Present an idea for a new business idea (coffee shop) in Sydney. The Assignment

Present an idea for a new business idea (coffee shop) in Sydney. The report will take the form of a detailed feasibility study d - Assignment Example Moreover, with the increasing demand for coffee among the people of Australia will assist in better development of this business owing to which this idea can be noted as an effective practice to attain better growth opportunities and generate income in a less risk and sustainable way. What Are Your Objectives For Your Business Over The Next Twelve Months? In its performance during the initial 12 months period, the coffee shop will aim to provide quality coffee and services for the people to have a better recess experience in Australia and thereby strengthen its foothold in the market with due significance towards its mission and vision. Moreover, with greater demand for coffee, the main aim of the coffee shop will be to be recognized as one the best coffee in Sydney in its future endeavors. What Are Your Objectives for Your Business Over the Following Two Years? The coffee shop, intended to be established following this market plan, after developing a better position in the market wi ll aim towards increased profitability as well as towards being reputed as a renowned coffee shop in Sydney over the next two years. ... The coffee shop will provide better quality coffee with enhanced fragrance or aroma and thus create a differentiation within its market sphere. The shop will also be equipped with a friendly atmosphere and staffs so as to give a high quality service to the customers. List All the Products And/ Or Services That You Plan To Provide In The Future In the future, i.e. almost within the next two years, the coffee shop with better positions in the market segment and demand will provide a variety of coffee products to its consumers. The products will include brewed hot and cold coffee products, pancakes with chocolate coffee fillings and ice creams with blended coffee aroma. Who Will Operate The Business? It is worth mentioning in this context that the business of the coffee shop will be based on sole proprietorship. Sole proprietorship signifies that the business will be owned by a single individual who will be entitled for all risks as well as profits resulting from the conduct of the inte grated organizational performances (Linn-Benton Community College, 2013). Who Else Will Be Employed By The Business Immediately? In the initial stage, the coffee shop will employ ten experienced staff, who will be liable to conduct various responsibilities in relation to the business functions and thereby render an effective structure as well as working culture to the company. To be precise, these staff members will be responsible for preparing coffee products and meeting the requirements of the customers to ensure consistent growth in customer satisfaction, which is often regarded as an essential constituent for the long-run sustainability of any new start-up firm. Who Else Will Be Employed By The Business In The Future? In future, with

ECON100- Business Economics and the New Zealand Economy Assignment

ECON100- Business Economics and the New Zealand Economy - Assignment Example (b) Expenditure is a product of price and quantity. It possible for total expenditure on houses overall in Auckland to rise compared with expenditure on the earthquake reconstruction. This is because the demand (quantity) of houses sold will increase considerably as supply also is boosted. The reconstruction will reduce this increase since some people will be forced to go back to Christchurch due to work or other issues. The argument is based on principle of elasticity of supply and demand. The increase in demand and supply of houses in Auckland is the degree of responsiveness in relation to changes in price. I am the only T-shirts seller (supply low), revenue demand high and the potential customer identify am the only one with the T-shirt (demand high). According to the price elasticity of demand, the price is charged based on the change in quantity demand divided the percentage of change in the price demanded. Therefore, in this scenario the price will be relatively high due to high demand, low supply and profit margin requirements. The superior the price elasticity, the nearer a trader should price their products to competitive products and likewise. From the concept of price elasticity, having a pricing objective is not sufficient. There are other myriad factors considered prior to setting its prices, the customer may buy once and never come back. These factors comprise the demand, the offering’s costs, and the customers target needs. In addition, other factors such as the external environment including competition, the economy, and regulations. Other perspectives of the marke ting mix include the nature of the offering, its promotion and distribution. Price elasticity makes individual sensitivity to price alterations, interferes with the demand for the good. The decision to come up with the price is based on how consumer will respond to prices suggestions. i) In this consumption today and consumption in the future

Software to Manage the Olympic Games

Software to Manage the Olympic Games The Olympic and Paralympic Games are the worlds largest peace-time event. The modern Olympic Games were first held in Greece in 1896 and since 1960, the Paralympic Games have provided athletes with disabilities with the opportunity to compete at the highest level. All athletes are encouraged to live by a set of shared principles -the Olympic and Paralympic Values of friendship, equality, respect, courage, determination, excellence and inspiration. The Games are held every four years in a different city and in 2012 London will be hosting the Games. London started the bidding process to be a host city in 2003. Over two years the bid team put together a plan to show how the London Games would be staged. The team presented the plans to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Singapore in 2005, along with four other competing cities. After evaluation, the IOC voted for the city that they felt was the most suitable to host the Games in 2012. London received 54 votes in the final round compared to the 50 votes awarded to Paris and so became the host city. The London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) has been set up to take responsibility for planning, organising and delivering a memorable Games in 2012. This is a huge task. The ÂÂ £2 billion needed to organise and run the Olympic and Paralympic Games has to be raised by LOCOG from the private sector. This is achieved through selling sponsorship, merchandising, broadcasting rights and tickets for events. The London 2012 Games will bring together more than 14,000 athletes from 205 countries. Spectators and sports enthusiasts will buy nine million tickets and billions of people around the world will watch the event on TV. Ensuring everything runs smoothly is a tough challenge and LOCOG cannot do it on its own. It has to work closely with many partners and stakeholders to make it happen. This case study shows how creating a clear vision and set of values has made it possible to establish clear objectives for delivering an unforgettable Games. A. Objective: Your group has been chosen to write the software required to manage the London Olympic Games 2012 from sending invitations to the participating countries/ teams , managing the facilities, tracking the events , recording the results and finally keeping track of the results and the performance of the participants etc. B. Your Tasks and Deliverables:- Identify the major tasks to be carried out. Identify the order the tasks have to be developed. Can some tasks be done in parallel (at the same time) or serially (one task must finish before the next task starts) and break down the major tasks to the lower levels (as far as work package). Identify any special tasks (tasks which need specialists). Identify any major risks that could affect the delivery of the project or cause to exceed the project budget, time scale or increase the required resource. Construct a risk assessment table that will rate the impact of each risk that you identify. Recommend ways to provide for the risks after a careful analysis. Use your initiative to determine how long jobs take to Include the critical path analysis to demonstrate the beginning to end of the project and identify where there may be problems. Include the milestones. Determine the labour costs and provide a WBS containing these costs. The WBS should also content a set of estimates that are mirrored on the WBS and should be capable of rolling-up to demonstrate the overall cost of the project and the individual cost of each sub deliverable. Use the different project evaluation techniques done in the class to evaluate the economic feasibility of the project. Consider all the strategic issues arising out of the project success( and failure !) Consider all the technical issues arising from this project.

English Should be the National Language Essay examples -- Should Engli

From the time the Pilgrims landed in this great nation at Plymouth Rock, immigrants have been culturally diverse and have spoken many languages. When the Pilgrims arrived in the New World, they did not know how to communicate with the natives. Through intense study the natives learned the Pilgrims’ language. Even with the common language they were still a melting pot of different culture. Some would say that America has gotten over the language/ cultural barriers and now almost everyone speaks the common language of English, but there are still many immigrants who do not know English. Bilingual education is put into public schools for this reason, so that immigrant children can be assimilated to English gradually. The national language should be English instead of the official language because America has prided herself in being very diverse. If we take away the diversity, then we take away the core values that America has always had since her founding. Just as the Native Americans had to learn English from the Pilgrims, immigrant children need bilingual education to help them learn English. Everyone expects the immigrants to be able to speak English immediately, but that is rarely the case; they need time to learn our culture. In order for immigrants to succeed in this nation it is recommended that they learn English and every American should try to help them learn it. By immigrant children learning English through bilingual education they not only get keep their culture, but also learn the language to help them become successful in America. The Encyclopedia of Education says, â€Å"In most areas of the United States approximately 70 percent of the native-born currently are adopting English as their usual language† (Glenn). This ... ...nal language instead of the official language. Works Cited 1. CIlheran, Patrick. "YouTube - Obama; Americans Learn Spanish! I'm Embarrassed." YouTube – Broadcast Yourself. 10 July 2010. Web. 30 Mar. 2011. . 2. GLENN, CHARLES L. "Immigrant Education." Encyclopedia of Education. Ed. James W. Guthrie. 2nd ed. Vol. 4. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2002. 1097- 1106. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 14 Mar. 2011 3. "Language Acquisition | Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees – GCIR." Welcome | Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees - GCIR. 2008. Web. 17 Mar. 2011. . 4. U.S. English Inc. "States with Official English Laws." U.S. English. 2011. Web. 17 Mar. 2011. .

