Management and Leadership Style Essay Example

Management and Leadership Style Essay Is a measure of an organizations ability to meet its current debt obligations. Profitability Liquidity Leverage Activity 12. This team leader role requires leaders to try to get the best out of their team. Troubleshooter Liaison Coach Conflict manager 13. The path goal theory sees the Job of an effective leader as Proving clear instructions for the followers Defining goals for followers Helping followers understand their goals 14. Value is any aspect of a product that customers Notice Will pay for 15. The transformation process transforms Inputs into goods and services Inputs into service only Goods and services into products Materials into goods only 16. Visionary leaders are leaders who guide by The force of their personality Inspiring followers Articulating a vision of the future Offering rewards to followers 17. An example of nonverbal communication is A voice mail An email A smile a whisper A whisper in the product. 18. When an auto executive fails to notice an important demographics report in her overstuffed inbox before going to a meeting. She 19. Motivation NOT A process that leads to a goal Something that requires a direction Something that varies from situation to situation We will write a custom essay sample on Management and Leadership Style specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Management and Leadership Style specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Management and Leadership Style specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer A permanent personal trait Avoid work unless rewards were high Just want to collect a paycheck Love their Jobs more than the money they make Avoid responsibility for their actions 21 . Jargon can be very useful for communication Within a specialized close-knit group Between males and females Outside of a specialized close-knit group Between people who speak different languages 22. Which of the following in NOT a key component of emotional intelligence (E)? Social skills Active imagination Empathy Self-awareness Assumes that employees have little ambition, dislike work, and avoid responsibility Theory X Belongingness needs theory Self-actualization needs theory Theory Y 24. Service organization Produce physical outputs only Produce nonphysical outputs only Require nonphysical inputs only Produce physical and nonphysical outputs 25. Which communication sequence is correct? Sender-encoding-channel-decoding-receiver Sender-channel-medium-recoding-receiver Sender-decoding-channel-encoding-receiver Source-sender-encoding-encoding-receiver 26. Ammonias boss allows her any decision she thins is important on the spot without Laissez-fairer style Democratic style Hands on style Automatic style 27. Ross can create web pages that are accessible only to remember of his organization on An interchange An ethanol A videoconferencing An electronic data interchange 28. If a trait theory of leadership were true, then all leaders would possess Charisma The same traits Different traits Seven traits 29. Setting goals definitely seems so Increases performance and motivation Decreases motivation and performance Increases motivation but not performance Decreases performance but increase motivation 30. The is the series of work actions that value to a product as it is being transformed from inputs to finished product. Supply chain Input chain Output chain Value chain 31 . Which three needs are recognized in Miscellanys three-needs theory? Achievement-power-affiliation Achievement-power-security Security-self-interest- affiliation Power-comfort-stimulation Developing empathy with the speaker Focusing on the speaker Understanding the full meaning of the speakers message Avoiding premature Judgment or interpretations of the speakers message 33. Mallows theory is a hierarchy because All needs are equal Needs are satisfied sequentially All needs are important Needs are never truly satisfied 34. The human reactions view of conflict states that conflict Is necessary for successful group performance Must be avoided Is natural and inevitable Should be ignored 35. What was your favorite thing we discussed this semester relating to current events? Why? 36. Transformation leaders are leaders who guide by Articling a vision for followers 37. According to Herbert. What controls satisfaction and motivation? Intrinsic factors Both intrinsic and extrinsic factors Extrinsic factors Extrinsic and security factors 38. Two horizontal bars that identify the _ represent each work activity in a Gaunt chart. Goal and actual progress Actual progress and managers name The date and the managers name 39. A major part of the controlling function of management is to Formulate strategies Set standards Correct performance problems 40. The first step in the control process s to Measures actual performance Compare a standard against an ideal Take action Compare performance against a standard 41. Is the deliberate manipulation of information by the sender to make it appear more favorable to the receiver. Selective perception Filtering Information overload Jargon 42. What are the benefits and drawbacks of both written and verbal communication? How do nonverbal cues affect communication? 43. The key to the fierier contingency model of leadership is to match Leader and leadership style Leader and follower Leadership style and follower Leadership style and situation 44. MBA stands for management by Walking round Written action Work area 45. Early leadership trait research looked to find characteristics that might Different leaders from mainlanders Define charisma Distinguish ordinary leaders from great leaders Identify the physical traits or leaders 46. The second step in the control process is to Compare a standard against an idea Measure actual performance

APUSH DBQ essays

APUSH DBQ essays The early development of the Chesapeake and New England regions were made up like a jigsaw puzzle. Though they both had the same number of pieces they were made up of pieces of different shapes. Regardless of their separate pieces they both came together to make up a whole. Something that wasnt similar was the overall make up of the two regions. When you add strong components to a region, you get a strong region. The difference of these colonies was the fact that one was settled by families and the other by single men. During the year of 1635, the list of immigrants was put out. This told about the people that were going to be arriving in the colonies by ship. The ship for New England was to set sail in March. An obvious key of the list was that most if not all people were all families. If they werent family they were servants of a family. This showed that there should be more unity among the region. The number of families helped ensure that this region would have more of a family feel than just a lot of people thrown into an unfamiliar place. Leadership was going to be a key factor for the New England region. Although there were young kids aboard, they had many adults to learn from. It is always a good thing to be able to look up to someone older for guidance. Chesapeake on the other hand was going to be settled by many single men. Most of them were around a young age of 20 or so. The number of single men was already looking to be a problem for the future colony. Most of the men werent to m ature and would have trouble stepping up and acting like real men. They were sort of like a wild fraternity at a college. They wanted to act wild and immature as frat boys do. Chesapeake didnt seem that it would have as much leadership as New England. There was probably that one older man that would try to put his foot down and set an example but he probably would have a little trouble in doing so. (D ...

