Tag: Theory

1.ABSTRACT

The main aim of this research was to test Piaget’s developmental theory on children within the pre-operational stage. Piaget claimed that children aged 2 – 7 are unable to make appearance and reality distinctions of liquids, mass and numbers, while some other theorists claim that with the appropriate wording and concept, children would perform better in these experiments. Therefore this research aimed to verify that assertion by carrying out a conservation of liquid experiment with a six-year-old child.

Two glasses filled to the same extent with Ribena were presented to The Child. One of the glasses was then poured into a shorter and wider bowl. The child reported that the liquid content in the cup was ‘bigger’ than that in the bowl, because its contents were ‘taller’. The questions and procedure were handled in an age appropriate manner, as illustrating by Donaldson and McGarrigle, however The Child’s response does verify Piaget’s theory on the pre-operational child’s inability to conserve.

2.INTRODUCTION

Jean Piaget has been attributed as the father of cognitive development. His belief was that a child’s cognitive development influences their social and emotional development. He proposed several principles regarding child development that has influenced substantial research on child psychology (Smith et al, 2003).

Piaget proposed that cognitive development of humans is based on their ability to adapt and learn from the environment through assimilation and accommodation (Piaget, 1952). This process in children is based on developmental stages, which is in turn dependent on the age of the child (Schaffer and Kipp, 2009). He proposed four cognitive development stages in children: such as the sensori – motor period (children of age 0-2), preoperational period (children of age 2 to 7), the concrete operations age (children aged 7 to 11 years) and the formal operations stage (children aged 11 or 12 and above).

The pre-operational period of a child’s development is that stage at which children are able to relate to objects symbolically (Piaget, 2001). Piaget asserts that the thinking of 2 – 7 year olds is animistic, egocentric and characterised by centration. They are able to reason about objects and events based on their symbolic representation (Damon and Lerner, 2006). However Piaget (2001) asserts that children of this age range are unable to make appearance and reality distinctions of these objects. Therefore if the appearance of two similar objects (number, mass or liquid) has been changed, the child would be unable to deduce this logically (Schaffer and Kipp, 2009). This occurrence is attributed to their inability to conserve, which refers to a person’s understanding that superficial changes in appearance do not reflect change in quantity (Damon and Lerner, 2006). Pre-operational children lack the thought process required to apply principles of compensation and reversibility and therefore have difficulty in conservation tasks (Piaget, 2001).

Though Horowitz (1987), amongst other theorists, has verified the authenticity of this theory, Vygotsky’s (1978) emphasis on the socio-cultural affect on childhood development portrays that cognitive development cannot be viewed in isolation. This view is supported by Damon and Lerner (2006) who discovered that cognitive development of children in various parts of the world differs significantly. Donaldson and McGarrigle (1978) found that children’s responses to Piaget’s experiments improved by up to 48% when the wording and context were changed. Even slight variations in the wording could help clarify the meaning of the question, and can have positive effects on the child’s performance (Locke and Ciechalski, 1995).

The major objective of this research is therefore to ascertain the effect of wording on a pre-operational research carried out with a 6-year-old child. Would a variation in the wording and context of the experiment result in a different response from a child in the pre-operational stage?

3.METHODOLOGY

This research would be adopting a deductive approach to answering the research question. Existing theories have been reviewed, which would then form the basis of this research that aims to verify or discredit such assumptions (Horowitz, 1987).

a. Participants

This research was carried out with a 6-year-old male. He is from xxx origin, class, school, hobbies and activities. He is well averse in English language and can communicate effectively.

b. Material

The conservation of quantity experiment was utilised in this research. The materials present were two empty glasses (measuring 30ml, 5cm long and were conical in shape), one clear plastic bowl (square in shape and measuring 5 cm square, 2 cm long) and a jar of diluted Ribena, which were all set on a dining table. Two chairs were present, with the child sitting opposite the researcher.

c. Ethics

The participant utilised in this research, is the researcher’s child. The child’s permission was sought without interfering with his playtime with friends, eating time or homework time, thereby removing any obstacles that would have prevented the child’s full attention. The procedure was explained thoroughly to the child, the researcher confirmed that the child fully understood what was going to happen before the experiment commenced. The Child’s identity has been protected in this researcher, by referring to him as ‘The Child’.

d. Design

This experiment was designed to replicate Piaget’s conservation of quantity experiment as depicted in Piaget (1952). The procedures, materials and participants are to a considerable extent, a replication of Piaget’s experiments.

e. Procedure

The replication of Piaget’s experiment followed the following sequence.

The two glasses, one bowl and Ribena jar were placed in the middle of the table.
The Child was invited over and talked through the whole procedure.
Consent was sought from the child, in that he wanted to participate and understood the procedure and what was required of him.
Equal portions of Ribena were poured into both glass cups.
The child was asked if the quantity in both glass cups were the same.
Then the Ribena in one of the cups was poured into the square plastic (shorter and wider).
The child was asked again if he thought the quantity in the glass and the bowl were the same.
The responses derived from the child were recorded and the experiment was concluded.

4.Results

The following conversation ensued during the experiment:

– Researcher: “I am going to pour Ribena into these two cups for you and your brother. I want to give you the same amount”

– Child consents and nods head. Researcher pours equal quantity into both glass cups.

– Researcher: “Do you think the Ribena in the two cups are the same amount, or are they different?”

– Child examines content in both cups.

– The Child: “They are the same amount mummy.”

– Researcher: “OK, but this one cup does not look clean, let me pour the Ribena into that bowl.” Pours contents in one of the glass cups into the bowl.

– Researcher: “Is that OK, would you like the one in the bowl or the one in the cup?”

– Child examines content of the glass cup and bowl.

– The Child: “I would like the one in the cup”.

– Researcher: “WhyAre they different?”

– The Child: “The one in the cup is bigger mummy, that’s why I want it.” Child has mischievous look on face, like he has done something really smart.

– Researcher: “OK, I would give you, but why do you think the one in the glass is bigger”

– The Child: “Because it looks taller, and the one in the bowl looks shorter. I want the one in the glass cup.”

5.Discussion

The major objective of this research was to ascertain whether a change in the wording or context of the experiment would result in any significant difference in response from the participant, with respect to Piaget’s conservation experiment of liquids for children in the pre-operational developmental stage. Piaget claimed that children in this stage were unable to distinguish between the same quantities of liquids that had been poured right in front of them into glasses with different shapes (Piaget, 1952). However Donaldson and McGarrigle (1974) recorded better results in kids when the wording of the experiment and context were more ‘child friendly’. The experiment was therefore carried out with a 6-year-old kid, and the materials and language utilised were those that the child were familiar with and had a keen interest in (in this case – a bigger share of Ribena fruit juice).

The child reported that the quantities of Ribena in the conical shaped glass cup, and square shaped plastic bowl, were indeed different, and that he wanted the glass cup because that was ‘bigger’, even though he saw the researcher pour the contents of the other glass cup into the shorter and wider bowl. When asked to expatiate on the reason why he thought the contents of the glass cup were bigger, he attributed it to the contents being ‘taller’. The child did not seem to understand that though the contents had been poured into a shorter and wider bowl, the contents of the liquid had not changed; it was only the width of the bowl that made the liquid lose height. These findings conform to Piaget’s (1952) theory on the cognitive developmental stages within children. It illustrates that The Child is not able to conserve and deduce logically that the quantities in both containers are indeed the same.

Though the wordings and context were changed significantly to represent something that the child would understand fully, he did not seem to verify Donaldson and McGarrigle’s (1974) theory on the changes in response that could occur. Though a change in wording and context does enable The Child to understand the experiment better and answer the questions more effectively, the findings of this research illustrate that he is still unable to logically deduce the correct answer.

However, the fact that this research was carried out on just one child, poses a severe limitation. Responses gotten from The Child, though reliable and valid, are not generalisable for all kids aged 6. It does not imply that all six-year-old kids in the vicinity, same school or even the same house, would give the same response. Another limitation pointed out by Schaffer and Kipp (2009) is that kids start an experiment with a predisposition that something is bound to change. When the researcher inquires about the content the second time, they believe that something must have changed for that question to be asked, thereby prompting their response.

Though my research on wording and context did not necessarily disprove Piaget’s theories, I believe it does pose a significant opportunity as children seem to understand the situation better, and are more interested when the experiment is of interest to them. I therefore recommend further research with more children, using the procedures outlined in this study.

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6.References

Damon, W., and Lerner, R. M. (2006) Handbook of Child Psychology: Social, emotional and personality development, John Wiley and Sons, 1128pp

Donaldson, M. and McGarrigle, J. (1974) Some clues to the nature of semantic development, Journal of Child Language, Vol. (1), p185-194

Horowitz, F. D. (1987) Exploring developmental theories: toward a structural / behavioral model of development, Routledge, 216pp

Locke, D. C., and Ciechalski, J. C. (1995) Psychological techniques for teachers, Taylor & Francis, 338pp

Piaget, J. (1952). The Origins of Intelligence in Children, New York: International University Press.

Piaget, J. (1972). Psychology and Epistemology: Towards a Theory of Knowledge. Penguin.

Piaget, J. (2001) The Psychology of Intelligence, 2nd Edn Revised, Routledge, 203pp

Schaffer, D. R., and Kipp, K. (2009) Developmental Psychology: Childhood and Adolescence, Cengage Learning, 647pp

Smith, P. K., Cowie, H., and Blades, M. (2003) Understanding children’s development, Wiley-Blackwell, 663pp

Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind and society: The development of higher mental processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press

Introduction

Dual diagnosis has been described as one of the most significant problems facing the health services (Phillips et al 2010). The term was first used in America in the 1980s and in its most basic elements describes someone who has a combination of a mental illness and substance misuse problem. Dually diagnosed patients are often frequent users of emergency services and of in-patient care (Bartels et al 1993). There is also a much higher rate of offending and imprisonment amongst this group (Yesavage and Zarcone 1983 cited in Menezes et al (1996). Yesvage and Zarcone cited in Menezes (1996) believe that alcohol and drug misuse interact with the symptoms of psychotic illness to produce a more severe acute illness. Due to the complication of treatment approach recovery is often slower than a psychotic episode uncomplicated by substance abuse. This places a great burden on resources and staff (Drake et al 1993), which is corroborated by the London survey (Menezes et al 1996) discovering on average that this group of patients spends almost twice as much time in hospital than those without a substance misuse problem.

Clients with the most severe psychiatric disorders tend to have the highest rates of co-occurring substance use disorders (Drake 2007). It has been well documented that the co-existence of severe mental health and substance misuse problems are common (Regier et al 1990; Krausz et al 1996; Menezes et al 1996 cited in Graham 2003). Prevalence figures vary across studies however the latest study by Weldon and Ritchie (2010) estimate the lifetime prevalence rate of substance abuse amongst persons with severe mental illness at 50%, which is 4.6 times higher than that of the general population (Blanchard et al 2000). One of the challenges of mental health providers is how best to meet the needs of this group of clients (Graham 2003).

The most recent government guidance is one of integrated treatment whereby the treatment for drug and alcohol problems are provided primarily within mental health services, integrating this with the treatment of mental health problems (DoH 2002). This is to be provided by one team and involves a flexible combination of treatments targeting the specific needs of those diagnosed with co-morbid severe mental illness and substance misuse (Horsfall 2009). Researchers and clinicians have developed a number of interventions that combine, or integrate mental health and substance abuse interventions (Drake et al 2007). An example of one element of integrated treatment is Cognitive- Behavioural Integrated Treatment (Graham and Carnwath 2004). C-bit incorporates an integrated approach with personalised formulation to deliver improved treatment outcomes to dual diagnosis patients.

The focus of this essay will be on the use of C-bit (Graham and Carnwath 2004) and its application with a client who has been has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and alcohol problems. For the purpose of this essay and confidentiality his name has been changed to David. C-bit can be split into 4 distinct phases, Engagement and Building motivation, Negotiating some behaviour change, Early relapse prevention Relapse management. The essay will concentrate on negotiating behavioural change and what this entails. The author will then compare its effectiveness with an alternative approach.

An introduction to C-Bit

Hermine Graham (2004) describes C-bit as a psychological multi-purpose tool designed specifically for people with both a mental illness and a problematic substance misuse. It was developed from CBT which had a strong evidence base for mental health (Grant et al 2004) and substance use problems (Conrod and Stewart 2005). The evidence base of CBIT in dual diagnosis remains poor as studies have tended to focus on engagement and building motivation as appose to the maintenance of change that CBIT encompasses (Callaghan and Jones 2010). However early studies would suggest that the skilful use of analysis, disputing cognitions and homework assignments improve the skills required to promote abstinence including self-efficacy in finding, establishing and maintaining appropriate support networks (Rassool 2002).

CBIT follows the cognitive model and treatment approach (Graham 1998, 2003). A client’s beliefs about substance misuse are often linked to their own experience of mental health problems. David would often say in therapy that the side effects of his anti-psychotic medication made him feel over sedated and this had a knock on effect in social situations. He found that alcohol improved this and allowed him to integrate better in social situations. By continuing to use alcohol it was maintaining a negative maintenance cycle.

Graham (2004) identifies three key aims of CBIT with dual diagnosis patients. The first concentrates on client and therapist identifying and challenging unrealistic beliefs about substance misuse and substituting them with alternatives that aim to break negative maintenance cycles. The second facilitates an understanding of the link between substance misuse and mental health problems and thirdly CBIT aims to give the client the ability to self-manage substance misuse and recognise the early signs of relapse. Although there are 4 distinct steps in treatment approach the flexibility of the treatment means a client does not need to progress through them all. The harm reduction philosophy that underpins the intervention (Heather et al 1993) puts more emphasis on a client setting more realistic goals and achieving these. Although flexibility is a key asset of CBIT it would be wrong to assume there was no structure to therapy sessions. In later sessions especially, before commencing a session client and therapist must set an agenda to discuss which ensures key areas are discussed (Graham 2004).

In practice, teams trained in the use of CBIT tend to use the general principle of the approach rather than the distinct components or techniques (Graham et al 2006). The author believes this shows the flexibility of the therapy and therapists and clients find what proves useful to them . Graham et al (2006) also discovered that when trained members of the team used various assets of CBIT, engagement increased, alcohol intake was reduced and a reduction in alcohol-related beliefs. The study however noticed similar findings when the client had been seen by teams that had not yet received CBIT training suggesting that CBIT alone was not responsible for the change in behaviour and belief. However, qualitative information recorded from the teams’ staff suggested that treatment integration increased over the course of the study, and that CBIT was a useful tool for integrating & planning substance misuse treatment. Qualitative information from the team managers suggested that CBIT training improved the ability of teams to address substance use by themselves, rather than avoiding substance issues & referring clients to specialists.

Achievable Goal setting

Following treatment phase one the client will be able to identify some of the negative effects of substance misuse. David could recognise the negative effect that alcohol use had on his ability to find any form of employment and how he had no real supportive social network besides ‘drinking companions’. Graham (2004) highlights that in treatment phase two it is probably too early for a client to consider complete abstinence. David was beginning to make links with the amount he drank and the negative effects he was having. Due to this he negotiated with the therapist that he would reduce his alcohol input by stopping all spirits but remaining on his strong lager. This follows the harm reduction philosophy that there are several levels in which change can occur that would reduce the negative impact it causes to the client. David identified his long-term goal as eventually getting some form of employment. Following treatment phase one David was able to see the impact excessive impact alcohol was having on his ability to make appointments on time (if at all), and how this would have a negative effect on any chance of employment. Graham (2004) suggests that for a client to get to this long-term goal a series of short term harm reducing steps need to be identified by the client in therapy that will in-turn have a positive impact upon his life. David had already agreed to stop drinking spirits but further steps included reducing contact with fellow drinkers, attending all appointments on time, getting his body back into a work routine. These steps would move David closer to the eventual long term goal and give him the belief that this was achievable. The therapist found that the use of the recovery star was a useful tool with aiding the client identify and plan how to achieve these goals. The recovery star helps both client and therapist measure change and visually see progress made. At times when David struggled to achieve goals it provided an opportunity for discussion on how to change the approach. David found the tool useful in between sessions where he could refer back to past successes to give him the confidence to continue. On reflective sessions what proved important for David was to identify and discuss possible obstacles that he may experience in trying to achieve his goals and to recognise that if things do not go as planned it should not be automatically assumed to be a failure. Simmons and Griffith (2009) believe that there is never a failure but an opportunity to learn and do things differently.

Behavioural Experiments

By treatment phase two of CBIT the client will have identified an unhelpful thought, the nature of which will be maintaining a negative maintenance cycle. David had begun to plan harm reduction goals to reduce the negative aspects of his substance misuse however there was clearly some situations he was avoiding, and some underlying maladaptive thoughts there were perpetuating his problems. To address this the therapist and David discussed and designed a Behavioural Experiment. Beck (1995) believes that BEs strengthen an intellectual belief by helping the client test out alternative beliefs and thoughts in practice in order to gain evidence to discover the validity of a belief . Beck (1979) believed through altering behaviour a cognitive change occurs. BEs are significant as a means of explicitly targeting belief change through experience and as such offer prime opportunities for sustained therapeutic change (Padesky 2004). David held the belief that if he did not drink alcohol he would appear boring and no-one would have any time for him. For this reason when David was going to be in the company of anyone he would drink excessively, therefore getting intoxicated became a safety behaviour. By allowing a client to see what will happen if they drop safety behaviour and then testing out what actually happens in that situation proves to be a powerful challenge to unhelpful assumptions (Whitfield and Davidson 2007). Sloan and Telch (2002) support this view adding that experiments target safety behaviours result in significantly greater changes than exposure alone. Safety behaviour may seem helpful and protective to a client but can lead to maintenance cycles of maladaptive processes perpetuating the initial belief. If a threat is not disconfirmed the maladaptive cognition continues (Salkovskis 1991, Sloan and Telch 2000, Clark 1989, Salkovski et al 1998). The notion of experimentation, derived from scientific principles, can be applied to the patient’s experience of the therapeutic process and it is this active experience which can be so meaningful; the validity of a new cognition being generally more memorable when followed through from conceptualisation to active experience (Westbrook 2007). Once the evidence contradicts the initial belief it allows the client and therapist to explore the validity of new more adaptive beliefs (Westbrook et al 2007). David and the therapist designed an experiment in which he would limit his alcohol approach and would then engage in general conversation in his local pub. Initial experiments gave David the confidence to build on further experiment supporting the work of Bennett-levy (2004) who believe early experiments increase confidence and independence BEs can be active, where the patient takes the lead role in either real or simulated situations to test the validity of thoughts, or observational, where data is gathered. Lewin and Kolb propose a learning cycle in which it suggests that for learning and retention to be enhanced the client must build upon knowledge and understanding gained through the experiment which in turn forms a foundation for the next step of the experiment. (Lewin 1946; Kolb 1984). The five key aspects of this learning cycle, Experience, Observation, Reflection, Planning and then further experiment underpins BE work.

Establishing supportive social networks

In the field of substance misuse social factors are seen as important in the onset, aetiology and maintenance of substance misuse (Graham 2004). David recognised that as his alcohol intake increased the friends he associated with were also using alcohol regularly. This supports the work of Drake (2004) who identified that clients with both severe mental health problems and substance misuse problems would have social networks of solely fellow substance users. David felt increasingly isolated from anyone outside of this network as his behaviour would draw attention towards himself. Trumbetta et al (1999) suggest that for anyone to make changes in substance misuse they need to reduce contact with such peers. Healthier networks need to be formed which provide positive support where there is excessive substance misuse is not the norm (Drake 1993a). David identified his sister as someone who was willing to and who he would like as a supportive person away from mental health services. In crisis David could contact his sister who could give him some level of support. Graham (2004) emphasises the importance of working closely with family members as they often know very little about dual diagnosis problems. David was only close with his sister. The rest of his family had isolated him due to his substance misuse. Ideally psycho-education information is often given in the group setting as family members may benefit from the experience and support of fellow members (Graham 2004). David’s sister became a key figure in David’s recovery and was encouraged to attend sessions on psycoeducation so she could best understand the problems associated with dual diagnosis clients and how best she could support David.

Limitations of its use

Prochaska and DiClemente (1992) recognised certain barriers to treatment for dual diagnosis patients in regards to therapeutic engagement, treatment continuance and goal setting. In the case of CBIT it makes assumptions of a certain level of coping skills and ability to facilitate cognitive change. Symptoms of schizophrenia can inhibit a client’s impetus to change behaviour (Horsfall et al 2009). Negative symptoms which have a negative effect on motivation and energy affects individuals internal drive to initiate the complex behavioural routines needed for abstinence (Ballack and DiClemente 1999). An integrated treatment approach incorporating CBIT does not make dramatic changes in the short term, it is a long term therapy. Evidence based studies are always plagued by attrition rates as clients relapse or do not return to the study. This may suggest that CBIT may suffer from the same poor treatment compliance/attendance. For clients who complete a full programme of treatment 10-20 per cent achieves a stable remission of their substance use problems per year (Graham 2004). This seems a low figure for the intensive input required on the part of the therapist and client. Bellack and Gearon (1998) believe the therapist must become tolerant of this client group dropping in and out of therapy and abstaining then relapsing. David’s attendance was at times sporadic but the therapist never criticised him for this but used it as a platform for discussing problems experienced through the week. Drake et al (2001) suggests the importance of assertive outreach teams in retaining clients within programmes. Hellerstein et al (1995) cited in Philips et al (2010) highlight that without this input dropout rates may be high, especially amongst those identified as having difficulties participating in treatment.

Alternative approaches

The evidence base for dual diagnosis is still in its infancy. Those studies completed have limited generalisation due to methodological issues such as heterogeneous samples, equivocal descriptions of treatment components and high attrition rates (Weldon and Richie 2010). Horsfall et al (2009) recognises that due to a lack of longitudinal studies long term outcomes have yet to be determined. It also proves difficult to compare C-Bit with alternative interventions as C-Bit is not used in a vacuum it is often used in conjunction with other therapies such as pharmaceuticals of motivational interviewing. Kemp et al (2007) found a significant improvement in substance use in dual diagnosis patients when CBT and MI principle were combined. For the purpose of this essay the author will briefly look at one main alternative approach to dual diagnosis, that of motivational interviewing.

Motivational interviewing

Treasure (2004) describes MI as a patient centred counselling approach that facilitates the patient in resolve and explore ambivalence about behaviour change. The theory of MI centres on the cycle of change and its six components, precontemplation, contemplation, decision, action, maintenance of change and relapse. Miller and Rollnick (1994) describes motivation as something that one does as appose to something that one has. Empathy is vital in the therapeutic relationship and the use of MI. If the client believes the therapist has no appreciation of their experience they are likely to dis-engage or not fully commit to therapy. Rassool (2002) believes active listening also has an important role in MI. Reflecting back to the client their thoughts, fears, hopes and doubts give a feeling of genuineness, trust and empathy. In MI it is important not to offer advice , give judgement or attempt to question. The reason for behavioural change should be acknowledged and stated by the client. MI proves an effective therapy in dual diagnosis if delivered effectively. The therapist needs to avoid confrontation as this will lead to client denial, the role of the therapist as expert proves counter-productive and structured answer formats will inhibit the client in recognising the effects of their substance misuse. Motivational styles that guide a client in discovering alternative ways of thinking about their problems results in positive change (Miller and Rollnick 1991). By combining elements of style and technique MI has proven successful in dual diagnosis patients and has a developing evidence base.

It proves difficult to contrast MI with CBIT as both complement each other so well and have similar approaches. Both are based on a collaborative relationship with clients, both incorporate a non-judgemental approach and both are approaches are built on empathy, warmth, trust and positive regard (Rogers, 1991). Both approaches also incorporate socratic questioning techniques encouraging the client to discover alternative meanings of their experience (Padesky and Greenberger 1995). One of the key differences is when it is best to use either technique. Those following a transtheoretical model of change may use MI when the client remains undecided about change in the precontemplation and contemplation stage whereas CBIT can be adopted when the client is more committed to change (Treasure 2004). This would support the work of Drake et al (2001) who after studying the work of a number of researchers believe that to enhance attendance and utilisation of treatment motivation interventions are important.

Conclusion

The research on the impact of CBIT as a therapeutic intervention is still in its infancy. Some anecdotal evidence would suggest it provides the skills necessary to promote abstinence (Rassool 2002). Qualitative information gained from Grahams (2006) study suggests CBIT proved a useful tool for integrating and planning substance misuse.

Due to the complex nature of dual diagnosis it seems unlikely that a single intervention will have the desired effect of meeting all the clients’ needs. Kemp (2007) supports this finding an improvement in substance misuse when MI and CBIT were combined. Due to this there has been a shift towards the integration of interventions delivered by mainstream mental health services (DOH 2002, 2006;Rassool 2002; Ziedonis et al. 2005). Some of the strongest treatment effects have come from combining a number of approaches (Barrowclough et al 2001).

1.0 Introduction and Discussion – 20%

Consumer buying is important to society because it is a key component of the economic system of many countries, it can influences by political, religious, spiritual, environmental, social and cultural aspects of society (Jim Blythe, 1997). Nowadays, consumers are more toward to ethical purchasers because they are more aware that their consumption pattern is part of global political and economic system (Solomon, M., G. Bamossy, S. Askegaard and M. Hogg, 2009).

