Tolerance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Tolerance - Essay Example Thus, this paper helps to provide an insight into the marginalised Muslim society or community within America on the basis of how they have tagged themselves to be the ‘other’ community in the midst of a diverse cultural background. America has a diverse society full of individuals who need to be respected for who they are. In the recent past, the Muslim community was barred from constructing a Mosque near Ground Zero where the Twin Towers had once stood only because of the allegation that it was their religion that had brought about harm on the rest of American society by the bombings. However, this is a false accusation because people need to be tolerated no matter what religion they follow; others need to understand that just because they follow the same religion as the terrorists did, they are not part of the same way of thinking or way of life. Americans as such are losing out on their tolerance levels towards accepting other people within their society. They fear l osing out on their individual identities. However, they need to understand that accepting and tolerating other people will only expand their culture and further give others a chance to experience the same. All of this has made the Muslims in America want to tag themselves as different people with different priorities, living a life away from pure bred Americans. Despite being born and brought up in America, they do not feel at home because of the treatment that they are given by Americans. At the end of the day, everyone is a human being and thus there arises no question of a superiority complex that many people live with. It is imperative for every man to be tolerant towards another’s dreams and ideas as well because everyone has certain desires that they want to fulfil. According to a research conducted, Muslim Americans themselves support neither of these assumptions of posing a threat to American society. â€Å"Interviews with 3,627 Muslim Americans in 2001 and 2004 by t he Georgetown University Muslims in the American Public Square (MAPS) project and 1,050 Muslim Americans in 2007 by the Pew Research Center show that Muslim Americans are diverse, well-integrated, and largely mainstream in their attitudes, values, and behaviors.† (Read, Jen’an) Tolerance should stop stepping in only when one’s needs and wants conflict and do not coincide with another’s to a reserved extent; this means that when people start hampering each other’s lives then others should stop being tolerant towards them. It is obvious that one will not be tolerant towards terrorists, however, other Muslims around the world have not done any harm to anyone in a personal or derogatory manner and thus it does not make sense to bar them from building their mosque. Thus, why does the question of them staying away from the rest of society come in? A number of Americans feel that Muslims are foreigners, ethnically, culturally and politically monolithic in nature, oppress women, are home grown terrorists and want to incorporate the sharia law in the US. (Rauf, Feisal Abdul) However these notions are completely untrue and mythical because Muslims follow the laws of their own land according to their own free will and the modern Muslim only wants acceptance into society and does not believe in imposing his ideas upon others. Similarly, there are a number of prevailing issues in society today where it is not acceptable for

Knowledge Management in Supply Chain Management Essay

Knowledge Management in Supply Chain Management - Essay Example The research provided efficient solutions to the problems and including the integrating system and providing effective IT solutions in the supply chain management. It also provided some recommendations to the major problems of KM in the company. The implementation plan revealed the type of knowledge and resource required in the KM project. The conclusion provided a summary in brief the main discussion on the topic under study. Knowledge Management in Supply Chain Management in Dell Company Introduction Knowledge management has become an emerging key issue in many organizations. Dell Company, which is an American conglomerate computer technology, is among the industries that incorporate knowledge management in the supply chain management process. The corporation has more than 103,300 workers worldwide, and it is among the leading technology industries. The company engages in design, development, manufacturing and marketing or distributing of diverse computer services globally. The emp loy corporate responsibility and business model of culture, compliance and credibility in order to achieve effective performance. Increased technology advancement has forced many organizations to employ effective methods; thus, use of knowledge management in many organizations has become the significant aspect. Knowledge management (KM) is a strategic tool or framework employed  to design, represent and distribute as well as enable adoption of experiences in business process. KM in supply management has become the leading area of concern and managerial challenges. For instance, the supply chain management has become one of the key areas that utilize knowledge management in order to achieve a competitive advantage. KM is increasing as a significant business asset in the supply chain management. However, Dell Company face varied challenges of incorporating knowledge management in the supply chain management process. Dell’s operates its business across the product line includi ng desktop computers, network services, computer notebooks and storage products. The company owner, Michael Dell established the business based on the sidestepping dealer concept. The company started selling  personal computer products straight to clients; thus evading the issue of delay and outlays of supply chain issues. Better financial performance contributed to its successful implementation of using direct sales model. However, despite the recent industrial growth, the company faces varied challenges. The foremost problem is increased technology changes; thus holding inventories an immense liability. Therefore, the organization employs knowledge management in supply management in order to design, manufacture, market and delivers computer products effectively across the globe. The company manages KM through aligning the organizational strategies and employs logistics as well as provides IT solutions effective for managing knowledge. Problem Identification and Analysis Increase d technology changes have become the main concerning the issue in the company’s supply chain management. Technology changes are significant because it enables the company to design or employ new business strategies that can enable them improve business performance (Dwivedi and Butcher (2009, p.123). Dell Company  is among

The role of women in the engineering profession

The role of women in the engineering profession Women have been categorised as inferior to men and as a result are assigned the position of minors in both public and private sectors of life (National Gender Policy Framework, 2003). Additionally, most women arguably accept secondary roles without hesitation (Mathur-Helm, 2005: 63).. Education at school level is only part of the battle to recruit more women into the construction industry. Male builders need to accept women in the building workplace (Thompson, 1996: online). There is a relationship between higher education and the employment choices of women (Phaahla, 2000). Women tend to congregate in areas considered traditional outlets for female employment. Female staff and students are typically drawn to faculties such as the humanities, education and the social sciences. Generally women do not make up large numbers in technology and applied science areas of study. Consequently, the jobs available to women are limited for social and economic reasons. The position of women is fur ther exacerbated by the fact that gender in South Africa is also racially and culturally segmented, creating inequalities that are race-bound. White and Black women have extremely different levels of experiences regarding job and development opportunities (Mathur-Helm, 2005: 67). Women