E-Commerce Purchasing Behaviour Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

E-Commerce Purchasing Behaviour - Assignment Example 5. I worry about providing financial and personal information, whether it’s safe to use a credit card; retailers have sufficient controls in place to keep my data safe; personal information remains private 6. The web vendor would be competent, honest, and not seek to take advantage of me. For me, it’s important that the product be delivered in a timely fashion, that a web vendor be honest in its dealings and not seek to take advantage of its customers 12. I believe that airline websites have the necessary technology knowledge, will perform to the utmost for their customers’ benefit, and that technical failure is pretty unlikely. I can always predict the performance of the websites from my past experience. I tend to relax when I’m dealing with airline websites; they demonstrate the airlines’ belief that the customer is always right 19. A trustworthy website will ensure the product is reliable; an online store that seems reliable will encourage me to repurchase more often. I will repurchase if the purchase terms and conditions are clear and the technical infrastructure is dependable 5. I worry about providing financial and personal information, whether it’s safe to use a credit card; e-commerce retailers have sufficient controls in place to keep my data safe; personal information remains private 6. The e-commerce vendor would be competent, honest, and not seek to take advantage of me. For me, it’s important that the product be delivered in a timely fashion, that an online vendor be honest in its dealings and not seek to take advantage of its customers 12. I believe that airline websites have the necessary technology knowledge, will perform to the utmost for their customers’ benefit, and that technical failure is pretty unlikely. I can always predict the online performance from my past experience. I tend to relax when I’m dealing with airline

OKB Essay Example for Free

OKB Essay Learning Issues Chapter 1 (OKB) a) There was some mention about stakeholders in the problems, who are the stakeholders and what their stakes? 1. Capital market stakeholders In this case, the capital market shareholder of a firm is bank and shareholder. In this case the shareholder who gives OKB financial resources for OKB business. The stake of these shareholders is to ensure the OKB businesses continues their operation and can meet the expectation on the capital they had given. 2. Akar Enterprise (supplier) Is a major supplier for OKB Bhd. They supply herbs and roots from the forest of Perak. Their stakes is whether they able to meet the demand of OKB to continue supply raw material. 3. Customer We know that The Guardian approached OKB to supply its medicinal products to them. If that thing happen the sales would increase since consumer prefer use OKB products 4. Employee We notice that the OKBs production process is carried out manually by the kampung folks. If OKB accept the offer from The guardian, the process will change to the machine since they will change it to mix of pills, capsules and liquid-compound forms. If this happen, they no longer can work for OKB in a manufacturing the products. 5. Government Ministry of health is a body who observe and monitor the quality and the safety of products. It is already mention about the latest markey surveys conducted by them, OKB is still the first choice among consumers. It shown that the product is safe to be used. b) What do you think of the comment made by the management about OKB’s Vision OKB’s achievements? I think the old vision may not be suitable anymore to face the changes of economy nowadays. This is because, OKB more relies in traditional approach and they should come out with a new vision that promote abouts its products quality and attract customer. With a good vision, OKB can be more success and achieve their targets. They should change their vision not only based on customer need but also based on environment changes and also satisfied their employees. OKB Bhd can be more competitive to the real world and they can easily adapting the changes that have taken place on the industry. Learning Issue Chapter 2 Explain to Datin Timah about the importance of getting to know the external environment. Discuss the possible impact of the DPEST G factors and the Competitive Forces (The 5 Forces) on her business. The DPEST G analysis segmented the external environment into 6 segments which are demographic, political or legal, sociocultural, technological, global and environment segments. The first segment is political or legal segments. This segment focuses on organization to aware of any changes. Management must aware of consumer tastes and buying power. Any changes must be consider in the management’s strategies as changes on political or legal segments affect direct or indirectly on the demands of the market. Sociocultural segment need to be considered by management. These refer to the consumers concerns regarding the market, as there were negative views from the customer. Customer view the product should be revamping into modern pills and capsules rather than traditional packaging. They should be innovative in market their products and use the resources for best effectiveness and efficiently strategies. OKB Bhd can use technological advance thus creating competitive advantages of organization in the market. Advance in technologies can increasing the efficiency of productions and increase the value of product. Next is economic segment. This refers to the nature and direction of the economy in which a firm competes. This can help the management to create decision what suitable time to production. Last segment is global segment. Datin should know the global environment where existing markets are changing and thus taking the opportunity to make OKB Bhd well known by expanding the business and making improvement and innovative improvement on their products that are different from other competitors. The five forces of competition model are threat of new entrants, bargaining power of the supplier, bargaining power of the buyer, threat of the substitute products and intensity of rivalry among competitors. The threat of new entrants is important factors to identify since it can threaten the market share of the existing competitors. In this case, OKB must have their own strategy, vision and mission in order to compete with new entrant by improving their products image, packaging and make some innovation in order to create competitive advantage. Next is threat of substitute products. In this case, OKB have another competitor that provide and sell same products for consumer such as Guardian. Therefore, OKB must make a study and research how to faced this problems and attract their customer. Bargaining power of supplier is a situation when the supplier use to expert power over firms competing within industry. OKB major supplier is Akar Enterprise. In order to have enough resources and fulfill the demand, OKB should buy the resources from other supplier so that they are not facing problem such as insufficient material and high price of resources charges by supplier. Next is bargaining power of the buyer. Buyer mostly more attract with product that offer a lower price and give them a higher benefit and satisfied their interest. OKB should improve their product in taste and product image and give a reasonable price in order to attract customer. Last forces is intensity of rivalry among competitors. The competitors always alert and beware about their competitor. This is because any changes by another company made can affect their business. So they must take a action in order to ensure customer will loyalty to them.

Cuban Situation :: Cuba Politics Economy Economics Essays

Cuban Situation Cuba needs cows. In January of 2004, a Cuban delegation visited Florida to inspect beef and dairy cows to repair Cuba’s languishing cattle industry. Moreover, under the auspices of the U.S. Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act in 2000, the United States exported $350 million dollars worth of American agriculture products to its island neighbor in 2000 (Bussey 1). This budding trade relationship is symptomatic of a broader move by Cuba to fully re-insert itself in the global economy. Deprived of the protective cocoon of Soviet trade agreements and faced with economic crisis and stagnation, Cuba’s leaders have responded with limited economic reforms. It is clear, however, that Cuba will not emulate the rapid liberalization of much of Eastern Europe and Latin America. A brief review of Cuba’s economic performance since the fall of the Soviet Union reveals a trend of liberalization bred of necessity. Nevertheless, the mixed performance of the Export-Pro cessing Zones and the government’s grudging acceptance of tourism reveal a tension between Cuba’s need for foreign currency and direct foreign investment and a desire to insulate and preserve Cuba’s existing domestic apparatus. This tension underlies Cuba’s ongoing economic transition and has prevented wholesale market liberalization. Cuba’s future movement towards market reforms will be carefully managed by the Castro government to protect Cuba’s revolutionary legacy and to maintain control of political opposition. The fall of the Soviet Union devastated the Cuban economy. Cuba’s GDP contracted by 35-50% from 1989-1993 (LeoGrande quest 5). As a percentage of total Cuban trade, the Soviet Union’s share fell from 66% in 1990 to 15% in 1994 (5). Moreover, Russia reneged on its oil agreement, and fitful exports caused energy shortages in Cuba. Production and consumption plummeted. From 1986-1991, Castro undertook a rectification campaign to stabilize the economy as the Soviet Union decreased its support and eventually collapsed. The plan â€Å"focused on re-centralizing economic planning authority, dismantling the [Soviet-sponsored socialist management system] and market mechanisms, abolishing the free farmers markets launched in 1980, and combating corruption† (4). In addition, Castro tried to address the massive trade imbalance by reducing imports and reinvigorating the export sector. This program was a resounding failure. More domestic and far-reaching reforms were necessary to save the economy from crisis. Economic disaster had erected a serious challenge to Cuba’s socialist program. In 1991, Castro’s announcement of a â€Å"Special Period in a Time of Peace† marked the beginning of Cuba’s new era of liberalization.