Group Dynamics Essay

What is â€Å"group dynamics†? Perhaps it will be most useful to start by looking at the derivation of the word â€Å"dynamics†. It comes from a Greek word meaning force. In careful usage the phrase, â€Å"group dynamics† refers to the forces operating in groups. The investigation of group dynamics, then, consists of a study of these forces: what gives rise to them, what conditions modify them, what consequences they have, etc. The practical application of group dynamics (or the technology of group dynamics) consists of the utilization of knowledge about these forces for the achievement of some purpose. In keeping with this definition, is not particularly novel, nor is it the exclusive property of any person or institution. It goes back at least to the outstanding work of men like Simmel, Freud, and Cooley. Although interest in groups has a long and respectable history, the past fifteen years have witnessed a new flowering of activity in this field. Today, research centers in several countries are carrying out substantial programmes of research designed to reveal the nature of groups and of their functioning. The phrase â€Å"group dynamics† had come into common usage during this time and intense efforts have been devoted to the development of the field, both as a branch of social science and as a form of social technology. In this development the name of Kurt Lewin had been outstanding. As a consequence of his work in the field of individual psychology and from his analysis of the nature of pressing problems of the contemporary world, Lewin became convinced of society’s urgent need for a scientific approach to the understanding of the dynamics of groups. In 1945 he established the Research Center for Group Dynamics to meet this need. Since that date the Centre has been devoting its efforts to improving our scientific understanding of groups through laboratory experimentation, field studies, and the use of techniques of action research. It has also attempted in various ways to help get the findings of social science more widely used by social management. Much of what I have to say in this paper is drawn from the experiences of this Center in its brief existence of a little more than five years. We hear all around us today the assertion that the problems of the twentieth century are problems of human relations. The survival of civilization, it is said, will depend upon man’s ability to create social interventions capable of harnessing, for society’s constructive use, the vast physical energies now at man’s disposal. Or, to put the matter more simply, we must learn how to change the way in which people behave toward one another. In broad outline, the specifications for a good society are clear, but a serious technical problem remains: How can we change people so that they neither restrict the freedom nor limit the potentialities for growth of others; so that they accept and respect people of different religion, nationality, colour, or political opinion; so that nations can exist in a world without war, and s that the fruits of our technological advances can bring economic well-being and freedom from disease to all people of the world? Although few people would disagree with these objectives when stated abstractly, when we become more specific, differences of opinion quickly arise. These questions permit no ready answers. How is change to be produced? Who is to do it? Who is to be changed? Before we consider in detail these questions of social technology, let us clear away some semantic obstacles. The word â€Å"change† produces emotional reactions. It is not a neutral word. To many people it is threatening. It conjures up visions of a revolutionary, a dissatisfied idealist, a trouble-maker, a malcontent. Nicer words referring to the process of changing people are education, training, orientation, guidance, indoctrination, therapy. We are more ready to have others â€Å"educate† us than have them â€Å"change† us. We, ourselves feel less guilty in â€Å"training† others than in â€Å"changing† them. Why this emotional response? What makes the two kinds of words have such different meanings? I believe that a large part of the difference lies in the fact that the safer words (like education and therapy) carry implicit assurance that the only changes produced will be good ones, acceptable within a currently held value system. The cold, unmodified word â€Å"change†, on the contrary, promises no respect for values; it might even tamper with values themselves. perhaps for this very reason it will foster straight thinking if we use the word â€Å"change† and thus force ourselves to struggle directly and self-consciously with the problems of value that are involved. Words like education, training, or therapy, by the very fact that they are not so disturbing, may close our eyes to the fact that they too inevitably involve values. How can we change people so that they neither restrict the freedom nor limit the potentialities for growth of others; so that they accept and respect people of different religion, nationality, colour, or political opinion; so that nations can exist in a world without war, and so that the fruits of our technological advances can bring economic wellbeing and freedom from disease to all people of the world? The proposal that social technology may be employed to solve the problems of society suggests that social science may be applied in ways not different from those used in the physical sciences. Does social science, in fact, have any practically useful knowledge which may be brought to bear significantly on society’s most urgent problems? What scientifically based principles are there for guiding programmes of social change: In this paper we shall restrict our considerations to certain parts of a relatively new branch of social science known as â€Å"group dynamics†. We shall examine some of the implications for social action which stem from research in this field of scientific investigation. Consider first some matters having to do with the mental health of an individual. We can all agree, I believe, that an important mark of a healthy personality is that the individual’s self-esteem has not been undermined. But on what does self-esteem depend? From research on this problem we have discovered that, among other things, repeated experiences of failure or traumatic failures on matters of central importance serve to undermine one’s self-esteem. We also know that whether a person experiences success or failure as a result of some undertaking depends upon the level of aspiration which he has set for himself. Now, if we try to discover how the level of aspiration gets set, we are immediately involved in the person’s relationships to groups. The groups to which he belongs set standards for his behaviour which he must accept if he is to remain in the group. If his capacities do not allow him to reach these standards, he experiences failure, he withdraws or is rejected by the group and his self-esteem suffers a shock. Consider a second example. A teacher finds that in her class she has a number of trouble-makers, full of aggression. She wants to know why these children are so aggressive and what can be done about it. A foreman in a factory has the same kind of problem with some of his workers. He wants the same kind of help. The solution most tempting to both the teacher and the foreman often is to transfer the worst trouble-makers to someone else, or if facilities are available, to refer them for counselling. But is the problem really of such a nature that it can be solved by removing the trouble-maker from the situation or by working on his individual motivations and emotional life? What leads does research give us? The evidence indicates, of course, that there are many causes of aggressiveness in people, but one aspect of the problem has become increasingly clear in recent years. If we observe carefully the amount of aggressive behaviour and the number of trouble-makers to be found in a large collection of groups, we find that these characteristics can vary tremendously from group to group even when the different groups are composed essentially of the same kinds of people. In the now classic experiments of Lewin, Lippitt and White (1939) on the effects of different styles of leadership, it was found that the same group of children displayed markedly different levels of aggressive behaviour when under different styles of leadership. Moreover, when individual children were transferred from one group to another, their levels of aggressiveness shifted to conform to the atmosphere of the new group. Efforts to account for one child’s aggressiveness under one style of leadership merely in terms of his personality traits could hardly succeed under these conditions. This is not to say that a person’s behaviour is entirely to be accounted for by the atmosphere and structure of the immediate group, but it is remarkable to what an extent a strong, cohesive group can control aspects of a member’s behaviour traditionally thought to be expressive of enduring personality traits. Recognition of this fact rephrases the problem of how to change such behaviour. It directs us to a study of the sources of the influence of the group on its members. Within very recent years some research data have been accumulating which may give us a clue to the solution of our problem. In one series of experiments directed by Lewin, it was found that a method of group decision, in which the group as a whole made a decision to have its members change their behaviour, was from two to ten times more effective in producing actual change as was a lecture presenting exhortation to change (Lewin, 1951). We have yet to learn precisely what produces these differences of effectiveness, but it is clear that by introducing group forces into the situation a whole new level of influence has been achieved. The experience has been essentially the same when people have attempted to increase the productivity of individuals in work settings. Traditional conceptions of how to increase the output of workers have stressed the individual: * Select the right man for the job * Simplify the job for him * Train him in the skills required * Motivate him by economic incentives * Make it clear to whom he reports * Keep the lines of authority and responsibility simple and straight. But even when all of these conditions are fully met we find that productivity is far below full potential. There is even good reason to conclude that this individualistic conception of the determinants of productivity actually fosters negative consequences. The individual, now isolated and subjected to the demands of the organization through the commands of his boss, finds that he must create with his fellow employees informal groups, not shown on any table of organization, in order to protect himself from arbitrary control of his life, from the boredom produced by the endless repetition of mechanically sanitary and routine operations, and from the impoverishment of his emotional and social life brought about by the frustration of his basic needs for social interaction, participation, and acceptance in a stable group. Recent experiments have demonstrated clearly that the productivity of work groups can be greatly increased by methods of work organization and supervision which give more responsibility to work groups, which allow for fuller participation in important decisions, and which make stable groups the firm basis for support of the individual’s social needs (Coch & French, 1948). It is points out future research will also demonstrate that people working under such conditions become more mature and creative individuals in their homes, in community life, and as citizens. A few years ago the Research Center for Group Dynamics undertook to shed light on this problem by investigating the operation of a workshop for training leaders in intercultural relations (Lippitt, 1949). In a project, directed by Lippitt, they set out to compare systemically the different effects of the workshop upon trainees who came as isolated individuals in contrast to those who came as teams. Six months after the workshop, however, those who had been trained as isolates were only slightly more active than before the workshop whereas those who had been members of strong training teams were now much more active. They do not have clear evidence on the point, but they are quite certain that the maintenance of heightened activity over a long period of time would also be much better for members of teams. For the isolates the effect of the workshop had the characteristic of a â€Å"shot in the arm† while for the team member it produced a more enduring change because the team provided continuous support and reinforcement for its members. What conclusions may we draw from these examples? What principles of achieving change in people can we see emerging? To begin with the most general position, we may state that the behaviour, attitudes, beliefs, and values of the individual are all firmly grounded in the groups to which he belongs. How aggressive or cooperative a person is, how much self-respect and self-confidence he has, how energetic and productive his work is, what he aspires to, what he believes to be true and good, whom he loves or hates, and what beliefs and prejudices he holds—all these characteristics are highly determined by the individual’s group memberships. In a real sense, they are properties of groups and of the relationships between people. Whether they change or resist change will, therefore, be greatly influenced by the nature of these groups. Attempts to change them must be concerned with the dynamics of groups. In examining more specifically how groups enter into the process of change, we find it useful to view groups in at least three different ways. In the first view, the group is seen as a source of influence over its members. Efforts to change behaviour can be supported or blocked by pressures on members stemming from the group. To make constructive use of these pressures the group must be used as a medium of change. In the second view, the group itself becomes the target of change. To change the behaviour of individuals it may be necessary to change the standards of the group, its style of leadership, its emotional atmosphere, or its stratification into cliques and hierarchies. Even though the goal may be to change the behaviour of individuals, the target of change becomes the group. In the third view, it is recognized that many changes of behaviour can be brought about only by the organization efforts of groups as agents of change. A committee to combat intolerance, a labour union, and employers association, a citizens group to increase the pay of teachers—any action group will be more or less effective depending upon the way it is organized, the satisfactions it provides to its members, the degree to which its goals are clear, and a host of other properties of the group.

