Economics and United States Essay

Introduction to Allstar Brand Allstar Brand is a United States based consumer products company that produces and sells ethical (prescription) pharmaceuticals, OTC (over-the-counter or nonprescription) drugs, and consumer products. It is an $8.9 billion firm that was formed in 1924 and competes with a variety of larger and smaller firms, depending on the product market. It has a number of leading brands in various product categories. Over the years, it has expanded its product category width through internal new product development and acquisition of brands as well as companies. Allstar has operations in Europe and alliances in Asia. These have proven to be very successful markets that performing exceedingly well. But these markets are maturing very quickly, and with increased competition and slowing populations, it is now necessary to look elsewhere for continued growth and profit margins. The Allstar Board believes that to generate the kind of growth needed to drive their stock price, Allstar needs to develop a market presence in South America. South America is a region of great potential. With a population of approximately 450 million, the region represents a population that is 50 percent larger than that of the United States and Canada. The dominant national language across South America is Spanish, as is the case with Argentina. A variety of trade enhancement actions have put in place in recent years. The MERCOSUR agreement was set up among the South American countries of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay, including association agreements (but not membership) with Bolivia. This agreement reduces trade barriers among these countries and has encouraged a variety of companies to establish production inside their borders to take advantage of low labor costs and fairly seamless access to neighboring markets. For accounting purposes at Allstar’s corporate offices, revenues and costs are converted into US$. Therefore, fluctuations in the exchange rate will affect consolidated reports directly. Allsmile Demographics Allsmile, a toothpaste brand, is a key asset of Allstar Brands. It is one of the company’s highest recognition brands in the United States. It is produced in the United States and in Germany for the United States and European markets, respectively. A large number of stock keeping units (SKUs) are produced. South Korean and Japanese manufacturers also produce Allsmile under license for distribution and sales in Asia. There have been reformulations of the brand, but as of today, the product formulations are essentially the same across all markets for a given SKU (although there are slight differences in packaging and in the type and intensity of flavoring that are thought to reflect regional preferences). With an entrance to South America, it may end up being cost effective to build a plant in South America instead of shipping products from the United States. Current world toothpaste sales total approximately $10 billion. The largest country market for toothpaste is the United States, with $1.4 billion spent during the past year. Toothpaste is available in a number of sizes, delivery systems, textures (paste or gel), and formulations. The basic toothpaste product is a paste or gel with flavoring and one or more active ingredients that provide specific benefits to consumers. A general description of these variations in the United States market is listed below. It is important to note that not all companies produce all possible combinations as each company determines where the holes in the market are and where the most money can be made. Why Argentina? Below is a market attractiveness index for the potential countries Allstar could enter. We have listed five criteria which we believe most accurately provide the best comparative results. The importance weight displays the percentage of importance to the criteria compared other criteria. Under each country is a rating. The ratings illustrate the importance of the criteria in that specified country. The assessment combines the importance weight of the criteria’s and the overall assessment of the country. As you can see by this chart, we have determined that Argentina would be the best country to sell Allsmile toothpaste. Background on Argentina Argentina is a large country comprised of approximately 1,068,302.2 square miles, slightly smaller than 3/10 the size of the United States. It has a democratic government that was set up in 1983. It has a population of 39.9 million people of which about 49% are male and 51% are female. Of the population, 97.1% of the people ages 15 and higher can read and write. Eighty-eight percent of the population lives in urban areas. The population of Argentina is pretty steady and is only growing at 0.96%. At 97%, Argentina is comprised primarily of Spanish and Italian (white-skinned) people. The life expectancy of Argentina is quite high with males living to 76 years of age and women living to 80. The age structure of Argentina is typical of what it to be expected for a South American country. The Age Structure Chart below shows the different classifications. Argentina’s Economy Argentina currently has a strong economy compared to its neighbors. Argentina benefits from rich natural resources, a highly literate population, and an export-oriented agricultural sector. It has a large industrial section. Over the past decade however, the country has suffered recurring economic problems of inflation, external debt, capital flight, and budget deficits. Growth in 2000 was at negative 0.8%, as both domestic and foreign investors remained skeptical of the government’s ability to pay debts and maintain the peso’s fixed exchange rate with the US dollar. The economic situation worsened in 2001 with the widening of spreads on Argentine bonds, massive withdrawals from the banks, and a further decline in consumer and investor confidence. Government efforts to achieve a â€Å"zero deficit,† to stabilize the banking system and to restore economic growth proved inadequate in the face of the mounting economic problems. The peso’s peg to the dollar was abandoned in January 2002, and the peso was floated in February. The exchange rate plunged and real GDP fell by 10.9% in 2002, but by mid-year the economy had stabilized. GDP expanded by about 9% per year from 2003 to 2005. Growth is being led by a revival in domestic demand, solid exports, and favorable external conditions. The government took corrective action and boosted spending ahead of the October 2005 midterm congressional elections, but strong revenue performance allowed Argentina to maintain a budget surplus. Inflation has been rising steadily and has now reached 12.3%. The unemployment rate for Argentina is currently 11.5% which translates to businesses the people have money to purchase products. As you can see on the Market Comparison Chart below, Argentina is the leader in GDP/Capita and is second in GDP Growth and CPI Growth. Argentina’s Infrastructure Argentina, while smaller than some countries in South America, has a great infrastructure. Argentina has 21,183 miles of railways, 129,463 miles of highways, and 6,835 miles of waterways. In addition, Argentina has 11 ports and harbors and 1,333 airports. This expansive infrastructure makes doing business in Argentina very reliable and smooth. As mentioned before, Argentina falls under the MERCOSUR Agreement which allows for seamless transactions between the countries under the agreement (Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay, and Bolivia). This agreement reduces trade barriers among these countries and has encouraged a variety of companies to establish production inside their borders to take advantage of low labor costs and fairly seamless access to neighboring markets. The chart below shows the benefits of doing business in Argentina. It also points out the extra costs of doing business outside this agreement. When deciding whether to build a plant in Argentina, we recommend looking at another country. It is important to take into effect all factors. For example, one may at first glance think Mexico is the most suitable to manufacturing, and this may be the case if the company was going to do business in the United States or Canada. However, when doing business in South America, it is important to stay within whichever trade agreement you will be doing business under. Otherwise, high tariffs and duties will blanket your company. It is also very important to look at means of distribution, specifically shipping. The table below shows the per unit costs for shipping toothpaste from various manufacturing locations, assuming the usual shipping mode for each origin – destination combination. As you will notice, having a plant in the United States is not so valuable because imports to Latin America come with a high price on shipping comparatively from shipping from within Latin America. As mentioned earlier, it is of great importance to note that in addition to shipping originating within Latin America, one also has no import duties or tariffs if shipping is done within the regional shipping agreements, such as is the case with the MERCOSUR agreement. Distribution channels in Latin America have traditionally been grouped into four categories: traditional, self-serve, hypermarket, and newly emerging is web purchases. Traditional channels are small, independent stores or open market areas almost exclusively served by wholesalers (indirect distribution). Self-serve is a more developed store where customers serve themselves, but that typically offers a narrow line of merchandise. These may be independent or part of a regional chain but are almost all locally owned. Convenience stores and grocery stores would fall in this category. Hypermarkets are a new style of channel that is found primarily in cities. These are usually large stores with a wide variety of goods and typically purchase items directly from the manufacturer (direct distribution). Many of the hypermarket chains are foreign owned or allied with a global distributor, such as Wal-Mart or Carrefour. The chart below shows the toothpaste distribution within each channel.

My Career Choice

It halogens not Just your abilities, but it also challenges your brain. It is never the same thing every day. My main reason for becoming a CSS is to get Justice for the victims. My professional reasons for becoming a Crime Scene Investigator are to get criminals off the streets. I would like to make a good career out of being a CSS. Another reason is that I will gain great skills out of this profession. There is always a want for Chi's and Criminal Justice majors. I will be successful because I will have my bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice. I will get a great deal of work experience In y field.I will gain a great deal of skills that can only help me go further. I plan to be as successful as I can be. My academic goals will help me succeed because without a degree you cannot get a good Job. You cannot go any further in your field of study. The academic goals should be realistic and time oriented. These goals should be within your period for schooling, and they should be In three lengths. A short-term goal, A medium term goal, and a long-term goal. My professional goals will help me succeed because they will get me a good Job, and work experience.They will help me gain skills that are needed in my area of work, and they will help me move up In my career. I believe that both academic and professional goals are the two major steps in becoming a Crime Scene Investigator. Being a Crime Scene Investigator could have both good and bad things about It. You must have the skills to be a CSS. Having a strong stomach Is a big thing with being a CSS. You see bodies everyday and you have to be able to handle the worst kind of smells. Patience, and having a sharp eye for detail are both key skills In being a CSS.You have to be patient and take the time to find the little details In every case. Having the skills and the experience for the Job can help you more than It could ever hurt you. Having the knowledge for this Job Is a big part of the academic goals. You can never go wrong with knowing as much as you can about your area of study. The mall thing that one should always remember about being a CSS Is that there Is a lot that comes with the Job. This Job Is not Just a normal nine to five Job, this Job could be a nine to five Job and then an on call every night Job.When they call you In the boss expects you to be there at a moment's notice. My Career Choice By Ashley my bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice. I will get a great deal of work experience in within your period for schooling, and they should be in three lengths. A short-term gain skills that are needed in my area of work, and they will help me move up in my have both good and bad things about it. You must have the skills to be a CSS. Having a strong stomach is a big thing with being a CSS. You see bodies everyday and you for detail are both key skills in being a CSS.You have to be patient and take the time to find the little details in every case. Having the skills and the experience fo r the job can help you more than it could ever hurt you. Having the knowledge for this Job is a big part of the academic goals. You can never go wrong with knowing as much as you can about your area of study. The main thing that one should always remember about being a CSS is that there is a lot that comes with the Job. This Job is not Just a night Job. When they call you in the boss expects you to be there at a moment's

The History of Eye Shadow Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The History of Eye Shadow - Research Paper Example Ancient people were limited in the amount of ingredients they could include in their cosmetic recipes. For this cause, the range of eye shadow colors available was very limited. Often, people either did or did not wear this cosmetic. There was no choice of color. However the limitations on eye shadow colors was not to remain. As the focus on beauty is something that has perpetuated though many generations in a variety of cultures, cosmetics were fated to evolve and improved. In many cultures wearing makeup was a status symbol. In the 7th and 8th century Greeks found that they could wear shades of blue and green eye shadow by using lapiz lazuli and Malachite, which are stones, as a main ingredient (An Eye Shadow History, n.d.). Those in Japan during the 11th Century found that they could manipulate the color of their eye shadow by using different color flower petals. Oddly enough, in ancient Japan they used bird droppings as one of the ingredients. The ancient Egyptian’s use of eye shadow is very famous. They are often depicted wearing bold dark liner that surrounds their eyes and flows up to their temple of their heads. The knowledge of the Egyptians’’ makeup practices are so well known that one can be shown a picture of someone wearing Egyptian style eye shadow and quickly identify the person depicted to be Egyptian. In fact, makeup and cosmetics were so important in ancient Egypt that often people were buried with a sizable supply.

