Sociology and Power Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Sociology and Power - Essay Example This is what will be dissertated in the following. The Howard County Department of Police is located in Ellicott City, Maryland. The Office of Sheriff in this police department is responsible for enforcing all federal, state, county, and municipal ordinances within the county. Included in these duties are the investigations of theft, vandalisms, assaults, illegal drug activity, reported child and or domestic abuse, as well as all other criminal allegations. Also, the sheriff is required to carry out all duties relating to the involuntary hospitalization of persons with mental illness and duties relating to condemnation of private property. The power elite theory claims that a single elite, as opposed to a multiplicity of competing groups, decides the life-and-death issues for the nation as a whole. First coined by C. Wright Mills in his 1956 book, The Power Elite, the term, in political and sociological theory, is a small group o people who control a disproportionate amount of wealth, and privilege and access to decision-making of global consequence.

Ethical issues in business statistics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ethical issues in business statistics - Essay Example Among the four branches of moral philosophical term â€Å"ethics†- Meta, normative, descriptive and applied ethics, business ethics has itself two dimensions, such as normative and descriptive dimensions. Corporate world and professionals is regulated by normative view of ethics where academicians use descriptive method to scrutinize the corporate behavior and practices. Statistics is such kind of tools which helps to abridge large volume of data into simple number which determines a conclusion. In business statistics, which employs the techniques and knowledge of statistics and mathematics into business phenomena to make decision, is now confronted and being challenged by ethical issues of business as well as by Christian point of view towards business in western world where Christianity is dominant. From the very beginning of history, philosophers had thrown some question to the statisticians in terms of ethical investigation. They urged for determining a course of action wh ich is recommended as well as followed by others. They also questioned about the possible outcome and its impact on everyone. After that they asked for the acceptance to the statisticians itself if the decision dictated by him will direct to him. Finally, they raised the question about the neutrality of the publication if it goes publicly. Though Philosophers intend is to develop generalization of business statistical outcome, professional business statistician’s real objectives is to create processes to deal ethical issues which they arise. A statistician has an obligation to his client as he is asked to handle the data. But there will raise a question about the ownership of data as who will be the righteous to data. Even though clients give consent to publish or any use of the data, it is statisticians obligation to protect the identities and honor of his clients and his organization. On the contrary, clients may try to dictate the possible result towards his comfort zone b efore the accomplishments of any research. So, it is a dilemma for the statistician to keep the agreement which have done before with his ethical- either personal or professional- obligation. Another challenge for a statistician is to deal with outlier effect. Outlier can be explained as an observation of any occurrence which is unusually either large or small compared to real volume. Proper solution can be raised through formulation of law and its implication. It will help to deal with the two’s, that is, ownership of data and search of significance and outlier. For example, if data is owed to the clients, he cannot change the statistical findings toward his own ease as it against the public policy. In terms of outlier, though it is legally defensible if disclosed, ethically not indeed. This is because if it done, the proper accountability will be lost. However, American statistical Association (ASA) has formulated 10 point ethical guidelines for statistical practices. The m ain issues of this guideline are to follow the confidentiality of information and maintain integrity in honestly and objectively. Other thing is that the whole inquiry should be purpose oriented and should not cross the boundary limit. Fulfilling the agreement with clients should give proper importance and should inform the clients before raising any conflict or probability of occurrence of any assumed

The role of testimonial advertising in Fmcg sector