Career Paper

Deciding on a certain career has been difficult and very challenging. Going through elementary school and middle school and deciding what career path way I should take, the first two that caught my attention were anesthesiologist and general surgeon. As a child, I never thought that I would want to go to these fields. As a student, I sometimes have my ups and downs in school but that doesn't stop me from doing what I love. In my opinion school is like the next level of a game and I must do my best to beat that level. Sometimes it's tough but I'll manage somehow. Preparing to become an anesthesiologist begins in high school.Since university or college focuses on classes in premed, some recommends getting a head start taking science classes in high school. Biology and chemistry classes will provide you with the knowledge required to be successful. I still don't know which of the two careers I should decide on. Luckily, the two careers matched closely to my personality type. What do sur geons do? General Surgeons are doctors who are specialized in performing surgery on abdominal areas such as the esophagi, stomach, small bowel, colon, liver, pancreas, gallbladder and bile ducts, but sometime often the thyroid gland.They also focus on disease involving the breast, skin, or any soft tissue. Depending on the type of surgeon, they perform different surgeries. For example a cardiovascular surgeon might do open heart surgery, while a breast surgeon might do breast surgery to save someone from having breast cancer. Surgeons are part of a team. They rely on an anesthesiologist to keep the patient asleep and comfortable, nurses and assistants are responsible for passing the surgeon any tools that are needed to do the surgery, and keeping track of the patient's vital signs and many other things.Sometimes in difficult procedures surgeons often work together as a am to do more work in less time, and in teaching hospitals interns and residents are with more experienced surgeons to observe and learn. Many surgeons work for very long hours, some are scheduled to work for certain amount of hours depending on the hospital. Even doctors who work in private practice spends long hours in the operating room, and are expected to work with other health care professionals to make sure that everything is going smoothly.A lot of surgeons, most of the time are responsible for managing a lot of paperwork such as possessing a patient's files to reviewing records and so much more. There are many types of surgeon and focusing in different areas of the body. Unlike other doctors, surgeons must first complete four years of study at any college, depending which one has the specific field. Surgeons must complete an additional four year and get their MD or Doctor of Medicine degree from an approved medical school. Most applicants take a large amount of courses in subjects like chemistry, and physics.Also, they must pass the Medical College Admission Test (MICA). Once they have gotten their MD, graduates have to go through a minimum of five years of surgery residency. During this course, dents are trained in general surgical procedures. Why is an anesthesiologist important during any surgery? Anesthesiologists are medical doctors specializing in preoperative care. They help to ensure the patients are safe while going through surgery and are involve in putting the patient to sleep so they won't feel pain or sensation.Without anesthesiologists, surgery would not be possible in a lot of operations. They are responsible for the patient before, during and after the surgery. In terms of education, one must complete at least 3 years of a bachelor's degree, many applicants have 4 years which also include ultimate science courses. Anesthesiologist must have a high score on the Medical College Admission Test (MICA), also a letter of recommendation from their teachers and advisors. Many medical schools also consider things like leadership qualities, and extracurricul ar activities when making admissions decisions.After graduation, anesthesiologists enter into a residency program. Usually the first year is spent in an internship, practicing general medicine and learning from other anesthesiologist. During the next couple years, they learn the techniques and skills of anesthesiology with the help and supervision of another. At the end of the residency, they will need to take the United States Medical Licensing Examination to obtain licenser to practice medicine in the United States, and then they can work as an anesthesiologist.What exactly does an anesthesiologist do? Their Job is to keep you safe and comfortable during surgery and recovery. They monitor your heart rhythm, blood pressure and the amount of oxygen in your blood. Also, they monitor your temperature and your level of consciousness. When patients are sleeping, they monitor the patient's breath by measuring the volume of breath exhaled and the mount of carbon dioxide in their breathing . Sometimes, they may monitor how much blood the patient is pumping and the pressure in the lung.The anesthesiologist must keep the patient asleep during a surgery by giving them anesthetic drugs and some drugs are giving to them at all times. Some drugs are mixed in with others and sometimes with the oxygen the patient is breathing. If the patient comes across problem during surgery such as low blood pressure, asthma, blood loss, heart arrhythmia and many others, the anesthesiologist must find a way to correct the problem. The care nurse and the anesthesiologist work together to cake sure the patient is safe and comfortable. How much does an anesthesiologist and surgeon make?The annual salary for an Anesthesiologist is about $166,400 while the median is about $355,100 in the United States. The anesthesiologist is one of the highest paying Jobs in the medical field. According to US Bureau of Labor statistics, the top paid anesthesiologist employed in public sectors is about $197,000 per year while self employed received about $316,500 yearly. They make more than $80. 00 per for the median. The lowest 10 percent receive up to $55. 52 per hour. Depending on the state or location that you vive in, some places have a higher income than others.On the other hand, surgeons make a little bit more. The median salary for a typical surgeon in the United States is about $343,000. Depends on the particular procedure, they range at around $250 per hour. Different surgeon makes more money than others, for example a pediatric surgeon make about $166,000 a year, while a barbaric surgeon make $433,000 a year. The salary is different in most cases. Choosing a career can be difficult but as time goes by you will soon know what interests you. As we Journey through life, we will have to decide on what we want to o or become.Everything and anything is possible if you take your time and give it your best. You really won't know the possibility that you have to get into Med School unti l you have taken the science courses that college offer. Medical Schools don't really care what kind of grades or experience you have in High School. That doesn't mean you should stop and give up, start by participating in some sort of extracurricular activity, and possibly doing some volunteer work. Volunteering at a hospital is going to look better and increase your chances of getting into that particular school.An anesthesiologist and a surgeon are two different things yet they depend on one another for a surgery to be possible. Sometimes it is difficult and hard to decide what you want to do in life. As a freshman, I still haven't decide what to do with my life but for now I will continue with school and hopefully one day I will know what I should do. With the overwhelming responsibilities of anesthesiologists and surgeons, some people decide to become something else that they love. Doesn't matter what you become as long as you love what you do then it shouldn't matter to how mu ch you make a year.

Trojan Women Essay Example

Trojan Women Essay Example Trojan Women Essay Trojan Women Essay Essay Topic: Mythologies The Trojan Women is a Greek tragedy by Euripides. He explores the hardships faced by the women of Troy after their land had been destroyed by the loss of the Trojan War. In the play, the women were faced with various difficulties. They were not only meant to deal with the horrors of the war like the death of their loved ones and their city in ruins but were also faced with the terror of what their future will hold. They yearn for revenge and the hope that life will recover in the future. Awoken after the city is in ruins, the Trojan women gather together amongst Hachure, the former queen f Troy as they wail the loss of their husbands and seek to find what theyre future may hold. However, the horrors of the war did not Just end with death. Hectares daughter Cassandra was raped in the temple of Athena by Alas the Less and the Greeks not only did nothing to stop him from this injustice, he was also never questioned his actions. Another saddening aspect of the war was the commandment of Assistant, the young son of Andromeda and the brave Hector to death by being thrust off the walls of Troy. This was to be done in the belief that he, being the son of brave warrior, would rise against the Greeks when he was older. It was heartbreaking to find his corpse brought back to Hachure towards the end of the play when his wounds were wrapped and he was buried. The future brought the most dreadful situations for the women. Taillights, the messenger, brought news on what was to come. The women would all be separated and enslaved by various Greeks. Hachure worried about how her old age would support her doing household chores. Once a queen, she is now a servant to Odysseus, King of Ithaca. On enquiring about ere daughters she finds that Cassandra, who is already traumatized, had been personally chosen by King Agamemnon to be his lover. This shocked her mother as her daughter has taken a sacred oath of virginity. I as a reader further noted the unbearable feeling the women may have felt when Cassandra broke out with torches thanking Hymen, the god of marriage for giving her the opportunity to slay Agamemnon. Taillights informs Hachure that Andromeda belongs to the son of Achilles whereas Polygene will he located beside the tomb of Achilles. Assistant, as mentioned earlier will be condemned to death. The tone of the entire play was filled with sorrow as the women constantly moan with sadness of the various aspects of the play that had happened or were to happen in the future. They all know that they will be carried off by ship too strange land with no care or comfort. The idea of revenge was another component that I found conspicuous in the play. Many characters seek revenge in the play. Firstly, Athena speaks to Poseidon about how Alas the Less raped Cassandra in her temple when she came to seek shelter. She asks Poseidon to help her saying that she had already spoken to Zeus, the king of the gods who will release hail among the ships and provide Athena with lighting bolts. Poseidon had been given the power to create whirlpools and they both go off to prepare to attack the ships. Another person seeking revenge is Menelaus who plans to kill Helen for abandoning Greece and running off with Paris. Even though she tries to charm her way out of it, convincing him that she is the savior of Greece, Hachure contradicts her theory keeping Menelaus on track to killing her. The women detest Cassandra also seeks revenge as she plans to slay Agamemnon for the sake of her lost father. The readers may feel sad for the various events happened but this need for revenge amongst the various characters conveys that they not only feel depressed but also face heights of anger for everything that has been brought to them due to the war. The aspect of the book that I was personally shocked by was the exploration of hope. On reporting the death of Polygene to Hachure, Andromeda mentions that she is better off dead. However, Hachure mentions that only on living do we find the pope for a better tomorrow. This idea was one of the most captivating in the book because even as Hachure has lost everything she ever had she still hopes that things will get better. It is also ironic that Andromeda has the idea of death being better off right before she finds out about the death of her son to come and the question remains if she would still feel that way about his death. My favorite scene was also the most hear-breaking, when Andromeda finds that her child was to be taken from her and killed. This separation of a mother and a child who was the hope of a better true for Troy was saddening especially when his dead body was returned to her. She speaks to her son telling him to hold on to her, hug her and kiss her. This shows how much it breaks her to leave her son and guilt of how she is letting this happen. It also shows how much she is going to miss him. I find that Euripides has successfully conveyed the various hardships of the women of Troy by exploring ideas of death, dread to find what the future holds, revenge and hope. Many of the ideas explored were heart-breaking and makes us as an audience sympathize with these women for hat they have been put through. It had proven that there is more than what meets the eye in an event of war and has given me an emotional perspective of a war rather than simply focusing on the destruction and death. This play has also given me an insight into Greek theatre. As a theatre student I now have an understanding on the ancient Greek style of writing. The language used was rich and I was unable to understand many of the characters without researching their mythological background. I even had to research the Trojan War and the author to understand what the story was about. This research of the terms in the book led me to many other findings of Greek theatre that I find rather interesting. Not only do I find the work of Euripides fascinating, I also learnt about the ancient festival of Dionysian which took place in an open air stone structure with tiered seating. They were also one of the first to make use of masks. Greek mythology and theatre seem to be a world of its own and I was glad to embark on this unit of my individual study learning about Greek tragedies, mythologies, works and writers and how it pushes me further into the even bigger world of acting.