Brief about Investment Management

Finance Brief about Investment Management Introduction Every individual saves some part of his or her income for any unforeseen situation. In addition to this, saving is also important for every person as adequate amount of money in the account after retirement will ensure a better and tension free life. But putting money just in locker is considered as dead investment as the saved amount will not grew. Further, it is also a well known fact that human being is a greedy animal (Pihlman, et. al., 2011). He wants to see his money growing in leaps and bounds and for this purpose only, instead of putting money just in the lockers, now day people are more interested in investing their capital in certain areas which gives good returns (Pihlman, et. al., 2011). In order to make quick bucks, people are investing their savings in different schemes which delivers good returns. In this regards, stock market has come up as one of the most popular areas in which people are readily investing their money on different-different stocks for getting higher returns. Putting money in savings accounts does not reap higher returns, so now day people are more interested in share market as it has generated better returns in recent past (Focardi and Fabozzi, 2004). But before investing money in the stocks of different companies, it is essential for every investor to have adequate knowledge regarding the investment management. Investment management can be defined as purchase and sale of investments within a portfolio. The area of investment management is quite wide which includes banking, budgeting activities and taxes; but in general perspective investment management refers to trading of securities and portfolio management to attain some desired goals (Pihlman, et. al., 2011). Major activities involved in investment management are: Analyzing financial statements of the companies Selection of stocks Selection of assets Implementing desired plan, and Continuous monitoring of investment activities (Fabozzi, 2008). Investment Objectives and Philosophy Objectives Below mentioned are main objectives of all the investors depending on their risk taking capabilities and stage of life: Income: The main motive behind making investment of all the investors is generating income. They consider share market as alternative source of income and invest in securities which deliver higher returns (Focardi and Fabozzi, 2004). Growth and income: Another investment object of an investor is both; capital gain and income. Most of the people dont only want extra income; rather they also want appreciation of their capital. Capital appreciation is associated with the risk taking capability of an investor. Safety: Investments are never considered to be safe as some kinds of risks are always associated with them. Still there are some investment products such as government bonds, fixed deposits which deliver low but continuous returns. People who invest in such instrument have main objective of security of their invested capital (Fabozzi, 2008). Growth: Unlike growth and income, an objective of some of the investors is only growth, that is, they do not want any income from their investment, rather just want to see their capital growing. Such investors invest in commodities, property market, gold, mutual funds, etc. Active trading / speculation: Another objective of investors is active trading or speculation of the market activities (Focardi and Fabozzi, 2004). Apart from above stated objectives, some of the other objectives of investment are tax exemption and liquidity. Philosophy Different people have different motive behind making investment in any form of instrument. Thus, investment philosophy defines certain principles on the basis of which an individual makes decision of investment (Swensen, 2009). These philosophies may vary from people to people such as: Fundamental Investing: With this philosophy, an individual or group evaluate the earnings prospects of the firm and on the basis of that makes their investment decision. Value Investing: In such kind of philosophy, investor analyzes all the stocks and identifies the companies whose stocks are undervalued. Further, such individuals believe that there are higher chances of these stocks to deliver better returns (Brentani, 2003). Growth Investing: Investors with such philosophy believe that it is beneficial to invest in those stocks which are form the emerging sectors. Products and services which are from emerging sectors have higher growth prospects and are expected to deliver returns at higher rates (Smithson, 2003). Technical Investing: These are the individuals who invest on the basis of past performance of the stock and neglect its current standing. Such investors evaluate the past data of the companies and on the basis if analysis of the data makes sell or buy decision (Kendall and Rollins, 2003). Socially Responsible Investing: Investors with such kind of philosophy looks for those stocks which actively participate in corporate social activities. They feel those companies which follows ethical business standards and stick to moral standards will produce better results in comparison to other companies (Focardi and Fabozzi, 2004). Contrarian Investing: Investors with this kind of philosophy are handful in the market. They perform just opposite kind of activity in relation to the rest of the market. There trading decisions are contradict to the majority of the market. For example, if the other investors will go for buying of certain stocks, they will go for its selling and vice versa (Pihlman, et. al., 2011). Portfolio Strategy and Asset Allocation Portfolio Strategy Investors invest in more than one stock on the basis of performance of particular stocks. Thus, combination of all the stocks is known as portfolio of stock. Portfolio strategies are not but general guidelines that help investors in strategically investing in stocks of different companies so as to meet their financial goals. It deals with designing of optimal portfolio and asset pricing. In this regards, risk return trade off is the best tool which is widely used by the investors in selection of optimal portfolio (Kendall and Rollins, 2003). Further, the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) shows that measure of sensitivity () is in proportion to the assets risk premium. Asset Allocation While putting money in any investment instrument, it is essential to properly allocate the funds in different assets. Thus asset allocation can be termed as investment strategy that helps in adequately investing money into different stocks or instruments so that the portfolio can achieve a balance between risk and reward. In other words it can be said that this strategy deals in adjusting the percentage of different assets in the portfolio as per the investment time frame, goals and risk tolerance capacity of an investor (Kendall and Rollins, 2003). Basically this strategy is adopted by the investor for diversifying its investment portfolio so that overall risk from the investment can be reduced. Return of an investment is majorly dependent on the allocation of the assets in the portfolio. Characteristics of different assets are different from each other and they perform differently in different economic scenario and market conditions. Further, different investment instruments delive r different returns and these different returns are not perfectly correlated (Kendall and Rollins, 2003). Thus, an optimal portfolio is one which is quite diversified, that is which consists of different-different investment instrument with varied characteristics so that overall risk from the investment can be reduced and still the investment reaps higher returns. Here are some of the strategies that can be used for achieving optimum assets allocation: Strategic Asset Allocation: this is the most common method of asset allocation and focuses on the concept of basic policy mix. That it, it includes stocks form each asset class based on their expected rate of returns. For example, the portfolio may consist of fifty per cent bonds with annual return of five per cent and fifty per cent stock with annual return of ten per cent so as to achieve a return of about seven and half per cent (Focardi and Fabozzi, 2004). Constant Weighting Asset Allocation: The above focus on buy and hold concept. Thus, even if the scenario changes, the portfolio remains the same. To overcome from this, one may adopt a constant weighting asset allocation approach. In this approach, the investor keeps on rebalancing the portfolio as per the changes in the economic and market conditions. For example, if some stock is not performing well and its prices are going down, investor can invest on it and other the other hand, if price of any particular stock is going up, the investor can sell that stock (Focardi and Fabozzi, 2004). As such there is not thumb rule for time of rebalancing the portfolio in strategic and constant weighting assets allocation, but generally it is advice to rebalance the portfolio when the actual value of the portfolio changes five per cent from its original value. Tactical Asset Allocation: If an investor invests for longer time duration, in such cases the above stated allocation strategies proves to be rigid (Pihlman, et. al., 2011). Therefore, sometimes it is beneficial to invest in some securities for shorter time period to practice tactical deviation and to benefit from exceptional investment opportunities. Further, this strategy brings flexibility. This is regarded as moderately active strategy but in this the investor must have knowledge of short term investment opportunity, so that later on he can again rebalance the portfolio (Pihlman, et. al., 2011). Dynamic Asset Allocation: Next strategy adopted by some of the investors is dynamic asset allocation strategy. It is also an active asset allocation strategy in which investor keeps on adjusting the proportion of different investment instruments with the rise and fall of market. Further changes in the economic conditions also force an investor to change this asset mix (Pihlman, et. al., 2011). Dynamic asset allocation strategy is just opposite of constant weighing strategy as in this strategy investors buys or hold those assets which are rising and sell those assets which are declining. For example, due to certain reasons if stock market starts declining, an investor starts selling his assets assuming that the market will fall further and similarly if stock market starts performing well, investor buys stocks with a hope that the market will continue to perform well (Focardi and Fabozzi, 2004). Insured Asset Allocation: Another asset allocation strategy which is practiced by many investors is insured asset allocation strategy. Under this strategy an investor set the base value of the stock and tries that the portfolio value does not go below the base level. As long as the value of portfolio is above the base value or is increasing, investor practices active management and tries to keep on increasing the value of the portfolio (Focardi and Fabozzi, 2004). On the other hand, if the value of the portfolio, due to some reason starts declining, investor starts investing in risk free assets such as government bonds, fixed deposit, etc. so as to limit the base level. This type of strategy is practiced by investors who want secured returns and are involved in limited active portfolio management (Pihlman, et. al., 2011). Integrated Asset Allocation: Last in this series is the integrated asset allocation strategy. Under this strategy, while deciding the elements of the portfolio, investor considers both the parameter; his economic expectation and his risk taking capabilities (Kendall and Rollins, 2003). All the above stated asset allocation strategy only considers future economic expectations of an investor and does not focus on his risk taking capacity or his investment risk tolerance. But in case of integrated asset allocation strategy, it considers various aspects of all the above stated strategies. In addition to economic expectation, it also accounts for rise and fall in stock market and risk tolerance capabilities (Focardi and Fabozzi, 2004). Among all the strategies, integrated asset allocation strategy is the broadest asset allocation strategy, but it allows investor to practice only one asset allocation strategy at a time, either dynamic asset allocation strategy or constant weighting asset a llocation strategy (Kendall and Rollins, 2003). References Fabozzi, J. F. 2008. Handbook of Finance, Financial Markets and Instruments. John Wiley Sons. Focardi, M. S. and Fabozzi, J. F. 2004. The Mathematics of Financial Modeling and Investment Management. John Wiley Sons. Pihlman, J. et. al. 2011. Investment Objectives of Sovereign Wealth Funds - a Shifting Paradigm. International Monetary Fund. Swensen, F. D. 2009. Pioneering Portfolio Management: An Unconventional Approach to Institutional Investment. Simon and Schuster. Brentani, C. 2003. Portfolio Management in Practice. Butterworth-Heinemann. Smithson, C. 2003. Credit Portfolio Management. John Wiley Sons. Kendall, I. G. and Rollins, C. S. 2003. Advanced Project Portfolio Management and the PMO. J. Ross Publishing.