The role of testimonial advertising in Fmcg sector In todays intensely competitive, rapidly changing and highly complex environment characterize by diminishing customer loyalty, the need to be market -focused and customer centric is more critical and is gaining importance than any other time in past. Testimonial advertising is usually very effective and is frequently used. It is basically a promotional  method  in which one or more  testimonials  from satisfied  customers  are used. The satisfied customers may be well know or famous personality or may be a common customer. The statement of men and women who are well and favourably known in society tend to influence others in the community to buy a particular product or article which others have used successfully. Hence, the main purpose of the study is to understand the effect of this type of adverstising on FMCG industry. 1.3 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY The study will help to understand the impact and the importance of testimonial advertising as a marketing tool in FMCG sector. CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 What is Advertising Advertising is a form of communication intended to persuade an audience (viewers, readers or listeners) to take some action. It is the business which draws the attention of public to goods and services. The product name is generally included in advertising. It also explains how that product could prove to be beneficial to the consumer. Advertising helps in persuading a target market to purchase or to consume a particular brand. It serves to communicate an idea to a large number of people. It attempts to convince a group a people to take some certain action. It is a type of communication who aims at informing potential customers about products and services. Commercial advertisers main aim is to increase the consumption of their  products and/or services. This can be done through branding. Branding includes the repetition of an image or product name in an effort to associate related qualities with the brand. Non-commercial advertisers spend money to advertise items other than a consumer product or service. These non commercial advertisers may include political parties, interest groups, religious organizations and governmental agencies.   With the rise of mass production , modern advertising came into existence. Mass media  can be defined as any media meant to reach a mass amount of people. To deliver the different and various types of messages, different types of media can be used. Traditional media such as newspapers, magazines, television, radio, outdoor; or  new media  like a websites and text messages can be used. 2.2 Advertising and its various modes Advertising is one of the important aspects which need to be considered in business. Advertising decides how much a product or service will be successful. Different mediums can be used for advertising purposes. Advertising promotes the product and services of a company and drive its sales. It also builds brand identity and also communicates changes of new product /services to the customers. Advertising has become an essential element. The reasons for advertising are ; New product introduced Sales increases Change in product line. Brand builing. There are various media which can be used for advertising based on the several reasons. Several b ranches of advertising can be made based on these criterias. The various categories or types of advertising are mentioned below: 2.2.1 Print Advertising The print advertising includes newspapers, magazines, brochures, fliers etc. The print media have always been a famous and popular way of advertising. It is the most convenient and the most commonly used way of advertising. Depending upon the area occupied by the advertisement and also the position of the advertisement like front page/ middle page etc, these newspapers and magazines sell the advertising space. It is also affected by the readership of the publications. Like for example the cost of giving an advertisement in a new and comparatively less popular newspaper will be less than the one which is more popular and has more readerships. The type of supplement also affects the price of the print ads. The advertisement in the glossy supplement costs much higher than normal paper. The problem of ads in newspapers and magazines is that they can only attract the readers eyes. It is not visible to a person who is not a reader. This problem can be solved by considering several factors: Use right-hand pages for newspaper adverts. The colour also plays an important role. The layout and the text are also very important parts of newspaper adverts. The layout may take the readers look at the main information, and the text is just to inform interested people. Print advertising is equally effective in creating an impact on the masses. But another problem that can arise is that it can address only the educated people. Even though there is a large section of people who indulge in reading newspapers or even simply browsing through the headlines and in the mean time they will take a look at the advertisement which will serve the purpose indeed.   2.2.2 Outdoor Advertising Another popular way of advertising is outdoor ads. It uses several different tools and techniques to attract the customers outdoor. The various types of outdoor advertising can be billboards, kiosks and several events organised by a company. The billboard advertising is the popular of all and grabs the maximum attention of the passers by. The kiosks promote the companys products. The companys can organize various events for publicising their product. 2.2.3 Broadcast advertising Broadcast advertising includes television, radio and the internet. Anything that can be broadcasted using digital means to a large mass comes under broadcast advertising. It is a very popular advertising medium. Television advertising has been popular since the time television came into existence. The duration and the time of the ads decides the cost of the ads. It helps when you want to give a very detailed information of the product. They have proved to have more stonger impact as compared to the others. The radio lost its importance to the new age media but it still remains the choice of the small sc ale advertisers. 