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Lost City Of Atlantis

Lost City Of Atlantis

The Ocean is filled with untold stories that are waiting to be discov-ered. Who knows what may lie under the deep blue Ocean. Atlantis is one of those untold stories that are awaiting an explanation. Atlantis today has no solid explanation of how old it is, where it is located, or if it really existed at all. There are numerous theories on how Atlantis was destroyed or if it was a physical place. Some people believe they have found the lost city of Atlantis.

Atlantis is believed to have existed over 2500 years ago and had such things as running hot and cold water, streets of gold, and all the nicest things on Earth (EarthQuest, pg. 1). Having such things as these Atlantis must have been a splendid place to live. What more would anyone want if with a wonderful place as Atlantis. Atlantis has a brief history because most of it has not yet been discovered. The Greek Word Atlantis means the Island of Atlas, just as the word Atlantic means the Ocean of Atlas (Laketech, pg.1).

Atlantis was the domain of the Greek Poseidon, god of the sea. He is the one that was said to have made and destroyed Atlantis. When Poseidon fell in love with a mortal woman, Cleito, he created a dwelling at the top of a hill near the middle of the Island. Surrounding the dwelling with rings of water and land to protect her (The Active Mind, pg.1). Soon After Poseidon, god of the sea, sired five pairs of male twins with the mortal woman “Cleito”. When the children grew up Poseidon appointed the eldest of these sons, At-las the titan, ruler of his beautiful Island domain (Laketech, pg 1).

The Island of Atlantis was the center for trade and commerce. Atlan-tis was governed in peace, was rich in commerce, was advanced in knowledge, and held domain over the surrounding islands and contents. Portions of the city were devoted to commerce and industry. This was be-cause the Atlanteans used the discoveries of their scientists and technologists as the basis of a flourishing trade with other nations (True Origins, pg. 2). Great universities, observatories, libraries, and laboratories for people of all ages showed that Atlantis was wellspring of human arts and sciences.

The government of Atlantis was one of a kind that would of work per-fectly in this day in age. At the top of the central hill, a temple was built in honor of Poseidon, which housed a giant gold statue of Poseidon riding a chariot pulled by winged horses (The Active Mind, pg.1). It was here that the rulers of Atlantis would come to discuss laws, pass judgments, and pay tribute to Poseidon. Any one could imagine how big of a building this tem-ple must have been. No one really knows if this temple is a true fact or just a really good myth. If true fact, the temple is lying under the deep blue Ocean submerge for eternity.

To facilitate travel and trade, a water canal was cut through the is-lands, which led to south about 5.5 miles to the sea. The city of Atlantis sat just outside the outer ring of water and spread across the plain covering a circle of 11 miles (The Active Mind, pg. 1). This was a densely populated area where the majority of the population lived. The unique beauty of the city, on it’s circles of land linked by great bridges across the circles of water, was further enhanced by brilliant gardens, groves of flowering trees, and sparkling fountains (True Origins, pg. 2). To some extent it sort of relates to the Virgin Islands, but Atlantis was connected to each island.

Beyond the city lay a fertile plain 330 miles long and 110 miles wide surrounded by another canal used to collect water from the rivers and streams of the mountains. The climate was of an odd one that made two harvests possible each year. One harvest would be in the winter that was fed by the rains and the one in the summer was fed by irrigation from the canal (The Active Mind, pg. 1). Besides the harvests, the Island provided all kinds of herbs, fruits, and nuts. As well as an abundance of animals, in-cluding elephants, tigers, birds, and many more roamed the Island. For generations the Atlanteans lived simple, virtuous lives (The Active Mind, pg. 2).

The people who lived on Atlantis were like that of our society back in the old days. There were servants, slaves, and other common people who worked the fields and animals of the city. Important people who served roy-alty lived on the inner circle of the island. The outer Island is where most of the citizens lived (Atlantis, pg. 1). The first King of Atlantis built his Temple on a smaller island; he put walls around it and called it Atlantis. The island had mountains, plains, and beaches. Like that of any Island that is still around today. There is no doubt that Atlantis was the most beautiful place on earth at that time.

The geography of Atlantis was like any other Island. The Island of At-lantis was an under water volcano. The Volcanic Island city was about 11 miles in diameter, and was known as the Great city of Atlantis. Since it was a volcano, it had a round doughnut shaped Island with water all around it, and in it’s center (Atlantis, pg. 1). In the center of the doughnut was a smaller island and this is where Cleito lived. To have lived there would be a wonderful experience. Just to see the beauty of the island would just over whelm the human senses.

For a number of years it was the most perfect place to live. Soon that all began to change, and the island was a mess. Greed and power began to corrupt them. When Zeus saw the immorality of the Atlanteans he gathered the other gods together to determine a suitable punishment (The Active Mind, pg. 2). “By Plato’s legend, the people of Atlantis became complacent and their leaders arrogant; in punishment the Gods destroyed Atlantis by flooding it and submerging the Island in one day and night. The city of At-lantis sank and the continent remained intact (Atlantis, pg. 1).

Soon, in one violent surge it was gone. The Island of Atlantis, it’s people, and their memories were swallowed by the sea. There are some that think that the lost city of Atlantis is Actually in the Bermuda Triangle, Sunken at the bottom of the Ocean (Earthquest, pg. 1). No one knows for sure because this is a legend of the Greek gods.

The Destruction of Atlantis has many theories. Some people believe that this beautiful city was “Swallowed into the Ocean” by an earthquake. The Atlantean continent had been spilt into five massive Islands by im-mense earthquakes (ProHosting, pg. 3). One theory of destruction is Earth-crust displacement. There is Another Atlantis-like story that was closer to Plato’s world, in terms of time and geography. The Minoan civilization was a great and peaceful culture based on the Island of Crete, which reigned in 2200 B.C. (Parascope, pg. 2). The Minoan Island of Santorini, later known as Thera, was home to a huge volcano. In 1470 B.C. it erupted with a force estimated to be greater than Krakato, covering everything on Santorini’s surface. When the Volcano exploded, the city and kingdom were destroyed. Many people on the continent were killed by floods and pieces of ash from the volcano (Atlantis, pg. 2). The Minoan civilization, whose remnants were easily conquered by Greek forces. Santorini could have been the real Atlan-tis.

Plato specified that Atlantis sank 10,000 years ago, but the Minoan disaster had taken place only 1,000 years earlier. It could have been the translation errors over the centuries altered what Plato really wrote, or maybe he was intentionally blurring the historical facts to suit his purposes. There exists yet another strong possibility that Plato entirely made Atlantis up himself. Other Greek thinkers, such as Aristotle and Pliny, disputed the existence of Atlantis, while Plutarch and Herodotus wrote of it as historical fact. Atlantis became entrenched in folklore all around the world, charted on Ocean maps and sought by explorers (Parascope, pg. 2)

Bibliography:

Works cited

1. Atlantis. True Origins. 23 January 1999

2. Atlantis: The Great Lost Civilization. Prohosting. 25 May 1999

3. Atlantis- Lost City. Atlantis. 30 July 2000

4. Atlantis Subplots: A Brief History of the Lost Continent. parascope. 5 June 2000

5. Lost City of Atlantis. EarthQuest. 22 February 2000

6. The Lost Continent of Atlantis. Laketech. 11 March 1998

7. The Story of Atlantis. The Active Mind. 15 April 1996

Logic Of George Boole And Its Application To The Design Of Modern Computers

Logic Of George Boole And Its Application To The Design Of Modern Computers

Modern computers are now considered as one of the most important digital machines in our modern time. People use computers in many ways. In business, computers track inventories with bar codes and scanners, check the credit status of customers, and transfer funds electronically. Computers in automobiles regulate the flow of fuel, thereby increasing gas mileage. Computers also entertain, creating digitized sound on stereo systems or computer-animated features from a digitally encoded laser disc. Computer programs, or applications, exist to aid every level of education, from programs that teach simple addition or sentence construction to programs that teach advanced calculus. But did you know that that the design of modern computers originally came from the logician George Boole who developed the Boolean algebra?

Boolean algebra is a two-valued system of algebra that represented logical relationships and operations. Later, scientists and physicists like John von Neumann and Alan Turing used his system of algebra for the development of modern computers.

In the latter part of the study you will see the different people who used the Boolean algebra as their channel for the progress of digital computers.

Boole, George (1815-1864), British mathematician and logician, who developed Boolean algebra. He was born on November 2, 1815 in Lincolnshire, England. Largely self-educated, in 1849 Boole was appointed professor of mathematics at Queen’s College (now University College) in Cork, Ireland. In 1854, in An Investigation of the Laws of Thought, Boole described an algebraic system that later became known as Boolean algebra. In Boolean algebra, logical propositions are denoted by symbols and can be acted on by abstract mathematical operators that correspond to the laws of logic. Boolean algebra is of prime importance to the study of pure mathematics and to the design of modern computers. He died on December 8, 1864 in Ballintemple, Country Cork, Ireland.

Microsoft® Encarta® Reference Library 2003. © 1993-2002 Microsoft Corporation.

Boolean Algebra is branch of mathematics having laws and properties similar to, but different from, those of ordinary high school algebra. Formally a Boolean algebra is a mathematical system consisting of a set of elements, which may be called B, together with two binary operations, which may be denoted by the symbols ⊕ and ⊗. These operations are defined on the set B and satisfy the following axioms:

1. ⊕ and ⊗ are both commutative operations. That is, for any elements x, y of the set B, it is true that x⊕Y = y⊕x and x⊗y = y⊗x.

2. Each of the operations ⊕ and ⊗ distributes over the other. That is, for any elements x, y, and z of the set B, it is true that x⊕ (y⊗z) = (x⊕y) ⊗ (x⊕z), and x⊗ (y⊕z) = (x⊗y) ⊕ (x⊗z).

3. There exists in the set B a distinct identity element for each of the operations ⊕ and ⊗. These elements are usually denoted by the symbols 0 and 1 such that 0 ≠ 1, and have the property that 0 ⊕x = x and 1 ⊗x = x for any element x in the set B.

4. For each element x in the set B there exists a distinct corresponding element called the complement of x, usually denoted by the symbol x’. With respect to the operations ⊕ and ⊗, the element x’ has the property that x⊕x’ = 1 and x ⊗x’ = 0.

A Boolean algebra may have other sets of axioms, all of which may be shown to be equivalent to those just given. The axioms given here are essentially those first published by the American mathematician Edward Huntington in Postulates for the Algebra of Logic (1904).

The English mathematician George Boole gave the first treatment of the subject in 1854. It is possible to denote the operations ⊕ and ⊗ by any two symbols; +, ∨, and ◡ are sometimes used instead of Å, and ×, ^, ∩, ·, and O instead of ⊗.

As an example of a Boolean algebra, consider any set X and let P (X) stand for the collection of all possible subsets of the set X. P (X) is sometimes called the power set of the set X. P (X), together with ordinary set union (◡) and set intersection (∩), forms a Boolean algebra. In fact, every Boolean algebra may be represented as algebra of sets.

From the symmetry of the axioms with respect to the two operations and their respective identities, one is able to prove the so-called principle of duality. This principle asserts that any algebraic statement deducible from the axioms of Boolean algebra remains true if the operations ⊕ and ⊗and the identities 1 and 0 are interchanged throughout the statement. Of the many theorems that can be deduced from the axioms of a Boolean algebra, De Morgan’s laws, that (x⊕y)’ = x’⊗y’ and that (x⊗y)’ = x’⊕y’, are particularly noteworthy.

The elements that are contained in the set B of a Boolean algebra may be abstract objects, or concrete things such as numbers, propositions, sets, or electrical networks. In Boole’s original development, the elements of a Boolean algebra were a collection of propositions, or simple declarative sentences having the property that they were either

true or false but not both. The operations were essentially conjunction and disjunction, denoted by the symbols ^ and ∨ respectively. If x and y represent two propositions, then the expression x∨y (read x or y) would be true if and only if either x or y or both were true. The statement x ^ y (read x and y) would be true if and only if both x and y were true. In this type of Boolean algebra, the complement of an element or proposition is simply the negation of the statement.

A Boolean algebra of propositions and a Boolean algebra of sets are closely connected. For example, let p be the statement, “The ball is blue,” and let P be the set of all elements for which the statement p is true, that is, the set of all blue balls. P is called the truth set for the proposition p. Indeed, if P and Q are the truth sets for statements p and q, then the truth set for the statement p∨q is clearly P ◡ Q and for p ^ q the truth set is P ∩Q.

Boolean algebra has many practical applications in the physical sciences, in electric-circuit theory and particularly in the field of computers.

As an example of an application of Boolean algebra in electrical-circuit theory, let p and q denote two propositions, that is, declarative sentences that are either true or false but not both. If each of the propositions p and q is associated with a switch that will be closed if the proposition is true, and open if the proposition is false, then the statement

p ^ q may be represented by connecting the switches in series. The current will flow in this circuit if and only if both switches are closed, that is, if both p and q are true. Similarly, a circuit with switches connected in parallel can be used to represent the statement p∨q. In this case the current will flow if either p or q or both are true and the respective switches are closed. More complicated statements give rise to more complex switching circuits.

Microsoft® Encarta® Reference Library 2003. © 1993-2002 Microsoft Corporation.

The objectives of the study aims to know the life of the logician George Boole. To recognize and appreciate the people who used the system of Boolean algebra and the help given by Boole’s logic to the design of modern computers.

The importance of the study is to know whether the logic of George Boole has a great aid to the design of modern computers. To be thankful and grateful to the people that aided and contributed to the design of today’s computers.

This chapter includes the review of Related Literature about the study entitled The Logic of George Boole and its Application to the Design of Modern Computers.

“How do computers do what they do?” and “How does a computer engineer design a computer?” A computer and similar complex machines is at the heart a system of circuits that perform logical and arithmetic operations. It was determined that the cheapest way to make such a machine was to start with the binary number system which could be effectively handled with Boolean algebra. The computer in front of you does its math and logical thinking using Boolean algebra. The Boolean algebra was used to design the switching circuits of the computer. The materials used to build the switching circuits are not important in this lecture. The logical design used to make the switching circuits work correctly is important in this lecture. By using Boolean algebra, the computer can do logical thinking very fast and very inexpensively thanks to the underlying semiconductor electronic circuitry.