Reaction Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Reaction - Movie Review Example The training video covers array of issues including effective communication. Effective communication is an important factor in the development of powerful and effective groups. Communication within the groups is vital because it facilitates the development of harmony and understanding. Several factors affect communication within the groups by affecting the characters and behaviors of the team. The understanding of the problems affecting cross cultural communication and working towards overcoming the problems will ensure successful group development. Language use is important for the development of effective group. The language variation in the various conversations that took place is significant. The age, relationship and nature of conversation changes the language used. For official conversation, the use of a higher degree of politeness and well-structured sentences is vital. The conversation between friends such as the Facebook chat has a level simple and casual language use. The degree on for gestures use in the conversation on the street is high due to the age and the desire for need of emphasis by the use of gestures. The effective nature of training will be reflected on the way employees communicate. Training on issues of communication and development of implementation plan will facilitate faster growth of the organization. The coverage of the movies is accurate and effective because it addresses the various challenges in human resource field. In fact, it covers up-to implementation of training schedules with the focus be ing on the various training models, which include; - on-job training, lectures, programmed learning, audiovisual, simulated and distance training. The implementation of the set training modules depends on the ability of the HR to understand the needs of the organization. In addition, the challenge of training is presented in the video effectively through sequenced presentation in the video. The video presents ideas using

Marketing Proposel For a Product Research Proposal

Marketing Proposel For a Product - Research Proposal Example The company can target especially the women and geographic markets for the product. In order to market the product, the company would have to devise certain effective implementation plans that include conducting surveys, meetings and analyzing the products of the competitors. The aforementioned strategies and the plans would ultimately support the company to effectively market the product of Special K. 2. Company Description The Kellogg Company which is prominently acknowledged as Kellogg’s or Kellogg is regarded as a multinational company that manufactures various food products such as vegetarian foods, crackers, cereal along with convenience foods and snacks among others. The official headquarter of the company is positioned in Michigan, United States. The different products of Kellogg’s are produced in 18 countries and promoted in excess of 180 nations. Kellogg’s started its production as Kellogg’s Corn Flakes in the year 1906 and significantly develope d a product line of well-known readymade cereals over the years that comprise Kellogg’s All –Bran, Complete Bran Flakes and Rice Krispies among others. It has been apparently observed that Kellogg’s arrived into the business of health food that manufactures significant number of products which are sold in different markets. Consequently, the company is earning considerable profits through its effective production as well as packaging strategy (Brown, Keegan, Vigus, and Wood, â€Å"The Kellogg Company Optimizes Production Inventory, and Distribution†). The vision of the company is to deliver quality products for making the world healthier. The main objective of the company is to provide healthy nourishment to every members of a family throughout the globe so that they can lead healthy life ahead (Kellogg Co., â€Å"Staying Focused. Going Further†). The various environmental initiatives as well as focusing upon different sustainability aspects ultima tely supported the organization to attain success in this competitive marketplace (Michman & Mazze 127). 3. Environmental Analysis Political The production of agricultural products provides certain risks and uncertainties for the organizations intending to sustain in this competitive financial market. . Kellogg’s efficiently performs its business operations in different regions throughout the globe. It has been observed that varied government policies as well as regulations imposed unfavorable impact upon the company that ultimately affected its decision-making procedure by a significant level. The production, marketing and distribution of the food products that are exposed to governmental regulations are increasingly becoming complex day by day. Apart from the dissimilar governmental policies and regulations, certain other factors within the political context such as licensing requirements, trade as well as pricing practices and environmental factors also laid significant im pact upon the operations of the company. Moreover, the increment in tariff rates comprising value added taxes also had an immediate effect upon the business operations of the company (Kellogg Company, â€Å"Risk Factors†). Economic It has been viewed that McDonald’s performs its operational functions in different regions throughout the globe. The company fixes the prices of its products by taking into concern the economic situation of the countries where it operates.