encounter pervasive gender issues in their chosen careers which require specific strategies to deal with them (Phaahla, 2000). In particular, they need to contend with gender role stereotyping which believes that a set of traits and abilities is more likely to be found among one sex than the other (Schein, 1978: 259 Typically young people start contemplating their career choices at approximately the age of 16 or in their last years of high school. Gender-based career stereotyping makes it particularly difficult for young girls to establish their own career choices or to diverge from the career choices dictated by their parents. A sense of isolation is another reason for high defections, with women having little chance of meeting other women working in constructionThis chapter, will be a review of the primary information or the literature which has been written about challenges facing women, it will start by reviewing some literature on the skills shortages in South Africa and more specifically in the engineering sector, then women and work in South Africa and in general on the aspect of the glass ceiling. This chapter will also review literature on male dominated or traditional career. Skills shortages South Africa is experiencing a major shortage in skills in the engineering field, and the entry of women in this field is helping in trying to reduce skills shortages. There have been many changes in the pattern of work of women, more and women are now working outside the home. Some of the reasons that a sense of isolation is another reason for high defections, with women having little chance of meeting other women working in engineering, education at school level is only part of the battle to recruit more women into the engineering industry have been given as to try and explain why women work are: social changes and the changes in public attitudes towards women that have encouraged women to enter the job market (White et al, 1998). An overview of women and work All around the world, there is an increasing concern for gender equity and equality in the family and society for the benefit of children, men and women. Women have in the past contributed to different areas of economic and social life, for example, they are farmers, entrepreneurs, traders, homemakers etc and yet they share unequally in the fruits of their labour. Women constitute a large percentage of the worlds poor and continue to suffer disadvantage in education, health and employment (UN Report on the Advancement of Women, 1995). Nowadays, many more women are found in the workplace, in politics and more are getting educated than ever before. While women have advanced more rapidly in some societies than others, almost everywhere womens concerns are still accorded second priority and they continually face both subtle and flagrant discrimination (Hinson, R; Otieku, J; Amidu, M 2006). Women and work in South Africa Women are still regarded as secondary to men in South African business culture (Mathur-Helm,2005: 63). There is a view that women do not show leadership potential and behave differently from traditional male leaders (Mathur-Helm, 2004; Guppy Rick, 1994). According to Johnson (1999), they are emotional and cannot shoulder responsibilities. What women do is rarely defined as leadership, given that masculinity is an implicit construct of leadership (Kloot, 2004: 472). The South African definition of gender equality is guided by a vision of human rights which incorporates acceptance of the equal and inalienable rights of all men and women (Kornegay, 2000). Indeed, the rights of women need to be viewed as human rights. Equality is specified and enshrined in the Bill of Rights of the South African Constitution (South Africa, 1996). Section 9(3) of the Constitution provides that no one may unfairly discriminate directly or indirectly against anyone on any grounds such as, for example, race , gender and culture. This prohibition on discrimination forms an integral part of processes to achieve social justice in South Africa. Gender equality, therefore, requires that the underlying causes of discrimination be systematically identified and removed in order to give women and men equal opportunities in every sphere of life: In short, the economic integration of women, which comes only when market barriers are lowered and women are given an equal chance to attain decent work, remains a necessity for economic development and a worthy goal in its own right (ILO, 2008: 4). In South African society women historically faced the burden of unpaid household labour in addition to income-generating work. A rigid and uncompromising organisation of working hours and environment prevented them from performing well, considering that they needed to take time off for childcare and other family responsibilities (Ellison, 2001; Wilson, 1998). Often these demands reduced their chances of full- time paid employment. In addition, in terms of the South African Employment Equity Act of 1998, labour market discrimination arises when employers make decisions about employees for reasons that are not related to genuine work requirements (South Africa, 1998). Discrimination is most obvious when an employer focuses on irrelevant personal characteristics instead of work performance or merit. As a result women in many organisations have to work extra well and hard to gain any prospect of promotion. Unfortunately women have not been benefiting Acta Structilia 2009: 16(2) 50 from government policies and legislation to advance their careers (Mathur-Helm, 2005: 58). There is, therefore, no correlation between policy and practice. In South Africa, they have since put in place constitutional and employment legislation to try and eliminate direct discrimination; it is now against the law to discriminate on grounds of gender. But there are insufficient checks, resources and sanctions in place to enforce these provisions (www.mywage.co.za/main/women-and-work). The following are some of the characteristics of women working in South Africa face: Lower levels of pay in sectors which mainly employ women, Women traditionally work in welfare, such as care (nurses, social workers, etc.). Such jobs are less well paid than work, say, in production of goods and financial services (www.mywage.co.za/main/women-and-work). Jobs in sectors where both men and women do the same kind of work are valued differently. Here, too, there is no objective reason for the difference in pay, If women do work of equal value to that of men and still receive lower pay, this means that the employer simply is putting value on the chair and not on the person sitting on it (www.mywage.co.za/main/women-and-work). At the same time the characteristics associated with traditionally male jobs (leadership, technical insight, and heavy physical work) are over-valued. These very often subconscious valuations have to be overcome by making people aware of them and then act differently. In general it may be said that too low a value is placed on characteristics associated with women, e.g. social skills, physical and emotional care, concentration. (www.mywage.co.za/main/women-and-work) Barriers to Womens Advancement (glass ceiling) Morrison (1992) describes several organizational barriers which constitute the glass ceiling in organizations. These include; 1. Non-supportive working environments 2. Differences being treated as weakness 3. Exclusion from group activities 4. Lack of organizational insider knowledge While many women insist that the glass ceiling is a real barrier to accessing male-dominated positions in business, many challengers say that it exists mostly because women choose to focus more of their time on family and, in the end, cannot dedicate as much time to their career. Others claim that women think they want to focus on their career, but in reality choose family over career. A 2005 report, reports that 43% of highly qualified, educated women with children left their jobs voluntarily at some stage of their careers. Although 93% wanted to return to their careers, only 74% did so and only 40% went back to a full time position. Of those women who wanted to return to work, only five percent desired to return to the position they had left. (http://www.wisegeek.com) Non-Traditional