In the future computers chips may be made of some material other than semiconductors, perhaps a biological material that is alive and has been genetically designed to do Boolean algebra. And so computers would be grown in laboratories. This

may lead to truly new life forms. I hope that thought doesn’t scare you, but motivates you to learn computer logic. But for now the computers we have today are still the marvels of technology. And even though you find computers of different flavors and capabilities, they all have a few things in common. One very important common thing among computers is that they process information using the rules of Boolean algebra.

http://museum.doorsofperception.com/doors/doors1/transcripts/heim/heim3.html

This chapter includes the Presentation, Analysis and Interpretation of Data about the study.

NAMEYEARCONTRIBUTION TO THE DESIGN OF MODERN COMPUTERS

George BooleBritish logician and mathematician1847Boolean algebra

Konrad ZuseGerman Engineer1930’sZ1 calculating machine

John AtanasoffAmerican PhysicistLate 1930’sDesign of the first digital computer

Clifford BerryAmerican PhysicistLate 1930’sDesign of the first digital computer

Alan TuringBritish mathematician1930’sRecognized binary logic for the development in digital computers

Claude ShannonAmerican Mathematician1940’sRecognized binary logic for the development in the digital computers

John von NeumannHungarian-born Mathematician1944 to 1945Usage of the binary arithmetic system for storing programs in computer

B. Analysis and Interpretation of Data

19th-century British logician and mathematician George Boole, who in 1847 invented a two-valued system of algebra that represented logical relationships and operations first proposed binary logic. German engineer Konrad Zuse used this system of algebra, called Boolean algebra, in the 1930s for his Z1 calculating machine. American physicist John Atanasoff and his graduate student Clifford Berry also used it in the design of the first digital computer in the late 1930s. During 1944 and 1945 Hungarian-born American mathematician John von Neumann suggested using the binary arithmetic system for storing programs in computers. In the 1930s and 1940s British mathematician Alan Turing and American mathematician Claude Shannon also recognized how binary logic was well suited to the development of digital computers.

This chapter includes the summary, conclusion and the recommendation of the study entitled the logic of George Boole and its application to the design of modern computers.

Today in our modern world, people use computers in making their researches and in storing important facts and information. It was made possible by the logic of George Boole, Boolean algebra and the mathematicians like John von Neumann and Claude Shannon. In the year 1847, British logician and mathematician George Boole invented a two-valued system of algebra called Boolean algebra. Then Konrad Zuse who independently developed “electromechanical” computers, in which a series of electrically controlled devices known as relay represented numbers, Z1 calculating machine used Boole’s concept. In late 1930’s, John Atanasoff, Clifford Berry and Alan Turing designed the first digital computer and introduced the concept of a theoretical computing device now known as Turing device, which was important in the development of the digital computer respectively. Claude Shannon who developed information theory, which is a theoretical study, however, it has had a profound impact on the design of practical data communication and storage systems, such as telephones and computers. During 1944 to 1945, Hungarian-born American mathematician, John von Neumann: who was also known for the design of high-speed electronic computers.

These people became a part and have a great part in the advancement in the design of digital computers. This only means that Boole affects all of our lives in this contemporary world together with the people who contributed in the design of modern computers

Therefore I conclude that the concept of Boolean algebra by George Boole really helped in the development and progress in the design of digital computers. Through the people like Alan Turing and Konrad Zuse who aided and used Geroge Booles’ two-valued system of algebra in the advancement of computers that without them digital computers would be impossible. This connection of Boole with the design of computers means only that he affects all of our lives in the modern world because we are using the product of his logic in our every day lives.

I would like to recommend that further studies should be conducted about Boolean algebra and how it works and used as a mathematical system primarily used in the design of computers. The life of George Boole and the people who used his logic should also be deeply studied.

Bibliography:

http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/b/booleanal.asp

http://www.brightplanet.com/deepcontent/tutorials/search/part4.asp

http://museum.doorsofperception.com/doors/doors1/transcripts/heim/heim3.html

Microsoft® Encarta® Reference Library 2003. © 1993-2002 Microsoft Corporation.

Living Life Well (Martin Luther King Jr)

Living Life Well

What it means to live life well means, in essence, a variety of things to a vast array of individuals. One could say that Martin Luther King Jr. lived life well, while others may argue that fact in point. It could be said that Malcolm X lived a well life, but did he? Who can say, for sure, that one individual lived a well life, while another did not. Living life well, to me, means that an individual has prospered and triumphed through their own trials and tribulations; that they have made their opinions known, and stuck by them, never faltering, not even for an instance. To live life well does not mean that the individual has not failed, they may well have, but they have stood tall upon their own feet and fought for what they believed in. To live life well is to live by your own standards and rules, not by that of others; to live the examined or unexamined life, to live the only way you know how in an attempt to live life to the fullest.

Martin Luther King Jr. lived a life in which he stood up for what he believed in. He lived as though he were living for the world, that his every action and move was for the freedom that only he could help achieve. King had a great deal of followers, but, as well, as many foes. He spoke of freedom and the many things we take advantage of. He fought for his fellow black community, but did so in such a manner that was not demeaning or derogatory. He spoke of methods to reunite the American people, black and white alike, and fought, whole-heartedly, for desegregation. He had a dream, a dream which he was never able to see come to fruition, but a dream which his determination helped achieve. He lived a well life because he fought for what he believed in, stood up for his values, and died for his freedom, as have many American soldiers through the years. He was, by his own right and merit, an American soldier fighting for his people. The life he lived was well because he never faltered, even in the toughest of times, but continued to speak out and hope for a better, brighter tomorrow.

There is a great deal of controversy that surrounds Malcolm X and the manner in which he lived and fought. Although he stood up for what he believed in, it was in such a manner that was demeaning and derogatory toward the white community on the whole. He was not fighting for the freedom of his fellow people, but fighting for segregation, in a manner of speaking. He did not wish to reunite the black and white communities together, but, rather, to keep the communities separated, blacks on one side, and whites on the other. Malcolm X was not fighting for the freedom of the “little person” who was too weak to fight for them self, black or white, but rather fighting for his black community. He had a great many ideas that were ingenious, but the manner in which he presented them pointed the finger, as well as the blame, at the white man. X was fighting for the full separation of the black and white communities. He was fighting for separate church, state, laws, and methods of governing. Is it possible to fight for freedom, and, simultaneously, be fighting for segregation? Although his ides may have been somewhat “over the top” he stood up and fought for what he believed in, and died doing so. He may not have been as charismatic as Martin Luther King Jr., but he was, by his own earned right and merit, a figure of freedom to his community. As an individual I may not agree with a great deal of what he said, but it can not be taken away from him that he fought, as an American, and helped pave the way to freedom for his black community. It cannot be taken away from him that he lived a well life and that he died, as did King, like a soldier, for his people.

The question of what it means to live life well brings me back to saying that I have continuously heard throughout my life, “Carpe Diem,” or seize the day. In looking back on this phrase I cannot help but recall the movie “Dead Poets Society,” a movie in which this phrase was based upon. The main characters in the movie were living up to the expectations of their parent’s, they were not choosing their own path to live by, but, rather, their path had already been paved. The characters then met with a professor that encouraged them to be who they wanted to be, to live how they wanted to live, to break away from societal expectations and take charge of their own lives, for they only had one to make “extraordinary.” This then puts me deep in thought. I begin to wonder how one could live a well life if their life had already been mapped for them. Then I come to the conclusion that a life can still be lived well although lived through expectations for the fact that they knew no other way of life, to them that is “how life goes” that is what they do because it is expected. The characters in the movie did, however, take advantage of “Carpe Diem” and they did, in a manner of speaking, seize the day because they went against the standards of society, broke the rules, and formed their own group, the “Dead Poets Society.” They struggled to fight for what they believed in and struggled to stray from the expected. They saw a moment to seize and did so. Although the main character wanted nothing more than to be an actor, his father completely disapproved, but in meeting with the professor, John Keating, he realized that he needed to do what was in his heart, so, he stood against his father and disobeyed by participating in a play. When his father found out he became enraged, arguing that he was going to send him to military school because he was going to become a doctor. Although his father felt that he was giving him advantages that he, himself, had not had, he was living, vicariously through his son, which, ultimately ended in a teenage suicide and Keating being fired from his position. The other charters, however, still stood up for what they believed in and showed their support to Keating by standing upon the desks and shouting “Oh Captain, My Captain.” The lives of these boys were forever changed because someone had entered into their lives and had encouraged them to live in an extraordinary way and to live for themselves. Although many of these boys still continued on the path it which their fathers had mapped for them, they now knew what it was to live a well life and, at very least, had the option to make the lives of their own children different and to allow them to make their own decisions and plans, to live for who they are.

In my own life I have been given an option. I have been allowed to make my own decisions and to choose my own destiny, my own path. I may not be fighting for freedom, and struggling to stray from expectations which have been placed on me, but I am, in essence, involved in my own struggle, a struggle to life my life my way. I will not say that I have not failed along the way, because I have, in every sense of the word, but I have gotten back up on my feet and continued, knowing that there is always a better tomorrow. I have fallen and had a difficult time getting back up again, but I have managed. I have failed, and will continue to do so, but many of the great men, as Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X also failed, but lived well lives because of the fact that they fought for what they believed was right, and in time their dreams became a reality, for the fact that they stood steadfast, as do I. I have not looked for a definition on how to live my life from a dictionary. I have not cross-referenced and quoted, but have made my own rules and have life my life well, thus far. To live life well means a great many things to a great many people. To me it means to live by your own standards and to never falter on what you believe in and believe to be true.

Bibliography:

Life Journey Of The Odyssey

Life Journey Of The Odyssey

The Odyssey is an epic story of one man’s journey as well as the trials and tribulations that he encounters while trying to make it back to his home. Along the way, this story not only follows the guidelines of many other hero stories, but also applies to our everyday struggles both internally and externally. It seems like everyone can look at a story from the odyssey and somehow relate it to a difficulty or a problem that they had to overcome to reach their goal of being happy. These heroic stories have been told throughout the years to help us learn lessons about ourselves and to learn how other people have been able to shine through the hard times to reach happiness. In the book Life Journey: Literature and the Search for Meaning in the Stages of Life by Milt Ford, the ways these books teach us these lessons are analyzed and explained using his theory. Mr. Ford explains that there are three experiences that make up a persons life, they are identity, relationships, and accomplishments. He goes even further as to apply each one of these experiences into stages of our life such as, childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, middle adulthood, and late adult. It in interesting to see how this theory not only applies to The Odyssey but to our lives as well.

In The Odyssey there is a young man by the name of Telemachus who is the prince of Ithaca, and the son of the books hero, Odysseus. Though he does not get very old in the book, he does go through some very important times in his life journey, discovering for himself whom he is and what he is made of. In the early stages of the book we see the birth of Telemachus and then hear of things going on at his home. As in Ford’s theory we know that during the identity experience of Telemachus’ childhood, he is experiencing himself. He begins to find out who he is as a child and that is when he begins to develop all of the traits that are going to follow him throughout the rest of his life. The relationship experience theory is an important one during his childhood. The relationships that he makes as a child stay strong throughout the book. We see that he connects and forms a bond with his mother, but the relationship between him and his father is the interesting one. Odysseus had to leave when Telemachus was very young and he did not get to know his son before he left. There is a strain on the relationship at first because Telemachus is angry that his father left his mother and him to go off to the fight in the Trojan War. As he grows up though he begins to understand and the anger inside him begins to diminish. The third experience is accomplishment. We do not learn much of Telemachus’ accomplishments during his childhood, but it is in this experience that Milt Ford says that a person is experiencing successes and failures to find out what they are going to do in life. We do not hear about them but I am sure that the normal accomplishments of a child, such as learning to crawl and walk are accomplishments during this period of time. The experiences develop more in Telemachus’ life journey as he moves from childhood into the adolescent part of his life.

Next in the book, Telemachus reaches adolescence. He does a lot of growing up in a short amount of time during these years. He is forced to because of the absence of his father and the ever-growing threat of the suitors in his home. This is the stage where I feel Telemachus journeys through the most important experience in his life so far. The identity experience of this time period of his life is vital. As I said before, this is when Ford believes you start to ask yourself, who am I? This is where you start to see Telemachus begin to form into a man and take on the traits exhibited by his father who is a well-respected man and feared warrior. He is approached by the God Athena and offered the challenge to go out on his own without telling anyone, to try and find word of his father, because up till this point no one was sure whether or not Odysseus was alive. So Telemachus had to look deep inside himself and see if her had the courage and desire to go on the possibly dangerous journey. He showed no fear and took the journey around to different kingdoms to ask about his father and along his way finds many stories of his fathers attempted return to Ithaca. During his adolescent years he also shows his growth in relationship with his mother and father. He has a great desire to find his father because he wants to see him but also to save his mother from having to deal with the suitors who have taken over his fathers’ palace. This shows tremendous growth in his relationships and also his identity. He is ready to step forward and be a man. In his adolescence, Telemachus accomplishes several things. He goes out on his own to several different far away kingdoms to find his father, which is an accomplishment on its own. He also defends his mother along with his father by battling all of the suitors and killing them to keep them from causing any more harm. On the accomplishment aspect of his life journey during adolescence, he does a lot of things. He practically becomes a man at an early age. He finds his father and then teams with him to destroy all of the threats to his thrown.

It is very exciting when you break down the character of Telemachus in this epic poem. It is interesting to look at just one person and analyze all of the things that they go through and how they handle them. Like Telemachus, we have all made journeys through our lives that have helped us to discover who we are and just what we are capable of. For some of us, our journey away from the comfort and security of our homes and our families to venture out and figure out who we are and who we want to become is a major part of our life journey. It is interesting how a piece of literature written so long ago can have themes and ideals that still apply to our lives today. I know that pretty much everyone could sit down and read this book, and then apply some theme or idea from the book to his or her own life. I know for a fact that I can make a comparison to my own life.