How do United States special military teams play a role in combatting Research Paper

How do United States special military teams play a role in combatting terrorism, irregular warfare strategy, domestic intelligence gathering, and foreign law assistance - Research Paper Example This commitment of the American government becomes evident from the revamping of the US Special Forces activities in the aftermath of 9/11 terrorist attack by Al-Qaeda. In the wake of this disastrous event, controversies have mounted on the effectiveness of domestic intelligence and the coordination of the activities of existing joint forces. Most of the criticism in this regard has been directed at the intelligence community for its purported failure to warn other agencies of an imminent threat. On the other hand, problems also prevail in other areas and terrorist organizations have been exploiting this vulnerability to wreak havoc on the nation. Thus, an urgent and imperative need has emerged for a dedicated Homeland Security Intelligence (HSI) in the nation to augment the existing intelligence collection system and solidify the functions of security forces. In addition, a necessity has also been felt for further sharpening the cutting edge of operational efficiency of the US Speci al Forces so as to enable them to combat terrorism more effectively. Though there no single definition universally for the term ‘terrorism’ the most commonly accepted definition perceives this phenomenon as the â€Å"use of violence to create fear† to attain political, religious or ideological objectives (Matusitz, 2012, p.4). Thus, terrorist activities, most of the times, are directed at noncombatant civilian population with a view to inflict maximum damage to human life and property so as to create terror and thus propagate their cause amongst the citizens. Terrorist organizations usually function as clandestine entities with a hierarchical system including a leader and other chieftains, â€Å"planners, trainers and actual bombers/killers† (p.4). Most of them are highly educated, motivated, physically competent, and trained in various types of combat tactics as well as electronic and information and communication

Retail Theatre Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Retail Theatre - Essay Example enticing when the front stage, backstage, the script, roles, the setting, the light effects, and the characters all blend together to stage a play with a unique theme (Baron, Harris & Harris, 2001). Retailers have been trying to create theatre environments that involve opportunities for audience participation and interaction. This metaphor has been used by retailers to gain competitive advantage and as a means of differentiation in the highly competitive market place. However, a theatre has a very elite and specific audience whereas the retailers are trying to create a variety of customer responses and reactions. To what extent this metaphor is justified depends on the benefits that both the retailer and the customers derive. Pine and Gilmore point out that the use of ‘theatre’ was not metaphorical. They use theatre in the sense that â€Å"work is theater† not â€Å"work as theater† (Harris, Harris & Baron, 2003). A retail theatre is considered to be a fun experience aimed at creating excitement. There are certain retail themed environments which employ retail theatre concepts to encourage the consumers to animate the theme. Baron, Harris and Harris (2001) discuss about four different theatrical settings and it has been found that many retailers are actually using such settings to enhance the customer experience and encourage customer participation. In theatrical realism the audiences are voyeurs as they feel that they are looking into their own private world and they observe a very personal situation. Many retailers have been trying to implement this concept. Niketown creates a setting in which the physical exercise and sporting environment allow the customer to become engaged in the shopping activity (Sands, Oppewal & Beverland, 2009). Computer retailers such as Apple have also embraced this concept of realistic settings and have benefited in terms of increased sales and positive word of mouth. Warner Brothers, the sports retailer has set up a video screen

Individual term paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Individual term paper - Essay Example tinies of these huge corporations which in some cases have replaced national ruling classes as the determinants of what goes on nationally and internationally. Businesses that are able to control these factors are advantaged in expansion of market share and size, profit maximization and cost minimization, not to mention the increased efficiency among other competitive and comparative advantages. The main factors are the: objectives of the MNC, means of achieving those objectives, societal and physical influences on that society, and market or competitive influences. These main factors vary from one country to the other, and hence the MNCs have to tailor their strategies and operations to meet the specifics of each individual country. Such multinationals include giants in the service industries like McDonalds, banking institutions like Standard Chartered Bank, and manufacturers like Toyota. The consumer electronics company, Samsung will be used as a case study to illustrate how these factors determine the failure or success of MNC operations in countries other than their home countries. A multinational corporation is a business entity that operates across multiple countries and markets. Also known as transnational companies, they are conglomerates of business with branches in different regions of the world, most of them straddle different industries. It can either operate one core business throughout the world such as manufacturing, or it has diversified in different sectors such as operating in both manufacturing and service industry (Gooderham & Nordhaug 2003). Globalization has promoted the emergence of large companies that are able to take advantage of the opportunities by undertaking huge operations across national boundaries. Globalization is due to convergence of consumers’ tastes, thus creating a global market. Worldwide production of goods is sourced and manufactured globally, and with the technological advances connecting the world, employees are

Working in Organisation Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Working in Organisation - Case Study Example As a result, Boyle placed Fred with Eric Brown. He was a seasoned foreman and experienced production supervisor who had been with the company since he "left school" at the age of sixteen. Eric and Fred began working together with Eric training him to become a supervisor, and Fred attempting to learn the company and ways in which he could effectively manage its employees. Moreover, as time progressed, and Eric and Fred worked more together, it became apparent, especially to Boyle, that the two employees did not work well together. In addition, Boyle knew that, if Eric and Fred were not working well together, they were not learning together either, and Fred was not learning to be an effective supervisor. Eric and Fred perceived each other to be ignorant, incompetent individuals who both lacked the intelligence and skill regarding the company's welfare. They were very disagreeable concerning the supervisory measures, and they did not favor the other's opinion. Eric was a seasoned employee in his mid-50s and, having been with the company since the age of sixteen, he had earned his current position of foreman, working his way up through the "ends and outs" of the company. Further, since Eric had left school at sixteen, he did not have a formal education. Nevertheless, he has the experience and respect of his employees. Therefore, Eric resented Fred for being able to be hired into the company with his college degree and little to no experience. Equally important, Fred was directly hired as a management trainee which meant that he would soon be promoted to a supervisory position. He didn't have to work his way up through the company as Eric had done. As a result, Eric did not believe that the company's generous treatment to Fred was fair and adequate, especially since he had to earn his position over time. Eric seems to be a fair, hard-working employee that is very competent and capable of performing his job to the best of his abilities.Still, Eric does not appreciate the company's generous treatment to Fred simply because he has a college degree. He does not want to believe that, someday, he could possibly be "booted out" of the company in which he has worked so hard simply because his ideas and work ethics are not up-to-date and not "based on some obscure piece of theory." On the other hand, Fred, similarly, perceives Eric as an aged, overworked employee who will not be accepting to an employee of the younger generation. He believes that Eric does not trust him to perform well and supervise other employees while on the job.Since Fred does have a college degree, it is possible that he perceives himself to be better than Eric on some level, particularly regarding knowledge. According to Dan Hupp, president of the Pittsburgh Human Resource Planning Society and owner of his own consulting firm, one of the main issues encountered within the present workforce is the "generational issue," as stated in "Younger bosses older employees vs. younger bosses vs. older employees" by Johnna A. Pro.Hupp believes that it's important for the younger generation to realize the importance of the older employees. He states that, "[The older employees] have an

The Evolution of Walking Upright Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

The Evolution of Walking Upright - Essay Example However, later scientific evidence clearly suggested that it may not be the case as evolution of walking upright has a history before the full human brain actually evolved. (Wheeler,62) It is critical to note that walking upright has not happened over the night and there were important physiological changes which occurred over the period of time. Available evidence suggests that there are important and critical differences between the physiology of the spines of apes and humans. It is this change especially in the physiology of spines of apes and humans which distinguishes them from each other. It was also this change which allowed humans to walk upright as compared to how apes walk. (Hunt) Physiology of Ape Scientific evidence suggests that early humans were either apes and evolved over the period of time to become humans or used some of the characteristics of apes. The early evidence that the humans actually used the ape like traits indicates that humans might have used four feet t o actually move from one place to another. However, as the time passed by, humans developed the ability to walk upright suggesting a change or transition in the physiology of apes to suit to the human needs. Some of the early evidence do suggests that the apes were bipedal in nature too however, their ability to walk on four feet was limited in nature. Apes cannot walk for longer distances on their two legs thus making it relatively impossible for them to use two legs for covering greater distances. This ability therefore was restricted due to the overall physiology of their spines and how it differed from that of the humans as evolution took place. Though the apes can still walk on two legs however, to become... This report approves that walking upright is considered as the primary and fundamental difference between humans and other animals. This tendency to walk upright however, has evolved over the period of time as humans are believes to be belonging to the same species as that of chimpanzees and gorillas. It is important to note that humans developed this tendency due to the changes in the physiology of their spines as spine of humans is relatively different from that of the spine of other animals. The human spine is relatively upright and supports its natural organs while at the same time supporting humans to walk easily. Human spine is joined with the head from the back whereas the spine of apes is joined from the back. The curve in the spines of apes allows them to carry weight however, restrict their movement. This essay makes a conclusion that one of the important theories of how humans developed the ability to walk upright is called Savannah theory. This theory suggests that humans developed this tendency because the climate change forced them to come down from trees. The global warming as well as cooling reduced the number of forests therefore humans have to come down the trees to survive. The author of the paper talks that this theory however, has been challenged by recent evidence which suggests that walking upright on two feet was made possible because of the difficulty faced by the humans to navigate the difficult terrain of East and South Africa. Further, walking upright conserves the energy thus allowing humans to walk longer distances with relative ease and less energy.

Mental Health Nursing Essay Example for Free

Mental Health Nursing Essay Case Study Report Jamelia I am so tired and drained. I feel as though my head is going to explode with all this pressure. You see I’ve been looking after my mother for a long time, she suffers from anxiety, the illness comes and goes, presenting itself periodically. Although I do worry about my mother I can usually deal with this, I have been for a long time but recently I’ve found myself worrying about my father as well. My father, usually a well presented and calm individual has been acting very strangely the past few weeks. I went round to visit my parents and check my mother was alright and he looked extremely unkempt, he looked as though he hadn’t shaved in a while, and he was wearing dirty clothes. I tried to keep things as light hearted as possible when I asked him why this was and out of nowhere he became extremely angry and defensive which is very unlike him. My mother has been telling me recently that she thinks he’s ‘losing his marbles’ as she puts it, but to be honest I just put this down to her own illness as this is often how it starts, my mother becomes worried about family members and friends when it’s really her who we need to worry about. I kind of put my father to the back of my mind for a few weeks and tried to concentrate on looking after my two children, which is a handful in itself, but then out of the blue at whatever time in the morning the phone rang, a police officer on the phone, she told me how my father had been found roaming around the street not an hour before, in his pyjamas no less. I was mortified, so angry at my father for his behaviour, but the police officer was very reassuring and advised me it might be a good idea to get in touch with my father’s GP, which I did and he put in a referral to the Community Psychiatric Nurse. I think he’s coming round during the week sometime to visit us. I honestly don’t know what else I can do, I am so stressed and run down by this whole thing I haven’t stopped crying, I just hope the CPN can do something to help, or at least give us some idea what the matter is so I can sleep at night. Community Psychiatric Nurse I received a referral from the GP recently asking for me to carry out an assessment on a Mr Hamed Khan who has been displaying behaviours that are a bit out of the ordinary, I also received a police report stating Mr Khan had been picked up for wandering around in his pyjamas in the early hours of the morning. There are many things that I have to rule out before I jump to the obvious conclusion which would be some kind of dementia, the rate at which I believe Mr Khan seems to have deteriorated at is staggering so if Mr Khan is suffering from dementia I would probably sway towards Lewy Body dementia, although, of course, I cannot make assumptions. I will wait until I meet with the family, i will ask them all questions, the majority will be aimed at Mr Khan to answer but I need to see it from everyone’s viewpoint and everyone will be entitled to join in any discussions we carry out providing Mr Khan is happy and willing for this to happen, then based on my observations and the answers i get from the family i will arrange some further tests to get a proper, medical diagnosis, if need be. Before i send Mr Khan for further assessment I will need to ensure a Urine Sample has been taken so we can rule out any kind of Urinary Tract Infection which could be the cause of any confusion Mr Khan has suffered from recently, this is quite often the case in older people they tend to get anxious and confused and this can, and often is mistaken for some kind of dementia. When I go out to visit the family i will ensure they are happy with having a male CPN, and I will meet all their requirements for this visit and all further visits, if necessary. Of course it won’t just be myself working to help the Khan family i will be just one member of a multi disciplinary team who will each have their own role in helping and supporting the Khan family. Sunita’s Needs Meeting Sunita’s needs is paramount in ensuring she is fulfilling her full potential. Sunita’s basic human needs have to be met. Sunita needs to feel loved, at the moment this may be lacking because everyone else is so worried about Hamed that Sunita may be being overlooked. Sunita needs to make sure she maintains her self-esteem, suffering from anxiety herself she needs to make sure she is looking after herself by making time for herself and not worrying about others too much. They say knowledge is power so it might empower Sunita if she was able to learn more about her anxiety, the causes, and all treatment options available so she can make a decision and choose how she would like to manage her illness. Sunita has the right to choose exactly what her own care plan will include, by getting involved in the whole process so it is geared to suit her as an individual and means she can still carry out activities she enjoys which can help her recovery. Hamed’s Needs No matter what the diagnosis Hamed’s needs are all very important, safety is extremely important particularly due to the night wandering and forgetfulness. Hamed needs to feel loved and respected as the head of the household regardless of his illness as this will help his self esteem, his appearance is an important part of this as well. As we have heard Hamed is normally well dressed and clean shaven, and we have to make sure this continues so Hamed still feels as normal as possible, a home carer may be an option to help Hamed get ready in the morning if he feels he would benefit from this. Every decision in relation to the care plan Hamed will be making himself as much as possible providing he is still able to do this and if not an advocate can be appointed, Hamed always has the right to choose. Hamed’s needs will be assessed using different tools of assessment, these could be shared activities, observations as well as meetings, using more than one method will ensure the care plan is as comprehensive as possible and meeting every need Hamed has, in a way he is happy with. Hamed’s physical needs will be met by encouraging him to continue doing physical activities he has enjoyed in the past. Socialising is a very important need, Hamed may be interested in going to a club or even attending a support group where he will meet and interact with people that he perhaps has something in common with. Stress factors for Jamelia There may be several different things which could be causing Jamelia to feel stressed. First of all she has to look after two young children with very little practical, hands on help from her husband. Jamelia also feels obligated to care for her mother when she is suffering from a bout of anxiety. Seeing someone you love and care for being distressed and worried is definitely going to be weighing on Jamelia’s mind. During the times when Sunita is unwell Jamelia is having to look after her mother as well as finding time to spend with her children which probably means Jamelia is feeling guilty, perhaps Jamelia feels she is neglecting her children because she has to look after her mother, all these conflicting emotions will cause a great deal of pressure on Jamelia. Even when Sunita is well, Jamelia has to deal with constant phone calls which may be waking her during the night, lack of sleep may be a contributing factor to the way Jamelia is feeling. As if this wasn’t enough for Jamelia to deal with she also now has to help with her father who is getting forgetful, confused and acting out of the ordinary. Hamed, who is normally a calm, strong man is changing in front of her eyes at an alarming rate, and is perhaps hard to recognise. Juggling so many things, Jamelia is probably not eating properly and not taking care of herself or making any time for herself. Support available for Jamelia, as a carer. There are many organisations out there who can offer practical and financial help to Jamelia as a carer. First of all Jamelia is entitled to a carer’s assessment. The law states that â€Å"anyone who provides or intends to provide a substantial amount of care on a regular basis can have a carer’s assessment. † A carers assessment will look at how Jamelia is affected by caring for her family, how much caring she can, practically, do while still having a life of her own, and having time for her children. There is also the option of getting someone else to care for Hamed and Sunita if and when Jamelia needs a break this can be in form of respite care, which comes in many different forms, for example, residential care where Hamed and Sunita can go for a short stay in a residential nursing home, as well as being good for Jamelia it could help meet the social side of Hamed and Sunita’s care plan as they will be meeting other people. There are day-sitting services which can be used for a couple of hours during the day, giving Jamelia a break, or a night- sitting service helping Jamelia get a proper night’s sleep. Financial help is available to help fund this particular help from local authorities and local councils in form of vouchers or direct payments. Word Count – 1675.

