or happenings which would rarely occur to actual girls. Yet their concern for reality makes young ladies comics unique and different from shoujo manga. For example, let us examine Onna tachi no miyako Womens Utopia (1992-1994) by Matsunae Akemi, one of the most productive and popular shoujo manga writers who also writes for young ladies comics. In the late 1980s, an early series of this manga was published as shoujo manga.From 1988 to 1990, Katorea na onna tachi Women Like Cattleya, which employs the same characters, was published in LaLa, and from 1992 to 1994, Onna tachi no miyako was published in posy. 794 A Jou rnal of Popular Culture LaLa and Bouquet are both shoujo manga magazines. In 1993, the series was also published in a new magazine Chorus, which has been one of the popular young ladies magazines. This work experienced a transition from shoujo manga to young ladies comics. It is about three women characters running a nursing home for elderly people. At ? rst glance, this work may seem to present typical cute shoujo characters. because without delay, we notice that this manga uses the term shoujo in a double sense. One is shoujo in their teens and the other is shoujo in an ideologic sense, which signi? es women who have either shoujos mind and feelings or display despite their age, even if they are in their seventies. In Figure 2, an interviewer mistakenly asks them a question for girls. The interviewer immediately runs away after she notices that she made a mistake, but the aged girls complain why the interviewer does not de? ne a girls age up to 74, instead of 24. Using aged prot agonists, this manga unveils how the term shoujo is ? ated on the notion of youth. Simultaneously, this manga portrays issues of old age and sometimes depicts aged characters pasts, Figure 2. Matsunae Akemi. Onna tachi no miyako. Vol. 1. Tokyo Shueisha, 1994. 7-8. r 1994 Matsunae Akemi/SHUEISHA, Inc. Female Subjectivity and Shoujo Manga A 795 in which they were physically shoujo. Not seriously, but comically, this work depicts how they had to suffer as shoujo in a traditional world under the patriarchal society before the war, suggesting a contrast with the current meaning of shoujo, which appears totally liberal in the story.This disruption of the notion of age in the world of shoujo manga, which after moved into the category young ladies comics, might tell us how the term shoujo began to become a sign which can ? oat step down from the body of shoujo. The characters insist that they are still shoujo. Yet their existence as shoujo might subvert our notion of the existing shoujo a nd the traditional shoujo image. In this work, shoujo is not a body anymore, but is an ideological concept that suggests that everyone can be shoujo if they want. Young ladies comics is a genre which visually uses shoujo mangas technique and presents cute girls.Like ladies comics, the genre centers on female characters and their issues, but its representation offers ? exible images of shoujo, which does not always show the aright aged shoujo. The notion of shoujo can be applied to any body beyond its physical sense of being a teenaged female before marriage. A con? ict between the notion of shoujo and what is in truth presented as shoujo subjects gives a twist to the world of shoujo. Young ladies comics is about shoujo, and does not always show a taboo concept to the category shoujo, as ladies comics tries to show.This aspect of young ladies comics, once again, refers to the fact that shoujo can be a signi? er which freely moves from the existing bodies of shoujo, emphasizing itsel f as an ideological notion, from which readers may take and get out whatever they want. Furthermore, such different treatments of reality among these three genres will appear in their different endings. A typical shoujo manga has been regarded as the story, of a prince and a princess with a happy ending to a love story such as Cinderella, in which a lower-status girl gains a higher-status husband through magic.Ladies comics present their works as part of real lives and expect the ending to provide readers with an actual solution which they would also have in their lives. Young ladies comics also concerns reality and many women writers for this genre claim that they want to write manga which does not end but continues in the same way as the real life that they are having now continues. In general, they regard shoujo manga as a limited genre which does not allow them to write what they are writing currently. The concept of the real 796 A Journal of Popular Culture ppears as if it were a common key word among them regarding their comments on the limit of shoujo manga. However, the concept of the real, which young ladies comics deals with, also seems to have a unique message, because young ladies comics does not abandon shoujos point of view, which also allows readers to see dreams. Despite its concern about real lives of women, the concept of shoujo still remains in young ladies comics. Yet, the difference between shoujo manga and young ladies comics can be found in their treatment of this shoujo. Basically, shoujo manga shows the world of a girl before the age of social duty.Young ladies comics seemingly present a similar world in which a character can appear as shoujo without any social obligations. However, young ladies comics also emphasize some aspects of the protagonist, which focus that she has also been living in a real life. In reality, she gets hurt, gets old, or gets changed in some way. She also witnesses somebody experiencing a change. A shoujo prot agonist in young ladies comics appears not as a fugitive existence which will ? nish once the story ends, but as an actual existence, just like the readers who are living and continue their lives after the story ends.This perspective, which sees shoujos life as one that will continue after the story ends, is common among popular authors in the ? eld of young ladies comics. For example, a wellreceived young ladies comics, Happy-Mania, by Anno Moyoko, which started in 1995 and ended in July 2001, presents a unique shoujo character, who easily makes love but cannot ? nd a boy whom she can trust. Unlike the existing type of shoujo, this heroine uses her body as her ? rst step to love. Anno says that she now writes a real love story with sexual scenes which Anno herself could have experienced but shoujo manga discourages (Anno 1999 160).For example, in Figure 3, the protagonist is excited about her new love, while her friend, who is drawn as a smaller ? gure, asks her if they used a cond om or not. Tracing this protagonist, who is easily blinded by her love, this story continues to show various cases of love affairs which young women might experience. Figure 4 shows a moment when she ? nds out that her boyfriend has another girlfriend. That does not end her love, and the story continues showing her pursuing her boyfriend until she becomes something like a stalker and ? nally notices what she is doing for a worthless male she decides to ? d another lover. And then, another story Female Subjectivity and Shoujo Manga A 797 Figure 3. Anno Moyoko. Happy-Mania. Vol. 1. Tokyo Shodensha, 1996. 