Corporate Development During The Industrial Revolution The Standard Oi

Corporate Development During the Industrial Revolution The Standard Oil Company founded by John D. Rockefeller and the U.S. Steel Company founded by Andrew Carnegie. The Standard Oil Company and U.S. Steel Company were made successful in different ways due to the actions of their different owners. The companies differed in their labor relations, market control, and structural organization. In the steel industry, Carnegie developed a system known as vertical integration. This means that he cut out the middle man. Carnegie bought his own iron and coal mines because using independent companies cost too much and were inefficient. By doing this he was able to undersell his competetors because they had to pay the competitors they went through to get the raw materials. Unlike Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller integrated his oil business from top to bottom, his distinctive innovation in movement of American industry was horizontal. This meant he followed one product through all its stag es. For example, rockrfeller controlled the oil when it was drilled, through the refining stage, and he maintained control over the refining process turning it into gasoline. Although these two powerful men used two different methods of management their businesses were still very successful (Conlin, 425-426). Tycoons like Andrew Carnegie, "the steel king," and John D. Rockefeller, "the oil baron," exercised their genius in devising ways to circument competition. Although, Carnegie inclined to be tough-fisted in business, he was not a monopolist and disliked monopolistic trusts. John D. Rockefeller came to dominate the oil industry. With one upward stride after another he organized the Standard Oil Company, which was the nucleus of the great trust that was formed. Rockefeller showed little mercy. He believed primitive savagery prevailed in the jungle world of business, where only the fittest survived. He persued the policy of "ruin or rule." Rockefeller's oil monopoly did turn out a superior product at a relatively cheap price. Rockefeller belived in ruthless business, Carnegie didn't, yet they both had the most successful companies in their industries. (The American Pageant, pages 515-518) Rockefeller treated his customers in the same manner that Andrew Carnegie treated his workers: cruel and harsh. The Standard Oil Company desperately wanted every possible company to buy their products. Standard Oil used ruthless tactics when Rockefeller threatenedto start his own chain of grocery stores and put local merchants out of business if they did not buy oil from Standard Oil Company. Carnegie dealt with his workers with the same cold lack of diplomacy and consideration. Carnegie would encourage an unfriendly competition between two of his workers and he goaded them into outdoing one another. Some of his employees found working under Carnegie unbearable. These rivalries became so important to the employees that somedidn't talk to each other for years (McCloskkey , page 145). Although both Carnegie and Rockefeller created extermely successsful companies, they both used unscrupulous methods in some aspect of their corporation building to get to the top. The success of the Standard Oil Company and U.S. Steel company was credited to the fact that their owners ran them with great authority. In this very competetive time period, many new businesses were being formed and it took talented businessmen to get ahead and keep the companies running and make the fortunes that were made during this period. Terra Harnish Heather Rodgers Carly Wolfensberger BIBLIOGRAPHY Conlin, Joseph R. History of the U.S.: Our Land, Our Time. pp. 425-426. 1985. Bailey, Thomas A. and David M. Kennedy: The American Pageant. pp. 515-518. 1987. Latham, Earl: John D. Rockefeller; Robber Baron Or Industrial Statesman? (Problems in American Civilization Series). pg. 39. 1949. McCloskey, Robert Green: American Conservatism In The Age Of Enterprise 1865-1910. pg. 145. 1951.

SNCC book review essays

SNCC book review essays The evolution of SNCC is interesting because it began almost by accident but ended up having a profound effect not only on the Civil Rights movement but on multiple movements for change in the United States during that time, including the growing movement to protest the United State's involvement in Viet Nam. The book also makes an important point about historical movements: no one group will have all the answers any more than any one person will have all the answers. While Martin Luther King and his group, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, tends to get most of the credit for gaining civil rights for all, they did not do it alone, and sometimes SNCC's contributions both in their actions and in their evolving philosophy were crucial. The book is divided into three major parts: "Coming Together," "Looking Inward," and "Falling Apart." As the author analyzes the actions and thought processes of those involved in SNCC, he reveals a much more three-dimensional picture of the group than people might otherwise be aware of. While the SNCC ended up promoting ideas that were much more radical and confrontational than those of SCLC, those who shaped the group's philosophy were thoughtful, determined people, not just angry young firebrands ready to lash back at a system that had wronged them. The word "non-violent" in their name is not double-talk. They started out embracing a non-violent approach to ending segregation in the south (eventually focusing more on voter registration) and only accepted confrontation as part of their strategy when they realized that non-violence by itself would In the first section, "Coming Together," the author describes the first student sit-in at a lunch counter. Early in February of 1960, four Black students from a Black college in Greensboro, North Carolina, walked into a Woolworth's lunch counter and sat down. This was...

