George Mead Theory Essay Example for Free

George Mead Theory Essay â€Å"the self is something which has a development; it is not initially there, at birth, but arises in the process of social experience and activity, that is, develops in the given individual as a result of his relations to that process as a whole and to other individuals within that process.† * was an American philosopher, sociologist and psychologist, primarily affiliated with the University of Chicago, where he was one of several distinguished pragmatists * He is regarded as one of the founders of social psychology and the American sociological tradition in general. * Mead is well-known for his theory of the social self, which is based on the central argument that the self is a social emergent. * Mead’s most widely read work, Mind, Self and Society, gives priority to society over the mind and highlights the idea that the social leads to the development of mental states. * Mind is a process, not a thing, and it is found in social phenomena rather than within individuals. * The self occupies a central place in Mead’s theory. * Self is essentially a social structure and it arises in social experience. It is the unique combination of the roles and individual play in relation to others – the complex blending of individual motivations and socially desirable responses. * The self consists of an â€Å"I† which the active side and as object, called â€Å"me†. * Infants begin with no self. As they learn to use the language and other symbols, the self emerges through play which involves taking the roles of significant others. * Gradually children move from simpler games to more complex ones involving others such as team sports. Mead called this generalized others to refer to the general cultural norms and values people use as references in evaluating others. * Mead defines self as the ability to take oneself as an object and identifies basic mechanism of the development of the self as reflexivity the ability to put ourselves into the place of others and acts as they act. * Self can arise only through social experiences, and the traces its development to two stages in childhood: the play stage and game stage. * Play stage – children learn how to take the attitude of particular others themselves. * Game stage – children learn how to take the role of many others and the attitude of the generalized other. * I – is the immediate response of an individual to others; it is unpredictable and creative aspect of the self. * Me – is the organized set of attitudes of others that an individual assumes; it is how society dominates the individual and is a source of social control. Mead’s theory on social self * The social conception of the self entails that individual selves are the product of social interaction and not the logical or biological preconditions of that interaction. It is not initially there at birth but arises in the process of social experience and activity. * Language – allows individuals to take on the â€Å"role of the other† and allows people to respond to his or her own gestures in terms of symbolized attitudes of others. * Is communication via â€Å"significant symbols† and it is through significant communication that the individual is able to take the attitudes of others toward his/herself. Language is not only a â€Å"necessary mechanism† of the mind, but also the primary social foundation of self. * Play – individuals take on the roles of other people and pretend to be those other people in order to express the expectation of significant others. * This process of role-playing is the key to generation of self-consciousness and to the general development of the self. * In the play, the child takes the role of another and acts as though he/she were the other. This form of role-playing involves a single role at a time. Thus, the other which comes into the child’s experience in play is a â€Å"specific other† * Game – individual is required to internalize the roles of all others who are involved with him or her in the game and must comprehend the rules of the game. * Is the stage of social process at which * Generalized other- organized and generalized attitude of a social group. * consists of a composite of all those who contribute and participate in ones society * The individual defines his or her own behavior with reference to the generalized attitude of the social group(s) they occupy. When an individual can view him/herself from the standpoint of the generalized other, self-consciousness in the full sense of the terms is attained. * Me – represents the expectations and the attitudes of others (generalized others). It is the organized set of attitudes others that the individual assumes. * Is the social self * The organized set of attitudes of others which one himself assumes * is that part of the self which comes about as a result of the individuals internalization of societys values and behavior expectations * I – is the response to the â€Å"me†, or the person’s individuality. * Response of the organism to the attitudes of others * is that part of the self which is spontaneous * Self – develops by internalizing the norms of one’s society * Significant other are those with whom the individual has an important relationship

CBN and FDI Outflows to China

CBN and FDI Outflows to China Introduction and Research Problem Since its economic opening in 1979, China has become one of the worlds largest recipients of foreign direct investment (FDI). In 2007, inflows to China totalled over US$82 billion, bringing Chinas cumulative FDI to almost US$700 billion for the period 1979 to 2007 (CSB 2007). But what has particularly captured both academic and popular attention is the extent to which Chinas massive levels of FDI may be attributable to diasporic ethnic Chinese capital, what Harvard academic John Kao famously termed the Chinese commonwealth (Kao 1993: 24). It has often been asserted that some two-thirds of all the foreign investment that has poured into China originated from ethnic Chinese living outside of China (e.g., Wolf 2002: 134). This unprecedented level of intra-ethnic investment presents something of a headache to mainstream FDI theories, which, at the level of the firm, tend to explain internationalisation as an incremental process resulting from, variously, the pursuit of market power, an internalising of technological improvements, and the accumulation of foreign market knowledge and experience. Protesting against this type of theorizing as under-socialised and Western-centric, many Asia scholars (who are frequently also Asian) developed an alternative account drawn upon insights from network theory and some sociological studies of Chinese firms done in the 1990s. Their account—which in this dissertation is referred to as the Chinese