The Invention of the Refrigerator free essay sample

Hello! Today I am going to talk you about the invention of the refrigerator. I chose this topic because I think we all cant imagine our lives without food, so we also cant imagine our lives without the refrigerator. Im going to present you this topic with the help of power point and I really hope that in the end of my presentation you will know something more about refrigerators. The invention of the refrigerator The conveniences we enjoy in our homes are the product of many machines we use every day to make our lives easier. We must be aware that it is only because of dedicated inventors that have spent years of their life, searching of a way to make all this possible. Were talking about machines such as the refrigerator, for example. The idea of a machine that would be able to prevent food spoilage has actually been around for a very long time before the invention of itself. We will write a custom essay sample on The Invention of the Refrigerator or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page It was only in the late 1834 that Jacob Perkins, a young inventor after making a design persuaded John Hague to realize his idea, and like that the first kind of refrigerator was born. Early attempts In the beginning, there were made ice houses   to provide cool storage for most of the year. These ice houses were placed near freshwater lakes or packed with snow and ice during the winter. As we can see in Thomas Jeffersons diary, which chronicles the process of maintaining the ice house at the Monticello Estate, this processes were very complicated. Every winter, Jefferson brought more than 60 wagonloads of ice from the Rivanna River to keep his ice house filled. The ice house was a huge source of trouble, just by the expense of keeping it stocked. While Jefferson was busy keeping his ice house stocked, Benjamin Franklin working with chemist John Hadley in 1758 was leading us to the invention of the refrigerator. They were experimenting with the effects of evaporation using a thermometer. With some methods they were able to drop the thermometers temperature well below freezing. Perkins and his impact In 1834 a young inventor called Jacob Perkins build the worlds first refrigerator and invented a legal patent for refrigeration using vapor-compression. Soon, what was meant to be just an experiment became something fit for commercialization and other inventors tried to develop Perkins patent. In 1856 following Perkins success,  James Harrison, an immigrant from  Scotland   living in  Australia, developed an ice making machine using  ammonia  and an ether compressor. It was used in the meat packing industries of Geelong, Victoria. Few years later, Carl Paul Gottfried Linde, a  German  engineer developed refrigeration and gas separation technologies. Carl Paul Gottfried Linde (better known as Carl von Linde)   was working in the way of develop new refrigeration cycles. In 1892 Lindes research drove into the area of low temperature refrigeration and in 1894 he started work on a process for the liquefaction of air. In his later career Linde began working on a technique to obtain pure oxygen and nitrogen based on the fractional distillation of liquefied air. By 1910 Carls son Friedrich had developed the Linde double-column process, variants of which are still in common use when it comes to air separation in three main gasses: oxygen, nitrogen and argon. CONCLUSION In the 1920s and 30s, consumers were for the first time introduced to freezers – that was the time when the first electric refrigerators with ice cube compartments came on the market. Even so, the mass production of modern refrigerators didnt get started until after World War II. Few decades later when innovations like automatic defrost and automatic ice makers first appeared, it became clear that more energy-efficient refrigerators are needed, if not, there will be a huge environmental damage. The conclusion soon leaded to the elimination of chlorofluorocarbons in refrigeration sealed systems and the introduction of energy-efficient refrigerators. Today, the refrigerator is Americas most used appliance, found in more than 99. 5% of American homes. We are all aware that if this invention had never been invented our lives would be much more complicated. For example the food spoilage would be 5 or 6 times quicker. Besides that, we would be still forced to store our food in ice houses. With this conclusion I end my presentation. I hope you enjoyed and thank you for your attention. =)

How to Create Efficient Social Media Workflows for Every Network

How to Create Efficient Social Media Workflows for Every Network So, social media is a lot of work. Duh. You know this already. You wouldn’t be searching for a better workflow process if you didn’t think so. Before we start, see if your team checks off any of the following: Your social media workflow  doesn’t formally exist Your team is stuck in silos, making cross team collaboration impossible Your current social media workflow  is long and cumbersome You need a way to approve content faster Your team isn’t creating content fast enough to keep up with project demands If you looked at this list and thought â€Å"well, that describes my problem† you should probably keep reading. In this post, well show you: How to plan out workflows for every major social network How to turn those workflows into reusable checklists (called Task Templates) in . Weve also included a free Social Media Workflow  Process Template to help you document your workflow from start to finish. Download it now, and then well move on.How To Create Efficient  Social Media Workflows for Every NetworkIn Case You Don’t Have Time To Read Because who does? You could stop right now and sign up for , where we’ll do everything for you. Yup. We’ll automate everything for you. From task lists to team reports, we’ll take away your ever changing spreadsheets, endless email chains and stress over what has been approved and what hasn't been. No, you’re not dreaming, I promise. So, stop reading and sign up your team for a demo. Unless you really wanna keep reading. I am pretty hilarious after all. Still reading? Ok, let’s go over the basics then. Here's how to plan your social media workflows, fast:Training Your Team Members On Expectations For Content It’s vitally important that you train in new team members. You know this already. But how you train in your social media team members could help you save valuable time when it comes to approving your social content. How? Let your new (and old) team members know what your expectations for content are. Are posts always supposed to contain a certain hashtag? What is the overall voice of your social channels? When can they use video? Are gifs company approved or should they stay away from them? If you can answer these and more questions (I'll give you a starting list in a second), you’ll be able to cut your approval time in half because you trust your team to keep the standard of content you expect. So what questions should you be answering so you undoubtedly trust your team? Here’s list of things I asked when I would start working on social media for a corporation. What is the tone of this brand’s voice? What do our  social posts sound like? Do we have specific hashtags that we use in every post? What is the standard for graphics and images we post to our pages? How about videos? Can we use emojis or gifs? How often to we post to our channels each day? How do we create our content? If I need an in house video or graphic, who do I talk to? How does my manager want to be notified when content is ready for approval? What is the overall process of approval? How many eyes need to see my content before it gets published? Remember this list is a short one. The list of questions you need to answer in order to accurately train your team members may be different. Once you have your question list pull up a blank document  or download the template from our approval process kit. Type in each question and answer it for your team. Now as you get to the last few questions on this list you may have stumbled. Maybe you don’t really have an approval process worked out for your social media content yet. And now you might be staring at your screen wondering, â€Å"How do I create a social media approval workflow?† What if I did it for you? :) Keep reading to find them. How To Create Internal Checklists For Your Social Media Workflows These next few lists are going to help you break down your current approval process and cut down on unnecessary tasks to help streamline your team. How To Create A General  Social Media Workflow Checklist So if you were to write down your content approval checklist, it might look something like this. Gather essential team members (45 days before publish) (social media manager) Brainstorm content ideas (45 days before publish) (social media manager) Choose your 10x ideas (45 days before publish) (social media manager) Prioritize your top ideas (45 days before publish) (social media manager) For each idea determine your full to do list (31 days before publish) (social media manager) Assign tasks to team members (31 days before publish) (social media manager) Find keywords for content (30 days before publish) (social media specialist) Write rough draft of social content (30 days before publish) (social media specialist) Meet with assigned designers to determine visuals (30 days before publish) (social media specialist) Peer edit written content (27 days before publish) (content writer) Peer edit visuals (27 days before publish) (graphic designer) Send written content to manager for initial approval (25 days before publish) (social media manager) Send visual content to manager for initial approval (25 days before publish) (graphic design manager) Edit written content based on feedback (23 days before publish) (social media specialist) Edit visual content based on feedback (23 days before publish) (graphic designer) Send to managers for final approval (20 days before publish) (social media specialist) Send content to higher ups for approval (17 days before publish) (social media manager) Determine optimal posting times across all social platforms (14 days before publish) (social media specialist) Add content to posting platform (14 days before publish) (social media specialist) Respond to questions and comments on content (5 days after publish) (social media specialist) I’m not gonna lie, this list makes me have a mini panic attack. It’s a lot of work. Now what if you could cut that list in half so it looks more like this. Brainstorm and prioritize your 10x ideas (25 days before publish) (social media manager) Assign tasks to team members (18 days before publish) (social media manager) Find keywords for content (16 days before publish) (social media specialist) Write a rough draft for social content (15 days before publish) (social media specialist) Design rough draft of visuals (15 days before publish) (graphic designer) Edit written content (12 days before publish) (social media specialist) Edit design content (12 days before publish) (graphic designer) Send to manager for final approval (10 days before publish) (social media specialist) Determine optimal posting times for content (7 days before publish) (social media specialist) Publish content (0 days before publish) (social media specialist) That list was cut in half. IN HALF. Are you flabbergasted? It’s easy to cut out tasks once you figure out why they are there. There are usually three reasons you have a task listed in your approval process. To act as a reminder To keep a team on track To make sure that content is being completed the correct way While these are three valid reasons to put your tasks into a list, eventually once your team is trained in, they become unnecessary because they knows what needs to be done. With that in mind, let me explain what was cut, combined together and why that happened. 1. We Cut Step 1 And Combine Steps 2 Through 4. Quick recap of steps 1 through 4: 1. Gather essential team members (45 days before publish) (social media manager) 2. Brainstorm content ideas (45 days before publish) (social media manager) 3. Choose your 10x ideas (45 days before publish) (social media manager) 4. Prioritize your top ideas (45 days before publish) (social media manager) Why did we cut step one? It’s pointless. You know you need your team together to brainstorm together. It creates an unnecessary step that doesn’t need to be listed because you already do it. We combine steps 2 through 4 because they naturally flow together. Your team should have one session where you brainstorm and prioritize your 10x ideas. Anything that doesn’t fit into a 10x isn’t worth your team’s focus and is a waste of your valuable time. Anything that isn't 10X isn't worth your team's focus or time.2. Cut Step 5 Recap of step 5: For each idea determine your full to do list (31 days before publish) (social media manager) Cutting the full to do list for each campaign should be an easy task to eliminate from your line up? Why? Because when you post social content, you should be following a pattern. While the exact content may differ, your to do list shouldn’t. This brings me back to my earlier point on properly training in your team. By having a set project to do list, you’re able to train your employees to learn the standards that are being set for your social content. If your team knows the standards, they know what it takes to get the content there. Easy right? 3. Cut Steps 9 Through 17.  (Yes, Seriously) Recap of steps: 9.   Meet with assigned designers to determine visuals (30 days before publish) (social media specialist) 10. Peer edit written content (27 days before publish) (content writer) 11. Peer edit visuals (27 days before publish) (graphic designer) 12. Send written content to manager for initial approval (25 days before publish) (social media manager) 13. Send visual content to manager for initial approval (25 days before publish) (graphic design manager) 14. Edit written content based on feedback (23 days before publish) (social media specialist) 15. Edit visual content based on feedback (23 days before publish) (graphic designer) 16. Send to managers for final approval (20 days before publish) (social media specialist) 17. Send content to higher ups for approval (17 days before publish) (social media manager) It may seem like I just hacked half the approval workflow away. That’s because I did. This jumps back into my earlier point about the importance of training your team members to uphold the brand’s standards for content. If you team knows the expectations, they know what is unacceptable.