Excerpts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Excerpts - Essay Example In the item of the questionnaire, the women slept under five hours were 10 in PROM (-) (3.2%), 7 in the PROM (+) (11%). (p=0.018) The women who ate regularly three times a day were 296 in PROM (-) (94%), 52 in PROM (+) (84%). (p=0.0068) About the number of toothbrush of 1st, in PROM (-), three times were 82 (26%), twice were 207 (66%), once were 26 (8.2%). In PROM (+), three times were 11 (18%), twice were 42 (68%), once were 9 (14%). (p=0.0110) We cross–examined it about physical condition and behavior in each group. Only in PROM (-), Connection was found about "under sleep five hours" and "feeling of sleep shortage" (p=0.00), â€Å"fatigue† and â€Å"feeling of sleep shortage", "awareness of the cill" and "the prevention action for the cill". 　The purpose of our survey is to reveal the practice of Japanese midwife toward pregnant-women in the maternity home and bringing out some evidences of midwifery judgment based upon touching pregnant women. 　The questionnaire of the study was sent to the maternity homes (218 institutions), and the effective reply was used as data. The maternity home is the institution where the midwife opens independently. That survey items are the number of the attending midwives in the pregnant-women medical examination, medical examination time, the part which touches in the body of a pregnant woman, the purpose of touching, the time which touches, etc. The ground total of the quantitative data was carried out and qualitative data performed a content analysis. 　The numbers of reply institutions were 67 (30%). The average medical examination time spent on one pregnant-woman was 48.1 minutes (n=62, SD= ±17.2). The longest time which the average of the total of the time to touch the body of the pregnant-women in one pregnant-woman medical examination was 21.9 minutes (n = 98, SD= ±14.8). The part which touches was mainly the leg from the

Organizational change and research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Organizational change and research - Essay Example Another method that nurses can get involved in research projects is by providing them with adequate access to information technology (Munroe, Duffy & Fisher 2008). Equipping nurses with information technology skills helps them get involved in the evidence based practice projects that are scientific in nature. Use of electronic medical records can bring a positive impact in the way tasks are handled in the clinical and healthcare sectors. Its use brings about electronic infrastructure in the way activities are conducted by the physicians. It is important that physicians be convinced to use the electronic medical records. One of the ways that the physicians are encouraged to use the electronic media records is by involving them in evaluation and demonstration projects. By involving them in demonstration projects they get to know how the electronic media record is used. Moreover, involving them in evaluation projects gives them positive attitude about the use of electronic medical records because they get to know its advantages and the positive effects it brings in their activities as physicians. Some of its advantages in of electronic medical records are ease of viewing the patients’ records and also ease in documentation, analysis and reporting about a patient (Miller, Sim, and New man 2003) Relationship building is important for both the physicians and the patients. Good relationship between the physicians and the patients helps in decision-making. Moreover, good relationship among the physicians is important because they deliver quality health care services to the patients. According to Press Ganey Associates (2009), good relationship between the patients and practitioners help patients to identify the best mode of treatment to their health problems. They also get to know alternative modes of treatment and also to know the consequences of failing to get treated. Good relationship

Theater Final Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Theater Final - Assignment Example One of the main points of conflict in the musical is the one between Marty and Curtis as they both claim patronage of Dreamettes. The two men who played a key role in the rising stardom of the all-female pop band act possessively toward their protà ©gà ©s. They both believe that they have earned some unarticulated right over the members of the Dreamettes. This leads to the instances of intimacy between Curtis and Effie, and also between Jimmy and Lorrell. The rising tension between the two men is eventually dissipated when Marty resigns as Jimmy’s manager, which paves way for Curtis to take over. 3) Identify and discuss briefly a character driven musical number from the show. Remember character numbers reveal/tell us something about the person or show us how they have changed or where they are on their journey. One of the poignant musical numbers is the one sung by Effie titled ‘And I am Telling You I’m Not Going’. It is addressed mainly toward Curtis, but more generally toward the group and the world-at-large. After having been expelled from the group Deena Jones and the Dreams, the heart-broken Effie is not one to take it lying down. She shows that she is a resolute person willing to do whatever it takes to earn her place back in the group. Through the song we learn how Effie is strong-willed and has a fighting spirit. But eventually, she is unable to overpower the forces of cut-throat competition prevalent in the world of showbiz. ‘Cadillac Car’, which appears more than once during the musical is a plot driven number. Being the first song of the all-black female pop group (Dreamettes), the image of the Cadillac represents their newfound liberty and success. Instead of setting out in detail the group’s rise from obscurity to popularity the image and the lyrics are used symbolically. The exhilarating fast ride in a Cadillac is equated

African Slave Trade and West African Underdevelopment