Capitalism corpus—spans a variety of disciplinary frameworks including anthropology, economic geography and sociology, development economics, management, and Southeast Asia Regional studies, but has at its heart the premise that ethnic Chinese enterprises domin ate the economic activity of East Asia and FDI flows into China in large part because of their ability to draw upon dense, interlinked networks of social/family/political relationships that span national boundaries. These linkages are commonly known as Chinese business networks (CBN). The assertion that ethnic Chinese engage in pervasive networking on an international scale has become so ubiquitous in popular and academic literature that it is usually considered a stylized fact. But is it true that—despite citizenship in countries with differing social structures, political economies, and histories—the Chinese diaspora is linked by transnational webs of strong personalistic ties? And have these webs actuated and facilitated massive flows of FDI to China? If so, this would suggest that ethnic Chinese business operates in a distinctive manner, that it is proper to speak of a Chinese Capitalism in which flexibly linked Chinese enterprises might even form a competitive substitute for formally structured Western and Japanese multinational enterprises (MNEs). Alternatively, it has been suggested that the concept of CBN might simply be a cultural myth which obscures, possibly exaggerates and distorts, the internationalisation of ethnic Chinese enterprises (Mackie 2000). If so—if intra-ethnic networking is ill-defined, over-stated and under-researched—what should we make of the prevalence of the CBN discourse in economics-based discipline s? And, if they are not advantaged by networks, how should mainstream FDI theories be amended to account for the fact that at the turn of the 21st century we find so many Singaporean enterprises in China? The main purpose of my research was to move this debate forward. I did so by investigating claims of extensive intra-ethnic networking among the ethnic Chinese with an eye toward enhancing mainstream internationalisation theorising. More specifically, I tested whether evidence of CBN could be found in the transnational expansion into China of randomly-selected Chinese-Singaporean small-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This chapter has two main objectives. The first is to present my dissertations research question and to explain why it is important. The second is to provide an overview of how and why I investigated it as I did. To this end, the following section discusses the general context of my research problem and reviews the conventional theoretical frameworks that address the phenomenon of internationalisation. Section 1.1.2 explains why it is important that claims of extensive intra-ethnic networking be investigated. Next, the focus is narrowed to the specific research question that was tested. The concept of CBN is carefully defined in Section 1.1.3, and it is conceptually operationalised into testable sub-hypotheses in Section 1.1.4. Background of CBN Claims With some US$30 billion cumulative FDI invested in China between 1979 and 2006, Singapore ranked as Chinas seventh largest source of foreign investment, after Hong Kong, Japan, the Virgin Islands, the United States, Taiwan, and South Korea (CSB, 2007). In 2006, about 70% of the Association for East Asian Nations (ASEAN) FDI originated in Singapore, and between 1990 and 2006, over 15,000 Singaporean projects were set up in China. These figures are all the more remarkable given Singapores small size. Furthermore, as significant as Singapore now is as an investor to China, it is likewise true that China has become important to Singapore as an investment market. Since 1997, China—a vacuum cleaner for foreign direct investment, as Lee Kuan Yew has frequently called it—has each year received the largest share of FDI by Singaporean entities, replacing Malaysia as Singapores top investment destination (Hamlin 2002). In 2002, FDI to China accounted for over 17% of total Singaporean investment abroad (Department of Statistics 2002). It is clear from these figures that not only are Singaporean transnational enterprises (TNEs) a significant force in the rearticulation of China into the global economy, but that China has become an important factor in the regionalisation of Singaporean firms. How can we account for this tremendous and unprecedented diasporic transnational investment? Two corpuses of literature that purportedly shed light on this phenomenon are critically examined in this dissertation: the mainstream internationalisation construct and what I refer to as the Chinese Capitalism perspective. Three strands within the mainstream internationalisation literature are highlighted in this dissertation. The first is theories of the MNE, which grew out of Stephen Hymers seminal work on post-war multinational investment in Europe and has its roots in the utilitarian tradition of classical and neo-classical economics. This corpus of literature has expanded over the decades to encompass a range of views, but at its core is some version of the argument that MNEs are enterprises which, in response to market imperfection and a desire to exploit proprietary advantages, have internalised activities by investing abroad. A distinctive sub-group of these theories has arisen in response to the spectacular increase in developing-country MNEs since the 1970s. Within Developing-Country MNE theories, the leading argument is that emerging MNEs from developing countries follow an incremental internationalisation process driven by gradual internal technological accumulation. Internationalisation Process Models is the second important strand within the mainstream approach. With its roots in behavioural theories of the firm, it offers a more explicitly dynamic approach to understanding the process by which firms engage in FDI. Though there is some variation in the explanation employed in the models—for instance, some stress learning and others focus on technological accumulation—and though the process is variously described as cyclic, stage-based, or evolutionary, a key premise is that internationalisation is incremental by nature, as the firm acquires knowledge necessary for further internationalisation. A third major strand within the mainstream approach has explicitly incorporated the concept of network into internationalisation theorisations. It is important to note the schism in the network literature between viewing networks as a form of governance structure versus focusing on networks as social relationships. This has caused a number of definitional problems and contributed to a seemingly irreconcilable divergence between mainstream economics/business