Generally, consumers reflect their values and beliefs by what they do or do not buy (Dickinson and Hollander, 1991). For example, consumer perceptions will signify the strengths and weaknesses of countries by favouring or dislike goods produced in a particular country. Sometimes consumer negative experience generate boycott of a company’s products, or even protests against everything from a politically undesirable country by discourage consumption of products from certain companies or countries, like boycotting Israel products.

Boycotting is a form of ethical purchase behaviour. The term “boycott” arose in the year 1880 after Captain Charles Cunningham Boycott, an English land agent in Ireland whose ruthlessness in evicting tenants led his employees to refuse all cooperation with him and his family (Hazem Jamjourm, 2008).

According to an Environics, the trend to boycott and warn against those irresponsible companies are strongest in North America and Oceania, and Northern Europe, while in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Latin America taken boycott is very unlikely (Rob Harrison, Terry Newholm, Deirdre Shaw, 2005). Boycotts have become a pervasive and effective instrument of consumer dissatisfaction in today’s marketplace. Economist (1990, p. 69) writes: ‘Consumer boycotts are becoming an epidemic for one simple reason: they work to initiate organizational and social change’; a recently conducted survey reports that 50% of Americans claim to have taken part in a product boycott (Dolliver, 2000). Between 1988 and 1995, over 200 firms and over a thousand products were actually subject to organised boycotts in the US. On the other hand, according to the Co-operative Bank’s latest research the value of boycotts in 2007 was up by 15% in the food and drink sector and 20% in the clothing sector. Money talks, they say. So listen to these figures – food and drink boycotts in 2007 in the UK were valued at ?1,144m, travel boycotts ?817m, and clothing boycotts ?338m (Ethical Consumer, 2008).

2.0 Critical Analysis (Theory) – 50%

2.1 Definition of Consumer Boycott

Boycotts are a widely used movement tactic to gain influence over corporations to adopt some change in practice or policy. It can be anti-corporate, labour, and other social change movements (Manheim, 2001). In this few years, a number of theorists have studies and outline the theory of boycott. Smith (1990b:258) explain boycott was essentially a moral act; an expression by the consumer of disapproval of the firms activities and disassociation from them.

Friedman (1999, p.4) defines consumer boycotts as “an attempt by one or more parties to achieve certain objectives by urging individual consumers to refrain from making selected purchases in the marketplace.”

Laidler (1968) defines boycotting as “an organized effort to withdraw and induce others to withdraw from social or business relations with another.”

From different view of the theorists, consumer boycotts can be explain in more specifically that consumer boycotts is a collective act from the consumers to refusing buying a company’s services or products, consumers express their dissatisfaction with intention and make political claims about corporate practices.

2.2 Advantages of Boycotting

Although boycott would seriously hurt the business, in fact, boycott has advantages. The main advantage of boycott is a way that consumers can use their power for positive social change. Another advantage is the exposure of irresponsible company with less people buying their products and buying substitute goods. As result, demand and supply for substitute goods will increase to enhance competition in the market and firms will reduce their process as a result to compete and also to gain the extra consumers this will benefit the smaller firms to gain more of the market share (Baumeister, Roy F., 1998).

2.3 Disadvantages of Boycotting

Boycotts are an unwelcome act to marketers because firms targeted by a well-supported consumer boycott have apparently failed to sustain a sufficient customer focus. In the recent world, most of the companies are sensitive to boycotts because they can have serious financial implications (Pittman, Thane S., 1998).

Observably, there are lots of disadvantages to boycotts though. One of drawback is boycotting could be a large reduction in jobs. After boycotting a company, there can cause an unfavourable impact on individuals and communities which become innocent victims of the economic damage.

Secondly, the company reputation will be harmed as a result on the impact of consumer boycott. Hence, this is not good for company as it would need to lower its prices to get back the consumer purchasing demand.

Somehow, consumers boycotting not purchase particular countries produce cause a loss of worldwide specialisation and technology in third world country because most of the company may not do business with them. Also this action may limit consumer choice from the market.

Another disadvantage to the company is that the company budgets will get ruined and will need to be analysed and changed. Furthermore the gross domestic product of the host country could fall. Besides that, there can also result irregularly violence and antipathy from the boycotts.

As conclude, although consumer boycotting brings lot of drawback to companies as well as it also bring advantages. Marketer should make a balance view of boycott and learn from other companies’ mistake to enhance the operation and create positive value to consumers.

2.4 Example of Successful Boycott

In fact, empirical examinations of corporate recognition to boycotters demands found that only a quarter of all publicized boycotts were successful (Friedman, 1985). Boycotts can be successful because when result in increased public scrutiny of the company. This in turn will cause concerns inside the company about lost profits from the loss in consumer interest and companies are always concerned about their financial position.

Countless successful boycott examples could be given of the boycott in use by many different groups of people in past centuries. One well-known successful boycotting example is boycotting Barclays Bank in year 1986. Boycotter choosing to boycott Barclays Bank because they have strongly believed Barclays’ company as the largest bank in South Africa supported apartheid is a wrong consequence. Besides that, consumers participate in the boycott may have been motivated by the belief that supporting boycott could helping people from South Africa by forcing Barclays’ withdrawal and speeding the downfall of the apartheid regime, secondly is the consumers desire not be associated with a company that directly or indirectly benefits from apartheid, a “clean hands” motivation; and lastly it show that a reluctance to be seen patronizing the “apartheid bank,” an avoidance of unseemly conspicuous consumption. As result, Barclays was forced to pull out of the country after protests against its involvement during the apartheid regime. Also at that time, Barclays led to a drop in its share of the UK market from 27 percent to 15 percent.

Consumer boycotts upon environmental arguments are a strategy commonly used by many environmental NGOs. Procter and Gamble has been focus of a long running boycott from the Uncaged Campaign due to the use of animal testing. P&G declare that animals are used in their ‘product safety research’, as well as cats and dogs in pet food experiments, Uncaged’s investigations continue to expose disturbing examples of P&G’s ongoing involvement in a painful and dangerous animal tests. P&G test on animals because of their desire to get new chemical ingredients on the market and to make as much money as possible. Garrett’s (1987) review of the boycott literature hypothesized six factors in boycott participation: the awareness of consumers; the values of potential consumer participants; the consistency of boycott goals with participant attitudes; the cost of participation; social pressure; and the credibility of the boycott leadership. However, according to the report on boycott P&G Day 2010 actions, the fourteenth global boycott P&G Day on 8 May 2010 has ratcheted up the pressure on P&G to stop their cruel and unreasonable animal testing.

Moreover, another famous boycott case is the Nestle. A number of groups, many of which are coordinated by the International Baby Milk Action Network (IBMAN), have called for the boycott of Nestle products due to Nestle’s marketing practices in promoting infant formula in poor countries. IBMAN points to the dangers of formula feeding in developing countries (most notably, lack of clean water to use in mixing formula powder). Further, it maintains that Nestle is exploiting susceptible customers and contributes to increased infant mortality.

To examined the boycotters’ intentions to participate, motivations for participating, and actual product choice, as result their participation is based on product judgments and their perceived badly of Nestle’s actions, boycott participation and brand image. According to observers of boycotts, boycotters have this feeling because they are referring to the ‘moral outrage’ (Smith 1990). The latest Update of Baby Milk Action’s Boycott News, the international boycott is having an important impact on Nestle, not only in direct economic terms but also in manipulate damage to its corporate image, management morale and management time the company must spend struggle it.

2.5 Solution for Companies to handle boycott

It is not possible to study consumer boycott effectiveness without studying the target’s reaction to the protest. A satisfactory response, complying with a campaign’s demands, can stop a boycott before it has even got under way, whereas a reaction that is deemed insufficient or abusive could potentially recruit new members to the campaign. Smith identified four key types of management response: ignore, fight, fudge/explain or comply (1990b: 254).

One increasingly popular solution used by marketers is to set up a joint task force with the boycotting organization to try to iron out the problem. For instance, in the US, McDonald’s used this approach with the Environmental Defence Fund, which was concerned about its use of polystyrene containers and bleached paper. The company agreed to test a composting programme and to switch to plain brown bags and to eliminate the use of antibiotics in such products as poultry.

3.0 Conclusion – 20%

In conclusion, consumer boycott is an effort to punish those irresponsible companies. Yet consumer boycotts often have a large number of participants, and sometimes be successful in changing the behaviour of firms. Generally, participation may be driven by individual motivations such as guilt, the maintenance of self-esteem, and the avoidance of dissonance; individuals may seek a “thrill of victory”; or behaviour may be influenced by a false consensus bias.

Despite the problems of causation, many writers agree that there is persuasive and widespread evidence of boycott actions delivering on social or environmental goals. Examples include P&G anti animal testing in production; keep away from Barclays Bank apartheid in South Africa and persuade Nestle to take responsible the problem in third world. Obviously consumer boycotts cannot effectively address the full range of social and environmental issues, because it requires choice and competitive markets to function. Finally, consumer boycotts have the potential to harm many innocent parties, including guiltless workers and the various economic entities that depend on the boycotted firms.

2) B) Discuss the various ways in which marketers can attempt to influence consumer perception and attitudes, using examples to illustrate your argument. (60%)

1.0 Introduction and Discussion – 20%

According to International Monetary Fund (2010), analyse that in year 2010 the world spending is at GDP 62,909274. United States have the highest GDP, which are 14,657,800.

Consumer is the most important person to marketer because marketer takes into account consumer likes and dislikes on the production of goods and services. Marketing and consumer behaviour are basically connected. By clearly understanding of consumer behaviour to support all marketing activity, it is a necessity to organizations for being marketing orientated and thus profitable.

However, to understanding what consumers buy or not to buy is the most challenging concept to marketers. As consumer buying behaviour is difficult to be understanding clearly because factors affecting how consumers make decision are extremely complex. Buying behaviour is deeply rooted in psychology with dashes of sociology. The reason is, since every person in the world is different, it is impossible to have simple rules that explain how buying decisions are made.

In general, there are three main factors that influence consumers buying decision which are personal, psychological and social. Besides that, involvement also can be a major factor in consumer’s decision making. Because consumers often form emotional attachments to products, for example most people would be familiar with the feeling of having fallen in love with a product.

But, studying consumers can help marketers improve strategies. Through obtaining a view into how consumers think, feel, reason and choose. Marketers can use this information to design products and services that will be in demand. By understanding customers better it can improved trading relationships. Next is can reduced cost and greater efficiency, for example, through better targeting of marketing efforts, which reduced the cost per sale. Third is improved competitiveness, by understanding consumer, marketer can through consumer feeling adapt in marketing practice to result more effective. Lastly, it will gain more sales.

2.0 Critical Analysis (Theory) – 50%

2.1 Perception

Before making purchase, consumers go through series of steps. These steps include problem recognition, information search, alternative evaluation, purchase decision and post purchase evaluation (Appendix 1). In the information search process, psychological element that influences consumer is perception which influences the way consumers receive information.

Jim Blythe (2001) explains perception is the way people build up a view of the world.

While William D.Wells and David Prensky (1996) define perception as the process by which an individual uses his or her perceptual processes to selects stimuli, organizes information about those stimuli, and interprets the information to form a coherent, meaningful view of the world (Appendix 2). Stimuli are inputs into any one of the five senses – vision, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. The explanation of the stimuli can be subjective on individual’s environment that becomes the basis for the behavioural processes of learning, attitude formation, and decision making. At the same time, it has cultural, social, economic, and psychological bases since it requires the selection, organization, and interpretation of what the individual senses.

For example, consumers manage to purchase certain products and leave the store without becoming overwhelmed. This is because of their background characteristics, past experiences and motivations to satisfy their needs help to assign meaning to the stimuli and recognize products that will offer certain benefits to them. Therefore, marketers should design their packages so that consumers will be able to distinguish them from other stimuli in this hectic retail environment. For instance, Innocent created a range of smoothies especially targeted to kids. In the packaging of this range of products, the Innocent brand identity is enriched with some funny details on the logo, in order to immediately distinguish this product from the others and appeal the children.

Perception plays important part in marketing programmes, where the use of pictures, images, spoken and written language, colour, noise, music, tastes and smells are used in such abundance. At the information search stage communication campaigns should be informative in nature, so when marketers make an advertisement it should provide information about the product and its attributes to consumers. This helps in creating brand awareness and dispelling doubts regarding the product among consumers.

Individual’s perception is unique and powerful in its inferences for marketers. Usually, consumer purchase will take place when individual perceives that product or service will offer benefits of needs. Hence, marketers must understand how perception works in order to communicate successfully a product’s benefits.

In reality, consumers exposed to advertising and promotion do experience information overload. Hence, the perceptual process includes a component called selective perception, which allows individuals to screen out some stimuli while allowing other stimuli to be perceived. Therefore marketer can use clear communication as strategy. Advertisements should be copy tested to ensure consumers get the message. Things to avoid include incorrect understanding of imagery, inappropriate humour, and double entendre. Also, lengthy communications are less likely to pass through consumer’s mental filters.

Perception is also subjective. People understand things differently. The manner in which consumers organize and interpret information is individualistic and biased. That is, people experience subjective perception; perception deviated from reality due to individual differences in the perceptual process.

2.2 Attitudes

2.2.1 Definition of Attitudes

The next step of consumer buying process is evaluation of alternatives which information is gathered. Another key element that influences the evaluation process is the attitude of the consumer towards the product.

Attitudes are learned, it will be affected by new information and experience. Consumers use perception and learning to gather new information and combine with knowledge about product’s quality and benefits. This serves the basis for evaluating the choice products from which consumer will make purchase decision.

An attitude is how positive or negative, favourable or unfavourable, or pro or con a person feels toward an object. This definition views attitudes as a feeling or an evaluative reaction to objects.

A second definition represents Attitude can be defined as ‘a learned tendency to respond to an object in a consistently favourable or unfavourable way’ (Onkvisit and Shaw, 1994). This definition is slightly more complicated than the first because it incorporates the notion of a readiness to respond toward an object.

A third definition of attitude popularized by cognitively oriented social psychologists is: ‘an enduring organization of motivational, emotional, perceptual, and cognitive process with respect to some aspect of the individual’s world’ (Krech and Crutchfield, 1948). This views attitudes as being made up of three components: (1) the cognitive, or knowledge, component, (2) the affective, or emotional, component, and (3) the cognitive, or behavioural-tendency, component.

As conclude, an attitude is a learned tendency to act in a consistent way toward an object based on feeling and opinions that result from an evaluation of knowledge about the object.

Yet, attitude formation is the process by which individuals form feeling or opinions toward other people, products, ideas, activities, and other objects in their environment (Michael R. Solomon, 2004). Attitude toward object is combine with three factors, first is learned knowledge form previous experience, second is evaluation based on individual’s knowledge, last is tendency to act based on evaluation.

Attitudes are important to marketers because consumer will based on their attitude towards the product to buy or not to buy. But marketer cannot directly observed attitudes as attitudes are the result of motivation, perception, and learning. By understanding consumer attitudes, marketers can use interviews and surveys to measure consumers’ attitudes.

2.2.2 The functions of Attitudes

Daniel Katz (1960) has developed functional theory of attitudes to explain how attitudes facilitate social behaviour. Attitudes provide individuals to apply their knowledge to an evaluation of alternative products and, consequently, to make faster, easier, and less risky purchase decisions to satisfy their needs.

Obviously, attitudes help individuals with four primary functions, which are utilitarian, value-expressive, ego-defensive and knowledge function. To clarify, utilitarian function is gain utilitarian benefit from the product, while value expressive is product express individual’s values and lifestyle, and ego defensive is about a product that support self-concept and finally knowledge function is organize individual’s knowledge about product in his or her environment.

2.2.3 Attitude Models

Consumers’ attitudes to products can be complex. They vary according to valence, extremity, resistance, persistence and confidence (Jim Blythe, 2008). Attitude has three components: affect, which is about the consumer’s emotional attachment to the product; behaviour, involves the person’s intentions to do something with regard to an attitude object and cognition, which is to do with the conscious thought processes. These three components are known as tri-component attitude models or as the ABC model of attitudes (Appendix 3). This model emphasizes the interrelationships between knowing, feeling and doing. Consumers’ attitudes towards a product cannot be determined simply by identifying their beliefs about it.

The second attitude model is multi-attribute models. This model is unlike tri-component models cause it focus on an object’s multiple attributes and suggest individual’s attitude toward the object is the result of the aggregation of his or her evaluations of each one. There are three components is this models too, which are attributes on which the object is evaluated, beliefs about whether an object possesses the attribute and an evaluation of the importance or relevance of each attribute in determining the individual’s overall attitude toward the object (Martin Fishbein, 1963). This model is emphasizes that beliefs and evaluations both require evaluation of knowledge.

Next is the attitude-toward-the-ad model. This model is an effort to understand how advertising influences consumer attitudes toward a particular product (Terence A. Shimp, 1981). Variables in these models include where, when, and in what context the as is seen as well as the effectiveness of the ad in generating feelings and dispelling negative beliefs. Mean that, an advertisement influences not only consumer’s attitudes about the ad itself but also their view of the product. As conclude, attitude-toward-the-ad model is consumers form feeling and judgments as the result of their exposure to an ad.

2.2.4 Measuring Attitudes

In order for marketers to use that various attitude models, they need to measure all of these beliefs and evaluative components. There are three common methods used to measure attitude components. First is the observation of behaviour, second is qualitative investigations then attitude scales. Each has unique advantages, depending on the circumstances and all are helpful in determining the strength and direction of particular attitudes. The most often use by marketer is the attitude scales like consumer survey questionnaires with quantitative scale taken by consumers. In fact, this method may be hard for participants to recall information or to tell the truth about a controversial question.

2.2.5 Marketer changing consumer attitudes

Marketer can attempt to influence consumer’s belief, affect, and conative intention by providing information about the attributes and benefits consumers use to form attitudes by influencing the social context in which consumers form those attitudes. For example, usually consumers look to members of their reference group for information and advice, marketers use communication tool to influence consumers and the information and advice can change their attitudes.

In actuality, marketer changes consumers’ beliefs or evaluation of the product by promote their product offers benefit and will satisfy their needs better than competitors or previously product. The strategies marketers employ to influence and promote attitude change include adding benefits, changing product or package, changing the criteria for evaluation and linking products to existing favourable attitudes. The most often strategies use to influence attitude change are adding benefits and changing product or package. To enhanced product value, the product must offer multiple benefits to consumers. As consumer’s attitudes will become more positive by product’s perceived value increase. For example, Johnson’s Baby Oil claims to soften a baby’s skin, condition adults’ skin, remove makeup, and promote tanning. Besides that, consumers often form attitudes in response to changes that improve a product’s ability to deliver benefits. Softsoap, for instance, introduced liquid hand soap and in turn favourably influenced consumers’ attitudes about the convenience of the product. An alternative to changing the product itself is changing its packaging. For example, Jif peanut butter available in a plastic container. As result, changing package consumers’ attitudes are formed in part by evaluating packaging features that offer convenience and environmental benefits. The drawback of this changes will increased costs for company to maintain competition within market place and maintain their share hold of market. Also works against the consumer, as newer products make older product obsolete, resulting in more costs to remain current.

3.0 Conclusion – 20%

In conclusion, according to Katona and Strumpel (1978), attitudes and perception are closely related. Both concepts tend to affect one’s perceptions and shape one’s behaviour. To identify consumer perception and attitude concept and function, several theories and models were represented. This is to focuses attention on how some of the factors that can contribute to those concepts and how they are evaluated by the consumers. Besides that, some examples are listed to support and identify various way that marketer attempt to influence consumer perception and attitudes. Lastly, it is useful that marketers have a better understanding on consumer’s attitudes and perception so that strategies can be applied in a proper manner to gain competitive advantages from other competitors and also can capture consumers’ attention for products to leading successful.

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Introduction

Darwin observed several facts which contradicted his theory of natural- or survival selection, one of which was the dazzling plumage of peacocks that appeared to have nothing to do with survival, and in fact seemed to be more of an open invitation to potential predators. The fact that peahens prefer to mate with males who have the most brilliant and luminescent plumage, and that males are often larger than females in species in which they need to engage in physical combat in competition over females, (Crawford & Krebbs, 2008) lead to Darwin’s second evolutionary theory: the theory of sexual selection. Competition among members of the same species for reproductively relevant resources is the pillar of Darwin’s (1859) theory of natural selection (West-Eberhard, 1979) and he proposed two primary ways in which sexual selection could operate. Firstly, intrasexual competition; consisting of competition between members of one sex, the result of which leads to mating access with the opposite sex, and secondly, intersexual selection or preferential mate choice. Intersexual selection refers to the tendency of one sex to choose as mates certain members of the opposite sex based on specifically desired qualities. Darwin referred to intersexual selection as “female choice” because he observed that throughout the animal kingdom females were prone to be more discriminating than males in their mating choices, (Crawford, Crebs 2008). In the past several decades the evolutionary perspective on interpersonal attraction and mate selection has gained increased attention and proposes that humans are governed by rules of attraction and mate selection that prioritize the conception, birth, and survival of their offspring. (Mahfouz, et al. 2008). Intrasexual selection in humans appears to operate mostly indirectly, through social hierarchies, rather than through direct competition as can be observed in the animal kingdom, e.g. two antelopes locking horns in combat over a female. In this way patterns of sexual selection do not immediately involve environmental changes, and neutral or even dysfunctional traits could potentially develop through female choice (Buss, 1986). This begs the important question; what are the preferred characteristics valued by human beings when it comes to mating?

One of the main strategies of competition in mating is to make oneself more attractive than others of the same sex by use of specific tactics and displaying certain resources (Buss, 1988). Trivers (1972) further illuminated Darwin’s theory of sexual selection when he suggested that the one driving force behind sexual selection is the relative parental contribution of both sexes in their offspring. Males should adopt a reproductive strategy which maximizes the opportunity to mate, and females should adopt a strategy that relies on choice, only mating once the best male out of a number has been identified. According to Buss (1986) under conditions of female choice, males are expected to display the traits most valued by females, and may compete for elevation in hierarchies while women tend to favour high-status men. Buss (1988) conducted a number of studies with the hypothesis in mind that patterns of human intrasexual competition can be predicted from knowledge of mate selection criteria, and examined preferences in partner choice. He found three replicated sex differences; men more than women preferred mates who were physically attractive, and women more than men preferred mates who showed good earning potential and who were college educated. Thus, it would seem that females can increase their reproductive success by choosing a man of high status with sufficient resources, thereby able to provide material security to successfully raise offspring. Males, on the other hand, increase their reproductive success by choosing women who are receptive, fertile, and possesses characteristics suggestive of being a good mother (Singh, 1993). Where as the reproductive value of a man can be easily assessed by looking at external symbols of power such as social- and economical standing, women’s reproductive value is concealed. However, from an evolutionary based perspective it is assumed that physical attractiveness is primarily a reflection of a woman’s reproductive success (Buss, 1987), and is portrayed in this way by certain desired physical characteristics like full lips, clear skin, clear eyes, an abundance of hair, symmetry, good muscle tone, youth (Buss, 1993) and lower body mass (Swami and Furnham, 2007). From an evolutionary viewpoint, both sexes should have evolved a preference for mates that possess these desired qualities, increasing levels of competition to project such characteristics and ensure reproductive success.

The number of options available when deciding on a mate has become potentially overwhelming in modern times. Not only are there more people in our local environment, but modern dating methods present us with more options than humans have previously had to deal with. However, research suggests that mate qualities valued by people offline are the same as those valued by people online (Lenton, et al., 2008), and that online interaction is driven by the same needs as face-to-face interaction. Thus, online interaction should not be regarded as a separate arena but as an integrated part of modern social life (Wellman & Hathornthwaite, 2002). A study by Hitch et al. (2005) which looked at desirable qualities as projected on online dating sites found the most striking difference across gender to be related to earnings and education. Although both sexes show a preference for partners with higher incomes, this preferences is much more pronounced for women, as also found in Buss’ studies. It was also found that although users prefer a partner with a similar education level, men tended to have a strong dislike for a better educated partner, where as women avoided less educated men. In another study focused on the importance attached to physical attractive qualities, Hancock and Toma (2009) studied profile pictures of women on dating websites by looking at self-presentation and in particular at levels of deception in the form of the number of discrepancies as contained in photographs . They assumed that from an evolutionary perspective youthfulness and physical attractiveness would be qualities valued more by women than by men, and found that women’s photographs were indeed less accurate, with discrepancies relating to mentioned weight, hair length and age as preferred by men, and higher incidences of retouching photos. Although earlier studies focused on self-presentation on internet dating websites, researchers have recently shifted their attention to self-presentation in less anonymous settings like social networking sites. A study by Ellison et al. (2006) found that people tend to act differently in social networking environments when compared to those interacting in anonymous settings. This finding had vast implications in identity formation in the online world, as it basically indicated that online self-presentation varies according to the nature of the setting. Along with dating sites, friend-networking websites like MySpace and Facebook have become very popular, and offer a highly controlled environment for self-presentational behaviour- an ideal setting for impression management (Mehdizadeh, 2010). A study by Zhao (2008) examined identity construction on Facebook, with the main hypothesis being that Facebook users would engage in what internet dating sites users engage in- the presentation of their hoped-for possible selves, defined as socially desirable identities an individual aim to construct, in this case online. They distinguished between implicit identity claims, which involved the display of photos and profile pictures, and explicit identity claims, involving verbal descriptions of the self under the “About me” section of facebook. However, it was found that this was the least elaborated of identity strategies and photos were mainly used for identity construction. Results were consistent with internet dating studies and the way in which a self which is more socially desirable was projected. The construction of the self online has been found to differ between the sexes because different kinds of social roles come into play during interpersonal communication (Archer, 1989). Women, unlike men, tend to place greater importance on sexual-interpersonal aspects of self-definition, and a review of gender differences in identity development revealed few gender differences, apart from in the areas of sexuality and family roles, supporting findings that relationships are more important to women’s identity formation than to men’s (Manago, 2008). Research highlights that it is critical that social scientists don’t view Cyberspace as one generic space, but rather to consider how different spaces online are constructed (Whitty, 2007). Specific characteristics of internet communication may affect gender self-presentation, and the way in which Facebook allows users to present a very strategic presentation of their selves and to control what remains hidden and what is revealed, makes it a fascinating medium to study.