Shinee Facts Essay Example for Free

Shinee Facts Essay 1. When Onew Taemin were practicing on the rooftop in their trainee days, they didn’t know that they would be in SHINEE together. 2. Minho BoA like playing together at the waiting room (after they both made comeback) and also at pre-recordings. 3. Jonghyun used to LIKE dressing up as girls. But he thinks that it was embarrassing. 4. Taemin’s favorite song from Lucifer album is â€Å"Life†, he likes ballad songs and likes listening to it while travelling. 5. During trainee days, the other members used to don’t understand Onew’s jokes. But now, they understand it immediately. 6. Key’s favorite song in Lucifer album is â€Å"electric heart†. 7. There was once that Taemin, Minho, and Jonghyun went bathing together and there Taemin said â€Å"I’m a man†. 8. Taemin always carries a bag containing a lot of sweets around, all with a SHINEE logo attached on it. He will give out these sweets whenever he sees noonas. 9. â€Å"If I meet an alien, I will definitely be scared at first, but after awhile when I get to know it, I will consider how to send it back home.† -Jonghyun 10. Key has a love-hate relationship with horror movies and horror stories, he yearns for them but he is also scared of them, he likes them but he also dislikes them. He lost his composure/image in the cinema many times because of that, he is only able to rent horror movies/dramas to watch at home to continue scaring himself. 11. Onew feels shy about presenting himself to people, and because of it, he did not dare to participate in auditions. When he was a trainee, everyone else seems to be improving everyday, while he seems to be staying stagnant and not improving, that to him is the saddest period of his life up till now. 12. â€Å"When I first saw Taemin, I thought he was really pretty. At that time there was a trainee noona in front of him, and Taemin was even prettier than her†. -Eunhyuk 13. Jonghyun is a very lively student in high school, able to digest English and Korean songs very well. Formed a band, composed music during that time, believes that if you truly like something, it is not difficult to persevere on. 14. Minho’s ideal type just need to be of an average height, must definitely be kind at heart, have long hair, wears dresses frequently. 15. Key is confident that he can be a gourmet chef, nobody can escape his dumplings trap. Our Comments: Onew is a sweet person put into a group of evil people. He deserves some sort of respect as the leader, so we shall spare him any nastiness. He is undeserving of the hatred bestowed upon him by, not only haters, but Shawols and Shinee as well. He has done nothing to deserve this treatment. This poor man needs to catch a break once in a while, and we shall deliver this break. His constant abuse from fellow members must cause him great distress and pain. Yet Shinee doesn’t appreciate him. Or his talents. So, Onew, we, P B, do issue you an apology, on behalf of the human race. P B Scale Appearance: 9.4 Slightly large nose. Good Complexion. Very pronounced apple of the cheeks. Soft jawline, as opposed to most males. Almond shaped, monolid eyes. Overall soft facial features. Definitely not ugly, contrary to popular opinion. Body is proportional for the most part. Fairly toned. Not the best looking for his age, but better than a majority. Talent: 8 Dancing is proficient. Truthfully, Onew has the best singing voice in Shinee. He is a little rough with control, but taking his age into consideration, he is good. Good at everything, but not fantastic at any one thing. Personality: 7.9 Awkward. But adorkable. He tries. Doesn’t succeed very much, but he tries. Gives a valiant effort. Total: 8.4 Jonghyun Basic Bio: Name: Kim Jonghyun Position: Lead Vocalist Birthdate: April 8, 1990 Bloodtype: AB Height: 173 cm. Our Comments: Jonghyun is the devil. He is the Lucifer. His singing is the Lucifer. We overall just despise this man. He’s short, he’s mean, and therefore has a Napoleon complex. He is like the tiny raptor in Jurassic Park that chases them into the laboratory and tries to eat them. He is not the biggest dinosaur on the island, but definitely the most annoying. His singing is God-awful and f*cking horrible (Cussing is never appropriate, but this is a special exception). It’s just bad. During his performance of â€Å"Lonely Night† on Immortal Song 2, we wanted to shoot ourselves in the face. Of course my friend, you will have many a lonely night, and your only solace will be Key. P B Scale Appearance: 3.5 His nose is disgustingly huge. Not only is his nose large, but his nostrils are excessive. His nose is upturned, and you see all of that excessive nostril. And in stark contrast to Onew, his face isonly angles, which is much too harsh. It makes him always look angry. And when he is attempting a smile, or a cheerful expression, it’s creepy. Let’s not forget how short he is. The Peach is taller than him, and she is a 16 year old, half asian girl. So there is no excuse. In short, Jonghyun is the very definition of a troll: Nasty, short and ugly. He hides under bridges. And terrorizes people, like poor Onew. Talent: 5 His vocal control is commendable, though control of his voice is insignificant due to the fact that he sounds like a cat getting raped. We don’t know how many of you people have heard this happen, maybe outside of your house, or to your own cat, but it is offensive. His dancing is average, nothing special. But his eternally angry face makes any attempt at dancing scary. Technically, his ability to control his voice and range would make him about a 7. But the sound of his voice drastically drops the score. Personality: 0 He’s mean. He’s very mean. You shouldn’t treat people the way he treats people. Especially Onew. Onew is his elder, and the leader. Jonghyun should treat him with respect and dignity. But because of his Napoleon complex, he finds the need to belittle and overall, just piss off, Onew. Total: 3.5 Key Basic Bio: Name: Kim Kibum Stage Name: Key Position: Vocal, Rap Birthdate: September 23, 1991 Bloodtype: B Height: 177 cm. Our Comments: Key is flaming. The second most flaming man in the world of Korean Entertainment. Jo Kwon is unsurpassable. There is no way either of them are the least bit straight. Key is one of the many Kim Kibums. However, congrats Key, to this day, you are the only Kim Kibum that has any real effect in the entertainment world. Not to mention the fact that you’re the only one still active in your group. Key in a nutshell is just fabulous. He sings a very good Kesha. He should just keep doing what†¦ Key does. P B Scale Appearance: 9.4 Key looks like a feminine, younger version of Jo Kwon. Almost as if he were  Kwon’s little sister. However, he does have one flaw. His eyebrows are awful. And as a gay man, he should be ashamed. His best assets however, are definitely his cheekbones. Very well pronounced; good genes. His body is in good proportion. Overall, we admit Key is attractive, but very feminine. Talent: 6.2 He’s a better rapper than Minho. Easily. Without any effort. We’re pretty sure everyone on this planet is a better rapper than Minho. However just because he’s better, doesn’t mean he’s fantastic or even remotely good. His singing is subpar. Dancing is passable. His best talent is swaying his hips to â€Å"Abracadabra†; it’s sickenin’. Personality: 8.6 He’s a nag, but who wouldn’t be trapped in a group with 4 kids. He’s in love with Jonghyun, which is obviously some sort of personality defect. Key’s maternal instinct is sensational. Without him, Taemin would probably be dead. Total: 8.06 Minho Basic Bio: Name: Choi Minho Position: Rap, Sub-Vocal Birthdate: December 9, 1991 Bloodtype: B Height: 184 cm. Our Comments: Minho is just futile. He doesn’t really do anything in Shinee, except rap badly. We don’t really see how he’s â€Å"flaming charisma† either. He’s not stunning, or even remotely good looking. He just looks like Rango. Other than the obvious, there is not much to say about Minho. He doesn’t matter, and we’re pretty sure that if he wasn’t in Shinee, it would make no difference. Except for the fact that Onew might finally be in a pairing. Introducing: TaeNew. P B Scale Appearance: 5.5 Minho is basically ugly. Sorry Shawols, it’s the truth. Everything is so long: His arms, his legs, his fingers. It’s just gross. He’s an alien. Not the sexy kind like T.O.P or Bom, but like Kyuhyun. Weirdly elongated, and kind of awkward. Talent: 3 Unlike the other three aliens, Minho has no talent. What Minho does is not rapping. He is talking (and not even fast, which is an excuse for most), with an autotuned voice. There’s a reason people’s voices are autotuned. And Minho is no exception. Shawols, netizens, everyone: You all really have to stop praising his rapping. For the sake of Minho, if you really care about him. Pretty soon he’s going to start believing your lies. We weep for Minho; we really do. All the pitiful guy has is his â€Å"rapping†, and truth is, it’s awful. Guess this means he has nothing. Personality: 1.9 His personality is nonexistent. There’s nothing really special about him. He’s good with kids, so I guess that’s a plus? We don’t know. He’s just plain vanilla. Total: 3.4 Taemin Basic Bio: Name: Lee Taemin Position: Lead Dancer, Maknae Birthdate: July 18, 1993 Bloodtype: B Height: 175 cm. Our Comments: Taemin is a cute little girl. And if you like him, and are older than him, you have pedophilia. He†¦is kind of a she. But a cute she. Taemin just shoots out estrogen. There’s not one testosterone producing cell in his body. It’s not his fault, and we are not bad mouthing it; it’s a medical condition after all. He’s really innocent and naive. His love for banana milk (which is delicious!), ice cream and â€Å"Lasco*†say it all. If you looked up â€Å"Perfect Maknae† in the dictionary, you’d find Taemin. He’s  cute, young, respectfuland knows how to use his â€Å"aegyo*† effectively. Too bad Shinee doesn’t appreciate his efforts. It seems all they do is bully him, when they’re not harassing Onew. Don’t worry Taemin, we know tons of groups that would want you all to themselves. P B Scale Appearance: 8.7 Taemin is the prettiest little girl in K-Pop. He has a cute nose. His features are very soft and round, and make his face look very feminine. It’s not his fault his face looks this way, but it’s his hairstylist’s fault he looks even more feminine than he should. His only flaw as â€Å"the perfect maknae† is that he’s a bit too tall. But his fans like that, so it’s okay. Talent: SC 9.2 He is a dancer. He’s not one of the absolute greatest, but definitely one of the best for his age. Over the years, Taemin has improved, and we hope he will continue to build his abilities. Personality: 7.9 The perfect maknae personality. He’s adorable, childish and you just want to be maternal towards him. Key cannot be blamed. Total: 8.6 Overall Shinee: 6.4 Shinee to us just seems like a TVXQ replacement. But a bad knock-off. Like a Chinese pikachu doll. Not successful and it’s just wrong. They’re too young. They had it way too easy.  Unlike their predecessors, they did not have to share a 1,000 square foot apartment with 20 other men. They did not starve and were not forced to sleep on the floor because of the lack of beds. They endured nothing, have felt no pain, and this has just created a spoiled group (Which is why they abuse Onew). Their souls and dreams were not broken by the iron fist that is SM Entertainment. They were not made thankful for their presence in the world of K-Pop. Because Shinee did not have to go through half a decade of intense, bone-crushing training, they don’t appreciate how easy their path to stardom has been. Shinee is given catchy songs by the maker of all catchy songs, and this explains their popularity. Without SM’s vast resources, they would be nothing more than the average, unpopular boyband.

