Abstract
This paper argues that defining and describing cross-cultural similarities and differences is best accomplished by using culture-general rather than culture specific dimensions. The paper defines culture and discusses the problems associated with culture-specific information, particularly in that one usually finds exceptions rather than the general rules of the culture.

From the Paper
"By adopting the perspective that cultures begin with some universal similarities, research into cross-cultural differences takes on more widely understood parameters. The scientific community itself, by adopting certain universal standards so that everyone can communicate the same information is certainly an example of this. While generalizing about different cultures may have some drawbacks, it is certainly an acceptable risk when compared to the bias that can result when researchers attempt to look more closely at particulars and judge them without having an overall framework of understanding."

Tags:exceptions, knowledge, society

Abstract
Who owns the beaches? Who owns the giant maple trees? Who owns the water in the great lakes of Canada? Are these owned by the people of Canada, the government of Canada - or by international big business? Under the new regime of globalization, the answers are more complicated than ever before. The global commons may be said to be under attack, and the most heartening response to this has been the emergence of a social justice movement that seeks to protect global resources.

From the Paper
Assignment 3, Topic 4: Develop the notion of the "global commons" and use this concept to describe changes to the world and the emerging movement for social justice Who owns the beaches? Who owns the giant maple trees? Who owns the water in the great lakes of Canada? Are these owned by the people of Canada, the government of Canada - or by international big business? Under the new regime of globalization, the answers are more complicated than ever before. The global commons may be said to be under attack, and the most heartening response to this has been the emergence of a social justice movement that seeks to protect global resources.

Tags:globalization, canada, commons

Abstract
The central idea of the trade agreements that have been concluded in the spirit of neoliberalism is that free trade provides a level, fair basis on which all nations can compete with each other, and all can grow wealthy together as they benefit from the wonders of free trade. However, the reality is that trade agreements have negatively impacted the role of the nation state, greatly reducing the power of individual governments to run their country as they see fit, and to protect their citizens and their industries. their industries.

From the Paper
Assignment 2, Topic 2: Describe the way in which trade agreements have changed the role of the nation state The central idea of the trade agreements that have been concluded in the spirit of neoliberalism is that free trade provides a level, fair basis on which all nations can compete with each other, and all can grow wealthy together as they benefit from the wonders of free trade. However, the reality is that trade agreements have negatively impacted the role of the nation state, greatly reducing the power of individual governments to run their country as they see fit, and to protect their citizens and their industries.

Tags:globalilzation, canada, trade

Abstract
This essay examines what exactly Locke means by the term tabula rasa, or "clean slate", as it is used to describe the state of the mind before experience. The principal aim is to show that Locke does not contradict Kant, who describes an elaborate structure of the a priori faculties of the mind. The essay shows that both Locke and Kant agree that all knowledge stems from experience, and that Locke uses the term "clean slate" to describe the absence of knowledge. As the essay shows, Locke's particular terminology is motivated by his intent to refute Cartesian duality which posits native inscription of the mind.

From the Paper
"It must first be pointed out that Locke argues against innate speculative principles, but not the innate capacity of the mind to learn. He compares the mind to a blank slate - it is capable of being written on, but to begin with it has nothing written on it. This distinction is important, because it is sometimes supposed that Locke stands in opposition to Kant, who describes an elaborate metaphysical make-up of the mind, which comes prior to the experience of the world. But in truth there is no conflict, because Kant's metaphysics of the mind is merely an alternative way to describe the tabula rasa of Locke. Locke is merely responding to the Cartesians, who believed in a duality of mind and matter, and in which the mind possesses innate speculative principles by which it is able to understand the physical world, and to acquire knowledge of it. The supposed innate principles were those to do with logic, mathematics and geometry. This is Locke's principle target of refutation."

Tags:native, inscription, experience, a, priori, Kant, Hume, Descartes

Abstract
I wrote this paper trying to describe the situations under which culture can arise as much as trying to describe culture itself - I felt the subject matter provided dealt much more with the former than with the latter. The Harlem Renaissance (should it come up) was an artistic movement started in Harlem, New York which was a launching point for the African American arts.

From the Paper
The Culture of the Forced Other An abstract concept with a real world application, culture is something that is difficult to define and locate in the real world - but it is historically an incredibly pervasive and powerful force. This paper will consider several sources from academic writing, minority communities, and 1930's popular American literature in an effort to consider where culture might come from and where culture might be. The conclusion drawn will be that culture can form as the result of a forced exclusion of one group from a dominant majority, and that the minority community created by such forced exclusion is a viable environment in such culture can come into

Tags:culture, other, 1930

Abstract
This paper discusses leadership and the existence of an effective taxonomy to describe or classify leadership. The paper relates that there are a variety of methods that are used to describe, classify and group leadership in existence, and one such existing taxonomy is to categorize leadership by leadership style and the characteristic attributes that accompany each style. The paper asserts that while there are other working taxonomy styles that can be used and new ones could be developed, identifying leadership based on leadership style may be the most effective from an organizational vantage point.

From the Paper
"This document discusses leadership and the existence of an effective taxonomy to describe or classify leadership. There are a variety of methods that are used to describe, classify and group leadership in existence. One such existing taxonomy is to categorize leadership by leadership style and the characteristic attributes that accompany each style. While there are other working taxonomy styles that can be used and new ones could be developed, identifying leadership based on leadership style may be the most effective from an organizational vantage point."