The objectives of the current study was to look at the effect of gender and relationship status on the projection of reproductively valued qualities on Facebook from an evolutionary perspective. From an evolutionary viewpoint one would expect similar gender differences as was found in Buss’ studies, with women placing more of an emphasis on physical attractiveness and youth and the way this is projected on Facebook, and men projecting qualities which portray status and competitiveness. The projection of sociability was correlated with “warmth” and it was predicted that women would score significantly higher on the projection of this characteristic, with single women scoring significantly higher overall. Important to note is that the projection of these mentioned reproductively valued qualities would be of an unconscious- and implicit nature, considering that Facebook is primarily seen as a social networking website, rather than as a virtual arena designed to meet members of the opposite sex, as is the case with online dating websites. Both gender and relationship differences in the projection of physical attractiveness, competitiveness, nurturing qualities, status and sociability were predicted. It was predicted that married persons, already being in a position of long term mating, would project these qualities significantly less than single persons.

There were four main hypotheses:

Hypothesis one: Single males will score significantly higher on projected status and -competitiveness than single females.

Hypothesis two: Single females will score significantly higher on projected physical attractiveness, -nurturing qualities and -sociability than single males.

Hypothesis three: Single males will score significantly higher on both projected status and -competitiveness in comparison to married males.

Hypothesis four: Single females will score significantly higher on projected physical attractiveness, -nurturing qualities and -sociability than married females.

Discussion

Darwin’s theory of sexual selection suggests that desirable members of the opposite sex possess reproductively valuable assets over which members of the same sex compete. Gender differences typically exist when it comes to which reproductively relevant resources are valued by men and women. Females seem to increase their reproductive success by choosing a man of high status with sufficient resources, thereby able to provide material security to successfully raise offspring. Males, on the other hand, increase their reproductive success by choosing women who are receptive, fertile, and possesses characteristics suggestive of being a good mother (Singh, 1993). Research suggests that mate qualities valued by people offline are the same as those valued by people online (Lenton, et al., 2008) and studies investigating mating preferences on online dating websites display similar findings, with women going to significantly greater lengths than men to enhance physical attractiveness on profile photos, and men emphasising their status and income to a significantly greater extend than women. The present study proposed that evolutionary differences between the sexes with regards to sexual selection should also exist in non-dating online environments like the social networking website, Facebook, with females placing more of on emphasis on projecting physical attractiveness, sociability and nurturing qualities, and males projecting competitiveness and status. Most of the hypotheses were confirmed and were consistent with other studies on mating preferences from an evolutionary viewpoint. Several conclusions can be drawn from this study. Firstly, support was found for significantly greater female than male use and perceived effectiveness of projecting physical attractiveness and nurturing qualities. Secondly, support was found that single women perceive the effectiveness of projecting physical attractiveness to a significantly greater extent than married females. Thirdly, support was found for significantly greater male than female use and perceived effectiveness of competitiveness. Fourthly, support was found that single persons perceived the use and effectiveness of projecting sociability as significantly greater than married persons. Finally, the perceived use and effectiveness of the projection of status did not vary significantly for either gender or relationship status.

These findings provide evidence that mating preferences are also displayed implicitly in non-dating online environments where the main agenda is social networking, rather than attracting a mate. This implies that the projection of reproductively valued assets could also be an unconscious process, engrained in our evolutionary biological make-up. The results of this study will now be discussed in terms of each hypothesis, after which the practical implications of the study will be highlighted and suggestions will finally be made on how future studies could utilize and expand these findings.

Physical attractivenes

As predicted, significant results were found for the projection of physical attractiveness for gender, with women scoring higher overall than men, and also for relationship status, with single persons scoring significantly higher than married persons. These findings provide evidence that pressure on women to appear young and attractive is just as prevalent in today’s society as it was when Darwin wrote his theory on sexual selection in 1871, noting that “In civilized life man is largely, but by no means exclusively, influenced in the choice of his wife by external appearance”, 1871. (p. 738). The pressure to be beautiful can be most blatantly observed on dating websites where the intrasexual battle between women ensues as they compete for the attention of a potential partner, and rely solely on photos as a method to project physical characteristics, even lying about age and weight to appear more attractive (Hitsch et al., 2005). One study found that men were more likely to respond to an

advertisement in which a woman identified herself as a recovering addict than to an ad in which the woman identified herself as obese (Minervini & McAndrew, 2005). Findings of this study reveal Facebook to be just as a competitive virtual arena which exhibits similar characteristics to online dating websites, including the strategic way in which one’s projected physical attractiveness is manipulated and enhanced online. Women displayed considerably more of a tendency to change their profile pictures on a regular basis than men, thereby drawing attention to- and emphasizing their looks to a much greater extent than men. This tendency was particularly highlighted along single women. Considering that evolutionary biology rules out beauty for its own sake (Derry, 2008) these findings reflect the unconscious way in which women on Facebook project reproductively valued qualities to the opposite sex through the implicit medium of photography. Although facial attractiveness is expected to predict the popularity of both men and women, and emerged in virtually all dating studies based on real interactions as a powerful predictor of popularity (Asendorpf et al., 2011), women tend to score significantly higher on projected physical attractiveness in comparison to men, as also supported by the findings of this study.

Further significant differences were found between single- and married persons, with single users projecting physical attractiveness more than married users. This supports predictions, and reflects that there is less pressure on married couples to emphasise physical attractiveness, which can be attributed to the fact that they are already in positions of long term mating, and there is thus less of a need to project this asset.

Another interesting finding in the current study was that only 52% of single women listed their age, followed by 78% of married women, 88% of single men, and finally 94% of married men. This further highlights the pressure on women to appear youthful, and it is interesting to note that it is predominantly single women who do not choose to list their age. Considering that 78% of married females list their age, one can not generalize this finding to women in general. The conclusion which must thus be drawn is that single women tend to de-emphasize elements relating to age in an attempt to appear more youthful. It is also interesting to note that the average age of single women was 24 in comparison to married women who were aged 29 on average. Considering that married women were aged slightly older than single women, one would in fact expect them to be more secretive about their age. However, this research indicates findings to the contrary and highlights the reproductive value of appearing young for single women. These findings are supported by various previous studies into mating preference that found both physical attractiveness and youth as indicative of health and fertility in women, and as valued significantly by men as sources of reproductive value (Buss et al., 1990; Buss & Barnes, 1986; Buss et al., 2001; Buss & Schmitt, 1993; Feingold, 1990, 1992; Kenrick & Keefe, 1992; Kenrick, Keefe, Gabrielidis, & Cornelius, 1996; Singh, 1993; Singh & Young, 1995).

Competitiveness

Human beings tend to live in groups and all groups have status hierarchies, whether formal or informal, with reproductively valued resources usually abundant at the top rather than the bottom, creating steep levels of competition (Buss, 2001). Levels of intrasexual competition also increase, especially among males, as male resource display is judged as more effective than female resource display when it comes to attracting a mate. Men more than women display characteristics that would lead to the likely acquisition of resources like ambition and industriousness (Buss, 1988). In the current study significant gender differences were found for the projection of competitiveness, with males overall scoring significantly higher than females, as predicted. Previous studies found that men were more likely to display resources as a tactic of intrasexual competition than women, also linking to studies done on mating preferences as displayed on online dating websites which found that men tended to project their status in society, as well as their income, to a much greater extent than women (Hitsch et al., 2005, Toma et al., 2008, Mahfouz, 2008). Although projected levels of competitiveness is not viewed as directly projecting resources or income in the case of this study, it is seen as a powerful indicator of a male’s ability to succeed in allocating valuable resources such as financial income. Levels of competitiveness did not vary significantly between single- and married men as predicted, indicating that the projection of competitiveness is valued by males in general and not just single males. This could arguably be explained by the fact that, from an evolutionary viewpoint, men may have evolved over human evolutionary history a powerful need for sexual access to a large number of women (Buss, 1993) which in combination with the innate ability to father offspring until much later in life than women are capable of biologically, entails higher levels of competitiveness to suffice throughout a male’s life. In one study men stated that they would ideally like to have more than 18 sex partners in their lifetimes, whereas women state that they would desire only 4 or 5 (Buss & Schmitt, 1993), and these findings were replicated twice when 75% of men but 0% of the women approached by an attractive stranger of the opposite sex consented to a request for sex (Clark & Hatfield, 1989). From an evolutionary viewpoint, marriage is a relatively modern concept, implying that gender differences with regards to intra- and intersexual competition have not changed dramatically in modern times. In this sense competitiveness leads to a higher position in the social hierarchy, and better chance of providing for one’s offspring, and should not significantly vary between single- and married men, as findings illustrate in this study

The importance of physical characteristics in the female choice of a mate is prevalent throughout the animal kingdom, and one benefit of a woman in permanent mating conditions is the physical protection offered by a man, Buss (2003). Considering that levels of competitiveness was correlated with participation in sports, one could further explore the possibility that physical strength as displayed in sports is valued as a reproductive resource by women- supported by studies such as Buss (1995) which found that women valued physical protection abilities more than men, in both short-term and long-term mating. Thus, it is additionally also possible that men project physical strength by appearing “sporty” in profile photos as the reproductively valued asset of providing physical protection to female offspring. This could also account for the insignificant difference between single- and married males when it came to the projection of competitiveness, seeing that men can father (and thus protect) offspring until late in life.

Nurturing qualities

The current study predicted that women would score significantly higher on projected nurturing qualities than men, and this hypothesis was supported. Both single and married women projected nurturing qualities to a greater extent than males. Stereotypically women are nurturing, where as men are somewhat more aggressive and less person-centred. Traditionally sex differences have been explained by the process of socialization , and the way men and women are influenced by societal norms to play acceptable gender roles. However, from an evolutionary viewpoint men would need to exhibit higher levels of aggression, and competitiveness, supported by the findings of this study, to protect their positions in society where as women with lower levels of competition and higher investment in their offspring are expected to show more nurturing behaviours (Workman & Reader). This study supports findings from previous research which highlight nurturing qualities in women as being innate, as illustrated in a study by Bernt (1986) in which it was shown that women are more attracted to intimate relationships than men (Berndt, 1986), and cross-cultural studies which suggests women to be more person-centred, in contrast to men who are more object-centred .There is also evidence that sex differences in nurturance has its origins in infancy, and a study by Simner (1971) found that infant girls more than infant boys were more likely to also start crying when they heard another baby cry, than when hearing a loud noise (Workman & Reader, 2001). Contrary to prediction single women did not score higher on projected nurturing qualities than married women with married women having the highest scores on projected

nurturing qualities overall. A possible explanation for this could be that married women, who being married are in a more secure position to either have children- or already have children, are either consciously or unconsciously depicting salient nurturing qualities. This study also illustrates that the biological experiences of pregnancy and lactation generate a strong, instinctual drive in women to nurture (Silverstein, et al., 1999), as illustrated by the higher, although not significantly so, proportion of married women who exhibited nurturing qualities in this study versus single women.

Sociability

A significant difference between single- and married subjects was noted when it came to sociability, with single Facebook users projecting sociability to a greater extend than married users. This links to previous studies done on Facebook which found that most users attempted to project a socially desired self, claiming that they were “popular among friends”. Fierce competition was also noted among Facebook users for the size of social networks they claimed to possess, and competition to have the most amount of “friends”, Zhao (2008). Thus, it would seem that the desire to appear sociable or popular offline, also exists online. There is further support for the importance of social skills as found in a study by Buss (1989) which studied mating preferences across 37 cultures and found that kindness, intelligence and social skills were listed as the top criteria for a potential mate. This supports the current study’s prediction, that single Facebook users would appear significantly more social than married users. However, unlike predicted there was no significant difference between men and women when it came to projected sociability, revealing that the projection of warmth towards others is just as important for single men as it is for single women. Significantly lower levels of projected sociability in married couples could be a reflection of lower levels of social activity as portrayed in profile pictures, perhaps as a result of spending more time with their partners or children, but could also indicate that there is less of a need to exhibit sociability, and thereby project popularity among friends .

Status

Status is closely correlated to financial income, and it was predicted that men more than women would display their status on Facebook, supporting studies such as one by Buss (1988) in which it was found that men more than women display characteristics that lead to the likely acquisition of resources, e.g. degree attainment. However, this was not the case, and no significant differences in the projection of status were found between either men and women overall, or single- and married subjects. There could be several explanations for this, one relating to previous studies done on online dating websites which found that both sexes tended to favour members of the opposite sex with similar educational levels. Considering the overwhelming support that previous studies provide with regards to the importance that women attach to resource income as a reproductive value and status as a reflection of financial income, another explanation could lie in the obvious fact that Facebook is a social-, rather than dating network, and that popularity as illustrated with regards to exhibiting sociability, is highly valued. Thus, it would be just as important for women than for men to list their status in a virtual social network where one would expect similar levels of education among friends or acquaintances as a general rule. Also, Facebook is arguably not different from online dating websites where users, both male and female, tend to list their status as a formality, but in which one study men stated in a questionnaire that they did have a particularly strong distaste for a better educated partner, while women particularly avoided less educated men (Hitsch, 2005).

Conclusion

In conclusion, the implicit nature of photography and the unconscious way in which participants use it to project reproductively valued qualities to members of the opposite sex are particularly interesting findings. Facebook as a social networking website, in which users have control over self image and access to many tools with which to present themselves in a favourable way to others makes it a fascinating medium to further explore.

Limitations and suggestions for future research should be noted. Suggestions for future studies include conducting a cross-cultural study to see if there are any significant differences to note. Secondly, exploring other functions on the social networking website, such as the number of friends- or social networks a user possess, additional photo albums, qualitative analysis of verbal descriptions under the “About me” section or status updates of users, etc. The vast amount of additional information available on Facebook could be used to supplement current findings, and other popular social networking sites such as MySpace could be researched in a similar fashion. Thirdly, different age groups could be tested for significant correlations- or differences. Fourthly, data could be collected in combination with questionnaires, supplementing findings. Fifthly, a study looking at specific differences between the explicit and implicit projection of reproductively valued qualities on Facebook could be conducted. Finally, there are many other traits which both sexes highly value in the opposite sex like displaying humour, good manners, sympathy, good grooming (Buss, 1988), similar values, honesty (Whitty, 2007) etc. and future studies could aim to include these.

Although this study and its hypotheses were interpreted from an evolutionary perspective, additional theoretical accounts are possible, and it should be kept in mind that evolutionary explanations supplement, rather than replace traditional modes of explanation in psychology (Buss, 1988). These results may seen as the start of an exploration into social networking websites and how resource valued traits are unconsciously and implicitly projected to members of the opposite sex, but current social psychological accounts should also considered.

Introduction
Section 1: The Theory of ‘The Zone of Proximal Development’ and ‘Scaffolding’.

“The zone of proximal development is the distance between what children can do by themselves and the next learning that they can be helped to achieve with competent assistance” (Raymond, 2000, p.176).

Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory is widely cited by educators and teachers even today, as they formulate plans on how to get the most from students, challenging them to reach their highest potential. Vygoysky believed that social interaction leads not only to increased levels of knowledge, but that it actually changes a child’s thoughts and behaviours and hence develops problem solving. Since it is the goal of parents and teachers alike to help children become high achievers, taking a look at the work of Vygotsky and examining his conclusions seemed the best course for this assignment.

Lev Vygotsky’s concept of the zone of proximal development (ZPD) is what has led to the term and concept of learning through scaffolding, as introduced in 1976 by Wood, Bruner and Ross, to describe educational interaction between an adult and a child. The idea was used to explore the nature of aid provided by a teacher for children learning how to carry out a task they could not perform alone. Bruner’s ideas of spiral curriculum and scaffolding are related. Bruner (1960) stated that the curriculum should revisit the basic ideas for each subject, repeatedly building upon them until the pupil understands them fully (the spiral curriculum), rather than just to learn the facts.

A parallel has been drawn between the notion of scaffolding and ZPD theories of Vygotsky (Hobsbaum,A., Peters,S., Sylva,K., 1996).

If teachers wish to provide learning opportunities, they must assess the child’s present developmental level and estimate the ‘length’ of the ZDP. This can be achieved by using current APP grids and assessing the exact level of the pupil and what they need to achieve to reach the next level and progress further. But, the child must be able to make use of the help of others; the learner needs the ability to benefit from the give-and-take activities and conversations with others (Bruner, 1983). Vygotsky acknowledged the limits of the ZPD, but most psychological research has emphasized the importance of the role of the environment; including parents and other adults (teachers and care givers) who are ‘expert’ models and guides for a young learner.

The full development during the ZPD depends upon full social interaction and the more the child takes advantage of an adult’s assistance, the broader their ‘Zone of Proximal Development’ is.

Vygotsky defined scaffolding instruction as the “role of teachers and others in supporting the learner’s development and providing support structures to get to that next stage or level” (Raymond, 2000, p. 176).

Vygotsky refers to what children can do on their own as the ‘level of actual development’. LAD in his view, it is the level of actual development that a standard IQ test measures. Such a measure is undoubtedly important, but it is also incomplete. Two children might have the same level of actual development, in the sense of being able to solve the same number of problems on a standardised test. Given appropriate help from an adult, still, one child might be able to solve an additional dozen problems while the other child might be able to solve only two or three more. What the child can do with the help is referred to as the ‘level of potential development’ (Vasta, R., Haith, M.M., Miller, S.A., 1995).

Scaffolding can take the form of targeted questioning for a specific task or modeling a task, so that a teacher can individualise learning to meet the requirements of each individual student. However this is dependent on the teacher knowing the pupils’ previous knowledge. The scaffolds facilitate a student’s ability to build on their prior knowledge and interpret new data or information. The activities provided in scaffolding instruction are at the next learning level beyond the LAD or what the learner can do alone (Olson & Pratt, 2000). The teacher provides the scaffolds so that the learner can accomplish – with assistance – the tasks that he or she could otherwise not complete, thus helping the learner through the ZPD (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000).

Section 2: Educational examples of teaching utilising ‘ZPD’ and ‘Scaffolding’.

If we first review Assignment 2 (appendix one) we can see that the two pupils have considerably differing LAD’s. Pupil Two working at a Level 3C and Pupil One working at Level 2B. This was evident with the amount of scaffolding that each pupil required throughout the task. Pupil Two was able to complete the task with limited scaffolding, as her ‘level of actual development’ was high and through questioning to ensure that she followed a sequence she completed the task. However with Pupil One, a large amount of modelling and leading questions were required to allow her to complete the task because her LAD was at a lower level and her previous experiences of problem solving were limited so she was therefore limited to the experiences she could recall.

“Every function in the child’s cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the individual level; first, between people (interpsychological) and then inside the child (intrapsychological).” (Vygotsky, 1978).

However approximately four weeks later during my first teaching practice I finished a numeracy unit with a similar problem with a lower ability group. Pupil One who had required a large amount of scaffolding was able to approach the task as she had the experience and the tools to approach this task (appendix two) and complete it with limited support and therefore show that previous experience is vital and that if the pupil is actively listening during the process that it will assist. This is supported by Vygotsky (1978) as he believed that the internalisation of these tools led to higher thinking skills.

During assignment four (appendix four, p5-7) we can again see that Pupil One, who is read to at home, using more advanced books, but also regularly reads with a supporting adult. Helped by their parents when they first start learning to speak, young children are provided with instinctive structures to learn a language. Bed-time stories and read alouds are classic examples (Daniels, 1994). She has a higher reading age and has far more reading strategies to ensure that she is a fluent reader, but also through her social background as stated by Vygotsky (1978) she has a greater understanding of the text and the ability to discuss the text. Pupil Two however, reads mainly on her own and is therefore unable to discuss any issues within the text with a more able adult. This restricts her to only one type of strategy, therefore she is working at a whole level behind Pupil One.

In assignment three, (appendix three) we can see that this task was an open task to see how problem solving could be developed within ‘Gifted’ and ‘Talented’ literacy pupils. They were asked to create a way of showing next year’s Year 3 pupils what performance poetry is. Therefore the pupils did not have any teacher input apart from giving the seven pupils the objective and explain that they would be filmed to allow observation. By watching the video back we can see that the pupils had to explain and support each other through the task by acting as peer tutors.

“Children also learn from each other by collaborative learning, involving children who are at similar levels of competence working together in pairs or in groups and also peer tutoring, involving a more knowledgeable child providing guidance to another child in order to bring him up to a higher level of competence in a task. Research has shown that this not only benefits the child who is receiving the guidance; it also promotes learning in the child expert.” Maynard 2006.

By reviewing the results and the video evidence it is possible to see that an individual pupil would not have achieved a complete task, as they had to discuss and talk through how they were going to choose the poetry, a location and the structure of the film. Each pupil had their own input and they worked together to produce the final film.

Section 3: Implications of scaffolding on Teaching and the Teacher.

Before discussing the implications of scaffolding, we have to realise that these examples are taken from pupils either individually or in small groups and from a controlled environment, where they do not have any external social factors effecting them. In society today educators need to take into account and realise that teaching in a class of 30, there will be individuals with issues that can be beyond their control and that before teaching we have to take into account the five factors of ‘Every Child Matters’ that if a child has one of these missing they will not be able to focus and learn.

One of the primary benefits of scaffolding instruction is that it engages the learner. The learner does not passively listen to information presented but instead through teacher questioning and prompting, the learner builds on prior knowledge and forms new knowledge. In working with students who have low self-esteem and learning disabilities, it provides an opportunity to give positive feedback to the students by saying things like “…see what you have achieved so far!” This gives them more of a can do attitude, compared to a; I can’t do this attitude. This leads into another advantage of scaffolding in that if done properly, scaffolding instruction motivates the student so that they want to learn. However the significance of the ZPD is that it determines the lower and upper bounds of the zone within which instruction should be pitched. This requires an experienced teacher who understands the current educational level of every pupil. Therefore “Instruction is only useful when it moves ahead of development” (Vygotsky 1978 p. 212), “leading the child to carry out activities that force him to rise above himself” (Vygotshy 1978 p. 213). Therefore, this indicates that working with a class of thirty children means that a teacher would have to take into account thirty LAD’s and ZPD’s. The difficulties of this are self-evident but proficient teachers are able to at least maximise this understanding.

Another benefit of this type of instruction is that it can minimise the level of frustration of the learner. This is extremely important with many special needs students, who can become frustrated very easily then shut down and refuse to participate in further learning during that particular setting.

Scaffold instruction is individualised so it can benefit each learner. However, this is also the biggest disadvantage for the teacher since developing the supports and scaffolded lessons to meet the needs of each individual would be extremely time-consuming. Implementation of individualised scaffolds in a classroom with a large number of students would be challenging, therefore pupils can become grouped within their current ability and LAD that they are currently working at. However as we have previously seen, pupils working as a group can scaffold each other and therefore develop their skills collaboratively. These groups would then benefit from being mixed ability as the higher ability pupil would be able to act as the expert. This would also help to motivate all pupils on task and provide responsibility. Reciprocal scaffolding, a method first coined by Holton and Thomas, is a method that involves a group of two or more collaboratively working together, as we see in assignment three. In this situation, the group can learn from each other’s experiences and knowledge. The scaffolding is shared by each member and changes constantly as the group works on a task (Holton and Clarke, 2006). According to Vygotsky, students develop higher-level thinking skills when scaffolding occurs with an adult expert or with a peer of higher capabilities (Stone, 1998). This is completely opposed to Paiget’s theory.

Another disadvantage is that unless properly trained, a teacher may not properly implement scaffolding instruction and therefore not see the full effect. Scaffolding also requires that the teacher give up some of the control and allow the students to make errors. This may be difficult for teachers to do, as teachers are required to plan their lessons and meet specific objectives, the lesson could progress in a completely different direction and therefore not meet that specific objective. So timing of the teacher’s imput is vital, to ensure children do not go too far off track.

Although there are some drawbacks to the use of scaffolding as a teaching strategy, I believe that the positive impact it has on the development of pupils, and therefore the success of the lesson, is vital to consider when planning.

References:

Applebee, A. N. and J. A. Langer, 1983. ‘Instructional scaffolding: Reading and writing as natural language activities. Language Arts, 60/2.

Bransford, J., Brown, A., & Cocking, R. (2000). How People Learn:

Brain, Mind, and Experience & School. Washington, DC: National

Academy Press.

Bruner, J. (1960). The Process of Education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Bruner, J. 1978. ‘The role of dialogue in language acquisition’ In A. Sinclair, R., J. Jarvelle, and W. J. M. Levelt (eds.) The Child’s Concept of Language. New York: Springer-Verlag.