I see similarities between Telemachus and myself. We both have had similar obstacles to overcome and we were both forced to learn our identities and our paths at an early age. Whereas Telemachus’ father left him at an early age to go to war, my father passed away when I was seventeen from a massive heart attack. The obvious difference is that Odysseus returned from war but my father will not return. I, like Telemachus, was forced to grow up very quickly. I had to become the man and begin to accept responsibilities that were previously not put on my shoulders. There was a period where I was lost and needed to find my way. My journey came way of my departure for college. I had to start to develop the attitude and work ethic that would mold me into the man I am to become. I also began to take on traits of my father, which made me very happy because it was a way for him to live on and stay fresh on everyone’s minds. This is similar to the way that Telemachus took the traits of his father and reminded people of Odysseus.

Fortunately, like Telemachus, I have emerged from my journey very happy with the way I have turned out. The only bad part is my father is gone for good. But it did force me to grow up and change. I have come full circle with the ideals and the path of my life that I am ready to take. This is like Ford’s theory. My identity has been found. I have looked inside of myself and realized who I am and who I want to be. My important relationships have shined greatly through this time of my life. My relationship with my mother has greatly increased and become closer on a deep level. She is more than my mother; she is a great friend and an advisor when I need her to be. My friends around me have been great. They have been moral support and never looked down on me when I have my times of weakness. Lastly but not least of all, my girlfriend has remained strong for me which made things a lot better for me. These relationships have been majorly important throughout my life journey so far. As far as my accomplishments, I cannot say much without sounding conceded. I have gotten through my trials and tribulations so far and am in college looking towards a future in Criminal Justice. I think that is an accomplishment.

There are many ways that The Odyssey can be molded and interpreted to apply to our lives today. I highlighted instances in my own life where you can show a pretty good correlation between ideas and struggles from the book into my own life. Every book has things in it that can be compared to everyday life. I know that from now on when I read a book I will read deeper than face value and examine more closely how it coincides to my own life. It definitely makes the book more interesting and I also feel like I get more out of it. We learn from these great stories that everyone goes through bad situations and terrible struggles, it is how we deal with them and what we learn about ourselves that are the foundations for the life that we make for ourselves. With lots of time and soul searching, we too can be as happy as Telemachus.

Bibliography:

Loyalty and Suffering The Question of the Loyalty of Friends and the Suffering of the Loyal.

Job – The Whiner

Loyalty and Suffering: The Question of the Loyalty of Friends and the Suffering of the Loyal. The idea of justice and good people suffering is a point first brought up in the Old Testament in the Book of Jeremiah.

Jeremiah is the first author in the Bible to question God’s allowance of good people to suffer and bad people to prosper. Jeremiah was punished for speaking the word of Yahweh. The people of Judah hated him and punished him as a traitor to his country. He questions why Yahweh would let this punishment, not only of himself, but of his people, to occur. The Book of Job re-asks this question, for Job is a loyal man of Yahweh, who is put “on trial” because of a bet between God and Satan, who sits on his council. Job has everything taken away from him, is persecuted by his friends, takes his case to a “trail-like” atmosphere and is rewarded for his loyalty to Yahweh in the end. This book brings to light a few questions that need to be answered:

1. Are the arguments presented for Job’s suffering satisfactory?

2. Where does Job’s friends’ loyalty lie, with him, Yahweh or elsewhere?

3. Was Job’s “reward” for being loyal just, or was it just compensation for being accused for something he did not do?

In chapter three the following chapters, Job’s friends interpret his suffering but do so falsely. These false accusations lead the friends to become more and more estranged from Job on the ash heap. Eliphaz, the oldest and thus the wisest friend, speaks first. He says he speaks from experience. He says suffering results from human activity and it is divine punishment for wicked living (4:8-9). He says he has had a dream (4:12) in which a voice questioned if anyone could be sinless before God. It is Eliphaz’ way to get Job to admit his sinfulness. Evidently Eliphaz was troubled that Job had not repented.

It could also be a divine discipline for which Job should be grateful, but the audience knows he is wrong. With Eliphaz we seem to have returned to an understanding of life somewhat similar to Proverbs. Since Job is innocent, he believes that God must be the source of his suffering, “The arrows of Shaddai stick fast in me…my spirit absorbs their poison” (6:4), and he has every reason to complain. Once again Job laments, this time he asks to die. Job is disappointed in his friend, for his counselling was no comfort to him. His understanding of life is sharply different to theirs.

He suffers because of betrayal by his friends, “my brothers have proved deceptive” (6:15). Job believes God is treating him as if he were a monster. He is sure God loves him because after he dies God would be looking for him, but it would be too late, he would be no more. Neither Job nor the author of Job had a belief in life after death. So God must intervene now. In the prologue and epilogue of this book, Job is said to be a man that performs sacrifices and prays to Yahweh on behalf of everyone around him: friends, family, etc. In Gabel and Wheeler’s book, they state that: “…Job performs sacrifices and prays to Yahweh on behalf of his children and friends; but in the large poetic bulk of the book, where Job and his friends investigate in minutest detail the ways a man may sin and thus deserve suffering, cultic matters are never once mentioned (115.” This would have been the greatest defence for Job, one that should not have been overlooked, nor should it have been brought up, since Yahweh’s name is sometimes defined as “a God who remembers” (Notes, 9/3).

If Yahweh remembers Job following the covenant, how can his suffering be just? Bildad responds next, arguing from the idea of theology. God is just and therefore God cannot be the cause of human suffering. Therefore, if God is not the cause of suffering, humans are. According to Bildad, Job’s children died prematurely because they sinned. Since God’s justice is beyond question, Job’s children must have been sinners. In other words, Bildad believes in the same doctrine of retribution as Eliphaz does. Bildad suggests that Job is responsible for his own future. He must seek God and if he does, God will reward him. Then, Bildad practically accuses Job of not staying close to God. Bildad says evil people flourish only for a short time (8:14-19), and escape is possible for Job but depends on Job himself (8:20-22). He believes he was consoling and wise, but the audience knows that he has been cruel and also portrayed God as cruel. Job believes we are powerless against God.

He asks how anyone can claim to be just before God. He talks about the might and power which God, as the Creator, must have; he can shake the mountains and tell the sun not to rise (9:5-9). However, Job feels that he is in a hopeless situation because he has a just complaint against God. But what chance has he against God? He doesn’t believe there is any point in summoning God. Even if Job did make contact with him, he doubts that God would listen. Job has no way to charge God because there is no arbitrator between them. Gabel and Wheeler state that “although the wisdom writers assumed the existence of a deity who created and sustained the world, they had no sense of a personal relationship between believer and God. (116)”

This leads to Job’s imaginary address to Yahweh, in which he feels he should have never been born. In class, we have been taught that Yahweh had a close relationship with His people. Where is that relationship now? If this is the same Yahweh that is talked about throughout the Bible, in Psalms, for example, why would He not speak with Job? This idea, again, brings injustice to claims of Job’s sins and the need for his suffering. In chapter 10, Job seems to be introducing a kind of imaginary address to be delivered before a hypothetical court where God is also present. Job gives voice to his loneliness, his uncertainty and his suffering not being heard by God.

Job believes that God created him in love and is the cause of his suffering. Job can find no answer and asks why he was born. Because there was not yet a developed belief in the afterlife, rewards and punishments must be meted out in this life. This chapter could be considered Job’s preparation for his “court-date” with God. Job is “practicing” an argument to the court in his defence. One could also see this as a subpoena for God to appear in court. Gabel and Wheeler state: “…Job pleads that God appear (in court, as it were) and state plainly what wrong Job has committed that warrants such ill fortune. (119).” This address, that God can hear (for He hears all), is a message (or a subpoena, as stated before) for God’s court to hear him out and allow him to defend himself. Aren’t all men allowed to defend themselves or is God above that? Zophar, Job’s third friend mocks him and attacks him directly. According to him, Job’s complaints are babbling nonsense and Job’s suffering is less than he deserved. Zophar claims that God’s ways are incomprehensible; therefore, in questioning God, Job is blaspheming.

Although Job cannot know the mind of God, ironically Zophar does, e.g. that certain people are deceptive (11:11). He also believes that if Job would repudiate sin, his life would return to brighter than noon. Zophar falls into the same trap as Eliphaz and Bildad in defending the doctrine of retribution, inevitably picturing God as unloving and humans as deserving nothing but suffering. Once again Job complains that his friends have left him down. Their explanations of his suffering do not satisfy, “I have a brain as well as you, I am in no way inferior to you” (12:3). In Job’s estimation, his friends are worthless doctors (13:4). He believes the only wisdom they could have is to be silent. On the other hand, Job will continue to speak out. He has only one thing to do, to demand a hearing from his torturer despite the misunderstanding between them. God is implicated in Job’s suffering and only God can give meaning to his torment. Job grows angrier and finds the courage to confront God his persecutor, “I have no other hope than to justify my conduct in his eyes” (13:15,18).

In chapters 29-31 Job will ‘take God to court’. Job demands that God stops torturing him and reveals his crimes to him. A tree cut down may sprout again, but Job will never rise again. It is heartening to read that Job believes God still loves, that someday God will long for the work of his hands. Who is Zophar to speak? Is he God or a messenger from God? How does he know that Job will be returned to his status? It seems that Zophar is playing God and knows what God is thinking. If Job does not know what God is thinking, how can Zophar know. This temptation to repent, if Job would have followed, may have ended his life right there. Remember, Job is being tested for his faith. If he gives up and repents for sins he has not done, would that be a sin in itself? In the end, Job was made twice as prosperous as before. His wealth doubled, he had ten more children, and lived 140 more years of his life. God lets Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar know that he is very angry for having spoken falsely of Him. He is upset that they had filled Job’s mind with false thoughts, making him resent God.

The fact that they were all speaking as if they knew exactly what God was doing might have also upset him. Therefore, to rectify having spoken of God in this manner, they each must take a certain amount of sacrifices to Job, and Job would offer their sacrifices to God and pray for them. Finally, Job gets an answer, but is it really an answer? Yahweh answers Job in a form of questions, belittling him, but why? More testing? Why would Yahweh tear him down like this? Babel and Wheeler state: “…we must not that the hero’s (Job) harsh judgment of the justice of God was muted by the author himself by having Job admit, after God has responded to him so crushingly, that he has been in over his head and has spoken of matters too great for him to handle. (123)”

What has Job spoken of that is over his head? The truth? Nothing? All Job did was ask for an answer as to why he is suffering. He knows that he has done what he was supposed to do. He prayed and made sacrifices, but to what avail? To have his family taken away, his life ruined and a cheap buyout at the end. This is almost like the movie “The Fugitive,” where a man is falsely accused of a crime (sin), is sentenced (suffering) and is given a cheap watch and a buyout to say…”I’m sorry.” Thanks, but no thanks. He got everything back, but he got nothing back. He got a do-over with a new family, friends possessions, etc., but not the original. He got a new life, but the life was not the one he knew, but one set up for him to live as an apology. As for Job’s friends, with friends like these who needs enemies? Whose side are they on? Where does their loyalty stand? In the end, Yahweh punishes them, but it is too little, too late.

The question asked is: Where does their loyalty lie? I think it is answered, to a certain extent. Their loyalty is definitely not with Job, for they have judged him when they are in no position to judge. Their loyalty is not with Yahweh, for they have tried to take his role as the judge. The book does not answer, though, if their loyalty is with Satan. He is the one that wants to test Job. Are they in a secret agreement with Satan, sent on a mission to belittle Job so he can win his “bet?” This leaves something to question. Not one argument against Job, throughout his trial, seems to be satisfactory. Job always has an answer for what his friends accuse him of. His words prove that he is a man of his word and his faith. I feel that there was never an argument that proved him guilty, and in the end, Yahweh saw the same. Job’s “reward” for his loyalty, also, has no validity or satisfaction. In the end, Job’s loyalty was to Yahweh and his friends (for he prayed for them). He did not get back what he lost, but got replacements that did not have the same value as the original. Is this justice? I think not.

Bibliography:

Standard Bible Old Testament

This is a comparison and contrast of differences between living at home and living in a college dormitory.

Dorm Life

This is a comparison and contrast of differences between living at home and living in a college dormitory. The differences will be compared and contrasted in the following paragraphs to show the likes and dislikes of each environment. There are three key differences from living at home and living in a college dormitory: availability, meal choices, and the most important factor is your privacy. These are the things that are bad about the dorm that makes me appreciate home more.

The first difference that will be discussed when comparing and contrasting living at home and living in the dorm is your availability. What is mint by availability is your access your friends have to bother or disturb you from studying. When living at home your friends have less access to your such as the phone or computer. When living in the dorm they can knock on your door at anytime they like. Some other problem with the availability of the dorm is if your trying to avoid someone they can easily find you without even trying very hard. When living at home it makes it easier to avoid those people.

The second difference that will be compared and contrasted between living at home and living in the dorm is eating habits. When living at home you tend to snack less because you are more active and you have more time to eat nutritious. However when living in the dorm you tend to eat a lot of snacks because you are too busy to eat healthy or do not have the means to prepare a healthy meal. What is mint by not being able to prepare a healthy meal is that you do not have the storage ability to keep nutritious food by not having a large refrigerator or a stovetop to cook on.

The third and biggest difference between living at home and living in the dorm is your privacy. The first issue with privacy is you cannot have a personal phone call without someone interfering where as at home you can lock your own room door or go in the bathroom to talk. Which lead us to the second issue with the privacy in the dorm which is not being able to use the bathroom peacefully without people walking in and out asking how much longer are you going to be in the shower. Dorm life is unlike home where you can use the bathroom at your own will and as long as you like.

There were three difference compared and contrasted between living in a college dormitory and living at home .The first thing discussed was the availability of living at home or in the dorm, the second thing discussed was home and dorm eating habits, and the last thing was the difference in privacy at home and the dorm life. These were the most important things to compare when comparing and contrasting dorm life with home life.

Bibliography:

Stakeholder Analysis &Market Based Clean Air

Clean Air

Stakeholder Analysis &Market Based Clean Air

The purpose of this report is to present a stakeholder analysis regarding current clean air initiatives in the Houston-Galveston eight county region. It is not an exhaustive report on clean air initiatives, but rather, an overview of policies affecting diesel engines and industries emitting nitrogen oxide (NOx) and particulate matter. This report will discuss the following: 1) Health, social, and economic costs due to NOx, ozone, and PM emissions and 2) Current and potential market-based air pollution policies. The above-mentioned points will be discussed in the context of several stakeholders in the region including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC), the City of Houston, regional industries, and individual consumers.