Substance abuse Essay Example for Free

Substance abuse Essay It is quite clear that substance abuse almost always occurs within the context of other problems. Common presenting problems that are related to substance abuse are marital and family conflict, child abuse, unemployment, financial problems, multiple medical problems, depression, suicide, and problems with aggression and violence. In assessing the role of substance abuse within the context of other problems, we also need to understand the dynamics of other behavioral problems and how they may be exacerbated by substance abuse. It is estimated that most domestic violence occurs during periods when one or both parties are abusing some substance and that as many as two-thirds of homicides and serious assaults involve alcohol. Criminal behavior such as child abuse or sexual molestation may be committed when the perpetrator is under the influence of a drug or alcohol. In one study, Chasnoff (1988) found that 64 percent of all child abuse cases in New York City involved a perpetrator who was under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. Although researchers disagree about the exact nature of the relationship between substance abuse and violence, there is clearly a strong correlation between the two. Substance abuse does not only cause social problems, but it can also cause health problems too. For example, according to the American Health Association guidelines, cocaine use can cause a number of heart attack symptoms, such as chest pain, shortness of breath, anxiety, palpitations, dizziness, nausea and heavy sweating (Stengle, 18 March 2008). Physicians must remain aware that cocaine use can cause heart attack symptoms in younger patients with no heart disease risk factors, the guidelines said. Cocaine use can cause heart attacks, but only about 1% to 6% of those who use cocaine and experience chest pain have heart attacks. The guidelines warn that two common heart attack treatments blood thinners and beta blockers can cause injuries or death in those who use cocaine. Blood thinners can increase risk for bleeding into the brain for patients with elevated blood pressure caused by cocaine use, and beta blockers can increase blood pressure and restrict arteries in those who use cocaine (Stengle, 18 March 2008). We all know that alcohol abuse can lead to alcohol-related deaths from cancer, cirrhosis of the liver, pancreatitis, motor-vehicle crashes, falls, drowning, suicide, and homicide. Alcohol affects nearly every system in the body, and contributes to a range of medical problems, including altered immune system functioning, bone disease, hypertension, stroke, cardiovascular disease, reduced cognitive functioning, fetal abnormalities, traumatic injury, depression, gastrointestinal disorders, and cancers of the neck, head, stomach, pancreas, colon, breast, and prostate (Werch, 2002). Behaviorally, substance abuse can be considered any use of a psychoactive substance that causes damage to the individual or society or both. Becoming dependent on any substance is a process that occurs over differing periods of time for different individuals and varies with the use of different substances. A dependence on alcohol may take several decades to develop while an addiction to cocaine, especially crack cocaine, may occur almost immediately. There are, however, certain phases that individuals are likely to pass through as their dependence on a substance increases. An old proverb regarding alcoholism outlines the progression of addiction: â€Å"The person takes a drink, the drink takes a drink, and the drink takes the person. † The journey from controlled use to being controlled by their use is the nature of addiction. No one begins using alcohol or other drugs with the goal of becoming addicted. With these voluminous data about the ills of substance abuse, we should all know by now that we have to curb this problem that eating away our society. I also experienced substance abuse first hand because I have people close to me who had been affected by substance abuse. My cousin has drug problem as he is hooked with marijuana, while my uncle and aunt are alcoholics. I witnessed that how they engaged in prolonged, continuous substance abuse and saw how they were unable to function without using his drug of choice on some regular basis. They somehow neglect their daily needs to the point of not eating or caring for themselves. Attempts to control their usage are abandoned as the periods of intoxication and recovery encompass most of their time. My uncle allowed himself to undergo detoxification at a rehabilitation center but my aunt has developed cirrhosis because of her alcoholism. Ultimately, we need to join hands in informing everyone about substance abuse. Common misinformation about substance abuse may divert the focus of the problem to other factors that are then presented as the primary problem. It should start with the family of the abuser who should support their loved one in this matter. Starting from family, communities can then undertake several strategies to stop substance abuse because there is no single solution that can surely alleviate substance abuse-related harm to individuals and populations. The comprehensive approach should use a wide range of strategies that address the multiple causes and dimensions. These strategies should include educational approaches—such as public health education and awareness programs, including school and community-based prevention programs; environmental approaches—such as controls on the price and availability of alcohol and drugs, minimum age for purchase of alcohol, legislative measures to curb driving under the influence of alcohol, and restrictions on the promotion, marketing, and advertising of drugs alcohol; and health care efforts—such as primary health care screening, advice by health care providers, preventive services, and effective treatment using psychological and pharmacological approaches. References Mackesy-Amiti, M. E. and Fendrich, M. (1995, November). Delinquent Behavior and Inhalant Use Among High School Students. Paper presented at the American Society of Criminology meeting, Boston. NIH Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring Program. (2003). Preliminary Data on Drug Use Related Matters Among Adult Arrestees and Juvenile Detainees, 2002, Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice. Steingle, J. (20008, March 18). Cocaine May Cause Heart Attack Symptoms. Newsday. Retrieved March 22, 2008, from http://www. newsday. com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-cocaine-heart,0,6680577. story. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). (2006). National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) 2006. Office of Applied Studies. Retrieved March 22, 2008, from http://www. oas. samhsa. gov/nsduh/2k6nsduh/2k6Results. cfm#1. 1. Werch, C. E. (2002). Alcohol Use and Abuse. In Breslow, L (Ed. ), Encyclopedia of Public Health vol. 1, New York: Macmillan Reference USA.