Religion vs Ethics Essays

Religion vs Ethics Essays Religion vs Ethics Essay Religion vs Ethics Essay Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics return to religion-online Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics by Reinhold Niebuhr One of the foremost philsophers and theologians of the twentieth century, Reinhold Niebuhr was for many years a Professor at Union Theological Seminary, New York City. He is the author of many classics in their field, including The Nature and Destiny of Man, Moral Man and Immoral Society, The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness, and Discerning the Signs of Our Times. He was also the founding editor of the publication Christianity and Crisis. Published in 1932 by Charles Scribners Sons. This material was prepared for Religion Online by Ted and Winnie Brock. In this classic study, Niebuhr draws a sharp distinction between the moral and social behavior of individuals versus social groups national, racial, and economic. He shows how this distinction then requires political policies which a purely individualistic ethic will necessarily find embarrassing. Introduction The inferiority of the morality of groups to that of individuals is due in part to the difficulty of establishing a rational social force which is powerful enough to cope with the natural impulses by which society achieves its cohesion; but in part it is merely the revelation of a collective egoism, compounded of the egoistic impulses of individuals, which achieve a more vivid expression and a more cumulative effect when they are united in a common impulse than when they express themselves separately and discreetly. Chapter 1: Man and Society: The Art of Living Together History is a long tale of abortive efforts toward the desired end of social cohesion and justice in which failure was usually due either to the effort to eliminate the factor of force entirely or to an undue reliance upon it. Chapter 2: The Rational Resources of the Individual for Social Living The traditions and superstitions, which seemed to the eighteenth century to be the very root of injustice, have been eliminated, without checking the constant growth of social injustice. Yet the men of learning persist in their hope that more intelligence will solve the social problem. They may view present realities quite realistically; but they cling to their hope that an adequate pedagogical technique will finally produce the socialised man and thus solve the problems of society. file:///D:/rb/relsearchd. dll-action=showitem=415. htm (1 of 4) [2/4/03 12:43:52 PM] Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics Chapter 3: The Religious Resources of the Individual for Social Living If the recognition of selfishness is prerequisite to the mitigation of its force and the diminution of its antisocial consequences in society, religion should be a dominant influence in the socialisation of man; for religion is fruitful of the spirit of contrition. Chapter 3: The Religious Resources of the Individual for Social Living If the recognition of selfishness is prerequisite to the mitigation of its force and the diminution of its antisocial consequences in society, religion should be a dominant influence in the socialisation of man; for religion is fruitful of the spirit of contrition. Chapter 4: The Morality of Nations A discussion of the moral characteristics of a nation and the reasons for the selfishness and hypocrasy found therein. Chapter 4: The Morality of Nations A discussion of the moral characteristics of a nation and the reasons for the selfishness and hypocrasy found therein. Chapter 5: The Ethical Attitudes of Privileged Classes The prejudices, hypocrisies and dishonesties of the privileged and ruling classes is analyzed. The moral attitudes of dominant and privileged groups are characterised by universal selfdeception and hypocrisy. Chapter 5: The Ethical Attitudes of Privileged Classes The prejudices, hypocrisies and dishonesties of the privileged and ruling classes is analyzed. The moral attitudes of dominant and privileged groups are characterised by universal selfdeception and hypocrisy. Chapter 6: The Ethical Attitudes of the Proletarian Class If we analyse the attitudes of the politically self-conscious worker in ethical terms, their most striking characteristic is probably the combination of moral cynicism and unqualified equalitarian social idealism which they betray. The industrial worker has little confidence in the morality of men; but this does not deter him from projecting a rigorous ethical ideal for society. The effect of this development of an industrial civilisation is vividly revealed in the social and political attitudes of the modern proletarian class. These attitudes have achieved their file:///D:/rb/relsearchd. dll-action=showitem=415. htm (2 of 4) [2/4/03 12:43:52 PM] Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics authoritative expression and definition in Marxian political philosophy. Chapter 6: The Ethical Attitudes of the Proletarian Class If we analyse the attitudes of the politically self-conscious worker in ethical terms, their most striking characteristic is probably the combination of moral cynicism and unqualified equalitarian social idealism which they betray. The industrial worker has little confidence in the morality of men; but this does not deter him from projecting a rigorous ethical ideal for society. The effect of this development of an industrial civilisation is vividly revealed in the social and political attitudes of the modern proletarian class. These attitudes have achieved their authoritative expression and definition in Marxian political philosophy. Chapter 7: Justice Through Revolution Difficult as the method of revolution is for any Western industrial civilisation, it must not be regarded as impossible. The forces which make for concentration of wealth and power are operative, even though they do not move as unambiguously as the Marxians prophesied. Chapter 7: Justice Through Revolution Difficult as the method of revolution is for any Western industrial civilisation, it must not be regarded as impossible. The forces which make for concentration of wealth and power are operative, even though they do not move as unambiguously as the Marxians prophesied. Chapter 8: Justice Through Political Force The group, which feels itself defrauded of its just proportion of the common wealth of society, but which has a measure of security and therefore does not feel itself completely disinherited, expresses its political aspirations in a qualified Marxism in which the collectivist goal is shared with the more revolutionary Marxians, but in which parliamentary and evolutionary methods are substituted for revolution as means of achieving the goal. Chapter 8: Justice Through Political Force The group, which feels itself defrauded of its just proportion of the common wealth of society, but which has a measure of security and therefore does not feel itself completely disinherited, expresses its political aspirations in a qualified Marxism in which the collectivist goal is shared with the more revolutionary Marxians, but in which parliamentary and evolutionary methods are substituted for revolution as means of achieving the goal. Chapter 9: The Preservation of Moral Values in Politics If coercion, self-assertion and conflict are regarded as permissible and necessary instruments of social redemption, how are perpetual conflict and perennial tyranny to be avoided? file:///D:/rb/relsearchd. dll-action=showitem=415. htm (3 of 4) [2/4/03 12:43:52 PM] Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics Chapter 9: The Preservation of Moral Values in Politics If coercion, self-assertion and conflict are regarded as permissible and necessary instruments of social redemption, how are perpetual conflict and perennial tyranny to be avoided? Chapter 10: The Conflict Between Individual and Social Morality The conflict between ethics and politics is made inevitable by the double focus of the moral life. One focus is in the inner life of the individual, and the other in the necessities of mans social life. From the perspective of society the highest moral ideal is justice. From the perspective of the individual the highest ideal is unselfishness. 31 file:///D:/rb/relsearchd. dll-action=showitemid=415. htm (4 of 4) [2/4/03 12:43:52 PM] Religion-Online religion-online. org Full texts by recognized religious scholars More than 1,500 articles and chapters. Topics include Old and New Testament, Theology, Ethics, History and Sociology of Religions, Comparative Religion, Religious Communication, Pastoral Care, Counselling, Homiletics, Worship, Missions and Religious Education. site map (click on any subject) THE SITE THE BIBLE About Religion Online Copyright and Use A Note to Professors THEOLOGY Authority of the Bible Theology Old Testament Ethics New Testament Missions Comparative Religion Bible Commentary Religion and Culture History of Religious Thought RELIGION COMMUNICATION Communication Theory Communication in the Local Church Communication and Public Policy Media Education THE LOCAL CHURCH The Local Congregation Pastoral Care and Counseling Homiletics: The Art of Preaching Religious Education SEARCH Search Religion Online Church and Society Sociology of Religion Social Issues BROWSE Books Index By Author Index By Recommended Sites Category A member of the Science and Theology Web Ring [ Previous | Next | Random Site | List Sites ] file:///D:/rb/index. htm [2/4/03 12:43:55 PM] RELIGION SOCIETY Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics return to religion-online Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics by Reinhold Niebuhr One of the foremost philsophers and theologians of the twentieth century, Reinhold Niebuhr was for many years a Professor at Union Theological Seminary, New York City. He is the author of many classics in their field, including The Nature and Destiny of Man, Moral Man and Immoral Society, The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness, and Discerning the Signs of Our Times. He was also the founding editor of the publication Christianity and Crisis. Published in 1932 by Charles Scribners Sons. This material was prepared for Religion Online by Ted and Winnie Brock. Introduction The thesis to be elaborated in these pages is that a sharp distinction must be drawn between the moral and social behavior of individuals and of social groups, national, racial, and economic; and that this distinction justifies and necessitates political policies which a purely individualistic ethic must always find embarrassing. The title Moral Man and Immoral Society suggests the intended distinction too unqualifiedly, but it is nevertheless a fair indication of the argument to which the following pages are devoted. Individual men may be moral in the sense that they are able to consider interests other than their own in determining problems of conduct, and are capable, on occasion, of preferring the advantages of others to their own. They are endowed by nature with a measure of sympathy and consideration for their kind, the breadth of which may be extended by an astute social pedagogy. Their rational faculty prompts them to a sense of justice which educational discipline may refine and purge of egoistic elements until they are able to view a social situation, in which their own interests are involved, with a fair measure of objectivity. But all these achievements are more difficult, if not impossible, for human societies and social groups. In every human group there is less reason to guide and to check impulse, less capacity for self-transcendence, less ability to comprehend the needs of others and therefore more unrestrained egoism than the individuals, who compose the group, reveal in their personal relationships. The inferiority of the morality of groups to that of individuals is due in part to the difficulty of establishing a rational social force which is powerful enough to cope with the natural impulses by which society achieves its cohesion; but in part it is merely the revelation of a collective egoism, compounded of the egoistic impulses of individuals, which achieve a more vivid expression and a more cumulative effect when they are united in a common impulse than when they express themselves