The Houston-Galveston region, comprised of eight counties, is currently in non-attainment for ozone under the Clean Air Act (CAA). Because of EPA rules, the area is required to reach attainment in ozone levels by November 15, 2007. However, several challenges prevent the area from reaching attainment status. To comply with federal standards, the TNRCC has developed a State Implementation Plan (SIP) with the intent of lowering NOx emissions sufficiently to comply with the 1 hour ozone standard. NOx emissions must be lowered because they are a precursor to ozone formation when exposed to sunlight and high air temperatures. To deal with this problem, the City of Houston has its own emissions reduction plan to reduce NOx, and therefore reduce ground-level ozone. In its attempts to reduce these pollutants, the City also expects to lower fine particle emissions to ensure compliance with the proposed PM2.5 standard being pressed by the EPA. PM2.5 particles are extremely small dust and soot particles that present serious public health risks. This new standard will come into full effect during the next decade.

In the Houston-Galveston region, the two main sources of NOx and particulates are the ship channel industries and diesel engines. The SIP requires significant reductions from these two sources in the Houston area for the state to be in compliance with ozone standards. The EPA and TNRCC regulate these pollutants to improve public health and increase quality of life in the region. However, such regulation affects not only government budgets and industry bottom lines but also individual consumers. Indeed, current SIP guidelines will have a significant economic impact on regional income and economic growth.

The following analysis will focus on current policy and business positions relating to NOx and PM in the Houston-Galveston region. In doing so, it also highlights the City of Houston’s clean air leadership role in the region and its focus on research and technologies. The report will show that that all stakeholders in the Houston-Galveston region will benefit from the City’s research and technology efforts. The report will also offer opposing viewpoints to status-quo perspectives and recommend that future clean air programs be more purely market based, to more efficiently allocate pollution costs. The most effective and simple of these market based programs is a flexible cap and trade program that can be applied to both relevant pollutants. The City should also push to become an active participant in municipality allowance trading. By eliminating costly command and control measures, pollution will be reduced at lower costs to businesses and consumers. Any pollution reduction program will be costly and there is no panacea in clean air initiatives, but there are several market-based instruments that would be more efficient at tackling air pollution in the Houston-Galveston region.

Stakeholder Analysis & Market-Based Clean Air

The twentieth century brought new perspectives on air pollution, breeding new government regulation and also a new sense of corporate and individual responsibility. These new approaches accompanied a birth of new technologies in every field of study, including influential changes in manufacturing, services, transportation, and energy production. While growth in these sectors of the economy has brought considerable standard of living increases, they have not come without cost. According to classical economic theory, the free flowing markets that create such industry growth maximize society’s “utility.” This massive exchange of goods and services gives rise to a common good for the general public. However, such free enterprise is also prone to market failure, as is the case with air pollution.

Negative externalities are costs “arising from an economic transaction that falls on a third party and that is not taken into account by those who undertake the transaction.” Pollution is the most obvious form of negative externality. In other words, it is an external cost that society incurs that is not reflected in market transactions. Polluters do not pay for the costs they place on others. Society pays in the form of health, environmental, quality of life, and other costs like property damage or the cost of emission control devices. Most of these costs are past on to consumers by industry, and only part of these costs are offset by business opportunities created to clean up these self-generated problems.

Theoretically, the break-even point of pollution in a society will exist where the marginal benefits obtained from pollution equal the marginal costs of cleaning up the pollution. Although air pollution is never in its own right beneficial, the activities that cause pollution could be considered essential or necessary, like energy or transportation. Externalities like pollution can be placed in economic models as variables, but are problematic in that pollution costs and benefits are difficult to measure quantitatively. These costs are often dispersed to consumers through high health care costs or decreased property values. Hence, fairly distributing negative externalities like pollution is a constant challenge. Economic theory would suggest that there is an equilibrium of costs and benefits that will maximize utility within the pollution context, but society as a whole must determine what this balance is.

When asked whether they are for or against clean air, the public will shout in unison for cleaner air. However, the higher intricacies and complications surrounding clean air often lead the public to rational ignorance. In other words, the general public feels that the cost of acquiring additional air pollution information is greater than the benefits this information generates. Therefore, it is rational for the public to be ignorant on air pollution issues. Also, when governments determine environmental policies, they rely on imperfect information, sometimes stemming from uncertain scientific data. This also makes the public uncertain about air pollution policies. Even with imperfect scientific data, the economic and health costs of air pollution are still visible to the community.

THE COSTS: Relevant Criteria Pollutants

The EPA regulates the emissions of many criteria pollutants: ozone, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide (NOx), particulate matter, and lead, to name a few. Among these pollutants, the ones of most interest to the Houston-Galveston region are ozone, NOx, and particulate matter. The region is currently in non-attainment status for ozone and runs the risk of becoming a non-attainment region for particulate matter in the future. The Houston Galveston region is currently in compliance for NOx but needs to reduce these emissions to reduce ozone, since NOx is a precursor to ozone.

When determining environmental policy, the EPA’s primary determinant is health. Therefore, the major studies surrounding criteria pollutants revolve around their effect on public health. The Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC) is the body that regulates and enforces EPA standards for the Houston-Galveston region. Through the State Implementation Plan (SIP), the TNRCC’s goal is to “improve air quality to a degree that is beneficial” for human health.

Ozone is a reactive form of oxygen that exists in two portions of the atmosphere. When it is naturally occurring in the upper atmosphere, it can be beneficial to society, as it protects life from harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun. When it exists in the troposphere (lower levels of the atmosphere), it is called ground-level ozone. At this level, ozone can also protect people from harmful ultraviolet light, but it nevertheless has several adverse effects.

Ground-level ozone is mainly formed by chemical reactions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in sunlight. Due to sunlight and meteorological effects, high temperature areas like Houston and Los Angeles are prone to higher ozone levels. Presently, the acceptable EPA one-hour ozone standard is 12 parts per million (ppm), obtained by taking an average of one-hour concentration of ozone. Counties must not exceed this threshold more than three times per year to remain in attainment. In 1997, the EPA established a new standard at a threshold of .08 ppm for an eight-hour standard. This standard will be enforced within the next decade, and like the previous standard, ozone level averages must not exceed the standard more than three times per year to remain in attainment. For regions like Houston-Galveston, currently not in attainment, the EPA and TNRCC concentrate on the previous, less stringent standards first. The new rules will eventually bump non-attainment counties in the US from 106 to 335. The Houston-Galveston area is focusing on meeting current rules first.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are important ingredients in the creation of ozone. VOCs are emitted by industrial sources (petrochemical plants, oil refineries, petroleum storage tanks) and also mobile sources (automobiles, trucks, motorcycles, airplanes, construction equipment). Not all VOCs are ozone forming as close to half of VOCs come from biogenic or natural sources like trees and vegetation. For this reason and because of VOC diversity, industries and environmental regions tend to focus more on NOx reductions to reduce ozone. The Texas Air Quality Study recently suggested that NOx reductions would be the most efficient way to reduce ozone in the Houston-Galveston region. Nonetheless, the region’s SIP requires a 25% reduction in VOCs by November 15, 2007 to meet the ozone standard.

Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) are the most significant ingredient in the formation of ozone. NOx is the term used to represent a “group of highly reactive gases, all of which contain nitrogen and oxygen in various amounts.” The pollutant is formed when fuels are “burned at high temperatures”, of which diesel engines and industry fuels are culpable. Since 1970, the emissions of six principle pollutants have decreased but NOx has increased by 10% in this same period due to economic growth.

Since NOx can be transported long distances, the EPA suggests that emissions be dealt with in a regional rather than a local manner. In the Houston-Galveston area, these emissions are dealt with by eight joint counties. In this region, industrial NOx emissions account for 55% of NOx, while motor vehicles are responsible for 44%. This data contrasts significantly from the national average where NOx primarily comes from motor vehicles (49%), and industrial, commercial, residential, and utilities account for 46% of NOx emissions.

NOx and ozone have several adverse effects on society. The primary concerns surrounding NOx emissions are health concerns (asthma & respiratory). In particular, diesel emissions containing NOx and particulates trigger pre-existing respiratory conditions. Ozone also affects lung tissue sufficiently to reduce lung function, contributing to particle inhalation, which occurs “deeply into sensitive parts of the lungs.” These particles “worsen respiratory disease, such as emphysema and bronchitis, and aggravate existing heart disease.” Moreover, while ozone, in and of itself is not carcinogenic, it can aggravate existing health conditions and lower natural defenses. A recent Sonoma study stated that reducing the NOx emissions in the Houston Galveston region would prevent 45 statistical deaths per year.

Critics of national standards argue that the statistical associations used to determine NOx and ozone health effects are weak. However, the Supreme Court clarified in its decision in American Trucking Associations v. EPA that the Clean Air Act is not required to “prove the biological mechanism.” The court ruled that showing a statistical correlation is sufficient. In other words, the Clean Air Act requires the EPA to act with an adequate margin of safety. Causation is not a requirement and caution is the approach. In a ruling against the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association, the DC Court of Appeals stated that the EPA “must err on the side of caution” in deciding pollution levels. The EPA has the right to set “whatever level it deems necessary and sufficient to protect the public health with an adequate margin of safety, taking into account both the available evidence and the inevitable scientific uncertainties.”

Secondary NOx concerns include its contributions to acid rain, deterioration of water quality, and atmospheric visibility. NOx, when reacting with sulfur dioxide forms acid rain, which deteriorates cars, buildings, trees and historical monuments. Acid rain also makes lakes acidic, killing fish and harming water sources. This is turn deteriorates water quality and affects the ecological balance. Along with these effects, the more conspicuous problem is visibility. Particles in NOx block light transmissions that reduce visibility. The ozone haze tends to depreciate land values and decrease the quality of life. These concerns, although secondary to health issues, are also considered when drafting NOx reduction policies.

Currently, the regional State Implementation Plan (SIP) requires industries to lower their NOx emissions by 90%. Industries have lobbied the TNRCC heavily to reduce their NOx standard to an 80% reduction, with the condition that they would lower VOCs by 80% to meet the ozone standard. Industries offer this alternative as a more economically viable option to reduce ozone, and such a revision to the SIP is being considered. John Wilson, executive director of the Galveston-Houston Association for Smog Prevention (GHASP), disagrees with the industry position: “If the science was there to support this, we would have no issue with it . . .What they’re doing is setting policy and then trying to see if the science fits.” A serious problem is with ozone is how much VOCs need to be cut to reach the standard. Since VOCs have been underrepresented in the past, skeptics abound as to whether future monitoring and compliance will be realized. Industries can no longer blame vegetation for the ozone problem and are recognizing that they are the bulk of the problem. If industries can prove ozone reductions through their proposals, the SIP will be revised. If not, they must comply with the SIP as is.

In the Houston-Galveston region, NOx reductions are the key to removing ozone, even though VOC reductions will also help. Recent flyovers by the Texas Air Quality Study indicate that VOCs stemming from the industrial ship channel have been undercounted for years. The recent VOC data adds to mounting NOx evidence that the Houston ship channel is the greatest source of ozone in the area. On a statewide scale, it would take approximately 18 million automobiles to equal the emission output of the “twelve hundred plus grandfathered manufacturing-petrochemical plants in Texas.” In 1996, the Texas vehicle population was approximately 13,486,865 vehicles. Even if all the vehicles in Texas were removed, the state would not remove emissions equal to those emitted by industry, using 1996 numbers. The grandfather clauses, exceptions in the Clean Air Act allowing industries to ignore EPA regulations, are now defunct. As a result, industries, like those found in the ship channel, must now implement technologies to reduce their NOx and VOCs. Additionally, the ship channel must continually be dealt with because even if industries come into compliance in 2007, this will not entirely eliminate ship emissions. Large freight and oil ships must eventually comply with EPA ship regulations but international ship emissions will still create pollution problems.

The addition of new ozone and PM regulations complicates the region’s implementation plan. The State and the region do not want new regulations until the current rules are met. California and much of the Northeast have more stringent state regulations so they approve of the higher standards. These states feel that the new federal standards would level the playing field, placing all at an equal economic disadvantage. The Houston-Galveston region faces much steeper marginal costs due to upcoming compliance deadlines.

The Houston- Galveston region’s ozone problem is “severe,” as classified by the EPA. The region currently generates approximately 1284 tons per day and to come into compliance, they must reduce NOx by 750 tons per day to reach an attainment level of 289 tons per day. Approximately 0.5 % of NOx emissions in the region come from City of Houston sources, such as city vehicles, construction equipment, and stationary sources like boilers and pumps. Although this is only small percentage of total regional pollution, the City’s intent is to reduce these emissions significantly. The City’s source inventory emits an average of 1584.6 NOx tons per year. In 1999, Mayor Lee Brown, through Executive Order 145, ordered the creation of a city emissions reduction plan. This plan consists of NOx reduction targets for city sources, calling for a 75% NOx reduction, or a 1189 ton reduction to reach 395 tons per year. The emissions plan requires the City and its contractors to use the cleanest technologies available for city projects. In addition, all new vehicles purchased must be low emission vehicles (LEV) or alternate fuel vehicles. The City’s reduction plan has many other elements including: eliminating engine idling, instituting bus pass programs, providing car pool subsidies, and many more. The heart of the plan, however, is in retrofitting the diesel fleet and stationary engines. The Mayor believes that this will have the greatest impact, both in terms of NOx and PM reductions. Through the Emissions Reduction Plan, the City of Houston seeks to become a moral authority and a leader in clean air initiatives and technology usage in the region, the state, and the nation.

The City of Houston Emissions Reduction Plan

The City of Houston Emissions Reduction Plan has been viewed as a model for other municipalities. Mayor Lee Brown has stated that clean air is his number one public policy priority and he hopes to establish the high moral ground in the region by reducing city source emissions. By retrofitting their diesel powered vehicles and equipment, the City hopes to present an example to local construction companies. If the City can meet emissions requirements through technology, then local industries should have little excuse for non-compliance.