Teacher professional development Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Teacher professional development - Assignment Example Without a doubt, this is a great program to harness learning. As of now, no other educational institutions are taking a proactive approach towards this active learning. Hence, any foundation to cultivate learning is a good one. Moreover, it stimulates a social environment in which children have the appropriate environment to nurture themselves. Therefore, this program is necessary to continue and improve the system in the long-run. One of the main challenges of this program is that it is very dynamic, and does not possess a straight forward curriculum. Since there is no standardization of the curriculum, it becomes a challenge to embed these programs holistically. Additionally, many teachers and students lack the correct resources to train their students. This creates an ambiguity of a mutual symbiotic relationship in which students do not fully comprehend teachers. Another element towards the weakness of the program is culture. Culture forbids asking questions, which in essence creates a barrier for students to challenge thinking and grow their intellect. In order to rectify this, it is crucial to have an open dialogue between students and teachers that creates an aura of symbiotic

New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) or on the NASDAQ Analysis Essay

New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) or on the NASDAQ Analysis - Essay Example Ford Motor also has magnificent dividend coverage. At the current state, Ford Motor is trading at some 4% dividend yield with some potential if Ford Motor will continue with its expansion. Ford Motor is on a recovery plan hence a reason to watch it. NYSE stock is risky for investments. Investing in such market is tricky and need more strength and resilience that many stock beginners lack. Taking stock investments with Ford Motor, for example, is risky because the automotive industry is cyclical and any time the vehicle business can fall hence affecting the investment. However, investors should always consider the tomorrow of a company before making investments. The future of Ford Motor is bright for example with the new model F-150 model holding a lot of potential in North America market. Ford Motor is the fifth largest world automobile manufacturer. The size is measured in volume of production with Ford making more sales in Ford’s European operations. Ford’s automotive is highly regarded in quality compared to its competitors. Ford size has been affected recently in the past where it had to reduce the production volume in U.S due to high production costs incurred in increased wages. The company is growing and it has the potential for the future. Growth is evident in the companies’ plans and implementation, which is slowly taking into track. One of the best strategies used by Ford Motor was the Global Product Development System, which is a tool for sharing designs globally. The strategy has been helping in developing vehicles fit for the different class of customers in the whole world. In the last quarter in 2014, Ford Motor achieved pre-tax profit of 6.3 billion dollars and net income of 3.2 billion dollars. Outlook for the pre-tax profit in this 2015 is 8.5 billion dollars to 9.5 billion dollars. The fourth quarter earnings were 26% past the 23% expectations per share by analysts. The price or earnings in stock are currently at 20.8% Ford

The Crucible - Abigail Essay Example for Free

The Crucible Abigail Essay The character who I would find the most interesting to play in The Crucible is Abigail. There are many ways in which Miller has made her an interesting and complex character to act as, including her change in power over the stage, her role as a cruel and merciless character, the fact you can relate her to a real historical figure and the audiences ability to see a slightly softer side to her at some points in the play and question their opinions of her. The first way in which Miller makes Abigail an interesting character to play is the way in which her control over the stage and the audience changes throughout the play. There are times when she shown as a very strong and manipulative character and has great presence, for example in the yellow bird scene where she leads all the other girls in preventing Mary Warren from telling the truth. The words are full of malice, for example when she first mentions Marys name and says Envy is a deadly sin Mary. Even though she has been lying and sinning throughout the play, the uses of the words deadly and sin show us that she is very good at manipulating the situation to her advantage by planting these malicious words into peoples heads. She is made to sound very threatening but at the same time she is saving herself, not minding getting others into trouble. However, in contrast to this, there are times in the play where Miller shows some of Abigails power slipping away from her and she is not able to play with the mind of the person she is talking to. A good example of this is where she is talking to Proctor near the beginning of the play and is trying to convince him that he still loves her. The words Miller has given her show her clutching at straws as she tries everything she knows, for example trying to be seductive when she says Give me a word John, a soft word. When this doesnt work, she is shown as getting even more desperate, finally shouting out John, pity me, pity me! These two examples show her in very different stages of power. I think this would be interesting to play as you would both be able to hold the stage at some points but also be able to play a character with some depth and show her scrabbling for any power she can when she does not get her way. Carrying on from this, another interesting part of playing Abigail would be the sheer power that she has over the audience during the play. She is almost always the centre of attention whenever she possibly can be and the audience are never completely sure whether they should be pitying her or being very suspicious of her. From the start we can see through the stage directions that Abby is meant to have a remarkable skill for dissembling, however the audience do not see this and so they go through the play wondering what to really think of her. She acts very sweet and innocent at the beginning and it would be enjoyable for the actress to play this knowing that she is in fact deceiving the audience. Later on in the play she could be played showing more twistedness, for example when she is playing the yellow bird scene and making remarks at Mary Warren whom we trust and believe isnt a witch, so by then the audiences sympathies will have moved and the actress playing Abigail can really show them how bitter her character is.