theories and an approach that has grown out of the sociology discipline. Of the former, perhaps the most important for this thesis is the Late Industrialisation framework, which treats the concept of networks as a distinctive mode of organisation through which learning and the adaptation of borrowed technology were combined to promote economic development in a number of late industrialising countries in the 20th century. These three strands within the mainstream internationalisation construct dominate much of the research on MNEs and FDI but they have their shortcomings. In particularly, many Asia scholars (who were frequently Chinese-speaking Asians) have objected that mainstream internationalisation theories, with their under-socialised and Western roots, cannot adequately explain the phenomenon of ethnic Chinese investment in the motherland (Yeung 2000: 10). These scholars have instead drawn upon the insights of network theory and several sociological studies of ethnic Chinese enterprises (that were done in the 1990s) to develop an alternative account—the Chinese Capitalism perspective—to elucidate the specific case of ethnic Chinese transnational expansion. As its name suggests, this large corpus of literature is exclusively concerned with ethnic Chinese enterprises because it is argued that they differ in important respects not only from Japanese and Western firms, but from other d eveloping-country enterprises (Kao 1993). Central to the Chinese Capitalism perspective is the premise that ethnic Chinese firms dominate FDI flows into China, and indeed much of the economic activity of East Asia, because of their ability to form and draw upon dense, interlinked webs of social/family/political relationships that span national boundaries and rest on trust and reciprocation (Hamilton 1996a: 17). These relationships—Chinese business networks (CBN)—are variously ascribed to cultural and/or institutional factors and ostensibly give ethnic Chinese TNEs a strong advantage, especially when entering culturally Chinese markets such as China, while non-ethnic Chinese businesses meet with less success (EAAU 1995). As Hamilton-Hart wrote: Investment and trade flows linking Southeast and Northeast Asia have been promoted by network-like relationships among firms and individuals. These relationships have fostered regionalization by reducing the costs and risks of transnational investment (Hamilton-Hart 2002: 1). Describing this advantage in an especially enthusiastic manner, Redding wrote that ethnic Chinese capitalism is essentially an economic culture characterized by a unique capacity to co-operate (emphasis added: Redding 1990: 79). And Hamilton, concluding that the Chinese diaspora will elbow out non-Chinese entrants in the China market, wrote: Many Westerners honestly believe that they have a real chance to sell to the one billion plus Chinese consumers, but I do not believe it will work out this way (Hamilton 1996a: 19). Journalists and management gurus have similarly embraced the concept of Chinese business networks (e.g., Seagrave 1996; Backman 1999; and Drucker 1994). The concept of CBN has historical roots in the centuries of mass migration that have fostered transnational ethnic Chinese communities which span the world. Many historians have argued that commercial and financial networks based on fictive and agnatic familism, pang or speech-group solidarities, and regionalism, were historically important social channels in some settings, such as for those emigrating to Southeast Asia from southern China. But the Chinese Capitalism literature, taking new life from the treatment of networks within the sociology discipline, extended this historical observation further. It not only asserted that CBN remained important at the turn of the 21st century, but it emphasized CBN as a distinctive characteristic or skill of the ethnic Chinese. Research Significance The skill or special ability to combine a firms resources with the complementary resources of its partners can no doubt be an important organisational capability. Among the benefits, networks lower business transaction costs, provide for better risk assessment, and lead to prompt decision-making. But is there evidence that networking has been a primary factor in ethnic Chinese transnational expansion? Does it explain why Singaporean FDI has flowed so far afield to China? My research contributes to academic understanding in a number of ways. It adds to the scarce academic research that has been published to date on Southeast Asian SMEs, and it contributes to a more rigorous definition of CBN and some of the terms associated with it, such as guanxi. But its most significant contributions are to the following three areas: 1) theorizing on internationalisation and FDI in general, and ethnic Chinese businesses in particular; 2) assessments of whether Singaporean FDI outflows to China represent actual or faux economic development, and what that implies for evaluations of Singaporean state developmentalism; and 3) the use of CBN as a small state strategy to facilitate economic development and to accommodate an ascendant China. Chinese Capitalism and Internationalisation Theorising Further research into CBN is necessary to enhance theorising in both the Chinese Capitalism and mainstream internationalisation corpuses. As discussed in detail in Chapter 3, the Chinese Capitalism literature has to date suffered from a serious lack of empirical evidence. Articles that discuss CBN do often reference prior academic works, but when checked these references typically are revealed to be rather insubstantial. There is also a marked tendency to repeat, mantra-like, the same three or four original works on the subject, but because these studies were largely descriptive and based on a tiny sample size, they do not provide an adequate buttressing for the claim of extensive intra-ethnic business networking. Moreover, there have been virtually no rigorous cross-cultural comparative studies, and little consideration has been given to the drawbacks and costs of operating through networks. My investigation into CBN also speaks to the appropriateness of the academic niche that has developed for Chinese Business. A virtual phalanx of Chinese business experts has popped up since the late 1990s, and it is common to find universities that have dedicated a Chair—or even a department—to the business practices of this specific ethnic group. In contrast, one is less likely to find similar attention to Russian or Indian business studies. Of course, this is due in part to the staggering market potential represented by Chinas 1.3 billion population, but it can also be traced to the essentially culturalist assumption that ethnic Chinese have unique business practices such as CBN. In