Nonviolent action takes low risk Essay

Nonviolent action has been widely used in political and economical change that people can use it to fight for their true power of holder. This article is based on Merriman’s article â€Å"Agents of Change and Nonviolent†(Merriman, 2008), Yunus’s article â€Å"The Role of the Corporation in Supporting Local Development† (Yunus, 2000) and DuVall’s article â€Å"Outside View: Liberation by People† (DuVall, 2004)–the nonviolent action is the best way to people for fighting for the right of the economic and political. Moreover, it can remind the people that they are the owner of the country and they are powerful enough to participate in national management. Different with the habitual impression of the revolution, which is always full of battle, violence and gore, the nonviolent action costs less than the violent action and takes less risk based on mass supported. Hardy Merriman is Sr. Adviser of the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict, in his article, â€Å"Agents of change and nonviolent†(Merriman, 2008), defines the main concept about nonviolent action: nonviolent-action comes from agreement and obedience of people, what is the categories of nonviolent action, the reason why we reckon that the nonviolent action advance the violent action and he uses the U.S. Civil Right Movement and Indian Independence Movement to explain the plan of the nonviolent action. Muhammad Yunus is economist and Nobel Peace Prize recipient in 2006. His article is focuses on specific field that is the use of nonviolent in local development, which means corporation. It is a specific nonviolent way to make change. The article contrasts the charity way with the violent way to the poor people to show us the advantage of nonviolent action. Jack DuVall is the founder of the International Center on Nonviolent. His article uses two examples, Lincoln and Gandhi, to elicit nine characters of a successful nonviolent action. The action should have a good leader with clear goals, broaden the scope of the movement, good analysis of the revolutionary situation, good risk-averse, persist the nonviolent way, courage from the enemy disintegrate, good manage of the material supply, compressive strength and ready for the challenge. For the three articles, there are 2 similarities among them; the first is that they all mention the requirement of the successful nonviolent action. For the first article, â€Å"Agents of Change and Nonviolent Action†, Merriman refers that the successful nonviolent action should have an outstanding leader, who has benevolence. Even the leader should formulate a complete programme that can attract people to unite. The key role of the leader and the programme has been emphasized, that is same of the article, â€Å"Outside View: Liberation by the People†, which lists the nine categories of the leader: clear goals, broaden the scope of the movement, good analysis of the revolutionary situation, good risk-averse, persist the nonviolent way, courage from the enemy disintegrate, good manage of the material supply, compressive strength and ready for the challenge. From the background of these two authors, we can find out that both of them are in the International Center on Nonviolent and both of them mention that we should focus on that the successful nonviolent action should have the good leader and comprehensive plan. Even the good leaders have some of the categories above that they are kind-hearted, have a good starting point that respect interests of the masses, if they use the violent way to make the change, the action still take more risks than the nonviolent action. That is the second similarity that both of three articles mentioned. For the first article, Merriman states that the violence action is base on using the force, and all the money and right concentrate on the leader and the only one way can restrict him is the rule. While, if he did not obey the rule, it will make the disaster result. On the contrary, nonviolent actions â€Å"not only tell people that they are powerful, they demonstrate people’s power by setting clear, achievable objectives and then documenting and publicizing their victories.† (Merriman, 2008) That means the successful revolution cannot separate from the masses and take less risk by getting all people involve decision-making. As the social problems, like poverty issues, we should use the charity way that give the poor enough opportunities and that will get unimaginable feedback, from the second article, â€Å"The Role of the Corporation in Supporting Local Development†. As the political aspect, DuVall, in his â€Å"Outside View: Liberation by the People†, has mentioned that dictatorship and terrorism regime should be overthrown, while we should not counter violence with violence, and we should use the nonviolent movements to fight for our rights. Because it takes less risk that it can avoid repeating the violence regime. In summary, base on the 3 articles written by Merriman, Yunus and DuVall, the nonviolent is the best way to people to fight for the right. From the economical aspects, it makes the profit maximization that poor people can get loan from the corporation to striving their lives and from the political aspects, mass people can participate in elaborating the formulation. Also with the support from the masses and the correct leadership of the good leader, the nonviolent action will take less risk than the violent action. Referenceï ¼Å¡ Merriman, H. (2008, April 8). Agents of Change and Nonviolent Action. Conservation Biology, 22(2). Yunus, M. (2000). The Role of the Corporation in Supporting Local Development. Reflections, 9(2). DuVall, J. (2004, September 22). Outside view: Liberation by the People. United Press International.

Person Centred Therapy Evaluation Essay

In order to evaluate the claim that Person-Centred Therapy offers the therapist all that he/she will need to treat clients, one must look at the theoretical concepts of person-centred therapy (PCT) and its underlying philosophical influences. The PCT approach was developed during the 1940’s and 1950’s by an American psychologist Carl Rogers, now known as Rogerian counselling; he proposed new humanistic ideas for counselling which moved away from the doctor/patient relationship. PCT emphasises person to person relationship between the therapist and client and focuses on the client’s point of view; through active listening the therapist tries to understand the client’s presenting issue and emotions. In PCT the client determines the direction, course, speed and length of the treatment and the therapist helps increase the client’s insight and self understanding. Rogers and Abraham Maslow, another psychologist, were the founders of the humanistic approach to psychology. â€Å"Humanistic theories of personality maintain that humans are motivated by the uniquely human need to expand their frontiers and to realise as much of their potential as possible† (Sanders 2002 p22). A humanistic approach is based on all human beings having an inbuilt ability to grow and achieve their full potential known as â€Å"actualisation†. If this quality can be harnessed then human beings can resolve their own issues naturally, given the right conditions. Rogers and Maslow believed in a person’s potential to reach self actualisation. Maslow however referred to the ‘psychology of being’ and that self actualisation was an end in itself at the top of the hierarchy of needs whereas Rogers considered the ‘psychology of becoming’- the process of being able to take charge of your life and become the person you want to be â₠¬â€œ a continuous process. Maslow felt that human beings are always striving for self improvement which goes beyond that of the basic needs for survival. He believed that a person’s behaviour stems from the way in which people strive to meet different needs. From 1943 to 1954 he developed the 5-level Hierarchy of Needs: * The first, lowest level, concerns a person’s physiological  needs: survival, food, water and shelter. * The second addresses safety: protection from danger and need for security, order and predictability. * The third covers love & social behaviour: for love, friendship and acceptance by peers. * The fourth addresses self respect and esteem: the need for status, independence, recognition, self confidence and respect from others. * The fifth and highest level concerns self-actualisation: the need to fulfil one’s personal potential. His theory states that each need must be met in turn starting with the lowest concerning the need for survival and only when the lower needs are met is a person able to move on to the higher needs. However if something should happen and any lower needs are no longer satisfied then a person will concentrate on regaining them before attaining the higher ones. The lower four levels are known as ‘deficiency’ needs which a person will strive to fulfil thereby satisfying the deficiency. However behaviour relating to self actualisation is known as a ‘growth’ need, governed by the person’s inborn need to grow and realise his full potential. Maslow felt most people only ever achieved the first four needs, and he wanted to help clients to obtain ‘Self-Actualisation’ in order to really become themselves. â€Å"The higher up the hierarchy we go, the more the need becomes linked to life experience and the less ‘biological’ it becomes.† (Gross 1996 p.97) It is a fact that people achieve self actualisation in many different ways, related to experience in later life rather than biology. If a person has a deficiency in one of the lower levels of needs then self- actualisation cannot be achieved, resulting in anger, frustration, unhappiness and depression. Rogers trusted in people and viewed them in a positive and optimistic way, believing all human beings naturally strove to achieve their potential; mental health issues arose when barriers to personal growth were present. Accordingly a person’s behaviour is down to self perception or interpretation of a situation and as no one else could know how something was perceived, the perceiver would be the best person to help themselves. PCT looks at how the client is currently interpreting and perceiving their  situation, the moment to moment experience and what is being thought and felt. Rogers viewed psychological development as the process of a person following the path of actualisation and so becoming oneself. A fully functioning person was someone on his way to self actualisation and he identified certain qualities that enabled that person to realise his potential. A person needs to have:- Openness to experience: he can accurately perceive his own feelings and experiences in the world; Existential living: he lives in the present rather than the past; Organismic trusting: know what is good for one and trust thoughts and feelings as accurate, doing what comes naturally; Experiential freedom: the feeling of freedom when making choices and taking responsibility for personal actions; Creativity: a person will naturally socialise and participate in society through work, social relationships or through the arts or sciences. A principal element of Rogers’ theory is the concept of self, described as being a set of self perceptions and beliefs, including self awareness or image, self esteem and worth, and Ideal self. Human behaviour is driven by people attempting to maintain consistency between their self image and esteem; sometimes this consistency is not achieved and a person’s self image may differ from their actual behaviour and how it is perceived by others. A highly successful and respected person, may see themself as a complete failure: as their actual experience is not consistent with their ideal self, an incongruent condition. People experiencing incongruent feelings, because of conflict with their self image, feel threatened and may block or deny these feelings. It is these defence mechanisms which prevent the self from growing and changing; widening the gap between reality and the self-image until the latter becomes more unrealistic when the â€Å"incongruent person† will start to feel vulnerable, confused and suffer psychological disturbances. A congruent person’s self image is flexible and changes with new experiences, the self image matches the thoughts and actions allowing for the opportunity to self-actualise. A person’s self concept develops through childhood. Rogers believed that  humans developed conditions of worth: the conditions where positive regard would be given. In order to maintain this conditional positive regard a person will suppress or deny actions and feelings which are unacceptable to people who are important, instead of using those thoughts, feelings and perceptions as a guide to behaviour. It is this denial that causes the difference between the organism and the self, the organism being everything a person does, feels and thinks, and the self being the part that is accepted liked and respected by others – positive regard. As people have an inherent need to be loved and accepted and therefore a need for positive self regard, they behave and act in ways that meet approval so in turn think of themselves as good, lovable and worthy. In order to experience positive self regard a person’s behaviour and condition of worth must match; sometimes conditions can force one to behave and act in ways that prevent self actualisation, thus living life by someone else’s standards. This can cause conflict between experience and self concept, leading to the development of psychological disorders. Congruence and self actualisation can only be reached if a person is functioning as a whole organism so conditions of worth need to be substituted with organismic values. Rogers maintains that the human organism has an underlying â€Å"actualising tendency† which drives a person to develop and become independent. When a person is acting under conditional positive regard which prevents realisation of full potential, these conditions need to be removed. The difference between the self and organism then becomes minimal and the person more closely aligned with his natural values: more relaxed and happy with life. PCT aims to provide the right environment to enable the client to grow and develop, and work through any problems by utilising the ability for personal growth. Rogers believed that the therapy should take place in a supportive environment created by a close personal relationship between the client and the therapist. It allows insight into the client’s feelings and behaviour whilst the therapist’s function is to offer warmth and empathy, congruence and unconditional positive regard toward the client, accepting what is said in a non judgmental way. Rogers felt that the most important factor in  successful therapy was the therapist’s attitude. A key element of the PCT is to reflect the client’s feelings without judgement and by doing this the client will relax and express inner feelings. It also lets the client know that the therapist is listening, trying to understand, as well as clarifying what the client is communicating. Clarification arises when the therapist picks out the key points, uses the clients own words to develop an atmosphere of trust, enabling rapport to develop leading the client to feel able to appreciate current feelings and past experiences. Rogers believed that in order to create this environment for growth and change three core conditions need to be provided for a therapeutic relationship to be formed. Empathy. The therapist must try to enter the client’s inner world and understand how the client is feeling through sensitively listening and reflecting back what the client is saying. â€Å"Carl Rogers described empathy as the ability to sense the client’s world as if it were your own without losing the â€Å"as if† quality† (Sanders 2002 p68). Congruence. This involves the therapist being â€Å"real† open to the expressed feelings and being genuine with the client. There should be no air of authority, enabling the client to feel the therapist is being honest and responding as a real person not analysing what is being said and trying to fit it to a therapeutic model. Unconditional positive regard (UPR). The therapist must provide non judgmental warmth and acceptance of the client, regardless of past behaviour, as a worthwhile person free to explore and discuss all thoughts, feelings and behaviour positive and negative without fear of rejection or judgement. The client must not feel the need to earn positive regard; many people seek help because of disturbances caused by unreasonable harsh judgements. It is very important to ensure that experience is not repeated during therapy. If the client feels an evaluation is being undertaken, a false front may be put up or the therapy stopped altogether. It is these three core conditions that form the foundation of the therapeutic relationship. However, Rogers also believed that fundamental to providing the right conditions for change the helper must make psychological contact with the client. â€Å"Client and therapist need to be simultaneously aware of  each other before anything therapeutic can happen† (Sanders, Franklin & Wilkins 2009 p 39.) Psychological contact, the relationship between therapist and client; the client is vulnerable or anxious; and receives empathy, UPR and congruence. All of these conditions are necessary and the core conditions must be used sufficiently for helpful change. These core conditions are believed to enable to the client to grow and develop in his own way to become the desired person. PCT focuses on the client’s own thoughts and feelings, not those of the therapist and provides an environment where the client can explore personal experiences to strengthen self structure which in turn helps to reach actualisation. The two primary goals of PCT are to increase a client’s self esteem and openness to experience. The therapy also helps to bring the clients self image and ideal self closer together and allows the client to have a better self understanding. The client’s levels of defensiveness, guilt and insecurity are lowered resulting in more positive and comfortable relationships with others and an improving ability to experience feelings and emotions when they occur. The results of studies carried out using this approach show that clients maintain stable changes over long periods of time, and that the changes are comparable with changes achieved using other types of therapy. It is a very effective way to treat people suffering from depression or relationship issues but PCT does appear to be less effective than other humanistic therapies where the therapist offers more advice. Rogers originally developed his PCT in a children’s clinic as ‘play therapy’ and his theory has been used to help people suffering from depression, anxiety, alcohol disorders, cognitive dysfunction and personality disorders and has been proved successful when used on an individual basis as well as in group and family therapy. In the later part of his career he worked with people suffering from schizophrenia. Although PCT is popular and does achieve a level of success, a key criticism in this approach is that the core conditions should always be provided by a good therapist before moving onto different theories and strategies to help make the client better. This criticism shows there is a degree of misunderstanding of the real problems of constantly providing UPR, empathy and congruence in the therapeutic setting, as these can clash and cause  conflict. Purely being able to maintain these core conditions requires much work on the part of the therapist, given that everyone has values and beliefs which are hard to suppress and ignore, so it may be more real for the therapist to own their own values and beliefs whilst not judging others. PCT does not require the counsellor to undergo any specific training or self development in any particular way through personal experience, other than to provide the core conditions. Rogers believed it is the relationship between the therapist and the client that brings about the therapeutic change. Further criticism, of therapists demonstrating the core conditions, is that it can lead the client to believe that the therapist is supportive of the situation and viewpoint to such an extent that the client no longer feels the need to change. This is due to the therapist offering no alternatives as there is no position of authority in the PCT to guide the client to make constructive changes. PCT has also been criticised for its lack of structure and insufficient direction to help people in real crisis. Some therapists would argue that this type of approach is not suitable or effective for clients who are inarticulate or poorly educated, whereas other feel that this approach can be applied to anyone. Although this approach is positive is it enough to solely create a good relationship between client and therapist and provide the clients with a safe space to feel valued and supported in order for change to take place? If a client is experiencing real difficulty and is unable to see a way forward and has lost all hope then it is important for the help to come from the therapist. Clients who have experienced this type of therapy often feel that is does not provide the desired solutions they are looking for and have become bored, frustrated and annoyed with the Rogerian style. In summary, although the person-centred approach is clearly a highly effective method of helping and is widely accepted and used by clinical psychologists today, I do not feel that it offers the therapist all that he/she needs to treat clients. I believe that no one therapy can claim an absolute success rate in treating clients, as human beings are inherently different due to differing cultural backgrounds and life experience and  hence each therapist and client relationship will be unique, producing differing results. I feel that one theory that suits everyone is not the approach a good therapist should adopt. Some people may find it easy to talk about their feelings and be able to help themselves in a PCT environment whereas to another this type of approach would be completely bewildering and unproductive. I believe PCT is an effective therapy for treating self esteem and relationship issues however it does not go nearly far enough to help those with deep rooted psychological disorders. A client in crisis may not have the ability to self-help and the nondirective approach can be unhelpful and ineffective when a client is seeking clear guidance from a counsellor. Therefore I believe it is the job of the therapist to determine which theory would help the client best to resolve their issues and be prepared to be flexible in approach. The skill set of a good therapist would have a variety of different strategies and therapeutic approaches to offer the client and although a person-centred approach is a good place to start, the therapist should be prepared to progress to more structured approaches as appropriate.