The Formative And Summative Assessment English Language Essay

The Formative And Summative Assessment English Language Essay Why is assessment necessary? Schwartz and Webb (2002) state that from the past 30 years and the great number of language teaching research, assessment is not only the central part of work for teachers, but also the main driver of learning. That is to say, assessment is for teachers and students, to know not only how well they have done but also where they have done well and where they need to make great efforts. Assessment is frequently divided into summative assessment and formative assessment. Testing is the basic way of summative assessment. We often set a test at the end of the learning period. Formative assessment involves the collecting of information or evidence of a learners learning progress in the classroom. (Wang, 2006) Testing is the method most often used in China. For example, in 2011, 9,330,000 high school students took part in the University and College Entrance Examination in China. The enrollment rate of the exam is 72.3%, and only approximately 40% students would be enrolled by universities. Actually, 2011 was not the peak time, the real peak time was at 2008, at that time, the number of Chinese students attending the University and College Entrance Examination is 10,500,000. In 2009, there were 740 universities and 1168colleges in China. Therefore, it is hard to imagine how difficult if the university and colleges selected students without testing. That also led to tests becoming the most important way for evaluating students no matter when they entrance the high education before or after. 2. Literature Review 2.1 Formative and Summative assessment Why assess?, in answering this question, it deals not only with the purposes of assessment, but also the issue of who needs or uses the results. Biggs (1999) pointed out the important distinction between formative and summative functions. The main purpose of summative assessment is to make a judgement regarding each students performance. Students are marked at the end of a module, course or unit, so the results of such assessments are often presented in marks or grades. Summative judgements are also used to accredit learners as the end of the programme. (Falchikov, 2005) Nevo (1995) described these judgements as being for certification and diagnostic purposes. There is a critical thinking about summative assessment: Can test scores be used to inform us about our teaching and learning? Nevo (1995) considered that the answer is: not very much. Because of the students ability and achievement in learning are not measurable in terms of one single test. Even if they can reveal some problems about our teaching or learning, it is often too late to do anything about them, as it is already the end of a learning period. Different from summative assessment, formative assessment is based on information collected in the classroom work and that attention to improving its practice can enhance the learners achievements. For example, English teachers ask students to write an essay, complete a research project, or give a speech in front of whole class. This kind of assessment will provide more information on students learning during the learning process and will be useful for teachers to adjust their teaching according to students needs and base teaching on the success or difficulties of students learning. Formative assessment will be similar to activities that are often carried out in classroom. Students may develop their assessment tasks based on certain classroom activities, work out criteria to be followed when assessing students performance, and do record keeping. The issues involved here are summarized very briefly by Miller, Imrie, and Cox (1998). Formative assessment focuses on the process of learning, and gives students practice in essential skill such as essay writing, problem solving. This type of assessment should be to provide regular feedback to students in order to stimulate learning. (Miller, Imrie and Cox, 1998) Harlen (2004) states the relationship between assessment for formative and summative purpose. Teachers can use summative assessment evidence to help learning, and at the same time, using formative assessment information for summative assessment. It is both a weakness and a strength that summative assessment derived by interpreting formative evidence in a different way that both are in the hand of the teacher. 2.2 What to assess? Journals/ reflective logs/ diaries Brown (1997) argued that learning diaries, logs and journals are essentially the same, in that all are regarded as to promote feedback and all are based on the concept that the feedback is beneficial language learning. Nevertheless, someone always keep it in her/his mind that there are differences between these three activities. Take one example, Freeman and Lewis (1998) find that logs has less personal than diaries. Logs record a learners activities truthfully, while diaries are a personal selection of events that can add some reflection and understanding of their learning. Furthermore, Gibbs (1995) puts journals between diaries and logs, because journals include some reflection but not as personal as a diary. Journals Journal writing is a powerful way for individuals to give accounts of their experience (Clandinin and Connelly, 1994: 421), while writing journal is not only for this purpose, Brown (1997) points out four purposes of leaning journals. He discusses that journal writing as a type of assessment tool creates students opportunities to reflect their learning progress and problems; record students learning experiences. It is also a chance for expressing feeling and emotion of their leaning. Logs Brown (1997) states that student can use learning logs to provide a self-report of their learning experience. In order to solve the problem of this kind of assessment, Brown (1997) proposes that logs may include information concerning what language error or mistakes starts have been made, the reason why occurred this kind of error, how to solve this problems and which kind of approaches will be helpful. Freeman and Lewis (1998:254) emphasize that making an explicit and clear criteria is very important. They advise teacher to tell their student: what to record; how much detail to record; the number and range of items to include; the time period over which to record; the desired format; the type of analysis to be carried out prior to submission. Diaries A diary is a book, which has a separate space, or page for each day, students can write down their learning experiences they have and their private thoughts. A diary with real-time features includes written records, but also involves pictures and other multimedia. Therefore, diaries are described as an appropriate form of assessment where the learning is focusing on the processes of doing something rather than on the result. Diary writing could be a way of building up students confidence in their own thoughts and feelings, rather than taking on other peoples in an uncritical fashion. It could be said therefore to encourage independent thinking (Ashcroft and Foreman-Peck, 1994:59). Falchikov (2005) critically evaluate the advantage and disadvantage of diary writing. These techniques are easy to use and cost effective. What is more? Self-reporting is believed to engender self-revelation, therefore, useful for collecting intimate information. However, a number of disadvantages have also been identified. Assessing logs, journals and diaries As with many of the newer assessment methods, little is recorded in the literature about how logs, journals or diaries may be assessed. Bound and Knights (1994) asserted that setting an assignment which teacher believe will encourage reflection is not sufficient, as the intent of the student is a important determinant of what actually happens. Additionally, Brown (1997) indicated that no study had been done to certain whether the use of learning journals changes the style of learning. Based on his own experience of using the learning log method, assessment may be carried out in a number of ways. Teacher may mark the written record, or using the guidelines supplied as criteria against which to judge the work. Students may submit a self-assessment of all or part of the record. McNamara and Deane (1995) refer to that peer assessment is not suitable method for assessing logs, journals and diaries. Because these diaries were, meant to be private and read only by the writers themselves Oral presentation Falchikov (2005) states that in oral presentations, students research a topic and present their achievement in front of their teacher and other classmates. Oral presentation are often linked with self or peer assessment. Falchikov (2005a) find that involving students in the assessment of oral presentation is very beneficial. At the same time, ask the other peer have to provide feedback, which can get the other students concentration. This way will be more active engagement than simply listening. This kind of assessment will not only improve the oral skill of the students, but also may be developing the other skill. Portfolios Because progress tests and proficiency tests are both need to assess students at the certain time, students only get one-off chance to reveal their real level of knowledge. It is unfair to some students who are not good at exams innately. As a result, portfolio assessment appeared, unlike traditional measures which tend to evaluate students possession of knowledge at the certain time, portfolio assessment can allow students to show their best pieces of work over the period of time. There are some obvious benefits of portfolio assessment; firstly, it makes students more independent and self-governing. Whats more ¼Ã… ¸Students have a chance to modify their work before submitting, it will have a positive wash back effect on assessment. (Harmer, 2007) However, the pitfalls still exist in portfolio assessment. Using portfolio assessment can be time-consuming; teacher need more time to give the marks. The reliability of portfolio assessment need to be consider, because students complete this kind of assessment out of classroom, it is difficult to confirm that the students finish their assessment by themselves, nobody helps them. (Harmer, 2007) 2.3 The relationship between assessment and pedagogy Before we discuss the relationship between assessment and teaching approach, we need to clear the concept of these approaches: Their definitions, features and so on. The Presentation, Practice and Production (PPP) PPP refer to presentation, practice and production. At the presentation stage, the teacher introduces new vocabulary and grammatical structures. At the practice stage, the lesson moves from controlled to guided practice. At the production stage, teacher will encourage students to present what they have learned and perform some communicative activity. In this stage, the heart of the matter is on meaning ¼Ã‹â€ fluency ¼Ã¢â‚¬ °rather than forms (accuracy). (Harmer, 2007) Some of the advantages of the PPP model are that first it is clear and easy to conduct by the teacher. Secondly, it is easy to evaluate, as there are often clear goals to be obtained. Thirdly, there is the belief that learning with focus on forms will become one kind of habit (Skehan, 1996). Nevertheless, with the development of theories in TESOL, some language teachers keep it in their mind that the PPP model is not valid. It is not enough for the teacher to simply help practise the structure. The teacher should also try to create meaningful teaching materials for student to use the structures learned in real communication (Wang, 2006).. Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT) Task-based Language Teaching is widely promoted in English language teaching nowadays. Many teachers are asking what is Task-based Language Teaching? How is TBLT different from communicative language teaching? Task-based Language Teaching is, in fact, a further development of CLT (Walsh, 2011). Thornbury (2006) suggests that TBLT has emerged from the strong form of CLT. It shares the same beliefs, as language should be learned as close as possible to how it is used in real life. However, it has stressed the importance to combine form-focused teaching with communication-focused teaching. When students are carrying out a task, they are focusing on the complete act of communication. Sometimes, however, we may wish to focus their attention on individual aspects of language, such as vocabulary, grammar or individual skills. We can call these activity exercises. Another kind of activity, which is very common in CLT, comes halfway between tasks and exercises. This kind of activity consists of contextualised practice of language items (often a particular grammar point). For instance, it could be an activity that helps the students to master the present continuous tense by getting them to describe what is happening in a picture. This kind of activity can be called an exercised-task. (Littlewood, 1993) Differences between PPP and TBLT Willis (1996) provided two perspectives to identify the difference between PPP and TBLT. The way learners express language in TBLT is completely different from PPP (Willis, 1996). In TBLT, all 3 components (task, planning and report) are free of language control, students have to rely on their own language resources. The purpose of TBLT is using language for real communication. In PPP model, learners adjust their language at the practice stage. Nevertheless, in TBLT, we adjust our language at the report stagethe last one. The planning stage encourages students to consider appropriateness and accuracy of the language form in general, rather than the production of a single form. The report allows learner to exchange their idea and information freely, but in PPP model, learners do not have any freedom to a certain extent. TBLT can provide a context for grammar teaching and form-focused activities. PPP is different in this aspect (Willis, 1996). In PPP model, with the presentation of the target language coming first, this context has to be invented. However, in TBLT, the context is already established by the task itself. When students finished the task, the language is already familiar. The activities in TBLT encourages learners to use the target language to analyse and think, not just simply to repeat. A PPP model leads from accuracy to fluency; a TBLT cycle leads from fluency to accuracy (combined with fluency). Overall, PPP offers a simplified approach to language learning. It is based upon the idea that you can present language in a clear way. Moreover, your language develops by adding new forms from one lesson to the next. However, simply being able to produce forms in isolation will not help learners acquire the language for communication. Research proves that if there are plenty of opportunities with students to practise language in meaningful context, which will be the best way for students to acquire language effectively. (Frost, 2004) 2.3.4 Introduction of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) Although people have different understanding of communicative language teaching, the following three principles suggested by Richards and Rodgers (2001): Communication principle: the core of CLT activities are real communication, which will promote language learning. Task principle: the language used in activities is for carrying out the tasks, which will promote learning. Meaningfulness principle: language that is meaningful to the learner supports the learning process. It is important to note that CLT requires a higher level of communicative competence on the part of the teacher. It also requires that teacher develops a wider range of skills beyond the presentation and explanation of grammatical structures (Hedge, 2000). In a communicative classroom, a great deal of time is spent on managing learning, setting up activities, organizing resources, guiding students in pair/group work. Howatt (1984) proposes a weak and a strong version of CLT. With the weak version, learners first acquire language as a structural system and then learn how to use it in communication. The strong version of CLT claims that language is acquired through communication (Howatt, 1984:279). This means that learners discover the structural system in the process of learning how to communicate. In other words, the weak version regards overt teaching of language forms and functions as necessary means for helping learners to develop the ability to use them for communication, whereas the strong version regards experiences of using the language as the main means or necessary condition for learning a language as they provide the experience for learners to see how language is used in communication. Savignon (2004) maintains that CLT in its strong form cannot be adhered to via a single textbook, implicitly suggesting that ELT materials that are termed communicative must be adhering to the weaker form. 3. Methodology 3.1 Research question The topic research question: What are English teacher own beliefs about the effects of assessment on teaching English experience? Finding the balance between formative assessment and summative assessment. Then try to find the relationship between assessment and pedagogy. I intend to centre on teachers viewpoints on English language assessment. From teachers aspect, the questions will draw attention to the close relationship between assessment and pedagogy. What type of assessment is beneficial to teaching? That is to say, what kind of assessment is good for learning English? When assessment is solely dependent on test results, teachers tend to begin teaching to the test (washback effect). Teaching has become test practice. They try to find out what will be tested and how it will be tested. Is it good for learning English? 3.2 Interview Question Design In the beginning, my interview questions are very generalization, and contain some specialized vocabulary. I used to have an interview experience, so I know if the questions are too hard to answer, will be putting pressure on interviewees. Therefore, I try to make my question simplification and concretization, in order to reduce the pressure on interviewees. Interview questions of teachers 1. According to your teaching experience of students, summative and formative assessment, which kind of assessment do you think is good for language teaching and learning? Why? 2. Could you explain the advantage and disadvantage of each assessment respectively? 3. When you assess your students language learning, how many factors do you consider? What are they? 4. Do you consider the motivation of your students? 5. Besides testing, what are the other methods that can be used to gather information about the knowledge and performance of language learners? Please give examples if possible. 6. What are the usual formats of the tests that you have taken in your experiences of English teaching? 7. Is there any particular format that you like or dislike? Give your reasons. 8. Do you think examinations could reflect student learning better than the other type of assessment? If yes, give a reason. If no, please take one instance. 3.3 Methods the Rationales Since the total conception of the research was based on investigating English language teachers and Chinese learners own beliefs about the effects of assessment on learning English experience, go without saying, the research methods used should be satisfied this determination. Qualitative approach is above all else a person-centred enterprise and therefore particularly appropriate to our work in the field of language teaching (Richards, 2003:9), so it deserves to be depended on in my research. A number of different interview types can be employed to gather data for qualitative research. Interviews are often associated with survey-based research, as well as being a technique used by many qualitative researchers. In structured interviews, researchers usually ask an identical set of questions of all respondents. Less rigid are semi-structured interview, in which the researcher used a written list of questions as a guide, while still having the freedom to digress and explore more information. On the other hand, in unstructured interview, no list of questions is used. Instead, interviewers develop and adapt their own questions, helping respondents to open up and express themselves in their own terms and at their own speed. (Mackey and Gass, 2005) Mackey and Gass (2005) stated that interviews could allow researchers to investigate phenomena that are not directly observable, such as learners self-reported perceptions or attitudes. In addition, because interviews are interactive, researchers can elicit additional data if initial answers are vague, digression, incomplete, or not specific enough. Another advantage of interview is that they can be used to elicit data from learners who are not comfortable in other modes. Take one instance, some learners are more at ease speaking than writing and more likely to provide extended answers in a conversational format. Depending on the research question and the resources available, interviews can also be conducted in the learners mother tongue (L1), thus removing concerns about the proficiency of the learner affecting the quality and quantity of the data provided. According to the two groups of interviewee, I apply in different interview type. For students group, I prefer using semi-structured interview. For teachers group, the narrative interview may be the best policy. Actually, the narrative interview is one kind of unstructured interview. Flick (2002) defines that the narrative interview is different from the traditional way of interview, which will help the researchers free themselves from the question-answer pattern and approach the personal experience of interviewees. The interviewees are encouraged to tell their own stories of the assessment on learning English experience. 3.4 Research Procedure I explained to my interviewee in the beginning about the whole process, the orientation of the questions, and the time needed approximately. During the process of our interview, the interviewees could speak both English and Chinese. Because I had no experience about how to conduct an interview, and did not do the Pilot Study that is a simulated interview before the real interview. Therefore, when I interview my first participant -Wing, sometime she confused by the question which sounded profound. Wing was my best friend in China and she was very nice and patient. If she did not understand what I mean, she will discuss with me about this question. Then I revised my questions with her help. She proposed some suggestion for my interview. I also discuss with her about my question for students. During the process of interview, I encourage interviewees to talk about some of their own experiences. Moreover, do not mind if they use Chinese to explain the questions more clearly. Finally, after we went through all the questions, the interview was going smoothly. 3.5 Ethical Concerns There are some important ethical concerns, which have been considered throughout the entire study. At first, consent both in written (see Appendix) and verbal form was given to each potential participant previously, so that they could have enough time to decide whether to join this research. Because my research method is interview, my participants are not anonymous to me. Therefore, protecting their privacy and holding in confidence what they share with me must be the best policy. I will fully inform all of participants about my research purpose, and make sure they totally understand what their agreement to participate entail. Furthermore, participates can withdraw from my research at any time. 4. Result Teacher A : Wing What is Wings belief about the effects of assessment on learning English experience? Wing thinks that English assessment, especially test is absolutely very important. Because she worked in a Cram school, has lots of pressure from the administrate of the school and her students parents. What is assessment? Wing regards the language assessment as a tool to keep a check on her learners, through a language assessment, she can find out strengths and weakness of her students and herself. Actually, in most of cases, Wing thinks that assessment is to do with testing. Do you think examinations could reflect student learning better than the other type of assessment? If yes, give a reason. If no, please take one instance. Wing believes that examinations cannot be said to be the best means of assessment, but the test is really the most effective way to measure students language learning effect. Besides testing, what are the other methods that can be used to gather information about the knowledge and performance of language learners? That is to say, what are the other methods that you prefer using to assess your student? You have some choices: teachers observation, interview, journals/ reflective logs/diaries, oral presentations, portfolios. Wing recalls the day when she was a student, both her English and Chinese language teachers recommended diary writing as an effective means of improving language proficiency. Therefore, when she started as a teacher, she began to try to use this method to assess her students. Actually, diary writing is the better way to assess student grammar and vocabulary. Towards grammar, she could identify common error in the use of article, tenses and preposition. Common errors in the spelling of particular word were also easily spotted. Towards vocabulary, diary writing can be very good to help students understand some words of their special usage. For example, lots of students always confuse the usage of the words hope and wish, because in China, there is a word can express both these two words. In students diaries, many students often want to express a strong desire or hope for something, but they always confound these two words. Wing mentions that some students translate their meaning from Chinese to English directly, they do not think in English way. After a period, Wing finds that dairies writing have some shortcoming. For example, sometimes teacher is hard to control what student write. Sometimes what students write are not teacher want to assess. Sometimes Wing finds that it is quite difficult to comments or analyses her students diaries, because diaries is their own experience. Therefore, Wing changes her assessment method in the other way. She ask all of her student to read a series of books BOOK WORMS which was published by Oxford University Press. This series of books are the simplification of many world famous works. Every time she will layout a book requires students to read at home, and then write impression of the book. she wants to find out the difficulties her students had with a summary assignment they had been given, so she requested that her students write in their diary, talk about the difficulties they had when they did the assignment. However, Wing also finds out that if she too frequently requires students to do like that, by the time the students have lost all their motivation for writing diary. According to your teaching experience of students, summative and formative assessment, which kind of assessment do you think is good for language teaching and learning? Why? Because Wing works in a Cram school, each student in this school has a goalthat is to pass the exam. This invisible to students a great deal of pressure, will definitely affect their learning effect. She believes that formative assessment is good for language teaching and learning. Consider the other methods (you mentioned at question 3) that you prefer using to assess your student again, which is your purpose of this assessment method? Formative or summative? Formative assessment. Wing think that it could be for summative assessment, but she think there is intense pressure on her students from exam, she does not want to put more pressure on her students. Therefore, she always assess her students by formative purpose. In your classroom, what teaching methods do you usually use? Grammar translation approach or you can say that is PPP (Presentation, Practice and Production) module. When you assess your students language learning, how many factors do you consider? You have some choice: linguistic (Grammar and Vocabulary), interest, culture background, motivation, teaching approach, to foster learning ability. Wing states that she will consider grammar and vocabulary at the first place, because all of her teaching and assessment are examination-oriented. Do you think that your main teaching approach will influence you to assess your students? Wing says that it is difficult to answer this question. She want to say yes, because her teaching goal is examination-oriented, she use grammar-translation approach, therefore, she is unable to control herself to consider linguistic (Grammar and Vocabulary) when she assess her students. Teacher B: Linda What is Lindas belief about the effects of assessment on learning English experience? Linda works in a private high school, she has approximately 2 years teaching experience. What is assessment? Linda always use language assessment in her classroom, she regards language assessment as a way of keeping a check on the student learning. She always carry out an assessment with recording-keeping, to discover learners achievements. Do you think examinations could reflect student learning better than the other type of assessment? If yes, give a reason. If no, please take one instance. Linda thinks that examination is not the only way that could reflect student learning. She cannot decide which one is better. Besides testing, what are the other methods that can be used to gather information about the knowledge and performance of language learners? That is to say, what are the other methods that you prefer using to assess your student? You have some choices: teachers observation, interview, journals/ reflective logs/diaries, oral presentations, portfolios. Linda indicated that she always use interview and oral presentation to assess her students. Compared to other skills, Linda pays more attention to speaking skill during she assess her student. She suggests dividing her process of assessment into two parts: If it is the first time she meets a student, she prefers to interview s/he face to face. Regard to her all class, Linda think oral presentation is not only benefit for students learning, but also good for team cooperation spirit. According to your teaching experience of students, summative and formative assessment, which kind of assessment do you think is good for language teaching and learning? Why? Formative assessment. In the process of learning, keep abreast of student mastery of knowledge, correct errors in a timely manner, to amend his mistakes early is better than the final. Consider the other methods (you mentioned at question 3) that you prefer using to assess your student again, which is your purpose of this assessment method? Formative or summative? For interview, Linda think formative assessment will be her purpose, because it focus on what are the next steps in learning. For oral presentation, summative assessment will be h