Daniels, H. (1994). Literature Circles: Voice and choice in the

student-centered classroom. Markham: Pembroke Publishers Ltd

Hobsbaum, A., Peters, S., & Sylva, K. (1996). Scaffolding in Reading

Recovery. Oxford Review of Education, 22, 17-35

Holton, Derek, and Clark, David (2006). Scaffolding and metacognition. International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, 37, 127-143.

Maynard, S. (2006). Vygotsky and the Child Apprentice. http://www.teachingexpertise.com/articles/vygotsky-and-the-child-apprentice-1428 5/04/2011.

Olson, J. and Platt, J. (2000). The Instructional Cycle. Teaching

Children and Adolescents with Special Needs (pp. 170-197). Upper

Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

Raymond, E. (2000). Cognitive Characteristics. Learners with Mild

Disabilities (pp. 169-201). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon, A

Pearson Education Company.

Stone, C. A. (1998). The metaphor of scaffolding: Its utility for the field of learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 31(4), 344–364.

Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind and society: The development of higher mental processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Abstract

Aims & Objectives: The purpose of this study was to understand the impacts of psychosocial factors on the psychological wellbeing of care workers in a care home setting. Design: The study employed a quantitative descriptive research methodology. Methods: The validated instruments used were Cope Questionnaire, the General Self Efficacy scale, Short form Social Support Questionnaire, Role Stress Questionnaire and the General Health Questionnaire. Participants: The permanent care staffs of an organization for residential elderly care with four locations in a rural area in the Croydon participated in this study (64.3% response rate). It took over 35 days from February 15th 2011 to March 22 nd 2011 to collect the data and was analysed using Bivariate analyses (t-tests, ANOVA, Karl Pearson’s co-efficient correlation techniques). Findings: The results indicated that role conflict significantly negatively correlated to the participants’ low psychological wellbeing. There was a significant negative correlation between the number of social support and role overload. The significant negative correlation between carer’s coping and general well being supported the study hypothesis 3. The demographic variables did not point out any significant differences in findings. Conclusions: The study in future may require the involvement of other relevant variables such as personality factors and organizational factors and consideration of biological consequences of those factors.

INTRODUCTION

To meet the requirements of fragile older adults, 24hours care and service has become one of the most serious subjects inEurope. The main reason that paves a way to this controversy is the rapid progression of ageing group. According to the European Rural development project report, in the theme of “population and Society”, by 2050,Europewill have 173 million people age 65 and above (Heilig, 2002). InEngland, in the next twenty years, the people over 65 will raise two times. During 2007-08, on 1.75 million public of working age and older people used various social care services either offered by their local council or acquired on their behalf from private and third sector institutions inUnited Kingdom. In the similar time local establishments spent ?16.5 billion on social care for all adults (Department of Health; 23rd April -2009). The department of health has commissioned the centre for policy to develop national standards for nursing and residential home care services for older people.

A Care Home is a public or private institution or a distinctive part of an institution, authorised under section 1919(a) of the Social Security Act. It is mainly occupied in providing health care and service to individuals who are mentally or physically retarded. It also provides 24 hours care and service that can be offered to them only through institutional amenities but in turn they also focus on the point of not giving care and treatment of mental diseases alone (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services).

Stress, that had an effect on care workers, is now receiving greater attention than before (Wheeler & Riding, 1994 and Dunn et al, 1994; cited in Rout & Rout, 2002) as the social care labour force is one of the major work groups inUKat present. At the policy paper for the strategy for the Adult Social Care Workforce inEngland, department of health states that overall adult social care workforce stands at about 1.5 million workers. Since 2006-07 there has been a general raise of 8% in the social care workforce. Approximate size of the adult social care work force inEnglandin 2007-08 is 1,505,000(100%)… Out of this total, directly employed are 1,413,000 (94%) and agency workers and those not directly employed are 93,000(6%)” (Department of Health, 2009; Source: The state of social care in England 2007-08- Commission for Social Care Inspectorate: CSCI). A mass of care is carried by direct care workers. They attend to serviceusers’s every day needs, with assisting in the ‘activities of daily living’ such as dressing, eating, bathing, and toileting. They are also in charge for housekeeping, service of meal, laundry, providing skin care, distributing medication, and keeping records (Handerson, 1994; cited Chou and Robert, 2008; pp: 208).

LITERATURE REVIEW

Occupational stress in a care home setting (operational definitions & theories & research

Cox (1978; cited in Burnad, 1991) defined work stress as a discomfort experience of mind and body from exceed demands of environmental stimuli on person’s coping strategies. The official statistical survey report of European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions show that 35% of European labour force point out that their work negatively influence on their health (EFILWC, 2006). The inconsistency among individual’s perception of the sort of specific role and what is really being attained by the individual at present performing the particular role may create role stress ( Lambert & Lambert, 2001).

Kahn et al (1964) used the socio-psychological idea of role to examine work stress. They developed the methods of role ambiguity, role conflict, and role overload and demonstrate that all three were linked with psychological distress in higher levels. The Demands-Supports-Constraints model of Payne (1979; cited in Firth-Cozens & Payne, 1999) sum up the mixture of high demands, low control and poor support as the best predictor of stress.

Parasuraman & Alutto (1984) suggest that role stress comprises stressors. Those stressors have been characterized as environmental demands, control, and events that involve an individual’s role accomplishment. Role stressors drop in to the psychosocial realm of stress. According to the ‘person-environment fit’ theory (Caplan, 1983; cited in Cooper et al, 1988) “the stress associated with lack of ‘fit’ between the person and the job, either in skill, ability, capacity, needs and / or values will lead to job dissatisfaction, anxiety and depression”. Cohen-Mansfield (1995) has provided an exploratory model of how the factors concerned work together in the case of long-term stress of care workers in care homes. According to this model, work-related demands, individual needs and personal off-the-job stressors are considered as the sources of individual stress. The stressors and needs act together with ‘intervening variables’ to produce the person- job fit. These intervening variables are resources of work, an individual’s personality, and off-the-job resources. The physiological and psychological stress responses come from the lack of this person- job fit.

Stressors in Care Home work environment

The negative health outcome has linked with occupational stress (Jones, 2008). Larson (1987) and Callaghan & Field (1991) report that care workers who are stressed have high rate of absenteeism, low level of job satisfaction and are more likely to voluntarily leave the organization. Interpersonal conflicts have been considered to be a significant reason of stress for care workers (Farrell, 1999). Furthermore, Foxall et al (1990) added that they also experience psychological distress of feelings of inadequacy, self doubt, and lowered self esteem, irritability, depression, somatic disturbance, sleep disorders and burnout. Undoubtedly, it will have a negative impact on the quality of care (Janssen et al, 1999). The report above says remind the Hans Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome of stress. According to Selye (cited in Cox, 1947; pp: 5)

“Stress is the nonspecific (physiological) response of the body

(the first phase is an alarm reaction; the second stage is one of

resistance or adaptation, and the final stage is one of exhaustion)

to any demand made upon it”.

Smith et al (2000; cited in Rout and Rout, 2002) sum up that high level of burnout were significantly related with more sick leave, and more reported absences for mental health reasons.

Cooper et al (1988; cited in Furnham & Bochner, 1986) suggest those psychosocial factors such as work place culture/relationships of poor communication, harassment, bullying and intimidation; job content of work overload, deadlines, work difficulty, and time pressures; organizational structure of redundancy threats; and work-home interface of child care issues and housing issues may cause psychological distress. It is a well known fact that ‘culture shock’ as a psychological reaction to unfamiliar environments, plays a major role in any person’s life when he/she enters a workplace initially. But this ‘culture shock’ varies from person to person, and from firm to firm, though it does not relieve anybody from its threatening claws. A person who joins a nursing home for the first time has to care for a range of service users with a mixture of problems and emotions. It can often be mainly stressful. And to work with people from different culture is also stressful as the level of individualism or collectivism in society will also influence the character and personality of persons in organizations. Work activities concerning bending, twisting, frequent heavy lifting, uncomfortable motionless posture and psychological stress are considered as fundamental factors for many physical problems (Karahan et al, 2009).Resident’s physical and verbal aggression might create psychological distress and lower job satisfaction among care workers. MacPherson et al (1994) have done a study related to this subject.

Night shift work is inevitable in a 24hours care and service setting. In night workers the normal circadian rhythm of blood corticoids generally remains distorted (Selye, 1956). A large cross sectional study has been done among 5419 Finnish adult men; report that the chance of coronary heart disease is very high among the participants who slept for more than nine hours or for less than six hours per night, as contrast to with those sleeping the more common seven to eight hours(Wheatley,1994). Job insecurity and incongruity in position can be created by career ceiling (Cooper & Mashall, 1978). In a care home setting lack of opportunities (blocked opportunities) for promotion of care workers appeared as a source of dissatisfaction with work.

Health-care workers are advised to wear gloves whenever there is contact to body fluids and assist service users for personal hygiene. Increased use of gloves creates latex hypersensitivity among health care workers (Zak et al, 2000). The research report 169 of Health & Safety Executive indicate that over workload, role ambiguity, absence of opportunity to use their skills ( under skilled works) and conflicting work and job role demands made stressful. A longitudinal study has been done by Revee J (2000) & Randle J (2003) along with care workers. They used unstructured and qualitative interviews for data collection which are as everyday conversations. The participants reported the experience of bullying from registered nurses in the form of exercising power and injure the dignity in front of other staffs. They complained physical and psychological symptoms of sleeplessness, anger, anxiety, stress, self hatred, powerlessness, loss of confidence, increase in sickness absence and intention to leave the profession as reaction to bullying. All branches of nursing such as adult, child, mental health and learning disability were represented in this study.

Coping theories and work related coping in care work sector

There is a key psychological model by Richard Lazarus (1966) to observe the correlation between stress and coping strategies of care workers is the cognitive-phenomenological-transactional model of stress and coping which contributes a theoretical support. This model demonstrates emotions as results to cognitively intervened transactions in the environment (actual, imagined or anticipated). Through the primary and secondary appraisal method, the individual organizes a sequence of coping strategies. These are intended either to problem-focused coping strategies or to emotion-focused coping strategies (Bailey & Clarke, 1989). For example, one care worker may consider the equipment such as ‘hoist’ as annoying; whereas another may find reassuring and encouraging that efforts are being made to assist service users. In an American study, by Yates et al. (1999; cited in Ronelle, 2005), used a representative sample population from the second phase of the longitudinal Massachusetts Elder Health Project, the results point out that the quality of relationship, support and mastery intervene the annoying outcomes of cognitive impairment, functional disability and behaviour problems of the disabled elders on care workers wellbeing. Moreover according to situational and relative variables care workers well-being is able to be improved or reduced.

While coping is supposed to mediate the consequences of burden on the well-being of the carer, from the point of view of Chappell et al. (2001) caring for a person with a life-threatening or prolonged illness like dementia and learning disability, carers efforts to actively problem solve may become more distressed as there is little that they can actually do to change service users’ mental health condition. Therefore it may be more useful for the carer to implement emotional coping strategies thus protecting their own psychological and physical health. The literature regarding coping usually specifies that females apply more emotion-focused coping than males (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984).

Stowell et al (2001) suggested that active coping was used more often than emotion coping (avoidance coping) and that active coping had more positive results on the immune system. From the point of view of Levesque et al (1999; cited in Ronelle, 2005) informal and formal social support reserved the psychological well-being of care workers.

Bailey and Clarke (1989) have opposed the cognitive psychological transactional model of stress and coping. According to them generally shared cultures and the relationship it has between care givers decisions that may have an effect on patient care. Both cognitive and behavioural strategies are coming under the subject of coping. In the case of ineffective coping, stress would prolong. Coping is subject to great individual difference. Efficient time management, team meetings, consultations, support net works and improvement in communications are considered as the primary methods of coping with stress at work place (Rout, 2000). Cultural factors play an important role in staff coping strategies, and thus influence methods of wellbeing.

Importance of Role Ambiguity: theories and applications

According to Beehr (1976) & Schuler (1980) role ambiguity is the lack of specificity and inevitability relating to an employee’s job or role tasks and responsibilities. Cooper & Pearce (1981; cited in Beehr & Glazer, 2005) suggest that role ambiguity is an objective condition at work in which there is inadequate, confusing, or limited flow of information relating to one’s work role. French & Caplan (1970; cited in Cooper et al, 1988) suggest that stress occur from unclear goals. This ambiguity leads to job dissatisfaction, lack of self-confidence, feelings of uselessness, a lower sense of self esteem, depression, and low motivation to work, absenteeism and plan to leave the job. In the words of Baldwin et al (2003) Care workers majority of the role concentrate on direct service user care. Lack of role clarification and different views of support workers and registered nurses in the care process is being underpinned with care plan. Insufficient preparation and following supervision of care workers would create role ambiguity. These indications remind that role clarification, appropriate preparation and a continuing development process need careful concern by managers if care workers’ contribution is to be fully recognized.

Importance of Role conflict; theories and applications

Kahn et al (1964) indicate role conflict as more than one set of contrary demands in relation to work issues. Peterson et al (1995) & Cooper et al (1988) high light the point of incompatible burden that may be among the expectations positioned on a worker by apprehensive parties or by the involvement of two or more roles of the same person. Rizzo et al (1970) suggest that role conflict might be present when organizational requirements collide with personal ideals and obligations to others (family members and other concerned people).

Frone (2003; cited in Beehr & Glazer, 2005) identified both work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict as a consequence on psychological distress (cited in Beehr & Glazer, 2005). French & Caplan (1970; cited in Cooper et al, 1988) describes that the role conflict is associated to the psychological distress of feeling of tension and anxiety. In the 24-7 (2008, published byCoventryUniversity) survey of work life balance centre, about 51.3% of the sample group accounted that they had suffered with work life imbalance. The respondents reported the symptoms of ill health of excessive tiredness (69.4%); sleeplessness (59.6%); irritability (54.9%); difficulty in concentrating (47.9%) and headaches/migraines (47.2%).

Importance of Role overload; theories and applications

In the words of Sofer (1970) role overload is the outcome of too much work, time pressures and targets. Bacharach (et al, 1990) and French & Caplan (1973) found that role overload is an incongruity between work demands and time obtainable for satisfying the demands. From the point of view of Kahn (1980) role overload is generally considered as the failure to complete the expectations of organization within the available time. All these role stressors are correlated to burnout (Anderson, 1991), low level of job satisfaction (Jackson & Schuler, 1985) and high anxiety (Srivastav, Hagtvet & Sen, 1994; cited in Beehr and Glazer; 2005). Hipwell et al, (1989) found that work load is the most considerable predictor of poor mental health. A combination of poor psychosocial factors and role overload produced the highest rate ratio for work related physical problems (Johansson, 1995). Controversially under load may also have been an effect on one’s psychological well being. Too little to do or boredom might make an employee in failing to respond appropriately during emergency situations (Cooper, 1988).

Essential theoretical frame work and research evidence of Social support

The hypothesis of social support indicates the significance of the quality and quantity of support rather than its character and source. This statement is supported by Adrian Furham and Stephen Bochner (1986) on the following way that the sum of social supports that perceived more vital than who offer it. According to Cobb (1976; cited in Rout & Rout, 2002) social support denotes the facilitation or support of members who may include spouse, family, friends, neighbours, colleagues and acquaintances. Individuals with social support regard themselves as being loved and cared for, and appreciated, and a part of a social net work that can provide guidance or services and protection during necessity.

Support from the family environment is very essential as night work/ shift work or long working hours stand for a major cause of stress. From the point of view of Larocco & Jones (1978), social support has playing a vital role to create a positive effect on stress. Davidson & Cooper (1983) suggest that the work/home interface is a major source of stress both males and females, even though differences be existing among the two sexes. In the care workers labour market, entrance of married women with young children is increasing. In UKemployment of married women is considered as the major cause of higher divorce rate. Managing multiple roles is highly stressful especially in the absence of social support (Lewis & Cooper, 1995 & Emmons et al, 1990; cited in Rout & Rout, 2002). Manlove & Elizabeth (1994) have done ahierarchical regression analysis study among child care workers proved that in perceived emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, social support defence the negative outcome of work role conflict and work role ambiguity. Improving organizational, supervisor, and co-worker support will be vital for enhancing job satisfaction of direct care workers. Social support would be having the form of instrumental assist, counsel or guidance, paying special attentive listening, redefining problems, developing alternative lines of actions, reaffirmation of friendliness and respect, and so on. Chappell and Novak (1992) set out to explore the hypothesis that social support operate as a buffer against different work-related and managerial stressors, including the number of service users in a setting with dementia, and challenging behaviours. But social support did not show any significance as a protection from threatening situations with residents. Caregiver research reveals that social support acts a significant role in the care giving practice. Caregivers describe lesser social networks and few contact with people, and they get less support than non-caregivers (Kiecolt- Glaser et al, 1991). Also, lower support is allied with high rate of depression (Bodnar & Kiecolt-Glaser, 1994; Tompkins et al, 1988), while the ties of strong social hands and more social support acts an important role in defending the caregiver from work stress (Williamson & Schulz, 1993) and is associated to general wellbeing (Quayhagen & Quayhagen, 1988).

Positive source of Self efficacy with a theoretical back ground

According to Jones (2008) Self-efficacy is an overall evaluation of one’s ability to achieve his/her essential tasks, roles, or actions and it is also closely related to the way he successfully performs his work. On the basis of investigational report, Salanova (2004) developed a model of increased psychosocial wellbeing and performance. A personal sense of control has positive effect on human functioning. If people have a self belief that they can take active solution for a problem, they become more apt to do so and feel more dedicated to this decision. Self efficacy of care workers is an important subject as it tolerates people to cope with challenging situations, observe their surroundings, or make innovative environments. According to Albert Bandura (cited in Schwarzer, 1992) with the cognitive, affective and motivational intervening self beliefs of efficacy apply their upshots on human implementation. In this sociocognitive point of view, individuals are observed as proactive and self regulating rather than as reactive and controlled by environmental and biological forces. Also in this outlook, individuals are implicit to hold self-beliefs that allow them to employ control over their feelings, actions, and thoughts.

Burrows & McGrath (2000) suggest that the stress experience is highly individualised. It is regarded as a situation with a noticeable inconsistency between the demands placed on a worker and that worker’s aptitude or perceived ability to respond. Individuals evaluate themselves incapable to fiddle with the situations due to their vulnerabilities and perceive situations as disturbed with danger. As a consequence they experience distress in cognitive functions and autonomic arousal. The fundamental implication of the theory of self efficacy in psychological wellbeing is that individual’s judgements on the subject of their capacity to cope basically establish the behavioural, cognitive, emotional and physiological reactions that characterise general wellbeing (Schwarzer 1992).

Role of socio-demographic variables – An out view from previous studies
Gender

Long and Porter (1984) believe that in the subject of ‘stress and women’, the highlight topics are role strain, dual role conflict, and role overload which supposed to affect more on married working women . Regardless of working fulltime, women are often likely to meet family commitments. Karasek et al (1987) sum up that working women reported high level of exhaustion, headaches, dizziness, depression, and respiratory problems than men. On the contrary some investigations indicate that on occupational stress and mental health outcome variables there is no gender differences (Kirkcaldy & Martin, 2000). Chesley et al (2006) have done a study to evaluate individual- and couple-level effects of care giving on changes in well-being. The researchers have followed the longitudinal survey data collection from dual-earner couples (N = 884). The authors found that care giving is related with well-being decreases for dual-earner (families with dual incomes) women and well-being increases for dual-earner men. The study proved that the women caregivers with flexible work conditions have high levels of well-being than caregivers without flexible work. But the size of this effect is small.

Age and marital status

In the study of stress, the demographic variable of age may take part of a moderating role. The research report of a study in job stress and satisfaction among nurses: individual differences, was done by Kirkcaldy & Martin (2000), indicate that older nurses are experiencing more stress and the younger nurses reporting better psychological health. National Centre for Health Statistics (1970) reported that separated, divorced, or widowed persons had considerably high rates of mental illness than married or single individuals (cited Rice, 1992).

Ethnicity

From the point of view of Hofstede (1980), the critical cultural distinctions in attitude and behaviour of work set and management belonging to diverse countries are major subjects in occupational stress. These cultural differences had commenced regardless of barriers. Racial discrimination may support feeling of inadequacy, low morale, poor motivation and low self esteem which eventually will produce stress. Cole, Scott & Skelton-Robinson (2000) have done a study with respect of the effect of challenging behaviour, and staff support, on the psychological wellbeing of staff working with older adults. The result of the study reported that the Asian, African and Afro-Caribbean staffs were much more often employed in care home settings. It would seem because ethnic minority groups are more liable to work in low status career such as care assistants in care home settings. Some cultures having more patients and tolerating attitudes. According to Sharma (2007), individualistic culture and collectivistic culture can build variations in workers subjective perception as regards their work environment. On the other hand Kramer (1997) suggests that the demographic variables like gender, ethnicity, marital status, education have often failed as independent variables to affect well being.

General well being as a dependent variable.

In the previous studies, the researchers have observed the relationships between sources of stress and measures of outcome such as anxiety/ depression, social dysfunction and loss of confidence (Tylor, Carrol and Cunningham, 1991). Since Fengler and Goodrich (1979) caregivers’ psychological well-being has been widely considered. From that time a diversity of issues such as subjective and objective burden of care workers have been investigated (Zarit et al, 1986). In a large cross-sectional multicentre investigation, Bell et al (2001) suggest that care givers work related problems to be significantly correlated with the carers’ general health and their quality of life (cited in McConaghy and Louise, 2005).

Rational of this study together with aims and objectives

Rational of this study is based on theimportance of care workers psychological well being. It is a known fact that the care workers are under increased burden. Thus this will be affecting their biological and general well being. The subject is complex and multidimensional one as it is associated with subjective and objective burden of carers. At this movement economic recession is going on all over theEurope. Moreover unemployment problem is another worse thing. According to BBC One channel news (broad casted on 16-08-2009 at 15 hours) all over theEurope, 200.000 of people lost their job in the last economic year. In controversy employment opportunities are high in health departments as the number of fragile adults rises up. Many aspects of mental health policy and services are experiencing a revolution all over the European Region. Policy and services are motivating to attain a balance between the requirements and benefits of various mental health activities. So the demand for care workers is increasing. Even the care workers know the care giving job might have creating physical and psychological ill health and career ceiling; they might have selected this job (might be under skilled job) due to their financial strain or absence of selected carrier. InUKthe entrance of overqualified people in social care service is rise up. That might be creating lower skill utilization. In this context their psychological well being depends upon a variety of bio- psychosocial factors.

Aims and Objectives:

This study focus on the impacts of psychosocial factors such as coping, social support, self efficacy and role stress on the psychological well being of care workers in a care home setting. There are some realistic allegations of this study. The most prominent feature is its enhancing knowledge about ways to improve job satisfaction may help care workers to get better health and well-being. Since work is an important part of life, work satisfaction is a foremost determinant of quality and happiness of life. Understanding determinants of psychological well being among direct care workers will shed light on how to minimise work stress, enhance management support, reduce turnover, develop coping skills and thus help improve the quality of care of service users, promoting their best possible health and well-being.

Hypothesis:

The study was hypothesized that

1)Social support may be negatively correlated with role stress.

2)Work stress may be significantly negatively correlated with psychological well being.

3) Self efficacy may be significantly positively correlated with psychological well being.

4)Coping skills may be significantly positively correlated with psychological well being.

5) Age, Marital status, Work experience, Ethnicity and Gender may have effect on one’s psychological well being.

Methodology

Design

The study employed a quantitative descriptive research methodology. A cross sectional survey was conducted for this study. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of London spectrum college. A package of questionnaire with introductory letter, consent form, demographic details, and 57 questions used to test dependent and independent variables. They have been administered individually with participants consent. The participants taken their own time to complete the questionnaires and drop it in the box that provided in the reception of the care homes. The study was entirely confidential and anonymous from start to finish. The individual data have been seen by the researcher and the supervisor. The questionnaires were distributed to 70 care workers, of which 45 people returned the questionnaires.

Variables
Independent Variables:

There are five socio-demographic variables are age, gender, work experience, marital status and ethnicity.

Coping skills with three subscales of Negative Impact Value, Positive Value Scale and Quality of Support

Role stress with three subscales of Role Ambiguity, Role Conflict and Role Overload

Social support with two subscales of Number of Support and Quality of Support

Self efficacy

Dependent Variables:

There is only one dependent variable of General psychological wellbeing with three subscales of Anxiety & Depression, Social Dysfunction and Loss of Confidence

Participants

The permanent staffs of an organization for residential elderly care with four locations in a rural area in the Croydon participated in this study. The agency staffs were excluded. The participants’ rate was 64.3%; 31 were female staff and 12 were male staff. Two of them have hesitated to enter their gender details. 15.5 % (n=8) of the participants indicated being single, 69% (n=31) of them reported being married, 4.4% (n=2) divorced and 1 participant reported as lesbian. 3 of them have not mentioned their marital status. In regard to Nationality 9% (n=4) of the participants were White and White British, 29% Black and Black British (n=13), 53% (n=24) Asian and Asian British. 2 reported as mixed. 2 of the participants have not reported their ethnicity.