Anthrax Virus essays

Anthrax Virus essays Anthrax is a horrible killer. Most that die are unknowing that they are even infected. The symptoms are black sores in the first instance, and abdominal cramp and vomiting and bleeding in the second. If the bacteria grows it will invade the blood stream and cause systemic disease. The inhaled spores are very fast acting. They travel very quickly to lymph nodes. Some of the cell stay in the lungs and cause fluids to build up. After its in the blood B. anthracis can expand because of their virulence factors. This affects the bodies immune defenses that are suppose to monitor the level of bacterial growth. The anthrax toxins also enter other cells and contribute to mortal illness. The toxins consist of three proteins: a protective antigen, edema factor, and lethal factor. These are harmless individually until they attach and enter cells. The way this happen is first the protective antigen binds to the cell where an enzyme trims off its outermost tip. Seven of those molecules form a ring that captures the two factors. Then the two factors attack the cells cytosol, and there they do their dirty work. They have now come up with ATR. It spans the cells membrane and protrudes from it. The protruding part has a receptor area, which are the attachment sites for particular proteins. The area is were the protective protein latches on or so scientist believe. Scientist would like to uncover the molecular interaction that enables protective antigen heptamers to move from the cell surface to inside the cell. I think that if they have come this far then its not long before they figure that out. The only anthrax vaccine approved for humans takes a different form. It consists of toxin molecules that have been treated to prevent them from making people ill. The way the do it is to grow a weaker strand and filter the bacteria cells from the culture and treating with formaldehyde to in ...