2.2.4 Celebrity advertising The most effective way of influencing people is celebrity advertising Although a larger part of the audience has got immune to the varied claims made in a majority of advertisements, there is still a large part of costomers that still relies upon celebrities for advertising their products. 2.2.5 Public Service Advertising The advertising for social cause is called public service advertising. Public service advertising is a technique that uses ads to effectively communicate to the general public and make them aware about matters like illiteracy, poverty, AIDS, energy conservation deforestation etc. 2.3 Importance of advertising The main aim of any business is to maximize its sales resulting into a lot of revenue and profits for the company. Advertising helps in increasing the sales of any business. The second importance is that the product of a specific brand ends up becoming a household name. For example Coke or coca-cola is a house hold brand name. Same is the case of Pepsi. Such popular brand names have huge customer base that is loyal to the brand and continues to purchase the product for a prolonged time period. The craving to purchase and own a particular commodity only arises if people are aware about its existence. This can only happen if the product is advertised properly. 2.3.1 Importance of advertising in marketing Advertising helps in gaining a good loyal customer base. It not only markets the brand but also conveys the financial details about the brand to the customer. The details of pricing often tend to generate an interest in a persons mind. Discount offers often prove to be successful in advertising. Offers like buy 1 get 1 free prove to be quite instrumental for clearance sales etc and result into a spurt of sales. Hence, advertising plays a quite comprehensive role in marketing policies. 2.3.2 Importance of advertising in business Advertising not only just optimizes sales and product promotion but also creates goodwill of the specific brand which is an important asset. A very well known brand not only creates a good customer base but also a good ground to introduce new products under the same banner. The probability of people to buy the new product out of curiosity is very high. Once a good reputation is gained, it helps the business throughout the life time. The effect of one cause leads to the other. Advertising leads to awareness. When people are aware of the product they tend to pay attention to its newer advertisements and the probability that the person will buy the product will increase. Hence, we can say that advertising helps business gain loyal customers as well as a good platform in the entire market.   2.4 IMC Integrated Marketing Communications  (IMC) coordinates and integrates all marketing tools like avenues, functions and sources within a company into a seamless program that maximizes the impact on consumers and other end users at a minimal cost. Marketing efforts incorporate marketing mix. The marketing mix consists of the four Ps of marketing viz product, place, price, promotion. Promotion activities can be done in a variety of ways like sales promotion, personal selling activities etc. It also includes internet marketing, direct marketing, database marketing and public relations. There are various levels of integration such as the horizontal, vertical, external, internal and data integration. They all help to strengthen integrated communications. Horizontal Integration occurs across the marketing mix and across business functions. On the other hand, External Integration,, requires external partners such as advertising and PR agencies to work closely together to deliver a single solution. Integrated marketing communications includes online and offline marketing channels. By online marketing channels we mean e-marketing campaigns, programs, podcast, internet radio, internet tv etc. Whereas, billboards, television traditional radio mail order, traditional print etc come under offline marketing channels. IMC is a data driven approach whose main focus is to identify consumer insights and to develop a strategy with the right combination of channels to build a strong brand consumer relationship 2.4.1 Importance of IMC IMC requires a lot of efforts to ultimately deliver many benefits. It saves money, boosts the profits and sales of the company and creates a competitive advantage. It improves communications with the customer and helps them to move through the different stages of the buying process. This Relationship Marketing creates a strong bond of loyalty with the customers and helps in protecting them from inevitable competition. Retaining a customer for life proves to be a powerful competitive advantage. Because of its increased effectiveness, IMC helps in increasing profits.   IMC can boost sales by stretching messages across several communications tools to create more avenues for customers to become aware, aroused, and ultimately, to make a purchase. Finally, IMC helps in eliminating duplication in graphics and photography, which can be used in advertising, exhibitions and sales literature and thus saves money. 