separately and discreetly. file:///D:/rb/relsearchd. ll-action=showitem=1=415. htm (1 of 8) [2/4/03 12:43:58 PM] Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics Inasfar as this treatise has a polemic interest it is directed against the moralists both religious and secular, who imagine that the egoism of individuals is being progressively checked by the development of rationality or the growth of a religiously inspired goodwill and that nothing but the continuance of this process is ne cessary to establish social harmony between all the human societies and collectives. Social analyses and prophecies made by moralists, sociologists and educators upon the basis of these assumptions lead to a very considerable moral and political confusion in our day. They completely disregard the political necessities in the struggle for justice in human society by failing to recognise those elements in mans collective behavior which belong to the order of nature and can never be brought completely under the dominion of reason or conscience. They do not recognise that when collective power, whether in the form of imperialism or class domination, exploits weakness, it can never be dislodged unless power is raised against it. If conscience and reason can be insinuated into the resulting struggle they can only qualify but not abolish it. The most persistent error of modern educators and moralists is the assumption that our social difficulties are due to the failure of the social sciences to keep pace with the physical sciences which have created our technological civilisation. The invariable implication of this assumption is that, with a little more time, a little more adequate moral and social pedagogy and a generally higher development of human intelligence, our social problems will approach solution. It is, declares Professor John Dewey, our human intelligence and our human courage which is on trial; it is incredible that men who have brought the technique of physical discovery, invention and use to such a pitch of perfection will abdicate in the face of the infinitely more important human problem. What stands in the way (of a planned economy) is a lot of outworn traditions, moth-eaten slogans and catch words that do substitute duty for thought, as well as our entrenched predatory self-interest. We shall only make a real beginning in intelligent thought when we cease mouthing platitudes. Just as soon as we begin to use the knowledge and skills we have, to control social consequences in the interest of a shared, abundant and secured life, we shall cease to complain of the backwardness of our social knowledge. We shall then take the road which leads to the assured building up of social science just as men built up physical science when they actively used techniques and tools and numbers in physical experimentation. (John Dewey, Philosophy and Civilization [New York: Minton, Balch], p. 329. In spite of Professor Deweys great interest in and understanding of the modern social problem there is very little clarity in this statement. The real cause of social inertia, our predatory self-interest, is mentioned only in passing without influencing his reasoning, and with no indication that he understands how much social conservatism is due to the economic interests of the owning classes. On the whole, social conservatism is ascribed to ignorance, a viewpoint which states only p art of the truth and reveals the natural bias of the educator. The suggestion that we will only make a beginning in intelligent thought when we cease mouthing platitudes, is itself so platitudinous that it rather betrays the confusion of an analyst who has no clear counsels about the way to overcome social inertia. The idea that we cannot be socially intelligent until we begin experimentation in social problems in the way that the physical scientists experimented fails to take account of an important difference between the physical file:///D:/rb/relsearchd. dll-action=showitem=1=415. tm (2 of 8) [2/4/03 12:43:58 PM] Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics and the social sciences. The physical sciences gained their freedom when they overcame the traditionalism based on ignorance, but the traditionalism which the social sciences face is based upon the economic interest of the dominant social classes who are trying to maintain their special privileges in society. Nor can the difference between the very character of social and physical sciences be overlooked. Complete rational objectivity in a social situation is impossible. The very social scientists who are so anxious to offer our generation counsels of salvation and are disappointed that an ignorant and slothful people are so slow to accept their wisdom, betray middle-class prejudices in almost everything they write. Since reason is always, to some degree, the servant of interest in a social situation, social injustice cannot be resolved by moral and rational suasion alone, as the educator and social scientist usually believes. Conflict is inevitable, and in this conflict power must be challenged by power. That fact is not recognized by most of the educators, and only very grudgingly admitted by most of the social scientists. If social conflict be a part of the process of gaining social justice, the idea of most of Professor Neweys disciples that our salvation depends upon the development of experimental procedures? ( Cf. inter alia, John Childs, Education and the Philosophy of Experimentalism, p. 37. in social life, commensurate with the experimentalism of the physical sciences, does not have quite the plausibility which they attribute to it. Contending factions in a social struggle require morale; and morale is created by the right dogmas, symbols and emotionally potent oversimplifications. These are at least as necessary as the scientific spirit of tentativity. No class of industrial workers will ever win freedom from the dominant classes if they give themselves completely to the experimental techniques of the modern educators. They will have to believe rather more firmly in the justice and in the probable triumph of their cause, than any impartial science would give them the right to believe, if they are to have enough energy to contest the power of the strong. They may be very scientific in projecting their social goal and in choosing the most effective instruments for its attainment, but a motive force will be required to nerve them for their task which is not easily derived from the cool objectivity of science. Modern educators are, like rationalists of all the ages, too enamored of the function of reason in life. The world of history, particularly in mans collective behavior, will never be conquered by reason, unless reason uses tools, and is itself driven by forces which are not rational. The sociologists as a class, understand the modern social problem even less than the educators. They usually interpret social conflict as the result of a clash between different kinds of behavior patterns, which can be eliminated if the contending parties will only allow the social scientist to furnish them with a new and more perfect pattern which will do justice to the needs of both parties. With the educators they regard ignorance rather than self-interest as the cause of conflict. Apparently, declares Kimball Young, the only way in which collective conflicts, as well as individual conflicts, can be successfully and hygienically solved is by securing a redirection of behavior toward a more feasible environmental objective. This can be accomplished most successfully by the rational reconditioning of attitudes on a higher neuropsychic or intellectual symbolic plane to the facts of science, preferably through a free file:///D:/rb/relsearchd. ll-action=showitemgotochapter=1id=415. htm (3 of 8) [2/4/03 12:43:58 PM] Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics discussion with a minimum of propaganda. This is not an easy road to mental and social sanity but it appears to be the only one which arrives at the goal. ( Kimball Young, Social Attitudes p. 72) Here a technique which works very well in individual relations, and in certain types of social conflict due to differences in culture, is made a general panacea. How is it to solve the problem between England and India? Through the Round-Table Conference? But how much would England have granted India at the conference if a non-co-operation campaign, a type of conflict, had not forced the issue? A favorite counsel of the social scientists is that of accommodation. If two parties are in a conflict, let them, by conferring together, moderate their demands and arrive at a modus vivendi. This is, among others, the advice of Professor Hornell Hart. (Hornell Hart, The Science of Social Relations. ) Undoubtedly there are innumerable conflicts which must be resolved in this fashion. But will a disinherited group, such as the Negroes for instance, ever win full justice in society in this fashion? Will not even its most minimum demands seem exorbitant to the dominant whites, among whom only a very small minority will regard the inter-racial problem from the perspective of objective justice? Or how are the industrial workers to follow Professor Harts advice in dealing with industrial owners, when the owners possess so much power that they can win the debate with the workers, no matter how unconvincing their arguments ? Only a very few sociologists seem to have learned that an adjustment of a social conflict, caused by the disproportion of power in society, will hardly result in justice as long as the disproportion of power remains. Sometimes the sociologists are so completely oblivious to the real facts of an industrial civilisation that, as Floyd Allport for instance, they can suggest that the unrest of industrial workers is due not to economic injustice but to a sense of inferiority which will be overcome just as soon as benevolent social psychologists are able to teach the workers that no one is charging them with inferiority except themselves. ( FIoyd Allport, Social Psychology, pp. 14-17. ) These omniscient social scientists will also teach the owners that interests and profits must be tempered by regard for the worker. Thus the socialisation of individual control in industry will obviate the necessity of socialistic control. Most of the social scientists are such unqualified rationalists th at they seem to imagine that men of power will immediately check their exactions and pretensions in society, as soon as they have been apprised by the social scientists that their actions and attitudes are anti-social. Professor Clarence Marsh Case, in an excellent analysis of the social problem, places his confidence in a reorganisation of valuesin which, among other things, industrial leaders must be made to see that despotically controlled industry in a society that professes democracy as an article of faith is an anachronism that cannot endure. ( Clarence Marsh Case, Social Process and Human Progress, p. 233. ) It may be that despotism cannot endure but it will not abdicate merely because the despots have discovered it to be anachronistic. Sir Arthur Salter, to name a brilliant economist among the social scientists, finishes his penetrating analysis of the distempers of our civilisation by expressing the usual hope that a higher intelligence or a sincerer morality will prevent the governments of the future from perpetrating the mistakes of the past. His own analysis proves conclu-sively that the failure of governments is due to the pressure of economic interest upon them rather than to the limited capacities of uman wisdom. In his own words file:///D:/rb/relsearchd. dll-action=showitemgotochapter=1id=415. htm (4 of 8) [2/4/03 12:43:58 PM] Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics government is failing above all because it has become enmeshed in the task of giving discretionary, particularly preferential, privileges to competitive industry. (Sir Arthur Salter, Recovery, p. 41) In spite of this analysis Sir Arthur expects the governments to redeem our civilisation by becoming more socially minded an d he thinks that one method which will help them to do so is to draw into the service of the public the great private institutions which represent the organised activities of the country, chambers of