SAT Admission Requirements The Importance of the SAT

SAT Admission Requirements The Importance of the SAT SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips If you’re currently applying to college or getting ready to apply to college, you’ve probably heard of the SAT and/or the ACT.You may already know thatthe SAT is a standardized test which high school students take before applying to college, but how important is the SAT in college applications? It’s hard to overstate the importance of the SAT. Your testscore will beone of themost important partsof your college application (if not themost important part). In this guide, I'll explain why test scores are a key part of your application and how you can determine the SAT admission requirements for the schools you're interested in. Why Is the SAT Important to Colleges? There are two main reasons for the importance of the SAT to colleges. Let's go through them one at a time. #1: Your SAT Score Is How Colleges Compare You to Other Applicants from Around the Globe. Applicants to one university will come from different backgrounds, will have attended different high schools, will have taken different classes, will have done different extracurricular activities, but all applicants will have taken the SAT and/or ACT (at least at non-test optional schools). Your SAT score reveals whether your GPA and transcript are accurate representations of your academic ability. Admissions officers use your SAT/ACT score to figure out if your grades were inflated or not. If you have a 4.0 GPA with a perfect 1600 SAT score, admissions officers will likely be impressed and think your GPA is reflective of your academic potential.If you have a 4.0 GPA with 1000 SAT score, admissions officers may think your grades were inflated and that your SAT score is a better representation of your academic potential. A high SAT score can also make up for a lower GPA.If you have a 3.0 GPA with a perfect 1600 score, a college admissions officer may be willing to overlook your GPA and consider your SAT score as an indication that you’re college ready. #2: Colleges Are Judged by Their SAT Score Ranges The SAT is important to colleges becausethey use it tojudge your academic preparedness for college. However, it's also important to colleges because if you're admitted, your SAT score will be incorporated into their yearly SAT statistics. Each year, universities publish their freshman admissions profile (see an example of Princeton's freshman admissions profile).In this profile, collegesprovide the data on admitted students.The data includes either the 25th/75th percentile SAT/ACT scores (sometimes referred to as the middle 50%) or the average SAT/ACT scores of admitted students. However, usually, the 25th/75th percentile is provided instead of average score.The 25th percentile score means that 25% of admitted students scored at or below that score (and therefore 75% of admitted students scored above).The 75th percentile score means that 75% of admitted students scored at or below that score (and therefore 25% of admitted students scored above).The average score is just what it sounds like, an average of all the admitted students scores. The public judges this data to perceive the selectivity of the school (the higher the range, the more competitive or â€Å"better† the public thinks the school is).When you think of Ivy League schools such as Harvard, UPenn, Columbia, you likely think, "Wow those are good schools!" Why do you think they are good schools? You might think of their alumni or campuses. However, many lower ranked schools such as Denison have beautiful campuses with famous alumni like billionaire Michael Eisner. You might think of their low admissions rates, but there are othercolleges with comparable admissions rates tothe Ivies. The mainreason you associate Harvard, Stanford and other top colleges with prestige is because of their published SAT score ranges and their ranking. When doing research on applying to colleges, you likely came across the US News World Report ranking of US colleges.Every year, US News World Report assembles their rankings based on several categories including the SAT scores of admitted students.If you’re admitted to the school, your SAT score will be factored into that school’s overall national ranking in US News World Report. Top colleges such as Harvard, Yale, and Stanford want your SAT scores to be agood so that it reflects well on them. Even "second tier schools" such as Vanderbilt, USC, and Emory care about thisbecause they hope to continue to rise in theUS News World Reportrankings. Don't be blinded bybeauty or rankings! Find the right school for you! What Does This Mean for You? Because colleges rely so heavily on SAT scores in their college admissions process, you want to make sure that you have an SAT score that fits their expectations. How do you figure out what that theirscore expectation is? Remember, those score percentiles I mentioned earlier?As a brief refresher, colleges publish an admissions profile every year that shows either the 25th/75th percentile SAT/ACT scores (sometimes referred to as the middle 50%) or the average SAT/ACT scores of admitted students. Admissions officers use this data as the standard for the students they admit.Colleges willbe looking for applicantswho are in or above this range (or at or above the average). That way colleges are always getting the same or better caliber student (to either stay the same or increase their rankings). At PrepScholar, we recommend trying to get your score at or above the 75th percentile score for your target school to give yourself the best chance of admission. How To Find Out a College's SAT AdmissionRequirements? I’d recommend reading our guide to finding your SAT score for your target school first. However, the simple route is to Google Search for â€Å"[College Name] SAT PrepScholar.†That will bring you to our admissions page for your target school. You will find the average SAT score, along with the 25th/75th percentile SAT scores of admitted students, and you’ll be able to use our nifty admissions calculator to determine your chances of getting into that school based on your GPA and current SAT score. Take note of the 75th percentile SAT score listed onour admissions page for your target school. That should be your target SAT score. You can do it! What Can You Do To Improve Your SAT Score? Now that you’ve found out your target score, what can you do to reach it?If you have not prepared for the SAT, you need to. Start with our complete SAT study guide. If you’ve prepared but are still seeing no improvement, consider switching up your strategy. We’ve prepared many great SAT strategy guides. Read them hereand make sure you’re trying to incorporate some of these strategies. NOTE: not all strategies will work for all test-takers. Try out some on your practice tests. Try to figure out what works for you and what doesn't work for you. If you’ve tried all of the strategies and are still seeing no improvement, you should consider hiring a tutor or trying PrepScholar’s program.Don’t sweat! With the appropriate amount of time and effort dedicated, you should be able to reach your score. In a hurry? Check out our SAT 10-day cramming guide. What’s Next? Not sure where you’d like to go to college? Figure out how to find your target school. Worried about the rest of your college application? We’ll help you write a great personal statement and get excellent letters of recommendation. Still not sure whether the SAT or ACT is right for you? Let’s help you pick the right test for you! Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

ACT Test Results How to Get and Interpret Your Results

ACT Test Results How to Get and Interpret Your Results SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips If you took the ACT recently, you’re probably eager to see how you did so you can send your scores to colleges or prepare for the next test date. But how do you get your score report, and what’s the best way to interpret your scores? In this article, I’ll go through how and when you can get your report, what’s on it, and how to get the most out of the information you’re given. How Do I Get My ACT Scores? Your multiple choice scores will be available online in your ACT Web Account about two weeks after you take the ACT.If you took Writing, those scores are available about two weeks after your multiple choice scores (so four weeks, give or take, after the test).The ACT says score reports are usually available 2-8 weeks after the test, which seems like a huge window. They're just trying to account for weird circumstances that sometimes cause scores to take longer, like an irregularity at your test center or answer documents from your test center arriving late. Barring anything out of the ordinary, you should expect to see your scores online no later than four weeks after the ACT.After this point, you can start sending them to schools. Unfortunately, there isno way to speed up the actual scoring process; you can only use rush reporting to send scores to colleges after your scores are released. What Will Be on My ACT Score Report? The first thing you’ll see on your score report is your composite score. This is the large number on the top left in the box labeled â€Å"Your ACT Scores†.You’ll also get a set of percentages with your composite score.These percentages give you your score percentile as compared to students in your state (the first bar) and in the US as a whole (the second bar). It's the percentage of students who were at or below your score level on the test. Next, you’ll see your scores broken down by section. English is split into two categories of questions: Usage/Mechanics and Rhetorical Skills Math is split into three categories of questions: Pre-Algebra/Elementary Algebra, Algebra/Coordinate Geometry, and Plane Geometry/Trigonometry Reading is split into two categories of questions: Social Studies/Sciences and Arts/Literature Science doesn’t have any breakdown of categories. It just lists one score for the whole section. For English, Math, and Reading, you'll see a score for each section and then scores for the categories beneath the sections (for Science there's only the one complete score).For each test section score and question category score you'll also see a bar that shows you your score percentile. The question category subscores can range from 1-18, and the test section scores range from 1-36 just like your full composite score.Note that the scores you see for the categories under each test section score don't necessarily add up to the section score. Your Writing score will be listed below all of these scores if you took the ACT with Writing.This score is reported on a scale of 2-12 (starting with the September 2016 ACT). There are four domain categories below the Writing score, each of which is also scored from 2-12. The ACT averages these scores to arrive at your final score out of 12. Just like with the other sections, you'll see percentile bars next to each of these scores to indicate how you compare to other students. Below your main scores, you'll see an "ELA score" and a "STEM score." The ELA score is the average of your English, Reading, and Writing (converted to a value out of 36) scores. The STEM score is the average of your Math and Science scores. Both of these are recorded on a scale of 1-36. Consult the ACT websiteto see an example of what a real score report looks like. What Do I Do With This Information From My ACT Results? So you have all these numbers, but who cares? How can they help you do better next time?If you know where your weak spots lie, it’s going to be much easier to focus your studying.Here are a couple examples of actions you might take based on what you see on your score report: Case #1: You Aced Algebra But Missed a Lot of Trigonometry Questions This indicates that you have a content-based problem with trigonometry. Maybe you didn’t know all the formulas or you're not familiar with the best strategies to solve these types of problems.Review all the formulas you need to know for ACT Math as related to trigonometry. Also review what’s tested on ACT Math, and make sure you’re familiar with all the material. If you see something you feel shaky on, try some practice questions for that topic.Look intothese strategies for improving your math performance as well. Case #2: You Did Well on English, But your Writing Score Was Low The essay can be one of the toughest aspects of the ACT, especially because it comes at the end of the test when you’re tired already. Though the ELA subscore doesn't affect your overall ACT score, many top colleges are still interested in your performance on the essay. If you had trouble with the essay, take a look at these tips for improving your score.Since you did well on the English section, you probably don’t have a problem with grammar and sentence structure. You might just need to work on organizing your thoughts better overall and providing better examples to support your argument. Case #3: You Struggled with Science and Reading If you had issues with these sections, it probably means you need to work on reading passages more efficiently and interpreting them correctly.Check out these strategies for bothscience passages and reading passages.The Science and Reading sections actually require similar skills, namely skimming over information and making fast-paced judgments about the content. If you think the time constraints caused you to miss questions, review these strategies for time management on both sections. Experiment with different strategies for approaching ACT science passages...heh A Final Word on Score Reports Your score report is a helpful study tool that will give you more information about areas on the test where you need to make improvements.It might also be a good idea to order Test Information Release for the ACT, which provides a more in-depth look at your scores and the specific questions you missed. Read more about this service here. Compare your score report to your target scores so you can see how much you need to study before the next test! What's Next? If you're trying to figure out when you should take the ACT again, use this guide to find out which test date is right for you. Check out these study plans to get an idea of how you might plan out your prep in advance of the next test date. Frustrated with your score? Learn how to get a perfect 36 on the ACT, and check out these more detailed guides on doing well on ACT English, Math, Reading, and Science. Want to improve your ACT score by 4+ points? Download our free guide to the top 5 strategies you need in your prep to improve your ACT score dramatically. Have friends who also need help with test prep? Share this article! Tweet Samantha Lindsay About the Author Samantha is a blog content writer for PrepScholar. Her goal is to help students adopt a less stressful view of standardized testing and other academic challenges through her articles. Samantha is also passionate about art and graduated with honors from Dartmouth College as a Studio Art major in 2014. In high school, she earned a 2400 on the SAT, 5's on all seven of her AP tests, and was named a National Merit Scholar. Get Free Guides to Boost Your SAT/ACT Get FREE EXCLUSIVE insider tips on how to ACE THE SAT/ACT. 100% Privacy. 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Surveillance in the Workplace A Violation of Human Rights Essay

Surveillance in the Workplace A Violation of Human Rights - Essay Example The first type used by companies is computer monitoring. â€Å"Computer-based monitoring is the use of computerized systems to automatically collect information about how an employee is performing his or her job" (George 459). For employees doing data entry, some corporations monitor their performance by installing a computer software which can check the keystroke speed and accuracy. Some software can monitor how much time an employee surfs the net and what sites they visit. There are companies which even monitor the emails of their employees without their knowledge. Another type of employee monitoring system is the video surveillance. Turk explains that this type of surveillance is â€Å"used by employers for detecting employee misconduct (particularly theft), monitoring job performance and efficiency, and assuring conformance with safety procedures† (qtd. inMorgan , par 13). Most organizations today install closed -circuit television (CCTV) cameras in various parts of their offices. Outside the office, employees are monitored through the global positioning system (GPS).