2.5 Testimonial advertising Testimonial advertising can be defined as a promotional  method  in which one or more  testimonials  from satisfied  customers  are used. It is a very effective form of advertising. It involves statement of men and women who are well and favourably known in the society to influence other people to buy the particular product. This is usually done by speaking good and favourable things about the product to prove the handiness of the product in use. It can be done through any form of media like print, radio, television etc. However television proves to be most successful because it involves both audio and visual components. Seeing the person use the product makes us believe more than just reading or hearing about it. Very big companies use this type of advertising as a promotional method to increase their customer base and also their profits. A few examples to testimonial advertising which proved to be very successful in the recent past are- The lalitaji campaign used by Hindustan UniLiver, or the repositioning of lifebuoy, or the media strategy used by HLL for close-up, or the brand management strategy used by dabur for vatika, or horlicks by gsk, or the desh ka namak campaign for tata salt by HLL. 2.6 Importance of customer testimonials To achieve desired behavioural response, marketers use influential marketing methods like the word of mouth communications etc. Customer reviews and testimonials prove to be very powerful when it comes to advertising and especially in case of FMCG sector. They offer a sense of security in the minds of new customers and build credibility. The most challenging task is to get your customers provide you the review which you are expecting. A good review by the customer or a good testimonial is beneficial to the customer in many ways. 2.7 FMCG industry Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) goods are also known as consumer packaged goods. They range from soaps , detergents, household stuffs, accessories etc. The items are usually the ones which come in handy in regular basis.the consumption of these products is very high and is still increasing day by day. 2.7.1 What is FMCG FMCG products usually have a high turnover ratio. They are low to medium range products. It mainly deals with the marketing and distribution of consumer goods. They are required by the consumer on daily basis and hence leads to high sales. 2.7.2 Common FMCG products Some common FMCG product categories include food, glassware, paper , pharmaceuticals, consumer electronics, packaged food products, plastic goods, printing and stationery, household products, photography, drinks etc. And also soaps, shampoos, cells etc. 2.7.3 Major companies in FMCG Hindustan Unilever Ltd ITC Dabur India Nestle India Cadbury India Procter and gamble Marico Industries Britannia CHAPTER 3 DATA COLLECTION This report will be totally focusing on the FMCG companies preferences towards testimonial advertising and the effect and influence of testimonial advertising on the FMCG sector. As the advertising techniques are used for the marketing of the product so the research will be done in the area of marketing. 3.1 Data sources One of the major challenges in any research is the data collection. It is not only important to collect data but also to know how to use it. There can be two types of data which can be used in any survey Primary data Secondary data Primary data is the information collected from original sources for the first time. Primary data is usually specific, relevant and is current. Its main disadvantage is its high cost and the amout of time takes. Secondary data is information that already exits which was collected by somebody for other purposes and is now available to the researcher as a secondary source of information. It gives an overview of the market. Secondary data does not take as much time as primary data and involves less cost. Secondary data is usually collected from the documents like published articles and the Internet. But internet lacks reliability. For this report I have taken secondary data sources as a data collection method. 3.1.1 Secondary Data Sources A) Literature Review To understand the general concept of advertising and how testimonial advertising is used in FMCG sector B) Internet: to gather information regarding various types of companies in FMCG Sector. C) Newspaper: it is a good medium for disseminating information to millions of people. In Newspapers, one can see the advertisement of various FMCG products. CHAPTER 4 ANALYSIS 4.1 SWOT analysis The SWOT-model ( strengths, weaknesses, opportunity, threats) gives the internal strength and weaknesses of the company It also reflects the external factors from the market . The SWOT analysis can be described as follows 4.1.1 Strengths Well known brands are present in FMCG sector. Distribution network is good Operational costs are low. 4.1.2 Weaknesses Scope of investing in technology is low. Duplication of products of well established brands. Export levels are low. 4.1.3 Opportunities High consumer goods spending Untapped market (rural). Domestic market is very large. Purchasing power of consumer is increasing. 