This reflective essay is centred on pain assessment

This reflective essay is centred on pain assessment For the purpose of the case study I intend to use Gibbs(1998) model of reflection as this model is clear, precise allowing for description, analysis and evaluation of the experience, then prompts the practitioner to formulate an action plan to improve their practice in future(Jasper, 2003). Wilkinson (2007) identifies assessment as the first phase of the nursing process in which a nurse uses their knowledge and skills to express human caring. It is important to choose an organised and systematic approach when caring out an assessment that enhances your ability to discover all the information needed to fully understands someones heath status (Alfaro-Le Fevre,2004) .This can be achieved by obtaining your information form medical record and nursing charts by physical examination of the patient and also talking to patient and their families(Wilkinson,2007). The use of objective data is more helpful in collecting information when the patient is ventilated and sedated, as they are often in the critical care setting, and this can be done by examining the patients vital sign, blood pressure, heart rate, temperature and blood results (Bulman and Schutz 2004). I have chosen pain assessment in post- operative ventilated patient. I have worked in ICU for 4 years during this time I have nursed many post- operative ventilator patients who were on continuous infusion of sedatives and analgesics. Many of them showed signs of inadequate pain relief and associated complications. Having undertaken this module I further educated myself in this field of nursing assessment I now know, or rather have an improved knowledge base and understanding of the different aspects of pain assessment tools and recognize the possibility that I have probably nursed many more patients who were demonstrating symptoms of inadequate analgesia and associated complications. Given an increased awareness and knowledge I have gained through teaching, research and current literature on this topic I now, also recognise the importance of this assessment practice in particular in relation to the ventilated, non- communicated patients in ICU. According to International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP,1979) pain is described as unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage. Clinically pain is whatever the person says he or she is experiencing whenever he or she says it does (Mc Caffery 1979) .Appropriate pain assessment is crucial to pain management. Patients self- report is the gold standard of pain assessment. However pain tools that rely on verbal self-report may not be appropriate for using non- verbal ventilated sedated patients in ICU. Pain assessment tool used in our critical care setting is based on a numerical pain rating score from 0-4, a score of 0 being no pain at all and 4 being the worst pain ever experienced. There is also a visual analogue scale for patients who have difficulty communicating, they can indicate by looking at the chart and pointing at either the happy face that has no pain or a series of faces showing different stages of pain (appendix t hree). These tools were chosen by the specialised pain care nurses working for the trust. The tools are favoured as they provide nurses with a quick, easy assessment. They are used widely throughout the trust to provide continuity of pain assessment.Both of these tools have proved successful in practice and are supported by the literature as being reliable and accurate in practice. However they depend greatly on the patient being able to express themselves or communicate verbally with the practitioner .Using these methods of pain assessment is not accurate on sedated patients with altered conscious level. In nonverbal patients the use of behavioural or physiological indicators are strongly recommended for detection of pain (Jacobi et al 2006). The patient in critical care may experience pain from many sources. Along with physical pain, psychological factors such as fear, anxiety and sleep disturbances may play a significant role in patients overall pain experience (Macintyre and Ready 2002). Urden et al (2010) states, pain can be acute or chronic, sensations are different in relation to its origin. Acute pain-duration is short corresponds to the healing process, ranges between 30 days to 6 months. Chronic pain lasts more than 3 to 6 months and can either or not associated with an illness. Somatic pain is well localised sharp, acute pain arising from skin, muscle, joints. Visceral pain refers to the deep, ill localized arising from an organ. Nociceptive pain occurs when inflammation stimulates pain receptors ( Urden et al 2010). Pain experienced in critical care patients are mostly acute and has multiple origins. Mr. Smith a 45 year old gentleman admitted to ICU following Laparotomy for small bowel perforation and faecal peritonitis. Mr Smith was cardiovascularly unstable and was unable to be extubated immediately after surgery due to secondary sepsis. He was receiving an infusion of Propofol and Fentanyl to keep him comfortable and provide analgesia. His medical notes revealed his past medical history of previous Cholecystectomy for gall bladder stones and biliary obstruction. I was assigned to nurse him on his second day in ICU. During handover the previous staff member reported that Mr. Smith became very agitated and hypertensive soon after he was repositioned to his side. Mr. Smith was given a bolus dose of Propofol infusion and the rate of Infusion increased. Whilst doing the Patient assessment I noticed Mr Smith is restless and not compliant with the ventilator. Arterial Blood Gas (ABG) performed which showed Mr. Smith is hypo ventilating. Meanwhile Mr. Smith became more agitated with e scalating non-compliance with ventilator and significant increase in his Mean Arterial Pressure (MAP) which was being monitored continuously by the arterial line and transducer. He was showing facial grimaces and moving his extremities restlessly. I tried to reassure him by talking to him, reorientating him to time, place and person, explaining to him that he is safe. Adam and Osbourne (2005) identifies that critically ill patients frequently require help with coping with many of the stresses like physical discomfort, isolation, fear of pain and death. By using strategies like communicate caring and understanding and provide information repeatedly and in sufficient detail for the patient etc. helps the patient to cope with the stress. But repeated reassurance and reorienting has not made any improvements in his current status. Pain is an important problem in critical care and its detection is a priority. Pain assessment is vital to detect pain (Urden 2010). Pooler-Lunse and Price(1992) emphasises that critically ill patients who are unable to communicate effectively are at high risk of suffering from pain. Poorly controlled pain can stress the sympathetic nervous system leaving vulnerable patients at risk of complication and can compromise recovery and negatively affect both morbidity and mortality(Puntillo et al 2004, Dracup and Bryan- Brown 1995).Mr Smith was ventilated and due to the effect of sedatives his level of consciousness was altered. In critical care factors alter verbal communication is mechanical ventilation, administration of sedative agents and the patients change in level of consciousness (Hamill-Ruth R J, Marohn L 1999 ,Kwekkeboom K L, Herr K 2001,Shannon K, Bucknall T 2003). The consequences of untreated acute pain in critically ill patients include increases in catecholamine and stress hormone levels which are potential causes of tachycardia, hypertension, increased oxygen requirements and decreased tissue perfusion (Blakely and Page 2001, Hamill-Ruth and Marohn 1991). Mr Smith was increasingly hypertensive and tachycardia. Despite giving increased oxygenation Mr.Smith was hypo ventilating due to non- compliance to the ventilator. Marshall and Soucy(2003) identifies agitation is a common problem in critically ill patients and has been shown to be associated with inadequate pain management. Agitation can have serious consequences with patience removing access lines compromising their oxygen needs by self extubating (Cohen et al 2002). Following discussion with the nurse in charge of the shift it was apparent that Mr. Smith was showing behavioural signs of pain. There were no other obvious reasons as to why he had become compromised with his ventilation.When I approached the medical team concerning Mr.Smiths increasing agitation and non- compliance to ventilation I was instructed to give a bolus of propofol and fentanyl and to increase the rate of propofol and fentanyl until Mr Smith was deemed medically manageable. I was decided to increase Mr.Smiths ventilatory support. Following the treatment Mr Smith became much more stable, he became less tachypoenic was synchronising with the ventilator; his blood pressure was within acceptable limits and monitoring in sinus rhythm. The clinician did not assess Mr Smith for signs of inadequate pain management. Unfortunately due to hypoventilation and non-compliance to mechanical ventilation, Mr Smith had to be remained on high levels of ventilation and increased levels of sedatives for the next few hours emphasising evidence by Pooler-Lunse and Price(1992), the physiological complications associated with pain including Pulmonary complications and increased cardiac workload as well as depression and anxiety and increased days of hospital stay(Desbians et al 1996).Upon further reflection I should have noted Mr Smiths agitation associated with inadequate pain relief. Had I been knowledgeable in this field Mr.Smiths agitation and physiological signs of restlessness and facial grimaces would have prompted me to carry out a detailed pain assessment. Had there been a behavioural pain assessment scale on the unit where I work that may have prompted me carry out the assessment and linked these signs as indicators of inad equate pain relief. During my further assessment of Mr.Smith I had various thoughts and feelings which included feeling apprehensive and self-doubt regarding the decision to increase sedation and ventilator support. Whilst reviewing his past medication history I noticed that Mr Smith had been on regular analgesics which are co-codomol and paracetamol and there was no indication for their use in his notes. Fink R (2000) recognises that reviewing patients past pain experiences and how did he or she usually react to it can be of good value when assessing pain and can help to decide treatment options ,by questioning patients family or significant other can provide us the information about patients pain history. Later during the visiting hours Mrs Smith came to visit Mr Smith. I have given her a brief update of his condition including the changes made to his sedation and ventilation. Then I enquired to Mrs Smith about the indication of those analgesics he was on .She revealed that Mr.Smith developed back pai n when he discharged to home after undergone cholecystectomy six months ago and he was prescribed those analgesics by his G.P(General Practitioner). She also mentioned that he had problems getting optimal pain relief post operatively even when he had cholecystectomy, and he would not tolerate lying on his sides. This co-related his agitation and restlessness happened when the night staff turned him to his side. I notified these things to the ICU doctors and raised my concern that lack of adequate pain management could be the reason for Mr Smiths earlier agitation. They also agreed on this possibility and advised to change fentanyl infusion to remifentanyl and to adjust the rate of the infusion to keep Mr Smiths pain relief optimal. Remifentanyl is potent analgesics, so ensure the patient is pain free but prevents over sedating the patient, allows rapid arousal and recovery from sedation thus facilitates daily sedation holds and neurological assessment( Dhaba et al 2004). He was also prescribed regular paracetamol and Tramadol when required. It was then decided to reduce Mr.Smiths sedation as he was haemodynamically stable, he was then able to respond and started following commands. Mr. Smith was now able to communicate if he had pain or not by squeezing my hand to command. Invasive technology can restrict the reliance on many behavioural indicators of pain (Bucknall and Shannon 2003) on the other hand it is argued that invasive lines enables constant monitoring of blood pressure (B.P) and heart rate (H.R), two commonly utilised indicators of pain and thus help to assess pain (Bucknall and Shannon 2003) .Even though Mr Smith was hypertensive and tachycardic this was presumed to be due to agitation. In a contradicting statement Bucknall and Shannon(2003) points out that the sympathetic symptoms i.e. Increasing B.P and H.R are also been found to be unreliable. Pooler-Lunse and Price (1992) emphasises that the Para sympathetic stimulation can result in less observable signs with prolonged pain, but pain intensity remains unchanged. The American Society for Pain Management Nursing (ASPMN) recommendations cited in Herr k et al ( 2002) emphasises that vital signs can be affected by other distress conditions, homeostatic changes and medications there for they should not be considered as primary indicators of pain.With conflicting evidence it is difficult to make decisions that best support this assessment practice. Anand K J S,Craig K (1996), Herr K et al (2006) states that behavioural indicators are strongly recommended for pain assessment in non- verbal patients , few tools have been developed and tested in critically ill patients. The Behavioural Pain Scale (BPS) and the Critical Care Pain Observation Tool (CPOT) are suggested and supported by experts for using uncommunicative critically ill patients (Li-D, Puntillo, Sessler 2008). BPS was tested and validated exclusively in ventilated, unconscious patients (Payen et al 2001,Young G 2006, Aissaoui Y et al 2005).The Behavioural Pain Scale (BPS) includes three behaviours 1) facial expression 2)movements of upper limbs3)compliance with the ventilator. Each behaviour is rated on a scale from 1 to 4 for a possible total score from 3 to 12. The BPS can be used quickly (2 to 5 minutes), most clinicians were satisfied with its ease of use (Payen et al 2001). The Critical Care Pain Observation Tool (CPOT) was tested in verbal and non- verbal critical ly ill adults (Gelinas C 2006,2007) its content validity supported by ICU experts including nurses and physicians (Gelinas C 2009). CPOT includes four behaviours 1) facial expression 2) body movements 3) compliance with the ventilator 4) muscle tension. Each behaviour is rated from 0 to 2 for a possible score of 0 to 8.Gelinas C and Hammond reports that feasibility and clinical utility of CPOT were positively evaluated by ICU nurses and agree it is easy to complete, simplicity to understand the usefulness for nursing practice. My experience of using a behavioural pain scale tool is limited, however I feel that if practitioners were able to assess pain more accurately then they would be able to manage there patients pain more effectively. Use of a behavioural pain score (BPS) evaluating facial expressions, limb movement and compliance with the ventilator has proved to be a valid reliable tool in practice. A recent study evaluating the reliability and use of the BPS consistently identified increases in pain scores after repositioning patients in the ICU. There were only small non- specific changes in the BPS after non painful intervention of eye care (Gelinas etal 2006). I nursed Mr Smith again 5 days later. He had since been extubated and was alert and oriented. Even though he could not remember the events when he was ventilated and sedated, he learned from his wife what had happened. He was very thankful to me for investigating the possible reason for his agitated behaviour and prompting the doctors about this and thus provide him adequate pain relief. Upon further reflection and evaluation of my assessment of Mr.Smith I feel there have been positive and negative aspects of the assessment. The positive aspects include- I have been able to gain further knowledge in various aspects and tools of pain assessment .By reviewing patients medical notes and gaining history from his wife I have linked his agitated behaviour and taken the possibility that these are signs of inadequate pain relief and I have managed to convince the medical team regarding this in order to act on it. Current research identifies multidisciplinary collaboration provides optimum care for the patient (Bucknall T, Shannon K 2003), this emphasises the need to perform regular, accurate pain assessment and care full documentation (Bucknall T, Shannon K 2003). When considering the negative aspects of my assessment I feel I did not use a holistic approach instead I considered Mr.Smiths agitated behaviour as a physical problem, I was concentrated to treat the symptoms and not the patient. As described in Roper Tinney L(1989) assessment tools achieving patient centred nursing is important. I could not identify Mr.Smiths behavioural indicators of pain primarily due to my lack of knowledge about this assessment tool as well as there was no unit assessment protocol which includes the behavioural assessment scale, Unfortunately this is not isolated, it is in fact a universal problem .Camp (1998) points out that like many speciality nurse critical care nurses and physicians recognises that there basics education was insufficient for caring for patients in pain. Accurate detection of the critically ill patients pain is not an easy task for ICU nurses especially when the patient is unable to self-report because of mechanical ventilation or due to the effects of sedatives. Stanton (1991) argues that pain assessment and management may be significantly improved by enhancing nurses knowledge combined with improved communication of the problem. NMC(2008)emphasises that having appropriate knowledge, skills and attitude towards pain, pain assessment and its management is essential to provide optimum patient care. Use of pain assessment tools is highly recommended by Kaiser(1992), identifies that an effective pain assessment tool as part of the documentation improves communication between patients and nurses as well as nurses and medical staff. Even though we had a pain assessment tool (0 to 4 numeric pain assessment scale) due its limitations on the use in non-communicative patients it was not contributing much in patients pain management. The previous practitioner documented the patients pain score is Unable to assess as the patient is sedated and ventilated. This highlights the inappropriate use of our pain tool currently being used in practice as a patient is unable to verbalise or communicate their pain if they are sedated and ventilated. Although todays guidelines strongly suggest that the use of a standardised behavioural pain scale to nurses who care for uncommunicative patients, further research is still needed to fully understand the behavioural and physiological responses of critica lly ill patients who are experiencing pain (Herr K et al 2008). On reflection my underpinning knowledge and confidence in this area of assessment has developed tremendously. I feel that I have gained knowledge and insight into an important patient assessment, from an initial lack of sufficient knowledge I am now able to bring evidence based practice in the clinical area which will benefit the patient and my colleagues. By understanding the physiology, pain assessment tools and the complications of poorly managed pain, I will have the knowledge and skills to manage these patients. The use of sedatives and analgesics places a great deal of responsibility on critical care nurses and they must understand how the drugs work , complications of their use and how to monitor effectiveness staff must understand sedation does not equate analgesia (Ashley and Given 2003). The use of an appropriate pain assessment tool and management algorithm is essential for adequate pain management. Since undertaking this study, it is of interest to note that our practice development nurse and the specialist pain nurse for ICU ,have jointly developed a behavioural pain assessment scale similar to the BPS and CPOT scale, and staffs are encouraged to use it routinely. I feel that my action plan and recommendations are to promote the use of the pain assessment tool by educating the nurses and emphasising the importance of this assessment to improve patient outcome. The need for education to train staff on how to use the tool would take both time and money. The NHS is already under extreme financial pressures and money for training is not readily available. However if an improvement in pain management was successful then patients stay may be shorter, thus having a beneficial effect. I am also aware of the importance of not relying solely on the assessment tools but the use of both good nursing assessment and assessment tools to improve optimal patient management, shortening the recovery time and reducing the likely hood of complications (Ashley and Given 2003). A sedated, ventilated, non-communicative patient is vulnerable and relies completely on those providing care for them but as to their family at this anxious time. Education and training will improve patient care and ultimately patient safety which is paramount. Therefore I will take the knowledge and information I have acquired back to my clinical area as I have a duty to provide a high standard of practise and care at all times (NMC 2008)