jobs or male dominated careers Non-Traditional jobs and careers are ones that have traditionally been held by men. The Department of Labour classifies jobs as non-traditional when women are less than 25% of the workforce in that field. Non-Traditional Fields include: Detective, Architect, Barber, Machinist, Computer and Office Machine Repairer, Fire Fighter, Chef, Railroad Conductor, Construction and Building Inspectorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (http://www.womenwork.org). Benefits offered in non-traditional careers. Non-traditional careers offer women many benefits that traditionally female careers do not have, these include the following: Higher Pay Women in non-traditional careers generally make 20-30% more money than women in traditional careers, Opportunity for Advancement Non-traditional careers often have career paths that allow women to quickly move up the ranks, Better Benefits Packages Women in non-traditional careers generally have better benefits packages, including health care, vacation and sick leave, pension/retirement plans and life insurance, Expanding Job Availability Non-traditional careers are generally in fields that are growing, thus there are many new jobs and positions being created, (http://www.womenwork.org.) Challenges facing women in non-traditional careers Women are facing challenges in the non-traditional, though there are many resources and support programs to help women overcome these difficulties, some of the common problems encountered by women are as follows: Discrimination or Harassment Many women face discrimination and/or harassment in a non-traditional workplace, Hazardous Environments Non-traditional careers can be in hazardous conditions for example in the mines or engineering, Family and Friends May Not Be Supportive Many women find that their family and friends are not as supportive as they could be about their new career choices, Isolation With few other women in the non-traditional workplace, many women feel isolated and lonely in their careers. Again, women can find supportive networks and groups with other women experiencing the same situations and environments, Transportation and Child Care Difficulties Some non-traditional jobs are at odd times and sites. This can make transportation and child care difficult to find and maintain. Some of the strategies to deal with these challenges Young females who are in male dominated careers can try to alleviate the changes which face them at work, by having personal board of directors which can be a group of four to five people. Members of ones board can be mentors, peers, friends, or colleagues. These individuals will support you and are willing and able to help you get where you want to go, you should cultivate many developmental relationships instead of searching for one perfect mentor. Your personal board of directors is a group of four to five people, hand picked by you to be your own fan club. Members of your board can be mentors, peers, friends, or colleagues. These individuals can support them and help them get where you want to go. There is great power in the support the younger females receive from women facing similar challenges, the benefits include: Knowledge that youre not alone Concrete suggestions and helpful guidance A forum in which to share your thoughts and feelings with others who can relate One can build personal board of directors by following the following steps: the first step is to reach out to other women for support. Too many female professionals are afraid to ask women in their field for assistance and guidance. However, what most women do not know is that most accomplished women want to help others like them succeed. By developing these mutually relationships it can help one to create an alliances which is essential to a long and successful career. (http://www.eurekalert.org) Stereotype of engineers puts women off the job http://www.hrmguide.co.uk/diversity/engineering.htm March 10 2006 Classic stereotypes of engineers as men who are brilliant at and passionate about technology, but not very good at dealing with people, do not reflect real engineers and their work, according to Dr Wendy Faulkner from the University of Edinburgh. Moreover, such stereotypes are hampering efforts to recruit women into the engineering profession. According to Dr Faulkner, who interviewed and observed 66 male and female engineers from a range of industries,: Women and men engineers alike get excited about technology even though fewer of the women have a tinkerer background. There are gadget girls as well as boys and their toys in engineering. At the same time, many different types of men and women enjoy engineering work very few fit the classic stereotype. Wendy Faulkner adds: In practice, engineering encompasses a wide variety of jobs and roles. It is a broad church with room for a diverse range of people. Yet the image of engineering and often the culture remains a narrowly technical, nuts and bolts one. Retention is as important as recruitment many of those women who do complete engineering degrees dont go onto engineering jobs or leave the industry after only a few years, says Dr Faulkner. Part of the issue is that women who enter engineering have to become one of the lads in order to fit in. Many subtle aspects of the culture, which may appear trivial individually, when taken as a whole have a dripping tap effect making it harder for women to belong, and get on in engineering. Her study shows details how the topics engineers talk about, as well as their style of humour and the social activities they engage in, reflect mens interests and ways of bonding. Women are left on the margins of this male society, finding it difficult to break into the inner circles that carry influence on how the job gets done and who gets promoted. By contrast, engineering workplace cultures accommodate a range of men laddish blokes, family men, pranksters, macho men, nerdy men, urbane men, genteel men and so they are likely to feel comfortable to the great majority of men, says Wendy Faulkner. If more women are to stay and progress in engineering workplaces, there is a strong business case for employers to introduce sustained and sensitive diversity training, to raise awareness of these kind of issues and to nurture more inclusive workplace cultures in which everyone is comfortable, says Dr Faulkner. Engineering A Male Dominated Profession Coming from the first year engineering program at UBC, I couldnt help but notice how male dominated the program was. I recall sitting in my Physics 153 class and being able to pick out the number of women on one hand. I began to question as to why engineering is associated with males more than females. Is it course difficulty? Interests? Or simply stereotypes? Ive transferred schools and am now in my first year(yes, again) in Mechatronics Engineering program at SFU Surrey and Im still observing the same thing a larger male population in engineering. I decided to sit down with Rebecca, a first year Tech One student who plans to go into Mechatronics, and asked her a couple questions regarding my observation. Me: Hi, Rebecca. Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk to me. Rebecca: No problem, I had an hour break anyways. Me: So, what program are you in right now? Rebecca: TechOne right now, but I plan to go to Mechatronics Engineering if I get the grades after. Me: Good for you. What got you interested in engineering in general? Rebecca: Well, I really enjoy math. I also like problem solving and working in teams. Its always nice working with other people and getting everyones ideas together. After all, two heads are better than one! Me: Very true! Is there anything else besides that? Rebecca: Actually, my parents kinda pushed me to choose something right away. Mechatronics seemed to be the only interesting career path for me. It is a little weird though. Me: What is? Rebecca: I dont know if you notice but there arent that many girls in engineering Me: You took the words right out of my mouth! I noticed the same thing. How do you feel about that? Rebecca: I dont feel out of place or anything. Just because Im a girl doesnt mean Im not fit to be an engineer. It can be a little intimidating, though. Prior to choosing Mechatronics, I never wouldve expected this many guys in my class. Me: Why do you think there are so many guys in engineering? Rebecca: Well, I think its labeled as a males job. Typically, you see the majority of engineerings being guys. Thats basically it. Its stereotypical. Me: So does this change your willingness to stay in Mechatronics? Rebecca: Not at all. It is easy however, to question whether youre in the right program or not but for me, I dont think I would question it because there are so many guys compared to girls, but because I dont know if its something I can see myself doing in the future. Me: Well, thanks for answering some of my questions, Rebecca. Ill let you get back to your studies. Rebecca: No problem. Ive got a lot of math to catch up on. After speaking to Rebecca, I couldnt help but get a little bit of a better understanding about women in engineering. I dont think it matters to her, or to other women, that a mans job should only be meant for a man. At the same time, I dont find that women do it to prove to men and society the famous saying, Anything you can do, I can do better. When choosing a career path, its important to think about what youre interested in and whether you see yourself succeeding in that field. You can compare this same idea to male nurses. It is stereotypical to see a nurse as a female job but today, I see more and more men becoming nurses. In fact, a buddy of mine is studying to become one as we speak. Engineering is a challenging career path for anyone, male or female. Before making a career decision, it is important to block out any stereotypes that may come along with that profession. I strongly believe that people choose career paths to prove to themselves, and only themselves, that they can do anything they put their mind I. Introduction Attracting Women into Engineering a Case Study Malgorzata  S.  Zywno,  Member,  IEEE,  Kimberley  A.  Gilbride,   Peter  D.  Hiscocks,   Judith  K.  Waalen,   and Diane  C.  Kennedy,  Member,  IEEE   http://ewh.ieee.org/soc/es/Nov1999/10/BEGIN.HTM The economic well-being of Canada and the development of its technological base depends to a great extent on the effective employment of engineers. With the predicted shortage of engineers by the year 2000, employers cannot be satisfied with anything less than the very best engineers available, regardless of their gender [1], [2]. Statistics Canada figures released in April 1998 show that women make up only 12 % of 407,130 university grads in the science and technology fields, and only seven per cent of the 588,400 community college grads. Although women represent 55% of all undergraduate students in Canadian Universities, only 21% are enrolled in engineering programs. Furthermore, the percentage of women among practicing engineers in Canada is still very low, less than 5% [2]. For example, in 1998 only 3030 out of 61,340 (i.e. 4.9%) Professional Engineers registered in the Province of Ontario were women. Under-representation of women persists despite the fact that there are no diffe rences in academic ability between men and women and that men and women initially pursue engineering for similar reasons [3]. A. Enrollments in Engineering in Ontario Over the past decade the number of women in engineering undergraduate programs in the province of Ontario has been steadily increasing, but women are still significantly under represented in the applied science and engineering programs. While the climate for women in engineering has improved in recent years, misconceptions about engineering, lack of encouragement, peer pressure and other factors still act as barriers preventing more women to pursue a career in this non-traditional field. Trends in enrollment in engineering schools are shown in Figures 1,2 and 3 [4]. Fig. 1. Number of Men Studying Engineering at Ontario Universities. As shown in Figure 1, the number of male students in engineering has been declining since 1992. This is reflected in all the engineering disciplines. Fig. 2. Number of Women Studying Engineering at Ontario Universities. In contrast, the number of women students in engineering has been increasing, although their actual number remains much smaller than that of their male counterparts, as shown in Figure 2. The female enrollment in engineering programs in Ontario over a five year period has increased from 13% in 1992-93 to 18.5% in 1996-97 school year. Fig. 3. Percentage of Women Studying Engineering at Ontario Universities by Discipline. Figure 3 presents the percentage of women students in engineering by discipline. This graph shows a steady decrease in Aeronautical and Industrial Engineering enrollment since 1993. It has been suggested that women are moving from Industrial to Systems engineering, but the reason for the decrease in Aeronautical engineering is not known. It is interesting to observe that the total percentage of women students in engineering continues to increase, although the total number of women students has recently shown the same down turn as men. It has been suggested that initiatives to encourage women to study engineering will soon become unnecessary because the numbers are increasing so rapidly. This would be welcome news if it were true, but in fact the gains of women in the profession are not large and are not well established yet. Although the participation of women in engineering has increased every year since 1974 (when the first statistics were recorded), when only 2.9% of full time engineering students were women, the engineering profession has not been successful in attracting women in large numbers [5]. At about 18%, the percentage of women undergraduate students in engineering in Ontario is still well below the participation rates of women studying for other professions such as law, medicine, pharmacology or veterinary science. Women practicing engineers account for only about 5% of the profession. While women have made progress in the profession, they still encounter unacceptable attitudes and behaviours, as wel l as the glass ceiling [2]. B. Why More Women Dont Become Engineers There are a number of factors that tend to divert women away from engineering as a career: Streaming, or the Leaky Pipe Syndrome: Women are diverted from math and science courses early in their high school careers. It has been argued [6] that this is associated with issues of competition, isolation, lack of female role models and not of lack of academic ability. Systemic obstacles [1] include: cultural influences and gender stereotyping at home and in school, peer pressure and images in the media. Perception of Difficulty: Engineering is thought to be extremely difficult. Combined with the prevailing myth that women are poor at mathematics, women tend to choose something perceived as more achievable. Exposure: Women do not have as many engineer role models as for other careers such as business, medicine or law. There are few women science high school teachers, women in science textbooks and among university engineering faculty in 1995, only 5.5% were women [7]. Lack of Knowledge About Engineering: Engineering is perceived as a technical, often solitary pursuit, in which one works with machines rather than people. Career options in engineering are not well known by most adults, let alone teenagers, and are not well represented in high school curricula or through career guidance counseling. This affects girls disproportionately, as they typically have less access to information about engineering outside the school environment. Hobbies: Encouraged by parents and peers, boys engage in mechanically oriented hobbies, which prepare them better for the practical aspects of engineering. Social Status of the Profession: In North America, the profession of engineering derives from the skilled trades of Britain, and therefore may be associated with the working class. This is in contrast to the European tradition of engineering, where it has always been regarded as a profession allied to the sciences. Notice the difference between the derivation of the English word engineer (associated with engines) and the French word ingenieur(associated with ingenuity or invention). Thus engineering has a tradition of higher social status in the