Tags:leadership, taxonomy, style

Abstract
This paper links the dark vision of Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" to the fripperies of Jane Austen by showing that these writers can be seen as important bookmarks to the era of the modern novel. We cannot understand Conrad's work without understanding its connections to his time. The paper shows that by looking back to a writer like Austen, we can see how much has changed in the world at large and in the world of the novel during the Victorian era and the ways in which authors had begun to lose faith in the power of language to represent, to contain and to describe language. The paper argues that we cannot understand Conrad's relationship to language without understanding the larger context within which literature was created and consumed. The era from the coronation of Queen Victoria in 1837 until her death in 1901, was an era of a number of key social changes that would force writers to take clear positions on issues of immediate importance to the rest of society. The paper shows, therefore, that we see very little social criticism in Austen - whose "Pride and Prejudice" was written 20 years before Victoria ascended the throne - and almost exclusively social comment in Conrad's story, published in 1902, the year after Victoria died. But even as writers began to become engaged more and more in the world at large, they became increasingly aware of the fact that language is of limited use in effecting change. The paper shows that for a writer like Austen, the power of language had only to carry a plot and characters; for Conrad language had to have to have the ability to transform the world. It is thus hardly surprising that Austen should find language adequate to her desires and her needs and that Conrad should find it inadequate.

From the Paper
"Conrad throughout this book implies that civilizations are created by the setting of laws and codes that encourage people to achieve higher standards that civilization and social bonds compel us to act out our better selves. The institutions of communal and civilized life act as dams, as bulwarks to prevent humans from reverting back to their darker tendencies, which they will do as soon as they are left alone or loosed from the constraints of their own societies, an element essential to much of colonial thought, as Back and Solomos (2000) suggest. Conrad suggests, through his insistence on the primacy of metaphor, that language cannot be counted on to be one of those civilizing bonds. When a writer can no longer count on language to provide an anchor in the world, we recognize that we are entering the rocky waters of modernism."

Tags:imperialism, colonialization, Kurtz, Marlow

Abstract
Examines two literary works that describe the nature of women in terms of good/bad distinctions. Discusses Geraldine Jewsbury's 1848 novel THE HALF SISTERS & Christina Rossetti's 1862 poem GOBLIN MARKET to explore the theme. Contrasting sisters by both writers to demonstrate potential & waste of potential in women. Literary strategies to accomplish purpose.

From the Paper
"Both Geraldine Jewsbury, in her novel The Half Sisters (1848), and Christina Rossetti, in her narrative poem "Goblin Market" (1862), use the device of a pair of sisters for exploring the nature of women and expanding their audiences' understanding of women, their capacities, and the limitations placed on them by convention. Women, generally speaking, were viewed as either good or bad, with the domestic and un-domestic or, perhaps, the dutiful and undutiful, as the terms of the definition. Within these two categories individual differences among women were usually described in terms of their location on a horizontal continuum of goodness and badness and only two vertical characteristics made much of a basis for differentiation: class (with the associated question of wealth) and nationality (perhaps associated with the question of religion as well). The essential..."

Abstract
The following paper compares Aristotle's "A Definition of Justice," focusing on the connection between the freedom that democrats seek through political participation and the virtue that aristocrats see through elite rule. In her work "Ideology and Terror," Hannah Arendt reasons that the power of totalitarian states rises from the extreme distortion of logical premises coupled with the use of terror to enforce the ideology. This paper examines how both authors identify the ideology of the government from their era and describe the conditions of a society ruled by each government within their works; however, Aristotle and Arendt differ in their opinions on human oppression.

From the Paper
"History has witnessed constant oscillations between various forms and functions of government, from tyrannies to republics. In turn, these governments and their relation to the individual citizen have been the focus of many great thinkers. Both authors identify the ideology of the government from their era and describe the conditions of a society ruled by each government within their works; however, Aristotle and Arendt differ in their opinions on human oppression."

Tags:justice, oligarchy, politics, totalitarianism, human, oppression, tyranny, distortion, era

Abstract
This essay compares the novels of George Elliott, Elizabeth Gaskell and Benjamin Disraeli and their works, respectively: "Felix Holt", set in the coal mining areas of Loamshire, "Mary Barton", in the power looms of Manchester and "Sybil", the collieries and the metal-working foundries of Mowbray. The novels describe the deplorable conditions that existed for the workmen: malnourishment, often starvation, lower wages and death due to preventable and curable diseases.

From the Paper
"From the perspective of workers, the main characters in the novels are Felix Holt (Felix Holt), John Barton (Mary Barton) and Walter Gerard (Sybil). They are honest men, passionate about the rights of workers, and possessed of a charisma that lets others gravitate to them.

"They belong to trade unions and workers movements entrusted with the task of improving working conditions and increasing worker wages. In all three novels, workers seek redress by taking their grievances to the Members of Parliament in London. Each time however, their delegations, met with stonewalling and apathy, return "empty-handed." These frustrations are the forerunners to the riots."

Tags:industrial, revolution, working, trade, union, class, conditions