‘In Paris With You’ by James Fenton and ‘Hour’ by Carol An Duffy Essay

James Fenton born 25th of April 1949 is a modern English poet, journalist a literary critic and was also a former Oxford professor of poetry. He wrote several books about poetry mostly about relationship and war like the collection of poems ‘The Memory of War’. He received multiple of awards for his poetry, the latest was in 2007 when he was rewarded a ‘Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry’. Carol Ann Duffy born 23 December 1955 is also a modern Scottish poet and playwright. Her poetry style speaks about everyday life experiences through stages of her life about love, memory and languages. She wrote poetry collection, children books and plays. Both poets show heavy feelings about love in their respectful poems but each poem contains different contents but apply to the same theme: love. In Paris With You makes the reader think that the poem is romantic but it actually an anti-clichà © poem that focuses mostly on the poet’s bitterness towards love because he speaks about his experience with his rejected love and his rebound relationship, the poem rejects conventional ideas about love. He might have been in love before and she left him, that is seen when he says â€Å"Yes I’m angry at the way I’m been bamboozled.† and that is why he’s hurt and in need of forgetting about his former lover but isn’t quite there yet when he starts the poem in a negative way: â€Å"Don’t talk to me of love. I’ve had an earful† This suggests that the narrator finds the subject of love difficult to discuss because of his share of love and heartbreak. Throughout the poem ‘Don’t’ is repeated and that indicates repetition in the first and last two stanza, it also shows how controlling Fenton was with his former lover when he’s always saying ‘Don’t’ as she left him. This gives the reader an impression of the poet is possessive and heartbroken because of the ending of his former relationship. The sentence ‘Don’t talk to me of love’ and that proves that the man is determined on keeping the subject of love out of a conversation and detest it being brought up by cause of his heartbreak from his past relationship as if trying to protect himself from further pain. I find the way the poet started the poem in a negative way really intense because the poet jumps into the subject without pleasantries towards love and doesn’t hide his distaste towards it and shows his deep  bitterness against love. Fenton also talks about how he’s victimized and has a feeling of self-pity by love throughout the poem when he describes the state he has been when his relationship ended with his ex lover, how he spent it hurt and drowning his misery with alcohol to help him forget. In the first stanza, he says: ‘I’m one of your talking wounded.’ That has a strong imagery of war because ‘wounded’ suggests that someone is injured in battle and in this case, injured because of love. The poet also mentions that: ‘I’m a hostage. I’m maroonded’ and that show us his emphasize on him being abandoned and deserted as he describes it as he’s trapped and stranded. He uses metaphors when he says that he’s really trapped as a ‘hostage’ and left alone in an inescapable place. He shows rebellion when he says ‘maroonded’ instead ‘marooned’ which is the right term. It gives the reader and idea of how painful love is to the poet and lowers the reader’s expectations of romance and love. Fenton uses a comical rhyme in ‘wounded’ and ‘maroonded’ to add a humor into the poem to lighten up the mood of the poem despite the bitterness. I think that the way the poet describes himself is in a devastating state after being deceived by love. The poem’s title ‘In Paris With You’ suggests a romantic theme but it’s ironic that Paris is the city of love but Fenton is only in Paris because he’s on the rebound but only because Paris reminds him of his former relationship. He uses repetition of ‘I’m in Paris with You’ throughout the poem reflects the speaker’s insistent concentration on the present. Fenton then goes off listing to show his disdain towards Paris’ landmark and how he doesn’t want to visit Paris’ romantic landmarks ‘If we skip the Champs Elysees’ meaning he would rather ‘remain here in this sleazy, old hotel room’ meaning that the poet rejects the traditional and usual romantic gestures and places in Paris and that they are unimportant and that shows us that he doesn’t care about the scenery around him as long being together with his lover, but stay in Paris is only about being on the rebound to forge t his former love, and that he’d rather stay in a cheap hotel room instead of going out to romantic Paris features. It creates an image in the reader’s mind of the tone of this poem where it goes from bitter, sad and  mournful and tells us that the poet doesn’t actually care about the woman or lover he had in company. There’s enjambment between stanzas three and four in ‘†¦in this sleazy†¦Old hotel room.’ That is used because the poet wants the poem read in a faster pace instead of a slow one without pauses in between stanzas so it shows the poet’s thoughts. I think the way the poet emphasize his bitterness towards love resulted to him turning towards alcohol and lust, his behavior is relatable in many ways because after a heartbreak, people tend to try to forget their feelings and their aching heart. Hour talks about how time is an enemy of love and how it destroys love with how quick it goes, that time is an obstacle for love and Duffy starts the poem with: â€Å"Love’s time beggar,† which is personification and it suggests that love is dependent and is a slave for time, that it doesn’t last forever and that is a negative sign. This has a huge impact on the reader because when being in love, there is never enough time to spend together with your lover and it goes quickly. The personification show us the image of love being a beggar and time being someone who would pass by and offer, that is when Duffy used â€Å"†¦but even a single hour, bright as a dropped coin, makes love rich.† And that means that time, which is the passer, offers love only an hour to be spent on and narrator values that and it also shows strong imagery of wealth to present that the love is far more precious than all the wealth in the world. This also suggests to the reader that the time spent between the speaker and her love is valuable for the both of them. Like I said above, love being put as a beggar has a negative tone and that only highlights the fact that time is a problem for love. The poem is a extended metaphor that time wastes love and that is seen when the narrator says: â€Å"For thousands of seconds we kiss†¦Ã¢â‚¬  and that could only mean that the narrator in the poem has been counting the time because she still couldn’t get enough of her lover. Throughout the poem, the poet uses various of imagery of wealth that identifies that the narrator finds the hour spent with her love one precious to her, Duffy uses the sentence: â€Å"love spins gold, gold, gold from straw,† which links to the story of Rumplestilskin where it also talks about how straw turns to gold, it also introduces the contrast to show that opposite  things mentioned in the poem like ‘jewel’ and ‘cuckoo spit’ and in the sentence, the poet says that love is spinning from straw which is negative and an ordinary thing to gold showing that love is cherished and valued. If the reader has experienced love in their life, they will find themselves relating to certain parts of the poem and find that longing love does indeed leave you finding the small amount of time precious. Duffy uses colour like ‘gold’ and wealth imagery when she mentions ‘coin’ – ‘rich’ – ‘treasure’ and etcetera to emphasize that love is more valuable than all the wealth and treasures of the world. I could agree that being in love with someone could leave you dependent on that person and set them as your reason of happiness and that is a beautiful thing, however, people shouldn’t rely on love too much because it will leave them in pain when the other person break their heart or falls out of love. Duffy uses romantic imagery in the first stanza, line 3 and 4 where she shows how unromantic scenery is more than enough for her that her and her lover would rather be out in nature. She says: â€Å"Spend it not on flowers or wine, but the whole of the summer sky and a grass ditch.† And that the place to her isn’t important as long as her lover and she are together, she prefers the outdoors because of the natural setting that surrounds them because of its simplicity. It also displays sign of sibilance and the effectiveness of the narrator’s feeling and her lover would rather enjoy the nature and the natural air instead of going on typical and traditional dates (courting) and that shows non-conventional ideas of love. The reader would find the idea of being out in nature a bit strange for dates but some may relate. Duffy suggests that â€Å"the summer sky and a grass ditch† which is far away from being a traditional place to spend with your love one but the narrator finds it an exceeding choice to enjoy the ‘summer sky’ and not be distracted with people in public, romantic places because the narrator only has an hour to spend it with her love. I find the setting of the poem odd to be a place spent by two people but it only defines who her lover and her are as a couple in this society and how different they are from the rest of normal couples and that is special. Both poems have similarity because they both show vivid feeling conveyed by  the poet. Whilst In Paris with You is bitter towards love, Hour is more about how time is an obstacle for love and spending an hour with your loved one is precious. The structure in both poems is also different. The similarities between both poems use metaphoric language to describe emotional feelings and also write in first person. I like the ‘In Paris With You’ poem because it had a deeper meaning into the words and people would have to read between the lines to finally get it with poetry. ‘Hour’ is a beautiful poem but I didn’t find myself pulled deeper into the words but Duffy does display both light and darkness and that is something interesting.