Funding city retrofit projects is a continual challenge. For this reason, the State, through Senate Bill 5, created several grant vehicles that could fund Houston fleet retrofits. One of these is the Texas Emission Reduction Plan (TERP). TERP funding is provided for cleaner on and off road engines, research and development. Recently, TERP awarded $501,000 to the City to retrofit 33 off-road construction vehicles. If viable technologies come forth, Senate Bill 5, if further funded by the Texas legislature, will provide additional resources for future retrofits of both public and private diesel-powered equipment.

The 2007 ozone deadline creates several difficulties for the Houston-Galveston eight- county region (TNRCC). The timing is not optimal but the state must maintain a SIP that meets ozone compliance. Currently there is an 87 ton per day NOx shortfall to come into ozone compliance. The area has until next year (2004) to find a way to comply through a mid course review. The State must submit its revisions to the SIP, incorporating new strategies and new technologies. The solution will not magically appear but by researching technologies and speeding up retrofits, the city can potentially add to the NOx tons-per-day reductions.

Industry and the State Implementation Plan

As is the case with pollution reduction strategies, the emissions requirements contained in the SIP come with a cost. Some oil refineries and power plants are concerned about the negative impacts on energy production, believing that future standards may create a disincentive to expand output. The 107th Congress validated this concern as they made it the primary question of their debate in 2001-2002. Petrochemical and Refinery Industries in the region feel that the region must be concerned about keeping their comparative advantages. In addition, the American Trucking Association disagrees with new EPA diesel engine rules that are associated with the SIP. Cummins, a significant diesel engine builder, is also concerned that the technology will not be available to reach the new standards. Despite industry opposition, the EPA insists that there is “overwhelming public support” for these new rules, according to the EPA.

Not all industries in the region are opposed to the State Implementation Plan and new EPA diesel rules. Many industries know they must face inevitable environmental rules and would rather know what specific costs they will face in the future. BP petrochemical plants has expressed that “synergies exist to reduce NOx consistent with new growth.” They do, however, feel that these reductions will only come if operations are efficient and technologies become available.

Some critics of EPA rules argue that government regulation and taxes stemming from NOx and ozone standards decrease quality of life and potentially increase mortality rates due to decreasing disposable incomes. Critics of environmental regulation posture that regulation increases taxes or places undue costs on society. Their link to higher mortality rates is harder to argue but cannot be entirely ignored. Taxes or regulation on businesses creates higher consumer prices and taxes on individuals decrease personal incomes. The people most affected by tax increases are those in lower economic classes, and they often cannot afford health care. Disposable income available for health care is shifted to needs like food, clothing, and shelter. Consequently, absent other variables, higher disposable incomes generate greater public health. The challenge is finding the right balance, or an optimal level of government regulation and taxation.

For the Houston-Galveston region to reach compliance for ozone, several costs must be taken into consideration. Since the EPA has set the rules, the area must comply, or else face more severe economic consequences. The urgency of complying with the SIP translates into real dollars. If the region fails to comply with SIP guidelines, the federal government will withhold federal highway funds. The region’s highway funding is close to $1 billion dollars with a “consistently applied multiplier of 4.” City bond ratings will also be affected by EPA’s decisions on the region’s clean air efforts. These costs of non-compliance will be distributed among the general Houston area population. Not complying with the standard could affect the regional economy indefinitely into the future. Therefore, it appears to be in the best interest of the individual consumer to comply with the EPA ozone standard.

Particulate matter (PM) means small particles suspended in the air. Particulates are not easily identified or classified since they are “exceptionally diverse” consisting of “salts, acids, metals, water, organic compounds, and soot-like material.” The EPA identifies these particulates by size, as either PM10 or PM2.5 (as in 10 or 2.5 microns). Particulate matter is not strictly human provoked, as particles come from volcanoes, dust, pollen, and chemical reactions in the atmosphere. Nevertheless, sulfur in fossil fuels is also a major cause of particulates. Due to this, many particulates come from diesel and gasoline combustion as well as power generation and other industrial processes. Another human source of particulates is generated by the movement of dust through construction activities. As is the case with other criteria pollutants, the EPA sets standards for particulates. The standard for PM10 emissions is 150 micrograms in a 24-hour period, averaged over a three-year period.

Some studies suggest that particulate matter can be detrimental to public health. Epidemiological studies state that PM is linked to such illnesses as asthma, chronic bronchitis, and decreased lung function. Some dangerous particulates lodge themselves deep within the recesses of the lungs causing severe problems. Particulates tend to “remain in the lungs and lymph nodes rather than [be] cleared efficiently from the body.” Those most at risk are the elderly, children, and people with lung and heart disease. These groups constitute forty per-cent of the population. The Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee of EPA’s Scientific Advisory board has agreed with the EPA that PM is probable human carcinogen. Also adding to the concern, of the 38 epidemiological studies done between 1988 and 1996, most of them found a “significant association between . . . particles in the air and deaths from cardiac and respiratory problems.” Of particular concern are particulates emitted by diesel engines, which “spew out 100 times more sooty particles compared to gasoline engines.” The particulates in diesel engines are extremely toxic, including benzene, arsenic, dioxins, and formaldehyde. These toxics are widely recognized as carcinogenic and their association with cardiopulmonary mortality is increasingly evident.

The EPA currently regulates PM10 emissions but in 1997, the EPA set an additional PM2.5 standard. PM2.5 is extremely small and referred to as ‘fine particle’ pollutants. The source of these particles comes from airborne soot, power plants, and diesel engines. The new standard would limit PM2.5 concentration levels to 65 micrograms in a 24-hour period. These new PM2.5 standards are not yet enforced and state implementation plans for these pollutants are not required until 2008. This new standard would push PM non-attainment counties from 41 to 168. If the Houston-Galveston region maintains its current course, it is sure to be among these new areas of non-attainment.

These new standards have been challenged in court but The Supreme Court has generally upheld the EPA in their decision to implement a stricter standard. Despite opposition to the standards, the EPA has stated that many benefits will result from these new standards, including 1) the prevention of tens of thousands of premature deaths from heart and lung disease, 2) prevention of tens of thousands of hospital admissions and ER visits 3) millions saved from school and work absences and 4) greater visibility. While it is hard to argue with such benefits, critics feel that the EPA’s assumptions and actual studies are flawed, arguing that the studies referred to in the new standards have too many variables. Citizens for a Sound Economy, a Washington DC think tank and advocacy group, stated that the new rules are “too hasty a response” for current knowledge. Like in the case with NOx and ozone pollutants, there is no definite causal link to health problems stemming from particulates. However, the EPA feels that the statistical associations between PM2.5 levels and public health data are sufficient to set the new standards. The government’s position is that uncertainties do not justify inaction when public health is concerned. Future studies will attempt to determine whether the associations between particulates and health problems are consistent.

The more stringent PM2.5 standards and health effects are forcing the Houston-Galveston region to act now. Under the new standards, several counties in the region would certainly be in non-compliance, a challenge the City simply cannot afford. Under the City’s emissions reduction plan, Mayor Brown has asked for a 33% reduction in particulates from city sources. The Mayor’s specific strategy includes such elements as reducing overall city vehicle emissions, improving traffic flow, improving scientific understanding of particulates, and controlling construction site dust more effectively. The most important aspect of the Mayor’s plan is diesel engine retrofits. Although the 33% target is not easily reached, using technologies and low sulfur diesel fuels, it is attainable. The two city efforts that will make this possible are the Diesel Demonstration Project and ultra low sulfur diesel (ULSD). These two ventures could significantly reduce both NOx and particulates from diesel trucks, non-road construction equipment, and also stationary sources.

Since diesel engines are responsible for 15% of the nation’s particulates as well as 20% for NOx, much emphasis is given to diesel retrofitting technology. For this reason, the Diesel Demonstration Project is the heart of the Mayor’s Emissions Reduction Plan (Vic slides). The project consists of a contract with the University of Houston (UofH) to test technologies and retrofit diesel engines. The lab is located at the UofH to provide required testing independence. Its main objective is to seek technologies that will reduce vehicle and equipment NOx emissions by 75%. Initially the project is looking for reductions of 50% or greater in NOx and 25% or greater in PM. The testing uses the most advanced emissions testing equipment available and also relies on in-depth analysis from the chemical engineers at UofH. The contract between the City and the University of Houston has sought to take advantage the university’s academic expertise to reduce emissions. The advantage of the expertise and new lab equipment is that UofH will test vehicles in real load conditions and normal operations. Labs like the one proposed in the Diesel Demonstration Project exist solely in Canada, West Virginia, and San Antonio. Each of these projects is a non-profit or private operation with high testing fees. The Diesel Demonstration Project is the “first program of it kind undertaken by a major municipality.”

The Diesel Demonstration Project was created to find the right technologies and implement them at the lowest cost. In April 2000, the City of Houston received $671,057 from CMAQ for the demonstration project for phase I. Phase I funds were used to test a limited number of vehicles and technologies. To fund phase II of the project will require the City of Houston to pay approximately $3.8 million dollars for UofH professional testing services. This phase will purchase the necessary testing equipment and pay for the start-up costs of the lab. The advantages of this initial capital expenditure are immense. By purchasing the lab equipment and paying for lab start-up costs, the city will receive testing and analysis from the university until 2007. This testing will come at no additional costs and avoids close to $18 million in testing costs with alternative testing labs (745 test vehicles * $4000 minimum test cost * 6 tests per vehicle = $17,880,000).

Only three labs exist in North America that can test diesel emission reductions technologies, and the University of Houston seeks to match their testing capabilities. The lab will test technologies that are both EPA approved and not approved. The lab intends

LITERATURE REVIEW in choice based lettings

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW in choice based lettings2.0       INTRODUCTION

In order to establish a link between this study and other related works, this chapter is devoted to a review of current literature that has relevance to the subject of this study. This study begins with the definition of “choice bases lettings” and various perspectives of other interested parties in the subject of choice based letting in the UK.

This chapter will consider the literature based on the key themes:

Introduction to choice based lettings

Definition of choice based lettings

Needs versus choice

Empowering customers

Choice for vulnerable household.

2.1. Choice based lettings history

Within the last the years, there has been an increase in the number of British landlords who have adopted the Choice base lettings (CBL) systems, due to the concern about unfair, bureaucratic allocation of social housing . The research published in January 2001 by the then Department for Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) found that nine out of ten authorities used a points based system for allocating “mainstream vacancies” with provision for “high priority categories,” such as decants and victims of racial harassment, to be accorded “overwhelming priority.” The research found that wholly “date order” systems, under which applicants are made offers according to the size/type of dwelling they need and when they put their names on the register, had, at that point, entirely disappeared.

The length of time that someone applying for housing might have to wait before receiving an offer of accommodation will depend on several factors, including: the pressure of demand for accommodation within the area; the size and type of dwelling that they desire/require; and the degree to which they are willing to be flexible over their ‘areas of choice’. Prior to the 2002 Act a common feature of social housing allocation policies was that applicants were given relatively little, if any, choice over the property offered to them. In some cases, particularly homeless households, applicants were penalised for refusing offers of accommodation deemed suitable for their needs by receiving no further offers, or by being suspended from the housing register. This practice was blamed for producing a high number of “failed” offers resulting in a loss of rental income and staff time. The DETR research found evidence over the previous decade of allocations systems becoming “more coercive”, i.e. imposing penalties against applicants who refused offers. (DETR, 2001)

Choice Based Lettings Scheme was designed to replace a points-based allocation system with a lettings service that home seekers could understand, and to provide more choice and involvement in selecting a new home. Moreover, this was mainly inspired by the Dutch ‘Delft model’(Kullberg, 1997, 2002; Westra, 2001). The Dutch delft model was first developed in the Netherlands in the late 1980s and adopted by most Dutch social landlords. Choice based lettings approach is different from the traditional allocations systems that is operated in Britain, that is choice based lettings (CBL) operate open advertising of vacancies and a major transfer of power and responsibility to the customer rather the way it was operated in the traditional allocation system.(Kulberg, 2002)

Current government guidelines in England suggested that choice based lettings should offer tenants the opportunity of deciding where they wish to live and when they want to move. The Government’s Housing Green Paper and other policy initiatives are encouraging social landlords to offer more ‘choice’ in lettings. The first district-wide scheme was launched in early 2000 in Harborough (a rural local authority area in the East Midlands). By 2003, nearly 80 local authorities in England claimed to be using a CBL approach (Brown, Lishman and Richardson, 2005). The Schemes are operating in a range of housing market situations including high and low demand as well as in urban and rural locations. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) set targets in April 2002 that 25% of local authorities should operate such a system by the end of 2005 and 100% by 2010. In January 2005, the Government reaffirmed these targets as well as giving a commitment to operate a nationwide scheme by 2010 (ODPM, 2005). It also pledged to explore extending the scheme to the private rented sector and to low cost home ownership.

The Government’s policy aims were originally set out in its consultative Green Paper (DETR & DSS, 2000 p 12). This emphasised four objectives – offering choice, tackling social exclusion, helping to create sustainable communities, and encouraging the effective use and management of social housing. Each scheme has set its own priorities based on the views of local stakeholders and the nature of the local housing market. Allocations and lettings is one of the key tasks for social housing organisations. In 2002/03, local authorities and housing associations in England let 432,000 properties. ‘How these are let and to whom they are let to, therefore, have been of fundamental concern.

The Housing Act, 1996, (as amended by the Homelessness Act, 2002) together with additional advice in the form of, for example, a Code of Guidance suggested that, each local authority should publish an allocation scheme that must give reasonable preference to certain groups in housing need e.g. households with a particular need for accommodation on medical or welfare grounds. It also asserted that local authorities and housing associations must balance need and customer choice. These focus on need and can be traced back to the Cullingworth Report which suggested that, need and fairness should be central to allocations policies (Central Housing Advisory Committee, 1969). It contributed to a shift towards points-based systems that became dominant by the 1990s. (DCLG, 2007).