African Slave Trade and West African Underdevelopment This paper looks at whether the Atlantic slave trade contributed to the underdevelopment of West Africa. The paper argues that the issue of African underdevelopment is extremely complex, including many factors, aside from the Atlantic slave trade, that have contributed, and continue to contribute, to the underdevelopment of Africa. The paper begins with a review of the slave trade, in terms of the numbers of people involved in this, and the immediate effects of this trade on local economies. The effects of this trade on importing economies is then reviewed, and it is shown that many importing countries benefited massively from this trade, through increased labour supply and through monetary gains which were then applied to developing industry in the importing countries. The repercussions of this industrial development are then discussed, in terms of its effects on Africa. The paper then moves on to look at the effect of the slave trade on Africa, in terms of the demographic imbalances this caused, and the effects this had on the development of African countries, in terms of social, political and economic development. The paper then moves on to look at the roles, and effects, of the colonial powers on African countries, in terms of exploitation of Africa’s natural resources and the immediate and long-lasting effects this has had on Africa, and the continuing exploitation of Africa, through development loans, for example, which cripple the economies of many African countries, through the massive interest payments required, which leaves little money for investment to develop local industry, or social projects. The paper thus sees African underdevelopment as a holistic problem, involving far more than the slave trade, and having far-reaching implications for future generations of Africans. In addition to looking at the effects of the slave trade on African underdevelopment, the term ‘underdevelopment’ will be discussed in an African context. As will be seen, Rodney (1972) argues, in his book How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, that there is no such thing as ‘underdevelopment’, that underdevelopment is not an absence of development, rather that it can only be understood in the context of comparisons, of ‘more developed’ with ‘less developed’ nations, for example, and that it is best understood in the context of exploitation, as, for Rodney, most currently underdeveloped countries are also the countries that are exploited by others, through capitalist, imperialist or colonialist means (Rodney, 1972; p. 110-112). The paper will conclude that capitalist exploitation of Africa began with the slave trade and continues to the present day and is, as we have see, the major factor that was, and continues to be, responsible for th e comparative underdevelopment of African nations. As we have argued, the slave trade per se did not contribute to the comparative underdevelopment of Africa, rather a complex mixture of exploitation, lack of opportunity, and capitalist interests contributed to the underdevelopment of Africa. It is estimated by Curtin (1969) that 9,566,100 slaves were exported from Africa to the Americas and other parts of the Atlantic basin, from it’s beginning in 1451 to when this trade ended in 1870. Many subsequent researchers have, however, provided evidence which shows that this figure is an under-estimation; for example, Stein (1978) has presented a figure some twenty per cent higher than Curtin’s (1969) estimation and Lovejoy (1982) used new calculations, and new shipping data, to put the figure at some 11,698,000. Whatever the exact figure, however, it is clear that demographically, this trade had a massive impact on West Africa, with Thornton (1980) showing that there are marked differences in economic, demographic, political and social development between slave-depleted areas, slave-importing areas and slave-trading areas. The debate that subsequently surrounded Curtin’s estimation of the number of people involved in the Atlantic slave trade has therefore i nvolved much more than a disagreement about numbers: it rests more, now, on whether the slave trade was actually a contributing factor in the current underdevelopment of West Africa. This paper expands the ideas presented by Curtin (1969), and Thornton (1980), looking at the social, economic and political effects of the slave trade on Africa. Rodney (1972; p9-10) argues very strongly that development is characterised by growth in economic production, equity in the distribution of social product and autonomy in control over social processes, and that, as such, underdevelopment is not a state that can be overcome as ‘backward’ societies move through the same stages of growth as ‘advances’ societies, as, instead, Rodney sees capitalist development and underdevelopment as two sides of the same coin (Legassick, 1976). Rodney argues strongly, throughout his book, for African capability, but argues that deeply rooted, externally imposed structural constraints prevented, and prevents, the further development of African society[1]; for example, he argues that what he terms the ‘determinative power’ of the colonial state was one factor that contributed to the underdevelopment of West Africa, not necessarily, therefore, that it was the slave trade per se that contributed wholly to the underdeve lopment of West Africa; this argument is somewhat supported by Brett (1973), who argues strongly throughout his book that the colonial state presence prevented industrialisation in the East African countries he studied, arguing that resource allocation led to peasant agricultural systems becoming the dominant form of agriculture in these countries, for example. It is interesting, then, that both these authors see colonial rule (i.e., political structure) as being the dominant force shaping underdevelopment in Africa, with Brett (1973) arguing that this was the sole factor important in shaping underdevelopment, and Rodney (1972) arguing that colonial rule was but one factor shaping underdevelopment in Africa, in concert with, for example, the demographic skews caused