Materials

Role stress questionnaire (Rizzo, J., House, R.J., & Lirtzman, S.I. (1970)

Role stress questionnaire comprises 17 items that divide in to 3 subscales of role ambiguity, role conflict and role overload.The measures used in sample were the 8-item Role Conflict scale (Ex: I know exactly what is expected of me), and the 6-item Role Ambiguity scale (Ex: I have to work under vague directions or orders) developed by Rizzo, J., House, R.J., and Lirtzman, S.I. (1970). The 3-item Role Overload scale (Ex: I have to work under vague directions or orders) developed by Seashore, S.E., Lawler, E.E., Mirvis, P. & Cammann, C. (eds.) 1982. . In these three subscales responses were made alongside a 7-point Likert scale (strongly disagree=1; strongly agree=7). In the short scales of role conflict and role ambiguity are perplexed with negative and positive item phrasing. Around 85% of the experimental studies approved on role conflict and ambiguity have used Rizzo, House, & Lirtzman’s (1970) Role Conflict and Ambiguity Scales (Jackson & Schuler, 1985).

Carers Coping scale (Easy care (2004), developed with the support of an education grant from Pfizer Limited)

Cares coping scale (Easy care., English version 2004)of 15 items load in to 3subscales of negative impact scale, positive value scale and quality of support section by scoring the items responses as Always=4, Often=3, Sometimes=2 and Never=1(Ex: Do you find care giving worthwhile?). A high score on the negative impact scale (6 items) may point out that the carer is being stressed by the care giving role (Ex: Does care giving cause difficulties in your relationships with friends?). The same, a low score on the positive value scale (5 items) may illustrate that the carer is attaining little satisfaction from the care giving role (Ex: Do you feel you cope well as a caregiver?). Other 4 remaining items (Ex: Overall, do you feel well supported in your role of care giver?) are used in order to build up a wide-ranging understanding of the carer’s potential needs. . There are no threshold scores for the Negative Impact and Positive Value Scales. On the other hand although there are some norms for this scale there is some indication of cut off scores as follows, less than 15% of cares scored more than 12 on the Negative Impact scale, and less than 15% of cares scored less than 12 on the Positive Value scale. Reliability and Validity of the Cope Index has not been specified.

Short form social support questionnaire ((Sarason et al, 1983)

Short Form Social Support Questionnaire (SSQR6) has been developed by Sarason and Colleagues (1987a) and is a 6 item edition of the original 27 -item SSQ (Sarason et al., 1983). Two scores are obtained from the questionnaire: the number of supports (Quasi – structural measure) and the level of satisfaction (Global functional measure) with these supports. For each question, the number of supports score will range from 0 (no supporting individual identified) to 9 (9 individuals identified) (Ex: Who do you know whom you can trust with information that could get you in trouble?). Thus the total score ranges from 0 to 54. This can be separated by 6 to provide a mean number of supports score. Sarason et al (1987a) explained the SSQ6 to demonstrate satisfactory psychometric properties, with high internal consistency for both the number and satisfaction subscales (alpha=0.90 to 0.93), high test-retest reliability and a single factor accounting for the majority of the variance in each of the subscales correspondingly.

The general self efficacy scale(Jerusalem, M., & Schwarzer, R, 1993)

The general self efficacy scale (English version by Jerusalem, M., & Schwarzer, R, 1993) reflects an optimistic self-belief, as part of a more comprehensive questionnaire. The scale was formed to measure a general sense of perceived self-efficacy with the objective to foresee coping with daily hassles as well as adaptation after experiencing all types of stressful life experiences. Preferably, the 10 items are mixed at random into a larger pool of items that have the same response format. Time: it requires 4 minutes on average. Scoring: Responses are made on a 4- point scale (1=Not at all true to 4= exactly true). (Ex: I can always manage to solve difficult problems if I try hard enough). Sum up the responses to all 10 items to yield the final composite score with a range from 10 to 40. The methods have been used worldwide with accomplishment for two decades. People under the age of 12 should not be tested. Reliability of the self efficacy scale has been proved from the sample group from 23 nations; the range of Cronbach’s alpha was from .76 to .90, with the greater part in the high .80s. In number of correlational studies with the scale of Self efficacy, Criterion-related validity is documented. The positive coefficients were established with positive emotions, dispositional optimism, and job satisfaction; negative coefficients were originated with depression, anxiety, stress, burnout and health complaints. The strength of the scale is its suitability as a pointer of quality of life at any point in time.

General Health questionnaire (Goldberg, D. & Williams, P.A., 1988)

In current years the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) has been widely used as a short screening tool, producing results those are similar to longer versions of the GHQ 28. The validity of the GHQ-12 was evaluated with the GHQ-28 in a World Health Organization revises of psychological disorders in general health care (Goldberg, D. P.et al 1997). General Health questionnaire has (Goldberg, D. & Williams, P.A., 1988) 12 item (Ex: Have you recently been able to concentrate on what you’re doing?). Each questions has 4 responses, the responses for each questions are different. GHQ-12 has been extensively used in lots of nations for identifying psychological morbidity. The 12-item GHQ consists 3 aspects, specifically Anxiety and Depression (4items), Social Dysfunction (6 items), and Loss of confidence (2 items). The total score is ranging from 0 to 36, with high scores representing poorer conditions.

Procedure

The administration of the package of questionnaire has been started on 15th February 2011 and completed on 22nd March 2011. On the same day the drop boxes were provided in the reception of the care homes. Total 75 care workers have been accessed. Two of the care staffs rejected to participate in this study at the first approach of the researcher. 50% of the completed data were collected on 17th March and rest of them on 22nd March. There were three questionnaires, out of which one was blank and the others were incompleted. The researcher could not access the staffs that had been on their summer holidays and the ones who were not available during the test administration time. All data have been entered for analysis. Care’s coping scale could have been analysed with its subscales of ‘negative impact of care’s coping, positive value and quality of support’. But its reliability has gone down as some questions have been rephrased and two questions were taken out from the scale. So the coping scale has been analysed of its overall score as reliability is very high. Concerning the questionnaire of social support participants have been confused by the second part of battery of questionnaire which has asked questions about social support i.e. the number of supporters and level of satisfaction. The questionnaire had asked the relation with the supporters in order to find out from whom they are getting more support (from the family environment, social environment andmanagement). But most of the participants have not mentioned the relation as they just circle the numbers.

Statistical Analysis

Bivariate analysis (t-test, ANOVA, and correlation) are used to explain relationships among psychological well being, socio demographic variables, work stress variables, support variables, coping skills and self efficacy. Some missing values existed in many ways of variable, For example: there were missing values for some demographic variables, notably age (2 missing), marital status(3), work experience (2), ethnicity(2), number of support and level of satisfaction (4), general wellbeing (3), role conflict and role over load(1). Total number of participants was 45, mean age 36.5 (SD 10.5).

Ethical considerations

The first stage of the dissertation was the submission of research proposal. The research proposal was accepted and followed by the submission of ethical approval to the ethical committee ofLondonspectrum college. Regarding the Dissertation project, at the first time I got an appointment with the General Manager of the company of the residential elderly care homes on 20/01/2011 inBedford. On the same day I have submitted a copy of Research proposal. GM replied that they would go through and give reply.

After fifteen days i.e. on 04/02/2011, GM called me for the clarifications of some of the issues like about the question of ethical committee that “are there any NHS funded residents in the access nursing home?” They enquired “are the questions prepared by the students?” And they mentioned that “there are no hundred care workers in the company”. Lastly they informed that “they are too much concerned about the confidentiality of the company name in the project work”.

On the next day I sent a reply for clarifying all the above mentioned enquiries from Head Office. In the reply I mentioned that questionnaires are validated and extensively used for psychology research and ensured the confidentially of the company name in the study and conveyed the company’s rights to monitor the research procedure on ethical grounds and to refuse any future publications. On 12/02/2011 I have been asked to submit all the questionnaires for consideration. This was delayed due to busy schedule of GM. I collected the questionnaires of the Care’s coping, Role stress, Social support, Maslach’s Burnout Inventory scale and Physical symptoms of ill health.

On 14/02/2011 I got an appointment with the GM; in the gathering the package of questionnaire has been submitted. They went through each and every questionnaire. Necessary adjustments made based on their recommendations. Later GM informed me that they are quite interested in this study, but the company is in no way involved in this project. I discussed all the above mentioned matters with the supervisor. With the advice of the supervisor I selected the questionnaires of self efficacy and general wellbeing.

On 14/02/2011 a package of five questionnaires with introductory and consent letter which included all the required changes has been submitted to GM. On the same day I received a call from the GM stating that they have accepted the package of questionnaires and asked to clear some typing errors and some other amendments. GM sent an E- email on the same day stating all the above mentioned matter, they asked me to consider the same mail as permission letter for the dissertation activity. I forwarded this E-mail to the Department Chair of Ethics Committee inLondonSpectrumCollege. The committee replied that I would need to get a signed letter from the nursing home. They would be happy to contact the nursing home manager saying that I have permission to do the study from the college end and they are ready to request the GM to provide a signed letter. The committee advised me that I could write it myself and just ask them to sign it and mentioned that if I have any problems and may be able to accept the email of GM as a consent letter.

The committee advised me that ideally, around 100 participants are required for a correlation study. However, just try to get as many as I can. According to them removal of individual item from validated questionnaire is not advisable. I have again completed the ethical form and provided the supporting materials (i.e. introductory letter and questionnaire pack). On the February 15th 2011 I have received an E-mail from the committee with the information that my project now has ethical approval. They suggested me to retain all the items in the role stress questionnaire as it will invalidate it if I remove them.

Results

Bivariate analysis (t-test, ANOVA, and correlation) is used to test the hypothesis and to explain relationships among psychological well being, socio demographic variables, work stress variables, support variables, coping skills and self efficacy.

(Descriptive statistics)

Table 1: Mean deviation, Standard deviation and Number of participants based on the variables investigated.

MeanStd. Deviation Number of participants
General psych wellbeingTotal Cares Coping

Role overload

Role ambiguity

Role conflict

Anxiety and depression

Social dysfunction

Loss of confidence

No: of support

Level of satisfaction

Self efficacy

Age

Gender

Marital status

Work experience

Ethnicity9.883742.3556

11.5682

14.0667

24.6818

3.6512

5.0233

1.2093

9.0488

30.8780

32.9048

36.9070

1.7209

1.9286

71.6047

2.5814

5.831816.07961

3.92605

8.53707

10.41638

1.99862

3.81406

1.10320

6.93884

8.20730

4.42724

10.53749

.45385

.67690

81.73946

.79380

4345

44

45

44

43

43

43

41

41

42

43

43

42

43

43

Table 2: Reliability of the questionnaires used in the study (General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), Self-efficacy, Carer’s coping, Social support and Role Stress..

GWQSelf efficacyCares CopingSocial supportRole stress
Cronbach’s Alpha.817.814.824.934.836
No: of items12 10 13617

All of the scales were high on internal consistency based on the Cronbach’s Alpha (?=.82, ?=.82, ?=.82, ?=.82, ?=.93, ?=.84 respectively).

Pearson’s Product Moment correlation co-efficient test results in link to the hypothesis:

H1– Social support may be negatively correlated with role stress.

The results indicate that there is a significant moderate negative correlation between the number of social support and role overload (r= -0.419, p=0.004). The correlation between the level of satisfaction and role overload is significant and negative but it is relatively weak (r= -0.266, p=0.049).

H2- Work stress may be significantly negatively correlated with psychological well being.

The result shows that the Role conflict is significantly negatively correlated to social dysfunction and loss of confidence (r= -0.53, p<0.001., r= -0.392, p=0.005). The correlation between role conflict and total score of psychological well being indicates significant negative correlation (r=-0.454, p= 0.001). There is a significant negative correlation between role overload and loss of confidence (r= -0.290, p= 0.031).

H3- Self efficacy may be significantly positively correlated with psychological well being

This hypothesis has been refuted.

H4- Coping skills mal be significantly positively correlated with psychological well being.

There is a significant moderate positive correlation between care’s coping and general psychological well being (r= 0.420, p= 0.003)

H5- Age, Marital status, Work experience, Ethnicity and Gender may all have effect on one’s psychological well being.

There is no significant difference in the socio-demographic variables of age, marital status, work experience and gender.

Table3: Significant Coefficient correlations in link to hypothesis

GWQ ROLE OVERLOADLOSS OF CONFIDENCESOCIAL DYSFUNCTION
LEVEL OF SATISFACTION OF SOCIAL SUPPORT -0.266*
NUMBER OF SUPPORT -0.419**
ROLE OVER LOAD 0.290*
ROLE AMBIGUITY 0.267*
ROLE CONFLICT 0.454** 0.392**0.537**
TOTAL SCORE OF CARES COPING-0.420**

NB: In the psychological well being questionnaire higher score indicates poorer condition (reverse relation).

Graph 1: Graphical Representation of the differences between cares’ coping and ethnicity

Graph 2: Graphical representation of significant negative correlation between Role conflict and Social dysfunction.

Graph 3: Graphical representation of ANOVA Test Result

There is a strong evidence of difference of ethnicity in the loss of confidence as p=.056

Summary of the results

The numbers of correlations were found significant. The results indicated that role conflict significantly negatively correlated to the participants’ low psychological wellbeing. There was a significant negative correlation between number of social support and role overload. The significant negative correlation between carer’s coping and general well being supported the study hypothesis 3. The demographic variables did not point out any significant differences in findings.

Discussion

There is a significant negative correlation between number of social support and role overload. High levels of support diminish the negative effects of role overload (Sargent & Terry, 2000). Role conflict is significantly negatively correlated to social dysfunction and loss of confidence. French & Caplan (1970; cited in Cooper et al, 1988) describes that the role conflict is associated to the psychological distress. There is a significant positive correlation between care’s coping and general psychological well being. Coping styles are valuable in terms of directing to positive results such as better health and psychological well being (Jones & Bright, 2001). There is no significant difference in the socio-demographic variables of age, marital status, work experience and gender. Hypothesis-3 (Self efficacy will be significantly positively correlated with psychological well being) has been disproved.

The psychosocial factors measured in this exploratory study have been examined in a number of population studies. The researcher attempted to address these subjects among care staffs of an organization for residential elderly care with four locations in a rural area in the Luton andBedford. In the general well being subscales of anxiety/ depression, social dysfunction and loss of confidence the ethnic group of black or black British scored low. Lower score representing well condition. The score pointed out that Black or Black British group experienced more psychological well being than other ethnic groups. In the psychological well being there were no significant differences between black / black British and Asian/Asian British. This result was supported by previous findings of Cole, Scott & Skelton-Robinson (2000) as the Asian, African and Afro-Caribbean staffs were much more often employed in care home settings. It would seem this is because ethnic minority groups are more likely to work in low status career such as care assistants in care home settings.

The white and white British were more likely to be low psychological well being than other ethnic groups. Absence of horizontal and vertical integration is a common picture among the people from the individualistic societies (Baker, 1979). Asian and Asian British were seemed to be high coping skills and self efficacy than other ethnic group. From the point of view of Hofstede (2001) coping with conflict is a common part of living together as collectivist family. Loyalty to the family and financial obligations make them to develop a desirable character at both work place and family environment. Asian or Asian British group seemed to be high role ambiguity than other ethnic groups. It is not significantly proved in this study but have strong evidences. Language barrier of overseas people and absence of accurate job description and person specification from the part of management might have contributed to this problem. High role conflict has been reported by the white / white British. In the individualistic society family relations and work interferences are considered undesirable. They may lead to preferential treatment and conflict of interest. There is an interesting and noticeable result that white / white British group indicated higher social support but their level of satisfaction and psychological well being is still very low. Its major reason might be pointed out to a general view that in an individualistic society the employer and employee relationship is mainly considered as a business contract, as a calculative relationship among players on a labour market. The black / black British have reported high work load even though their psychological well being is higher than others. They might be having more management support in the form of emotional, informational and instrumental way which has not been tested in this study. The result did not show any significant difference in the other socio-demographic variables of age, marital status and work experience. The demographic variables have often failed as independent variables to affect well being in others studying as well (Kramer, 1997). So this study findings is online with that findings, but only for above variables.

The study among care workers cannot evade the other prevalent variables, which will make impact on psychological well being, such as personality, emotional intelligence, cultural variables such as collectivist/individualist, and organizational culture and so on. Due to the time limitations, the project study tried to avoid the above mentioned core factors. Individual’s personality characteristics have been playing an important role in the work stress (Cohen-Mansfield, 1995). The personality characteristics arbitrate the harmful influences of hostility, loss of confidence, irritability, anxiety and aggression (Sutherland and Cooper, 2000). In theoretical aspect neuroticism could source individual to respond more negatively to potential reason of stress and to recognize distress symptoms more readily (Eysenck, 1967). Australian Industrial and Organisational Psychology Conference meeting reported (page 145) that Emotional intelligence is positively correlated to several work place performances. Emotional intelligent and emotional management are positively associated to the ability to be creative or innovative at workplace. There is a positive correlation between emotional control and the ability to work with team members for the successful completion of task and success of the organisation.

Major limitation of this study was the low rate of sample group. Sample error ( skewness) was concerned as another limitation. In the case of ethnicity there were only three people to represent white and white British. So results of this group cannot be generalised. Some of the participants have hesitated to enter their socio demographic details. The researcher might have been misguided by the participants as the researcher was one of the participants at the same time with the intention to evade the probability of identification. Some of the questions in the questionnaire of work stress consisted about company policies and guidelines. Participants’ bias towards the company should be under possibility. The study did not test the perceptions, expectations, motivations and qualifications of care workers. Perhaps these elements should need to be look in detail. The study excluded the interference of physical or biological consequence of psychosocial factors in care home setting such as lower back pain (Karahan et al, 2009), musculoskeletal symptoms and neck / shoulder symptoms among care workers (Johansson, 1995) and burnout syndrome( Martin, 1998). The study required the involvement of other relevant variables with more representative sample group.

Conclusions

The study concludes with some significant findings. There is a significant negative correlation between number of social support and role overload. Role conflict is significantly negatively correlated to social dysfunction and loss of confidence. There is a significant positive correlation between care’s coping and general psychological well being. There is no significant difference in the socio-demographic variables of age, marital status, work experience and gender. Future research will concern other relevant variables to find out the impact of psychosocial factors on the psychological well being of care workers in a care home setting.

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Introduction

This essay will discuss the argument whether Freud’s theory of psycho-analysis is falsifiable or not. The ways in which Freud himself tried to view his theory as errorless are going to be explained and Karl Popper’s approach to the pseudo-science is going to be discussed. Contradict opinions to Popper’s theory are going to be referred to also.

Sigmund’s Freud psycho-analytic theory had been very influential in the course of psychology. His ideas had been generally considered as correct and fundamental for newer theories. Many assumed so because it was always able to provide explanation to any state and therefore thought of psycho-analysis as unfalsifiable. Webster (1995) mentions that what theorists firstly considered as an advantage of Freud’s theory was the fact that he discovered a way of proposing his own hypothesis and therefore finding theoretical solutions on a pseudo-empirical basis. In fact, Freud firstly made assumptions about phenomena which were not previously observed and then suggested that he is the only person capable of investigating this entity.

Karl Popper (1963) stated that in order for a theory to be scientific, it has to be testable. This can be a problem for the psycho- analysis. Popper assumed that this theory provides explanations for any possible situations and cases and therefore it is, especially by its supporters, considered as flawless. It is important to note that, by Popper, this is not seen as an advantage of Freud’s theory. He disagreed with such opinions and supported these ideas by stating that Freud’s theory, or psycho-analysis as whole, is not refutable. However, he thought that this makes the theory not stronger, but much weaker, as it does not take any unpredictable scenarios into consideration. Popper’s suggestion was to test the theories while one gets to a point when this theory is viewed as refuted. He also mentioned that psycho-analysts suppose they can explain every case in terms of their theory. It is also necessary to say that Popper did not consider those theories, which were found to be non-scientific as not valid or insignificant. He simply supposed that such theories cannot be supported empirically but only can be outcomes of observation.

When it comes to the theories of personality or also other hypothesis, every one of them is always tested in a process of acceptance. If it does not provide a satisfying explanation, newer and different solutions are looked for and tested again. A prove of such testability is that the theory offers explanations for unexpected finding and it does not only adjust the findings to itself. But Popper’s idea might have been slightly different from this. Although he should get credit for reasonable doubting of Freud’s theory, in general, he thought that everything needs to be testable in order to be scientific. And this might conclude in testing and therefore refuting and rejecting every idea which is not scientific. Constant testing of theories does not bring them closer to being proven right, by contrast, many might provide proofs of being falsifiable, but this won’t be noticed as further tests of falsification will follow.This would most probably conclude in rejecting most of the psychological theories. However, Webster (1995) emphasised that this is something Popper was aware of.

Many theorists, mistakenly, supposed that the way how to show that the psycho-analysis is not a pseudo-science is to prove that is it testable (Cioffi, 1998). Grunbaum (1986) disagreed with Popper and he supported his opinion by saying that Freud was open to provide explanations to situations which were not predicted by his theory, but no such instances were found. Grunbaum therefore stated that psycho-analysis is a testable theory. He supported his arguments by using an example from Freud’s 1925 paper in which he admits finding of an individual who contradicts his theoretical assumptions. But what Grunbaum had not predicted was that Freud did not admit the failure of his theory to describe such situation and later explained also this unexpected finding (Robinson, 1993). This fact proves that Popper’s statements about the unfalsifiability of psycho-analysis as relevant. But Grunbaum also stated that the Popper’s criterion is not relevant as there are many different and more appropriate ways to test the differences between pseudo-sciences and real sciences (Eysenck, 1985).

Eysenck (1985), have also disagreed with Popper’s statements by pronouncing that the criterion of falsifiability is irrelevant. In order to support his opinion, he provided some instances in which it is clearly showed that Freud’s theory can be proven false and therefore is testable, despite thinking that such criterion is not decisive.

Freud’s ideas have been widely accepted in the twentieth century. It is surprising that there are still many supporters of Freud’s theory among the psychologists as his assumptions have not been scientifically proven and are often compared to the myths. As one of a very few theories, psycho-analysis is still very favoured, although many valid criticisms have been found. Those, who support this theory, will find its ideas always relevant, even if it can conclude in lowering its status among other theories. Although this finding should be, according to Popper (1963), perceived as weakness, it could be also noted that the psycho-analysis is always going to be viewed as very influential, regardless of criticisms.

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Introduction

The term Internationalization is significant for the firms, but the knowledge of the companies which are new in this global market is quite limited. Now days we all listen and read a lot of things about Internationalization and globalization, but what these terms exactly mean‘‘Internationalization is basically planning and implementing the products or services in other countries according to local habits and choice, and it is quickly changing economic landscape, with growing supply of science and technology. (Kim, Daekwan, journal of international marketing, 2010)This essay is to determine acceleration of internationalization and how it affects organization, Economy, and customers, also identify and analyse factors that attracts company towards internationalization, based on incremental and knowledge based internationalization process (by Johanson and vahlne 1977)

In economical terms expansion of business in international market is called as Internationalization, but there is no particular definition for it, it is very important for a company to understand the pattern of Internationalization, where the Internationalization comes after ‘‘stage approach in which company starts selling their products in home countries’’ and once settled in the market expands in different countries. (Elgar, Edward (2003). Learning in the Internationalisation Process of Firm)

According to Uppsala Internationalization Model, by Johanson and vahlne,“Enterprise gradually increases its international involvement”, which means the company that plans to expand internationally first enters in neighboring countries, where the political systems, culture and language is not very different, known as ‘‘psychic distance’’. Once company gains knowledge and experience to work in different country then it can gradually approach new market, according to this view, we get two different types knowledge one objective and other experience based, company initially starts with occasional export and then once settled in the market gradually enters in regular exports, Johanson and vahlne, consider the experience based knowledge to be more relevant, they says that ‘‘to built and understand commitments it is important to discover and make opportunities by involving other companies in their business’’. A firm process like ‘‘rings in the water’’ it is not only that firm settles business in home country but it expands in other countries steps by step. This stage model it identify four stages which are taken by a company for internationalization,

1. A company do not prefer regular export; 2.this export is done through an agent, 3.believes in offshore productions, 4. The offshore sales are not very important.

Since many years companies are committing themselves to internationalization, even though it give easy availability of labour and growth in market and other opportunities, it is not a very easy process. When any country expands in other than their home country they need to understand the national as well as commercial culture, company must understand the reason of the cultural barriers (if any).this stage model theory can help company to gain vital information and resources.

Joint venture also comes under Internationalization in some cases, as many big companies when enters new country it is been observed that they prefers to start in joint venture, for example. Walmart being world’s largest retail industry opened their first international store in Mexico in joint venture with Cifra, and they implemented this strategy in UK starting in joint venture with ASDA both these companies were the best retailers in their respective countries, and for almost every new country they started, this was the main strategy. Another example is, Finnish SME’S (small and medium enterprises). Study shows that some companies in Finland apply Uppsala internationalization model by first starting business in Sweden and then expanding in other countries, which helped them to expand smooth and steadily . So before internationalization a company needs to understand company’s world wide which can help them for further expansion. Keeping all these factors in mind I feel that the stage model theory by Johanson and Vahlne, can help a company to understand every aspect of internationalization, and before taking any step further, company will get time to think over their decisions which will prevent firm from facing any huge loss.

Even though Uppsala internationalization theory by Johanson and Vahlne (stage model) do not cause any loss for any firm, it is being applied in some companies and also been avoided by some.

