The Rise Reign And Fall Of Medieval Towns Essays - Feudalism

The Rise Reign and Fall of Medieval Towns Before the rise of Medieval towns and somewhat during the reign the was a political and social system called feudalism. In this system which had three classes. The lowest class which was also the largest of them all was made of serfs. These serfs worked the land for their vassal. The vassal in return provided shelter for the serfs but also food and shelter for the lord as well as military service. The lord paid dues to the king. During much of the time the king had little power or control over the land largely because lords had a more powerful army. The majority of the land was on a manorial system. This was a socio-econaomic system which regulated land holding and production of food. The land was divided among the lord, vassals, serfs,and the church. The serfs worked all the land and got little of the food and often were treated poorly. There was also a class called villeins that worked the land but were free to leave if they could find someone to replace them. These people later developed into the merchant or middle class. The main fall of this system was the rise of absolute monarchs. They took power from the lords and thus nearlly ended the system of feudalism. With the fall of feudalism and the rise of the middle class trade between towns increased and between them. Due to this fact there was an increase in the demand for goods and services. Guilds were set up in order to establish control over a profession. They did this by setting standards of workmanship and price. They proteced the buissness from competion and gained status in society for guild members. In order to become a guild member a young man first had to become an apprentice to a master guildsman or legally bound to work for a certain amount of time in exchange for instruction in a specific trade. After the apprentice completed his master work and showed it to his instructor, if the work was satisfactory the young man could either set up his own shop in another town or become a member of the guild in his town. There was only one guild of a certain profession allowed in one town which elliminated competion. When the black death struck many people were killed. The black death was a plauge caused by fleas on rats that caused the victim to turn darkish color when the victim died. In an attempt to to ward off the black death people hung oranges with cloves stuck in the from their ceiling and door way. Many diseases were spread during this period because most people rarely bathed and there was no refridgeration. There was little to no medical help and evan a small cut could become infected and kill you. Medieval literature was mainly about chivalry( A system of ethical ideas which had virtues such as piety, honor, valor, courtesy, chastity, and knighthood). There was an increase in universities but they were mainly reserved for the rich so the majority of people remained illeterate. The Protastant Reformation shatterd the medieval unity of christianity. It began as a reform movement within the Roman Catholic Church, The reformation ultimately led to freedom of dissent. The movement of reformation and protastanism still comtinues today. The emphaisis on personal responsiblity and individual freedom as well as the influence in breaking the hold of the church upon every day life is proof of this.