by the slave trade. As such, as Brett (1973) and Rodney (1972) argue, the presence of a colonial power in Africa prevented the development of political structures which would have been conducive to a coherent and holistic development of an industrialised society in Africa; without a political structure which supported assessments of the international economy, from an African perspective, and without political power with an African interest, Africa was left high and dry, unable to develop on African terms, and left at the mercy of the colonial political power, who made decisions based on their own interests, not decisions that were best, in the short or long term, for Africa. The presence of the colonial power thus, itself, led to the underdevelopment of Africa, politically, which had, and continues to have (as we shall see) massive repercussions for African society, in terms of its economic and social development. This academic argument over the numbers of slaves involved in the slave trade shadows the massive scale of the problem: slaves were preferred to be between the ages of fifteen and thirty five, and more men were taken than women, at a ratio of 2:1, skewing the demographics of the towns and villages from where the slaves were taken (Rodney, 1972). As we have seen, 9,566,100 slaves were exported from Africa to the Americas and other parts of the Atlantic basin, from it’s beginning in 1451 to when this trade ended in 1870. Many subsequent researchers have, however, provided evidence which shows that this figure is an under-estimation; for example, Stein (1978) has presented a figure some twenty per cent higher than Curtin’s (1969) estimation and Lovejoy (1982) used new calculations, and new shipping data, to put the figure at some 11,698,000. Whatever the number of slaves that were exported, however, the slave trade essentially extracted all of the healthy men, of reproductive age from African countries involved in the slave trade: this, essentially, led to a lack of a suitable workforce with which to forge ahead with agricultural, social or technological developments, leading to a lack of internal development within Africa, which, couple with the import of cheap goods in to Africa from industrialising nations (i.e., the colonial powers) led to the death of the African manufacturing industry. This, coupled with the lack of a coherent African political power with a presence, and an influence in the region, led directly to the underdevelopment of African countries. In essence, due to the slave trade and the presence of the colonial power, Africa (African leaders) never had a chance to assess itself and to make decisions as to how to go forward and develop political, economic or social structures that would have led to econo mic success. This alone has contributed to the lag in development of Africa, if, indeed it is a lag, if Africa can ever come out of the underdeveloped state it is in, which is a moot point, and which many argue can never happen. This, in conjunction with the massive exploitation of Africa’s natural resources, such as oil, diamonds, bauxite, copper, by external companies (owned by individuals based within the colonial powers) seeking to make a profit from these resources has, many argue, doomed Africa to perpetual underdevelopment. This, in conjunction with ‘aid’ loans given by the World Bank, for example, which have left the economies of African countries in massive debt, with the interest, alone, crippling the economies of these countries, has, again, left Africa in a situation from which it is difficult to see a recovery, let alone a move towards any form of meaningful economic development. The raping of Africa: it’s people, it’s resources, it’s opportun ities, is therefore something that has been present throughout it’s history and which continues to the present day. Thus, not only did the Atlantic slave trade contribute to the underdevelopment of Africa, through the many routes that have already been discussed, but the colonial presence in Africa which led to the raping of Africa’s natural resources, and the domination of these natural resources by external, foreign, companies, has led directly to underdevelopment. These resources were not available for exploitation by Africans, and so Africans were not able to profit from these resources, and were not able to invest these profits in growing industry or technological developments. As such, many scholars argue, Africa was, by the very fact of the raping of its natural resources, doomed to underdevelopment. This coupled with crippling levels of debt that have been incurred through ‘developmental aid’ loans with unfairly high levels of interest, from previous colonial powers, has led to the continued underdevelopment of many African countries. Current campaigns to ‘drop th e debt’ in many African countries may, it has to be said, have come far too late to have much effect, especially when one considers the other, more deadly, scourge which is altering African demographics today: HIV, which, it is estimated, culls more of the African population in many African countries than was ever taken by the slave trade. This new demographic threat is even more deadly considering that drugs are available to treat the disease caused by this virus, but that the current colonial powers, and the companies that are protected by laws of these colonial powers, do not allow these drugs to be sold at a reasonable cost to Africa, essentially blocking off a route to treatment, and condemning a whole generation of Africans to death, and through this, condemning Africa to decades, if not centuries, of continued underdevelopment. In light of this historic pattern of the raping of Africa, perhaps the question should not be how did the slave trade contribute to Africa’s underdevelopment, but, rather, how did the imported slaves contribute to the rapid development of the host countries. For example, African slaves were used in gold and silver mining in the Americas, and certainly speeded up Europe’s technological development, with, for example, English ports