New World countries such as Venezuela, deriving their traditions from continental Europe, as opposed to British-influenced Canada. This is implicitly understood by parents who are considering professional careers for their daughters 4 Barriers to Womens Advancement in the Accounting Profession Morrison (1992) describes several organizational barriers which constitute the glass ceiling in organizations. These include; 1. Non-supportive working environments 2. Differences being treated as weakness 3. Exclusion from group activities 4. Lack of organizational insider knowledge Non-supportive working environments Many women in business are becoming increasing aware and indeed disillusioned with what they perceive as a lack of support in their work environments. The working environment is determined by the culture within a particular organization, namely the systems of shared values which create the behavioural norms. There are seven types of gender-related organizational culture, each of which in its own way contributes to a non-supportive work environment. The gentleman club reinforces the notion that the womans role as mother and homemaker and the mans role as breadwinner are natural and preordained; the barrack yard is an authoritarian culture where power delivers respects and as women rarely have senior status their interest are ignores; locker room is an exclusion culture, where men build relationships on the basis of common agreements and common assumptions and may frequently talk about sport and make sexual references to confirm their heterosexuality; the gender blind pretends that women live the same lives as men; the smart macho is driven by extreme competitiveness and is very much geared to the young and childless; the paying lip-service type of culture espouses equal opportunities policies but does little to assist practically in the development of Gender Behaviour 595 women employees: and the women as gate-keepers type of culture means that often the main resistance to women managers comes from other women who are less career-oriented or are wives of senior staff. 5 Differences treated as weaknesses The Institute of Management (1992) has identified the dominance of male culture in its many manifestations as the crucial barrier for women in business to overcome It is the prevalence and power of this culture, perceived as the norm, that lead directly to differences being regarded as weakness and hence to women being perceived successful managers to possess characteristics, attitude and temperaments more commonly ascribed to men and although female managers and management students no longer sex-type the managerial job, the concept of a scientific, rational and detached male manager still persists, as being the ideal to which one should aspire. This obviously presents problems for women in managerial roles because they will frequently be considered by male colleagues and subordinates as not fitting the mould, of being an outsider because of the gender, and they will constantly be measured against the male managerial stereotype as shown in the outline. Masculine and feminine stereotype Masculine Stereotype à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Competence à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Very aggressive à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Very independent à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Almost always hides emotions à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Very objective à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Note all easily influenced à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Very dominant à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Distance/inexpressiveness à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Uses harsh language à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Not at all talkative à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Very rough à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Not at all aware of feeling of others Feminine Stereotype à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Incompetence à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Not at all aggressive à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Not at all independent à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Does not hide emotions at all à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Very subjective à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Very easily influenced à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Very submissive à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Warmth/expressiveness à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Does not use harsh language at all à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Very talkative à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Very gentle à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Very award of feeling of others Source: White (1995) Hinson, R.; Otieku, J.; Amidu, M: Exploratory Study of Women in Ghana 596 6 Exclusion from group activities One of the problems resulting from the assumptions made about womens role in the workplace is that women are frequently excluded from group activities within those organizations where a strong male culture predominates. These activities may be business-related, for example, considering a female colleague too irrational to be involved in the development of a strategic plan, or too emotional to make a

Melting Essay example -- essays research papers

â€Å"The Great Melting Pot†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many times when you live in a certain area you do start to pick up on the other cultures around you. No matter what state you live in there are many cultures blending together. Many people do blend the other cultures of the people around them into their own culture. I’ve lived in many states and was able to experience this first hand. All my friends have all picked up on the culture around them from wither their family or friends. All the time I see the cultures blending together. Even if you try to keep your own culture, the culture around you just sneaks in and you don’t even realize it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I’ve lived in Texas for more than ten years now; so now I don’t really notice the Mexican culture as I used to. You just drive down any street and can see signs advertising â€Å"Tex-Mex† or â€Å"Mexican food.† The â€Å"Tex-Mex† just shows how much we do integrate the Mexican food in our own food. Many of the menus in these restaurants do have Spanish words on them. Even the decors in these restaurants have Spanish influences. You quickly learn what â€Å"El Baà ±o† means.(bathroom) You even have restaurants like Taco Bell and Taco Cabana being nation wide chains. Most of the towns in Texas have more Mexican food restaurants than any other kind. The Hispanic culture is spreading around the country, for instance, Picante is the number one condiment is the United states.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Even our school is integra...

Real Juice Analysis