Sleeping and Dreaming Essay -- Biology, Brain

Each night without fail our eyes grow heavy and our minds tired, and dreaming we drag ourselves to bed and normally fall asleep quickly and peacefully off to dream land we go. Why is this though? Why do we sleep every night? Why do we awake with dream fresh in our heads? How important is this most basic human routine to our survival? What happens when it is disturbed? Sleeping is extremely important for all mammals, but humans especially. Without sleep we are unable to function properly and at our fullest abilities. When we sleep we grow, and it is an opportunity for us to dream which has many benefits. Sleep is also a way for us to relieve ourselves of stress. Sleeping is a very unique process, performed only by creature with brains that have evolved considerably. Sleeping is a process of the brain performed by the brain for the brain (1). Which basically means that everything that happens during sleep is a result of the brain, and the reason it happens is because the brain needs it to. Sleep is so unique that it is impossible to mentally feign sleep (1). Even though we look as though we have entirely shut down when we sleep, we have not. The human brain is extremely active during all stages of sleep. This has been demonstrated countless times by monitoring the electrical activity of a sleeping person. Little was known about sleep until the nineteenth century, although many great scholars and philosophers from various countries had wondered about sleep and even tried to study sleep throughout the ages, they were unsuccessful because they simply lacked the proper technology to understand the major role that the brain plays in sleep. Some had even speculated that the brain was a part of sleep but they just had no way to res... ...unt of time that we spend in REM sleep, and NREM will increase after physical exertion (2). REM sleep it is extremely important because it is during REM sleep that most dreams occur and it is also when the dreams are more vivid compared to the few dreams that occur in NREM sleep (2). During REM sleep the brain is so active that it looks as though a person is awake, especially the area that correspond to imagery and emotion. During REM the body becomes very still, this is referred to as REM-sleep paralysis and is most like to prevent us from physically acting out our dreams, a potentially dangerous activity. When this fails to happen people become violent and thrash around or jump out of bed, and can attack people they are sleeping with, this is a condition called REM behavior disorder. On the opposite end of REM behavior disorder is an equally scary experience.

Metaparadigm Theories of Nursing

Describe the definition of nursing as put forward by the American Nurses Association. How does it address the metaparadigm theories of nursing?The American Nursing Association is a professional organization representing world-wide registered nurses with a mission to improve health for all. The ANA defines nursing as â€Å"the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities and populations† (ANA, 2013).According to Creasia and Friberg (2011), â€Å"All theories have the potential to make substantial contributions to the nursing profession by enhancing the development of unique body of nursing knowledge. † A theory is a system of ideas, and in nursing, there's a process that encompasses different concepts closely associated with the general discipline of nursing: environment, healt h, nursing, and person (Creasia and Friberg, 2011). All of these are a variety of valuable approaches towards nursing practice and pertain to the metaparadigm theories of nursing.A theory must work within a specific setting†¦ Every situation is different, therefore, a theory may not be useful in every situation. Nursing, to me, involves so much more than just taking care of the sick. There was a time where I thought nursing was to just following doctors orders and provide care with compassion†¦ I was completely wrong. I currently work at a teaching hospital along with many residents asking the nurses what to do.What nursing actually is, and what nurses do encompass so much. Nursing is providing care to all individuals: families, communities, everyone. Nursing is providing medicine to one that is in need, or to just provide a simple act of kindness, support, or even a hug when needed. Sometimes the best medicine is simply just being there for someone and listening to [their ] story. Nursing involves more than just medical skills, it involves compassion, caring, empathy, and sometimes providing hope.It involves so much more than just taking care of the sick while following doctors orders. Nursing is a fulfilling/ genuine love that becomes a rewarding lifestyle†¦ Not a job. A person can be categorized as the client, patient, wounded, or the vulnerable person laying in a hospital bed in need of help. Either way, it’s a person. There have been many times, specially while working in the ICU, where I would be taking care of a patient and shortly found myself providing care for the family.Family members play a big part of providing care to a patient, rather it be comfort, or education, I would involve them in my patient care. To me, the patient isn't just the â€Å"person† laying in the hospital bed. Every person has values that need to be respected and nurtured. Health. Many people consider health to being healthy, strong, well, and undise ased. I didn't truly realize that â€Å"health† was an overall state-of-being until I became a nurse.It was when I started working with patients when I realize that â€Å"health† involves an umbrella of things; mentally, physically, and spiritually, which are all more powerful than any disease alone. The definition of health doesn't have to be so definite, but yet more indefinite. A perfectly healthy person may not agree. Health is objective, and exists in the objective view within an individual. My father considered himself healthy on the days where he was pain free, even though he had cancer.Whereas someone else could view him to being ill or infected and unhealthy. Health can be completely individualized. Environment. Prior to becoming a nurse, environment to me meant a medical facility that encompassed a registered nurse, like a hospital or a doctors office. I was again wrong. Anything, place, or persons can effect a patients recovery; where the patient will go whe n discharged, their mental state upon discharge, will they be able to provide for themselves, are they able to continue back to work, perform normal activities of daily living, etc†¦I've noticed, at certain times in the emergency room, when the working staff his calm and collective, the patients feel more calm. Helping our patients feel safe in their environment during and post care can truly make a positive difference. Overall, all of these theories are important to implement when addressing care to a patient, client, or the person laying in the hospital bed.