Promoting the Culture of Peace in the World Essay

Introduction: No doubt, the world is a vast battle-field where almost every nation fights each other. Every nation has its own military equipments. What are these for? They are only for fighting other nations whenever a war breaks out. This only shows that the world is in a very dangerous situation now a day. Every day, every second, there is a possibility of outbreak of war, nuclear war as well as cold war. It means that there is a big threat in our every day life. Not only this, terrorists also make every corner of the globe insecure. It is disheartening that the old aged, innocent children and women are in this situation that they do not feel secured and safe. Who is responsible for this, is it the politicians, or the armies, or the bureaucrats? All of them including the selfish industrialists and rich people are responsible. Who would then step out to deal with this restlessness? â€Å"We, the Youth† would surely be the answer. Basic Elements: The basic important step to be taken by the youth is to protect and promote human rights. Human rights include our rights for living; in order to live, we need food, and in order to have food, we need to work to earn our daily living. Peaceful and happy life is the dream of everybody. If any one is lacking of peaceful life, he is automatically lacking of happiness, so that he may become desperate, depressed or disappointed in life. The desperate or disappointed persons are the most dangerous persons in the world. In the context of North East India where various terrorist groups are in active, one Minister in the region once said, â€Å"The main cause of insurgency in the North East region is that the Centre neglected this remote area†. This would be true to some extent that almost all the insurgent activities in North East India are demanding independence. Some of them are seeking for secure life which would be free from the threat of assimilation by other communities. The immediate cause of insurgency in the Lushai Hills (now Mizoram) was also Mautam Famine that Laldenga and friends felt that the Central Government of India was not taking a satisfactory action to relieve the victims of that famine, and then they rebelled against the Government of India and declared Independence in the year 1966. All these are related to Human Rights, since the people felt that the Government was not taking any step for the well being of its people, almost all of them supported the rebellious activities. From the above viewpoint, we may perceive that the main cause of insurgency and terrorism is human rights violation where the victims became conscious of their rights and then claimed the same consequently. In the context of the Middle East Crisis, one thing very clear is that almost all the terrorists in that area fight for freedom, not only for political freedom but also for religious freedom. Some Islamic terrorists fight for the supremacy of Islamism that would be free from Christian domination. In all the activities of the insurgents and the terrorists, the most important instruments are the youth of those respective communities. Supposed, all these youth who are in active in terrorism and insurgency had quitted their efforts for the same, obviously the activities of insurgency and terrorism would have been null and void and there would not be a big threat in our every day life. Nevertheless, these youth had firmly committed to fight for their community and to sacrifice their lives for the same. So, in order to promote peace culture, the youth are most concern. What to do: Since the important hand and leg of terrorists are youth among themselves, the responsibility of the youth today is very high that we need to step out to deal with this. Walt Disney said that the way to get started is to stop talking and to begin working, so that it is not enough to discuss and debate upon Promotion of Culture of Peace in the World, we have to step out. It is the duty of every intellectual and educated youth to win the heart of our brothers and sisters who are in active in terrorism. We need to negotiate them, whether or not they welcome, we need to approach them, we may fail at once, but we should not quit. Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, the former President of India on the occasion of his visit to Mizoram University on 24th September 2005 said, â€Å"Where there is righteousness in the heart, there is Peace in the World†. This statement is truly acceptable because the righteous person would never harm the others, he would never hamper development of the world Peace and Prosperity. So that we, the youth have to keep this in mind, and let it remind us of our duty to counsel our fellow youth, whether they are terrorists or civilians. For promoting the culture of peace in the world, it is an urgent need to take the suggested steps mentioned below: †¢As mentioned above, the first important step would be creating awareness among the youth, common people. We should make our fellow youth aware of the urgent need to make an effort for promoting the culture of Peace in the world. We can organize awareness campaign and other various programmes related to it. We can make them aware of the same by writing articles and essays in the newspapers and magazines. †¢We can produce Television Programme and documentary films related to terrorism and the urgent need of stepping out in mission to stop terrorism. †¢We can have sincere conversation with our friends, families and so on. So that they can propagate this issue to various other persons. If we do so, it would be effective in promoting the culture of peace in the world. †¢To have peaceful life, one should have secure life. So, it is our duty to push the government of our respective country to provide for various schemes for the well being of its subjects. For instance, in the State of Mizoram, the common people are not satisfied enough by the developmental works carried out by the state government, so that the farmers are recently conscious of their rights, they revive and constitute an organization known as â€Å"Zoram Kuthnathawktu Pawl (ZKP)† that is strongly going on to drive the government to the right way. In the mean time, almost all the members felt frustrated and has become despair because of corruption, and then there is a big threat of bloody revolution. All these are the result of unsatisfactory governance, practice of corruption, negligence, so on and so forth. However, at the same time in Mizoram, the senior prominent citizens revived and recently constituted â€Å"Mizoram Democratic Movement (MDM)† which was also the outcome of famous television Talk Show entitled â€Å"Thalaite Hmathlir (Vision of the Youth) organized by the youth that inspire and motivate everybody who is willing to have good governance. These youth of Mizoram also recently constituted an organization called â€Å"Youth Movement for Mizoarm (YMM)† that brought about moral reformation and awareness on the urgent need of good governance. And it blows like a cyclone within the state of Mizoram. Many people supported this movement and it is now hoped that it would bring about peaceful revolution. This YMM has been taking active part in promoting peace and prosperity, and because of their movement, the threat for bloody revolution by the ZKP has also calmed down and these three organizations are planning to work in cooperation for peace and development. So, it is obvious from this instance that we, the youth would step out to create awareness, to motivate our fellow youth, to inspire our parents to stop practicing corruptions and any other unfair means for promoting the culture of peace in the world. †¢We should negotiate and counsel our fellow youth who are in Terrorist groups telling them that it is not the reason why God made us to terrorize the others. We should prevent instigation of the new generations by terrorism and insurgency. †¢We should also motivate religious leaders to feed their sheep spiritual and moral laws, to tell them the purpose of God in creating men, to propagate the essentiality of peace and harmony in living together, to love one another. †¢We should always remember Gandhiji’s â€Å"Ahimsa†. As mentioned in the beginning of this paper, Nissim Ezekiel, Indian poet urged the people of the world to follow Mahatma Gandhi and that is the right way to promote Peace and Non-Violence. Works cited: oRamdinmawia, James. Poet or Reader. Talk on All India Radio, Aizawl Station. oEzzekiel, Nissim. Very Indian Poem in Indian English. oLalrawnliana, Col. Mizoramin Zalenna a Sua Vol. 2. oKindyah, P.R. Mizo Freedom Fighters.