Themes Of Unity In The Grapes Essays -- essays research papers

John Steinbeck's novel, The Grapes of Wrath, is a moving account of the social plight of Dustbowl farmers and is widely considered an American classic. The novel takes place during the depression of the 1930s in Oklahoma and all points west to California. Steinbeck uses the Joad family as a specific example of the general plight of the poor farmers. The Joads are forced off of their farm in Oklahoma by the banks and drought, and they, like many other families of the time, head out for the promised land of California. They endure much hardship along the way, and they finally make it to California only to find that work is scarce and human labor and life are cheap. Tom Joad, the eldest son in the family, starts the book freshly out of jail and slowly evolves from selfish goals to a sense of an ideal worldly purpose in uniting people against injustice. Jim Casy, an errant preacher who is accepted into the Joad family early into the story, changes his beliefs to include all people in a s ort of oversoul, as he helps to organize the workers to battle the extreme injustice done onto them by the farm owners and discriminating locals. Whereas the Joads start out as one family, by the end of the story their family becomes one with other families who are weathering the same plight of starvation and senseless violence. In The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck emphasizes the power of groups over the individual's power to survive poverty and violence through character evolution, plot and the use of figurative and philosophical language.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Tom Joad begins the novel with self-seeking aims, but with the ex-preacher Jim Casy as a mentor, he evolves into an idealistic group leader. Tom first meets Jim on his way home from jail. There begins a lasting friendship with the verbose preacher, who is going through a belief makeover and steadily moving toward the Emersonian oversoul including all people in a general spirit of human love and kinship. Tom is steadily angered more and more with his family's plight, but even into the beginning of the family's journey, he still has individualistic thoughts that consume his ideas. When Jim is trying to get Tom to think of the big picture, to get a worldly view of the effects of the hundreds of thousands of people moving west, Tom says, 'I'm still laying my dogs down one at a time,'; and 'I climb fences when I got fe... ...e way for the concern of the people'; (Bowden 196). And most critics agree that 'the sense of communal unit grows steadily through [Steinbeck's] narrative'; (Lisca 97). In the chapters that explain the general situation of life in California, Steinbeck figuratively and philosophically explains the evolution of unity and equality.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Grapes of Wrath clearly demonstrates the theme that when overcoming hardship the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. At the end of the story Ma Joad has come to understand that her family is just part of another larger family of the migrant poor. Tom Joad comes full circle from individualistic aims to embracing the group and organization of the masses. The main events in the Joads' life at the government camp and the strike at the peach orchards also emphasize unity. At times in his narrative Steinbeck even blatantly explains his philosophies of group power and shared burden. As one critic puts it 'The family of man is even more than a necessity for the Joads: it is an ideal of the novel'; (Bowden 199). Steinbeck truly succeeds in giving the reader the message that when united people stand, but divided they fall.