An Introduction to Marxist Economic Theory

An Introduction to Marxist ECONOMIC THEORY Ernest Mandel 2 An IntroductIon to MArxIst EconoMIc ) was the most influential exponent of Marxist economic theory in the Western world during the second half of the 20th century, and is best known for his masterful two-volume work Marxist Economic Theory (1962) and his brilliant Late Capitalism (1972).In the former, he demonstrated that it was possible, on the basis of the contemporary data, to reconstitute the whole economic system of Karl Marx 100 years after the first publication of Marx’s Capital. In the latter work, Mandel provided an explanation of the causes of the 20-year â€Å"wave† of rapid growth of the world capitalist economy after World War II, which also demonstrated that it would soon be followed by an indeterminately â€Å"long wave† of much slower economic growth, and recurrent social and political crises in the developed capitalist countries.Late Capitalism also provided the first comprehensive analys is of the new features of global capitalism that emerged in the post-war period and that are still with us today — transnational corporations as the dominant form of capitalist business organisation, the enormous growth of the services sector, the crucial role of state expenditure in propping up an economic system marked by financial instability, long-term stagnation punctuated by speculative booms, mindless consumerism and accelerating environmental destruction.This pamphlet, which was first published in French in 1964, provides a concise exposition of the elementary princples of Marxist economic theory. In the first section, Mandel elucidates the basic categories of Marx’s economic doctrine from the emergence of the social surplus product to the labour theory of value. In the second section, he explains the basic laws of motion of capitalism and its inherent contradictions.In the final second, he applies these to some of the new features exhibited by the new stage of imperialist capitalism that emerged after the second world war, which at the time he termed â€Å"neo-capitalism†. In his more mature work Late Capitalism, Mandel abandoned this term in favour of the designation â€Å"late capitalism†, explaining in the introduction to 4 An IntroductIon to MArxIst EconoMIc thEory that work that the designation â€Å"neo-capitalism† could be falsely â€Å"interpreted to imply either a radical continuity or discontinuity with traditional capitalism†.Instead, Mandel stressed that the â€Å"era of late capitalism is not a new epoch of capitalist development [but] merely a further development of the imperialist, monopoly-capitalist epoch† with â€Å"the characteristics of the imperialist epoch enumerated by Lenin† at the beginning of the 20th century remaining â€Å"fully valid for late capitalism†.? I. thE thEory of VAluE And surplus VAluE In the last analysis, every step forward in the history of civili sation has been brought about by an increase in the productivity of labour.As long as a given group of men barely produced enough to keep itself alive, as long as there was no surplus over and above this necessary product, it was impossible for a division of labour to take place and for artisans, artists or scholars to make their appearance. Under these conditions, the technical prerequisites for such specialisation could not possibly be attained. socIAl surplus product As long as the productivity of labour remains at a level where one man can only produce enough for his own subsistence, social division does not take place and any social differentiation within society is impossible.Under these conditions, all men are producers and they are all on the same economic level. Every increase in the productivity of labour beyond this low point makes a small surplus possible, and once there is a surplus of products, once man’s two hands can produce more than is needed for his own sub sistence, then the conditions have been set for a struggle over how this surplus will be shared. From this point on, the total output of a social group no longer consists solely of labour necessary for the subsistence of the producers.Some of this labour output may now be used to release a section of society from having to work for its own subsistence. Whenever this situation arises, a section of society can become a ruling class, whose outstanding characteristic is its emancipation from the need of First presented at an educational weekend organised by the Paris Federation of the United Socialist Party in 1963 and subsequently published in Les Cahiers du Centre d’Etudes Socialistes, February 1964. 6 An IntroductIon to MArxIst EconoMIc thEory working for its own subsistence.Thereafter, the labour of the producers can be divided into two parts. A part of this labour continues to be used for the subsistence of the producers themselves and we call this part necessary labour; the other part is used to maintain the ruling class and we give it the name surplus labour. Let us illustrate this by the very clear example of plantation slavery, as it existed in certain regions and periods of the Roman Empire, or as we find it in the West Indies and the islands of Portuguese Africa starting with the 17th century, on the great plantations which were established there.In these tropical areas, even the slave’s food was generally not provided by the master; the slave had to produce this himself by working a tiny plot of ground on Sundays and the products from this labour constituted his store of food. On six days of the week the slave worked on the plantation and received in return none of the products of his labour. This is the labour which creates a social surplus product, surrendered by the slave as soon as it is produced and belonging solely to the slavemaster.The work week, which in this case is seven days, can be divided into two parts: the work of one day, Sunday, constitutes necessary labour, that labour which provides the products for the subsistence of the slave and his family; the work of the other six days is surplus labour and all of its products go to the master, are used for his sustenance and his enrichment as well. The great domains of the early Middle Ages furnish us with another illustration. The land of these domains was divided into three parts: the communal lands consisting of forest, meadows, swamps, etc. the land worked by the serf for his own and his family’s subsistence; and finally, the land worked by the serf in order to maintain the feudal lord. The work week during this period was usually six days, not seven. It was divided into two equal parts: the serf worked three days on the land from which the yield belonged to him; the other three days he worked on the feudal lord’s land, without remuneration, supplying free labour to the ruling class. The products of each of these two very different types o f labour can be defined in different terms.When the producer is performing necessary labour, he is producing a necessary product. When he is performing surplus labour, he is producing a social surplus product. Thus, social surplus product is that part of social production which is produced by the labouring class but appropriated by the ruling class, regardless of the form the social surplus product may assume, whether this be one of natural products, or commodities to be sold, or money. Surplus value is simply the monetary form of the social surplus product. The Theory of Value and Surplus Value When the ruling class appropriates the part of society’s production previously defined as â€Å"surplus product† exclusively in the monetary form, then we use the term â€Å"surplus value† instead of â€Å"surplus product†. As we shall see later on, however, the above only constitutes a preliminary approach to the definition of surplus value. How does social surpl us product come into existence? It arises as a consequence of a gratuitous appropriation, that is, an appropriation without compensation, by a ruling class of a part of the production of a producing class.When the slave worked six days a week on a plantation and the total product of his labour was taken by the master without any compensation to the slave, the origin of the social surplus product here is in the gratuitous labour, the uncompensated labour, supplied by the slave to the master. When the serf worked three days a week on the lord’s land, the origin of this income, of this social surplus product, is also to be found in the uncompensated labour, the gratuitous labour, furnished by the serf.We will see further on that the origin of capitalist surplus value, that is to say, the revenue of the bourgeois class in capitalist society, is exactly the same: it is uncompensated labour, gratuitous labour, which the proletarian, the wage worker, gives