fact, CBN has become so widely accepted that much of the academic discussion has shifted away from directly considering ethnic Chinese ties towards as pseudo cross-comparative approach that is problematic because it contrasts the fact of CBN with the lack of networking in other cultures. Research into how, for example, Nordic or Indian networks are not as strong as CBN have become common. In short, though some of the details of CBN may be contested, the general premise of the Chinese Capitalism literature has largely been accepted and is influential. This has been especially true in the international business rubric, but references to CBN abound in economics-based disciplines as well. For example, in an Institute for International Economics special report describing the lessons South Korea should learn from CBN, Young argued: In the 1990s, they [the Chinese diaspora] formulated an international strategy to form a global network of overseas ChineseThe experiences of overseas Chines e networks would be good models for Korea (Young 2003: 50). And how did Young define CBN? They are led by the unique Chinese personal network, guanxi, which links individuals, hometown associations, business associations in the same industry, and associations of people with the same family name (Young 2003: 53). Mainstream internationalisation theories also have significant shortcomings. The economics discipline has a long history of neglecting—often completely omitting—the social, political, and historical context in which firms are embedded. A large gulf between mainstream economics and other social sciences has developed, making each seem increasingly irrelevant to the other. Economics many insights and strengths are too often viewed as inapplicable to other disciplines, and disciplinary cross-fertilisation has been hampered. Sloppy theorisations arise and thrive in such an environment. One of the most significant ways that evidence for CBN affects mainstream theorising lies in its suggestion that informally-linked enterprises might serve as functional substitutes for Western and Japanese MNEs. Large firms, especially multinationals, enjoy significant benefits of scale and scope as well as learning and productivity advantages that are unavailable to smaller, isolated firms (Nolan 2001). In contrast, the relatively small size of ethnic Chinese firms, which tend to be family-owned and -controlled, is considered by mainstream theorists to limit their competitiveness in international business. But perhaps the 21st century will indeed be a network age in which the economies of scale that dominated in the previous period seem to have given way to network economies (Young 2003: 33). If so, then the concept of CBN suggests that ethnic Chinese firms are informally bound together in such a way that they can duplicate, and maybe exceed, the benefits derived from the larger sco pe of MNEs (Borrus 1997). This intriguing possibility—that the limitations on competitiveness inherent in a family-controlled firm may be overcome by networking—provides a further reason for why my research into claims of extensive CBN is significant. Moreover, as my results demonstrate in Chapter 5, irrespective of whether extensive intra-ethnic networking is taking the place, the effects of the CBN discourse are profound and have affected FDI decision-making. Mainstream economic theory would be improved if economists took a more open-minded and sophisticated approach to appreciating, understanding, and incorporating such social dimensions. Singaporean Development(alism): Actual or Faux? My research contributes in another key way. Empirical evidence (or its absence) of CBN should factor into evaluations of Singapores level of economic development and, hence, assessments of the states developmental policies. FDI from Singapore to China has not only been large but it continues to grow. Though this transnational expansion has been actively promoted by the ruling Peoples Action Party (PAP) through various policies, programmes, and an official discourse on creating an external economic wing, the state would have us interpret Singaporean investment in China as growing economic maturation, a sign that Singapore is moving away from MNE-led development to a stage in which home-grown capitalists diversify into new areas. Outward direct investments are beneficial to both firms and the home country as they provide access to strategic assets, technology, skills, natural resources, and markets. It is especially important for a small state with limited market size and resources to be able to access international markets and connect with global production/knowledge systems. The degree to which Singapore has experienced the social and technological progress associated with economic development has been a contentious subject for the PAP-state (e.g., Krugman 1994), and it is perennially anxious to demonstrate its effectiveness. As discussed in Chapter 8, signs of declining popular support for the PAP in election results since 1988, in conjunction with a series of accumulation crises over the past two decades, have the state very worried. Though recognized as highly intrusive, the state has largely been given credit for developing Singapore from a sleepy entrepà ´t into a major communications hub with a population that enjoys one of the worlds highest per capita incomes. Since the 1990s, the Singaporean state has to a striking degree officially embraced and propagated a (selectively Confucian) culturalist discourse alongside calls for the development of an external sector to help insulate the country from downturns in the world economy. Is this yet another sign of an enduring comprehensive developmental state (Pereira 2007) cheerleading the march towards the next stage in Singapores economic development, this time, in part, by encouraging latent networking capabilities in its ethnic Chinese population? This might imply that after years of neglect, the PAP-developmental state has reached a stage where it is prioritising the engagement of local capitalists in its economic strategies (Haggard and Cheng 1987). For while the developmental state is expected to be the most powerful political and economic player during much of development, at some point state strategies should pay off and produce a vigorous and competitive domestic capitalist class (Periera 2007: 3). But what should we make of Singaporean FDI to China, and the states insistence that these flows are rooted in Chinese exceptionalism, if evidence suggests that CBN claims are over-stated? Justifications for Singapores domineering one-party state have always pointed to the Republics strong economic performance. If public proclamations about Chinese business networking turn out to be rather more wishful thinking than