Brown, et al (2000) found that over 85% used a points-based system. The research also point out that, two-thirds of respondents in early 2000 did not intend to offer greater choice in the future. This was partly because organisations cited a range of examples of incremental policy changes that already contributed to relatively greater customer choice particularly preference for geographical areas, non-penalisation for declining reasonable offers and fast-tracking process for letting low demand properties. But, nearly 60% of respondents were undertaking or intended to start within twelve months and to do a fundamental review of their allocations policies and procedures. The reasons for reconsidering lettings systems centred primarily on changing patterns of housing need (44%), creating sustainable communities (27%) and improving organisational performance e.g. reducing voids and related periods (14%). (Brown, et al 2000).

By mid 2003, over 20% local authorities self-assessed themselves as operating the scheme. This covered just over 30% of the local authority stock in England i.e. approximately 750,000 dwellings, and approximately 10% of the housing association stock i.e. 150,000 – 200,000 properties. The Government wishes, firstly, to see each local authority area having a comprehensive and integrated scheme, and secondly the adoption of a sub-regional and regional approaches with a view to moving towards a national scheme by the end of the decade (Brown, et al, 2005).

According to statistics 80 per cent of local authorities in England participated in Choice-Based Lettings (CBL) on 1 April 2010, an increase from 61 per cent on 1 April 2009 Local authority landlords in England made 155,800 lettings during 2009/10, increasing from 151,700 during 2008/09. This follows a general decline from 354,000 in 1999/00 ( statistic 2010)

2. 2. What is Choice-Based Lettings?

CBL schemes were introduced in England through the Homelessness Act 2002. CBL replaces the traditional way of allocating housing where housing officers seek to match applicants with priority on the waiting list to available vacancies. Instead, CBL allows applicants for social housing (and existing tenants seeking a move) to apply for available vacancies which are advertised widely. Applicants can see the full range of available properties and can bid for any home to which they are matched. The successful bidder is the one with the highest priority under the scheme. The Government Green Paper commented that local authorities had considerable scope under existing legislation to adopt ‘customer choice-based lettings systems’ (DETR and DSS, 2000). The Homelessness Act, 2002, and the associated code of guidance emphasised a more general principle which states that“allocation policies for social housing should provide choice wherever possible while continuing to meet housing need this is the best way to ensure sustainable tenancies and build settled and stable communities.” (ODPM, 2002a, paragraph 5.3.)

More so, the ODPM published some advice to clarify its position on the target that was set out in 2002, that schemes should meet each of the seven principles as part of an incorporated CLB system that covers all of the social stock in an area and any initiative that does not offer broader customers advice on housing options are not right. These principles are as follows-

Initiatives taken by the customers: this is an initiative taken by the customers Whereby, an opportunity to apply for a property rather than being offered a property by the housing officer.

Social market information: customers must be provided with detailed information about what properties are available and who can apply, that popularity of particular type and location of property, and indicates their chances of making a successful application.

Property & neighbourhood features: the information provided must gives more detail about property features such as central heating, energy efficiency, schools, garden etc., and offer ‘real choice’ as in the private, owner-occupied sector.

System for vulnerable households & priority: support for vulnerable group is set into priority card or a banding system based on ‘levels of need’ are used to protect vulnerable people and ensure that people in most urgent need can be supported. This should also lead to improved housing opportunities for vulnerable

Labelling & selection criteria: simple and clear eligibility conditions are applied for customers wishing to become a home seeker on the regular housing. Once on the list a simple and easy to understand system operates for establishing priority for being offered a property.

Communication: the quality of information between landlord ands and home seekers is central to system. The adoption of ‘good practices’ in the use of advertising channels include the use of regular mail-outs, telephone and personal response to customer, use of information technology and web sites and the establishment of property shops (similar to estate agents)

Advice on housing options: customers are given vital advice on housing options that

available to them. (ODPM, 2002)

Brown, et al (2005) asserted that, the traditional schemes can be altered so that applicants who refuse offers are not penalised that is, the abandonment of ‘limited offer policies’. This shows that it is necessary to avoid the false dichotomy between CBL and traditional allocation system of suggesting that the former provides choice and the latter provides no choice. Similarly it is important to dismiss a further related myth that CBL does not take account of need while traditional allocation systems it focus on need. ( Brown, et al 2000)

As Cowan and Marsh (2004) in their review of two legal cases pointed out that, the Court of Appeal has generated a number of questions about the implementation of CBL within the existing legal framework. Basically, the primary legislation remains focussed on local authorities taking account of relative need, while the CBL advice centres on pushing forward a customer choice agenda. As the Government has frequently pointed out in its guidance, it is up to individual local authorities to satisfy themselves that they are m The legal framework, nevertheless, remains unclear. The Government has published guidance but its status is advisory. The primary legislation such as the Housing Act, 1996, as amended by the Homelessness Act, 2002 emphasises the broader principle of choice and that this must be balanced with taking account of need. and the government set out that:

•People should have as much opportunity as possible for their views to be

taken into account when they are seeking a new home.

•Choice should be available both to new applicants and to existing tenants wishing to move. To limit void periods, people should be able to choose properties before they have become empty wherever possible.

•Choice should be free. There should be no penalty for those who do not want a property on offer (although the time allowed for choice may need to be limited in certain situations).

•Choice should be as wide as possible. Local authorities and registered social landlords should consider the scope for pooling their property and making it available to people from outside their own local area. Vacancies in areas of lower demand should be available to people in areas of higher demand, although priority might continue to be given to people who have a strong local connection with an area or a pressing need to move there. The flexibility to allow greater priority to local people would enable authorities in areas of high demand (including small village communities with a limited supply of affordable housing) to avoid any additional pressure being placed on their stock.

•Simple and accessible systems. People should be able to apply for lettings and transfers easily and know to whom they should turn for help.

•Choice should be well informed. People should understand what housing is available and what their chances are of getting it. Housing authorities (in conjunction with social services authorities where necessary) should give additional advice and assistance to those who might otherwise have difficulty finding or applying for housing suited to their needs.

•Choice for homeless people. A choice of settled accommodation is as important for homeless people as it is for those in urgent need on the waiting list, although choice may have to be more limited for homeless people in certain circumstances.

•Systems should be sensitive to local needs. Under Best Value, and Tenant Participation Compacts, local people and existing tenants should be consulted about local policies. Local lettings policies that restrict individual choice need to be well justified.12 eeting statutory requirements. Although this enables schemes to be developed to reflect local circumstances and avoids an over-prescriptive focus by the Government, it does not sit easily with the targets set by the ODPM or the advisory requirement that local authorities should adopt CBL. (Cowan and Marsh 2006)

Although, Marsh et al (2007), stressed that landlords are still in charge of how the process

take place that is, they still influence the whole outcome of the system in that, they set the

rules that must be followed Partly in an attempt to recover legitimacy among consumers.

Choice Based Lettings (CBL) systems usually allocate with the persuasion that there is ‘limited offers’ of properties. They always say that they are not building more properties and that they are going to make use of the stock at hand. These rules are usually incorporated within traditional allocations systems too. (Marshal et al, 2007)

In May 2006 the Audit Commission published Analysis of Choice in Local Public Services, a survey of authorities which was carried out in 2005 by the Commission found out that those authorities not offering CBL schemes tended to cite a shortage of stock and concerns about set-up and running costs. The Audit Commission analysed the potential costs and benefits of these schemes and concluded that Choice-based lettings bring a range of benefits that would not accrue under a traditional lettings system. There is better matching of supply to preferences, including a greater likelihood of letting previously hard-to-let properties. The greater transparency of the system means that it is seen as fairer. (Audit Commission 2006)

2.3 Need versus Choice

Choice-based lettings (CBL) schemes are designed to introduce an element of choice for applicant in need of council and housing association homes. Choice-based lettings allow people to applying for homes (including existing tenants who want a transfer) to bid for properties which become available on a points-based system.

The government stressed that, local authorities must consider whether they should frame their allocation scheme to give additional preference to those “ who fall within the reasonable preference categories and who have urgent needs” The examples given include those who have to move because they have an urgent medical reason or who are experiencing threats of violence ( ODPM, 2000). Brown et al (2003) also articulated that, “there is no national consensus on what constitutes ‘need’ and allocations policies reflects a combination of factors reflecting the state of the local housing market and local political considerations. This will partly be to do with the definition applied to qualitative concepts and that what constitutes “need” may vary between LA Authorities. (Brown, 2003)

Moreover, in enabling applicants to make an informed choice about their accommodation is at the heart of choice based lettings. This would include allowing applicants to make reasonable compromises: eg a disabled applicant bidding for a first floor flat provided there is a lift, or a family bidding for a property which does not have sufficient bedrooms where the landlord is prepared to extend the loft. However, it is important that authorities do not frame their allocation scheme so that self-assessment by applicants becomes a substitute for a proper assessment of comparative housing need. Rather allocation schemes must be framed so that authorities are able to put applicant in need, are given the appropriate priority for housing which meets their needs. (DCLG, 2008)

According to the Research carried out for Communities and Local Government longer impact of choice based lettings, they found out that tenants who were offered a choice of accommodation were more likely to be satisfied with their home and remain in that home for a longer period and are more likely to meet their tenancy obligations and maintain the property in good condition. (Pawson, et al 2006)

The government believes that allocation policies for social housing should allow applicants to be given more of a say and a greater choice over the accommodation which they are allocated, while continuing to ensure that the primary purpose of social housing is to meet housing need. This is the best way to ensure sustainable tenancies and to build settled viable and inclusive communities. (ODPM, 2005)

The Housing Green Paper (DETR, 2000a) supported ‘broad brush’ banding systems in place of often highly complex points systems, but the legal limits of such flexibility have subsequently been somewhat clarified by case law. Reinforcing the earlier Reilly and Mannix decision, “the Court of Appeal ruled in the Lambeth LBC v Lindsay [2002] EWCA Civ 1084B case that local authorities must take account of the number of ‘reasonable preference’ grounds that apply in any case”. ( Court of Appeal, 2002) Thus, any allocations scheme must have a clear mechanism for assessing cumulative need under two or more of these categories. This ruling can be interpreted as outlawing schemes that allow housing applicants to ‘trade off ’ availability against property size or type, where this results in their choosing a dwelling deemed ‘unsuitable or too small for their needs. (DETR, 2000a)

Forman, (2002); Cowan and Marsh, (2004) believes that, the Lindsay judgment is calling into question the legality of some CBL schemes that attempted ‘excessive simplification’ of applicant ranking policies previously dominated by bureaucratically defined ‘need’. In their research they also found that a number of the ODPM CBL pilot schemes had been reshaped to take account of the Lambeth case, but argued that uncertainty remained as to whether these modifications were, in all cases, sufficient to address the judgment’s implications. (Forman, 2002; Cowan and Marsh, 2004)

l2.4 Empowering the customer

Empowering consumers to choose their new homes is central in any choice-based lettings system. Yet in some areas like Harborough where there are shortages of social housing stock, that means choice will be highly constrained. This was the reality faced by the boroughs that operate Choice Based Lettings scheme. The scheme was established to enable a shift

for home seekers and social landlords, from point-hunting to home-hunting, dependency to empowerment, artificial boundaries to real housing markets, organisational to a customer focus.

Brown et al, (2000) argued that the empowerment of home-seekers inherent in the CBL approach represents a decisive break with the paternalist tradition in the area of housing practice (Brown et al, 2000). At the same time, it must be acknowledged that most CBL schemes retain some bureaucratic elements such as, when determining eligibility and priority of applicants on the basis of assessed need (Pawson, 2002; Mullins and Rowlands, 2004).

However, one of the aims and requirements of choice-based lettings is to readdress this imbalance through the principles of ‘market information’ and ‘property and neighbourhood details’. The CBLs pilots are using a wide range of approaches to improve the availability of information. Measures include using free newspapers that are distributed to all households in an area, mail outs to all households on the housing register, and the use of interactive websites. But, as important as the information medium, is the nature of the information. www.mertonhousingpolicy.gov.uk According to the HHS research which reveal that customers are not only requiring detailed information about advertised properties but they also want to find out about the quality of the nearby schools, the location of the nearest health centre and the availability of public transport. This has proved challenging to many of the pilots schemes as housing organisations have tend not to have ready access to this material. Although, the three surveys that was carried out in November 2000, found out that, satisfaction levels have been high and consistent. For example, over 80% of respondents in each of the surveys felt that sufficient information was provided on how the system operates, adequate information was provided on advertised properties and that it was straightforward to join HHS. Indeed, as it has already been pointed out, over 80% of respondents who could compare the previous and HHS systems in 2000 preferred the former allocation system to choice based letting system. (March 2002 and 2003)

2.5 Choice and vulnerable Adult

The need to provide support for vulnerable groups has been a key principle of CBL and the bidding guidance which was issued by the then DETR, which states that Local authorities should set out how they would provide support needs of people from vulnerable groups

and how they would make special arrangements to ensure that vulnerable, difficult or

excluded applicants would be assisted to negotiate the process.( DCLG 2000) However, a key issue that this raised, is the extent to which the participation of someone from a vulnerable group is the landlord’s responsibility and the extent to which it is reasonable for the applicant to do so.

The Social Exclusion Unit’s April 2000 consultative report, National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal, concluded that the way local authorities allocated social housing reinforced, and even caused, problems by concentrating the most vulnerable people in one place. It identified “imaginative use of lettings policies” as a way in which authorities could create more “mixed communities where problems reduce and a wide range of people want to live”. And made recommendations calling for the then forthcoming Housing Green Paper to incorporate more open access and more tenure and income diversification into the social housing stock. (The Social Exclusion Unit’s April 2000)

According to the evaluation that was Carried out among Vulnerable groups the evaluation found that the lack of support for vulnerable groups was an area of concern. The extent to which the principle of customer empowerment and meaningful choice for vulnerable people weather it has been effectively delivered was open to question. This was specifically addressed in the later longer term impacts study which also found that it was standard practice to maintain lists of applicants in need of special assistance; and to send ‘assisted list’to applicants vacancy adverting list by direct mail. In some instances such applicants were periodically contacted to notify them of ‘potentially suitable’ vacancies and offer to make proxy bids on their behalf as well as facilitating the effective role of advocates through briefing and outreach work with voluntary agencies, caring professionals and others to raise awareness of scheme rules and processes. (Piloting Choice Based Lettings: An evaluation)

Kullberg (2002) suggested that, it is essential to focus on vulnerable households to evaluate whether, for example, socially excluded groups are empowered through the system, the extent to which information is made available in appropriate ways, and most importantly if vulnerable groups feel satisfied with the new lettings approach. It is particularly important to investigate this issue as some of the Dutch evaluation of choice-based lettings has pointed out that disadvantaged groups appear, at best, to fare no better than under traditional allocation systems. ( Kullberg 2002). Likewise, Bacon and Brown, (2001) and Holmes, (2002). Although this raises issues over whether it is valid to draw comparisons, especially as Dutch welfare and homelessness legislation is rather different from that in Britain (Barker, et al 1998), it nevertheless poses important challenges.