the capitalist without rec eiving any value in exchange. coMModItIEs, usE VAluE And ExchAngE VAluE We have now developed several basic definitions which will be used throughout this exposition. A number of others must be added at this point. Every product of human labour normally possesses utility; it must be able to satisfy a human need.We may therefore say that every product of human labour has a use value. The term â€Å"use value† will, however, be used in two different senses. We will speak of the use value of a commodity; we will also talk about use values, as when we refer, for example, to a society in which only use values are produced, that is to say, where products are created for direct consumption either by the producers themselves or by ruling classes which appropriate them. Together with this use value, a product of human labour can also have another value, an exchange value.It may be produced for exchange on the market place, for the purpose of being sold, rather than for direct consumpt ion by the producers or by wealthy classes. A mass of products which has been created for the purpose of being sold can no longer be considered as the production of simple use values; it is now a production of commodities. The commodity, therefore, is a product created to be exchanged on the market, as opposed to one which has been made for direct consumption. Every 8 An IntroductIon to MArxIst EconoMIc thEory commodity must have both a use value and an exchange value.It must have a use value or else nobody would buy it, since a purchaser would be concerned with its ultimate consumption, with satisfying some want of his by this purchase. A commodity without a use value to anyone would consequently be unsaleable, would constitute useless production, would have no exchange value precisely because it had no use value. On the other hand, every product which has use value does not necessarily have exchange value. It has an exchange value only to the extent that the society itself, in whi ch the commodity is produced, is founded on exchange, is a society where exchange is common practice.Are there societies where products do not have exchange value? The basis for exchange value, and a fortiori for trade and the market place, is constituted by a given degree of development of the division of labour. In order for products not to be directly consumed by their producers, it is essential that everybody should not be engaged in turning out the same thing. If a particular community has no division of labour, or only its most rudimentary form, then it is clear that no reason for exchange exists. Normally, a wheat farmer has nothing to exchange with another wheat farmer.But as soon as a division of labour exists, as soon as there is contact between social groups producing different use values, then exchange can come about, at first on an occasional basis, subsequently on a more permanent one. In this way, little by little, products which are made to be exchanged, commodities, make their appearance alongside those products which are simply made for the direct consumption of their producers. In capitalist society, commodity production, the production of exchange values, has reached its greatest development.It is the first society in human history where the major part of production consists of commodities. It is not true, however, that all production under capitalism is commodity production. Two classes of products still remain simple use value. The first group consists of all things produced by the peasantry for its own consumption, everything directly consumed on the farms where it is produced. Such production for self-consumption by the farmer exists even in advanced capitalist countries like the United States, although it constitutes only a small part of total agricultural production.In general, the more backward the agriculture of a country, the greater is the fraction of agricultural production going for self-consumption. This factor makes it extreme ly difficult to calculate the exact national income of such countries. The second group of products in capitalist society which are not commodities but remain simple use value consists of all things produced in the home. Despite the fact that considerable human labour goes into this type of household The Theory of Value and Surplus Value 9 production, it still remains a production of use values and not of commodities.Every time a soup is made or a button sewn on a garment, it constitutes production, but it is not production for the market. The appearance of commodity production and its subsequent regularisation and generalisation have radically transformed the way men labour and how they organise society. thE MArxIst thEory of AlIEnAtIon You have no doubt already heard about the Marxist theory of alienation. The emergence, regularisation and generalisation of commodity production are directly related to the expanding character of this phenomenon of alienation.We cannot dwell on this aspect of the question here but it is extremely important to call attention to it, since the history of trade covers far more than the capitalist era. It also includes small-scale commodity production, which we will discuss later. There is also a postcapitalist society based on commodities, a transitional society between capitalism and socialism, such as present-day Soviet society, for the latter still rests in very large measure on the foundations of exchange value production.Once we have grasped certain fundamental characteristics of a society based on commodities, we can readily see why it is impossible to surmount certain phenomena of alienation in the transitional period between capitalism and socialism, as in Soviet society, for example. Obviously this phenomenon of alienation does not exist — at least in the same form — in a society where commodity production is unknown and where the life of the individual and his social activity are united in the most elementa ry way. Man works, but generally not by himself; most often he is part of a collective group having a more or less organic structure.His labour is a direct transformation of material things. All of this means that labour activity, the act of production, the act of consumption, and the relations between the individual and his society are ruled by a condition of equilibrium which has relative stability and permanence. We should not, of course, embellish the picture of primitive society, which was subject to pressures and periodic catastrophes because of its extreme poverty. Its equilibrium was constantly endangered by scarcity, hunger, natural disasters, etc.But in the periods between catastrophes, especially after agriculture had attained a certain degree of development and when climatic conditions were favourable, this kind of society endowed all human activities with a large degree of unity, harmony and stability. Such disastrous consequences of the division of labour as the elimin ation of all aesthetic activity, artistic inspiration and creative activity from the act 10 An IntroductIon to MArxIst EconoMIc thEory of production and the substitution of purely mechanical and repetitive tasks were nonexistent in primitive society.On the contrary, most of the arts, music, sculpture, painting, the dance, were originally linked to production, to labour. The desire to give an attractive and appealing form to products which were to be used either by the individual, his family, or larger kinship groups, found a normal, harmonious and organic expression within the framework of the day’s work. Labour was not looked upon as an obligation imposed from without, first of all because it was far less intense, far less exhausting than under capitalism today. It conformed more closely to the rhythms of the human organism as well as to the rhythms of nature.The number of working days per year rarely exceeded 150 to 200, whereas under capitalism the figure is dangerously cl ose to 300 and sometimes even greater. Furthermore, there was a unity between the producer, his product and its consumption, since he generally produced for his own use or for those close to him, so that his work possessed a directly functional aspect. Modern alienation originates basically in the cleavage between the producer and his product, resulting both from the division of labour and commodity production.In other words, it is the consequence of working for the market, for unknown consumers, instead of for consumption by the producer himself. The other side of the picture is that a society which only produces use values, that is, goods which will be consumed directly by their producers, has always in the past been an impoverished society. Not only was it subject to the hazards of nature but it also had to set