involved in the slave trade, such as Liverpool, growing economically with the importing of slaves, and then this economic growth fuelling development in this region which, ultimately, led to the Industrial Revolution. Other specific examples from an English context include individuals who became wealthy through dealing in the slave trade who then used this money to set up successful firms; the Barclays, for example, used money earned from the slave trade to set up Barclays Bank, and Lloyds coffee house expanded in to Lloyds banking and insuranc e following involvement in the slave trade. James Watt, of steam engine fame, also accepted money from slave traders to fund the development of his steam engine; without the slave trade, therefore, many technological developments in Europe, particularly England, would not have happened, and Europe, the world, would not be so well-developed. Imagine a world without the Industrial Revolution: it would, ironically, perhaps look something like Africa looks today. This simplistic analysis of the effects of the importing of slaves is just that: simplistic, but it shows, in rough terms, how the slave trade contributed to economic development and societal progress in the importing countries. This, then, fuelled the rise, the development, of these societies, at the expense of the exporting countries, fuelling longer and stricter periods of colonial rule in the exporting countries, and causing yet more underdevelopment in these countries. This process, in concert with massive demographic depletions, which left, realistically, no workforce in some regions of West Africa, contributed to the underdevelopment of these societies, economically, socially and politically, as, we have seen, is argued by Brett (1973) and Rodney (1972)[2]. In addition, as many current scholars argue, it was, perhaps is, the inability of African societies to come to terms with the consequences of the slave trade that has also held the development of Africa back in realistic terms. For example, many of the African slaves were actually sold to Europeans by Africans themselves, either African leaders or traders, who often conducted raids to collect (i.e., kidnap) suitable subjects for sale in to slavery. Some of these African slave traders became very rich on the profits of their trade, but, unlike in Europe, as we have seen, these traders did not invest their profits in African society or in technological developments; they simply used the money for personal gain and personal interests. The interests of African slave traders in the slave trade, and their reliance on this trade, was shown to be extremely strong following the discussions to abolish this trade; much of the opposition to abolition was from African slave traders themselves, wh o were worried that they would lose out on a massive source of income. Indeed, many did lose income from the Atlantic slave trade and then turned to internal slave trading as a means of generating income. Thus, the slave trade, whilst lessening in volume, did not cease entirely in many African countries, and continued to contribute to a disruption of local societies and to a lack of holistic development of social, political and economic forces within many African societies, in which the slave traders (often rulers, as we have seen) began to act, to take the role of, the colonial power, forging similar patterns of underdevelopment to those described by Brett (1973) for colonial powers in Africa. In addition, much of the profit from the slave trade made by African slave traders was not invested in infrastructure or social projects, or in planning for development through technological improvements; most of the profits, as we have seen, were invested in arms for warfare or in consumer goods. This flood of consumer goods, produced outside of Africa, in Europe for example, had the effect of destroying the few local industries there were, with the long-term effect of destroying many of the manufacturing industries in Africa and, as such, denying Africans the basic conditions for economic growth. The slave trade did not encourage African societies to enter in to the international economy in a positive way, rather it encouraged Western economic development, through, as we have seen, providing a source of labour and income, and by providing markets for some of the new products that were being produced by the Industrial Revolution. This paper will conclude, therefore, that the Atlantic slave trade did not per se cause underdevelopment in Africa, rather that the slave trade is but one piece of a complicated jigsaw of effects that, as a whole, forced Africa in to underdevelopment. The slave trade did take massive numbers of young males out of Africa, thus causing severe depletions in the African workforce, and meaning that the African population growth was curtailed for many years, through lack of breeding, for example[3]. In addition, the import of a workforce in to Europe caused inflations in the local economies at the importing ports, which had cascade effects on the local areas; the slave trade also meant that many individuals became rich, and were able to fund technological developments, which helped to fuel, in part, the Industrial Revolution, for example. This meant that the colonial powers could govern more effectively and for a more prolonged period; meaning that political and social systems of control w ere not developed internally within the African slave-importing countries, this itself fuelling years of political and social underdevelopment. Thus, many factors, not just the slave trade per se contributed to the underdevelopment of West Africa. A statement such as â€Å"the Atlantic slave trade contributed to the underdevelopment of West Africa† is far too simplistic to describe the whole cascade of effects that were, have been, and continue to be important in the underdevelopment of West Africa. James Baldwin’s statement, â€Å"The past is what makes the present coherent, and the past will remain horribly incoherent for as long as we refuse to assess it honestly† is particularly apt