Quotes From Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Quotes From Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad The  Heart of Darkness,  a novel  published in 1899, is a famous work by Joseph Conrad. The authors experiences in Africa provided him with plenty of material for this work, a  tale of a man who gives into the enticements of power. Here are a few quotes from Heart of Darkness. The River The Congo River serves as a major setting for the books narrative. The novels narrator, Marlow, spends months navigating up the river in search of Kurtz, an ivory trader, who has gone missing deep in the heart of Africa. The river is also a metaphor for Marlows internal, emotional journey to find the elusive Kurtz. The old river in its broad reach rested unruffled at the decline of day, after ages of good service done to the race that peopled its banks, spread out in the tranquil dignity of a waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth.Hunters for gold or pursuers of fame, they all had gone out on that stream, bearing the sword, and often the torch, messengers of the might within the land, bearers of a spark from the sacred fire. What greatness had not floated on the ebb of that river into the mystery of an unknown earth!In and out of rivers, streams of death in life, whose banks were rotting into mud, whose waters, thickened with slime, invaded the contorted mangroves, that seemed to writhe at us in the extremity of an impotent despair. Dreams and Nightmares The story actually takes place in London,  where Marlow tells his tale to a group of friends while they are on a boat anchored on the River Thames. He describes his adventures in Africa alternately as a dream and a nightmare, trying to get his listeners to mentally conjure the images that he witnessed during his journey. Nowhere did we stop long enough to get a particularlised impression, but the general sense of vague and oppressive wonder grew upon me.  It was like a weary pilgrimage amongst hints for nightmares.The dreams of men, the seed of commonwealth, the germs of empires.Do you see him? Do you see the story? Do you see anything? It seems I am trying to tell you a dream   making a vain attempt, because no relation of a dream can convey the dream-sensation, that commingling of absurdity, surprise, and bewilderment in a tremor of struggling revolt, that notion of being captured by the incredible which is the very essence of dreams. Darkness Darkness is a key part of the novel, as the title implies. Africa at that time was considered a dark continent. Once Marlow finds Kurtz, he sees him as a man infected with a heart of darkness. Images of dark, scary places are scattered throughout the novel. And this also  ... has been one of the dark places of the earth.Often far away there I thought of these two, guarding the door of Darkness, knitting black wool as for a warm pall, one introducing, introducing continuously to the unknown, the other scrutinizing the cheery and foolish faces with unconcerned old eyes.We penetrated deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness. Savagery and Colonialism The novel takes place at the height of the age of colonialism and Britain was the worlds mightiest colonial power. Britain and the other European powers were considered to be civilized, while much of the rest of the world was considered to populated by savages. Those images permeate the book. In some inland post feel the savagery, the utter savagery, had closed round him ...  .When one has got to make correct entries, one comes to hate those savages   hate them to the death.The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much.