commerce, banking institutions, industrial and labor organisations. His entire hope for recovery rests upon the possibility of developing a degree of economic disinterestedness among men of power which the entire history of mankind proves them incapable of acquiring. It is rather discouraging to find such naive confidence in the moral capacities of collective man, among men who make it their business to study collective human behavior. Even when, as Professor Howard Odum, they are prepared to admit that conflict will be necessary as long as unfairness in the distribution of the rewards of labor exists, they put their hope in the future. They regard social conflict as only an expedient of the moment until broader principles of education and cooperation can be established. (Howard W. Odum, Mans Quest for Social Guidance, p. 477. ) Anarchism, with an uncoerced and voluntary justice, seems to be either an explicit or implicit social goal of every second social scientist. Modern religious idealists usually follow in the wake of social scientists in advocating compromise and accommodation as the way to social justice. Many leaders of the church like to insist that it is not their business to champion the cause of either labor or capital, but only to admonish both sides to a spirit of fairness and accommodation. Between the far-visioned capitalism of Owen Young and the hard-headed socialism of Ramsay MacDonald, declares Doctor Justin Wroe Nixon, there is probably no impassable gulf. The progress of mankind . . . depends upon following the MacDonalds and Youngs into those areas. (Justin Wroe Nixon, An Emerging Christian Faith p. 294) Unfortunately, since those lines were written the socialism of MacDonald has been revealed as not particularly hard-headed, and the depr ession has shown how little difference there really is between Mr. Youngs new capitalism and the older and less suave types of capitalism. What is lacking among all these moralists, whether re1igious or rational, is an understanding of the brutal character of the behavior of all human collectives, and the power of self-interest and collective egoism in all intergroup relations. Failure to recognise the stubborn resistance of group egoism to all moral and inclusive social objectives inevitably involves them in unrealistic and confused political thought. They regard social conflict either as an impossible method of achieving morally ap- proved ends or as a momentary expedient which a more perfect education or a purer religion will make unnecessary. They do not see that the limitations of the human imagination, the easy subservience of reason to prejudice and passion, and the consequent persistence of irrational egoism, particularly in group behavior, make social conflict an inevitability in human history, probably to its very end. The romantic overestimate of human virtue and moral capacity, current in our modern middlefile:///D:/rb/relsearchd. ll-action=showitemgotochapter=1id=415. htm (5 of 8) [2/4/03 12:43:58 PM] Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics class culture, does not always result in an unrealistic appraisal of present social facts. Contemporary social situations are frequently appraised quite realistically, but the hope is expressed that a new pedagogy or a revival of religion will make conflict unn ecessary in the future. Nevertheless a considerable portion of middle-class culture remains quite unrealistic in its analysis of the contemporary situation. It assumes that evidences of a growing brotherliness between classes and nations are apparent in the present moment. It gives such arrangements as the League of Nations, such ventures as the Kellogg Pact and such schemes as company industrial unions, a connotation of moral and social achievement which the total facts completely belie. There must, declares Professor George Stratton, a social psychologist, always be a continuing and widening progress. But our present time seems to promise distinctly the close of an old epoch in world relations and the opening of a new. Under the solemn teaching of the War, most of the nations have made political commitments which are of signal promise for international discipline and for still further and more effective governmental acts. (George M. Stratton, Social Psychology and International Conduct, pp. 355-361. ) This glorification of the League of Nations as a symbol of a new epoch in international relations has been very general, and frequently very unqualified, in the Christian churches, where liberal Christianity has given itself to the illusion that all social relations are being brought progressively under the law of Christ. William Adams Brown speaks for the whole liberal Christian viewpoint when he declares: From many different centres and in many different forms the crusade for a unified and brotherly society is being carried on. The ideal of the League of Nations in which all civilised people shall be represented and in which they shall cooperate with one another in fighting common enemies like war a nd disease is winning recognition in circles which have hitherto been little suspected of idealism. . . In relations between races, in strife between capital and labor, in our attitudes toward the weaker and more dependent members of society we are developing a social conscience, and situations which would have been accepted a generation ago as a matter of course are felt as an intolerable scandal. (William Adams Brown, Pathways to Certainty, p. 246. ) Another theologian and pastor, Justin Wroe Nixon, thinks that another reason for believing in the growth of social statesmanship on the part of business leaders is based upon their experience as trustees in various philanthropic and educational enterprises. (Justin Wroe Nixon, An Emerging Christian Faith, p. 291) This judgment reveals the moral confusion of liberal Christianity with perfect clarity. Teachers of morals who do not see the difference between the problem of charity within the limits of an accepted social system and the p roblem of justice between economic groups, holding uneven power within modern industrial society, have simply not faced the most obvious differences between the morals of groups and those of individuals. The suggestion that the fight against disease is in the same category with the fight against war reveals the same confusion. Our contemporary culture fails to realise the power, extent and persistence of group egoism in human relations. It may be possible, though it is never easy, to establish just relations between individuals within a group purely by moral and rational suasion and accommodation. In intergroup relations this is practically an impossibility. The relations between groups must therefore always be predominantly political rather than ethical, that is, they will be determined by the proportion of power which each group possesses at least as much as by any rational and moral appraisal of the comparative needs and claims of each group. The coercive factors, in file:///D:/rb/relsearchd. dll-action=showitemgotochapter=1id=415. htm (6 of 8) [2/4/03 12:43:58 PM] Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics distinction to the more purely moral and rational factors, in political relations can never be sharply differentiated and defined. It is not possible to estimate exactly how much a party to a social conflict is influenced by a rational argument or by the threat of force. It is impossible, for instance, to know what proportion of a privileged class accepts higher inheritance taxes because it believes that such taxes are good social policy and what proportion submits merely because the power of the state supports the taxation policy. Since political conflict, at least in times when controversies have not reached the point of crisis, is carried on by the threat, rather than the actual use, of force, it is always easy for the casual or superficial observer to overestimate the moral and rational factors, and to remain oblivious to the covert types of coercion and force which are used in the conflict. Whatever increase in social intelligence and moral goodwill may be achieved in human history, may serve to mitigate the brutalities of social conflict, but they cannot abolish the conflict itself. That could be accomplished only if human groups, whether racial, national or economic, could achieve a degree of reason and sympathy which would permit them to see and to understand the interests of others as vividly as they understand their own, and a moral goodwill which would prompt them to affirm the rights of others as vigorously as they affirm their own. Given the inevitable limitations of human nature and the limits of the human imagination and intelligence, this is an ideal which individuals may approximate but which is beyond the capacities of human societies. Educators who emphasise the pliability of human nature, social and psychological scientists who dream of socialising man and religious idealists who strive to increase the sense of moral responsibility, can serve a very useful function in society in humanising individuals within an established social system and in purging the relations of individuals of as much egoism as possible. In dealing with the problems and necessities of radical social change they are almost invariably confusing in their counsels because they are not conscious of the limitations in human nature which finally frustrate their efforts. The following pages are devoted to the task of analysing the moral resources and limitations of human nature, of tracing their consequences and cumulative effect in the life of human groups and of weighing political strategies in the light of the ascertained facts. The ultimate purpose of this task is to find political methods which will offer the most promise of achieving an ethical social goal for society. Such methods must always be judged by two criteria: 1. Do they do justice to the moral resources and possibilities in human nature and provide for the exploitation of every latent moral capacity in man? 2. Do they take account of the limitations of human nature, particularly those which manifest themselves in mans collective behavior? So persistent are the moralistic illusions about politics in the middle-class world, that any emphasis upon the second question will probably impress the average reader as unduly cynical. Social viewpoints and analyses are relative to the temper of the age which gives them birth. In America our contemporary culture is still pretty firmly enmeshed in the illusions and sentimentalities of the Age of Reason. A social analysis which is written, at least partially, from the perspective of a disillusioned generation will seem to be almost pure cynicism from the perspective of those who will stand in the credo of the ninteenth century. file:///D:/rb/relsearchd. dll-action=showitemgotochapter=1id=415. htm (7 of 8) [2/4/03 12:43:58 PM] Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics 0 file:///D:/rb/relsearchd. dll-action=showitemgotochapter=1id=415. tm (8 of 8) [2/4/03 12:43:58 PM] Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics return to religion-online Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics by Reinhold Niebuhr One of the foremost philsophers and theologians of the twentieth century, Reinhold Niebuhr was for many years a Professor at Union Theological Seminary, New York City. He is the author of many classics in thei r field, including The Nature and Destiny of Man, Moral Man and Immoral Society, The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness, and Discerning the Signs of Our Times. He was also the founding editor of the publication Christianity and Crisis. Published in 1932 by Charles Scribners Sons. This material was prepared for Religion Online by Ted and Winnie Brock. Chapter 1: Man and Society: The Art of Living Together Though human society has roots which lie deeper in history than the beginning of human life, men have made comparatively but little progress in solving the problem of their aggregate existence. Each century originates a new complexity and each new generation faces a new vexation in it. For all the enturies of experience, men have not yet learned how to live together without compounding their vices and covering each other with mud and with blood. The society