Explain the relationship between money supply and inflation Essay

Explain the relationship between money supply and inflation - Essay Example money supply and the level of inflation within a specific period of time. Link between money supply and inflation Trying to relate money supply to inflation is not as direct as it sounds as numerous factors also play significant roles in predicting or measuring inflation (Mankiw 2008). However, the link between money supply and inflation is easily explained as a near natural occurrence since when money is in high supply within an economy the demand for it reduces. In this scenario the market is able to afford higher prices for commodities because money supply has increased. At the same time the consumers are not able to revert back to the old prices as long as the buying power of their currency is still under value erosion. Economic theories Economic theories also affect how this relationship is explained. The monetarism theory for example, expresses the relationship in the form of MV = PT which translates to; M = Money Supply V = Money Velocity P = Price Level T = Transactions In th is scenario transactions are constant just as velocity is while supply and prices are directly related (Browne and Cronin 2010). The fundamental argument set forth by monetarism theory is that rising money supply leads to inflation in the situation that the rise in the former exceeds growth of the National Income. It is still under this that T = Transactions is replaced with Y = National Income in many occasions as near-accurate measurements of the former always prove to be difficult. The new equation derived therefore reads; MV = PY. According to Bernanke and Woodford (2006), one notable proponent of monetarism, Friedman stated that ‘†¦ inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon’. Further arguments state that inflation is generally as a result of uncalled-for swells in a nation’s money supply. In respect to velocity, monetarists claim that it is fixed and if it varies the variants are insignificant. The same case applies to the output which is represented by Y and both V and Y are fixed in the short term. An example lies below; When MS = $2,500 and V = 4 ----- Y = 10,000 units Eqn. 2,500*4 = 10,000 With doubling of MS comes doubling of price level as elaborated below; 5,000*4 = 20,000 In the above scenarios Friedman stated that increase in MS takes between 9 to 12 months to result to increased output (Gwartney, Stroup, Sobel and MacPherson 2008). He further stated that it is after another year that output will be at equilibrium with increase in prices to put up with already high money supply. AD & AS model (Hornle 2008) When considering aggregate demand and supply model it is clear to see that when there is increase in money supply there will be increased spending. This will essentially result to a shift of the Aggregate Demand to the right (Hornle 2008). In this scenario producers then engage more of their resources in order to meet the rising demand. The resultant effect is an increased national output that is beyond t he equilibrium level causing an inflationary gap in the economy. With increased production producers enrol more employees therefore increasing their expenditure. In this scenario workers are willing to work for longer periods as there is a corresponding rise in their nominal wage. With continued increase in prices money loses value and a movement is witnessed along the newly formed Aggregate Demand (Woodford 2008). It is at this

Foundations of terrorism Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Foundations of terrorism - Research Paper Example Hence, finding a certain ungrounded reason, more so driven by extremism to exterminate the innocent. Al-Qaeda is a Saudi opposition movement that emerged in the 1990s. Its main aim was to Islamize the Saudi society. This was a response to what they perceived as a cultural attack by the West on the Muslim religion. The group’s source of influence came from Abdallah Azzam teachings. In the 1980s, Abdallah ‘Azzam led the Afghan mujahideen. In 1979, the USSR invaded Afghanistan. To those who were cautioning against a Western cultural attack, this was an affirmation of their assumptions. This struggle gave young religious Saudis an opportunity to defend their religion and culture, which they deemed the West, more so the US would lead to its extinction. Hundreds of young men travelled to Afghanistan to join the mujahideen, the Muslim guerilla fighters. Instead of joining the fight to remove the US forces, they engaged Soviets who had penetrated Afghanistan. Numerous Saudis turned out to be Abdallah Azzam adherents together with Bin Laden (Javaid & Noureen, 2013). Azzam had studied the Islamic law to the extent of attaining a doctorate level whereby he embarked on teaching the same in Jordan. He had already joined the Muslim Brotherhood. After he was fired, he decided to help other members of the brotherhood movement in planning for the Soviet Jihad both in Pakistan and Afghanistan. This is where Bin Laden became a close ally and assisted him with the logistics and financing. According to Azzam, it was mandatory for every Muslim (fard al-ayn) to defend the Islamic lands against the infidel penetration. Several leaders coming from the Muslim community endorsed Azzams ideas. His other colleagues in Saudi Arabia were against the Western penetration and preached about it, but Azzam went as far as transforming his ideas into successful armed struggles.

State-Church Issues in the Film Boenhoffer Dissertation

State-Church Issues in the Film Boenhoffer - Dissertation Example The paper "State-Church Issues in the Film Boenhoffer" identifies similar conflicts between the politics of the state and personal religious belief. The paper also discusses if in the film "Boenhoffer" given the odious nature of the Nazi regime the decision by Boenhoffer to resist the state is unlikely to be questioned or criticized.Bonhoeffer's do not resemble the religious and political extremists of the Middle East because his actions were aimed at ending an authoritarian rule as opposed to the Middle East Extremists who fight religion and extend the fight to the Christian related political ideologies. Adolf Hitler is known in history for murdering people, Jews, but the Middle East extremists fight the Christian ideologies that have never claimed lives like the Hitler’s regime. Therefore, Bonhoeffer's actions are not similar to the Middle East extremists of political insurgency.It is permissible to break the law when a political regime does not respect humanity and uses an authoritarian rule like the Adolf Hitler case. On the other hand, it is permissible to break the rule when the pursuance of religious scruples serves to protect human rights and as such, is directed towards denouncing inhumane acts. However, the danger of such sacrifices may result in severe penalties in the case of Bonhoeffer's prosecution and can comprise an individual’s personal liberty through imprisonment. The Gestapo used the statement to accuse Bonhoeffer of going against his religious belief.

Mobile commerce Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Mobile commerce - Research Paper Example There is more to be done and areas to be covered so as to realize the potential benefits of global of M-commerce. Its constrains and threats should also be dealt with. The first M-commerce was conducted in 1997 in Helsinki, Finland. Two vending machines for Coca Cola that are mobile enabled were installed. Payments could be made through Short Message Service (SMS). The same year, Merita bank of Finland launched the first banking service that is done through SMS. The sale of digital content started when Radiolinja launched the first commercially downloadable ringtones in 1998. Two great milestones were launched in 1999. These are, Smart money in Philipines and NTT DoCoMos i-Mode in Japan. This is an internet service which offered a revenue-sharing plan between NTT DoCoMos i-Mode and the content owner. M-mobile spread rapidly in 2000. Payments for parking were made through mobile in Norway. This was extended to train ticketing in Australia and purchase of airline tickets in Japan. The potentiality of including medical applications to M-mobile was demonstrated by peter Bentley and UCL Computer Science in 2008 (Venkatesh et al, 2003). The basis for M-commerce is high speed internet connectivity. This is well provided by mobile phones and other mobile devices. Tarasewich (2003) points out that in M-commerce, there are websites called Wandering Atrial Pacemaker (WAP) that are developed specifically for mobile devices and mobile phones. Websites that are enabled by WAP display catalogs of products available for users of mobile phones worldwide. M-commerce has overtaken E-commerce and E-business because mobile devices are easy to use, easily available, user friendly and lightweight. Therefore, M-commerce is simply E-commerce conducted over a mobile phone or other mobile device. M-commerce is more under the control of the customer because customization is possible. Customers can personalize their devices like mobile phones to receive what they want, how and when. It

State-Church Issues in the Film Boenhoffer Dissertation

State-Church Issues in the Film Boenhoffer - Dissertation Example The paper "State-Church Issues in the Film Boenhoffer" identifies similar conflicts between the politics of the state and personal religious belief. The paper also discusses if in the film "Boenhoffer" given the odious nature of the Nazi regime the decision by Boenhoffer to resist the state is unlikely to be questioned or criticized.Bonhoeffer's do not resemble the religious and political extremists of the Middle East because his actions were aimed at ending an authoritarian rule as opposed to the Middle East Extremists who fight religion and extend the fight to the Christian related political ideologies. Adolf Hitler is known in history for murdering people, Jews, but the Middle East extremists fight the Christian ideologies that have never claimed lives like the Hitler’s regime. Therefore, Bonhoeffer's actions are not similar to the Middle East extremists of political insurgency.It is permissible to break the law when a political regime does not respect humanity and uses an authoritarian rule like the Adolf Hitler case. On the other hand, it is permissible to break the rule when the pursuance of religious scruples serves to protect human rights and as such, is directed towards denouncing inhumane acts. However, the danger of such sacrifices may result in severe penalties in the case of Bonhoeffer's prosecution and can comprise an individual’s personal liberty through imprisonment. The Gestapo used the statement to accuse Bonhoeffer of going against his religious belief.