It is said that this stage approach seems to be very parsimonious, and it has also been challenged and criticized about the data being limited to Scandinavian market. It was also questioned about theoretical validity about stage model and it claims that the theory has unnecessary repetition of the same statement and focus only on market knowledge, (Andersen 1993). There are also some studies which contradicts stage model, as many companies which do not follow stage model for internationalization, and their profit is much quicker than explained and expected by stage model. According to study of ‘‘OECD 1997 (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development)’’ the stage model was unable to explain different pattern use for internationalization or the early international expansion of the companies which is also known as ‘‘born global’’ (That is when company expands internationally from the beginning and do not follow any steps), (FRONTIERS OF E-BUSINESS RESEARCH 2004).

These particularly argue and appose incremental internationalization. The study of 87 US states shows that a company prefer to take risk than applying stage model, these ‘born global’ firms are most of the time technology based, and rises questions on stage model. It has not been proved that a company must have market knowledge to be successful internationally; concept of psychic distance was also accused as it is observer that many companies go for the risk where they can increase number of foreign market and gain profit.

As we know, With time views and demands changes, and same applies with stage model theory, even though it is not harmful for any organization to expand or to take any decisions in steps, but now a days this theory is not considered to be a best way of expansion, though internationalization is considered to be complex and involves may dimensions it is accepted by many companies these days. There are many reasons for company to go international, the basic reason is growth or expansion, but companies also expand internationally for alternative source of employees, resources, ideas etc.

Born global companies are “a business organization that, from inception, seeks to derive signi?cant competitive advantage from the use of resources and the sale of outputs in multiple countries” (Oviatt & McDou- gall, 1994, p. 49). This born global concept was carried out in 1997, data was collected for some medium size Danish firms and the study proved that these born global firms had maximum foreign sale which was around 70%.

Today Company seeks internationalization or rather to be born global more than before, ‘‘it is due to the fast growing economic integration and independency of countries worldwide’’. There are many companies that began their business with the traditional approach but now they follow born global strategies in business. For example Nokia which is a communication corporation (mobile manufacturer) is Finland based company but serves worldwide, with annual revenue more than $42 billion from their international market, and $2 billion, do not apply stage model theory and is one of the loved brand in India.

Emirates airlines which is one of the latest airlines in middle east, this airline operates one of the worlds non-stop commercial flights, a very good example of a company which totally implements born global strategy. Emirate airline has a very attractive business model, which is a key factor for company’s international growth. with great emphasis on quality company has also moved into resorts and tourism space, as 2004 it was one of the highest profits earning company. (Gang, yu. 1997 operation research in the airline industry)

Australian export manufacturer small and medium size firms are on the top list of the born global companies, they have proved that it is not impossible to succeed internationally without an established domestic base. These companies didn’t achieve their success in steps but they are born global. Their growth rate is growing 25percent throughout five years.

There are many examples in favour of born global concept, but some companies still believe in stage model due to some financial losses faced by them in internationalization, for example Starbucks as they closed 200 shops in US due to loss.

Even though we have entered a stage where there is very less cross border trade barriers and due to transportation and telecommunication it is not very convenient to go global. With all of this information discussed above, we understand that internationalization is a long and demanding process, which needs management and resources to be successful in market. A company needs to be totally committed towards their resources as the degree of commitment is higher the more resources are expected and if not then there will be a risk of shut down, there has to be a different business model to understand international market. In born global concept there may occur some cross culture issues, language barriers especially for small firms. Being born global a firm needs to consider, huge financial back up, which is not practically possible for a small firm, and franchising may result in less control and there is always risk about maintaining quality. (Branding capability of technology born global, 27th June 2010)

There are advantages and some disadvantages in the theories, Johanson and Vahlne (stage model) and born global concept. according to stage model theory a company should expand step by step, which will help company to understand the market conditions, cultural differences, and then expand in countries which are physically not very far,(geographically near). Which sounds fare enough, because any company whether it is small, medium or huge in size do not want to face any loss. On other hand with rapid growth in internationalization every company is trying to be global. Some of them are born global firms, where firm starts business internationally from beginning or within two years, without any practical knowledge about the market. This may or may not lead to success.

Conclusion:

From the above discussion about internationalization which is been discussed in two parts, Johanson and Vahlne (stage model) and born global concept with reference to many journals ,I understand that accelerating economy, technology, information, manufacturing process ,and global competition are forcing companies for internationalization and is considered to be one of the most important factor to grow in industry.

Considering both stage model and born global model can built a good foundation for a company. Application of stage model will give knowledge about the market, time to understand the culture, company can learn from their competitor’s mistakes, foreign business drawbacks and opportunities can be gained by other firms experience, it is very important especially for a small firm because it is been observer that when a small firm enters global market it faces more loss than any profit. As being a global company it involves huge amount of investment.

Since it takes time to gain knowledge about international business environment it will be a slow n steady process but on other hand where new market conditions demands fast growth and quick internationalization, if a company want to star as born global, it needs to study all these points which affects growth of business. If a company starts analysing market conditions before entering global market it can prevent them from facing cultural, technological and overall issues which can affect sale.

So combining both the theories together in a convenient way for every individual company, keeping market knowledge, history, demands, environment, culture, language in mind a company can built a strong foundation even in international market. I strongly believe that if conditions of knowledge and experience specified in Uppsala model is considered before being born global company can be at the top in international market.

References:
Ruey,J. And Kim,b. (2010), Drivers and Performance Outcomes of Relationship Learning for Suppliers in Cross-Border Customer–Supplier Relationships, journal of international marketing, Vol. 18 Issue 1, (pg.63-85)
Kalev, K. (2010). Understanding accelerated internationalization, integrating theories for analysis for internationalization path. Economics & Management,(pg 556-561)
Caniana,D. Internationalization of the firm: stage approach vs. global approach Gianpaolo Baronchelli, PH.d. in Marketing for Business Strategy,University of Bergamo, Faculty of Economics, Department of Business Administration.Bergamo,ITALY
Internationalization Strategies of Emerging Markets Firms, California Management Reviewz2010, Vol. 53 Issue 1, p114-135, 22p,
Johanson & Wiedersheim-Paul (1975), Johanson & Vahlne (1977). Learning in the internationalization process of firms (2009) (pg. 261).
Luostarinen (1979) Learning in the internationalization process of firms (p. 261) http://books.google.com/books?id=e_gkLdF1ocwC&printsec=frontcover#PPA260,M1 Retrieved 2009-03-21.
Bhowmick, S. (2004) Towards Understanding Small Firm Internationalisation –Technology Based SME Focus, frontiers of e-business research.
Westhead, P. Wright, M. Ucbasaran.D. And Martin, F. International Market Selection Strategies of Manufacturing and Services Firms, institute for Enterprise and Innovation, Nottingham University Business School,
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Gang, yu. 1997 operation research in the airline industry.
Rennie,M.W. (nov. 1993) born global, http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com
Dr.Thomas,J. (JULY 24,2010) how Starbucks Downsizing in the USA Impacts Global Growth Strategy.BUSINESS 401-INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Laine, A. A Process model of internationalization –new times demands new pattern Department of Management and Organization, Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration
Altshuler.L, (27th June 2010). Branding capability of technology, born global journal of Brand Management (2010) volume 18, (pg212–227).
Baronchelli,G. (2004) Toward a Typology of Commitment States Among Managers of Born-Global Firms, Strategic Approach to Internationalization, Journal of International Marketing Vol. 12, (pg. 57–81)
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Jan,J. And vahlne, J, E. The internationalization process of the firm. International Executive, Winter78, Vol. 20 Issue 1,(pg 19-21)
McNaughton, R.B. (2003) Business relationship learning and commitments in the internationalization process, Journal of international entrepreneurship 1. (Pg 83-101)
Zook, M. and Graham,m. (2006). “Wal-Mart Nation: Mapping the Reach of a Retail Colossus” In Brunn, Stanley D. Wal-Mart World: The World’s Biggest Corporation in the Global Economy Routledge. (pp. 15–25)
Bilkey, W. J. and Nes, E. (1982), “Country-Of-Origin Effects On Product Evaluations”, Journal of International Business Studies, Spring/Summer, Vol. 13, No. 1, (pp. 89-99.)

Introduction

Subjectivity is the starting point of Hegel’s statement. His lectures on aesthetics give the significance of art within his philosophy while the German period of romanticism is being explained and critiqued. Recent theorists such as Theodor Adorno, Paul Guyer and Arthur Danto based their views on aesthetics from Hegel’s outlook on art. All support that Hegelian idealism was introduced with a poor consequence of personal subjectivity.

The idealistic philosophers argued that only our conscience has real status and that the physical world is only a product of consciousness. The idealism (or utopianism) is closely linked to the religion either directly or indirectly and all philosophies based on this term are supporting the existence of a superior power that can not be interlinked with human’s capability. The most effective way of understanding the whole concept of idealism is to study directly the forefather of all theorists. Plato in his book, ‘The Republic’, gives an allegory (the ‘cave’) to represent idealism in it’s simpler form.

He describes men sitting in a dark cave who are chained in such a way that they can look in only one direction. Few meters behind them, light comes out of a fire which casts their shadows towards a wall they cannot see. Plato asks us to imagine those men in that specific position for their entire life. Having no experience of anything else, these men understand what they have experienced before reality is being represented to them. The philosopher continues with his metaphor and asks us to visualise that those prisoners got unchained and faced the existence of the fire and the shadows. They begin to have a sense of the environment they lived in. The allegory ends, with Plato explaining that those men in the cave are us. As a consequence, we experience the world with our only five senses, but as a matter of fact ‘our world’ is made with images and three-dimensional shadows. He claims that our mind has absoluteness perfection (‘absolute mind’). As we look into sun and turn away for protecting our eyes, thats how we turn back into the cave, in our safe place of sense perception. Now, modern idealism puts forward a cognitive human activity and attributes to a self-determined reality, such as the ‘absolute truth’ and creativity. Two German recent idealism theorists, J. G. Fichte and Friedrich von Schelling, which came to a climax in an absolute idealism of Hegel, started giving their explanation with a refutation of the uncertain thing-in-itself.

However, Hegel formulated a complete structure of thought about art and the world. Most importantly, he hold up that reality should be logical, so that it’s eventual framework will be shown by our own thoughts. He did not think that symbolic, so by extension, conceptual art, has the ability to surpass the high nature of classical Greek art and its representational/imitative abilities. This is because, as he explains, since symbolisms, depend on the knowledge of man of the earth and society, and because, we can never know everything about the human psyche, trying to represent it with symbolisms, is just not enough. Hence, imitative art, which is what classical Greek sculptures, are of a much higher regard to Hegel, than symbolic art. He describes it as ‘the sensuous presentation of ideas’. It is in the communication of ideas excluding the connection between our reason and our sensory faculty and is distinctive successful. Modern aesthetic theorists turn first and foremost to Kant, an 18th century German philosopher, and the historical convention of German romanticism to utilize the role of ‘pessimistic’ art. Hegelian view comes to support that art does more than sabotage the non?aesthetic. Thus, modern art can preferable take in contemporary artistic practices. Both theorists connect that art is superior to the external world, both opposed to appetite and enjoyment.

Hegel gives his philosophy on art that is, as a whole, his main philosophical system. For us, to comprehend his philosophy of art we must understand his philosophy as a whole. Similar with Aristotle’s way of thinking, Hegel believes that the investigation of logic could lead to a key system of reality. Thus, logic is being characterised as dialectical. Poetry for Hegel seem not to have something physical as a sculpture. In that way, music according to him is the least spiritual form of art. On the other hand, Kant stated as an important matter that a generic explanation of the world could lead to an opposite observation. But Hegel explained that those two notions could be integrated by a move to a different way of thinking. Consequently, our mind moves from thesis, to antithesis, to synthesis[4]. This could be seen in history, nature and cultural progress. All the thinking consists by the idea (thesis), which antithesis is nature, while combining (synthesis) the two it forms the spirit.

This could also be named as the ‘absolute’ itself and is examined in more detail in Hegel’s ‘Phenomenology of Spirit’ as a transformation from subjective to objective to the absolute spirit.

He is examining the organised structures in humanity giving absolute freedom and self determination to be essential. Those vitals principles include the practice of right, having a family and being part of a civil society (state). The most developed and sufficient perception of spirit is achieved by philosophy. It provides a conceptual understanding of the nature of reason while it describes why reason must take the form of time, space, life, matter and self-conscious spirit. In Christianity, however, the procedure which the ‘idea’ or ‘reason’ turns into self-conscious spirit is symbolised with metaphors and images as the procedure where God turns into spirit lies within humans. This is the process we place our belief and faith rather our notion of understanding. Hegel supports that humans cannot live with just the hypothesis of things but also need to trust the truth. He asserts that ‘is in religion that a nation defines what is considers to be true’.

According to Hegel, art is different from religion or philosophy and it’s purpose is the formation of beautiful objects in which aesthetically pleasing indication is coming through. Therefore, the main target of art is not impersonate nature but to give us the opportunity to look at images being made by non-materialistic freedom. In other words, art exists not just for the purpose of having ‘art’ but for beauty.

This union of freedom and beauty from Hegel shows his obligation to two other theorists, Schiller and Kant. Kant goes further to analyse that our understanding of beauty is a form of freedom. He explains, by judging an object or a piece of art as beautiful, we are discernmenting about a thing. By this we are declaring that the ‘thing’ or object has an effect on us, thus everyone will have the same effect. This results to a comprehension and vision in ‘free play’ with each other, and it is this delight that comes from the ‘free play’ that guides us to our judgment if something is nice or not.

Schiller comes in contrast with Kant which explains beauty as a belonging of the object itself. He stress that freedom is independent from our mind (Kant describes as ‘noumena’).

‘Freedom in appearance, autonomy in appearance […] that the object appears as free, not that it really is so’’

However, in Hegel’s view on beauty, is being described as the complete manifestation of freedom. It can be seen or sound like a sensory expression. Hegel moves a step further to explain that beauty can be created by nature but as he calls a ‘sensuous’ beauty’ it can only be found through art which can be produced by people. For him, beauty has symmetrical qualities. It has elements that are not organised in a framework but are joined organically. We were told, as he explains, that the Greek outline is beautiful, because the nose is flawless under the forehead while the Roman human profile has more sharper angles between them. Nevertheless, beauty’s importance is not only the shape but also the content. Modern art-theorists disagree with Hegel’s theory of beauty and art. They claim that art can include any content. This content is described in religion as God, then a beautiful art could be seen as angelic. Nonetheless, Hegel insists that Godly art is through a humankind form as freedom. He understands that piece of art could consists of nature such as plants or animals but he thinks that art is responsible to show the angelic form, as mentioned before. Only a human can represent reason and spirit through colors and sounds.

Art, in Hegel’s eyes, is metaphorical. Not because it always comes to copy what is in nature, but the main motivation of art is to communicate and represent what he explained as a ‘free spirit’. It can mostly be attained throughout humans and images. Particular, art exist to remind our mind that us, as human beings, have freedom and try not to forget the truth within ourselves. It is the only way the ‘freedom of spirit’ could be seen in it’s simplest form. The contradiction with art is that it links truth all through romanticised images made by someone. As mentioned before, according to Hegel, this spirit and beauty could be found through ancient Greek sculptures (Aeschylus, Praxiteles, Phidias and Sophocles).

The German philosopher explains that are a lot of things we can be named as ‘art’, such as the Greek sculptures mentioned before, Shakespearian plays, but not everything is entitled to be called like that. This is because not everything represent what ‘true’ art really is. He sets some standards that a piece of work has to meet in order to be beautiful art.

References

BBC magazine, A Point of View: Why are museums so uninspiring(London, BBC, 2011) [accessed 11 mar 2011]

Hegel G. W. F., Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit, (Oxford: University Press, 1977)

Hegel G. W. F., Hegel’s Aesthetics: Lectures on fine art, Know, vol.1 (Oxford: University Press, 2010)

Hegel G. W. F., Hegel: Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion: Volume II: Determinate Religion: Determinate Religion v. 2 (Oxford: University Press, 2007)

Immanuel Kant, ‘Kant: Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason: And Other Writings’

(Cambridge, University Press, 2004)

Jason M, Miller, ‘Research Proposal’ (unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Notre Dame, 2004), p.2

Robin, Waterfield, ‘Plato’s Republic’ (Oxford: University Press, 2008)

Stephen, Houlgate, ‘Hegel’s aesthetics’, (The Stanford Encyclopedia of philosophy, 2009) [accessed 15 Mar 2011]

Schiller, Friedrich, ‘Kallias or Concerning Beauty: Letters to Gottfried Korner”, in Classical and Romantic German Aesthetics’, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003)

INTRODUCTION:

The objective of this paper is to better understand one of the key concepts of real exchange rate determination and building blocks of macroeconomic model, ppp. The main reason to focus on this topic is due to the fact that most of the large companies are working beyond the national boundaries and are trying to expand their business at international levels, so it becomes vital for managers and investors while making international investment decisions to gauge the impact of fluctuation of consumer goods prices, tradable and non-tradable goods could have on the profitability of their businesses.Although the term “purchasing power parity” was coined as recently as 80 years ago (Cassel, 1918), it has much longer history in economics[1].PPP is generally attributed to Gustav Cassel’s writings in the 1920s, although its intellectual origins date back to the writings of the nineteenth-century British economist “David Ricardo”. Probably, it is the oldest theory of exchange rate determination.

In section 1 of this paper, I will define the concept of ppp, discuss the theory behind it, and elaborate its practical implications in real world development. The section 2 will clarifies the nuances between absolute ppp and relative ppp and tests of the validity of the ppp theory over the time period. The section 3 elaborates Why is more preferable to say that ppp holds in the long run than in the short run. The section 4 explains why ppp does not hold in the short run, what are the economic factors lies behind it in deviating ppp from actual exchange rate. It distinguishes between those factors which would prevent absolute ppp from holding, but would not necessarily prevent relative ppp from holding, and those which clearly prevent relative ppp too. It also explains those factors which would lead to ppp failing in the long run. In section 5, there are concluding remarks.

SECTION 1: UNDERSTANDING PURCHASING POWER PARITY

In thissection, I will define purchasing power parity by using the examples to elaborate how it works in the real world and discuss it how it relates to real exchange rates.

WHAT IS PPP?

The purchasing power parity exchange rate is the exchange rate between two currencies’ that would equate the two relevant national price levels if expressed in common currency at that rate, so that ppp of a unit of one currency would be the same in both countries.The basic concept underlying ppp theory is that arbitrage forces will lead to the equalization of goods prices internationally, once the prices of goods are measured in same currency. As such theory represents an application of the ‘law of one price’[2].

LAW OF ONE PRICE:

The fundamental idea behind this theory is the law of one price.LOP[3] refers to identical products which are sold in different markets will sell in the same prices when expressed in terms of a common currency in the presence of competitive market structure and absence of transportation costs and other barriers to trade. Thus, it provides a framework to relate currency in one market (the domestic market) to currency in another market (foreign market).In algebraic form, LOP posits that for any good I: p

Abstract

Economists have long been concerned with the extraction of natural resources. This paper presents an evaluation or analysis of Harold Hotelling’s theory that asserts that the most socially and economically profitable extraction track of a non-renewable resource is one along which the price of the resource, determined by the marginal net revenue from the sale of the resource, increases at the rate of interest

The paper presents a model of the Hotelling rule and examines its applicability to real life phenomena. The paper finds that while the Hotelling theory had contributed to the economics of nonrenewable resources and the rise of the conservationism movement, the assumptions laid out by the theory are not applicable to the real world. In conclusion, the paper suggests the need to relax the assumptions in order to explain the real-world phenomena.

Introduction

The efficient use of scarce natural resources, both renewable and non-renewable sources, has long been a concern of natural resource economics (Shogren 2000). For example, Adam Smith explored on the natural progress of opulence and suggested that for a country to achieve an optimum economic progress, it had to allocate capital to land, fisheries and mines (Barnett & Morse 1963).

In a similar vein, Ricardo explored on the significance of land quality on economic rent. Robert Malthus raised concern about the dangers of population growth, asserting that the increasing population was likely to preclude the endless progress towards a utopian society (Barnett & Morse 1963). Similarly, Jevons raised concern about the consequences of coal depletion on population growth (Shogren 2000). A feature shared by all these economists is their treatment of natural resources as a free factor of production. That is, they all treat natural resources as provided freely by nature.

But towards the beginning of the 21st century, a shift in mindset occurred as economists began treating natural resources as something more distinct than just a free factor of production (Shogren 2000). Theorists such as Hotelling and Gray particularly pointed out to the additional intertemporal cost of extracting natural resources (Shogren 2000). In this regard, this paper presents an evaluation or analysis of Harold Hotelling’s theory that asserts that the most socially and economically profitable extraction track of a non-renewable resource is one along which the price of the resource, determined by the marginal net revenue from the sale of the resource, increases at the rate of interest (Harold 1931).

Harold Hotelling’s theory

In 1931, Hotelling used differential calculus to derive the optimal extraction of a fixed resource over time (Bradley 2007). He began by recognizing the inadequacy of the standard economic analysis in the industry in which production was bound to decline (Bradley 2007). Hotelling then asserted that if the total resource base and capital investments were fixed and efficient extraction methods used, then the marginal net revenue of extraction of non-renewable resource would rise at the rate of interest over time (Hotelling 1931). This premium price was referred to as the ‘resource rent’ or rather the ‘hotelling rent’.

In other words, under a perfectively competitive market, the market price of a non-renewable resource minus the marginal costs must grow in tandem with the interest rate. As such, the price of the natural resource should increase with time, provided that the marginal costs are kept constant (Chakravorty et al. 2009)

Harold Hotelling’s theory postulated that the most socially and economically profitable extraction track of a non-renewable resource was one in which the price of the resource, determined by the marginal net revenue from the sale of the resource, increased at the rate of interest (Harold 1931). The theory thus proposed the time track of natural resource extraction that most increases the value of the resource reserve.

But at the time, his analysis was way ahead of time as mathematics had not yet been incorporated into economics. As a result, his seminal analysis was originally rejected for this reason. However, Hotelling’s rule later came to be known as the pillar of the theory of nonrenewable resource economics through its rich insight on the long-run behaviour of resource price and scarcity of extraction and its contribution to the rise of conservatism movement (Gaitan et al. 2007).

Modeling of the Hotelling rule

To illustrate the Hotelling rule, let us consider as basic model where in So denotes an economy’s total stock of resource and Rt denotes the total extraction at time t (Gaitan et al. 2007). The utility of consumption would be denoted by U(Rt). The objective is to maximize the marginal net revenue of extraction of the non-renewable resource. Assuming that the extraction is carried out with constant unit costs,

Then the optimal path of extraction of the natural resource would be found by the following equation

………………………………………………………………….. (i)

But the maximization must meet the condition

……………………………………………………………………………………. (ii)

Assuming that private and social discount rates are the same and that there are no externalities (Gaitan et al. 2007), then the solution to equation (i) and (ii) can be found using optimal control theory as shown below:

……………………………………………………. (iii)

But conditions require the optimal extraction path to fulfill the following relation (Gaitan et al. 2007),

……………………………………………………….. (iv)

The opportunity cost or rather the shadow price at time t, Yt, is in the present case constant. We thus have

Equation (iv) can thus be rewritten as follows:

…………………………………………………………………………….. (v)

And given that in a market economy, then it can be seen that equation (iv) reflects the Hotelling rule that the marginal price of the natural resource increases with increase in the rate of discount.

Hotteling’s predictions of a decline in non-renewable resources with time such as oil, minerals and forests led to demands for regulation of exploitation of such exhaustible assets (Rothband 2000). The selfish exploitation of natural resources at a rapid rate gave rise to the conservation movement (Rothband 2000). This theory has formed the basis of the conservationist movement and has been influential to the point that prohibitions against oil and mineral mining and deforestation in certain government lands have been justified on this ground (Hotelling 2007).

Criticism of Hotelling’s theory

An important point to emphasize in the Hotelling model is that the market price of non-renewable resources must increase with time, provided that costs remain time-invariant (Chakravorty et al. 2009). However, in reality such an increase in the price of non-renewable sources may not persist as many short-run factors such as regulation and speculation in commodity markets may come into play resulting in alternative phases of upward and downward price movements (Chakravorty et al. 2009).

For example, if the Kyoto Treaty was to impose a target of 450 PPM of carbon, energy prices would be expected to rise but fall soon after the constraint becomes binding (Chakravorty et al. 2009). But when there is a fall below the 450 ppm level, the prices are bound to rise again (Chakravorty et al. 2009). Such a cyclical behaviour in the prices of non-renewable resources is not covered under the Hotelling model.

As a result of such kind of price variations, Harold’s Hotelling theory has come under criticism. Economists have argued that Hotelling’s theoretical prediction of a rise in scarcity and relative prices of nonrenewable resources over time is not borne out of facts (Watkins 1992). For example, Krautkraemer (1998) argues that for the most part, Hotelling’s theoretical predictions have been inconsistent with empirical studies of non renewable resource prices and in situ values.

Over the past 100 years or so, there hasn’t been a persistent increase in the prices of nonrenewable resources (Krautkraemer 1998). Also, economic indicators do not provide evidence of an increase in scarcity of these resources (Krautkraemer 1998). Although the popuplar view among the general public is that exhaustion of non-renewable resources is progressing at a faster rate, this view is highly debatable. In fact, economic indicators have shown that there has been growth in nonrenewable resource supply as new deposits continue to be discovered and the extraction technology continues to progress (Krautkraemer 1998). This has been argued to mitigate the scarcity effect (Krautkraemer 1998).