in which each man lives is at once the basis for, and the nemesis of, that fullness of life which each man seeks. However much human ingenuity may increase the treasures which nature provides for the satisfaction of human needs, they can never be sufficient to satisfy all human wants; f or man, unlike other creatures, is gifted and cursed with an imagination which extends his appetites beyond the requirements of subsistence. Human society will never escape the problem of the equitable distribution of the physical and cultural goods which provide for the preservation and fulfillment of human life. Unfortunately the conquest of nature, and the consequent increase in natures beneficences to man, have not eased, but rather accentuated, the problem of justice. The same technology, which drew the fangs of natures enmity of man, also created a society in which the intensity and extent of social cohesion has been greatly increased, and in which power is so unevenly distributed, that justice has become a more difficult achievement. Perhaps it is mans sorry fate, suffering from ills which have their source in the inadequacies of both nature and human society, that the tools by which he eliminates the former should become the means of increasing the latter. That, at least, has been his fate up to the present hour; and it may be that there will be no salvation for the human spirit from the more and more painful burdens of social injustice until the ominous tendency in human history has resulted in perfect tragedy. file:///D:/rb/relsearchd. ll-action=showitemgotochapter=2id=415. htm (1 of 11) [2/4/03 12:44:05 PM] Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics Human nature is not wanting in certain endowments for the solution of the problem of human society. Man is endowed by nature with organic relations to his fellowmen; and natural impulse prompts him to consider the needs of others even when they compete with his own. With the higher mammals man shares concern for his offspring; and the long infan cy of the child created he basis for an organic social group in the earliest period of human history. Gradually intelligence, imagination, and the necessities of social conflict increased the size of this group. Natural impulse was refined and extended until a less obvious type of consanguinity than an immediate family relationship could be made the basis of social solidarity. Since those early days the units of human cooperation have constantly grown in size, and the areas of significant relationships between the units have likewise increased. Nevertheless conflict between the national units remains as a permanent rather than a passing characteristic of their relations to each other; and each national unit finds it increasingly difficult to maintain either peace or justice within its common life. While it is possible for intelligence to increase the range of benevolent impulse, and thus prompt a human being to consider the needs and rights of other than those to whom he is bound by organic and physical relationship, there are definite limits in the capacity of ordinary mortals which makes it impossible for them to grant to others what they claim for themselves. Though educators ever since the eighteenth century have given themselves to the fond illusion that justice through voluntary co-operation waited only upon a more universal or a more adequate educational enterprise, there is good reason to believe that the sentiments of benevolence and social goodwill will never be so pure or powerful, and the rational capacity to consider the rights and needs of others in fair competition with our own will never be so fully developed as to create the possibility for the anarchistic millennium which is the social utopia, either explicit or implicit, of all intellectual or religious moralists. All social co-operation on a larger scale than the most intimate social group requires a measure of coercion. While no state can maintain its unity purely by coercion neither can it preserve itself without coercion. Where the factor of mutual consent is strongly developed, and where standardised and approximately fair methods of adjudicating and resolving conflicting interests within an organised group have been established, the coercive factor in social life is frequently covert, and becomes apparent only in moments of crisis and in the groups policy toward recalcitrant individuals. Yet it is never absent. Divergence of interest, based upon geographic and functional differences within a society, is bound to create different social philosophies and political attitudes which goodwill and intelligence may partly, but never completely, harmonise. Ultimately, unity within an organised social group, or within a federation of such groups, is created by the ability of a dominant group to impose its will. Politics will to the end of history,be an area where conscience and power meet, where the ethical and coercive factors of human life will interpenetrate and work out their tentative and uneasy compromises. The democratic method of resolving social conflict, which some romanticists hail as a triumph of the ethical over the coercive factor, is really much more coercive than at first seems apparent. file:///D:/rb/relsearchd. dll-action=showitemgotochapter=2id=415. htm (2 of 11) [2/4/03 12:44:05 PM] Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics The majority has its way, not because the minority believes that the majority is right (few minorities are willing to grant the majority the moral prestige of such a concession), but because the votes of the majority are a symbol of its social strength. Whenever a minority believes that it has some strategic advantage which outweighs the power of numbers, and whenever it is sufficiently intent upon its ends, or desperate enough about its position in society, it refuses to accept the dictates of the majority. Military and economic overlords and revolutionary zealots have been traditionally contemptuous of the will of majorities. Recently Trotsky advised the German communists not to be dismayed by the greater voting strength of the fascists since in the inevitable revolution the power of industrial workers, in charge of the nations industrial process, would be found much more significant than the social power of clerks and other petty bourgeoisie who comprised the fascist movement. There are, no doubt, rational and ethical factors in the democratic process. Contending social forces presumably use the forum rather than the battleground to arbitrate their differences in the democratic method, and thus differences are resolved by moral suasion and a rational adjustment of rights to rights. If political issues were really abstract questions of social policy upon which unbiased citizens were asked to commit themselves, the business of voting and the debate which precedes the election might actually be regarded as an educational programme in which a social group discovers its common mind. But the fact is that political opinions are inevitably rooted in economic interests of some kind or other, and only comparatively few citizens can view a problem of social policy without regard to their interest. Conflicting interests therefore can never be completely resolved; and minorities will yield only because the majority has come into control of the police power of the state and may, if the occasion arises, augment that power by its own military strength. Should a minority regard its own strength, whether economic or martial, as strong enough to challenge the ,power of the majority, it may attempt to wrest control of the state apparatus from the majority, as in the case of the fascist movement in Italy. Sometimes it will resort to armed conflict, even if the prospects of victory are none too bright, as in the instance of the American Civil War, in which the Southern planting interests, outvoted by a combination of Eastern industrialists and Western agrarians, resolved to protect their peculiar interests and privileges by a forceful dissolution of the national union. The coercive factor is, in other words, always present in politics. If economic interests do not conflict too sharply, if the spirit of accommodation partially resolves them, and if the democratic process has achieved moral prestige and historic dignity, the coercive factor in politics may become too covert to be visible to the casual observer. Nevertheless, only a romanticist of the purest water could maintain that a national group ever arrives at a common mind or becomes conscious of a general will without the use of either force or the threat of force. This is particularly true of nations, but it is also true, though in a slighter degree, of other social groups. Even religious communities, if they are sufficiently large, and if they deal with issues regarded as vital by their members, resort to coercion to preserve their unity. Religious organisations have usually availed themselves of a covert type of coercion (excommunication and the interdict) or they have called upon the police power of the state. file:///D:/rb/relsearchd. dll-action=showitemgotochapter=2id=415. htm (3 of 11) [2/4/03 12:44:05 PM] Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics The limitations of the human mind and imagination, the inability of human beings to transcend their own interests sufficiently to envisage the interests of their fellowmen as clearly as they do their own makes force an inevitable part of the process of social cohesion. But the same force which guarantees peace also makes for injustice. Power, said Henry Adams, is poison; and it is a poison which blinds the eyes of moral insight and lames the will of moral purpose. The individual or the group which organises any society, however social its intentions or pretensions, arrogates an inordinate portion of social privilege to itself. The two most obvious types of power are the military and the economic, though in primitive society the power of the priest, partly because he dispenses supernatural benefits and partly because he establishes public order by methods less arduous than those of the soldier, vies with that of the soldier and the landlord. The chief difference between the agrarian civilisations, which lasted from the rise of ancient Babylon and Egypt to the fall of European feudalism, and the commercial and industrial civilisations of today is that in the former the military power is primary, and in the latter it has become secondary, to economic power. In agrarian civilisations the soldier becomes the landlord. In more primitive periods he may claim the land by his own military prowess. In later periods a grateful sovereign bestowed land upon the soldiers who defended his realm and consolidated his dominion. The soldier thus gained the economic security and the social prestige which could be exploited in further martial service to his sovereign. The business man and industrial overlord are gradually usurping the position of eminence and privilege once held by the soldier and the priest. In most European nations their ascendancy over the landed aristocrat of military traditions is not as complete as in America, which has no feudal traditions. In present-day Japan the military caste is still so powerful that it threatens to destroy the rising power of the commercial groups. On the pre-eminence of economic power in an industrial civilisation and its ability to make the military power its tool we shall have more to say later. Our interest at the moment is to record that any kind of significant social power develops social inequality. Even if history is viewed from other than equalitarian perspectives, and it is granted that differentials in economic rewards are morally justified and socially useful, it is impossible to justify the degree of inequality which complex societies inevitably create by the increased centralisation of power which develops with more elaborate civilisations. The literature of all ages is filled with rational and moral justifications of these inequalities, but most of them are specious. If superior abilities and services to society deserve special rewards it may be regarded as axiomatic that the rewards are always higher than the services warrant. No impartial society determines the rewards. The men of power who control society