Market With an annual consumption of more than 300 million litres (Source: Tetrapak India Study), fruit juice is not an alien concept for the Indian market. However, a very large part of the Indian consumer today feels alienated when fruit juice is packaged. Perhaps, that is why packaged juice accounts for only between 15% and 20% of the total juice consumption in India. Compared to the West, packaged fruit juice penetration, at just 4%, is still very low (Source: NRS 2005). Symbolised by the orange fruit, packaged juices and nectars are driven by fresh juice made at home and popularised by the street-side juice vendor. Dabur Foods Limited (DFL) has always taken an uncompromising stand on these consumer barriers and has consistently been thinking out of the box for the last nine years, with a resolve to innovate and evolve new products. The Real concept of sweetened juices grew from the insight that Indian consumers preferred juice sweetened – not bitter as is commonly available in the West. It innovated variants like Litchi and Guava and also introduced the latest packaging technologies in the Indian market. These innovations, driven through Real and its sub-brands, have become accepted paradigms for the industry. Innovations, coupled with rising affluence and the justarrived consuming class have injected new life into this Rs. 300 crore (US$ 66. 7 million) market – today growing at 40% per annum. Achievements With an innovative range, Real has driven the growth of the packaged fruit juice market in India. Along with its sub-brands, Real commands a market share of more than 50% in the packaged juices and nectars market (Source: ACNielsen, December 2005), achieving for itself a position of an undoubted category leader. The most important achievement of Real has been introducing the taste dimension into a category traditionally driven by health and dogood properties. With Real, DFL was also able to segment the market early, thus effectively creating a differentiated niche in the no-added sugar juice category with its sub-brand, RealActiv. The success of this variant was demonstrated in numbers, when Real-Activ garnered two-thirds share in the no-added sugar juice category within six months of its re-launch in 2005 (Source: Tetrapak India). Today, Real and its sub-brands retail across 100,000 retail outlets and 4000 food-services accounts, selling approximately 4. 5 million packs every month to more than one million consumers. Testimony to Real’s achievements has come from various quarters. While a host of brands – domestic and international – have entered this high growth market in the last few years, Real continues to be the brand consumers trust the most. In this context, Real won the Platinum award in the 9th Reader's Digest Trusted Brands Survey in the Juice category, for the year 2006. A Platinum award means that Real achieved a rating score of more than three times its nearest competitor. Since 2002, Real has been consistently winning the award for the Highest Sales Growth achieved by a brand in a non-dairy product category, at the National Dairy and Beverage seminar – Innovation for Growth – organised by Tetrapak. History The introduction of Real fruit juices and nectars was triggered by a personal unmet need of Amit Burman, the CEO of DFL who, on returning to India after working in the US, found the absence of packaged fruit juices frustrating. Traditionally, drinking fruit juices in urban India has been a social indulgence or consumed for seeking health benefits. DFL foresaw the imminent inflection point in this consumer behaviour, glimpses of which were already being witnessed in rapid urbanisation, growth in income and lifestyle changes. Also Dabur was in an ideal position to grow on the potential of the processed foods category. Its understanding of the Indian consumer, experience in managing natural foods and expertise in creating and marketing successful consumer brands was a rare mix that gave it a cutting edge. Acknowledging these positive indicators, DFL introduced the Real range in 1996 as India’s first completely natural, healthy, packaged fruit juice with no preservatives. The value add-ons revolved around several factors – ready availability of great tasting, natural, preservativefree juices in a range of fruit variants, availability in all seasons; convenience of open-pour-anddrink packaging; complete hygiene; and a healthy beverage option that gave consumers more choice. Recognising the trend that an increasing number of Indians were eating out, DFL also identified the institutional opportunity much earlier. In fact as early as 1998, Dabur became the first fruit juice company to set up a separate food services division to cater to the institutional segment. This division also partners and develops customised solutions for hotels, 156 SUPERBRANDS airlines, restaurants, caterers and hospitals. However, the road to success for Real was not a smooth one. It had to understand the very special Indian nuance of adding sugar to fruit juice extracted at home. The second learning was the fact that Indian consumers believe that packaged juices are inferior and become stale over time and that chemicals are added to extend shelf-life. Dabur invested considerably in convincing consumers that Real fruit juice was natural, preservativefree, healthy and convenient. But perhaps, the biggest challenge was developing a food-sensitive warehouse-management training programme at all levels of the channel to ensure that the freshest product reached the market. Recent Developments In recent times, Real’s single most important endeavour has been to drive relevance through segmentation and widen brand appeal. With a view to attract consumers of fruit drinks into Real’s portfolio, Real Mango Twist was launched in 2005. Mango Twist is a unique blend of mango nectar with other fruit juices. It is available in two variants – Mango Orange and Mango Papaya. In the no-added sugar category, Real-Activ offers a range of healthy fruit variants like Orange and Apple and fruit-vegetable blend juices such as Orange-Carrot, Mixed Fruit-Beetroot-Carrot and Mixed Fruit-Cucumber-Spinach. Coolers, a range of summer fruit drinks is an occasion-led variant of Real, which offers variants made from fruits known for their cooling properties. It is currently available in four variants – Aampanna, Watermelon-Mint, Lemon-Barley and Rose-Litchi. Product Targeted at the family, Real offers the largest range of fruit variety in its juice and nectar range. It has consistently innovated to re-define and strengthen its position in the Indian market. Real not only offers the most basic and generic-to-category variants like Orange and Mango, but also an assortment of varieties like Pineapple, Mixed Fruit, Grape, Tomato and fruit nectars like Guava and Litchi. On the more exotic side, Real also has Cranberry nectar. Research conducted by Blackstone Market Facts found that Real was preferred by over 50% of the respondents. Real was liked for being the better tasting juice – a category where likeability is primarily driven by taste. Ensuring that batch after batch of the right taste is delivered to the end consumer, DFL has instituted an internal taste panel, which evaluates every new product before it is sent out for product test or test marketing. DFL also recognised very early that packaging was the cornerstone of innovation in this category. This was even more critical in today’s environment where packaging has become so integral to the whole product experience and marketing communication. DFL was the first company to introduce cap on-pack. This enabled consumers the flexibility of re-use even as the cap helped retain freshness. Real uses the Tetrapak spin cap, cold fill technology and spill-proof double seal cap for packaging. This technology protects the juice and keeps it fresh longer. The spin cap also makes it convenient to pour the juice without spillage. In introducing Real-Activ, Dabur became the first juice brand in India to offer the Tetra Prisma packaging format, which is easy-to-open and has better pouring control. ability to effectively use innovative merchandising opportunities and promotions at a local level – for example, merchandising Real at fruit kiosks – to draw out the association with fruits strongly and communicate the key brand benefit of ‘As good as eating a fruit’. Promotion At DFL, the belief is that brand equity can be developed by promotions that are strategic. The advertising campaign for Real communicates the key brand benefit of ‘As good as eating a fruit’. While the family consumes the brand, the child is always at the centre of any communication. Besides the mainline communication, Real has also accomplished some innovative consumer promotions. Real Taste Challenge, for instance, was an interesting way to communicate the core benefits of Real and reinforce the brand’s core position. It involved asking consumers to identify the fruit by tasting the juice. When consumers guessed correctly, they were offered a trial discount on purchase of a onelitre Real juice pack. The ‘Real Fruit ka Juice’ offer was an innovative national promotion in which consumers were invited to contribute fresh fruit in exchange for a pack of Real. The fruits collected at various centres were donated to local NGOs working for the cause of underprivileged children. With Real, DFL is also actively