actual practice, then the government may be judged to have taken a serious mis-step, especially considering its own massive investments in China and the problems associated with some of them (, The New Frontier, Far Eastern Economic Review, December 6, 2001, BY Ben Dolven e.g., the Suzhou Industrial Park). The implication would be that Singaporean investment in China represents, at least in part, something other than the cool, independent economic rationalism upon which PAP political legitimacy rests; concerns might be raised about the optimum use of resources and the degr ee to which political considerations have lead the state to invest heavily in China itself, push its GLC sector to do so as well, and create a discourse in which local capitalists are encouraged to make the risky move to China. More importantly, high levels of Singaporean FDI to China might not represent maturation out of the MNE-dependency that is widely recognized to now seriously limit economic growth and make the island-state exceptionally vulnerable to fluctuations in a world economy beyond its control. And it may hint that the hither-to developmental PAP-state is losing some of the political insulation, technocratic skills, and discipline it needs to continue to lead Singapore. In summary, my research contributes to assessments of the PAP-developmental state. Should Singaporean FDI to China be interpreted as a sign of economic development, with all the benefits this implies for a small state that has to date been extremely exposed to world economic conditions? Or, alternatively, is it at heart a sort of faux development that does not bring the social and technological progress that accompanies actual development? This important topic—the role of the PAP-states CBN discourse in FDI decision-making—is discussed at length in conjunction with the results of my research in Chapter 8. CBN as a Small State Strategy My research also contributes to an understanding of how CBN and the discourse surrounding can be used by a small state wishing to punch above its weight in its engagement with the international environment, especially an ascendant China. By this I am referring to Singapores strategic use of culture and ethnicity to further its economic and national security/foreign policy goals. Chinas growing economic and military strength is increasingly presenting a dramatic challenge to world, particularly East Asian, power relations. Tapping into (or manufacturing) the Chinese-ness of a states population or subgroup may be an excellent strategy for accommodating a rising China, especially for small states such as Singapore which are looking for ways to compensate for their power deficit. A small state faces an integration dilemma when it considers Chinas growing markets and reach (Goetschel 1998: 28). It can insist on economic and security independence but risk being abandoned or isolated, with the disadvantages this would like cause. Or it can accept a constraint on its freedom to act in ways that are contrary to Chinas economic and security goals and instead try to accommodate, identify with, even in some sense integrate with, China. Stressing as it does not just civilisational fluency but actual networks with China, the CBN discourse functions as a novel way of enabl ing Singapore to do the latter. Whether Singapores strategy might successfully be imitated by other small states remains to be seen. It is interesting to speculate how, for example, Africas over 7 million ethnic Chinese and Perus 1.3 million, might factor into their states strategic possibilities for engaging China (e.g., Mung 2008). Singapore has tried to modify the international environment through its cultural discourse in another sense. As discussed in Chapter 8, this former British colony has for the two decades heavily marketed itself as the Gateway to the East. Its stated goal since Singapores regionalisation drive was announced in 1993 has been to be the regional hub, a place where MNEs locate their headquarters and higher value-added operations (such as research and development), while situating lower value-added parts in China and other areas of East Asia where labour is cheaper. The clear implication of the self-orientalising discourse of CBN is that Western firms are unlikely to be successful if they invest directly in China. They need instead to engage a mediating force, such as Singaporean firms, in order to become part of the transnational networks in which Chinese business is accomplished, or so the story goes. As a Singaporean government minister put it: Those who have knowledge of the culture and cultural nuances are able to lower business risks [for foreigners]. The Chinese overseas understand Chinese culture because they are ethnically Chinese themselves, but they also understand the world outsideThey are like modems. They modulate and demodulate and add value in the process. (George Yeo, quoted in Crovitz 1993: 18). With its middleman familiarity with both East and West and its purportedly dense transnational networks with China, the CBN discourse therefore places Singapore in the enviable niche position of knowledge arbitrageur (Tan, K.B. Eugene 2006). It is a striking example of the claiming of territoriality over knowledge (Brown and Menkhoff 2006), in both a conceptual and quite literal sense. Defining the Concept of CBN Unfortunately, a clear-cut definition of the concept of Chinese business networking does not currently exist. Much of the Chinese Capitalism literature is largely descriptive rather than theoretically precise, and to the degree that a definition is specified it varies significantly from author to author. Some scholars discussing networks have stressed their origin in qiaoxiang (usually defined as ancestral homeland ties), kinship, religious, and/or school ties (Hamilton 1996; Liu 1998, 1999; Yeung 2000d). Other scholars have used a broader definition that characterises Chinese business networks as long-term, but extensible, personalized networks, based on trust and upheld by the indispensability of reputation within such a system (Tracy et al. 2001: 262). These are contrasted with what are characterised as the generally weak, situational, and non-enduring ties of the West (Zahra et al. 1999: 45). A particular problem with the fuzziness surrounding CBN is that this concept is often—and unhelpfully—confused with guanxi. Like CBN, the latter term suffers from a lack of definitional rigor. Guanxi has commonly been translated as both connections and relationships, but neither of these terms adequately gives a sense of how this multi-faceted concept is commonly understood by Chinese. A more sophisticated definition is, the concept of drawing on connections in order to secure favors in personal relations (Luo 2007: 2). There are