Bochel and Hawtin (2008) have argued that, there is a need to change from an agency to a user perspective (which is what CBL purports to do). One of the biggest impacts in this area is the implementation of the new supporting people regime, from April 2003. The core objective is to support independence and user involvement, which fits in with the objectives of choice-based lettings and the principle of empowerment. ( Bochel and Hawtin,2008)

Summary

However, we can say that the development of choice-based lettings can usefully be analysed as part of the decision-making process involving the balance between meeting ‘need’ and ‘choice’ in the allocations process. The evidence from a number of the early CBLs schemes is that households support this radical step change in that the system is felt to be transparent and fairer as well as most importantly enabling greater choice to be exercised. Nevertheless, as has been pointed out by a number of academicians and researchers, this initiative does not address wider structural problems in the social housing market. Choice based lettings (CBLs) is, therefore, a reform to the way in which social housing is allocated rather than a fundamental tool in rethinking the role of social housing. However, the focus of this literature has been on meeting needs and allowing people to make choice, vulnerable households and CBLs. In particular, the emphasis has been on whether and how this new system of lettings meets their ‘needs’, as there have been concerns that the nature of this type of approach might reinforce inequalities through the allocations system. Using evidence drawn from the early experiences of CBLs schemes.

The next chapter will deal with the research methods and methodology used in carrying out all the research work for this study.

The concept of elite for understanding the distribution of power in either Britain or the United States