Effects of Alcohol Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Effects of Alcohol - Essay Example Besides, majority of the teenagers are not found to be a part of responsibilities. Mostly they are college or high-school students seeking to experience activities like smoking, drinking etc. For teenagers drinking starts with the concept of "exploring", all they want is just to discover and explore the taste like they have tasted never before. After they have explored the new "taste", they drink for fun, in friends' gatherings, get together or simply they are convinced to drink by the word of mouth. This "fun" activity takes them to the journey, which is all ended up at the threshold labeled "heavy drinkers". The reductions in alcohol use by adults in their late twenties largely reflect the impacts of new responsibilities associated with engagement, marriage, pregnancy, and parenthood due to which psychologically 'drinking' becomes secondary for them. "Research suggests that parental behavior plays a central role in adolescent use and misuse of alcohol. Parental drinking affects adolescent perception of alcohol misuse in several ways. The children of drinking parents are less likely to see drinking as harmful and more likely to start drinking earlier. Both these attitudes and behaviors, in turn, predict greater alcohol misuse particularly at age 17-18. Parental drinking may also be mediated by friends' alcohol use in predicting alcohol misuse in adolescence". (Abbott et al, 1997, p. 280) One of the main causes for teenage drinking is the fact that they impinge heavily on decisions regarding living arrangements, but there are other important living contexts that may bear important relationships to substance use. Living with one's parents, in a dormitory, with roommates, or living alone offer varying levels of constraint or opportunity with regard to substance use. "Newcomb and Bentler (1985) found significant co variation between substance use and living arrangements, although their work emphasized the selection interpretation of these results. Those living with their parents as young adults reported the lowest levels of alcohol use of any group in adolescence. Those living with roommates, alone, or in "other" arrangements did not evidence distinct patterns of substance use". (Bachman, 1997, p. 24) As far as adults are concerned, many are independent and smart enough to take their own decisions wisely. Their stability refers to the living arrangements in which they ar e not dependant on anyone. If, however they are unstable financially, they drink and in rare cases become heavy drinkers but that does not affect their health as badly as teenage drinking affects. "Employment", one of the main reasons of drug use refers to those complex situations, which results in varying results depending on what aspect of employment is under consideration. The costs and benefits of employment in adolescence have been the subject of some

Psychological Definitions of Abnormal Behavior Essay Example for Free

Psychological Definitions of Abnormal Behavior Essay According to the science of psychology one’s behavior needs to follow a certain criteria in order to be deemed â€Å"normal†. If one’s behavior does not match the criteria, their behavior is seen as undesirable and wrong (requires change). For this physiologists need to be able to view a person’s behavior and be able to tell the difference between normal and abnormal. Whilst defining the â€Å"normality† of ones behavior physiologists need to be careful to remain objective and as free of any bias as possible, furthermore their experiment to determine ones behavior needs to be repeatable and reliable. In order to do this psychologists often consults the characteristics of ideal mental health proposed by Marie Jahoda in 1958. Marie Jahoda proposed 6 different characteristics for ideal mental health after surveying different doctors and psychologists; this is the list she came up with: * Positive self esteem and a strong sense of identity * Personal growth and development * Ability to cope with stressful situations (integration) * Autonomy and independence * Accurate perception of reality * Successful mastery of the environment, particularly relationships. Jahoda argued that if one does not meet these criteria then ones behavior can be deemed abnormal as a result of an existing problem. This in my opinion provides a strong applicable foundation for the determination of ones â€Å"normality† of behavior. However the problem with Jahoda’s ideal mental health scheme is the fact that the results obtained rely solely on the observer’s judgment, therefore presenting a inevitable bias not to mention the fact that no person can truly ever meet all of the suggested criteria. This mean that according to Jahoda every person is abnormal. Another way to look for abnormal behavior for psychologists is to find deviation form the social norm (majority). This is done by observing ones actions in public and seeing how normal it is. For example if you see someone wearing a bikini/swim trunks whilst walking around a supermarket, his or her behavior would be deemed as abnormal. The limitations of observing behavior in this manor lay in the fact that different cultures have different norms. Not to mention the fact that in any given culture norms evolve. What may have once been acceptable in the 80’s is not necessarily acceptable today. Abnormality of one’s behavior can also be monitored by looking at its statistical frequency. Meaning how common ones behavior is when compared to the rest of the public. If one’s behavior is shared by many it is deemed common and therefore â€Å"normal†, however if ones behavior is uncommon or rare, it is deemed abnormal. For example one may say that an individual who has an IQ below or above the average level of IQ in society is abnormal. The problem with this system is the fact that, it does not account for the desirability of the given behavior. In other words this system claims that both low and high IQ’s are an abnormality that need to be treated. Physiologists and others interested in â€Å"normality†, look over at ones behavior to see how well they can function. If one is unable to function adequately they are deemed abnormal. In order to determine how well one functions, psychologists consult Rosenhan and Seligman’s list of characteristics that define abnormality (1989). Rosenhan and Seligman argued that in order to classify someone as â€Å"inadequate in life† they must meet several of the characteristics as a pose to only one. This is their list: * Suffering * Maladaptiveness (danger to self) * Vividness unconventionality (stands out) * Unpredictably loss of control * Irrationality/incomprehensibility * Causes observer discomfort * Violates moral/social standards The possible limitation to Rosenhan and Seligman’s list of characteristics is the fact that â€Å"normal† people engage in activates which are potentially harmful like drinking or smoking, these people are not classed as abnormal. It is very difficult to classify behavior as to date no scheme to do so exists, which is perfect. Physiologists must tread carefully when labeling one with a disorder. Bias will always be present in one form or another, however the results can be deemed reliable if practicing psychologists consult multiple schemes in order to have a better chance of an accurate diagnosis. Bibliography * Class handout â€Å"abnormal?† Mrs campion. * DefiningAbnormality. AS Psychology /. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2012. http://as-psychology.pbworks.com/w/page/9174252/DefiningAbnormality. * Abnormal Psychology. Abnormal Psychology. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2012. http://www.simplypsychology.org/abnormal-psychology.html.