obvious similarities between the concepts of CBN and guanxi, but closer scrutiny of the academic literature as well as the results of my fieldwork led me to a conclusion, shared with a few researchers (e.g., Fan 2002), that guanxi is not identical to CBN. For example, it is not generally considered to be something that is exchanged between family members or childhood friends, nor is it usually described as having any sense of qiaoxiang or ancestral homeland sentiment. Also, unlike CBN, guanxi has on occasion been described quite negatively by a few researchers. Fan, for example, argued that guanxi and corruption are inextricably intertwined in 21st century China (2002). This assessment was supported by my fieldwork, as most of the SME owners I interviewed ascribed negative qualities to the practice of guanxi. Some of them described guanxi as a payment—on occasion they used the term bribe—that must be paid to local government officials as a cost of doing busine ss in China. Others equated it with an obligation to pay for lavish dinners and parties for customers or suppliers in the (frequently forlorn) hope of receiving enough business in return to justify these outlays. When one of my interviewees was asked to define guanxi, he summed it up as, If you want to do business in China, you must pay to play (Interviewee #6). In summary, though any attempt to definitively delineate these two unwieldy and messy terms (Luo 2007) is beyond the scope of this dissertation, the results of my research, combined with a close scrutiny of the academic literature, led me to the conclusion that they are not identical. While creating guanxi with someone may lead to a close networking relationship, it should not be confused with the networking relationship itself. So, though these concepts overlap, it is important to carefully define and distinguish between them. Yet in many accounts of Chinese business practices these two terms—guanxi and CBN—are used as though they were interchangeable. As discussed further in Chapter 5, the frequent conflation of what are actually two separate concepts adds to the confusion surrounding intra-ethnic networking and has important ramifications for my research conclusions. In light of the definitional jumble surrounding CBN, it was important in this thesis that the concept be defined in such as way as to convey the general intent of the Chinese Capitalism literature, yet be specific enough to be rigorously tested. To this end, I chose to draw upon the definition of Chinese business networking suggested by Gomez and Hsiao (2001). They argued that the Chinese Capitalism literature is characterised by an emphasis on Chinese exclusivity, a special conception of trust, and an explicit challenge to existing theories of transnational expansion. Thus, contrary to the very broad definitions typically put forth or assumed, the concept of CBN must necessarily imply a precise, strong connection among businessmen that goes beyond the common, and casual, use in the West of the term business networking (Gomez and Hsiao 2001). More specifically, Gomez and Hsiao claimed that the concept should be reserved for: The e

Drinking Laws Essay -- essays research papers

I. Introduction and Description of Problem (APX 2 PAGES) 1) Statement of the Problem: (5 pts) Eighteen-year olds throughout the United States are considered legal adults in almost every way, with one notable exception: the privilege of having an alcoholic beverage. In every state, eighteen-year olds are legally permitted to drive, live as they choose, and work where they choose. Eighteen-year olds pay taxes as other adults do, are subject to all criminal and civil laws, and are punished, jailed and even executed for crimes they might commit against such laws. They are also permitted to hold most local, state and federal government public offices, and can sponsor and pass new laws if elected. Again, the only exception to complete adult rights is a prohibition against an eighteen-year old buying or enjoying a beer or other type of alcoholic beverage anywhere in the United States. Many countries elsewhere throughout the world have lower drinking ages or no age limitation or prohibition at all on consumption of alcoholic beverages. Interestingly, these countries likewise have lower incidences of abuse, lower death rates in automobile accidents, and lower arrest rates for alcohol-related offenses than in the US. Both Canada and Mexico, as examples, have legal 18-year old drinking age laws, and have abuse indices well below those in the US. Likewise, the Italians, Chinese, German, Austrian, and French have for years allowed for younger adults to purchase and consume alcohol. Again, social and criminal problems among 18-21 year olds in these countries are much smaller in number and severity as opposed to those in the US. Sociological and psychological researchers studying this problem attribute the difference to the various countries’ accepted methods for mentoring â€Å"acceptable† behavior.† Their premise is that we in the US tend to rely on the force of law as a deterrent to bad behavior, rather than our families teaching acceptable behavior (including drinking) in adult settings. Even between states in the US, patterns of alcohol-related injuries point to proof of an age/alcohol bias among our legislators. It has been proven that when two similar jurisdictions (e.g., Wisconsin vs. Illinois in the 1980’s; Vermont vs. Other New England states in the early 1980’s; and New York vs. Quebec in the mid-1980’s), the one with the lower drinking age had a lower rate of al... ...iquor store, gain income from his investment, but be unable to buy something from the store that produces income for him. An 18-year old Army private, sworn to protect the United States from danger and harm and serving in the caves of Afghanistan, might find himself at risk of death to protect a Congressman who would not or could not offer him a â€Å"thank you† drink if he had the chance to do so. Our nation would be better with passage of this bill by recognizing finally that ills of drinking to excess are not limited to those less than 21 years of age. This Bill would make 18-year olds more responsible and less likely to harbor behavior that leads to a host of other social ills and problems. Finally, the Bill would also establish a fund for aiding victims of drunk driving – a cause very much deserving of national attention rather than hyped-up charges of teenage abuse The United States has long recognized that adulthood is sanctioned at 18 years of age for every other reason except our national drinking age. It is time for us to recognize this inequality with a sanctioned study of the consequences and a long-awaited and carefully drafted Bill for lowering the drinking age to 18.