4.1.4 Threats Import restrictions mite be removed from domestic brands 4.2 Case study 4.2.1 Lalitaji Hindustan unilever launched lalitaji in the year a 1959. She was used for the endorsement of surf. Soon after the launch of lalitaji, surf became a synonym of detergents and powders. It remained the largest selling detergent powder for long time. Then came the launch of Nirma by Karsanbhai patel. To respond to the low priced nirma, they came up with a memorable advertising strategy. It featured a middle class housewife Kavita Choudhary.soon the lalitaji could ne identified by the people even on the streets. Overnight it gained importance. She could be seen in almost every role. Like a daughter, wife, neighbour, daughter in-law, mother. It taught us the difference between sasti cheez ans asli cheez. HLLs main target was the middle class housewives. Lalitaji clearly portrayed a strong headed and strong willed character. An ironic twist occurred and soon the common lalitaji became larger than the brand itself. But later in 1980s Nirma also launced a similar figure called deepika ji. HLL later launced surf ultra with lalitaji. And then the famous ad dhoondh te reh jaoge came in the picture. Later in the 1990s HLL was backed by surf excel. The lalitaji was now a working modern women. May be a lawyer, journalist, or a business women. What was retained was her spotless white garb.the inevitable stains was reassured by those who looked at her shopping bag surf excel hai na. Lalitaji was gone but the brand clicked the segment et again. The campaign reflected the changing role of Indian women. Surf hence became generic and many people refer to detergent as surf. C:UserssonyDesktoplalitaji_surf ad.JPG Chapter 5 Conclusion 5.1 The future of FMCG FMCG is expected to grow to Rs 400,000-crore industry by 2020. The consumption pattern of people has evolved rapidly in the past few years. The consumers are curious to experience what they have not experienced till now. The quest for the new still continues. The needs are soon getting replaced by the wants. The FMCG sector witnessed robust year-on-year growth of approximately 11 per cent in the last decade, almost tripling in size from Rs 47,000 crore in 2000-01 to Rs 130,000 crore now. 5.2 Conclusion Since the FMCG sector is expected to grow several folds in the coming years, advertising in this sector will prove to be fruitful for any company. Sales are the lifeblood of any business. Without sales there would be no business. Therefore it is very important that if a business wants to succeed, it should have good sales. Advertising helps in increasing the sales of any product. Since testimonial advertising influences the people to a great extent and leaves an everlasting impression in the minds of the customer, it can prove to be a powerful tool for advertising. It is important to study the consumer behaviour and their choices especially in FMCG industry because there are several brands as options for the customer. Since the financial risk is very low in this segment the consumers do not mind switching from one brand to the other. Hence it is very important for the marketer to know the ways of marketing and advertising its products properly. Since, advertising forms such an important aspect of marketing, its study and understanding is very important. Testimonial advertising have also helped in contributing to the improvements of the advertising strategies to a great extent.

The Impact of the World Trade Center Attacks on New York Citys Economy :: Economics

The Impact of the World Trade Center Attacks on New York City's Economy A study by the New York City Partnership and the Chamber of Commerce estimates that New York City's economy will sustain a gross loss of about $83 billion and lose 57,000 jobs over three years as a result of the World Trade Center attacks. The study, which was released Nov. 15, said even after payment of insurance claims and federal reimbursement for rescue, cleanup and infrastructure repair costs, the net damage to the economy is likely to be at least $16 billion in lost economic output. "If third-party reimbursement is delayed or inadequate, or if New York lags behind the nation in recovery from the national recession, the loss could be far greater." The report estimates that 125,000 jobs would be lost in the fourth quarter of this year as a direct result of the attack. "While many of these jobs will return, New York City will still have a net loss of approximately 57,000 jobs attributable to the attack at the end of 2003," the partnership said in the report. The NYCP brought together a group of consultants and economists to help tally and evaluate how the attacks of Sept. 11 would impact the main drivers of the city's economy, especially the financial services industry. Consultancies including A.T. Kearney, Bain & Company, Booz Allen Hamilton, KPMG, McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group and PwC Consulting worked on the report. The group in turn worked with state agencies as well as the Federal Reserve Bank to cull economic data and provide assesssments of 14 separate private industry sectors. Not surprisingly, the study showed that lower Manhattan absorbed the greatest damage. In addition to the thousands of lives that were lost in the destruction of the World Trade Center, the downtown region lost 100,000 jobs along with close to 30 percent of office space in the wake of the attack. "This puts at risk many of the 270,000 jobs that are still located in the area south of Chambers Street." The financial services industry, which generates 24 percent of the city's $440 billion annual economic output and 14 percent of the city's tax revenue, was by the far the most impacted in the short term.