involved in conducting consumer education programmes to promote nutritional awareness. These programmes are conducted at various levels – schools, doctors, nutritionists and corporates. In schools, the communication is centred on the concept of Power of 5, which conveys the importance of a well balanced, nutritious packed lunch for school kids. The doctors and nutritionists' programme is focused around the role of a septic technology in fruit juices, the benefits of packaged juices and about nutrition and safety. The corporate programme, on the other hand, addresses the role of fruit juices in building a healthy lifestyle and importance of a nutritious diet in disease prevention. One of the biggest assets for Real has been its teams’ Brand Values A housewife has succinctly put the essence of Real during a focus group session – â€Å"Real naam se hee lagta hai real juice hoga. † In the consumers’ mind, Real stands for authentic fruit juice, which defines the standard of taste and quality. As a brand, Real radiates originality; it offers the most novel products, fruit variants and a taste that the consumer is familiar with. The core essence of the brand is Original Goodness tangibly displayed by delivering healthy juices through tasty fruit variants. www. daburfoods. com THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT Real Fruit Juice Real is India’s first packaged fruit juice brand. Real and its sub-brands served more than 140 million juice helpings last year. 75% of all mocktails served in India are made from Real juices. The number of packs sold by Real last year, laid side-by-side, would exceed India’s coastline of 7516 kilometres. Evolution of the Real packaging SUPERBRANDS 157

Social and Historical Effects Responsible for the Conception of the Fantastic and Supernatural in Gothic Horror (Dracula)

Bram Stoker’s Dracula debuted in Victorian England at the end of the nineteenth century. Not the first vampire story of its time, it certainly made one of the most lasting impressions on modern culture, where tales of the supernatural, horror, witchcraft, possession, demoniacs, vampires, werewolves, zombies, aliens, and monsters of all kinds have become something of a theme in modern art, if not an obsession. Many scholars debate the origin or cause of this phenomenon, yet most agree that culture plays an enormous role in the development of such themes, whether in nineteenth century gothic novels such as Dracula or Frankenstein, or in modern films with gothic leanings, such as The Exorcist or Children of Men. This paper will examine how fantasy and the idea of the supernatural, including the â€Å"undead,† is an important underlying fear prevalent in the psyche of humanity, which manifests itself differently, depending on the social or historical circumstances which spawns the creation of that work of literature or film. By placing Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein within the context of its Romantic/Enlightenment era, E. Michael Jones shows how the effects of the revolutionary doctrine of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Marquis de Sade, and Percy Bysshe Shelley found their ultimate expression in the gothic horror genre (90). Dracula, no less than Frankenstein, is indicative of the cultural underbelly that the Victorian Age sought to cover up. Far from speaking directly of the human passions unleashed by the Romantic era, the Victorian Age found it more appropriate to hide them, keep them out of the public sphere, render them lifeless, and thereby make life respectable. The problem was, the less those passions were talked about, but acted upon, the more those same passions bubbled up to the surface through the means of gothic horror novels and films. While, Oscar Wilde’s â€Å"art for art’s sake† carried the artistic world out of the Victorian Age and into the twentieth century of unhindered expressionism, Wilde himself fell victim to the very underbelly of Victorian England—which, in fact, prosecuted him to the fullest extent of the law when his vices became open knowledge to the public. Stoker’s Dracula was just as representative of his own sexual desires masked by Victorian prudery. But because Stoker for the most part kept his affairs from becoming public scandal, he was left well enough alone to express what everyone was interested in anyway, and which has always been an easy seller: sex. Controlling the passions had always been the interest of the Catholic Church, which was the European bulwark against revolution, with assistance from the reason of Augustine to the scholasticism of Aquinas to the architecture of the gothic cathedrals. With the growing corruption of many Church officials, the rise of the Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation, that control was finally threatened and replaced. New philosophies were spread (Rousseau’s concept of nature as the only law; Sade’s concept of that same nature as brutal, animalistic, and violent), which unleashed a tidal wave of radical revolutionaries in Paris at the end of the eighteenth century, which in turn needed new types of control. Napoleon was the immediate result. Victorian prudery was the nineteenth century’s later response. It enabled Mary Shelley to turn her husband into a â€Å"Victorian angel,† as she â€Å"dedicated the rest of her life to effacing their sexual experiment† (Jones 91) with Byron in Geneva, memorialized, however, by Ken Russell’s 1987 film Gothic, in which de Sade’s Justine informs Mary Shelley of what could soon be expected. What Sade foresaw, and helped promote, was a sexual revolution that would elevate sexual desire from the restraints of medieval Church doctrine. While that elevation led to the enforcement of a new social code of conduct (Victorianism), an alternate development got underway in which that same elevation of sexual license was to be used itself as a form of control. In fact, Augustine had spoken of such centuries before when he wrote that a man has as many masters as he has vices. Sade’s assessment was similar in the eighteenth century: â€Å"The state of the moral man is one of tranquility and peace; the state of an immoral man is one of perpetual unrest† (Jones 6). Yet, while Augustine promoted peace, Sade, who exercised some political sway in the Reign of Terror, promoted unrest: â€Å"By promoting vice, the regime promotes slavery, which can be fashioned into a form of political control† (Jones 6). Such was in line with Robespierre’s doctrine of terror as persuasion. Stoker’s Dracula was an expression of just such an idea—for Stoker himself knew the validity of both those claims: a seducer of young women, Stoker doubtlessly identified with Jonathan Harker and Dracula, the captive and master all at once. The vampire became a persona of iconic horror status in film in the following century. The concept of the walking â€Å"undead† who fed on the blood of innocents conjured up something so profound and stimulating in the minds of audiences all over the world that vampirism was everywhere, from Nosferatu to Bela Lugosi to Carl Theodor Dreyer’s Vampyr. Dreyer, who had shot what is considered one of the greatest silent films of all time, The Passion of Joan of Arc, found his inspiration for his vampire film in the likes of Magnus Hirschfeld. Hirschfeld was an honorary member of the British Society for Sexual Psychology and something of a movie star himself in Weimar Germany, playing an â€Å"enlightened, sexually condoning doctor in Richard Oswald’s pro-homosexual film Anders als die Andern† (Jones 194). The themes of sexual license and control had a significant impact on Germany. Sigmund Freud would take up the themes in his psychoanalytic studies, promoting the fulfillment of sexual desires as a means of appeasing the subconscious. In Dr. Seward’s diary, one finds no less: a blood transfusion is given to Lucy by Van Helsing, who states, â€Å"She wants blood, and blood she must have or die† (Stoker 123). Lucy has been bitten by the vampire and become, in a sense, contaminated. The only scientific cure is to give her want she wants: blood. The allusion to another blood exchange is obvious—but the sense is inverted: While T. S. Eliot states in Murder in the Cathedral the relationship between Christian