Coda Lidencing :: essays research papers

The first question about this topic would be: Why would a word-final consonant have to be syllabified in an onset, and not in a normal post-nuclear rhymal complement (Coda) position. After all, we have this position in word internally, and this Coda is so important as it differs some languages to others called â€Å"CV languages†.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  First of all, Coda is an old term, back to the time that all consonants which occur after a nucleus could be simply attached to the rhyme in the form: (1) ,where C could even accommodate 2 consonants when N is neither a long vowel nor a heavy diphthong. Nowadays, Coda is more accurately called rhymal complement, to accentuate the fact that it is not a constituent, while onset and nuclear are. Why can’t a word end in a consonant? If we observe the way languages behave, so many exceptions seem to occur in the word-final â€Å"Coda†, every rules about how it should normally behaves is so frequently broken that leads us to the question whether this â€Å"Coda† could be defined as such. 1-  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The case of vowel shortening rule. Basically, long vowels are shortened in a closed syllable (Kaye). And here are some examples to illustrate this proposition. Ex: French, chat [Sa:] and chatte [Sat] Yawelmani, [sa:pit] and [sapnit] In both cases above, the vowels are shortened to accommodate a consonant in its rhymal complement position, because we know that there is no long vowel or heavy diphthong in a branching rhyme. But in cases when the consonant which occurs after long vowel is also situate at the end of the word, this rule is not observe. Ex: French, vert [ve:r] and verdure [verdu:r] English, keep [ki:p], and green [gri:n] (2) Those examples shows violation of the above rule stated where no coda could be accommodated into a rhyme with long vowel or heavydiphthong. 2-  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The case of word-finally consonant cluster. Words in English like kept, child, find†¦pose several problems in phonological analysis. First problem would be the rule about â€Å"no branching coda in a branching rhyme†, the second would be the nature of consonant clusters; consonant like pt, ld, rt†¦ are not the normal consonant cluster so-called well-formed cluster, the well-formed cluster in a language could be easily spotted in a branching onset. If we could not find them at the beginning of any English word, there is a big chance that they are not a good cluster, so we can separate them into two different syllable if found in middle of a word, the natural order of two consonant occurring next to each other must be respected, re-syllabification is not possible.

Adolescent Suicide Essay -- Death Depression Papers

Adolescent Suicide Joseph Connelly Gazzola used to be a Northeastern University football star. He has since taken his own life, and it has hit everyone he knew very hard. As reported in the Boston Globe, â€Å"Mr. Gazzola, known as Joe, was born and raised in North Attleborough, showing a love of football and a tolerance of all types of people. ‘He didn't care much about differences,’ said his father. ‘He could relate to anyone. He was the kind of kid who could walk with princes and paupers and never see a difference.’† Gazzola is not alone. There have been a numerous suicides on college campuses as well as among teens in the same age bracke. It is a real proble and it is time to take note. On October 7, 1999, a student at Ramapo College killed himself reportedly due to a break up with his girlfriend, similar to what allegedly caused the fourth NYU student, Diana Chein, 19, to commit suicide by jumping from the top of her boyfriend’s apartment building after a break up on March 10, 2004. The cycle of depression and self destruction is apparent in all cases. There have been many instances of suicide that have occurred in the past years at universities across the country, and since it is such a sensitive subject, there have not been nearly enough coverage as this topic deserves, considering this issue does not seem to be going away. When collecting data about suicide statistics, the age range is broken down as people ages 15-24, which spans most developmental years. Within this bracket are college-age students and this age-group has by far the most troubling statistics around it. In a study released by Brown University, their psychology department shed some light on common myths and facts surrounded suicide. These m... ...s there is a higher awareness level,† said Hayes. â€Å"There are still far too many suicides but now they are much better prepared.† When Gazzola died at NU, the counseling center team dealt with Gazzola’s teammates, roommates, and friends who were left bewildered at this misfortune. Also, with Northeastern’s less than perfect record this academic year, the unfortunate deaths of James Grabowski during the Super Bowl riots (although he wasn’t an NU student, his brother is), and Walter Dedrick found dead in his apartment, (still unexplainable) for example are just a few disasters that demonstrate just how real the problems are and that something needs to be done. It is time for everyone to step up and pay attention to the people around you. Some may not even realize they have a problem, but you can end up making all the difference to a friend in need if you are aware. Adolescent Suicide Essay -- Death Depression Papers Adolescent Suicide Joseph Connelly Gazzola used to be a Northeastern University football star. He has since taken his own life, and it has hit everyone he knew very hard. As reported in the Boston Globe, â€Å"Mr. Gazzola, known as Joe, was born and raised in North Attleborough, showing a love of football and a tolerance of all types of people. ‘He didn't care much about differences,’ said his father. ‘He could relate to anyone. He was the kind of kid who could walk with princes and paupers and never see a difference.’