Max Weber Analysis Essay Sample

Max Weber Analysis Essay Sample Critique of Max Weber Analysis Essay Sample Critique of Max Weber Analysis Essay Sample Max Weber was born Maximilian Karl Emil Weber in April 21, 1864. He was a German sociologist, a philosopher and a political economist who left a significant mark in the discipline of sociology and social theory. While his mother was a staunch Calvinist with an inclination towards ascetism, Max was not exactly religious individually, but his views were greatly influenced by Calvinist doctrines and these were the basis of most of his works. Max got his doctorate in law from the University of Berlin in 1889 and soon after he joined the Universitys faculty as a lecturer and government consultant all as a result of his growing influence in the study of sociology. Max had an estranged relationship with his dad, obviously due to the fact that there were constant domestic issues in which he took his mothers side. In 1897, Max Weber Senior passed on leaving his son to suffer from insomnia, depression as well as nervousness. However, this was only the beginning of his battle with mental illnes s and it led him to quit teaching and devote himself to social sciences as an associate editor in a journal. In his time, as a Reserve Officer during the First World War, Max totally changed his opinion on the German expansionism and started advocating for constitutional reforms, democracy as well as universal suffrage. It is during this period that he actively got into politics and at one time he even tried unsuccessfully to clinch a parliamentary seat. Max Webers thoughts were majorly influenced by German idealism and Neo-Kantianism. Among his greatest inspirations one would notice Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche and Georg Simmel. This paper critically analyses Max Webers thoughts and opinions presented in his book The Protestant Ethic and The Spirit of Capitalism, in addition, the paper relates Webers ideologies to current thoughts and occurrences and seeks to establish whether the great philosopher has managed to remain relevant in the current society. History of Max Weber Max Weber was born in a cultured family with a long line of accomplished scholars and politicians, with his parents representing diverse lifestyles in that his father was a worldly statesman with an affinity for the pleasures of life while his mother was an ascetic scholar drawn to the doctrines of her Calvinist religion. This fact greatly shaped Maxs life since he was constantly polarized between religion and politics, and he ended up contributing significantly to both fields and even presenting the world with the possibility of connecting the two aspects of life through economy. He grew up learning both religion and politics, with special inclination towards religious ethics due to his close relationship with his beloved mother. However, he did not follow her ascetic interests and even asserted himself as an irreligious individual as a grown up. After studying law in the University of Heidelberg, Weber joined the University of Berlin. While studying at the university, Max got into sociology carrying out researches and writing papers that eventually earned him significant recognition to the point of being admitted to the faculty as a lecturer and government consultant. It is during this time that he started his infamous campaigns against the influx of laborers from Poland into Eastern Germany. He noticed during a study that while many Germans were leaving their homes in the east to work in industrialized towns; Polish laborers were moving in to replace them as farm workers in such large numbers. This worried him for one reason or another and set him on a path that earned him as many enemies as admirers (Weber 2001). In 1893 he married his distant cousin Marianne, an accomplished scholar and feminine activist herself. Thus, this move gave him a platform to financial freedom from his parents and moving to Freiburg a year later. He became a professor of economics at the University of Heidelberg in 1896 and it is here he became the center of the Weber circle which constituted mainly of great intellects of that particular time. Within this circle, he was the center of every discussion and shared about sociology and his thoughts on political economy as well as religion. In 1897, his father died after a great argument with him, an incident that greatly affected the renowned sociologist rendering him incapable as a teacher. This left him with a nervous breakdown, insomnia and depression thus culminating into a mental illness of some sort. The condition, however, did not affect his work in sociology since he became an associate editor and even went ahead to publish some famous works including The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (Weber 2001). During his incapacitation, it was rumored that he had chronicled his days of torment since he dealt with the mental illness, but his wife destroyed the accounts out of fear that it could have put his reputation and the reception of his subsequent works at stake. This rumor is yet to be proven and may be as unfounded as its source. In 1912, Max showed great interest in politics and even tried to combine the social democrats and the liberals. This attempt was unsuccessful as the liberals were not entirely comfortable with the ideals of the social democrats. While it was a noble idea to have a left wing political outfit, the attempt failed because it wasn’t such a good time to be courageous in Germany. The political situation was more about aligning oneself with strategic partners and not risking conspicuousness especially with such revolutionary ideals as those of the social democrats. During the First World War, he voluntarily got conscripted into the army as a Reserve Officer given that he was around 50 years of age. It is from this experience that he got a new view on the expansionism policies of Germany (Weber 2001). At first, Max thought the war as necessary for Germany to establish itself as a significant state in the world. After experiencing the war, however, he started campaigning for constitutional reforms, a democratized system of government and universal suffrage. He became actively involved in politics and after the war he tried his hand at becoming a parliamentarian through a Party he had co-founded, the German Democratic Party. After his failure to clinch the parliamentary seat, and his day to day frustrations in German politics based on the way people were not willing to do the right thing for fear of making unwanted enemies and loosing influence, he decided to go back to his teaching career. With his exposure in politics and sociology, he was a more renown scholar with great reputation albeit subtle influence given just how vocal a critic he had been for the Kraiser government. While teaching, he compiled some great works and even gave his world famous lectures on Politics as a Vocation and Science as a Vocation. His death in 1920 came as a shock to many, and a disappointment to the intellectuals at the time. He died of pneumonia after having battled with the Spanish flu. He was 56 years and most of his works were yet to be published at the time. His wife Marianne, however, played a significant role in ensuring that the great scholars works got published even after his death, giving him just about the recognition that he deserved. As a scholar and philosopher, Max Weber was a great mind and he continues to shape the social sciences as well as the political sciences of the world even today. His great thoughts include his definition of capitalism, Calvinism and the Protestant work ethic. Capitalism Capitalism has been used to mean different things in different contexts and by different individuals. To Max Weber, capitalism meant having capital assets owned privately by individuals and offering goods and services for profit. Moreover, he stated that for capitalism to thrive there must be some form of market exchange, voluntary supply of labor and a planned system of labor division. To Max, capitalism was about rationalizing the need to acquire economic wealth for the purpose of reinvestment and eventual multiplication of assets. He believed in individual effort as a building block to the prosperity of the economy in the society as a whole (Weber 2001). Max Weber believed that capitalism could only be successful if it is entrenched in peoples way of life through culture or religion. To prove this point, he examined the ease with which the citizens of Protestant countries like the Netherlands had embraced capitalism and successfully due to the doctrines of their religion that justified the pursuit of economic success through hard work (Weber 2001). Protestantism at that time merged vocation, profession and calling into one, creating satisfaction in even the most subtle of the careers provided there was some form of economic gain being received. In this religion, it is that he founded the idea of the capitalist spirit which aims at rationalizing daily life activities that are in pursuit of economic growth of the individual and thence the society as a whole. Through his rationalization idea, he justified the exploitation of laborers by the rich entrepreneurs provided they were willing to work for their pay. He also justified the way wo rkers allowed themselves to be exploited in that they were working with the belief that their work was a calling from God while the wages were the economic gain that they sought, the ultimate reward would be God’s blessings and salvation as a result of their obedience in responding so willingly to His calling. Calvinism Calvinism basically refers to the Reformed faith that deviated from the Roman Catholic Church. Calvinists were Protestants who were drawn to an ascetic lifestyle by virtue of their teachings on salvation. To these Protestants, economic prosperity was one of the ways acquiring self-confidence, and a lack of this confidence was a sign of insufficient faith. Thus, one of the ways through which one could be assured of salvation was by accumulating wealth to become self-confident and exude sufficient faith. Material wealth was thus a symbol of approval and blessings from God. Unlike other religions that assured believers of salvation based on their devotion and commitment to the religious activities, the Calvinist theology did not provide any assurance and thus the believers were forced to seek it from material manifestations. The religious teachings of the Calvinists further encouraged the believers to seek economic gain by considering the secular vocations to be of equal importance to a religious calling (Durkheim 2008). The Protestant Work Ethic In his book â€Å"The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism†, Max Weber wrote that the capitalism that swept across Northern Europe was as a result of the influence of the Calvinist doctrines or ethic which encouraged believers to embrace secular vocations just as they would religious callings. The Calvinist teachings likened secular work to a calling from God and thus encouraged people’s devotion to their work provided they ended up getting some form of income. The protestant work ethic, also known as the Puritan work ethic is founded on the concept of hard diligent work for the sake of economic success and self-confidence. Unlike in the catholic tradition where salvation is assured and faith displayed through acts of attendance, confession and other sacraments, Protestants were not assured of salvation and thus sought out economic prosperity as a way of manifesting God’s approval and sufficiency of their faith. In this way, they grew to learn to associate economic success with hard diligent work and God’s blessings. According to Weber (2001: 246) the protestant work ethic encouraged individuals to pursue economic advancement by terming their secular vocations as a calling from God; moreover, the Protestant theology encouraged even the most humble of professionals to dedicate themselves to enhancing their financial status in order to increase their self-confidence and appear to have enough faith in God. Max supported this concept by noting just how the protestant countries at that time were advancing in terms of capitalism or individual wealth accumulation. With a great example of the Scandinavian countries, Protestantism was encouraging hard work and commitment in order to better the lives of the individuals. People were held responsible for their faith in God, their confidence in themselves and their contribution to the economy. In this sense, more and more people were encouraged to develop personal enterprises and generate wealth while creating employment opportunities for the less fortunate. These ‘less fortunate’ people were also encouraged to earn their wages since their work was a ‘calling’ predestined for them by God in His wisdom. The Critique Max Weber was as an individual, quite torn between two polar personalities. First he was his mother’s son, a scholar with an interest in religion. He also was his father’s son, a politician with parliamentary aspirations. At some point, he even suffered a mental illness that was never really brought out since his wife destroyed every documentation of it, fearing what it could do to his reputation as a renowned scholar and sociologist after his death. However, this did not stop him from making his mark in sociology as well as political and economic history. His works are in one way or another still relevant to this day. Max Weber and the Protestant Work Ethic In his analysis, Weber (2001: 24) believes that the current economic organization is heavily founded on the protestant view of work. Weber (2001:26) states â€Å"the concept of the Protestant work ethic, which stipulated that the spirit of capitalism has to be rooted in the people’s culture or religion if it is to thrive and be successful†, Weber’s views remain relevant to this day. Protestantism may not have necessarily reduced in the world today, but the Protestants are not as devoted to the teachings of their faith. The protestant countries, and particularly the Scandinavian countries as a specific example, have witnessed some level of decline in capitalism and thence accumulation of individual wealth and dedication to hard diligent work. All these values were embedded in the protestant theology and largely contributed to the success of the economies of all these countries way back in history. The boom of industrialization in the Scandinavian countries was gre atly attributed to the existence of the spirit of capitalism which originated from the Calvinist theology. People were encouraged to work hard and create economic enterprises to maximize on the potential of their assets and create opportunities for others. The religion also encouraged the migration of individuals to the industrial centers to seek employment as a way of earning their living. Employment in this case was seen as a calling, and thus is greatly elevated regardless of its stature. More and more people opted to work in the most humble of occupations for as little as the entrepreneurs were willing to pay them, rather than stay in abject poverty and be seen to lack sufficient faith. Economic wellbeing was associated with the amount of faith that one possessed and this drove believers to strive for success in one way or another. Furthermore, this may have created some class divisions in that the rich were considered as more religious and more righteous in the eyes of God and thus they could exploit their unfortunate counterparts by paying them less for work done. Putting this ideology into perspective, the concept of a secular profession being regarded as a calling did serve as a motivation for capitalism in the protestant countries. Using current statistics, as a reference point, religion is of a great influence in inculcating the spirit of capitalism into the masses. The devotion to religion has been on a steep decline since more and more people become too busy to engage in religious activities and learn the necessary doctrines. According to Soto (2002: 43), â€Å"countries that were previously largely protestant or catholic have now become mixed up in that there are just as many irreligious persons as there are the religious ones. The religious ones are also not entirely religious, as they are more engaged in other worldly activities thus they lack the time to really learn their faith.