Professional Ethics and Civic Morals Essay

The role of the individual and its relationship to the state has been a matter of much sociological debate. Theorists in an array of varied fields such as philosophy, sociology, psychology, and politics have attempted to explain the correlation between the two. In this paper, I will concentrate on the role of individualism to an authoritarian or fascist political structure and how America’s ideals of intense individualism over the collective have led to a vulnerability to a totalitarian political regime. Using the work of Emile Durkheim on the idea of civic morals, i.e. the relationship of the individual to the State, as well as Amitai Etzioni’s study on particularistic obligations and Milgram’s views on obedience we will come to see that the definition of self in relation to the State plays an integral role on not only the individual’s role in the mechanics of the state but their subsequent obedience to the state system. In his work Professional Ethics and Civic Morals, Emile Durkheim explores the relationship of the individual to himself, his family, his profession, and finally his government. As he notes in his defining of the state, there has been since the beginning of civilization, as we know it a direct opposition between the political parties and their constituents. In this lies a division of power, those who wield the authority and those who submit to it. The state is defined as a spatial territory complete with its own customs and interests to which the political party should serve in view of a public good. In the United States, where the larger territory of the country is quite literally divided into semi-autonomous states which retain some control but answer to the federal government on other issues, there is a division of power that belies a partiality. With politics largely divided into two political categories Democrats and Republicans, there are limits and deviations from what the public good means. The American ideal of each individual voice having the power to influence policy and politics, while at the heart of the ideals of democracy, also tends to lead toward exclusionary and separatists policies that effect only a portion of a total population. In the name of the democratic process, Americans accept the results despite the fact that certain policies while acceptable and profitable for one portion of the population can have a detrimental effect on other factions stifle our voices. Durkheim notes that individuals are at the center of the development of any state society, whether it be artistic, economic or political. Without the individuals there can be not collective, however, the United States concentration on recognizing and using an individualist centered ideal of a collective leaves it vulnerable to the control of the collectiveness of a few over the many. Though it would seem that with the democratic structure of our election system and the multi-tiered mechanics of the law system that the United States would be immune to something such as fascism, in reality our system promotes much of the same individualist pandering seen in totalitarian societies. Americans do not always vote for the politics but rather individuals based on an array of factors including morality, religion, personal life/appearance, success with rhetoric, and the changing ethical landscape exemplified in changing attitudes towards science, religion, and race as well as other socio-political structures. Our election campaign process involves the polarizing of certain individual figureheads and not that of ideas, the ideas and policies become secondary in a society, which concentrates so completely on external signifiers. Aggravating the United States state of the pseudo-democratic process is a state of isolation that has been both promoted by the federal government during the Bush era and broken down into a more universalistic approach by Obama. However, at the heart of the patriotism that defines the country, there is a pride, which excludes others and promotes U.S. interests over that of a collective world society. This policy of patriotic isolationism leaves the U.S. particularly vulnerable to a totalitarian regime in that its interests stretch only to within its own borders. As Etzioni notes, â€Å"isolated people tend to be irrational, impulsive, and open to demagogical appeals and totalitarian movements. One could argue that these movements have risen only in societies and periods in which social integration has been greatly weakened† (590). Drawing on this concept, the lack of social cohesiveness following the September 11 attacks when the government suspended certain civil rights for certain people in the name of fighting terrorism, shows the power of a small portion of government to take effective and complete control over the lives of its people without a democratic or collective process. The rights that were stripped from all were done so in effect to stop an unknown number and an unknown contingent of society. That these restrictions affected the whole was of little consequence to the government and at first for a large part of American citizens who obeyed these without question. This is perhaps one of the most recent and poignant examples of the risks posed to the United States by a totalitarian/fascist government. Elsewhere in American history we can see similar instances where a minority of people (in the larger schema, though a large group themselves) having been oppressed and persecuted by a small group of government or political interests; think the Japanese Americans of World War II – the rhetoric of hate used to imprison them seemingly eerily familiar to the fascism of Hitler and Mussolini though hidden under the pretense of security. The conformity of the American people to government decisions that actually demoralize and depress an entire portion of individual peoples, shown through the nation’s history, have been both negative and positive. Bernard Bass in discussing Miligram’s conformity paradigm defines conformity as â€Å"behavior reflecting the successful influence of other persons† (38), wherein he shows that the definition of any successful government whether it be democratic or authoritarian relies on obedience, the difference between the two lies in the structure of the society and its beliefs on the individual’s political view point. Every state runs a risk of being overpowered and seized by an authoritarian regime; however, their overall success is contingent on the attitudes of the individuals who make up that state. In a communist controlled government such as China, where the ideals of socialist reform are extolled if not always practiced, the ground in dogma of the party would undermine the detrimental influence of a demagogic individual. However, in the United States where the individual is seen to have control over his own individual destiny which can be and is interwoven into the social fabric, the very ideals that give importance to the idea of the individual also make the country vulnerable to the control of such individuals. While the American government structure attempts to hedge itself against this danger by having a governing body broken into two major parts and limits on the executive branch’s control. But given the right set of circumstances such as terrorism and blind fear, the democratic power of the people can easily be superseded by the hands of only a few. Fear and intimidation work on many levels, some more subtle than others, all leading to an obedience and control, which are at the heart of a totalitarian authority. References Bass, B. (1961). â€Å"Conformity, Deviation, and a General Theory of Interpersonal Behavior.† Conformity and Deviation. Ed. I.A. Berg and B. Bass. New York: Harper and Brothers, pp. 38-101. Durkheim, E. (1992). Professional Ethics and Civic Morals. Ed. C. Brookfield. New York: Routledge. Etzioni, A. (Fall 2002) â€Å"Are Particularistic Obligations Justified? A Communitarian Justification.† The Review of Politics. 64 (4). pp. 573-598.