† Gazzola is not alone. There have been a numerous suicides on college campuses as well as among teens in the same age bracke. It is a real proble and it is time to take note. On October 7, 1999, a student at Ramapo College killed himself reportedly due to a break up with his girlfriend, similar to what allegedly caused the fourth NYU student, Diana Chein, 19, to commit suicide by jumping from the top of her boyfriend’s apartment building after a break up on March 10, 2004. The cycle of depression and self destruction is apparent in all cases. There have been many instances of suicide that have occurred in the past years at universities across the country, and since it is such a sensitive subject, there have not been nearly enough coverage as this topic deserves, considering this issue does not seem to be going away. When collecting data about suicide statistics, the age range is broken down as people ages 15-24, which spans most developmental years. Within this bracket are college-age students and this age-group has by far the most troubling statistics around it. In a study released by Brown University, their psychology department shed some light on common myths and facts surrounded suicide. These m... ...s there is a higher awareness level,† said Hayes. â€Å"There are still far too many suicides but now they are much better prepared.† When Gazzola died at NU, the counseling center team dealt with Gazzola’s teammates, roommates, and friends who were left bewildered at this misfortune. Also, with Northeastern’s less than perfect record this academic year, the unfortunate deaths of James Grabowski during the Super Bowl riots (although he wasn’t an NU student, his brother is), and Walter Dedrick found dead in his apartment, (still unexplainable) for example are just a few disasters that demonstrate just how real the problems are and that something needs to be done. It is time for everyone to step up and pay attention to the people around you. Some may not even realize they have a problem, but you can end up making all the difference to a friend in need if you are aware.

Jane Eyre in the Opening 3 Chapters Essay

Charlotte Bronte is the author of the novel Jane Eyre about an orphaned girl struggling throughout the novel to achieve equality and to overcome oppression. In the opening 3 chapters, Bronte emphasizes Jane’s loneliness, lack of familial affection and emphasizes her sensitive nature and inner strength. As we witness Jane being punished and neglected at the hands of her unfeeling aunts and left feeling isolated and out of place in her society. Firstly, we are introduced to Jane, hiding reading a book. This establishes her odd and lonely place at Gateshead hall. As not only is she separated from the rest of the reed family but Bronte explains that she is ‘happy’ and ‘feared nothing except interruption’. To feel safe and content only from being excluded from her family signifies jane’s neglected and troubled childhood. This is indicated as a child should want to be surrounded by family and love. for Jane to be living in ‘despair’ by the sense of this seclusion to be ‘obstructed’ implies her inner strength of independence as she’s willing to find a book and read educating herself instead of moping and giving up. And she’s joyful when emphasises her independence and drive to find a book and read rather than mope. ane sitting and reading by herself, not allowed to play with her cousins, establishes her odd and lonely position at Gateshead Hall. Yet her willingness to find a book to read, rather than just moping, establishes her independence.

Technology Is Killing Creativity

Technology is not killing creativity. If it was, then Les Paul’s invention of the electric guitar, Bob Moog’s invention of the synthesizer, Kusek et al. ’s invention of MIDI, Pro Tools’ inventor as well as every effects pedal or electronic music enhancing piece of gear would have to be part of this destructive force. Thoughts like this are fun to debate but totally unproductive. The real issue to be discussed for which a solution must be found is how can those who produce great music be found, heard above all the clutter and find an audience large enough to sustain a career financially. How music will be discovered in the future will determine whether next generation major artists will ever be developed again or whether the fragmentation of the music space only allows for creation of a large middle class of artists struggling to survive. Today’s battle for discovery of great music is no different than it was over the past 60 years for innovative genres like Rock and Roll, R&B and Hip Hop. The innovator’s dilemma applied to those artists and entrepreneurs fomenting these musical revolutions. It all comes down to how the tools available at the time, both music and business, were employed by the innovators to create a force great enough to break through the same type of early technology adoption problems we have today. The world was much simpler in those days and today those trying to break through are faced with a much more challenging and complicated set of circumstances BUT the exact same problem. From the 50’s through the 80’s, the record business could develop great artists out of the trunks of their cars. One driven and focused person could make it all happen. Channels of distribution were easily controlled by those who knew how to utilize them. The press, radio and TV allowed massive marketing and promotion machines to be built that could break an artist over night. In the early days there was no one way to get it done. It took 25 years for a successful cookie cutter business model to be developed but there were always interlopers that could come in at any time and change the game. Unfortunately, the world in which great music must be found and nurtured is so fragmented and overwhelming to almost everyone that’s in it. We haven’t figured it out yet. One thing is very clear to me: moving forward no band or artist will be able to do it alone. Collaboration, better teamwork, and a better meld of technology with creativity, marketing and promotion are essential if success is to be found in the future. Outside the box thinking, new tools need to be tested for success and the new music business needs to evolve a system that makes the fragmentation more manageable and controllable to easier focus our attention on the great music that is really out there and the artists who play it.