Comparative Colonization in Asia

Comparative Colonization in Asia Several different Western European powers established colonies in Asia during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Each of the imperial powers had its own style of administration, and colonial officers from the different nations also displayed various attitudes towards their imperial subjects. Great Britain The British Empire was the largest in the world prior to World War II and included a number of places in Asia. Those territories include what is now Oman, Yemen, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan, Palestine, Myanmar (Burma), Sri Lanka (Ceylon), the Maldives, Singapore, Malaysia (Malaya), Brunei, Sarawak and North Borneo (now part of Indonesia), Papua New Guinea, and Hong Kong. The crown jewel of all of Britains overseas possessions around the world, of course, was India. British colonial officers and British colonists, in general, saw themselves as exemplars of fair play, and in theory, at least, all of the crowns subjects were supposed to be equal before the law, regardless of their race, religion, or ethnicity. Nonetheless, British colonials held themselves apart from local people more than other Europeans did, hiring locals as domestic help, but rarely intermarrying with them. In part, this may have been due to a transfer of British ideas about the separation of classes to their overseas colonies. The British took a paternalistic view of their colonial subjects, feeling a duty - the white mans burden, as Rudyard Kipling put it - to Christianize and civilize the peoples of Asia, Africa, and the New World. In Asia, the story goes, Britain built roads, railways, and governments, and acquired a national obsession with tea. This veneer of gentility and humanitarianism quickly crumbled, however, if a subjugated people rose up. Britain ruthlessly put down the Indian Revolt of 1857 and brutally tortured accused participants in Kenyas Mau Mau Rebellion (1952 - 1960). When famine struck Bengal in 1943, Winston Churchills government not only did nothing to feed Bengalis, it actually turned down food aid from the US and Canada meant for India. France Although France sought an extensive colonial empire in Asia, its defeat in the Napoleonic Wars left it with just a handful of Asian territories. Those included the 20th-century mandates of Lebanon and Syria, and more especially the key colony of French Indochina - what is now Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. French attitudes about colonial subjects were, in some ways, quite different from those of their British rivals.  Some idealistic French sought not just to dominate their colonial holdings, but to create a Greater France in which all French subjects around the world truly would be equal. For example, the North African colony of Algeria became a department, or a province, of France, complete with parliamentary representation. This difference in attitude may be due to Frances embrace of Enlightenment thinking, and to the French Revolution, which had broken down some of the class barriers that still ordered society in Britain. Nonetheless, French colonizers also felt the white mans burden of bringing so-called civilization and Christianity to barbaric subject peoples. On a personal level, French colonials were more apt than the British to marry local women and create a cultural fusion in their colonial societies.  Some French racial theorists such as Gustave Le Bon and Arthur Gobineau, however, decried this tendency as a corruption of Frenchmens innate genetic superiority. As time went on, social pressure increased for French colonials to preserve the purity of the French race. In French Indochina, unlike Algeria, the colonial rulers did not establish large settlements. French Indochina was an economic colony, meant to produce a profit for the home country. Despite the lack of settlers to protect, however, France was quick to jump into a bloody war with the Vietnamese when they resisted a French return after World War II. Today, small Catholic communities, a fondness for baguettes and croissants, and some pretty colonial architecture are all that remains of visible French influence in Southeast Asia. The Netherlands The Dutch competed and fought for control of the Indian Ocean trade routes and spice production with the British, through their respective East India Companies. In the end, the Netherlands lost Sri Lanka to the British, and in 1662, lost Taiwan (Formosa) to the Chinese, but retained control over most of the rich spice islands that now make up Indonesia. For the Dutch, this colonial enterprise was all about money. There was a very little pretense of cultural improvement or Christianization of the heathens - the Dutch wanted profits, plain and simple.  As a result, they showed no qualms about ruthlessly capturing locals and using them as slave labor on the plantations, or even carrying out a massacre of all the inhabitants of the Banda Islands to protect their monopoly on the nutmeg and mace trade. Portugal After Vasco da Gama rounded the southern end of Africa in 1497, Portugal became the first European power to gain sea access to Asia. Although the Portuguese were quick to explore and lay claim to various coastal parts of India, Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and China, its power faded in the 17th and 18th centuries, and the British, Dutch, and French were able to push Portugal out of most of its Asian claims. By the 20th century, what remained was Goa, on the southwest coast of India; East Timor; and the southern Chinese port at Macau. Although Portugal was not the most intimidating European imperial power, it had the most staying power. Goa remained Portuguese until India annexed it by force in 1961; Macau was Portuguese until 1999 when the Europeans finally handed it back to China, and East Timor or Timor-Leste formally became independent only in 2002.   Portuguese rule in Asia was by turns ruthless (as when they began capturing Chinese children to sell into slavery in Portugal), lackadaisical, and underfunded. Like the French, Portuguese colonists were not opposed to mixing with local peoples and creating creole populations. Perhaps the most important characteristic of the Portuguese imperial attitude, however, was Portugals stubbornness and refusal to withdraw, even after the other imperial powers had closed up shop. Portuguese imperialism was driven by a sincere desire to spread Catholicism and make tons of money. It was also inspired by nationalism; originally, a desire to prove the countrys might as it came out from under Moorish rule, and in later centuries, the proud insistence on holding onto the colonies as an emblem of past imperial glory.