grant these perquisites to themselves. Whenever special ability is not associated with power, as in the case of the modern professional man, his excess of income over the average is ridiculously low in comparison with that of the economic overlords, who are the real centres of power in an industrial society. Most rational and social justifications of unequal privilege are clearly afterthoughts. The facts are created by the disproportion of power which exists in a given social system. The justifications are usually dictated by the desire of the men of power to hide the nakedness of their greed, and by the inclination of society itself to veil the brutal facts of human life from itself. This is a rather pathetic but understandable inclination; since the facts of mans collective life easily rob the average individual of confidence in the human enterprise. The inevitable hypocrisy, which is associated with all of the |collective activities of the human race, springs chiefly from this file:///D:/rb/relsearchd. ll-action=showitemgotochapter=2id=415. htm (4 of 11) [2/4/03 12:44:05 PM] Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics source: that individuals have a moral code which makes the actions of collective man an outrage to their conscience. They therefore invent romantic and moral interpretations of the real facts, preferring to obscure rather than reveal the true character of their collective behavior Sometimes they are as anxious to offer moral jus tifications for the brutalities from which they suffer as for those which they commit. The fact that the hypocrisy of mans group behavior, about which we shall have much more to say later, expresses itself not only in terms of selfjustification but in terms of moral justification of human behavior in general, symbolises one of the tragedies of the human spirit: its inability to conform its collective life to its individual ideals. As individuals, men believe that they ought to love and serve each other and establish justice between each other. As racial, economic and national groups they take for themselves, whatever their power can command. The disproportion of power in a complex society which began with the transmutation of the pastoral to the agrarian economy, and which destroyed the simple equalitarianism and communism of the hunting and nomadic social organisation, has perpetuated social injustice in every form through all the ages. Types of power have changed, and gradations of social inequality have varied, but the essential facts have remained unchanged. In Egypt the land was divided into three parts, respectively claimed by the king, the soldiers and the priests. The common people were landless. In Peru, where a rather remarkable despotic communism developed, the king owned all the land but gave the use of one third to the people, another third to the priests and kept one third for himself and his nobles. Needless to say, the commoners were expected to till not only their third but the other two thirds of the lands. In China, where the emperor maintained the right of eminent domain for many centuries, defeating the experiment in feudalism in the third century A. D. , and giving each family inalienable rights in the soil which nominally belonged to him, there has probably been less inequality than in any other ancient empire. Nevertheless slavery persisted until a very recent day. In Japan the emperor gave the land to feudal princes, who again sublet it to the inferior nobility. The power of the feudal clans, originating in martial prowess and perpetuated through land ownership, has remained practically unbroken to this day, though the imperial power was ostensibly restored in the latter part of the last century, and growing industry has developed a class of industrial overlords who were partly drawn from the landed aristocracy. In Rome the absolute property rights of the pater familias of the patrician class gave him power which placed him on top of the social pyramid. All other classes, beginning with his own women and children, then the plebeians and finally the slaves, took their places in the various lower rungs of the social ladder. The efforts of the Gracchi to destroy the ever growing inequality, which resulted from power breeding more power, proved abortive, as did the land reforms of Solon and Lycurgus in Greece. Military conquest gave the owners of the Roman latifundia hundreds of slaves by the labor of which they reduced the small freeholders to penury. Thus the decay of the Roman Empire was prepared; for a state which has only lords and slaves lacks the social cement to preserve it from internal disintegration and the military force to protect it from external aggression. file:///D:/rb/relsearchd. dll-action=showitemgotochapter=2id=415. htm (5 of 11) [2/4/03 12:44:05 PM] Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics All through history one may observe the tendency of power to destroy its very raison detre. It is suffered because it achieves internal unity and creates external defenses for the nation. But it grows to such proportions that it destroys the social peace of the state by the animosities which its exactions arouse, and it enervates the sentiment of patriotism by robbing the common man of the basic privileges which might bind him to his nation. The words attributed by Plutarch to Tiberius Gracchus reveal the hollowness of the pretensions by which the powerful classes enlist their slaves in the defense of their dominions: The wild beasts in Italy had at least their lairs, dens and caves whereto they might retreat; whereas the men who fought and died for that land had nothing in it save air and light, but were forced to wander to and fro with their wives and children, without resting place or house wherein they might lodge. The poor folk go to war, to fight and to die for the delights, riches and superfluities of others. Plutarch, The Parallel Lives, see Tiberius Gracchus, Loeb Classical Library, Vol. X). In the long run these pretensions are revealed and the sentiment of patriotism is throttled in the breasts of the disinherited. The privileged groups who are outraged by the want of patriotism among modern proletarians could learn the cause of proletarian internationalism by a little study of history. It is absurd, says Dio dorus Siculus, speaking of Egypt, to entrust the defence of a country to people who own nothing in it,(Quoted by C. J. M. Letourneau, Property; Its Origin and Development. p. 77) a reflection which has applicability to other ages and other nations than his own. Russian communists of pure water pour their scorn upon European socialists, among whom patriotism outweighed class loyalty in the World War. But there is a very simple explanation for the nationalism of European socialists. They were not as completely, or at least not as obviously, disinherited as their Russian comrades. The history of slavery in all ancient civilisations offers an interesting illustration of the development of social injustice with the growing size and complexity of the social unit. In primitive tribal organisation rights are essentially equal within the group, and no rights, or only very minimum rights are recognised outside of the group. The captives of war are killed. With the growth of agriculture the labor of captives becomes useful, and they are enslaved rather than destroyed. Since rightless individuals are introduced into the intimate life of the group, equality of rights disappears; and the inequality remains even after the slaves are no longer regarded as enemies and have become completely organic to the life of the group. The principle of slavery once established, is enlarged to include debt slaves, victims of the growing property system. The membership of the debt slaves in the original community at first guarantees them rights which the captive slaves do not enjoy. But the years gradually wipe out these distinctions and the captive slaves are finally raised to the status of debtor slaves. Thus the more humane attitudes which men practice within their social groups gains a slight victory over the more brutal attitudes towards individuals in other groups. But the victory is insignificant in comparison with the previous introduction of the morals of inter group relations into the intimate life of the group by the very establishment of slavery. Barbarism knows little or nothing of class distinctions. These are created and more and more highly elaborated by civilisation. The social impulses, with which men are endowed by nature are not powerful enough, even when they are extended by a growing intelligence, to apply with equal force ile:///D:/rb/relsearchd. dll-action=showitem=2=415. htm (6 of 11) [2/4/03 12:44:05 PM] Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics toward all members of a large community. The distinction between slave and freeman is only one of the many social gradations which higher societies develop. They are determined in every case by the disproportion of power, military and economic, which develops in the more complex civilisations and in the larger social units. A growing social intelligence may be affronted by them and may protest against them, but it changes them only slightly. Neither the prophets of Israel nor the social idealists of Egypt and Babylon, who protested against social injustice, could make their vision of a just society effective. The man of power, though humane impulse may awaken in him, always remains something of the beast of prey. He may be generous within his family, and just within the confines of the group which shares his power and privilege. With only rare exceptions, his highest moral attitude toward members of other groups is one of warlike sportsmanship toward those who equal his power and challenge it, and one of philanthropic generosity toward those who possess less power and privilege. His philanthropy is a perfect illustration of the curious compound of the brutal and the moral which we find in all human behavior; for his generosity is at once a display of his power and an expression of his pity. His generous impulses freeze within him if his power is challenged or his generosities are accepted without grateful humility. If individual men of power should achieve more ethical attitudes than the one described, it remains nevertheless typical for them as a class; and is their practically unvarying attitude when they express themselves not as individuals but as a group. The rise of modern democracy, beginning with the Eighteenth Century, is sometimes supposed to have substituted the consent of the governed for the power of royal families and aristocratic classes as the cohesive force of national society. This judgment is partly true but not nearly as true as the uncritical devotees of modern democracy assume. The doctrine that government exists by the consent of the governed, and the democratic technique by which the suffrage of the governed determines the policy of the state, may actually reduce the coercive factor in national life, and provide for peaceful and gradual methods of resolving conflicting social interests and changing political institutions. But the creeds and institutions of democracy have never become fully divorced from the special interests of the commercial classes who conceived and developed them. It was their interest to destroy political restraint upon economic activity, and they therefore weakened the authority of the state and made it more pliant to their needs. With the increased centralisation of economic power in the period of modern industrialism, this development merely means that society as such does not control economic power as much as social well-being requires; and that the economic, rather than the political and military, power has become the significant coercive force of modern society. Either it defies the authority of the state or it bends the institutions of the state to its own purposes. Political power has been made responsible, but economic power has become irresponsible in society. The net result is that political power has been made more responsible to economic power. It is, in other words, again the man of power or the dominant class which binds society together, regulates its processes, always paying itself inordinate rewards for its labors. The difference is that