1956

Sociology Essay

How useful is the concept of ‘elite’ for understanding the distribution of power in either Britain or the United States? Introduction in America perhaps only race is a more sensitive subject than the way we sort ourselves out in the struggle for success. The eminent sociologist Robert Merton calls it the ‘structure of opportunity’. In the understanding of the usefulness of the term ‘elite’, there are some common historical variables, which must be looked at in order to appreciate the power organisms at work even in American society, and how from the days of Thomas Jefferson to the era of Newt Gingrich, the assumption of superiority is an undercurrent in American life and society. In this essay I will attempt to show that elitist power in America is controlled by a few at the top of the political, corporate, social and religious pyramid. Moreover, the concept of natural aristocracy, or meritocracy, has a powerful resonance even in the United States of America. Historical Antecedents In understanding the usefulness of the term elite in American society, late 19th and 20th century history provides the pretext for what was called a “ fluid society “. This was a highly mechanized, industrial age in which people’s roles were being determined by their merit, talents, character and ‘grit’. By 1910, Harvard Professor Frederick Jackson Turner was influential in transforming this ministerial training school into an Ivy League institution, dominated by the children of a distinct upper class… most Northeastern and mostly business. This class came to be known as the Episcopacy, after its predominant religion – Episcopalianism. The genesis of the Episcopacy at the end of the 19th century represented the merger of what appeared to be an irreconcilable conflict between two rival elite groups: the old pre-industrial New England – based on upper-class norms, with its high-minded, non-urban mores, and the big, rough New York based – Gilded Age rich. This merger of the traditional with the modern socialite grandeur of the New Yorker was pivotal to the formation of the American elite. Out of this marriage came the founding of British-style boarding schools like Groton and Hotchkiss, new social institutions such as private country clubs, debutante societies, and restricted suburbs. Outsiders who somehow found their way into the educational institutions of the Episcopacy were usually horrified by what they saw. The enormous inheritability of status, the devolution of the ideals of gentlemanliness into a glorification of undergraduate carousing, the lack of academic standards, the casual and unearned assumption of superiority, the inability to see immigrants, Catholics, Jews, and the poor as fully human. The Episcopacy provided plenty of evidence to support the idea that it was, as Newt Gingrich would say, ‘a corrupt elite’ (The Atlantic Monthly 1995) Political Power: Two Major Theories The two broad theories of how power work or is distributed in societies, the first suggest that power in the USA resides with its citizens (one person, one vote), or in the groups where citizens belong. This is called the pluralist view. Pluralists argue that power is distributed around society through representatives who act on behalf of others or other groups, and are controlled in expressing the wishes of the groups involved. Criticisms of this theory suggest that people at the top mislead the American public, which means that people with greater information have more power. Appointed positions wield considerable power, more than just a vote, and that campaign financing leaves politicians indebted to contributors not to everyone as is assumed. (Domhoff 1967) The other point of view is the elitist view or conflict view. The argument is that in reality, power is concentrated in the hands of a few, a very small group of people (an elite) who manipulate the masses through control of the media, visible government leaders, with a right wing conspiracy version which argues that the elitist ideology is subversive, anti-capitalist, anti-individualist, anti-patriotic, pro-welfare, and pro-one world government, with the sole aim of undermining traditional American values. Power Elite (made popular by C . . . W. Mills) argue that the corporate, executive, and military run the government elite. Mills suggest that the three components of the elitist structure are more or less equal in power, with the corporate elite becoming a little stronger in recent years. (C .Wright Mills 1956) Criticisms of this theory may ask the questions: Are there conflicts between the elite groups and are the elites really equal in power? Are there issues not under the influence of these groups or issues they don’t care about? And is congress really a puppet of these groups? Corporate Ruling Class Theory ‘ If a ruling class hypothesis says anything, surely it asserts that within some specific political system there exist a group of people who to some degree exercise power or influence over other actors in the system ’. (Dahl 1957) Within American society there is an upper class that gets more than its share of wealth, income and power. Its membership in controlling institutions and key decision making groups gives it disproportionate influence. It is broader based than Mills power elite and it influences, but it does not control Congress. It exercises control by financing candidates, its control of parties, its control of investments, and by being appointed to government positions. (Dumhoff 1968) Leaders within Corporate America Researchers continue to seek ways to explain the image or the shape of the power structure in America, whether it is polylithic, monolithic, parallelograms, towers, or hexagons. Floyd Hunter saw power as a pyramid with a small number of top leaders at the peak, a somewhat larger number below [middle level leaders] and a large segment below [powerless individuals]. (Hunter 1953) Much of the capitalist wealth of America today has been created by a dynasty of some the nation’s richest families of the Industrial Age, i.e. the Carnegies, Rockefellers, Fords, Motts, Pews and others. According to research done by Middle American News, the Foundations set up by these rich and powerful families constitute a hidden economy of some $300 billion, a sum which exceeds the GDP of Switzerland and is used to bankroll elitist activism profoundly influencing social policy and legislature. (Holland 1998) According to Robert Holland, these giant foundations or non-profit organizations are channeling their resources into key liberal and radical The Violence projects, so as to influence social policy. Some examples are: Policy Center, a group that advocates gun control even more extreme than Sarah Brady’s Handgun Control, Inc., runs almost 90% on foundation money. Some of its enthusiastic backers are the George Gund Foundation, the Joyce Foundation and since 1990, the Ford Foundation has funded a Campusthe MacArthur Foundation. Diversity Initiative at dozens of major universities. These programs have insisted on group preferences in admissions and hiring, feminist and Afrocentric curricula, sensitivity training to get students and faculty engaged in group-think, and campus convocations to trumpet the need for much more The Rockefeller Foundation has been the self-conscious “diversity”-mongering. Chief bankroller of radical multiculturalism in education and the arts. In recent years, it has put the clout of its $2 billion portfolio aggressively behind the notion that “diversity” trumps quality in the arts. For example, it dispensed grants in 1994 to the likes of the National Black Arts Festival, Inc., in Atlanta, for “Celebrate Africa!”; the Nuvorican Poets Café in New York for “a series of development screenplay readings” by Puerto Ricans living in New York; $50,000 to the National Cultural Alliance, which lobbies for continued tax support of the National Endowment for the Arts; and Arthur Dong for “They Called Us Lesbians”. Holland concludes, that these powerful organizations have the money and the clout to shape American social and ethical policy, laws and culture in a way that Middle America despise. The question is whether there are politicians courageous enough to try and curb their elitist power. (Holland 1998) Corporate Oligopoly and the TNC During the 1970’s, the US transnational corporations had revenue equal to 30% of the planet’s entire gross annual product (Madsen 1980). In 1989 the revenues of the ten transnationals, with the highest sales (Mitsui, General Motors, C. Itoh, Sumitomo, Marubeni, Mitsubishi, Ford, Exxon, Shell, and Nissno Iwai) totaled $1,000 billion – nearly twice as large as Canada’s GNP. The combined profits of the ten most profitable transnationals (IBM, Ford, Exxon, Dow, AT&T, General Electric, DuPont, General Motors, Shell, and British Telecom) at $40 billion equaled Iraq’s entire GNP in the year before the Gulf War. (Business Week 1989) In 1992 TNCs employed 73 million people, 10% of global non-farm jobs and 20% of jobs in more prosperous countries. The 100 largest TNCs controlled one quarter of all global output. The power of these privately owned collectives is greater than the numbers imply. According to World Investment Report 1994, published by the United Nations, TNCs indirectly employed another 77 million people. The reports concluded that the power of these giant companies and the power they wield are still in the hands of an elite group whose global dominance is unmistakable. Oligarchy and Mass Media Domination One of the important issues of the 21st century is monopoly ownership of the mass media. The issue is not that the elite own virtually all the Western media, but the fact that it is owned by a very small handful of media moguls. The shocking truth is that ownership of newspapers and TV stations has already been consolidated to such a staggering degree that unmanipulated news coverage has practically ceased to exist. Only one man and his media holding need be mentioned to provide some semblance of understanding of the scale of this dilemma. His name is Rupert Murdoch. His holding spans four continents. He own 5 magazines in Britain, 20 magazines in the US, and more than 100 newspapers in Australia, he owns a 4 channel satellite television network called SKY television in Britain, Metromedia in the US worth $2 billion, which include 20th Century Fox, Harper Row Publishers, The Star, New York Magazine, New Woman, Elle, In Fashion, and others. Mr. Murdoch has also agreed to pay $3 billion for TV guide, Good Food, the Daily Racing Form and Seventeen. With wealth of this magnitude involved, it is not difficult to establish first of all that the bottom 90% of society is virtually excluded from media ownership. He himself has referred to newspapers as a series of “capital intensive “ “local monopolies”. (Newsweek 1988 p. 45 ) Reinhard Mohn is another such owner of one of the world’s largest media conglomerates. According to Fortune Magazine, Sept 12, 1988 edition, Mohn fortune is estimated in the billions. The Newhouse Family of New York is reported by the said Fortune magazine to be the 5th richest family on the planet. Billionaire Randolph Hearst and family, owns 14 daily newspapers, 6 TV stations, 7 radio stations and some book publishing companies. Lastly, Kenneth Irving and family of Canada, the world 8th richest billionaire has virtually monopolized ownership of all English speaking papers in Canada. Each of these media moguls probably echoes the wishes of Rupert Murdoch who has been quoted by Fortune, as saying that his objective is a “global communications company”. Covertly they are part of this elite team. Their coordination and control is best exemplified by considering how well they work together to elect the team’s political functionaries into public office. Governments today are still won or lost through the power of media manipulation. Max Weber contributed what remains the influential analysis of the role of formal organizations in the modern world. Specialization, limited spheres of competence, hierarchies of offices, specified responsibilities, rights, rules, and rewards, are all elements of the rise of bureaucratization in the world. Along with Weber most writers exempt administrators and heads of bureaucratic organizations from the rules and regulations of the organizations they supervise. “Only the supreme chief of the organization occupies his position of authority by virtue of appropriation, of election, or having been designated for the succession…. Thus at the top of bureaucratic organizations, there is necessarily an element which is at least not purely bureaucratic.” (Parsons and Henderson 1947 ) The members of the strategic elites constitute administrators for the society at large and they, too, must be partially viewed as being exempt from the constraints imposed on ordinary members of society. (Keller 1968 ) Conclusion The current world situation was deliberately created by elitist power. Though politics and government are the social structures, which dictate our human existence, many are agreed that powers still rest in the hands of a mere few. The past 100 years has seen the development of both “ left “ and “ right “ elements, which are now designed through the process of globalization, to bring us into a New World Order. It is almost as if the skillful orchestration and manipulation of both the ‘left – right’ is placed in conflict to bring about a synthesis. According to Bro. William Branham, since the rise of Kant (who stressed reason and experience ) in German philosophy, we can identify two opposing ideas of the State, society and culture. In the US, as in Britain, philosophy is based on the individual and the rights of the individual. Whereas in German from the time of Kant through to Fitche and Hegel up to 1945, basic philosophy has been universal brotherhood, rejection of individualism, and opposition to Western classical liberal thought in almost all of its aspects. It is from this Hegelian system of political thought, alien to most in the West, stem such absurdities as the State seen as the “ March of God through history “ and that the State is also God, and the only duty of a citizen is to serve God by serving the State, and that the State is Absolute Reason and its citizens can only find freedom by worship and utter obedience to the State. For Hegel the individual is nothing, the individual has no rights, and morality consists solely in following a leader. To elitists like ‘ The Order’ in the US, ‘ The Group’ in the UK, ‘ The Illuminati’ in Germany, and ‘ The Politburo’ in Russia, the State is supreme, and a self-appointed elite running the State acts as God on earth. We can draw our own determinations as to the usefulness of the word “ elite “, but the overwhelming evidence in our post-modern world will attest to the fact that there are subliminal undercurrents which gives us an ominous sense that the revolving patterns of human history will continue to evolve more frighteningly as we emerge into a more synthesized planet. BIBLIOGRAPHY Dahl, R. (1975 ) “ The Concept of Power “, Behavioral Science, Vol. 2, p.201-215. Dahl, R. (1961 ) Who Governs. (New Haven: Yale University Press ) p. 67-69 Domhoff, W. (1967 ) Who Rules America. (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall ) Dumhoff, W. (1968 ) The Power Elite and Its Critics. Beacon Press Boston. Engler, A. (1995 ) Apostles of Greed. Pluto Press London, p. 39-40. Henderson, A. & Parsons, T. (1947 ) Max Weber – The Theory of Social and Economic Organizations, p. 335. Holland, R. (1998 ) Capitalist Wealth Underwrites Assaults on Middle American Values. Middle American News. Keller, S. (1968 ) Beyond the Ruling Class. Random House New York. Madsen, A. (1980 ) Private Power. Morrow, New York, p. 24-25. Mills, C. . W. (1956 ) The Power Elite (New York: Oxford University Press ) Sklar, H. (1980 ) Trilateralism: Trilateralism and Elite Planning for World Management. “Economic Nationalists v. Multinational Corporations. South End, Boston. Business Week 17th July 1989, “ The Global 1000 – The Leaders “, p.139. World Investment Report (1994 ) published by the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development, reported in Globe & Mail 31 August 1994. The Atlantic Monthly, August 1995; The Structure of Success in America; Vol. 276, no.2. p. 41-60. Newsweek 22 August 1988, “ Murdoch’s Empire “ p.45 Fortune 12 September 1988, “ The Billionaires “ p. 71 – 92 Sociology Essay Terence M. Blackett How useful is the concept of ‘elite’ for understanding the distribution of power in either Britain or the United States? Introduction In America perhaps only race is a more sensitive subject than the way we sort ourselves out in the struggle for success. The eminent sociologist Robert Merton calls it the ‘structure of opportunity’. In the understanding of the usefulness of the term ‘elite’, there are some common historical variables, which must be looked at in order to appreciate the power organisms at work even in American society, and how from the days of Thomas Jefferson to the era of Newt Gingrich, the assumption of superiority is an undercurrent in American life and society. In this essay I will attempt to show that elitist power in America is controlled by a few at the top of the political, corporate, social and religious pyramid. Moreover, the concept of natural aristocracy, or meritocracy, has a powerful resonance even in the United States of America. Historical Antecedents In understanding the usefulness of the term elite in American society, late 19th and 20th century history provides the pretext for what was called a “ fluid society “. This was a highly mechanized, industrial age in which people’s roles were being determined by their merit, talents, character and ‘grit’. By 1910, Harvard Professor Frederick Jackson Turner was influential in transforming this ministerial training school into an Ivy League institution, dominated by the children of a distinct upper class… most Northeastern and mostly business. This class came to be known as the Episcopacy, after its predominant religion – Episcopalianism. The genesis of the Episcopacy at the end of the 19th century represented the merger of what appeared to be an irreconcilable conflict between two rival elite groups: the old pre-industrial New England – based on upper-class norms, with its high-minded, non-urban mores, and the big, rough New York based – Gilded Age rich. This merger of the traditional with the modern socialite grandeur of the New Yorker was pivotal to the formation of the American elite. Out of this marriage came the founding of British-style boarding schools like Groton and Hotchkiss, new social institutions such as private country clubs, debutante societies, and restricted suburbs. Outsiders who somehow found their way into the educational institutions of the Episcopacy were usually horrified by what they saw. The enormous inheritability of status, the devolution of the ideals of gentlemanliness into a glorification of undergraduate carousing, the lack of academic standards, the casual and unearned assumption of superiority, the inability to see immigrants, Catholics, Jews, and the poor as fully human. The Episcopacy provided plenty of evidence to support the idea that it was, as Newt Gingrich would say, ‘a corrupt elite’ (The Atlantic Monthly 1995 ) Political Power: Two Major Theories The two broad theories of how power work or is distributed in societies, the first suggest that power in the USA resides with its citizens (one person, one vote), or in the groups where citizens belong. This is called the pluralist view. Pluralists argue that power is distributed around society through representatives who act on behalf of others or other groups, and are controlled in expressing the wishes of the groups involved. Criticisms of this theory suggest that people at the top mislead the American public, which means that people with greater information have more power. Appointed positions wield considerable power, more than just a vote, and that campaign financing leaves politicians indebted to contributors not to everyone as is assumed. (Domhoff 1967 ) The other point of view is the elitist view or conflict view. The argument is that in reality, power is concentrated in the hands of a few, a very small group of people (an elite ) who manipulate the masses through control of the media, visible government leaders, with a right wing conspiracy version which argues that the elitist ideology is subversive, anti-capitalist, anti-individualist, anti-patriotic, pro-welfare, and pro-one world government, with the sole aim of undermining traditional American values. Power Elite (made popular by C. .W. Mills ) argue that the corporate, executive, and military run the government elite. Mills suggest that the three components of the elitist structure are more or less equal in power, with the corporate elite becoming a little stronger in recent years. (C .Wright Mills 1956 ) Criticisms of this theory may ask the questions: Are there conflicts between the elite groups and are the elites really equal in power? Are there issues not under the influence of these groups or issues they don’t care about? And is congress really a puppet of these groups? Corporate Ruling Class Theory ‘ If a ruling class hypothesis says anything, surely it asserts that within some specific political system there exist a group of people who to some degree exercise power or influence over other actors in the system ’. (Dahl 1957 ) Within American society there is an upper class that gets more than its share of wealth, income and power. Its membership in controlling institutions and key decision making groups gives it disproportionate influence. It is broader based than Mills power elite and it influences, but it does not control Congress. It exercises control by financing candidates, its control of parties, its control of investments, and by being appointed to government positions. (Dumhoff 1968 ) Leaders within Corporate America Researchers continue to seek ways to explain the image or the shape of the power structure in America, whether it is polylithic, monolithic, parallelograms, towers, or hexagons. Floyd Hunter saw power as a pyramid with a small number of top leaders at the peak, a somewhat larger number below [middle level leaders] and a large segment below [powerless individuals]. (Hunter 1953 ) Much of the capitalist wealth of America today has been created by a dynasty of some the nation’s richest families of the Industrial Age, i.e. the Carnegies, Rockefellers, Fords, Motts, Pews and others. According to research done by Middle American News, the Foundations set up by these rich and powerful families constitute a hidden economy of some $300 billion, a sum which exceeds the GDP of Switzerland and is used to bankroll elitist activism profoundly influencing social policy and legislature. (Holland 1998 ) According to Robert Holland, these giant foundations or non-profit organizations are channeling their resources into key liberal and radical The Violenceprojects, so as to influence social policy. Some examples are: Policy Center, a group that advocates gun control even more extreme than Sarah Brady’s Handgun Control, Inc., runs almost 90% on foundation money. Some of its enthusiastic backers are the George Gund Foundation, the Joyce Foundation and Since 1990, the Ford Foundation has funded a Campusthe MacArthur Foundation. Diversity Initiative at dozens of major universities. These programs have insisted on group preferences in admissions and hiring, feminist and Afrocentric curricula, sensitivity training to get students and faculty engaged in group-think, and campus convocations to trumpet the need for much more The Rockefeller Foundation has been theself-conscious “diversity”-mongering. chief bankroller of radical multiculturalism in education and the arts. In recent years, it has put the clout of its $2 billion portfolio aggressively behind the notion that “diversity” trumps quality in the arts. For example, it dispensed grants in 1994 to the likes of the National Black Arts Festival, Inc., in Atlanta, for “Celebrate Africa!”; the Nuvorican Poets Café in New York for “a series of development screenplay readings” by Puerto Ricans living in New York; $50,000 to the National Cultural Alliance, which lobbies for continued tax support of the National Endowment for the Arts; and Arthur Dong for “They Called Us Lesbians”. Holland concludes, that these powerful organizations have the money and the clout to shape American social and ethical policy, laws and culture in a way that Middle America despise. The question is whether there are politicians courageous enough to try and curb their elitist power. (Holland 1998 ) Corporate Oligopoly and the TNC During the 1970’s, the US transnational corporations had revenue equal to 30% of the planet’s entire gross annual product (Madsen 1980 ). In 1989 the revenues of the ten transnationals, with the highest sales (Mitsui, General Motors, C. Itoh, Sumitomo, Marubeni, Mitsubishi, Ford, Exxon, Shell, and Nissno Iwai ) totaled $1,000 billion – nearly twice as large as Canada’s GNP. The combined profits of the ten most profitable transnationals (IBM, Ford, Exxon, Dow, AT&T, General Electric, DuPont, General Motors, Shell, British Telecom ) at $40 billion equaled Iraq’s entire GNP in the year before the Gulf War. (Business Week 1989 ) In 1992 TNCs employed 73 million people, 10% of global non-farm jobs and 20% of jobs in more prosperous countries. The 100 largest TNCs controlled one quarter of all global output. The power of these privately owned collectives is greater than the numbers imply. According to World Investment Report 1994, published by the United Nations, TNCs indirectly employed another 77 million people. The reports concluded that the power of these giant companies and the power they wield are still in the hands of an elite group whose global dominance is unmistakable. Oligarchy and Mass Media Domination One of the important issues of the 21st century is monopoly ownership of the mass media. The issue is not that the elite own virtually all the Western media, but the fact that it is owned by a very small handful of media moguls. The shocking truth is that ownership of newspapers and TV stations has already been consolidated to such a staggering degree that unmanipulated news coverage has practically ceased to exist. Only one man and his media holding need be mentioned to provide some semblance of understanding of the scale of this dilemma. His name is Rupert Murdoch. His holding spans four continents. He own 5 magazines in Britain, 20 magazines in the US, and more than 100 newspapers in Australia, he owns a 4 channel satellite television network called SKY television in Britain, Metromedia in the US worth $2 billion, which include 20th Century Fox, Harper Row Publishers, The Star, New York Magazine, New Woman, Elle, In Fashion, and others. Mr. Murdoch has also agreed to pay $3 billion for TV guide, Good Food, the Daily Racing Form and Seventeen. With wealth of this magnitude involved, it is not difficult to establish first of all that the bottom 90% of society is virtually excluded from media ownership. He himself has referred to newspapers as a series of “ capital intensive “ “local monopolies”. (Newsweek 1988 p. 45 ) Reinhard Mohn is another such owner of one of the world’s largest media conglomerates. According to Fortune Magazine, Sept 12, 1988 edition, Mohn fortune is estimated in the billions. The Newhouse Family of New York is reported by the said Fortune magazine to be the 5th richest family on the planet. Billionaire Randolph Hearst and family, owns 14 daily newspapers, 6 TV stations, 7 radio stations and some book publishing companies. Lastly, Kenneth Irving and family of Canada, the world 8th richest billionaire has virtually monopolized ownership of all English speaking papers in Canada. Each of these media moguls probably echoes the wishes of Rupert Murdoch who has been quoted by Fortune, as saying that his objective is a “global communications company”. Covertly they are part of this elite team. Their coordination and control is best exemplified by considering how well they work together to elect the team’s political functionaries into public office. Governments today are still won or lost through the power of media manipulation. Max Weber contributed what remains the influential analysis of the role of formal organizations in the modern world. Specialization, limited spheres of competence, hierarchies of offices, specified responsibilities, rights, rules, and rewards, are all elements of the rise of bureaucratization in the world. Along with Weber most writers exempt administrators and heads of bureaucratic organizations from the rules and regulations of the organizations they supervise. “Only the supreme chief of the organization occupies his position of authority by virtue of appropriation, of election, or having been designated for the succession…. Thus at the top of bureaucratic organizations, there is necessarily an element which is at least not purely bureaucratic.” (Parsons and Henderson 1947 ) The members of the strategic elites constitute administrators for the society at large and they, too, must be partially viewed as being exempt from the constraints imposed on ordinary members of society. (Keller 1968 ) Conclusion The current world situation was deliberately created by elitist power. Though politics and government are the social structures, which dictate our human existence, many are agreed that powers still rest in the hands of a mere few. The past 100 years has seen the development of both “ left “ and “ right “ elements, which are now designed through the process of globalization, to bring us into a New World Order. It is almost as if the skillful orchestration and manipulation of both the ‘left – right’ is placed in conflict to bring about a synthesis. According to Bro. William Branham, since the rise of Kant (who stressed reason and experience ) in German philosophy, we can identify two opposing ideas of the State, society and culture. In the US, as in Britain, philosophy is based on the individual and the rights of the individual. Whereas in German from the time of Kant through to Fitche and Hegel up to 1945, basic philosophy has been universal brotherhood, rejection of individualism, and opposition to Western classical liberal thought in almost all of its aspects. It is from this Hegelian system of political thought, alien to most in the West, stem such absurdities as the State seen as the “ March of God through history “ and that the State is also God, and the only duty of a citizen is to serve God by serving the State, and that the State is Absolute Reason and its citizens can only find freedom by worship and utter obedience to the State. For Hegel the individual is nothing, the individual has no rights, and morality consists solely in following a leader. To elitists like ‘ The Order’ in the US, ‘ The Group’ in the UK, ‘ The Illuminati’ in Germany, and ‘ The Politburo’ in Russia, the State is supreme, and a self-appointed elite running the State acts as God on earth. We can draw our own determinations as to the usefulness of the word “ elite “, but the overwhelming evidence in our post-modern world will attest to the fact that there are subliminal undercurrents which gives us an ominous sense that the revolving patterns of human history will continue to evolve more frighteningly as we emerge into a more synthesized planet.

Bibliography:

Dahl, R. (1975 ) “ The Concept of Power “, Behavioral Science, Vol. 2, p.201-215. Dahl, R. (1961 ) Who Governs. (New Haven: Yale University Press ) p. 67-69 Domhoff, W. (1967 ) Who Rules America. (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall ) Dumhoff, W. (1968 ) The Power Elite and Its Critics. Beacon Press Boston. Engler, A. (1995 ) Apostles of Greed. Pluto Press London, p. 39-40. Henderson, A. & Parsons, T. (1947 ) Max Weber – The Theory of Social and Economic Organizations, p. 335. Holland, R. (1998 ) Capitalist Wealth Underwrites Assaults on Middle Ame