for the current discussion of this issue. Scholars of different persuasions (whites vs. blacks, Marxists vs. non-Marxists etc) all have their own interpretations of this period of African history, but it is the responsibility of all mankind to assess this situation responsibly, to acknowledge the continued underdevelopment of Africa as a global, moral, responsibility of all humankind, and not to distort the past and use it to cause continued repression and underdevelopment of this continent. Recent plans, and recent events, for example, leading to the privatisation of water in many African countries is, for example, nothing more than a repeat of colonialism in Africa, a repeat of the raping of Africa, with foreign firms entering in to African economies and destroying them: water privatisation has been shown, for example, to devastate local economies, through ground-up failures in local businesses who can no longer afford to use water. That this has been allowed to happen is a travesty, an insult to Africa, and to all underdeveloped nations; it is a continuation of the exploitation of Africa, its people and its resources, that began at the time of the inception of the slave trade and which continues until the present day. It should ideally be that governments learn from their mistakes through analysis of historical records, not that these mistakes are hidden and repeated in future. As Brett (1973) and Rodney (1972) argue strongly, however, money talks more than moral resp onsibilities, and capitalism will always have two sides: one side that wins and another that loses, facing underdevelopment and poverty as a consequence of losing this battle. As we have seen, this paper has looked at whether the Atlantic slave trade contributed to the underdevelopment of West Africa. The paper has argued that the issue of African underdevelopment is extremely complex, including many factors, aside from the Atlantic slave trade, that have contributed, and continue to contribute, to the underdevelopment of Africa. The paper began with a review of the slave trade, in terms of the numbers of people involved in this, and the immediate effects of this trade on local economies. The effects of this trade on importing economies was then reviewed, and it was shown that many importing countries benefited massively from this trade, through increased labour supply and through monetary gains which were then applied to developing industry in the importing countries[4]. The repercussions of this industrial development were then discussed, in terms of its effects on Africa, showing that local industry was destroyed as a result of cheap imports of textiles, for example, following the manufacturing of this in England following the Industrial Revolution. The paper then moved on to look at the effect of the slave trade on Africa, in terms of the demographic imbalances this caused, and the effects this had on the development of African countries, in terms of social, political and economic development. It was shown that African economic development was held back directly, due to the lack of a workforce and the decline in population growth in Africa over the period the slave trade was active. The paper then moved on to look at the roles, and effects, of the colonial powers on African countries, in terms of exploitation of Africa’s natural resources and the immediate and long-lasting effects this has had on Africa, and the continuing exploitation of Africa, through development loans, for example, which cripple the economies of many African countries, through the massive interest payments required, which leaves little money for investment to develop local industry, or social projects. The paper thus concludes that African underdevelopment as a holistic problem, involving far more than the slave trade, and having far-reaching implications for future generations of Africans. The future is bleak for Africa, and it should be the responsibility of all mankind to act to improve the chances, the opportunities for, all African children, so that the cycle of underdevelopment is not repeated in future. Whether this will happen, however, is dependent on governments, who are run on capitalist principles, and as history has shown us, capitalist, whilst having its shining glories also has a very dark side, which is, essentially, underdevelopment. As we have seen, in light of this historic pattern of the raping of Africa, perhaps the question should not be how did the slave trade contribute to Africa’s underdevelopment, but, rather, how did the imported slaves contribute to the rapid development of the host countries. African slaves were used in gold and silver mining in the Americas, harvesting gold and silver, which was then used to develop these countries. Slavery also certainly speeded up Europe’s technological development, with, for example, English ports involved in the slave trade, such as Liverpool, growing economically with the importing of slaves, and then this economic growth fuelling development in this region, which, ultimately, led to the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution led the world in to industrialisation, or rather, those sections of the world which had political, economic and social systems in place to realise the implications of the Industrial Revolution and to jump on board of it before they got left behind and exploited. As we have seen, other specific examples from an English context include individuals who became wealthy through dealing in the slave trade who then used this money to set up successful firms; the Barclays, for example, used money earned from the slave trade to set up Barclays Bank, and Lloyds coffee house expanded in to Lloyds banking and insurance following involvement in the slave trade. James Watt, of steam engine fame, also accepted money from slave traders to fund the development of his steam engine; without the slave trade, therefore, many technological developments in Europe, particularly England, would not have happened, and Europe, the world, would not be so well-developed. Thus, there is a