An Introduction To Political Cleavage Concepts Politics Essay

An Introduction To Political Cleavage Concepts Politics Essay The concept of a political cleavage is contested in important ways (Daalder 1966, Eckstein 1966, Dogan 1967, Zuckerman 1982, Bartolini Mair 1990, Neto Cox 1997), and whether cleavages exist in post-communist Eastern Europe might depend substantially on how the term is defined. Some authors who find that cleavages are weak or absent in the region use a rigorous definition of the term (Lawson 1999). It is argued here, however, that even when the definitional barrier is raised to a high level, political cleavages are in all likelihood present in the region(Whitefield 2002). Many studies have found a link between pre-communist historical legacies and institutional choice. For example Kitschelt argues that pre-communist experiences had an influence on the communist regime which ultimately has an impact on party cleavages. Indeed, he argues that pre-communist experiences can be distinguished rather easily, but the length of the political liberalisation phase in the 1980s and the significance of having had two or three rounds of free elections since 1990 may be disputable. While I do not believe that isolating these pre communist legacies is necessarily, I do believe that pre-communist legacies must be included in any analysis of post-communist social cleavages. I suggest that history is very important for the cases of Romania and Hungary. Furthermore, if we go back to Dalton, he insists that religious cleavage has followed the same pattern of decline as for the class cleavage. As he sees, one possible exception to the rule of declining social cleavages involves race and ethnicity. Nevertheless, even today, social, religious and ethic identities of citizens still have explanatory power in examination of voting behavior (Nieuwbeerta, 1998; Knutsen Scarbrough, 1995). The question on the relation between a countries social cleavage structure and political outcomes has become of extra relevance in Eastern European nations after the collapse of totalitarian regimes. Since the velvet revolutions in 1989 the political party structure in these nations had to be build almost from scratch, the question rises, according to Nieuwbeerta(1998), whether these new political systems developed in a way similar to how it is organized in Western nations. Therefore, to what extent are party systems in Eastern European nations based on major socio-economic cleavages in these nations? At first it is seems like that most newly founded parties in Eastern Europe represent such cleavages. For example in Romania and Hungary Social-Democratic and Liberal parties were created, as well as religious and nationalist parties. The concept of a political cleavage, however, is not universally regarded as useful by political observers of the post-communist world (White et al. 1997, Elster et al. 1998). Indeed, in a highly influential and controversial account published soon after the collapse of communist power, Fukuyama (1992) interpreted the event as an indicator of the end of ideological division across all modern societies, East European ones included. The collapse of communism could be seen as demonstrating either broad support for liberalism or, if we want to put the argument negatively, the absence of any alternative method of organizing modern society. From this perspective, although transition in the region would certainly have its winners and losers, the end of ideological competition meant that the political cleavages that had divided populations across industrial societies, most famously characterized by Lipset Rokkan (1967), were anachronistic. Differences among politicians and choices among vot ers would in this context be based on who could best do the job of delivering on liberal, market, and democratic policies(Whitefield 2002). But whether cleavages were envisaged or not, scholarly interest in the cleavage structures (or lack thereof) in post-communist states was often strongly grounded in pessimistic assessments of their putative effects on party competition and on the stability of these new democracies (Cirtautas 1994, Comisso 1997, Elster et al. 1998). According to these ideas, there are at least two important questions that should be answered. First, although the general shape of the cleavage structures of post-communism is better understood, the mechanisms for their formation are unclear or disputed. Most explanations of cleavages in more established democracies emphasize the importance of prior social organization in providing sources of interest and political allegiance among the public that allow coordination of voters and parties in structured and relatively stable ways (Sartori 1969, Przeworski 1985). Such prior social organization, however, was largely absent across Eastern Europe. Second, in order to speak with full confidence about the existence of cleavages, it is necessary to see stability and persistence in social and ideological divisions, but naturally these conditions are only weakly established empirically. There are also differing theoretical expectations about the stability of the social and ideological divisions in politics. Considerable volatility is evident in support for particular parties, and political parties themselves have often been short-lived, offering voters little opportunity to reward or punish them. But is this volatility of supply and demand for parties a sign of instability in the cleavage structure? For many countries, there is limited evidence available to test these possibilities because follow-up studies that might allow over-time comparisons have not yet taken place; however, it should be noted that where such evidence is available, it points to more stability than change in the structure of underlying social and ideological di visions, which strengthens claims about the existence of cleavages in the region and especially in Romania and Hungary. 2. The cleavage hypothesis If we want to understand the idea and the formation of cleavages, we should first find appropriate explanation. Party nationalisation might be explained as a consequence of the territorial structure of social or socio-economic divides (Lipset Rokkan, 1967). Caramani (2004, p. 15) addresses the centre-periphery and the urban-rural cleavage as territorial divides, connected to low levels of nationalisation. In contrast, functional cleavages, such as the economic cleavage in Western Europe, do not have a territorial character, so that parties organising along such cleavages are highly nationalised (cf. Caramani, 2004; Cox, 1999, p. 159). The explanation of party system structures by cleavages has been criticised though, because cleavages do not convert into parties as a matter of course, but this is produced by the political system itself (Zielinski, 2002, p. 187). Looking at Central and Eastern Europe, only a few scholars are looking for similarities of political divisions with social cleavages in Western democracies (Kitschelt et al., 1999). The view overwhelms that cleavages, especially if they are narrowly defined, are of limited relevance in the region (Elster et al., 1998, pp. 247-270). However, one social divide appears to be an exception to the rule: The ethnic divide is salient in Central and Eastern Europe (Evans Need, 2002) and helps many parties to mobilise their voters (Elster et al., 1998, p. 252). Ethnic minorities exist in almost all countries, and they vote in large numbers for their own parties. Furthermore, issues related to ethnicity help as well nationalist parties of the titular nation to mobilise their voters. The investigation of ethnic divides in order to explain party nationalisation degrees may yield promising results, as many of the ethnic minorities in Central and Eastern European countries are territorially settled. If such ethnic divides become manifest in party politics, then the ethnic structure of a country will explain why the electoral strength of political parties varies across regions. If we take into account the cases with Romania and Hungary, the best example could be inter-war Transylvania- the large ethnic Hungarian and German minorities constituted approximately 40% of the population, and all of the minorities were either Catholic or Protestant. If we add to this figure the number of Romanians that belonged to the Greek Catholic Church, then approximately 70% of Transylvanias population belonged to a Western Christian denomination prior to the communist takeover. These figures are important because, as Kitschelt argues, these pre-communist legacies influenced the communist reform process. In the case of Transylvania and Galicia these cultural and religious differences had a marked impact on the regions during the communist period. Nevertheless, Transylvania has traditionally been perceived, even during the communist period, as ethnically, culturally and politically different from the rest of the country. Therefore in order to assimilate Transylvania, nationali sm was an important ideological component of Romanian communism, particularly under Ceausescu. He promoted a form of national populism characterised by pseudo-egalitarianism and the non-recognition of any kind of diversity'(Whitefield 2002). However, the existence of diversity across post-communist states in the content of political competition is not evidence for diversity in cleavage structures. Support for political parties may vary as a result of many factors, discussed below, that are not connected to cleavages. And even if partisanship appears to be rooted in ideological and social differentiation, this may not result from social and ideological divisions in the population but rather from party strategies(Whitefield 2002). According to the empirical investigation, that Whitefield and Evans had done, there is a relationship among social and ideological differences and partisanship that would be expected if political cleavages were present. Naturally, although economic differentiation was common to all countries (if not always to the same degree), not all social identities and differentiated social experiences were equally present in all states; in particular, the religious and ethnic composition of countries in the region varies markedly. As a consequence, we found that the connection of social division to ideological division also varies; religiosity appears to matter much more to social liberalism in Catholic than in Orthodox states; and issues of ethnic rights are more firmly socially rooted where minorities exist and where the sense of social difference between ethnic groups is more strongly felt. This variation in the nature of social and ideological division is important because it appears to rela te to the nature of divisions that emerge in support for political parties(Whitefield 2002). TABLE 1: Political cleavages in post-Communist Eastern Europe (Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary): social and ideological divisions to partisanship Social bases Ideological bases Romania 1. Age, region (Bucharest), education 2. Ethnicity (Hungarians) economic liberalism, pro/anti-West 3. Region (Transylvania) 1. Social political liberalism, economic liberalism, pro/anti West 2. Ethnic liberalism 3. Pro-West, Jews Bulgaria 1. Ethnicity(Turkish) 2. Age, Class( professionals vs. workers) 3. Religiosity 1. Economic liberalism, pro/anti-West 2. Ethnic liberalism 3. Nationalism, Gypsies Hungary 1. Age 2. Religiosity 3. Class (urban-rural), education/class, settlement size, denomination(Protestant) 1. Economic liberalism, pro/anti-West 2. Social political liberalism, Jews 3. Social political liberalism, nationalism 3. Politics between economy and culture- the case of Hungary In order to continue to analyze the formation of cleavages in Eastern European states, I will try to give example with Hungary. Before that, I would like to point out some of the most important theories of Stein Rokkan linked with the work of S. M. Lipset. As a consequence of the early death of S. Rokkan, his work, in spite its richness and extension, can not be regarded as finished. Here are the basic ideas: 1. Territory as a key concept of politics in a cross pressure between culture and economy, implying: the equal weight given to economic, political-territorial and cultural dimensions; the interaction between geographical spaces and socio-cultural membership spaces, between center formation and boundary building; the conceptual map of Europe with an West-East axis differentiating between economic conditions for state-building and a South-North axis between cultural conditions for nation-building. 2. The identification of four cleavages following the critical junctures of: the national revolution creating the center-periphery and the church-state cleavages; the industrial revolution creating the urban-rural and the labour-capital cleavages. 3. The cyclical movement of cleavages: towards a national-international divide. It is often forgotten that Rokkan does not end his cleavage sequence with the worker-owner conflict of the industrial revolution, but points to an intriguing cyclical movement: breakdown of a supranational order (Roman Empire) establishment of culturally and politically distinctive nation states conflict over national versus international loyalties. (Lipset-Rokkan 47-48) Although the last formulation relates to the communist cleavage within the labour movement (not relevant any more), but in his latest works he points to the centrality of a reformulated version of a center-periphery divide: that between homogenizing supranational standardization and cultural distinctiveness, roots, national identity. ( Rokkan- Urwin, Flora 1983: 434). 4. The different political impacts of a gradual, organic sequence of cleavages ( in most of North Western Europe) versus the cumulation of state and nation-building cleavages together with the rapidity of enfranchisement and sudden modernization. The second alternative especially in the case of the discontinuity of or threats to national independence implies difficulties in transition to mass democracy. (Hungary is directly mentioned by Rokkan in this latter context.) Territorial-cultural conflicts do not just find political expression in secessionist and irredentist movements, however, they feed into the overall cleavage structure and help to condition the development not only of each party organization but even more of the entire system of party oppositions and interests (Lipset-Rokkan 41). 5. The historical long term continuity of collective political identities coalitions and oppositions on the level of alternatives, of parties and of the support market to be mobilized. Parties do not simply present themselves de novo to the citizens at each election; they each have a history and so have the constellations of alternatives they present to the electorate. (Lipset-Rokkan). Emerging cleavages affect, however, former alliances and restructure the party system. Rokkan points also to the existence of a certain lee-way for parties to translate social cleavages. 