sacrifice and control of the passions (â€Å"His Blood for ours, Blood for blood†), Enlightenment science suggests no spiritual remedy—merely a physical or psychological one: a psychological/physical giving into desire rather than a spiritual dominance of it. Jones speaks of the sexual revolution that ran concomitantly with the French Revolution as the real forbearer of gothic horror. Whereas othic cathedrals reinforced through visual representation the horror of Satan and sin, modern gothic horror does the same—though the solution is different (if there is one, and there often is not: the immortal evil of Michael Myers, Jason, Krueger, etc. suggests that while Christ was the answer for Augustine and Aquinas, the Enlightenment has yet to formulate any acceptable solution). Meanwhile, the manipulation of desire, Jones notes, has found its way out of Victorian prudery and into the mainstream through advertising, radio, television, music, and cinema. The fantasy of the â€Å"undead† in the George A. Romero franchise, which is still being updated, suggests a kind of public response to the world around it: a society full of living, walking dead—killed by the bombardment of uncontrolled passions, yet still living, shopping, attending to social rituals. The sexual revolution and Enlightenment doctrine of the 1790s and early twentieth century resurfaced in full throttle in the 1960s and 70s, to create a new wave of liberal social doctrine and a new wave of gothic horror in film. In Dracula, Mina Harker records the assessment of the evil of vampirism according to Van Helsing: The nosferatu do not die like the bee when he sting once. He is only stronger; and being stronger, have yet more power to work evil. This vampire†¦is of himself so strong in person as twenty men; he is of cunning more than mortal†¦he have still the aids of necromancy, and all the dead that he can come nigh to are for him to command; he is brute, and more than brute; he is devil in callous, and the heart of him is not. (Stoker 237) The portrayal is Satanic, and a similar portrayal would be given in 1973’s The Exorcist, in which Satan possesses a girl through the medium of a children’s game (the Ouija board). Yet, with The Exorcist, the spiritual evil is made much more real than the fantastic evil of Dracula. And while Dracula is destroyed by a stake, the devil is dispelled only through the power of Christ in The Exorcist. Ironically, however, the devil is driven out only after the death of not one but two priests—the old man initially, and then the younger priest, whose own crisis of faith becomes a kind of despair at the end of the film, when, ceasing to compel Satan through Christ, he cries, â€Å"Take me! instead, and then throws himself out the window when his own possession is complete. The girl is freed from her captor, but only at the cost of the life and soul of the young priest: the power of Christ merely served to anger the devil—it did not subjugate him; such would have been too meaningful in the relativistic climate of the 70s. The 70’s sexual and political revolutions were intertwined to such an extent that hardcore pornography and Feminist politics app eared on the scene simultaneously. While Betty Friedan opposed traditional gender codes in such works as The Feminine Mystique, pornography was raking in the profits. The cinematic response to this was the slaughter of sexually-active teenagers by homicidal maniacs (evil incarnate), while virtuous and chaste maidens like Jamie Lee Curtis’ character in Halloween remained alive just long enough for the evil to be driven away by a male authority figure. Horror films often reinforced traditional gender norms, yet the awesome evil of those films seemed to have no end. With the proliferation of contraceptives as a form of eugenics similar to the kind practiced under Hitler, sex became an act of passion without physical consequences; yet horror maintained that it still had psychological and even spiritual ones. Nonetheless, as Jones shows, the promotion of contraception in twentieth century America by representatives of the Rockefeller Foundation was supposed to be nothing more than the controlling of ethnic populations that were found to be subhuman by WASP elitists (406). The black and Catholic communities, whose uninhibited breeding threatened to undermine WASP political control, promptly received the attention of people like Margaret Sanger and â€Å"Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, C. S. C. , who used Rockefeller money to fund secret conferences on contraception at the University of Notre Dame from 1962 to 1965† (Jones 147). The idea of Thomas Malthus, that over-population would ultimately destroy the earth, was marketed as the principle behind contraception. The underbelly of the movement, however, was, according to Jones, nothing more than a power play for control. The extremity of the situation would be explored by Alfonso Cuaron’s 2006 film Children of Men based on the novel by P. D. James. Friend of Spanish filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, whose Mimic has been noted in â€Å"Good Entomologist/Bad Entomologist† by Jones as a swipe at Enlightenment doctrine being a vain attempt at setting and controlling social mores (â€Å"The only solution left is the†¦prime totem of folk Catholicism, the rosary†Ã¢â‚¬â€referring, of course, to the end scene in which Mira Sorvino’s character draws blood rom her hand with a rosary crucifix to divert the attention of the giant blood-sucking roach, which is about to eat the little boy). In Children of Men, there are no little boys, nor little girls—in fact, children are gone altogether (a threatening theme that opens Del Toro’s Mimic too). The rampant sterilization of modern years is turned into a life-threatening ideology, affecting everyone and all ethnicities. When a woman is found, who has seemingly miraculously conceived, she is caught in the middle of yet another struggle for control—one group wants to use her as a political poster child, the other wants to legitimately help. Meanwhile, a war is waged in the urban cities, which evokes a kind of apocalyptic message of utter desolation. As Clive Owen’s character makes the ultimate sacrifice (his life) for that of the woman and her child’s, a sense of hope in the future of mankind is restored—but the outlook is still bleak and grim—for no one knows whether the woman and her child will really make it as they disappear into the fog rolling across the open sea. Hope is in the approach of the ship, but beyond that lies—what? In Children of Men, the fantasy of the â€Å"undead† is replaced by the fantasy of the â€Å"unborn. † The reality of Malthusian sterilization taken to extremes in modern times by social groups across the globe (birth rates are at lows nearly everywhere), sexual liberation has once again become a pathway to political control and to gothic horror genre representations. In conclusion, the underlying fears of societies since the beginning of the Romantic/Enlightenment age have manifested themselves in a variety of forms depending upon the cultural climate of the time. Beginning with Shelley’s Frankenstein as a repudiation of Enlightenment doctrine and going through Stoker’s Dracula as a representation of sexual desire and control bubbling under the surface of Victorian prudery, gothic horror has found its way into the mainstream culture with tales of supernatural occurrences that are in some sense connected to the issues of the day. The sexual revolution of the early twentieth century in New York materialized in greater force all over America in the 60s and 70s, launching another series of gothic horror novels and films onto audiences, from Stephen King to John Carpenter, Clive Barker, and Stanley Kubrick. While films like The Exorcist and Children of Men get closer to the reality of spiritual possession and widespread sterility, the human psyche of modern times continues to want to see itself as a kind of â€Å"undead† creature, whose reason for being has yet to be determined. Therefore, popular gothic horror icons like Frankenstein and Dracula remain staples of modern horror fiction, representing to the populace a mirror of its own struggles with the doctrine of Enlightenment liberation and control.