direct line linking the slave trade with industrial development in the industrial world. Imagine a world without the Industrial Revolution: it would, ironically, perhaps look something like Africa looks today. That Africa was not part of this development, despite the fact that Africans he lped fuel this development is a cruelly ironic historical fact. This simplistic analysis of the effects of the importing of slaves is just that: simplistic, but it shows, in rough terms, how the slave trade contributed to economic development and societal progress in the importing countries. This, then, fuelled the rise, the development, of these societies, at the expense of the exporting countries, fuelling longer and stricter periods of colonial rule in the exporting countries, and causing yet more underdevelopment in these countries. This process, in concert with massive demographic depletions, which left, realistically, no workforce in some regions of West Africa, contributed to the underdevelopment of these societies, economically, socially and politically, as, we have seen, is argued by Brett (1973) and Rodney (1972). As we have seen, this paper thus concludes that African underdevelopment is a holistic problem, involving far more than the slave trade, and having far-reaching implications for future generations of Africans[5]. The future is bleak for Africa, and it should be the responsibility of all mankind to act to improve the chances, the opportunities for, all African children, so that the cycle of underdevelopment is not repeated in future. Whether this will happen, however, is dependent on governments, who are run on capitalist principles, and as history has shown us, capitalist, whilst having its shining glories also has a very dark side, which is, essentially, underdevelopment. As we have seen, Rodney argues that there is no such thing as ‘underdevelopment’, that underdevelopment is not an absence of development, rather that it can only be understood in the context of comparisons, of ‘more developed’ with ‘less developed’ nations, for example, and that it is best understood in the context of exploitation, as, for Rodney, most currently underdeveloped countries are also the countries that are exploited by others, through capitalist, imperialist or colonialist means (Rodney, 1972; p. 110-112). Capitalist exploitation of Africa began with the slave trade and continues to the present day and is, as we have see, the major factor that was, and continues to be, responsible for the comparative underdevelopment of African nations. As we have argued, the slave trade per se did not contribute to the comparative underdevelopment of Africa, rather a complex mixture of exploitation, lack of opportunity, and capitalist interests contributed to the underdevelopment of Africa. That this can be allowed to continue in to the present day is a blight on the whole of mankind, on everyone who allows this to happen, and on everyone who stands by whilst it happens. In this day and age, when children of eight years old have mobile phones and laptop computers in the ‘developed’ world, it is a travesty that many Africans are having to pay for their water, that many Africans die of AIDS because drug companies refuse to sell drugs to Africa at a reasonable cost, that the legacy of colonialism is still alive in Africa, causing continued suffering, death and exploitation. Africa, romantic, beautiful Africa, of sunsets and safaris, is more than that: it is a rich country, with strong cultures, the birthplace of mankind, and, as such, it deserves more than continued exploitation. Why should an African child’s life be worth less than an English child’s life? In this day and age this modern form of slavery, i.e., lack of opportunity, is as harmful as previous forms of slavery, if not more harmful, and is little more than a repeat of previous forms of slavery, in terms of condemning Africans to a life of misery whilst, all around, everyone else enjoys the benefits of development. Bibliography Brett, E.A., 1973. Colonialism and underdevelopment in East Africa: the politics of economic change. London: Heinemann Educational Books. Curtin, P.D., 1969. The Atlantic slave trade: a census. Madison: Wisconsin. Henige, D., 1986. Measuring the immeasurable: the Atlantic slave trade, West African population and the Pyrrhonian Critic. The Journal of African History 27(2), pp.295-313. Legassick, M., 1976. Review article: perspectives on African development. Journal of African History 17(3), pp.435-440. Lovejoy, P.E., 1982. The volume of the Atlantic slave trade. The Journal of African History 23(4), pp.473-501. Rodney, W., 1972. How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. London: Bogle-L’Ouverture Publications. Stein, R., 1978. Measuring the French slave trade 1713-1792/3. Journal of African history 19(4), pp.515-521. Thornton, J., 1980. The slave trade in eighteenth century Angola: effects on demographic structures. Canadian Journal of African Studies 14(3), pp.417-427. 1 Footnotes [1] In the same vein, Rodney argues that there is no such thing as ‘underdevelopment’, that underdevelopment is not an absence of development, rather that it can only be understood in the context of comparisons, of ‘more developed’ with ‘less developed’ nations, for example, and that it is best understood in the context of exploitation, as, for Rodney, most currently underdeveloped countries are also the countries that are exploited by others, through capitalist, imperialist or colonialist means (Rodney, 1972; p. 110-112). [2] As has been argued, the slave trade essentially extracted all of the healthy men, of reproductive age from African countries involved in the slave trade: this, essentially, led to a lack of a suitable workforce with which to forge ahead with agricultural, social or technological developments, leading to a lack of internal development within Africa, which, couple with the import of cheap goods in to Africa from industrialising nations (i.e., the colonial powers) led to the death of the African manufacturing industry. This, coupled with the lack of