6. The freezing of party alternatives with the final extension of suffrage (mostly in the twenties), implying the inclusion of the lower classes. In contrast to an expanding support market with a creative phase of parties (Cotta 102) accompanied by a mobilization along cultural and territorial cleavages, the mobilization on the basis of purely economic cleavages comes only afterwards (Rokkan 1980: 118). The stage of mass democracy brings about an ever more closed electoral market with a mobilization controlled by the already existing parties. 7. The special role of social democratic parties on the left side of the labour-capital cleavage. Due to their strength and domesticability, their ability to maintain unity in the face of the man forces making for division and fragmentation (Lipset-Rokkan: 46), social democratic parties and the class cleavage in itself played a stabilizing and homogenizing, cohesive influence in most West European party systems. In countries with a troubled history of nation-building, marked cultural cleavages reduced their potentials. But the very logic of pluralism in democratic capitalism helped their entry into national politics. These parties, having joined the nation contributed to the neutralization of the radicalizing effects of sudden industrialization. (Lipset-Rokkan: 46, 48, 50). 8. The radical rightist anti-system cleavage. The rising networks of new elites, such as the leaders of the new large bureaucracies of industry and government, those who control the various sectors of the communication industry, the heads of mass organizations, the leaders of once weak or low-status groups, and the like constitute the focus of protest of fascist-type parties, which: are nationalistic, they venerate the nation and its culture; are anti-democratic; want to unite their supporters as one single pillar lead by deeply felt convictions about the destiny and the mission of the nation. These xenophobic and racist parties may mobilize segments of the middle and lower classes. As to their emergence and chances of success, contrasts in the continuity and regularity of nation-building certainly played a role (Lipset-Rokkan 23, 24, 25). After we pointed out some of the most important ideas from the Lipset and Rokkan concept, now I will try to form several important assumptions: The evolution of the Hungarian party system confirms the classical sequence of European cleavage formation with the initial and decisive emergence of identity-based territorial and cultural divides followed later by the appearance of economic cleavages. Hungarian party competition seems to reflect and even to anticipate new developments of Western party systems. There are real historical alternatives expressing different conceptions of modernization, of nationhood and of geopolitical location represented by the parties. For Rokkan and Lipset, party alternatives and the party system itself freeze. In Hungary and in some other Eastern European countries, intervals, parties and party structure are unstable and fluid. But the alternatives contained in the cleavage structure are amazingly stable: not the party system, but the cleavage structure is frozen. In the formation process of the parties (1988-89), in the subsequent three elections from 1990 to 1998, the same cleavage sets have mattered and structured party competition, namely: the three cleavage families of Westernization vs. traditionalism, post-communism vs. anti-post-communism and pro-market commodification (winners) vs. welfare statist decommodification (losers). This special freezing of alternatives and cleavages has, however, taken place in the context of a very much open and available electoral market . This deviance from the Rokkan-Lipset freezing pattern is the unavoidable consequence of the long discontinuity of the party system, the lack of traditions of mass democracy and the unstable interest structure of civil society. Due to the strong economic, social and political positions of the post-communist elites and surviving value orientations in the electorate, the definition of the rules of the game as a systemic issue (Offe 1991, Mair 1997) is expressed by the salience of a post-communism anti-post-communism cleavage family. It cannot be deducted from the Rokkan-Lipset scheme, and by its very nature, cannot become a long-enduring historical divide, but can be supposed to fade away. The taming of capitalism, the political regulation of the market with a political mobilization along a commodification decommodification axis is a crucial point of democratic consolidation and legitimacy. Following from the freezing of the Hungarian political cleavage structure in the phase of the dominance of the cultural-territorial and post-communist cleavage families, the increasing importance of this socio-economic divide is coupled with its absorption by or inclusion into the other two cleavage families. The post-1989 evolution of the Hungarian party system has brought about no political mobilization along the line of a classical labour-capital class cleavage. Finally, we should now indicate the main cleavages formed in Hungary, according to Mair: 1. The family of territorial and cultural cleavages Traditionalist forces stress historical continuity, Hungarian nationhood, favour community ove society, are for strong authority, strong church. Their value orientations are more particularist than universalist, they have an inclination to love the rural, even if they are urban Westernizers are outward-looking, for catch-up modernization, they favour individualism, multicultural diversity, they stress secularism and human rights. 2. The family of post-communist cleavages This set of cleavages has several dimensions an ideological dimension of anticommunism which can be based either on particularist national, religious identities or on the universalism of individual human rights and rationality; a political dimension expressed in the relationship to the Socialist Party looked upon as the successor party; a power dimension of competing elites and of the re-definition of the rules of the game outside and inside politics; a structural dimension reflecting the symbiotic dualism of the present society with a secto rooted in late communism and a sector of emerging capitalism iv; an emotional and biographical dimension with a population split into two halves: one half who feel they lived better in the last years of real socialism and another half thinking differently. 3. The family of socio-economic cleavages With economic transformation progressing and with an overwhelmingly materialist electorate this set of cleavages has become central in the society, but the early freezing of the party system structured along the above mentioned two cleavage sets is still complicating the clear translation of this divide into programmatic and public policy alternatives. 4. Old Theories vs. New Parties: Romania Post-communist party system Surprisingly, post-communist cleavages in Romania have been the spotlight of relatively little attention. Indeed, as Crowther writes: If skeptics are correct, Romania should stand out as a strong case for the inapplicability of social cleavage analyses. Because of the peculiarities of its pre-communist and communist past, Romania is often taken as an archetypical example of the post-communist countries dearth of civil society. Or, in other words, it is almost impossible to test the theory of Stein Rokkan or S.M. Lipset, without necessary sharing Crowthers point of view on the inapplicability of social cleavage analyses. Most recent works on the concept à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾post-communist cleavages commence with a few comments on Lipsets and Rokkans cleavage theory applied to the case of Central Europe. One of the most respectful professors from Bulgaria- Georgi Karasimeonov indicates that Lipsets and Rokkans cleavage theory was formulated on the special conditions and terms of a particular European western model. Karasimeonov contributions to the debate can be interpreted in the tradition of the analysis of the electoral behavior and party formation in transnational societies revealing at least four types of cleavages: residual (historical), transitional, actual and potential8. De Waele, seeks to clarify and categorize the relationship between the original theory of cleavages as it is applied to Western model and the post-communist experience undertaking his project with the view of three cleavages: 1. The first set of objective considerations influencing the emergence of the post-communist party system concerns the economic cleavage. De Waelle argues that the socio-economic cleavage (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾maximalist vs. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾minimalist) comes from the communist regimes successful orientation towards destruction of the capitalist economy. De Waele himself flags up this problem with his own definition: the term à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾maximalist is used to describe the adherents of a fast transition. In theory, the claim that the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾minimalist perspective is likely to have a socioeconomic basis has been highly dependent upon overall record of mixed progress with uneven and slow reform implementation. On the contrary, the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾maximalists represented the turning point for the post-communism. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾The maximalists launched new reform programs, a macroeconomic plan stabilization and structural reforms, an ambitious shock therapy for the Romanian economy, including the liberalization of prices and the foreign exchange market as well as the accelerati on of the privatization. 2. The second cleavage, the so-called à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾authoritariandemocratic divide, refers to the inability of a significant part of the society to renounce in discursive terms the communist legacy (although, in Romania this did not necessarily translate into a rejection of all kind of authoritarian attitudes). In many recent studies on authoritarian attitudes in postcommunist Romania, researchers have pointed the electoral success of Vadim Tudor in 2000, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾as a distinctly unpleasant surprise for many in the West. The case in point was the increase of supporters of a latent antipluralist attitude towards the European values arena. 3. The third cleavage line is between the communists and the anticommunists. The à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾old attitude, a so-called à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾pre-communist behavior was usually reactivated after the emergence of the new parties. Given the discontinuity of the transition, à gh concludes that the confrontation between the two groups led to the formation of a multi-party and the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾first generation parties. He also witnessed the fact that the new parties were formed à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾as second generation parties, and the third category, the so-called small à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾third generation appeared much later. In a similar way, Gill argues that it is difficult to establish the real significance of the cleavage between the two types. He also indicates there have been at least three referential ways to see post-communism: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾post-communism as a system, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾post-communism as a condition, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾post-communism as a situation. After this analysis of the main three cleavages that the Romanian post-communist system has experienced, it is almost impossible at this point to raise the discussion of a consolidated democracy. With politics in Romania still changing, the outlines of the three families of cleavages advanced in this article constitute a significant obstacle towards consolidation. 5. Conclusion Finally I would like to go back to some of the main points I have presented: The evolution of the Eastern European party system confirms the classical sequence of European cleavage formation with the initial and decisive emergence of identity-based territorial and cultural divides, with their dominance over socio-economic divides followed later by the appearance of economic cleavages. The salient manifestation of the cumulation of cultural and territorial cleavages in the part system corresponds clearly with the cyclical movement in the framework of the Rokkanian scheme demonstrating how globally the centrality of a national-supranational divide. The example with Hungarian party competition seems to reflect and even to anticipate new developments of Western party systems. There are real historical alternatives expressing different conceptions of modernisation, of nationhood and of geopolitical location represented by the parties. These alternatives are olde than the most of the Eastern European electorate, but they deviate from the mainstream in Western Europe. In the formation process of the parties (1988-89), in the subsequent three elections from 1990 to 1998, the same cleavage sets have mattered and structured party competition, namely: the three cleavage families of Westernization vs. traditionalism, post-communism vs. anti-post-communism and marketization, commodification (winners) vs. welfare statism. This special freezing of alternatives and cleavages has, however, taken place in the context of a very much open and available electoral market . This deviance from the Rokkan-Lipset freezing pattern is the unavoidable consequence of the long discontinuity of the party system, the lack of traditions of mass democracy and the unstable interest structure of civil society. The post-1989 evolution of the Hungarian and Romania party system has brought about no political mobilisation along the line of a classical labour-capital class cleavage. Instead, I have observed the following attempts for bringing the welfare statist decommodification cleavage in: coupling it with the post-communist cleavage, coupling it with the defence of national identity, coupling it with the religious cleavage, coupling (its radical variant) with an aggressive and racist social nationalism. After all, I still believe that formation of cleavages in East Europe, according to the thesis of Lipset and Rokkan, is almost impossible to apply to these countries. However, the cases which I in detail discussed (Hungary and Romania), are the best example for the existing of cleavages in Eastern European states. Therefore, indicates that even the model of Lipset-Rokkan was more applicable for Western European countries, especially because of different economical and political development, the existing of cleavages in East Europe was possible even before 1989, and the model is still useful nowadays.