Hawthornes Scarlet Letter - Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale and the Scaffold Scenes :: Scarlet Letter essays

The Scarlet Letter   - Dimmesdale and the Scaffold Scenes In Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter," there are three very important scenes that all take place at the town scaffold, a place of great shame in their strict Puritan society. These scenes represent the progression of Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale over the course of the story. Each scene involves him in some way and one can easily see that he has changed dramatically in all three. The first scaffold scene takes place in the very beginning of the story. Hester Prynne, a woman who has committed adultery and will not name the father of her child, is forced to stand upon the scaffold in shame for three hours in front of a crowd of people. Dimmesdale, who is later revealed as the father, openly denies his sin and even goes as far as telling Hester to "speak out the name of thy fellow-sinner and fellow-sufferer," in order to make sure that nobody suspects him. While the author doesn't make his guilt very obvious, he does give a few hints that suggest Dimmesdale does have some sort of hidden secret. In this scene, the Reverend shows his original strength of character, which he slowly loses over the course of the story. Seven years later, in the middle of the night, Dimmesdale finally admits to his sin while standing on the scaffold, just as Hester did so very long ago. It has been eating away at him all this time and feels that he also must be punished, though he cannot bring himself to confess publicly. He even brands his chest with the same letter "A" that Hester has been forced to wear upon her clothing to show that she is an adulterer. In the third and final scaffold scene, Dimmesdale finally reveals his secret to the public. And as "Pearl kissed his lips...a spell was broken," Dimmesdale conquers his guilt and dies right there on the scaffold with an open conscience. He also escapes