The World of Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The World of Ethics - Essay Example 3. The Euthyphro dilemma is the dilemma found in the Plato’s dialogue known as the Euthyphro. In this dialogue, Plato asks Euthyphro whether gods love good actions (pious) because they are good, or is it that the good actions are good because they are loved by the gods (The Internet Classics Archive, web). This dilemma presents a real challenge to the divine command theory of ethics. This is because the divine command theory is based on the notions that morally good actions are the actions that are commanded by God, and the morally wrong actions are the actions that are against the command of God. 4. As a theory of ethics, moral relativism holds that the morality of human actions depends on the individual person giving the moral verdict; in other words, moral relativism holds that ethics is purely subjective and there is no universal standard of judging the morality of human actions. Moral relativism differs with the other theories of ethics that we have studied so far because all the other theories of ethics that we have studied are based on the idea that there is a universal moral standard or criterion of judging the morality of human actions. 7. The principle of double effect states that in some intricate moral dilemmas, one is permitted to perform an action that has at least one good and one bad effect if, and only if the following conditions are fulfilled. (a) The action, unlike its consequence, is not morally wrong, (b) The bad effect is not intended by the moral agent, and lastly (d) the bad effect is not â€Å"out of proportion† with the good effect. The principle of double effect allows the follower of natural law to resolve moral conflicts through choosing actions that are consistent with the natural law; the principle of double effect ensures that there is consistency in the application of natural law in resolving moral conflicts. 8. One of the objections to act utilitarianism is that it is

Cross-Cultural Management - Looking Into Intercultural Teams Essay

Cross-Cultural Management - Looking Into Intercultural Teams - Essay Example Based on a past research by Kabasakal and Bodur, some cultures are characterized by a strong slant towards collectivism and both societal and organizational levels. It may perhaps be useful for the multinational company to initially analyze the culture to which they would assign managers in terms of power distance, masculinity, human orientation, achievement, and future orientation. It may also look into the business culture’s commitment and sense of duty to the organization, respect for managerial hierarchy, type of leadership, and other ethical norms. Armed with such knowledge, multi-cultural managers can definitely influence the expectations of its multi-cultural managers and help in their adjustment to the new work environment. The research of Mendenhall and Oddou indicate that adjustment to the cross-cultural facets of a global assignment requires three distinct personal abilities, as follows: 1) the capacity to sustain a valued sense of self; 2) the ability to associate to host nationals; 3) the ability to intellectually appreciate the belief systems that underpin behaviours in the host country. If multi-cultural managers will be oriented with these traits, it would have been easier for them to adjust because their expectations were more effectively managed. If they possessed such traits, it would have been more probable for them to adjust easily in their offshore assignment. The multinational company is obliged to help select those individuals with these ideal traits for expatriation assignments.

Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 31

Economics - Essay Example This creates a surplus or supply excess as the demand for the product is low, so consumers do not have to compete for the product. Because of the fact that the product is not in high demand, and competition between consumers is low, the prices will be lowered in order to make the product more attractive to consumers. 2. Inflation affects people’s standard of living and savings in a rather negative way. Inflation is basically a term which indicates an increase in the price of goods and services. In general, inflation occurs within a market as a whole, so the entire economy tends to be impacted. Peoples standard of living is severely affected because their money does not go as far as it once did. This is especially true in an economy with high unemployment and no cost of living increases for their income. Therefore, as prices grow higher, people have to stretch their dollar for daily necessities such as groceries, water, electricity, etc. Therefore, many families have to forgo certain things that are deemed to be luxuries in order to survive, which lowers their daily standard of life. According to an article entitled, â€Å"Consequences of Inflation,† savings are affected because â€Å"inflation leads to a rise in the general price level so that money loses its value†(Riley). This means that the money in a person’s bank account is worth less due to inflation. In addition, inflation â€Å"lead(s) to negative real interest rates†(Riley). So, if a person has their money in a bank account that is supposed to gain interest, they are actually going to be losing money as the interest rates are negative. 3. A stock is defined as a security or assurance for an individual or business that allows a person or company to have a certain percentage of ownership in the profits or assets of a specific product, business, or company. The benefits associated with purchasing