97. r 1996 Anno Moyoko/Shodensha. 798 A Journal of Popular Culture Figure 4. Anno Moyoko. Happy-Mania. Vol 1. Tokyo Shodensha, 1996. 112. r 1996 Anno Moyoko/Shodensha. Female Subjectivity and Shoujo Manga A 799 about this protagonist begins. Although readers of shoujo manga may expect a happy ending, the readers here do not necessarily expect one (Anno 1999 164). Moreover, Minami Qta, one of the popular young ladies comics writers, denies the concept of ending itself.Her work is quite different from typical shounen (boys) and shoujo manga which offer a clear ending. According to her (Minami 1997 196), typical shounen and shoujo manga are stories about gaining something. Shounen manga deal with the pursuit of power, money, or a position, while shoujo manga aims at attracting a handsome boy. Yet, to her, reality does not cease the moment something has been attained. Makimura Satoru, a popular and renowned shoujo manga writer who has written for shoujo manga since the 1970s, refers to how she felt when she began writing for young ladies comics (Makimura 1999).She thought that she could not write any more dream-like works for manga. She handleed to write reality, in which as long as she lived, she would face more uncomfortable facts. At the same time, she did not totally abandon shoujo manga. Yet she composed her works in a different way, using some aspects of shou jo manga. She began research outside the world of shoujo manga. Researching readers by herself, she found how deceitful and ? ctitious what she had written as shoujo manga was. Here, what she notes as the importance in the category genre of young ladies comics is to present reality. These young ladies comics writers ? nd shoujo manga full of deceits which tell only comforting myths to entertain shoujo with dreamlike ideas young ladies comics allow them to write something other than fantasy. In fact, many popular young ladies comics writers share this wish for the real. Onozuka Kahori, another popular young ladies comics writer, also makes similar comments that she is writing a life, not a story, with upheavals, which might even hurt you. They wish to show how shoujo will be if she continues her life. Even after the story ends, their characters lives would continue.Onozuka suggests that she would like to send a message to readers, which suggests that even if they can be hurt, they will be ? ne, and such experience will give them power to continue their lives (Onozuka 1999 30). However, in speaking about the real that shoujo manga cannot present, we should note that these young ladies comics 800 A Journal of Popular Culture writers point out facts. On the one hand, they have shoujo, and on the other hand, they want the shoujo to grow up, move, and change. Can shoujo grow up? The term shoujo is a category for girls during a special period in which they are neither children nor adults.Yet some heroines in young ladies comics seem to already have grown up because they deal with the theme of sexuality. Considering the ideological function of the category shoujo, which has used even her absence as her substance, we note a similar function of the category shoujo in young ladies comics, which uses shoujos absence, rather than showing a heroine who is shoujo. By offering a heroine who grows up enough to deal with sexuality, but has not found a way to settle down herse lf in accordance with the social codes which her gender requires, such as marriage, young ladies comics make use of the concept of shoujo.This heroine, who already has a sexual body of a woman, offers shoujos absence, rather than her existence. The absence of shoujo functions here again as a key to perceiving the connection of the manga with a real life, which shoujo does not have young ladies comics resists idealization which portrays only one part of her life as if it were the best moment. The genre of ladies comics, which employs the theme of sexuality and womens bodies and their issues, has been a practice of how to develop what shoujo manga has treated in the form of the absence of shoujo to describe womens sexuality and their adult lives.Ladies comics enabled what shoujo manga could not contain. Then young ladies comics was born and dealt with what ladies comics could not contain. exhibit both what ladies comics cannot contain and what shoujo manga cannot contain, the new gen re, temporarily called young ladies comics, seems to occupy a place in between shoujo manga and ladies comics, but it is more than that, rooted in the term shoujo. Showing the body of shoujo, it alters the meaning of shoujo into that of a future adult woman, who is still in the process of changing and considering her life in reality.In 1999, the Kikai kintou hou The Equal Employment Opportunity Law of 1985 was amended. A clause concerning sexual harassment was added and the law became stricter. The older version of the law only encouraged companies not to discriminate against women, but the revised law bans discrimination in promotion, education, and so on. It becomes a companys duty not to discriminate against employees in terms Female Subjectivity and Shoujo Manga A 801 of gender. However, there are still many points which need to be amended.For example, the new clause concerning sexual harassment does not ban sexual harassment. According to the new version of the law, it is a com panys duty to take sexual harassment into consideration. Under such circumstances, womens struggle at work will continue. The category shoujo functions as an ideological apparatus for women to be free from social obligations such as marriage. Womens world of manga began with the term of shoujo. Even a new genre for adult women has been formed out of shoujo manga and seems to be still part of shoujo, which could escape from the reality and social obligation. houjo still functions as an important aspect of comics for women. When will women in Japan escape the world of shoujo? The Japanese society imposes many problems on women although women are trying to get out of the category shoujo, which they claim ignores reality. However, women continue to question the disconnection between the category shoujo and themselves as adult women, allowing them both to think of their actual lives from the point of view of a shoujo who has not been involved in social obligations yet, and to imagine th emselves as shoujo.In that sense, the category shoujo still gives female readers a performative power by promising to show another perspective which is the reality in which they live, in a process of their search for their own way of living. Notes Japanese names appear in the same order as they appear in their articles or books. 2 Number of children to whom one woman shall give birth when she is between the ages of 15 and 49 years old. 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