Foucault Power

The Subject and Power Author(s): Michel Foucault Source: Critical Inquiry, Vol. 8, No. 4 (Summer, 1982), pp. 777-795 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Stable URL: http://www. jstor. org/stable/1343197 . Accessed: 26/09/2011 07:49 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www. jstor. org/page/info/about/policies/terms. jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive.We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email  protected] org. The University of Chicago Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Critical Inquiry. http://www. jstor. org The Subject and Power Michel Foucault Why Study Power? The Question of the Subject The ideas which I wo uld like to discuss here represent neither a theory nor a methodology. I would like to say, first of all, what has been the goal of my work during the last twenty years.It has not been to analyze the phenomena of power, nor to elaborate the foundations of such an analysis. My objective, instead, has been to create a history of the different modes by which, in our culture, human beings are made subjects. My work has dealt with three modes of objectification which transform human beings into subjects. The first is the modes of inquiry which try to give themselves the status of sciences; for example, the objectivizing of the speaking subject in grammaire generale, philology, and linguistics.Or again, in this first mode, the objectivizing of the productive subject, the subject who labors, in the analysis of wealth and of economics. Or, a third example, the objectivizing of the sheer fact of being alive in natural history or biology. In the second part of my work, I have studied the obje ctivizing of the subject in what I shall call â€Å"dividing practices. † The subject is either This essay was written by Michel Foucault as an afterword to Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralismand Hermeneuticsby Hubert L.Dreyfus and Paul Rabinow and reprinted by arrangement with the University of Chicago Press. â€Å"Why Study Power? The Question of the Subject† was written in English by Foucault; â€Å"How Is Power Exercised? † was translated from the French by Leslie Sawyer. Critical Inqury 8 (Summer 1982) , 1982 by The Uni ersity of Chicago. 0093-1896/82/0804-0006$01. 00. All rights reserved. 777 778 Michel Foucault The Subjectand Power divided inside himself or divided from others. This process objectivizes him. Examples are the mad and the sane, the sick and the healthy, the criminals and the â€Å"good boys. Finally, I have sought to study-it is my current work-the way a human being turns himself into a subject. For example, I have chosen the domain of s exuality-how men have learned to recognize themselves as subjects of â€Å"sexuality. † Thus, it is not power but the subject which is the general theme of my research. It is true that I became quite involved with the question of power. It soon appeared to me that, while the human subject is placed in relations of production and of signification, he is equally placed in power relations which are very complex.Now, it seemed to me that economic history and theory provided a good instrument for relations of production and that linguistics and semiotics offered instruments for studying relations of signification; but for power relations we had no tools of study. We had recourse only to ways of thinking about power based on legal models, that is: What legitimates power? Or, we had recourse to ways of thinking about power based on institutional models, that is: What is the state? It was therefore necessary to expand the dimensions of a definition of power if one wanted to use this definition in studying the objectivizing of the subject.Do we need a theory of power? Since a theory assumes a prior objectification, it cannot be asserted as a basis for analytical work. But this analytical work cannot proceed without an ongoing conceptualization. And this conceptualization implies critical thought-a constant checking. The first thing to check is what I shall call the â€Å"conceptual needs. † I mean that the conceptualization should not be founded on a theory of the object-the conceptualized object is not the single criterion of a good conceptualization. We have to know the historical conditions which motivate our conceptualization.We need a historical awareness of our present circumstance. The second thing to check is the type of reality with which we are dealing. A writer in a well-known French newspaper once expressed his surprise: â€Å"Why is the notion of power raised by so many people today? Is Michel Foucault has been teaching at the College de Fra nce since 1970. His works include Madness and Civilization (1961), The Birth of the Clinic (1966), Discipline and Punish (1975), and History of Sexuality (1976), the first volume of a projected five-volume study. Critical Inquiry Summer1982 779 it such an important subject?Is it so independent that it can be discussed without taking into account other problems? † This writer's surprise amazes me. I feel skeptical about the assumption that this question has been raised for the first time in the twentieth century. Anyway, for us it is not only a theoretical question but a part of our experience. I'd like to mention only two â€Å"pathological forms†-those two â€Å"diseases of power†-fascism and Stalinism. One of the numerous reasons why they are, for us, so puzzling is that in spite of their historical uniqueness they are not quite original. They used and extended mechanisms already present in most other societies.More than that: in spite of their own internal mad ness, they used to a large extent the ideas and the devices of our political rationality. What we need is a new economy of power relations-the word â€Å"economy† being used in its theoretical and practical sense. To put it in other words: since Kant, the role of philosophy is to prevent reason from going beyond the limits of what is given in experience; but from the same moment-that is, since the development of the modern state and the political management of society-the role of philosophy is also to keep watch over the excessive powers of political rationality, which is a rather high expectation.Everybody is aware of such banal facts. But the fact that they're banal does not mean they don't exist. What we have to do with banal facts is to discover-or try to discover-which specific and perhaps original problem is connected with them. The relationship between rationalization and excesses of political power is evident. And we should not need to wait for bureaucracy or concentr ation camps to recognize the existence of such relations. But the problem is: What to do with such an evident fact? Shall we try reason? To my mind, nothing would be more sterile.First, because the field has nothing to do with guilt or innocence. Second, because it is senseless to refer to reason as the contrary entity to nonreason. Last, because such a trial would trap us into playing the arbitrary and boring part of either the rationalist or the irrationalist. Shall we investigate this kind of rationalism which seems to be specific to our modern culture and which originates in Aufkldrung? I think that was the approach of some of the members of the Frankfurt School. My purpose, however, is not to start a discussion of their works, although they are most important and valuable.Rather, I would suggest another way of investigating the links between rationalization and power. It may be wise not to take as a whole the rationalization of society or of culture but to analyze such a proces s in several fields, each with reference to a fundamental experience: madness, illness, death, crime, sexuality, and so forth. I think that the word â€Å"rationalization† is dangerous. What we have 780 Michel Foucault The Subjectand Power to do is analyze specific rationalities rather than always invoke the progress of rationalization in general.Even if the Aufkliirung has been a very important phase in our history and in the development of political technology, I think we have to refer to much more remote processes if we want to understand how we have been trapped in our own history. I would like to suggest another way to go further toward a new economy of power relations, a way which is more empirical, more directly related to our present situation, and which implies more relations between theory and practice. It consists of taking the forms of resistance against different forms of power as a starting point.To use another metaphor, it consists of using this resistance as a chemical catalyst so as to bring to light power relations, locate their position, and find out their point of application and the methods used. Rather than analyzing power from the point of view of its internal rationality, it consists of analyzing power relations through the antagonism of strategies. For example, to find out what our society means by sanity, perhaps we should investigate what is happening in the field of insanity. And what we mean by legality in the field of illegality.And, in order to understand what power relations are about, perhaps we should investigate the forms of resistance and attempts made to dissociate these relations. As a starting point, let us take a series of oppositions which have developed over the last few years: opposition to the power of men over women, of parents over children, of psychiatry over the mentally ill, of medicine over the population, of administration over the ways people live. It is not enough to say that these are anti-authority struggles; we must try to define more precisely what they have in common. . They are â€Å"transversal† struggles; that is, they are not limited to one country. Of course, they develop more easily and to a greater extent in certain countries, but they are not confined to a particular political or economic form of government. 2. The aim of these struggles is the power effects as such. For example, the medical profession is not criticized primarily because it is a profit-making concern but because it exercises an uncontrolled power over people's bodies, their health, and their life and death. 3. These are â€Å"immediate† struggles for two reasons.In such struggles people criticize instances of power which are the closest to them, those which exercise their action on individuals. They do not look for the â€Å"chief enemy† but for the immediate enemy. Nor do they expect to find a solution to their problem at a future date (that is, liberations, revolutions, end of class struggle). In comparison with a theoretical scale of explanations or a revolutionary order which polarizes the historian, they are anarchistic struggles. Critical Inquiry Summer1982 781 But these are not their most original points. The following seem to me to be more specific. . They are struggles which question the status of the individual: on the one hand, they assert the right to be different, and they underline everything which makes individuals truly individual. On the other hand, they attack everything which separates the individual, breaks his links with others, splits up community life, forces the individual back on himself, and ties him to his own identity in a constraining way. These struggles are not exactly for or against the â€Å"individual† but rather they are struggles against the â€Å"government of individualization. 5. They are an opposition to the effects of power which are linked with knowledge, competence, and qualification: struggles against the privileges of knowledge. But they are also an opposition against secrecy, deformation, and mystifying representations imposed on people. There is nothing â€Å"scientistic† in this (that is, a dogmatic belief in the value of scientific knowledge), but neither is it a skeptical or relativistic refusal of all verified truth. What is questioned is the way in which knowledge circulates and functions, its relations to power.In short, the regime du savoir. 6. Finally, all these present struggles revolve around the question: Who are we? They are a refusal of these abstractions, of economic and ideological state violence, which ignore who we are individually, and also a refusal of a scientific or administrative inquisition which determines who one is. To sum up, the main objective of these struggles is to attack not so much â€Å"such or such† an institution of power, or group, or elite, or class but rather a technique, a form of power.This form of power applies itself to imm ediate everyday life which categorizes the individual, marks him by his own individuality, attaches him to his own identity, imposes a law of truth on him which he must recognize and which others have to recognize in him. It is a form of power which makes individuals subjects. There are two meanings of the word â€Å"subject†: subject to someone else by control and dependence; and tied to his own identity by a conscience or self-knowledge. Both meanings suggest a form of power which subjugates and makes subject to.Generally, it can be said that there are three types of struggles: either against forms of domination (ethnic, social, and religious); against forms of exploitation which separate individuals from what they produce; or against that which ties the individual to himself and submits him to others in this way (struggles against subjection, against forms of subjectivity and submission). I think that in history you can find a lot of examples of these three kinds of social struggles, either isolated from each other or mixed together. But even when they are mixed, one of them, most of the time, prevails.For instance, in the feudal societies, the struggles against the 782 Michel Foucault The Subjectand Power forms of ethnic or social domination were prevalent, even though economic exploitation could have been very important among the revolt's causes. In the nineteenth century, the struggle against exploitation came into the foreground. And nowadays, the struggle against the forms of subjectionagainst the submission of subjectivity-is becoming more and more important, even though the struggles against forms of domination and exploitation have not disappeared. Quite the contrary. I suspect that it is ot the first time that our society has been confronted with this kind of struggle. All those movements which took place in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and which had the Reformation as their main expression and result should be analyzed as a great c risis of the Western experience of subjectivity and a revolt against the kind of religious and moral power which gave form, during the Middle Ages, to this subjectivity. The need to take a direct part in spiritual life, in the work of salvation, in the truth which lies in the Book-all that was a struggle for a new subjectivity.I know what objections can be made. We can say that all types of subjection are derived phenomena, that they are merely the consequences of other economic and social processes: forces of production, class struggle, and ideological structures which determine the form of subjectivity. It is certain that the mechanisms of subjection cannot be studied outside their relation to the mechanisms of exploitation and domination. But they do not merely constitute the â€Å"terminal† of more fundamental mechanisms. They entertain complex and circular relations with other forms.The reason this kind of struggle tends to prevail in our society is due to the fact that, since the sixteenth century, a new political form of power has been continuously developing. This new political structure, as everybody knows, is the state. But most of the time, the state is envisioned as a kind of political power which ignores individuals, looking only at the interests of the totality or, I should say, of a class or a group among the citizens. That's quite true. But I'd like to underline the fact that the state's power (and that's one of the reasons for its strength) is both an individualizing and a totalizing form of power.Never, I think, in the history of human societies–even in the old Chinese society-has there been such a tricky combination in the same political structures of individualization techniques and of totalization procedures. This is due to the fact that the modern Western state has integrated in a new political shape an old power technique which originated in Christian institutions. We can call this power technique the pastoral power. Critic al Inquiry Summer1982 783 First of all, a few words about this pastoral power.It has often been said that Christianity brought into being a code of ethics fundamentally different from that of the ancient world. Less emphasis is usually placed on the fact that it proposed and spread new power relations throughout the ancient world. Christianity is the only religion which has organized itself as a church. And as such, it postulates in principle that certain individuals can, by their religious quality, serve others not as princes, magistrates, prophets, fortune-tellers, benefactors, educationalists, and so on but as pastors.However, this word designates a very special form of power. 1. It is a form of power whose ultimate aim is to assure individual salvation in the next world. 2. Pastoral power is not merely a form of power which commands; it must also be prepared to sacrifice itself for the life and salvation of the flock. Therefore, it is different from royal power, which demands a sacrifice from its subjects to save the throne. 3. It is a form of power which does not look after just the whole community but each individual in particular, during his entire life. 4.Finally, this form of power cannot be exercised without knowing the inside of people's minds, without exploring their souls, without making them reveal their innermost secrets. It implies a knowledge of the conscience and an ability to direct it. This form of power is salvation oriented (as opposed to political power). It is oblative (as opposed to the principle of sovereignty); it is individualizing (as opposed to legal power); it is coextensive and continuous with life; it is linked with a production of truth-the truth of the individual himself.But all this is part of history, you will say; the pastorate has, if not disappeared, at least lost the main part of its efficiency. This is true, but I think we should distinguish between two aspects of pastoral power-between the ecclesiastical institutional ization, which has ceased or at least lost its vitality since the eighteenth century, and its function, which has spread and multiplied outside the ecclesiastical institution.An important phenomenon took place around the eighteenth century-it was a new distribution, a new organization of this kind of individualizing power. I don't think that we should consider the â€Å"modern state† as an entity which was developed above individuals, ignoring what they are and even their very existence, but, on the contrary, as a very sophisticated structure, in which individuals can be integrated, under one condition: that this individuality would be shaped in a new form and submitted to a set of very specific patterns.In a way, we can see the state as a modern matrix of individualization or a new form of pastoral power. 784 Michel Foucault The Subjectand Power A few more words about this new pastoral power. 1. We may observe a change in its objective. It was no longer a question of leading people to their salvation in the next world but rather ensuring it in this world. And in this context, the word â€Å"salvation† takes on different meanings: health, well-being (that is, sufficient wealth, standard of living), security, protection against accidents.A series of â€Å"worldly† aims took the place of the religious aims of the traditional pastorate, all the more easily because the latter, for various reasons, had followed in an accessory way a certain number of these aims; we only have to think of the role of medicine and its welfare function assured for a long time by the Catholic and Protestant churches. 2. Concurrently the officials of pastoral power increased. Sometimes this form of power was exerted by state apparatus or, in any case, by a public institution such as the police. We should not forget that in the eighteenth century the police force was not invented only for maintaining law and order, nor for assisting governments in their struggle again st their enemies, but for assuring urban supplies, hygiene, health, and standards considered necessary for handicrafts and commerce. ) Sometimes the power was exercised by private ventures, welfare societies, benefactors, and generally by philanthropists. But ancient institutions, for example the family, were also mobilized at this time to take on pastoral functions. It was also exercised by complex structures such as medicine, hich included private initiatives with the sale of services on market economy principles, but which also included public institutions such as hospitals. 3. Finally, the multiplication of the aims and agents of pastoral power focused the development of knowledge of man around two roles: one, globalizing and quantitative, concerning the population; the other, analytical, concerning the individual. And this implies that power of a pastoral type, which over centuries-for more than a millennium-had been linked to a defined religious institution, suddenly spread ou t into the whole social body; it found support in a multitude of institutions.And, instead of a pastoral power and a political power, more or less linked to each other, more or less rival, there was an individualizing â€Å"tactic† which characterized a series of powers: those of the family, medicine, psychiatry, education, and employers. At the end of' the eighteenth century, Kant wrote, in a German newspaper-the Berliner Monatschrift-a short text. The title was â€Å"Was heisst Aufklairung? † It was for a long time, and it is still, considered a work of relatively small importance.But I can't help finding it very interesting and puzzling because it was the first time a philosopher proposed as a philosophical task to investigate not only the metaphysical system or the foundations of sci- Critical Inquiry Summer1982 785 entific knowledge but a historical event-a recent, even a contemporary event. When in 1784 Kant asked, Was heisst Aufklirung? , he meant, What's going on just now? What's happening to us? What is this world, this period, this precise moment in which we are living? Or in other words: What are we? as Aufklidrer,as part of the Enlightenment? Compare this with the Cartesian question: Who am I?I, as a unique but universal and unhistorical subject? I, for Descartes, is everyone, anywhere at any moment? But Kant asks something else: What are we? in a very precise moment of history. Kant's question appears as an analysis of both us and our present. I think that this aspect of philosophy took on more and more importance. Hegel, Nietzsche †¦ The other aspect of â€Å"universal philosophy† didn't disappear. But the task of philosophy as a critical analysis of our world is something which is more and more important. Maybe the most certain of all philosophical problems is the problem of the present time and of what we are in this very moment.Maybe the target nowadays is not to discover what we are but to refuse what we are. We have to imagine and to build up what we could be to get rid of this kind of political â€Å"double bind,† which is the simultaneous individualization and totalization of modern power structures. The conclusion would be that the political, ethical, social, philosophical problem of our days is not to try to liberate the individual from the state and from the state's institutions but to liberate us both from the state and from the type of individualization which is linked to the state.We have to promote new forms of subjectivity through the refusal of this kind of individuality which has been imposed on us for several centuries. How Is Power Exercised? For some people, asking questions about the â€Å"how† of power would limit them to describing its effects without ever relating those effects either to causes or to a basic nature. It would make this power a mysterious substance which they might hesitate to interrogate in itself, no doubt because they would prefer not to call it into question.By proceeding this way, which is never explicitly justified, they seem to suspect the presence of a kind of fatalism. But does not their very distrust indicate a presupposition that power is something which exists with three distinct qualities: its origin, its basic nature, and its manifestations? If, for the time being, I grant a certain privileged position to the question of â€Å"how,† it is not because I would wish to eliminate the ques- 786 Michel Foucault The Subjectand Power tions of â€Å"what† and â€Å"why. Rather, it is that I wish to present these questions in a different way: better still, to know if it is legitimate to imagine a power which unites in itself a what, a why, and a how. To put it bluntly, I would say that to begin the analysis with a â€Å"how† is to suggest that power as such does not exist. At the very least it is to ask oneself what contents one has in mind when using this all-embracing and reifying term; it is to suspect that an extremely complex configuration of realities is allowed to escape when one treads endlessly in the double question: What is power? and Where does power come from? The little question, What happens? although flat and empirical, once scrutinized is seen to avoid accusing a metaphysics or an ontology of power of being fraudulent; rather, it attempts a critical investigation into the thematics of power. â€Å"How,† not in the sense oJ â€Å"How does it manifest itself? † but â€Å"By what means is it exercised? † and â€Å"Whathappens when individuals exert(as theysay) power over others? † As far as this power is concerned, it is first necessary to distinguish that which is exerted over things and gives the ability to modify, use, consume, or destroy them-a power which stems from aptitudes directly inherent in the body or relayed by external instruments.Let us say that here it is a question of â€Å"capacity. † On the other hand, what c haracterizes the power we are analyzing is that it brings into play relations between individuals (or between groups). For let us not deceive ourselves; if we speak of the structures or the mechanisms of power, it is only insofar as we suppose that certain persons exercise power over others. The term â€Å"power† designates relationships between partners (and by that I am not thinking of a zero-sum game but simply, and for the moment staying in the most general terms, of an ensemble of actions which induce others and follow from one another).It is necessary also to distinguish power relations from relationships of communication which transmit information by means of a language, a system of signs, or any other symbolic medium. No doubt