Managerial Implications Of The Research Marketing Essay

Managerial Implications Of The Research Marketing Essay 8.3 Managerial Implications of the Research The research observed the trends of consumer liking and its implications for the Indian banks. The findings of the dissertation have a number ofmanagerialimplications for customer relationship management by banksthat contribute to liking. The banks can make their marketing strategies on the basis of results the research as it highlight the significant factors which influence customers liking. Significantly, a number of managerial implications come from this research but two major areas are customer education and problem management. The   customer education that banks should incorporate into their relationship marketing practice as educating customers has an direct impact on liking. Banks should also try to promote customer involvement in the education process (Prahalad and Ramaswamy, 2000).   The education process can be made more effective by understanding the main gaps in a clients knowledge. Burton (2002), suggests that as the level of understanding increases, customers will only have to be provided with the information required. This will eliminate the need for in-depth educational discussions.   Such knowledge would lead to a more accurate judgment, which will result in better advice being offered to the client. The second is problem management that bank management should resolve and also to enhance job satisfaction level of employees.   The increase in job satisfaction positively affects customer satisfaction as well as service quality that contribute in liking.   Problem management was found not dealt well by the Indian banks for both customers and employees. This finding suggests that service organizations need to develop strategies, specific to customer needs. It makes them more involved with the customer in finding out the solution.   Colgate and Norris, (2001) state service organizations, have very little guidance, when dealing with dissatisfied customers. The management can develop improved strategies for dealing with customers problems by applying a deeper understanding of how customers affective commitment changes their attitude towards the organization. By establishing good relationship with customers, banks can increase their profits (Ndubisi et al., 2007). Bejou et al. (1996) suggest the quality of the relationship between the customer and service-provider is an important pre-requisite to a successful long-term relationship. Ndubisi et al. (2007) point out that, to guarantee quality in relationships, banks must give and keep promises and allow customer participation. They must understand the needs of the customers and then accordingly customise their products and services. As the dissertation highlights the significance of trust and commitment in acquiring and keeping loyal customers, the banks should try to earn customers trust and commitment. Banks can earn customers trust and build quality relationships with them through proactive and reactive ways of handling conflicts, namely: solving conflicts before they are apparent; discussing the customers problems; and avoiding potential conflicts (Ndubisi et al., 2007). There are a lot of advantages linked with customer loyalty, including profitability (Ndubisi, 2003) and cost reduction. Customer loyalty increases profits and can reduce the business operating cost five to sixfold (Rosenberg and Czepiel, 1983). Loyal customers also attract new customers by positive word of mouth about a service provider (Ndubisi, 2003). In view of the above, banks should conduct extensive research to develop and implement programs that strengthen the emotional attachment between the customer and the bank.   The market research is used to understand the nature of a customers emotional bond to a company (Rust et al., 2000).

The Differences between Hypertext and the Printed Page :: Art Painting Language Essays

The Differences between Hypertext and the Printed Page Two painters, alone in the night, fervently work on their objets d’art. One, concerned with borders and lines, and the obviousness of it all, creates on her canvas a network of lines, circles, and primary colors. The other, thinking more about the medium (or rather the way she can master the colors and images), whimsically lets her hands wander on the surface, combining hues and smudging shapes. As the sun peaks its head over the hillside, each artist will have created her own oeuvre. Networks of lines and shapes, blurred lines and indistinguishable endings, like the paintings, hypertext has achieved that same structure. The goal of hypertext, it would seem, is to create works of increasing abstraction so that the way in which we relate to a written work gradually moves away from its informational content to the object, in and of itself. The transition is, by far, not an easy one. The academy is fraught with controversy over the obscurity of the hypertext medium. Lando w, in his section of Hyper/Text/Theory entitled â€Å"What’s a Critic to Do?,† attempts to reconcile the differences between hypertext and the printed page—differences that are as blatant, yet as subtle, as those between an abstract painting and an impressionist painting. The blurred edges of hypertext are represented by the concept of seemingly indistinguishable authorship. The author function becomes less significant as hypertext modes of textuality allow for a cacophony of voices to be included in each work. In contrast to the read-only versions of hypertext (those which cannot be annotated or amended), networked textuality allows for greater flexibility. The particular importance of networked textuality—that is, textuality written, stored, and read on a computer network—appears when technology transforms readers into reader-authors or â€Å"wreaders,† because any contribution, any change in the web created by one reader, quickly becomes available to other readers. This ability to write within a particular web in turn transforms comments from private notes, such as one takes in margins of ones’ own copy of a text, into public statements than, especially within educational settings, have powerfully democratizing effects (Landow 14). Hypertextual liberation comes from the shift from an expressive author who bears his or her soul in writing, to a community of voices who individually shape the text.