But the above criticism may not necessarily hold as just like other economic analysis on this subject, Krautkramer’s analysis has been conducted at the global level (Wright & Czelusta 2002).Although it may seem appropriate to test Hotelling predictions at the global level, such analysis leaves open the possibility that the depletion may have been staved off at the global level, through the discovery new and underexplored territories (Wright & Czelusta 2002).

Nonetheless, the popular view that the world is likely run out of natural resources in the near future may not necessarily be true. If resources are considered to be scarce, then there is a higher likelihood of its real price rising (Braddley 2007). In the event of an increase in real price, producers are likely to be induced by the high prices to explore for more reserves resulting in an increase in resource stock (Braddley 2007). The lifetime measures of most resources can thus be assumed to remain constant over time

Another error that Hotelling made was linking his highly conditional analysis to the real world (Braddley 2007). Hotelling faulted laissez-faire for deviating from his derived optimality in extraction of non-renewable resources, stating that the extractive industries had discrepancies which resulted in wasteful forms of exploitation (Braddley 2007). He also argues that such wasteful forms of exploitation would have been regulated in the interest of the general public (Braddley 2007).

Whilst Hotelling was quick to recognize market failure, he failed to account for what is currently known as government failure (Braddley 2007). As can be seen with the long history of petroleum regulation in the US, government intervention has generally been lacking in information and has been highly problematic in practice (Adelman 1993). Only an omniscient planner would know the specifics of demand, supply, price, cost, interest rates, and entreprenurial alertness needed to arrive at an optimal extraction solution (Braddley 2007).

Role of logistics

Harold’s hotelling theory can be applied to the logistic industry. According to the hotelling theory, the most profitable extraction is one in which the price of the resource, determined by the marginal net revenue from sale of the resource, increases at the rate of interest. In this respect, to reduce on the marginal cost of extraction, it would require that an industry be located close to the extraction point. This would not only decrease the transport costs, but will also increase efficiency in the supply chain and logistics.

Logistics thus has an important role to play in determining the optimal extraction solution. The lower the transport costs, the more likely are the returns to scale. Whilst the transport costs are account for a small percentage of the total costs, the optimal extraction solution must also take into account the total logistics costs. Logistics have an impact on a firm’s optimal location behaviour and thus must be taken into account of when determining the optimal extraction solution of a natural resource.

Conclusion

In Summary, the Hotelling theory has contributed to the economics of nonrenewable resources. It has formed the conceptual and theoretical framework used by economists to model the supply and the prices of nonrenewable resources. More so, it has contributed to the conservationist movement. However, the Hotelling theory, though elegant, seem somewhat misplaced. The model points out to a rise in trajectory of net prices of non-renewable resources along with the rate of interest yet there is a lack of empirical evidence to back this pricing behaviour.

Moreover, the assumption of an increase in scarcity of non renewable resources is highly debatable. These assumptions seem not applicable to the real world. Perhaps, to explain the real-world phenomena, it would be helpful to relax these assumptions. For example, in order to explain the price of oil, it would be necessary to discard all assumptions of inevitable increase in price and the assumption of a fixed stock.

Reference

Adelman, M. A., 1993. ‘Introduction’. In M. A. Adelman (Ed.), The economics of petroleum supply. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Barnett, H. and Morse, C., 1963. Scarcity and growth. The economics of natural resource scarcity, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press

Braddley, R.L., 2007. Resourceship: an Austrian theory of mineral resources. Rev Austrian Econ 20: 63-90

Bradley, R. L., 1996. Oil, gas, and government: The U.S. experience. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.

Chakravorty, U., Leach, A. and Moreaux, M., 2009. “Twin peaks” in Energy prices: a hotelling model with pollution and learning. School of Business and department of Economics.

Gaitan, B., Tol, R.S., and Yetkiner, H., 2007. The Hotelling’s rule revisited in a dynamic general equilibrium model. University of Hamburg

Hotelling, H., 2006. ‘Stability in competition’. The Economic Journal, vol.39 (153), pp.41-57

Hotelling, Harold, 1931. ‘The economics of exhaustible resources’. Journal of Political Economy 39 (2), 137–175

Krautkraemer, Jeffrey A. (1998). “Nonrenewable Resource Scarcity,” Journal of Economic

Lin, C., Meng, H., Ngai, T.Y., Oscherov, V., Zhu, Y.H., 2008. Hotelling revisited: oil prices and endogenous technological progress. University of California

Literature 36: 2065-2107.

Rothbard, M. N., 2000. ‘Conservation in the free market’. In: Egalitarianism as a revolt against nature and other essays, Auburn, AL: Ludwig von Mises Institute, pp. 175–189.

Shogren, J.F., 2000. Natural resource economics. USA: University of Wyoming.

Watkins, G. C., 1992. ‘The Hotelling principle: Autobahn or Cul de Sac?’ Energy Journal, 13 (1), 1–24.

Wright, G. and Czelusta, J., 2002. Resource-based economic growth, past and present. Stanford University

Introduction

When looking at achieving political and economic stability through state building, it can be seen that this underlying concept of building the state and the institutions within it is the central theoretical issue for determining how Libya can gain success by largely focusing on institutional reform and stability. This element of the literature review will look specifically at utilising state institutions, i.e. state building, as a means of gaining economic success, for countries going through a period of reform, as is the case with Libya. This section of the literature review will firstly look at the link
between the theories of building institutions and achieving peacekeeping and political stability, before going on to discuss the more general theories on state building.

The Need for Institutional Development in Libya

Following the death of Gaddafi, the previous Libyan leader, the region entered into a potentially dynamic yet volatile period of reform where the general feeling both within the country and within neighbouring countries was that of elation and hope for the future. Nevertheless, the death of Gaddafi also created potential political unrest and the need to consider how the country should now be developed and how the institutions within the country could establish the foundations for the future. Prior to the death of its leader, there were concerns that Libya was going to find itself in an autocratic state, with a large amount of civil unrest (Call, and Cousens, 2008). Libya, however, is currently in the potentially interesting position where, in order to develop efficient stability, the country now needs to make use of the natural resources that it has and to create the appropriate level of stability for the future. More specifically, there is a challenge facing the country as to how it makes the most of the resources available to it, primarily from the oil sector, and how this can then be utilised in order to influence infrastructure and services within the region.

It is argued that the key challenges to achieving this is that the region currently has substantially underdeveloped political institutions, with a large degree of rationalisation across the country being dominated by oil companies. The oil industry is hugely influential in Libya, with estimations that 80% of government revenues come from the oil industry and oil accounts for 25% of its gross domestic product. With this in mind, it can be argued that, in Libya, the key challenge facing the government is to develop institutions in such a way that the government can make the most of its earnings from the oil industry, in a way that will create critical and economic stability, in the long run. This will entail not just supporting the oil industry, but also supporting the surrounding industries and public services, e.g. health and education (Crafts, 2000).

The underlying issue which is seen to be relevant here is that having an accountable government when they rely heavily on oil revenue is unlikely to happen. In Libya, for example, 80% of government revenue comes from the oil industry (Crafts, 2000), which immediately brings into question the ability of the government institutions to be swayed by public opinion. Moreover, where such heavy reliance is placed on economic industries, for example, in the oil industry, the institution is now arguably losing importance. Also, issues, e.g. climate and the collection of taxes have become heavily swayed by the demands of the oil industry, rather than the validity of the governmental institutions. Furthermore, it is noted that the current Libyan leaders are placing a heavy emphasis on ensuring freedom and democracy which is likely to be inherently linked to the strength of the institution. Yet, there is no guarantee that, without strong institutional reforms, this would not be the case in the future with different leaders.

Whenever a country has an important natural resource, it also has the potential to provide substantial revenue, and there are potential concerns over political unrest with the risk of coups, as experienced in Libya, in 1969. Interestingly, whilst the current euphoria surrounding the changing government has driven a push towards achieving democracy, it is clear that the position is potentially fragile. This means that establishing robust institutions within the state is seen as a crucial step to take, at this stage, in order to ensure that, even if there is a change of government in the future, democracy remains minimal. An example of how this has worked in other jurisdictions can be seen by looking at Norway. In the 1960s, Norway discovered that it had a substantial natural resource and worked hard to ensure that it did not suffer the same problems that other countries had, upon a similar discovery. Norway recognised that it needed to create an interaction between natural resource profits and political power, so that it would not suffer the same level of political unrest which had been experienced by other jurisdictions. In Norway, restrictions were placed on access to the oilfields and this immediately had the by-product of reducing the impact of currency appreciation (North, 1990). A certain amount of profit was setaside, from the outset, in order to ensure that funds were built up to improve infrastructure and to create new oil facilities (Delacroix, 1980). Crucially, Norway created a national resource fund which is also considered to be a government pension. The government can only access the interest of the funds, so that the government has a limited access to the natural resources. This required the government to continue to seek the individuals’ approval, rather than simply relying on the support of the oil industry to maintain power. Political institutions were established, in such a way that politicians were required to continue to consider the public at large. In this context, Norway did not suffer the same level of disruption as is felt in Libya. This also had the effect of continuing to encourage diversified industries and allowing other companies to be buoyant within the region and make the government itself a less attractive proposition for any takeover attempt. By having this national fund in place, Norway was able to ensure that it invested in infrastructure and prevented commercial entities from simply taking the profits for their own benefits. But, by allowing the government full access to the interest, it still has a degree of freedom, on the understanding that there is a specific requirement to maintain economic stability and this prevents the type of boom and bust attitude that could be very damaging (Daunton, 1998).

In order for this institution itself to be effective, there needs to be a degree of independence from government. Arguably, if it is possible for government institutions to gain access to the fund at any point, this would not then assist in providing the necessary economic stabilisation. Taking this into account, it would be argued that any national resource fund established in Libya would need to become its own independent and transparent entity, something which would require a reasonable degree of state building to offer the framework for this type of independent institution.

By pursuing the creation of institutions of this nature, it will naturally limit political economic power which can be difficult to achieve, as well as being difficult to maintain. More specifically, this type of institution would require the government to accept a reduction in its immediate economic return, in exchange for guaranteeing long-term stability, something which it may not benefit from, if it is long-term. The economyin Libya has experienced shrinkage, in recent times. This means that the temptation is to turn towards its natural resources to rebuild the economy quickly, thus creating institutions that would limit short term gain is likely to prove challenging, regardless of the merits of this type of approach for the long-term stability of the country.

Given the potential difficulty in encouraging these types of institutions to be formed, the research now focuses on where the initiative is likely to emerge from and whether the international community itself has any form of power to encourage this type of state building within Libya. There is some suggestion that direct control, for example, by the US Treasury which still controls $700 million worth of frozen assets from the prior political regime and the fact that Libya is still dependent on foreign aid, to a large extent. As such, the international community will have at least some say in the institutions that are likely to emerge (Cook, 1970).

Regardless of the way in which this is achieved and the level of pressure that the international community may place on the country, there is clear strength in the argument that institutions formed at this stage could be fundamental to establishing long-term stability throughout the country and to ensuring that future governments cannot reverse the good work undertaken.

Building Institutions – Importance with Peace Building

A highly informative definition of state building has just been put forward by Call and Cousens (2008). This definition states that it is the “actions undertaken by international or national actors to establish, reform, or strengthen the institutions of the state which may or may not contribute to peace building” (p.4). This link between building institutions within the state and achieving political and economic gains is potentially very interesting, in that it contributes to the research and is worthy of discussion in this regard, given the volatile position that Libya is currently in. As noted in the 2008 research by Call and Cousens, the theoretical shift has moved away from looking at social and economic relationships between the parties of the conflict and looking more towards ensuring that the state and its institutions are functioning in such a way that this building of institutions is a natural by-product. This was supported by Paris and Sisk (2009), where they noted that the building of institutions within the state should be viewed as a vital part of this building process and the way in which the institutions are developed and state relationships achieved.

State building through the use of institutions has been the focus of discussion in many research papers, with differing suggestions as to why this building is likely to be so high on the political agenda. Kahler (2009) argues that creating institutions within a state is likely to assist when it comes to dealing with humanitarianism and the increasing pressure being placed on states from across the world to behave in a certain manner. Secondly, research by Collier (2007) has indicated that state building is fundamental to long-term political and economic stability and that, in reality, creating political stability should happen at the outset of the recovery process, following the conflict, with a view to preventing future conflict. This is highly relevant to the case in Libya, where there is a degree of euphoria being experienced, at the end of the conflict. Yet, this is arguably the key point at which the agenda should be set, in order to prevent future instances and it is here that the foundations of these institutions should be laid out, without waiting for conflict to emerge. Finally, other researchers including Fukuyama, in 2004, have suggested that developing these types of institutions is a necessity, given the changing ways in which security threats are emerging, on an international basis, especially in the wake of the September 11 crisis. For this reason, it has been suggested that building state institutions is crucial to the agenda of the international community. It could also be argued that, as universal convergence increases, so does the need to have stability within individual states and, as such, institutional state building becomes a matter for the international community, as much as it does for the individual locations.

The Theory of Institutionalisation and State Building

It has already been mentioned that institutions can be formative in establishing a degree of governance and democracy within a country such as Libya. This raises the question as to whether there is any theoretical link between the concepts of establishing stability, both economically and politically, with the notion of using an institution as a means of achieving this end. As argued by Chandler, (2010), there is a new ‘institution first’ approach being taken in a modern economy which has led to an increase in the development of institutional economics as a set of theories in their own right. Although this is a relatively new area of research, many of the foundational theories can be seen to have existed back in the 1920s, where old-style institutional economics suggested that individuals will not always be able to act as rationally as predicted, due to the constraints placed on them when an institution arises. Whilst these theories did not look specifically at how institutions could establish economic stability in the wake of a crisis, they did look at the way in which the institution impacted upon decision-making, with a high degree of influence being placed on subjectivity within institutions.

According to North (1990), who was instrumental in developing this new area of institutional economics, there is a direct link between theories of institutions and economic capabilities. By taking on board this new approach, the traditional notion that the market is the perfect way in which resourcesshould be allocated is flawed. Instead, the markets should ideally be viewed as a means of training and encouraging certain social behaviours. Harris et al., (1995) contended that the market has, incomplete and asymmetric information which creates a reasonable degree of uncertainty when it comes to allocating resources. This establishes a transaction cost for every decision that is made; so, effective institutions can look towards reducing this cost by drawing upon the neoclassical economics theory that individuals will typically pursue the goal that is rational. Consequently, by maximising its own position, an institution can place constraints on the variety of options available to the individual, so that they are still behaving in a rational manner, but within the constraints of the institution.

The definition of an institution as put forward by North (1995) as “the humanly devised constraints that structure human interaction” p.23, introduced the idea that the institution can act as a means of reducing uncertainty, thus reducing potential transaction costs while making the overall market more efficient. Despite this, it was also argued by North that institutional change rarely happens immediately and, in fact, is more likely to be part of several smaller interactions and incremental changes. Crucially, it is the performance, as well as the indirect and direct consequences of the institution and their mechanism that would ultimately dictate how effective it is, when it comes to building a stake in creating an efficient market.

By looking at the above, it can be argued that there is a strong relational link between the notion that under-development of the market and the economy can be blamed on some form of institutional blockage. This suggestion that it is the institutional framework within a country that is most likely to lead to economic success was established by Bates, in 1995, who stated: “[a]n older generation, who had emphasised the importance of market failure in development economics, finds in the new institutionalism new justification for their interventionist beliefs. And a new generation, seeking a middle ground between the champions of the market and the defenders of the state, finds in the new institutionalism a justification for basing development efforts on community action and civic engagement.” P.27

It can be seen from looking at the theories of the state and the institutions within, that the current thinking is moving more towards the notion that the stateis changing in its role so that the relationship between the state and the markets are inter-linked, rather than being distinct. Modern theories indicate that it is accepted that the state is not opposing the way in which free markets work, but rather an important force that will enable the market to then create rules within which it operates. Essentially, not only does this suggest that the institutions of the state are in fact rule makers by which the markets will then operate, but it is also often the case that the boundaries break down between the state and the economics around them which can create blurred lines. The need to deal with these situations and recognise that they are interlinked, is the subject of considerable literature, in recent years, not least that of Pugh (2011). Recognising where there are economic failures within the state institution can often be a consequence of informal reactions against particular controls that may have emanated from the state institution, in the first place. It was noted in the research by Pugh that as state institutions become stronger, this can sometimes create greater corruption and those looking to behave in that way need to become more sophisticated and deliver new ways of behaving in a corrupt manner, which in itself manifests difficulties that the state then struggles to address.

Institutional Development = Good Governance?

Another area of the literature which is extremely important in the context of how institutional development commences in jurisdictions, such as Libya, in developing new systems is whether institutional development will automatically lead to good governance, where there is slightly more complexity within the arrangement. This is worthy of further discussion, most notably in terms of mapping out how institutional development could be used as a means of achieving strong governance.

International financial institutions, in particular, have focused heavily on the need to get the structure and governance of institutions correct as a means of ensuring stability and growth in the future. Furthermore, there is a body of research which is focusing specifically on the governance of institutions in the United States. This research argues that every country should work to set standards for their institutions, as this seems to be best practice, with these standards often being linked to those used by US organisations (Aron, 2000). Despite the fact that concepts of good governance have yet to be harmonised, on a global level, typical recommendations include such factors as ensuring a strong approach to bureaucracy of the judiciary, as well as the protection of personal rights, so that individuals are encouraged to develop new products and services. Transparency is also perceived to be vitally important within the public social welfare and labour institutions, to ensure that workers standards or other social elements are managed within states (Aron, 2000).

It is argued by individuals, such as Kapur & Webber (2000), that the international financial institutions are fundamental to the development of institutions and their use in order to improve economic sustainability, especially in developing regions like Libya. Although it was recognised in this research that international financial institutions offer a vitally important set of rules and government suggestions, it was also found that institutions in the developed countries, when placed as a requirement on the developing regions, can be too demanding and difficult to actually use on a practical level. The human resources and financing of these types of institutions cannot be beyond the developing country during the initial stage of development. Merely having institutional best practices in place is simply not practical. Indeed, it may even be the case that trying to establish financial institutions of this nature would go against social development within the region and could be so far against the norms and cultures of the countries concerned that they themselves would end up being a formative part of any conflict in the future. Whilst it is intended here that this argument is both relevant and has merit attached to it, it is still necessary to develop ideas as to which institutions should be established in which local region as well as it being necessary to look at institutional reform, in order to support a country that is likely to involve relatively rapidly. Consider, for example, the current situation in Libya where the region is recovering from economic collapse, the institutions will need to develop at a relatively rapid pace if the country is likely to undergo relatively sharp curves of recovery in a way that the more developed countries are likely to see steady improvement rather than rapid changes. All of this indicates that the use of institutions cannot be uniform across the globe (Kauffman et al., 1999).

As a result of this train of thought, it is unsurprising that a body of research has emerged suggesting that developing countries should simply wait for the institutions to evolve spontaneously. This is in order to ensure that the institutions being developed are in keeping with local conditions and demands and allowing spontaneous evolution is likely to be the best way of achieving this. In reality, there are often time limitations which require a slightly quicker response; so, simply allowing spontaneous evolution is not an appropriate method of institutional development, particularly in countries like Libya where there is a need for immediate reform and to provide foundations for long-term development.

Methods of Institutional Development

In order to understand the way in which institutional development can potentially impact on the opportunities for economic reform and the ways in which institutional development can be managed in a variety of different jurisdictions, both developed and developing. Interestingly, the issue of democracy and development of institutional reform has created discourse in a variety of jurisdictions, including those that are now perceived to be developed. Take, for example, the situation in France where voting was initially introduced for men only over the age of 30 who pay at least a minimum amount in taxes, meaning that voting was restricted to an extremely small portion of the 32 million population being able to vote and it took a prolonged period of time for this fundamental element of the political institutions to be dealt with in such a way that true democracy was perceived to be achieved. Similar examples can be seen elsewhere, with Germany also taking nearly a century between all men being allowed to vote and all men and women being able to vote (Uphan, 2000). Consequently, although it can be seen that political institutions have developed in many of these countries, this has not happened in a short period of time. This needs to be borne in mind when tackling issues within the developing regions and when looking at institutional reform which needs to be done over a much longer time horizon than may be seen as desirable when looking at countries such as Libya and the need to establish strong institutions, relatively rapidly, to navigate a post-conflict period.

A similar situation can be seen when looking at issues relating to bureaucracy and the judiciary. The judiciary, in particular, has been the subject of much debate in terms of how an institution should provide good governance. Having the judiciary as an independent institution is often seen as vitally important for the social and economic development of the country. Yet, it is cited by Upham (2000) that there are instances, for example, in Germany and Japan, whereby an entirely politically independent judiciary can create its own difficulties. This means that there needs to be an element of political control over it, in order to operate effectively.

It was suggested by Upham that the effectiveness of the judiciary as an institution depends not only on its independence from the political arena, but also on a much broader variety of factors, including the level of professionalism shown by members of the judiciary. Although the research by Brogan (1985) focused on the judiciary as an institution and how it should establish itself for true effectiveness, many of these factors are seen to be relevant to the general issue of institutional development. This indicates that, when looking at institutional development as a whole, several factors need to be drawn upon and not simply whether or not it is politically independent and able to take a stable, robust stance, but whether it has the internal professional mechanism available to undertake these activities, in the first place (Brogan, 1985).

Financial Institutions

Taking on board this background understanding, the next stage of the analysis is to consider the role of the financial institution. It is intended here that, in Libya, financial institutions are likely to be a fundamental part of economic development and will receive a large amount of political attention. For this reason, financial institutions and the nature of their impact warrant their own discussion. When looking at the more developed countries and how they currently utilise financial institutions, it can be seen that the banks themselves became fashionable lending institutions relatively late on, typically in the 20th century (Lamoreaux, 1994). In the early years, banks, dating back to the 18th century were typically run as self-help associations, when merchants were able to offer credit to each other rather than being a banking system itself. Recognised institutions took a relatively long period of time to develop with the UK only achieving financial integration in the 1920s, suggesting that financial institutions are somewhat behind many of the economic developments elsewhere, for instance in the judiciary and democratic state institutions (Lamoreaux, 1994).

As well as being relatively slow to develop, banking institutions have also experienced difficulties when it comes to gaining robust banking regulations and this has been a perceived weakness within these financial institutions for many countries, not least the UK and the US in the wake of the recent financial crisis. The role of the central bank has become fundamental to the development of financial institutions and offers a strong potential route for countries like Libya when looking to create a central institution that can then support the development of the surrounding institutions (Lamoreaux, 1994).

The Central Bank of England was established back in 1694 and became an institution viewed as the lender of last resort, during the 18th century. Therefore, although this institution has a long history, it only became a central institution capable of having a dramatic economic impact on the country in its entirety in relatively recent years (Lamoreaux, 1994). Arguably, the Central Bank institution took on a powerful position when it had the monopoly over note issuing although this was several decades, if not centuries, after the banks establishment in the first place in most countries; for example, in the UK, the Central Bank was established in 1694, but only gained the monopoly of issuing notes in 1844 (Crafts, 2000).

This suggests that the institution itself is not a critical factor, but rather the powers and opportunities that are given to the institution. Arguably, it is the structure of regulation which actually has the definitive argument as to whether or not the institution is an important development factor. Therefore, it can be stated that it is the legislation surrounding institutions which ultimately determines the effectiveness when it comes to achieving economic stability (Carnes, 2000). As well as the Central Bank, public financial institutions have also emerged, over the years, which play an important role when dealing with recovery and development within a particular country such as Libya.

The developed countries during their history have also had periods of hardship, e.g. through lack of monetary capability; for example, they had a limited power to tax individuals, thus making it difficult for the government to be effective when it comes to making monetary decisions (Larsson, 1993).

Social Welfare Institutions

Where social welfare and economic developments are concerned, there is clearly a potential argument for a link between social welfare institutions and the likely increase basic stability in the country as a whole, especially where individuals find themselves in the position of being unable to look after their own basic needs. Although their remains a substantial debate about the role of social welfare institutions which go far beyond the discussion in this paper, the basic notion that social welfare institutions will create a level of stability to prevent any group of individuals failing to have their basic needs met and thus create a situation whereby they may turn to criminal behaviour. The link between having a balanced social institutions and a well-balanced nation has far-reaching consequences, particularly when these are linked to political and economic reform, for example where the institution is refusing to let political democracy take place and restricting voting rights, based on financial assets (Pierson, 1998).

Recognising the role that social welfare institutions play has been central to many research projects, most notably the research undertaken by Pierson. The research by Pierson suggests that by establishing regulations in terms of how the social welfare institutions operate will have a direct impact on other institutions and, crucially on the financial stability of the region. As noted by Marx, (1976), the regulation of working practices, e.g. placing a maximum working hours for adults and children, can have a dramatic impact on the operation of the economy, as a whole. Merely being aware of the link between financial institutions and other institutions, as well as general nexus of institutions, in terms of how the markets within the state then operate is as important as looking at the minutiae of the management of financial institutions, alone.