† What this implies is that the formerly protestant or catholic countries can no longer be identified by their dominant religion because there has bee n a great mixture in recent years due to migration, exposure and liberalization in terms of freedom of worship. As a result of the changing dynamics with regards to religious composition of countries, the spirit of capitalism has seemingly eroded in the previously protestant countries while seeming to increase in the catholic countries. The economies of states like the Netherlands and Germany may have led the world in capitalism back in the day, but they are currently at the same level, if not lower than Italy and Spain at present. Devotion to religion is no longer as strong as it was back then, and thus a country cannot be considered as a Protestant or Catholic state. This has eroded the spirit of capitalism and thus greatly affected the economy of the state. This simply proves that Max Weber was right about the connection between religion and capitalism. With the death of the spirit of capitalism, laborers are no longer proud of their work and are not content with their wages. This has been seen in the way workers continue to strike and fight for better wages and better working conditions. Also, there have been more establishing enterprises other than just economic empowerment and creating opportunities for the less fortunate. While sticking to the basics of multiplying wealth and accumulating capital assets, people are no longer bent on creating opportunities for others since the wealthy end up employing only their families and other well connected members of society to work in the top positions of their businesses (Durkheim 2008). Historically, states that had a majority of Protestants and more specifically Calvinists were able to embrace and pursue capitalism aided by the spirit of capitalism that is embedded in the Calvinist theology. This is the major reason, according to Weber, that led to the exponential growth in the economies of these protestant countries. With the decline in religious devotion, it follows that the spirit of capitalism is eroded and thus a decline in capitalism in these states. The seeming increase of capitalism in the Non-protestant states is simply because their spirit of capitalism was borrowed from their Protestant counterparts and thus is not affected by their devotion to religion, or a lack of it. The growth is actually steady, and only appears significant due to the steep decline witnessed by the Protestant states. In this way, Max established the connection between religion and economy despite his not being religious himself. The connection continues to hold water, and this has been proven by the way devotion to labor has gone down with devotion to religion. Currently, there have been recurring reports of industrial mass action where workers down their tools to protest against low wages or unfavorable working conditions. In this way, more and more workers are deviating from the ideal situation in which they would be content with their wages and view their work as a calling from God thus disregarding the inferior quantity of the compensation received. While the purpose of working in the Protestant ethic is to acquire some economic gain, the job is considered more important than the compensation as the laborer is considered to be responding to a calling from God and thus expects eventual salvation as an obedient son or daughter of the Father. Workers in the present day do not persevere in unfavo rable conditions as can be seen in the formation of unions and holding of protests as well as class actions against employers. This however does not disqualify Max Weber’s ideals. It is clear that people are no longer devoted to the doctrines of the religions. Religious teachings are now considered as opinions, and individuals have given themselves the liberty to decide whether to follow a theology or not. In this regard, the fact that not many people pay any attention to religious teachings may have played a greater role in creating this breed of laborers who value their wages more than the work that they are actually being paid to do. Max Weber and Calvinism Max was exposed to Calvinist theology at a tender age given that his mother was a devout Calvinist drawn to an ascetic lifestyle. Although he did not embrace the religion himself, he had quite a great understanding of the concepts and this shaped the ideologies in most of his social works. In his book, Weber (2001:80) wrote â€Å"terming a secular profession as a calling was a great way to motivate the entrepreneur and justify their scramble for economic success.† He also stated that the concept of the calling served as an encouragement to the hard working laborers to view their devotion as a mean of achieving salvation for their faith. While recognizing that the entrepreneurs were using this doctrine to exploit their workers, he looked at this from a greater perspective which was the benefits that this arrangement gave to the society as a whole. He looked at the positive impact of capitalism to the economy regardless of the undertones of exploitation experienced by the labore rs (Weber 2001:92). Max showed just how Calvinism was encouraging the pursuit of economic gains by endowing secular activities with a moral significance. At that time, religion was known to shy away from worldly pursuits in favor of salvation, but Max brought out the side of Protestantism that did not assure salvation to those who attended the religious activities, took to the confession regulations and participated in the required sacraments. He brought out the side of religion that required for one go above the usual religious obligations and uphold hard diligent work, sufficient faith and self-confidence in order for one to claim salvation. Comparing this to Catholicism, Max was quite right. The Catholics were assured of salvation based on how they attended to their religious obligations, confessions and other sacraments. They shied away from the pursuit of economic gains, and limited their participation in secular activities. In this way, the Catholics who were born poor remained comfortably while the rich lived off their inheritance. This limited their economic growth and even led to the large gap between the Protestant countries and the Catholic countries. Overman (2011) concurs with Weber to a certain extend in regard to the present day, Catholic doctrines still limit indulgence in secular activities. For example, while protestant clergy can be involved in entrepreneurship the Catholics are still confined to the convents and seminaries or parish houses where they fully devote themselves to the work of the church. The leaders of the Catholic Church are still expected to live within the means of the church and even observe celibacy as a way of setting themselves apart from the world. In emphasizing on how the Protestant theology permitted involvement in pursuit of economic gains, Weber justified the economic gaps between the religiously defined countries. In the present day, this ideology justifies the difference between the lifestyles of the devout members of these two religions. By looking at Protestantism as a religion that rationalizes the way secular activities are perceived, as a way of earning economic gains and boosting self-con fidence, as a calling with both a moral and spiritual value and not just an unnecessary worldly indulgence, Weber (2001: 46) justifies the gap between the two religions in terms of glamour and affluence especially since most protestant church leaders continue being world famous for their glamorous lifestyle and accumulated wealth unlike the Catholics who by far remain relatively unknown with regards to their worldly possessions. While Protestant states can no longer boast of being more capitalistic than Catholic states that individuals who still follow the teachings of their religion still hold a remarkable difference with regards to how they perceive work and spirituality. The Catholics still seek to separate themselves from the pursuit of economic gains at the expense of their religious obligations while the Protestants willingly merge their spiritual lives with their economic lives maneuvering in between the two with so much ease. This is evident in the number of prominent tycoons who are actually church leaders in the Protestant churches, against the number of Catholic Church leaders who have made a mark in the business world. Max Weber and Capitalism As a social scientist, Max Weber viewed capitalism based on its advantages to the people and society as a whole. Weber (2001:155) described capitalism to be a â€Å"situation in which individuals are allowed to own capital assets, where there is a market exchange of goods and services, and where the supply of labor is on a voluntary basis.† By setting all these conditions in his definition of capitalism, Weber sought to have a society in which every individual is free to pursue economic gains and wealth accumulation on a voluntary basis. Weber (2001:26) reiterated â€Å"the current definition of capitalism is not complete because it does not include the organization skills.† In a social standing, a capitalist would thus be anyone who owned capital assets, participated voluntarily in the labor market, or actively engaged in the exchange of goods and services. Translating this into a state, a capitalist state would be one which allows for all the above conditions meaning that the ruling class is more of the entrepreneur’s club than the politicians. Taking the example of the United States, state capitalism basically implies that the state operates like a large corporation. While the means of production is privately owned at a large scale, the government controls it through regulatory bodies that are supposedly independent and with lots of mandate. However, the state is seen to operate like a protector to the interests of the private corporate who dominate the market in partnership with the government. In such a system, most if not all corporations are jointly owned with the government and this puts the owners in good positions. Contrary to Weber, Soto (2003) emphasizes that a capitalist state basically operates as an economic system. It is for a reason that all the decisions are made based on the interests of the economic powerhouses of the country. The political class that consists mainly of elected representatives thus remains as a bunch of ‘croaking frogs’ that have no effect on the elephant that empties their po nd. They are there to entertain the country with colorful arguments and debates, but the main decisions are made in the boardrooms of corporations and pushed on them by the corporate executives, their lawyers and sometimes even professional lobbyists. The political powers are thus usurped by the already very powerful economic system. The United States may not have initially been a largely protestant country, but its culture and education system were greatly influenced by the Puritans who immigrated into the country during its colonization. These Protestants inculcated in the Americans the unmistakable spirit of capitalism such that all people of power were expected to have come from poor backgrounds and work their way up through diligence and commitment. The doctrine of working hard to better the economic status of individuals eventually led to formation of classes and the economic class ended up with more powers than the political class despite the politicians being democratically elected. In this sense, the adoption of capitalistic tendencies at the state level undermined democracy. This is where Weber failed even himself seeing as he was an enthusiast of democracy himself. State capitalism has numerous discrepancies unlike the ideals that were propagated by Weber’s ideology. First of all, the major decisions affecting the people are made by those who are not directly affected by it. The economic class is given the mandate to deliberate on issues that do not affect them in any way. This means that they only look out for themselves and the working class or common citizens are left to struggle for their survival (Soto 2003). This system tends to widen the gap between the poor and the rich, in a bid to prevent the acquisition of wealth that may threaten the status quo. The close ties between corporate and the government in the business sector provides opportunities for corruption and illegitimate deals due to the lack of transparency witnessed since the government seek to serve the interests of its business allies. This system centralizes the corridors of power and grants it to the private corporate owners, leaving the government as just but a symbol of state authority. In this case, the legislature lacks authority, the executive is under the control and manipulation of the economic class, and the judiciary has a price tag. Such is state capitalism, even in the United States. The United States is a capitalist state in that the country has a political framework that implies democracy but the electorate is constantly shortchanged by the corporate firms that influence major decisions to protect their interests. People of the United States have been against so many policies that were adapted anyway, simply because some corporate somewhere sat in a boardroom and agreed to lobby for that policy as it served their interests whether directly or indirectly. This is a system of colonization whereby the powerful members of society are first class citizens and have much more weight in the running of state affairs. The US government has been a capitalist state, with a militarized outfit for quite a while. The elected representatives have been puppets of the giant corporations rather than representatives of the will of people. The political class has shown little initiative towards becoming a true democracy like a libertarian socialist society. While people are lobbying for democracy, their elected and non-elected ‘rulers’ are getting comfortable knowing that a social revolution would not only hurt the entire nation but the entire human civilization seeing as the US is among the most influential economies of the world (Soto 2003). The country is thoroughly militarized with a really high military budget in the pretext of defense from powerful possible enemies like Korea and a rebellion would prove suicidal. However, all throughout history, men risked their security, their wealth and their lives for the sake of gaining or retrieving their freedom. Thus, the possibility of such a recur rence is there and it could happen on such a large scale that the results will not be negotiable in any forum. This, however, will require the commitment and dedication of all societal factions so as to ensure uniformity in the demands and thus results. With all these in mind, it is important to note that while Weber was right about the roots of capitalism, the fruits are quite a different story. His encouragement and inclination was founded on the benefit of giving people the freedom to engage in income generating ventures for their benefit and that of the society. This, however, resulted in far too many disadvantages including the rich holding the rest of the country at ransom by commanding the reins of power without having to be elected. They only watch out for themselves thus leaving the voiceless poor to fend for themselves under such oppressive conditions. The roots of capitalism were indeed in the religion of the Puritans or rather Calvinists whose doctrines allowed and encouraged their participation in secular vocations as callings from God to attain economic empowerment and thence self-confidence and stronger faith in God. All these were considered as blessings and a sign of favor in the eyes of the Lord. Weber noted this quite well, and they continue to manifest in the decline of the spirit of capitalism along with the decline in devotion to religion across the world. He, however, did not envision the way capitalist states would end up ruining the economic freedom that he was advocating for when he hailed capitalism in the first place (Weber 2001). Having established that Max Webers thoughts were majorly influenced by German idealism and Neo-Kantianism it follows that most of his opinions have managed to remain relevant even in todays society. Historically, states that had a majority of Protestants and more specifically Calvinists were able to embrace and pursue capitalism aided by the spirit of capitalism that is embedded in the Calvinist theology. This is the major reason, according to Weber, that led to the exponential growth in the economies of these protestant countries. With the decline in religious devotion, it follows that the spirit of capitalism is eroded and thus a decline in capitalism in these states. The seeming increase of capitalism in the Non-protestant States is simply because their spirit of capitalism was borrowed from their Protestant counterparts and thus is not affected by their devotion to religion, or a lack of it. The growth is actually steady, and only appears significant due to the steep decline witn essed by the Protestant states. In this way, Max established the connection between religion and economy despite his not being religious himself. The connection continues to hold water, and this has been proven by the way devotion to labor has gone down with devotion to religion. With regards to Weber’s thoughts on capitalism, the roots of the spirit of capitalism were indeed in the religion of the Puritans or rather Calvinists whose doctrines allowed and encouraged their participation in secular vocations as callings from God to attain economic empowerment and thence self-confidence and stronger faith in God. All these were considered as blessings and a sign of favor in the eyes of the Lord. Weber noted this quite well, and they continue to manifest in the decline of the spirit of capitalism along with the decline in devotion to religion across the world. He, however, did not envision the way capitalist states would end up ruining the economic freedom that he was advocating for when he hailed capitalism in the first place. As for Calvinism, he wrote that terming a secular profession as a calling was a great way to motivate the entrepreneur and justify their scramble for economic success. He also stated that the concept of the calling served as an enco uragement to the hard working laborers to view their devotion as a means of achieving salvation for their faith. While recognizing that the entrepreneurs were using this doctrine to exploit their workers, he looked at this from a greater perspective which was the benefits that this arrangement gave to the society as a whole. He looked at the positive impact of capitalism to the economy regardless of the undertones of exploitation experienced by the laborers. Max showed just how Calvinism was encouraging the pursuit of economic gains by endowing secular activities with a moral significance. At that time, religion was known to shy away from worldly pursuits in favor of salvation, but Max brought out the side of Protestantism that did not assure salvation to those who attended the religious activities, took to the confession regulations and participated in the required sacraments. He brought out the side of religion that required for one go above the usual religious obligations and uphold hard diligent work, sufficient faith and self-confidence in order for one to claim salvation. Comparing this to Catholicism, Max was quite right. The Catholics were assured of salvation based on how they attended to their religious obligations, confessions and other sacraments. They shied away from the pursuit of economic gains, and limited their participation in secular activities. In this way, the Catholics who were born poor remained comfortably while the rich lived off their inheritance. This limited their economic growth and even led to the large gap between the Protestant countries and the Catholic countries. As a sociologist, and a political and religious economist, Max Weber continues to live on in his great works that continue to shape the ideologies of scholars around the world. His old works form the basis of most new studies on politics, sociology as well as religion, thus he continue to remain relevant regardless of the changes witnessed by mankind after all these years.