Psych Unit IV Article Review Essay

There are so many different theories out there that try to explain why we act the way we act. How do we explain evil or hateful behavior? I just finished reading the article ‘’Prison Violence: Does brutality come with a badge?’’, written by: Bruce Gross. This article talks about being a prison guard, and how some people act when they enter this career. Would you act differently if you went from the role of the prisoner to the role of the prison guard? There have been many reports of ‘’cruel and unusual’’ punishment that is being administered by prison guards to inmates in prisons. Not only are inmates reporting this abuse, but federal authorities are also recognizing there is a problem. In 2005, the commission on Safety and Abuse in Prisons said there were 16,000 allegations of sexual and physical assault that were reported. There are also reports of abuse happening in County jails as well as in prisons. ‘’Inmates have reported being choked, kicked, punched, and hit with objects by single or multiple guards’’, (Gross, 2008). If you look back at our history, it is full of ordinary people who commit terrible acts of violence. Some people have done studies and are trying to understand why people commit these ‘’evil crimes’’. Stanley Milgram is one of those people. He was a Yale University professor, who conducted an experiment in 1961. In this experiment there were ‘’teachers’’ and there were ‘’learners. The teachers were given the power to administer a shock to the learners if they answered a question wrong. It was surprising how much the ‘’teachers’’ in the experiment would shock the ‘’learners’’ and the amount of volts that they would use without protest. Another experiment that was done to test these violent behaviors was known as the Stanford Prison Experiment. In August of 1971, this experiment was started by psychology professor Philip Zimbardo. He put an ad in the paper and found volunteers to play role of ‘’prisoner’’ and the role of ‘’guard’’. He created a prison-like environment in the basement of the psychology building on the Stanford Campus. There was some definite brutality that started to show in the guards during this experiment. Some showed more than others. After only 6 days, the experiment was shut down. One third (1/3) of these ‘’guards’’ showed sadistic behavior. There was a similar study done that was called the BBC Prison Study. This study was also shut down early. ‘’Both of these prison studies demonstrated that under some circumstances, some individuals resist going-with-the flow of group associated brutality’’, (Gross, 2008). Sometimes an individual will behave differently if they know they’re being watched. In the SPE experiment, the participants knew they were being watched by ‘’supervisors’’, and on the BBC experiment, they knew they were being watched by an audience (including family and friends). These factors may have affected the way that either group acted throughout the experiment. I know I would act differently if I knew that my mother was watching me. Some people think it’s the environment that people are in that brings out violence. Well of course it is! If you treat someone like a caged animal, eventually they will start acting like one. If a guard is told to dehumanize a prisoner, then you will probably see violence out of the guards, as well as out of the prisoners. ‘’Violence and extreme behaviors by guards against inmates have many sources’’, (Gross, 2008). In the prison studies that were covered in this article, it didn’t surprise the experimenters that ‘’good people’’ were committing evil acts when they played the role of the guards. They were more surprised and shocked that more people didn’t stand up for what was right. Even if they didn’t agree with what was happening, they just kept their mouth shut, and went with the flow. At the end of the article, Gross says, ‘’Perhaps the adage is true, that real evil exists and flourishe s when good people do nothing’’.