a coherent African political power with a presence, and an influence in the region, led directly to the underdevelopment of African countries. In essence, due to the slave trade and the presence of the colonial power, Africa (African leaders) never had a chance to assess itself and to make decisions as to how to go forward and develop political, economic or social structures that would have led to economic success. [3] Rodney, for example, in his book How Europe Underdeveloped Africa shows that whilst the population of Europe quadrupled over the period when the slave trade was functioning, the population of Africa grew by only twenty per cent. [4] For example, we have seen specific examples from an English context, including individuals who became wealthy through dealing in the slave trade who then used this money to set up successful firms; the Barclays, for example, used money earned from the slave trade to set up Barclays Bank, and Lloyds coffee house expanded in to Lloyds banking and insurance following involvement in the slave trade. We have also seen how James Watt, of steam en

personaliy theories :: essays research papers

1925 - present Theory Behaviorism, with its emphasis on experimental methods, focuses on variables we can observe, measure, and manipulate, and avoids whatever is subjective, internal, and unavailable -- i.e. mental. In the experimental method, the standard procedure is to manipulate one variable, and then measure its effects on another. All this boils down to a theory of personality that says that one’s environment causes one’s behavior. Bandura found this a bit too simplistic for the phenomena he was observing -- aggression in adolescents -- and so decided to add a little something to the formula: He suggested that environment causes behavior, true; but behavior causes environment as well. He labeled this concept reciprocal determinism: The world and a person’s behavior cause each other. Observational learning, or modeling Of the hundreds of studies Bandura was responsible for, one group stands out above the others -- the bobo doll studies. He made of film of one of his students, a young woman, essentially beating up a bobo doll. In case you don’t know, a bobo doll is an inflatable, egg-shape balloon creature with a weight in the bottom that makes it bob back up when you knock him down. Nowadays, it might have Darth Vader painted on it, but back then it was simply â€Å"Bobo† the clown. All these variations allowed Bandura to establish that there were certain steps involved in the modeling process: 1. Attention. If you are going to learn anything, you have to be paying attention. Likewise, anything that puts a damper on attention is going to decrease learning, including observational learning. If, for example, you are sleepy, groggy, drugged, sick, nervous, or â€Å"hyper,† you will learn less well. Likewise, if you are being distracted by competing stimuli. Some of the things that influence attention involve characteristics of the model. If the model is colorful and dramatic, for example, we pay more attention. If the model is attractive, or prestigious, or appears to be particularly competent, you will pay more attention. And if the model seems more like yourself, you pay more attention. These kinds of variables directed Bandura towards an examination of television and its effects on kids! 2. Retention. Second, you must be able to retain -- remember -- what you have paid attention to. This is where imagery and language come in: we store what we have seen the model doing in the form of mental images or verbal descriptions. personaliy theories :: essays research papers 1925 - present Theory Behaviorism, with its emphasis on experimental methods, focuses on variables we can observe, measure, and manipulate, and avoids whatever is subjective, internal, and unavailable -- i.e. mental. In the experimental method, the standard procedure is to manipulate one variable, and then measure its effects on another. All this boils down to a theory of personality that says that one’s environment causes one’s behavior. Bandura found this a bit too simplistic for the phenomena he was observing -- aggression in adolescents -- and so decided to add a little something to the formula: He suggested that environment causes behavior, true; but behavior causes environment as well. He labeled this concept reciprocal determinism: The world and a person’s behavior cause each other. Observational learning, or modeling Of the hundreds of studies Bandura was responsible for, one group stands out above the others -- the bobo doll studies. He made of film of one of his students, a young woman, essentially beating up a bobo doll. In case you don’t know, a bobo doll is an inflatable, egg-shape balloon creature with a weight in the bottom that makes it bob back up when you knock him down. Nowadays, it might have Darth Vader painted on it, but back then it was simply â€Å"Bobo† the clown. All these variations allowed Bandura to establish that there were certain steps involved in the modeling process: 1. Attention. If you are going to learn anything, you have to be paying attention. Likewise, anything that puts a damper on attention is going to decrease learning, including observational learning. If, for example, you are sleepy, groggy, drugged, sick, nervous, or â€Å"hyper,† you will learn less well. Likewise, if you are being distracted by competing stimuli. Some of the things that influence attention involve characteristics of the model. If the model is colorful and dramatic, for example, we pay more attention. If the model is attractive, or prestigious, or appears to be particularly competent, you will pay more attention. And if the model seems more like yourself, you pay more attention. These kinds of variables directed Bandura towards an examination of television and its effects on kids! 2. Retention. Second, you must be able to retain -- remember -- what you have paid attention to. This is where imagery and language come in: we store what we have seen the model doing in the form of mental images or verbal descriptions.