Conclusions

By looking at the various avenues of research which deal specifically with institutional needs or, indeed, with more general issues of economic development and stability, one factor which has become very apparent is that regulatory standards on a global level will simply not be effective for achieving strong economic development. Furthermore, researchers have also indicated that the theories of institutional operations indicate that it is the combined efforts of all of the institutions which are likely to have the biggest impact on the overall economic and social stability of a region or country. When looking at issues faced by Libya, as well as the way in which other jurisdictions have dealt with issues, the importance of the institution has becomes even more obvious. What remains unclear is just how institutional development should be managed, because simply to allow institutions to develop organically is unlikely to present a suitable solution, in a country like Libya which has undergone a dramatic period of difficulty, in recent years.

The key learning from this element of the literature review is that different institutions have different roles to play and it is their combined effect that needs to be explored in more detail when looking to develop regulatory policies, as this will ultimately allow the underlying aims of the region to be achieved. Regulation and management of these institutions is almost as crucial as the institution itself, and it is this combination of factors which needs to be borne in mind when looking at how institutional development is likely to influence the Libyan state.

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Introduction

It will forever be seen as the moment when the sun set on the Murdoch empire and when democracy in Britain, at the eleventh hour, avoided committing suicide and stood proudly again. The sight of the House of Commons unanimously rejecting Rupert Murdoch and News International, in whose thrall they had been since the days of Thatcher (Campbell, 2008, p.410) was both commendable and contemptible. That it took so long and journalism which plumbed new depths of depravity for it to resurface is a stain on the British democratic body but, whatever is said, allowing News International to ultimately take over BskyB would have put Murdoch in an unassailable position in the UK and for that Parliament is to be commended. His demise has been swift and it was democracy which acted to sever his arteries of power and deny him a prize which many thought should have been denied him by a more robust application of European competition laws (Feintuck & Varney, 2006, p.95). Indeed the coalition government was, outrageously, ready to waive through the bid without referral to the competition commission and the bid would have followed the example of the Times and the Sunday Times which were acquired by Murdoch in 1981 without being similarly referred to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission as it was then known (Greenslade, 2003, p.377). The bid has now been dropped altogether. As a FT editorial observed the threat to media plurality was, and remains, real and ultimately it was the people who rejected the idea:

“Merging the two [broadcast and print] would create a behemoth with the potential to dominate the media scene, locking out challengers and stifling the diversity of debate.” (FT Editorial March 3rd 2011)

Aristotle once observed: “In a democracy the poor will have more power than the rich, because there are more of them, and the will of the majority is supreme.” (Aristotle, 1996, p.154). The House of Commons reaction to the phone hacking scandal was perceived to be democracy at its finest, a reaffirmation of the will of the majority which had become, as Porter (2010) would argue, under threat from a media baron who has had the police, government and parliament at his mercy in Britain ever since he first came to the UK (Curran & Seaton: 1997, p.366). Subsequent events to Porter’s observation, made before the phone hacking scandal reached its nadir when the phone of tragic murder victim Milly Dowler was hacked to delete voicemail messages which gave false hope to a grieving family and brought the fury of a nation, and crucially of a resurrected Parliament, to bear on News International, would at first glance seem to validate his claims, in 2010 (Porter, 2010), that Murdoch’s empire is a threat to British democracy. Democracy in the UK has not been rediscovered overnight and it is arguable that this episode is but a sign of a deeper malaise. Porter’s analysis was clearly a chilling insight but his article is built upon foundations which are shaky and which verge on the conspiratorial. The separation of powers doctrine, first proposed by Montesqieu (Richter, 1977, p.91), enables democracy and to the executive, legislature and judiciary we can add the fourth estate, as Thomas Carlyle observed, the press, which acts as a watchdog upon the others (Robertson & Nicol, 2003, p.3). This essay will, structured along the lines of the separation of powers, argue that Poter’s assertions that Murdoch’s empire “makes and breaks governments” is misjudged and that the current reaction to the phone hacking scandal demonstrates that he is, in fact, ultimately accountable to Parliament: the threat to democracy has diminished but only temporarily. In part 1 then this essay will look at the “fourth estate” and its relationship with democracy before chapter 2 reflects on the executive, legislature and judiciary branches and the threat of Murdoch. As an editorial in the Guardian observed, there has been a lot of soul searching in the last few months and the scandal at the News of the World has rocked every democratic institution weaned on Murdoch’s power:

“No well-functioning democracy should allow one man to frame its window on the world. But then the institutions of British democracy have hardly been functioning well of late in relation to Mr Murdoch. The fourth estate of the free press, in which we are of course one interested party, is one of those institutions. It should check and balance political power from the outside, while itself being held in check by the ordinary processes of the criminal law.” (Guardian editorial, June 2011)

Part 1: The fourth estate and Rupert Murdoch

The notion of the “fourth estate” has been around for about 200 years and rests upon the idea that a government unchecked by a vigilant media is liable to exceed its bounds (Curran & Seaton, 1997, p.49). This role, taken on by the media, in effect legitimises democracy, at least in classical liberal theory, with the press able to enlighten the electorate to make an informed decision during an election, protect and promote human rights and social tolerance and, of most importance, to ensure that governments are brought to account and abuses of power made transparent (Pilger, 2004, p.xv). In reality however this romanticised notion of a newspaper is a myth which the News of the World shattered conclusively with the original defence of the wrongdoing being attributable to a “rogue reporter” exposed as the last refuge of a newspaper which had grown accustomed to paying private detectives to obtain private medical records and bribing police. Thus the press can just as readily play a less noble role as the following observation by Sheila Coronel demonstrates:

“The media, however, can play antidemocratic roles as well. They can sow fear, division and violence. Instead of promoting democracy, they can contribute to democratic decay.” (Coronel, 2003, p.3)

There has been a need for self-regulation to right the imbalance caused by unnecessarily intrusive reporting. The liberal theory of press freedom appeals to a self-righting process first advocated by John Milton in the Aeropagitica who argued for freedom of expression in a marketplace of ideas where bad ideas would wither and good ideas would ultimately prosper (Siebert, 1956, p.44). Evolving away from an authoritarian past where the Crown controlled the press England moved towards libertarianism in the 18th century (ibid) and ultimately in 1953 established a body which was ran by the industry to regulate the press (Royal Commission on the Press, 1974, p.1). It was Sir David Calcutt’s Royal Commission into the press that ultimately rejected the predecessor, the Press Council, by proposing the Press Complaint Commission’s formation (Mcnair, 1997, p.186, Curran & Seaton, 1997, p.368, Allen, 1999, p.181). One of the effects of the phone hacking scandal involving the News of the World has been a call to abolish the Press Complaints Commission and introduce privacy laws: a move which will could endanger freedom of expression and logically democracy itself (Meyer, 2006) although the PCC is not without weakness it is the least worst option (Coad, 2009). More directly Murdoch’s newspapers have been reflections of the proprietor’s political instincts in being Conservative, supportive of the private sector, anti-immigration and ‘fun’: bastions of sleaze, sensationalism and corruption which have driven standards ever downward and even debased the once-mighty Times, the traditional newspaper of record, which Max Hastings decries as a travesty (Hastings, 2002, foreword xvi). Celebrity gossip and sensational stories are the staple diet of Murdoch tabloids and, with the proprietor treating his newspapers like, as Hastings memorably puts it, “private rifle ranges” (Hastings, 2002, foreword xvi) to endorse his political viewpoint, coupled with the kind of persistent editorial interference which prompted Harold Evans to resign as editor of the Times in 1982 (ibid, xvi), it is no stretch to say that the watchdog role of the press is lost on his newspapers who have too often supped with the devils at Westminster and used stories as political weapons rather than beacons of the truth (Greenslade, 2002, p.212). His huge share of the newspaper and broadcasting market also undermines media plurality and he was edging ever closer to a monopoly which would have included 100% of BskyB until the hacking scandal forced him to back down. As things stand his share of just below 40% of the UK newspaper market (Guardian editorial, June 30th 2011) is not befitting of a modern democracy and his thirst for power is clearly a threat as more diversity leads to enlightened debate. For how can a public fed on stories of celebrity gossip, biased political stories and dubiously obtained information which is itself criminal and sometimes xenophobic ever make the informed decisions which nurture a democracyWith the fall of the News of the World and the neutering of the once-mighty oracle The Times Murdoch has succeeded in sabotaging the fourth estate from within.

Part 2: Executive, legislature and judiciary

Murdoch’s empire has reached into the very heart of Westminster and for successive governments he was the key to victory, encapsulated by the pithy headline following Major’s victory over Neil Kinnock: “It was the Sun wot won it” (Young, 1997). Much is made of Margaret Thatcher allowing Rupert Murdoch to purchase the Times and the Sunday Times without referral to the MMC by bending the rules in his favour (Campbell, 2008, p.409), Tony Blair’s trip to Australia to play court to him in exchange for what was perceived to be decisive support in the 1997 election (Young, 1997) and now David Cameron’s hiring of the former NoW editor Andy Coulsen as press officer has again raised the spectre of Rupert Murdoch being too close to the ruling party (Jenkins, 2011). Details are now slipping out of endless meetings between the chancellor and Murdoch prior to the BskyB bid, extravagant cocktail parties for the great and the good and bizarre stories of backdoor visits and cups of tea (ibid). The colour of the political chameleon is, as David Cameron pointed out in the Commons recently, irrelevant as “the clock stopped on his watch” and indeed all parties have been in bed with, or frightened of, Murdoch which is an affront to democracy and a poisoning of the well of debate (ibid). Poter misjudges the power of Rupert Murdoch, however, by saying that he “makes and breaks governments” (Poter, 2010). Although many in the House of Commons were afraid of him it cannot be said that the support of the Murdoch newspapers decides elections and at best his support would garner a few extra votes. Stephen Glover, writing in the Independent, observes in relation to the 2010 election that Cameron’s advisors greatly exaggerated the power of the Murdoch press (Glover, 25th July 2011)

Proprietors are often given to exaggerating the impact of their newspapers: Max Hastings recalls Conrad Black having similar notions but ultimately the ability of newspapers and the media to shape the political world is limited (Hastings, 2002, p.303). Poter’s misjudgement was the establishment’s misjudgement, however, and for that reason his observations gain strength. He also asserts that Parliament has been unable to stand up to him. This observation was true at least until the phone hacking scandal inquiry and the miraculous sight of MPs and government ministers abandoning the Murdoch empire (House of Commons Home Affairs Committee, 2011). Although it is tempting to say that democracy has returned, this is perhaps just a glimpse of what should be and the stories of police officers being bribed on an industrial scale is reprehensible. A wider malaise is at work here and one which, but for the News of the World overstepping the mark, would have been well on the way to democratic suicide. As the Guardian points out the path to 2011 has been a tortuous one:

“After years of denials, supine Press Complaints Commission oversight and an odd reticence on the part of the police, the truth has very slowly asserted its power in the phone-hacking scandal.” (Guardian editorial, 30th June 2011)

Conclusion

Of the institutions of democracy it is only the judiciary who appear to have emerged unscathed. The systemic bribing of police undermines this claim to some extent however and the battles between Parliament and the Supreme Court over prisoner’s voting rights demonstrate the tensions. What is clear is that the prophecy that every democracy commits suicide eventually appears to be coming to fruition and although Poter’s article is a chilling insight it is an insight into a problem with far greater roots than Rupert Murdoch’s admittedly consuming lust for power. News International has now been permanently handicapped by a temporary reassertion of parliamentary democracy in action but the threat to democracy in putting forth a right-wing agenda which destabilises debate, covering news stories which trivialise and sensationalise news, compromising editorial independence, obtaining information by criminal means and by being perceived to be able to influence the outcome of elections is very real. The watchdog role of the press as the fourth estate, already diminished by the demise of the Times and investigative journalism, would cease to exist if Murdoch’s power went unchecked and this would be the greatest threat to democracy of all, a threat which has not disappeared following the phone hacking scandal.

Bibliography

Journals

Coad, Jonathan (2009) ‘The PCC: Weak, Secretive and Biased’ in British Journalism Review vol.20 issue 13 pp 13-20 on p.14

Coronel, Sheila S. (2003) The Role of Media in Deepening Democracy. Philippine Centre for Investigative Journalism available online at:

http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/un/unpan010194.pd

Meyer, Christopher (2006) ‘We Know Better Than the Courts’ in British Journalism Review vol 17 issue 3 pp 27-32

Books

Aristotle (1996) The Politics and the Constitution of Athens Cambridge Uni Press: worldwide edited by Stephen Everson

Campbell, John (2008) Margaret Thatcher Volume 2, The Iron Lady Vintage Books: London

Curran, James & Seaton, Jean (1997) Power Without Responsibility Routledge: London and New York

Feintuck, Mike & Varney, Mike (2006) Media Regulation, Public Interest and the Law Edinburgh University Press 2nd ed

Greenslade, Roy (2003) Press Gang: How Newspapers Make Profits from Propaganda Pan Books: London

Hastings, Max (2002) Editor Pan Books: London

Mcnair, Brian (1994) News and Journalism in the UK Routledge: London and New York (4th edition)

Richter, Melvin (1997) The Political Theory of Montesquieu Cambridge Uni Press: USA

Pilger, John (2004) Tell Me No Lies Jonathan Cape: London

Robertson, Geoffrey & Nicol, Andrew (2003) Media Law Penguin Books: worldwide

Siebert, Fred S. (1956) ‘The Libertarian Theory’ in Siebert, Peterson & Schramm (eds) Four Theories of the Press University of Illinois Press: Urbana p.44

Stuart, Allan (1999) News Culture Open University Press: Buckingham & Philadelphia p.181

Young, Hugo (2003) Supping with the Devils Atlantic Books: worldwide

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Royal Commission on the Press (1976) Interim Report : the national newspaper industry chairman O.R. McGregor.

House of Commons Home Affairs Committee (2011) Unauthorised tapping into or hacking of mobile communications Thirteenth Report of Session 2010–12 HC 907 19th July 2011

Websites

Porter, Henry (2010) ‘Rupert Murdoch’s hunger for power is a looming threat to democracy’ Guardian online retrieved on 1st July 2011 and available from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/feb/28/henry-porter-news-international-murdoch

FT Editorial (March 3rd 2011) ‘Why Hunt could not stop Murdoch’ retrieved on 12th July 2011 and available from: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d9f82a28-45e0-11e0-acd8-00144feab49a,s01=1.html#axzz1TFcoiymU

Guardian Editorial (30th June 2011) ‘Rupert Murdoch: Empire of the Sun’ retrieved on 13th July 2011 and available from:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jun/30/rupert-murdoch-empire-the-sun

Glover, Stephen (2011) ‘It was wasn’t the Sun wot won it for Cameron’ from Independent online retrieved on 12th July 2011 and available from: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/opinion/stephen-glover/stephen-glover-it-wasnt-the-sun-wot-won-it-for-cameron-2319943.html.

Abstract

The essay looks at Beck’s theory of the ‘risk society’, the idea that modern society is distinctly different from previous ages in the nature of risk, and attitudes to it. The theory also involves the idea that scepticism towards scientific reasoning and knowledge is increasing. Beck identified new types of risk associated with the modern age. These new risks have widespread potential repercussions, not restricted to one geographical location, to one particular time scale or to one social group. These new risks also require new strategies for management (Coaffee 2009). This essay will first briefly outline Beck’s theory, then takes a critical and analytic perspective on his idea.

1. Introduction

The following looks at Beck’s theory of the ‘risk society’, the idea that modern society is distinctly different from previous ages in the nature of risk, and attitudes to it. The theory also involves the idea that scepticism towards scientific reasoning and knowledge is increasing. Beck identified new types of risk associated with the modern age. These new risks have widespread potential repercussions, not restricted to one geographical location, to one particular time scale or to one social group. These new risks also require new strategies for management (Coaffee 2009). This essay will first briefly outline Beck’s theory, then will take a critical and analytic perspective on his idea.

2. Beck’s Theory of the ‘Risk Society’

Beck proposed his idea of the ‘Risk Society’ in his 1992 publication ‘Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity’ (Beck 1992). His ideas emerged from the developing discipline of risk management, rooted in sociology.

There are several strands to Beck’s idea as follows:

A transition from one type of modernity to a new type
The part played by the media in the construction of risk
The nature of reflexivity
The financial impact of new risk patterns

Coaffee (2009).

There is also a critique of science (Lyall et al 2009). This breakdown will be used to shape the following section.

For Beck, we are experiencing a new wave of modernity. In contrast with the simple modernity of the industrial age, contemporary modernity is reflexive, and is characterised by new risks with a “potentially global impact” (Ericson and Doyle 2003, p. 74).Modern society is increasingly critical of the underpinnings of industrial society (Beck 1995)

In terms of the role played by the media in creating risk, Beck suggests that “the mass media and the scientific and legal professions in charge of defining risks become key social and political positions” (Beck 1992, p. 22). The media also provide the site within which risk is contextualised and debated, with a new potential for conflict between those who create risk definitions and those who are affected by them (Coaffee 2003).

Another key concept for the notion of the risk society is ‘reflexivity’, or the ability of humans to reflect upon the past, and use this knowledge to influence what they do in the future. Widely taken up by the social sciences in general, for Beck, people in contemporary society have come to terms with the increasing amount of risk they face through reflexivity, balancing the opinions of experts with cultural considerations (Coaffee 2003)

Beck suggests that there is a financial impact of this change in the nature of risk. Traditionally, it has been acceptable to use insurance to secure against risks. However, in the risk society, insuring against all types of risk is not possible (Coaffee 2009). As danger grows, so protection diminishes.

As the new risk society emerges, the role and ability of science is played down. On the one hand, the scientific approach to managing risk, for Beck, inadequate, as it is most useful in addressing natural risks, rather than risks created by decisions. On the other hand, Beck suggests that the supposedly neutral stance of the scientist should be questioned. Rather than objective observers, scientists have played a part in creating the new, risk-laden contemporary world. This role is often hidden by the institutions which have grown up around the scientific world (Lyall et al 2009). Scientists are also seen as in the service of corporate and financial interests. At the same time, people increasingly have to trust the opinions of scientific experts and the complex systems they devise to analyse risk. However, expert opinion is often marked by disagreement regarding the extent and best management of the risk, underlining Beck’s point that scientific consensus is open to question (Coaffee 2003).

3. To What extent does Beck’s Theory Provide an Adequate View of Contemporary Society

Beck seems to provide a comprehensive model of changing attitudes to risk, risk management, and society in general.Although his theory has its roots in concepts of risk management, it seems to offer a useful way of understanding modern society in general. Seen thus, it suggests that society as a whole is dominated by risks which both threaten physical life and livelihood, and also occupy the collective psyche.The existence of specifically modern threats such as global warming, increased mobility of disease and nuclear radiation seem to back up Beck’s claims (Rosa 2006). Beck himself suggests that his model offers a certain degree of positivism and hope, whereby reflexivity can help overcome the problems associated with globalisation and increased risk. He also seems to suggest it offers a way whereby the ideals of the Enlightenment can be kept alive, albeit in a way infused with a post-modern irony and self-criticism (Beck 1998).

However, there are a number of criticisms which can be made of the notion of the ‘Risk Society’: some have condemned it as overly deterministic, with little scope for bringing about change (Hughes and Edwards 2002). Bluhdorn sees Beck as proposing a historical determinism which is Marxist in feel, as industrialisation and its associated form of modernity gives way to the risk society (Bluhdorn 2000). Others have dismissed it as a passing fad rather than an academic approach with lasting influence (Dingwall 1999)

Some question whether Beck’s model is adequate to capture the nature of risk.Beck’s approach has been called “utilitarian and objectivist” (Alexander 1996, p. 135); that is, it relies upon a definition of risk that draws upon what works, and which assumes the objective reality of the concept. He fails to take into account the multiplicity of ways in which individuals understand the notion of risk, and apply it. Perhaps a more appropriate model would have a more complex understanding of the role played by social structure and perceptions of risk (Elliott 2003). Relatedly, Beck has also been criticised for ignoring any psycho-analytic interpretation of human action and motivation (Hollway and Jefferson 1997), and for failing to understand that human subjectivity is embodied (Petersen 1996). In other words, “Beck’s theory cannot grasp the hermeneutical, aesthetic, psychological and culturally bound forms of subjectivity and intersubjectivity in and through which risk is constructed and perceived” (Elliott 2003, p. 26).

Others have questioned the extent to which Beck generalises in a way which is not supported by the facts.Beck sees the spread of contagious diseases as one of a wholely new set of risks for modern society. However Turner (1994) points out that the globalisation of disease is not a new phenomenon, but one which has been in existence since trade and world travel started. Others point out that the only change is in the type of disease which spreads rapidly and offers risk: at one point it was the plague, at others syphilis, while today offers BSE and bird flu (Ihlen 2009). Turner (1994) also suggests that Beck is mistaken in his description of the ways in which standardisation and regulation have changed. Although global risks introduce a new level of uncertainty, evidence suggests that there is still an over-riding attempt to standardise worldwide (Martin and Johnson 2001)

Another criticism asks whether the mechanisms for greater public ‘voice’ and participation in decisions that Beck seems to envisage in his model actually exist. Fairhead and Leech, for example, argue that he makes “assumptions about the capacity for new forms and institutions of public engagement to emerge and have influence” (Fairhead and Leech , p.225)

A particularly damning critique is that Beck’s account is garbled and contradictory, particularly in reference to the ecological and environmental parts of his discussions. In ‘Risk Society’, for example, tries to argue both that the planet is increasingly at risk of harm from objective factors, and also that these factors are socially constructed and therefore not part of the objective world (Lidskog 1993). There is also some tension in his work between analysing the situation and advocating activism as a solution, with descriptive and prescriptive approaches often running side by side. Beck also confuses the concepts ‘risk’ and ‘hazard’, in some places suggesting that they are separate ideas, and at others assuming they are equal terms (Hannigan 1995, p. 24). A similar criticism is that the notion of the risk society is too vague to be of use: for example, his discussion of the role played by the media is not based on factual research or published data (Mooney and Evans 2007)

Finally, criticisms have been made of the idealistic and utopian slant of Beck’s ideas. It is a large scale attempt to understand the nature of the world as a whole, and to suggest what the world should be like. Deuchars suggests that there is an element of cultural imperialism in Beck’s suggestions, with a hidden assumption that the enlightened residents of the developed world (who have already been through the process of industrialisation) need to set an example to other countries using reflexivity to address problems of risk (Deuchars 2004). Others suggest that the aim to explain so much undermines the success of his smaller-scale analyses (Mythen and Walklate 2006)

4. Conclusion

Certainly, Beck’s theory is a persuasive and powerful one. It has had repercussions not just for the understanding of risk and risk management but in diverse other fields particularly studies of ecology, the environment and sociology. It is complex, and includes different ideas including an analysis of how the perception of risk is distinct to the modern era, the role played by the media, and the nature of reflexivity in determining how we manage risk. While the theory has benefits, there are also a number of problems which mean it should be approached with caution. Particularly, it seems to involve a somewhat naive and objectivist concept of reality which ignores the role played by subjective experience, it is rather fatalistic and deterministic about historical change, and its underpinnings in thorough research are questionable.

5. References

Beck, U (1992) Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity. London: Sage.

Beck, U (1995) Ecological politics in an age of risk. Oxon: Wiley-Blackwell.

Beck, U. (1998) ‘Politics of risk society’ in Franklin, J. (ed.) The Politics of Risk Society , Cambridge, Polity Press.

Bluhdorn, I (2000) Post-ecologist politics: social theory and the abdication of the ecologist paradigm. London: Routledge.

Coaffee, J (2003) Terrorism, risk, and the city: the making of a contemporary urban landscape. UK: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Coaffee, J (2009) Terrorism, risk and the global city: towards urban resilience. UK: Ashgate Publishing.

Deuchars, R (2004) The international political economy of risk: rationalism, calculation, and power. UK: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Dingwall, R (1999) ‘”Risk Society”: The Cult of Theory and the Millennium?’. Social Policy & Administration. Vol 33:4, 474–491,

Elliott, A (2003) Critical visions: new directions in social theory. Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield.

Ericson, R V and Doyle, A (2003) Risk and morality. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Fairhead, J and Leach, M (2003) Science, society and power: environmental knowledge and policy in West Africa and the Caribbean. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Hannigan, J (1995)?Environmental Sociology. London: Routledge.

Hollway, W and Jefferson, T (1997) ‘The Risk Society in an Age of Anxiety: Situating Fear of Crime’, The British Journal of Sociology, Vol 48:2, 255-266.

Hughes, G and Edwards, A (2002) Crime control and community: the new politics of public safety. US: Taylor & Francis.

Ihlen, O (2009) Public relations and social theory: key figures and concepts. Abingdon: Taylor and Francis.

Lyall, C, Smith, J and Papaioannou, T (2009) The limits to governance: the challenge of policy-making for the new life sciences. UK: Ashgate Publishing.

Martin, R and Johnson, L (2001) Law and the public dimension of health. UK: Routledge.

Mooney, A and Evans, B (2007) Globalization: the key concepts. Abingdon: Taylor & Francis.

Mythen, G and Walklate, S (2006) Beyond the risk society: critical reflections on risk and human security

Petersen, Alan. 1996. ‘Risk and the regulated self: the discourse of health promotion as politics of uncertainty’. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Sociology, 32:1, 44-57

Rosa, E A (2006) ‘Risk Society’ [online] (cited 5th January 2012) available from http://www.eoearth.org/article/Risk_society

Turner, B (1994) Orientalism, Postmodernism and Globalism. London:Routledge.