communicating is always a certain way of acting upon another person or persons. But the production and circulation of elements of meaning can have as their objective or as their consequence certain results in the realm of power; the latter are n ot simply an aspect of the former. Whether or not they pass through systems of communication, power relations have a specific nature.Power relations, relationships of communication, and objective capacities should not therefore be confused. This is not to say that there is a question of three separate domains. Nor that there is on one hand the field of things, of perfected technique, work, and the transformation of the real; on the other that of signs, communication, reciprocity, and the production of meaning; and finally, that of the domination of the Critical Inquiry Summer1982 787 means of constraint, of inequality, and the action of men upon other men. It is a question of three types of relationships which in fact always overlap one another, support one another reciprocally, and use each other mutually as means to an end. The application of objective capacities in their most elementary forms implies relationships of communication (whether in the form of previously acquired infor mation or of shared work); it is tied also to power relations (whether they consist of obligatory tasks, of gestures imposed by tradition or apprenticeship, of subdivisions and the more or less obligatory distribution of labor).Relationships of communication imply finalized activities (even if only the correct putting into operation of elements of meaning) and, by virtue of modifying the field of information between partners, produce effects of power. They can scarcely be dissociated from activities brought to their final term, be they those which permit the exercise of this power (such as training techniques, processes of domination, the means by which obedience is obtained) or those, which in order to develop their potential, call upon relations of power (the division of labor and the hierarchy of tasks).Of course, the coordination between these three types of relationships is neither uniform nor constant. In a given society there is no general type of equilibrium between finalize d activities, systems of communication, and power relations. Rather, there are diverse forms, diverse places, diverse circumstances or occasions in which these interrelationships establish themselves according to a specific model.But there are also â€Å"blocks† in which the adjustment of abilities, the resources of communication, and power relations constitute regulated and concerted systems. Take, for example, an educational institution: the disposal of its space, the meticulous regulations which govern its internal life, the different activities which are organized there, the diverse persons who live there or meet one another, each with his own function, his well-defined character-all these things constitute a block of capacitycommunication-power.The activity which ensures apprenticeship and the acquisition of aptitudes or types of behavior is developed there by means of a whole ensemble of regulated communications (lessons, questions and answers, orders, exhortations, cod ed signs of obedience, differentiation marks of the â€Å"value† of each person and of the levels of knowledge) and by the means of a whole series of power processes (enclosure, surveillance, reward and punishment, the pyramidal hierarchy).These blocks, in which the putting into operation of technical capacities, the game of communications, and the relationships of power are adjusted to one another according to considered formulae, con1. When Jiirgen Habermas distinguishes between domination, communication, and finalized activity, I do not think that he sees in them three separate domains but rather three â€Å"transcendentals. † 788 Michel Foucault The Subjectand Power titute what one might call, enlarging a little the sense of the word, â€Å"disciplines. † The empirical analysis of certain disciplines as they have been historically constituted presents for this very reason a certain interest. This is so because the disciplines show, first, according to artifi cially clear and decanted systems, the manner in which systems of objective finality and systems of communication and power can be welded together.They also display different models of articulation, sometimes giving preeminence to power relations and obedience (as in those disciplines of a monastic or penitential type), sometimes to finalize activities (as in the disciplines of workshops or hospitals), sometimes to relationships of communication (as in the disciplines of apprenticeship), sometimes also to a saturation of the three types of relationship (as perhaps in military discipline, where a plethora of signs indicates, to the point of redundancy, tightly knit power relations calculated with care to produce a certain number of technical effects).What is to be understood by the disciplining of societies in Europe since the eighteenth century is not, of course, that the individuals who are part of them become more and more obedient, nor that they set about assembling in barracks, schools, or prisons; rather, that an increasingly better invigilated process of adjustment has been sought after-more and more rational and economic-between productive activities, resources of communication, and the play of power relations.To approach the theme of power by an analysis of â€Å"how† is therefore to introduce several critical shifts in relation to the supposition of a fundamental power. It is to give oneself as the object of analysis power relations and not power itself-power relations which are distinct from objective abilities as well as from relations of communication. This is as much as saying that power relations can be grasped in the diversity of their logical sequence, their abilities, and their interrelationships.What constitutesthe specificnature of power? The exercise of power is not simply a relationship between partners, individual or collective; it is a way in which certain actions modify'others. Which is to say, of course, that something called Po wer, with or without a capital letter, which is assumed to exist universally in a concentrated or diffused form, does not exist. Power exists only when it is put into action, even if, of course, it is integrated into a disparate field of possibilities brought to bear upon permanent structures.This also means that power is not a function of consent. In itself it is not a renunciation of freedom, a transference of rights, the power of each and all delegated to a few (which does not prevent the possibility that consent may be a condition for the existence or the maintenance of power); the relationship of power can be the result of a prior or permanent consent, but it is not by nature the manifestation of a consensus. Critical Inquiry Summer 1982 89 Is this to say that one must seek the character proper to power relations in the violence which must have been its primitive form, its permanent secret, and its last resource, that which in the final analysis appears as its real nature when it is forced to throw aside its mask and to show itself as it really is? In effect, what defines a relationship of power is that it is a mode of action which does not act directly and immediately on others.Instead, it acts upon their actions: an action upon an action, on existing actions or on those which may arise in the present or the future. A relationship of violence acts upon a body or upon things; it forces, it bends, it breaks on the wheel, it destroys, or it closes the door on all possibilities. Its opposite pole can only be passivity, and if it comes up against any resistance, it has no other option but to try to minimize it.On the other hand, a power relationship can only be articulated on the basis of two elements which are each indispensable if it is really to be a power relationship: that â€Å"the other† (the one over whom power is exercised) be thoroughly recognized and maintained to the very end as a person who acts; and that, faced with a relationship of powe r, a whole field of responses, reactions, results, and possible inventions may open up.Obviously the bringing into play of power relations does not exclude the use of violence any more than it does the obtaining of consent; no doubt the exercise of power can never do without one or the other, often both at the same time. But even though consensus and violence are the instruments or the results, they do not constitute the principle or the basic nature of power. The exercise of power can produce as much acceptance as may be wished for: it can pile up the dead and shelter itself behind whatever threats it can imagine.In itself the exercise of power is not violence; nor is it a consent which, implicitly, is renewable. It is a total structure of actions brought to bear upon possible actions; it incites, it induces, it seduces, it makes easier or more difficult; in the extreme it constrains or forbids absolutely; it is nevertheless always a way of acting upon an acting subject or acting s ubjects by virtue of their acting or being capable of action. A set of actions upon other actions.Perhaps the equivocal nature of the term â€Å"conduct† is one of the best aids for coming to terms with the specificity of power relations. For to â€Å"conduct† is at the same time to â€Å"lead† others (according to mechanisms of coercion which are, to varying degrees, strict) and a way of behaving within a more or less open field of possibilities. * The exercise of power consists in guiding the possibility of conduct and putting in order the possible outcome.Basically power is less a confrontation between two adversaries or the linking of one to the other than a question of government. This word must be allowed the very broad meaning *Foucault is playing on the double meaning in French of the verb conduire, â€Å"to lead† or â€Å"to drive,† and se conduire, â€Å"to behave† or â€Å"to conduct oneself†; whence la conduite, â€Å"con duct† or â€Å"behavior. â€Å"-Translator's note. 790 Michel Foucault The Subjectand Power which it had in the sixteenth century. Government† did not refer only to political structures or to the management of states; rather, it designated the way in which the conduct of individuals or of groups might be directed: the government of children, of souls, of communities, of families, of the sick. It did not only cover the legitimately constituted forms of political or economic subjection but also modes of action, more or less considered or calculated, which were destined to act upon the possibilities of action of other people. To govern, in this sense, is to structure the possible field of action of others.The relationship proper to power would not, therefore, be sought on the side of violence or of struggle, nor on that of voluntary linking (all of which can, at best, only be the instruments of power), but rather in the area of the singular mode of action, neither warlike nor juridical, which is government. When one defines the exercise of power as a mode of action upon the actions of others, when one characterizes these actions by the government of men by other men-in the broadest sense of the term-one includes an important element: freedom.Power is exercised only over free subjects, and only insofar as they are free. By this we mean individual or collective subjects who are faced with a field of possibilities in which several ways of behaving, several reactions and diverse comportments, may be realized. Where the determining factors saturate the whole, there is no relationship of power; slavery is not a power relationship when man is in chains. (In this case it is a question of a physical relationship of constraint. Consequently, there is no face-to-face confrontation of power and freedom, which are mutually exclusive (freedom disappears everywhere power is exercised), but a much more complicated interplay. In this game freedom may well appear as the condition for the exercise of power (at the same time its precondition, since freedom must exist for power to be exerted, and also its permanent support, since without the possibility of recalcitrance, power would be equivalent to a physical determination). The relationship between power and freedom's refusal to submit cannot, therefore, be separated.The crucial problem of power is not that of voluntary servitude (how could we seek to be slaves? ). At the very heart of the power relationship, and constantly provoking it, are the recalcitrance of the will and the intransigence of freedom. Rather than speaking of an essential freedom, it would be better to speak of an â€Å"agonism†*–of a relationship which is at the same time reciprocal incitation and struggle, less of a face-to-face confrontation which paralyzes both sides than a permanent provocation. *Foucault's neologism is based on the Greek &ycvro-ota meaning â€Å"a combat. The term would hence imply a physi cal contest in which the opponents develop a strategy of reaction and of†¢ mutual taunting, as in a wrestling match. -Translator's note. Critical Inquiry How is one to analyze the power relationship? Summer1982 791 One can analyze such relationships, or rather I should say that it is perfectly legitimate to do so, by focusing on carefully defined institutions. The latter constitute a privileged point of observation, diversified, concentrated, put in order, and carried through to the highest point of their efficacity.It is here that, as a first approximation, one might expect to see the appearance of the form and logic of their elementary mechanisms. However, the analysis of power relations as one finds them in certain circumscribed institutions presents a certain number of problems. First, the fact that an important part of the mechanisms put into operation by an institution are designed to ensure its own preservation brings with it the risk of deciphering functions which are e ssentially reproductive, especially in power relations between institutions.Second, in analyzing power relations from the standpoint of institutions, one lays oneself open to seeking the explanation and the origin of the former in the latter, that is to say, finally, to explain power to power. Finally, insofar as institutions act essentially by bringing into play two elements, explicit or tacit regulations and an apparatus, one risks giving to one or the other an exaggerated privilege in the relations of power and hence to see in the latter only modulations of the law and of coercion.This does not deny the importance of institutions on the establishment of power relations. Instead, I wish to suggest that one must analyze institutions from the standpoint of power relations, rather than vice versa, and that the fundamental point of anchorage of the relationships, even if they are embodied and crystallized in an institution, is to be found outside the institution. Let us come back to t he definition of the exercise of power as a way in which certain actions may structure the field of other possible actions.What, therefore, would be proper to a relationship of power is that it be a mode of action upon actions. That is to say, power relations are rooted deep in the social nexus, not reconstituted â€Å"above† society as a supplementary structure whose radical effacement one could perhaps dream of. In any case, to live in society is to live in such a way that action upon other actions is possible-and in fact ongoing. A society without power relations can only be an abstraction. Which, be it said in passing, makes all the more olitically necessary the analysis of power relations in a given society, their historical formation, the source of their strength or fragility, the conditions which are necessary to transform some or to abolish others. For to say that there cannot be a society without power relations is not to say either that those which are established a re necessary or, in any case, that power constitutes a fatality at the heart of societies, such that it cannot be undermined. Instead, I would say that the analysis, elaboration, and bringing into question of power relations 792 Michel Foucault The Subjectand Power nd the â€Å"agonism† between power relations and the intransitivity of freedom is a permanent political task inherent in all social existence. The analysis of power relations demands that a certain number of points be established concretely: 1. The system of differentiationswhich permits one to act upon the actions of others: differentiations determined by the law or by traditions of status and privilege; economic differences in the appropriation of riches and goods, shifts in the processes of production, linguistic or cultural differences, differences in know-how and competence, and so forth.Every relationship of power puts into operation differentiations which are at the same time its conditions and its results. 2. The typesof objectivespursued by those who act upon the actions of others: the maintenance of privileges, the accumulation of profits, the bringing into operation of statutary authority, the exercise of a function or of a trade. 3.The means of bringing power relations into being: according to whether power is exercised by the threat of arms, by the effects of the word, by means of economic disparities, by more or less complex means of control, by systems of surveillance, with or without archives, according to rules which are or are not explicit, fixed or modifiable, with or without the technological means to put all these things into action. 4. Forms of institutionalization: these may mix traditional redispositions, legal structures, phenomena relating to custom or to fashion (such as one sees in the institution of the family); they can also take the form of an apparatus closed in upon itself, with its specific loci, its own regulations, its hierarchical structures which are car efully defined, a relative autonomy in its functioning (such as scholastic or military institutions); they can also form very complex systems endowed with multiple apparatuses, as in the case of the state, whose function is the taking of everything under its wing, the bringing into being of general surveillance, the principle of regulation, and, to a certain extent also, the distribution of all power relations in a given social ensemble. 5. The degrees of rationalization: the bringing into play of power relations as action in a field of possibilities may be more or less elaborate in relation to the effectiveness of the instruments and the certainty of the results (greater or lesser technological refinements employed in the exercise of power) or again in proportion to the possible cost (be it the economic cost of the means brought into operation or the cost in terms of reaction constituted by the resistance which is encountered).The exercise of power is not a naked fact, an instituti onal right, nor is it a structure which holds out or is smashed: it is elaborated, transformed, organized; it endows itself with processes which are more or less adjusted to the situation. One sees why the analysis of power relations within a society cannot be reduced to the study of a series of institutions, not even to the study of Critical Inquiry Summer1982 793 all those institutions which would merit the name â€Å"political. † Power relations are rooted in the system of social networks. This is not to say, however, that there is a primary and fundamental principle of power which dominates society down to the smallest detail; but, taking as point of departure the possibility of action upon the action of others (which is coextensive with every social relationship), multiple forms of individual isparity, of objectives, of the given application of power over ourselves or others, of, in varying degrees, partial or universal institutionalization, of more or less deliberate or ganization, one can define different forms of power. The forms and the specific situations of the government of men by one another in a given society are multiple; they are superimposed, they cross, impose their own limits, sometimes cancel one another out, sometimes reinforce one another. It is certain that in contemporary societies the state is not simply one of the forms or specific situations of the exercise of power–even if it is the most important-but that in a certain way all other forms of power relation must refer to it.But this is not because they are derived from it; it is rather because power relations have come more and more under state control (although this state control has not taken the same form in pedagogical, judicial, economic, or family systems). In referring here to the restricted sense of the word â€Å"government,† one could say that power relations have been progressively governmentalized, that is to say, elaborated, rationalized, and centrali zed in the form of, or under the auspices of, state institutions. Relations of power and relations of strategy. The word â€Å"strategy† is currently employed in three ways. First, to designate the means employed to attain a certain end; it is a question of rationality functioning to arrive at an objective.Second, to designate the manner in which a partner in a certain game acts with regard to what he thinks should be the action of the others and what he considers the others think to be his own; it is the way in which one seeks to have the advantage over others. Third, to designate the procedures used in a situation of confrontation to deprive the opponent of his means of combat and to reduce him to giving up the struggle; it is a question, therefore, of the means destined to obtain victory. These three meanings come together in situations of confrontation-war or games-where the objective is to act upon an adversary in such a manner as to render the struggle impossible for hi m. So strategy is defined by the choice of winning solutions.But it must be borne in mind that this is a very special type of situation and that there are others in which the distinctions between the different senses of the word â€Å"strategy† must be maintained. Referring to the first sense I have indicated, one may call power strategy the totality of the means put into operation to implement power effectively or to maintain it. One may also speak of a strategy proper to 794 Michel Foucault The Subjectand Power power relations insofar as they constitute modes of action upon possible action, the action of others. One can therefore interpret the mechanisms brought into play in power relations in terms of strategies. But most important is obviously the relationship between power relations and confrontation strategies.For, if it is true that at the heart of power relations and as a permanent condition of their existence there is an insubordination and a certain essential obstin acy on the part of the principles of freedom, then there is no relationship of power without the means of escape or possible flight. Every power relationship implies, at least in potentia, a strategy of struggle, in which the two forces are not superimposed, do not lose their specific nature, or do not finally become confused. Each constitutes for the other a kind of permanent limit, a point of possible reversal. A relationship of confrontation reaches its term, its final moment (and the victory of one of the two adversaries), when stable mechanisms replace the free play of antagonistic reactions.Through such mechanisms one can direct, in a fairly constant manner and with reasonable certainty, the conduct of others. For a relationship of confrontation, from the moment it is not a struggle to the death, the fixing of a power relationship becomes a target-at one and the same time its fulfillment and its suspension. And in return, the strategy of struggle also constitutes a frontier fo r the relationship of power, the line at which, instead of manipulating and inducing actions in a calculated manner, one must be content with reacting to them after the event. It would not be possible for power relations to exist without points of insubordination which, by definition, are means of escape.Accordingly, every intensification, every extension of power relations to make the insubordinate submit can only result in the limits of power. The latter reaches its final term either in a type of action which reduces the other to total impotence (in which case victory over the adversary replaces the exercise of power) or by a confrontation with those whom one governs and their transformation into adversaries. Which is to say that every strategy of confrontation dreams of becoming a relationship of power, and every relationship of power leans toward the idea that, if it follows its own line of development and comes up against direct confrontation, it may become the winning strategy .In effect, between a relationship of power and a strategy of struggle there is a reciprocal appeal, a perpetual linking and a perpetual reversal. At every moment the relationship of power may become a confrontation between two adversaries. Equally, the relationship between adversaries in society may, at every moment, give place to the putting into operation of mechanisms of power. The consequence of this instability is the ability to decipher the same events and the same transformations either from inside the history of struggle or from the standpoint of the power relationships. The interpretations which result will not consist of the same elements of meaning or the same links or the same types of intelligibility, Critical Inquiry Summer 1982 795 lthough they refer to the same historical fabric, and each of the two analyses must have reference to the other. In fact, it is precisely the disparities between the two readings which make visible those fundamental phenomena of â€Å"dom ination† which are present in a large number of human societies.Domination is in fact a general structure of power whose ramifications and consequences can sometimes be found descending to the most recalcitrant fibers of society. But at the same time it is a strategic situation more or less taken for granted and consolidated by means of a long-term confrontation between adversaries. It can certainly happen that the fact of domination may only be the transcription of a mechanism of power esulting from confrontation and its consequences (a political structure stemming from invasion); it may also be that a relationship of struggle between two adversaries is the result of power relations with the conflicts and cleavages which ensue. But what makes the domination of a group, a caste, or a class, together with the resistance and revolts which that domination comes up against, a central phenomenon in the history of societies is that they manifest in a massive and universalizing form, at the level of the whole social body, the locking together of power relations with relations of strategy and the results proceeding from their interaction.