very narrow limits to man’s wants, since these had to conform exactly to its degree of poverty and limited variety of products.Not all human wants are innate to man . There is a constant interaction between production and wants, between the development of the productive forces and the rise of new wants. Only in a society where labour productivity will be developed to its highest point, where an infinite variety of products will be available, will it be possible for man to experience a continuous expansion of his wants, a development of his own unlimited potential, an integrated development of his humanity. thE lAw of VAluEOne of the consequences of the appearance and progressive generalisation of commodity production is that labour itself begins to take on regular and measurable characteristics; in other words, it ceases to be an activity tied to the rhythms of nature and according with man’s own physiological rhythms. Up to the 19th century and possibly even into the 20th, the peasants in various regions of Western Europe did not work in a regulated way, that is to The Theory of Value and Surplus Value 11 say, they did not work with the same intensity every month of the year.There were periods in the work year when they worked very hard and other periods, particularly during the winter, when all activity virtually came to a halt. It was in the most backward agricultural areas of most of the capitalist countries that capitalist society, in the course of its development, found a most attractive source of reserve manpower, for here was a labour force available for four to six months a year at much lower wages, in view of the fact that a part of its subsistence was provided by its agricultural activity.When we look at the more highly developed and prosperous farms, those bordering the big cities, for example, and which are basically on the road to becoming industrialised, we see that work is much more regular and the amount of expended labour much greater, being distributed in a regular way throughout the year, with dead seasons progressively eliminated. This holds true not only for our times but even as early as the Middle Ages, at least from the 12th century on.The closer we get to the cities, that is to say, to the marketplace, the more the peasant’s labour becomes labour for the market, that is to say, commodity production, and the more regulated and more or less stable his labour becomes, just as if he were working inside an industrial enterprise. Expressed another way, the more generalised commodity production becomes, the greater the regulation of labour and the more society becomes organised on the basis of an accounting system founded on labour.When we examine the already fairly advanced division of labour within a commune at the beginning of commercial and craft development in the Middle Ages, or the collectives in such civilisations as the Byzantine, Arab, Hindu, Chinese and Japanese, certain common factors emerge. We are struck by the fact that a very advanced integration of agriculture and various craft techniques exists and that regularity of labour is true for the countrysi de as well as the city, so that an accounting system in terms of labour, in labour-hours, has become the force governing all the activity and even the very structure of the collectives.In the chapter on the law of value in my Marxist Economic Theory, I give a whole series of examples of this accounting system in work-hours. There are Indian villages where a certain caste holds a monopoly of the blacksmith craft but continues to work the land at the same time in order to feed itself. The rule which has been established is this: when a blacksmith is engaged to make a tool or weapon for a farm, the client supplies the raw materials and also works the blacksmith’s land during the whole period that the latter is engaged in making the implement.Here is a very transparent way of stating that exchange is governed by an equivalence in work-hours. In the Japanese villages of the Middle Ages, an accounting system in work- 12 An IntroductIon to MArxIst EconoMIc thEory hours, in the liter al sense of the term, existed inside the village community. The village accountant kept a kind of great book in which he entered the number of hours of work done by villagers on each others’ fields, since agriculture was still mainly based on cooperative labour, with harvesting, farm construction and stock breeding being done in common.The number of work-hours furnished by the members of one household to the members of another was very carefully tallied. At the end of the year, the exchanges had to balance, that is, the members of household B were required to have given household A exactly the same number of work-hours which members of household A had given household B during the year. The Japanese even refined things to the point — almost 1000 years ago! where they took into account that children provided a smaller quantity of labour than adults, so that an hour of child labour was â€Å"worth† only a half-hour of adult labour. A whole system of accounting was set up along these lines. There is another example which gives us a direct insight into this accounting system based on labour-time: the conversion of feudal rent from one form to another. In feudal society, the agricultural surplus product could take three different forms: rent in the form of labour (the corvee), rent in kind, and money rent.When a change is made from the corvee to rent in kind, obviously a process of conversion takes place. Instead of giving the lord three days of labour per week, the peasant now gives him a certain quantity of wheat, livestock, etc. , on a seasonal basis. A second conversion takes place in the changeover from rent in kind to money rent. These two conversions must be based on a fairly rigorous accounting in work-hours if one of the two parties does not care to suffer a loss in the process.For example, if at the time the first conversion was effected, the peasant gave the lord a quantity of wheat which required only 75 workdays of labour, whereas p reviously he had given the lord 150 workdays of labour in the same year, then this conversion of labour-rent into rent in kind would result in the sudden impoverishment of the lord and a rapid enrichment of the serfs. The landlords — you can depend on them! — were careful to see to it when the conversion was made that the different forms of rent were closely equivalent. Of course the conversion could eventually turn out to be bad one for one of the participating classes, for example, against the landlords, if a sharp rise in agricultural prices occurred after rent was converted from rent in kind to money rent, but such a result would be historical in character and not directly attributable to the conversion per se. The origin of this economy based on an accounting in labour-time is also clearly apparent in the division of labour within the village as it existed The Theory of Value and Surplus Value 13 between agriculture and the crafts. For a long time the division rem ained quite rudimentary.A section of the peasantry continued to produce part of its own clothing for a protracted historical period, which in Western Europe extended almost a thousand years; that is, from the beginning of the medieval cities right up to the 19th century. The technique of making clothing was certainly no mystery to the cultivator of the soil. As soon as a regular system of exchange between the farmer and textile craftsman was established, standard equivalents were likewise established — for example, an ell of cloth [a measure varying from 27 to 48 inches] would be exchanged for 10 pounds of butter, not for 100 pounds.Obviously the peasants knew, on the basis of their own experience, the approximate labour-time needed to produce a given quantity of cloth. Had there not been a more or less exact equivalence between the time needed to produce the cloth and the time needed to produce the butter for which it was exchanged, there would have been an immediate shift i n the division of labour.If cloth production were more lucrative than butter production, the butter producers would switch to producing cloth. Since society here was only at the threshold of an extreme division of labour, that is to say, it was still at a point where the boundaries between different techniques were not clearly marked, the passage from one economic activity to another was still possible, particularly when striking material gains were possible by means of such a change.In the cities of the Middle Ages as well, a very skilfully calculated equilibrium existed between the various crafts and was written into the charters which specified almost to the minute the amount of labour-time necessary for the production of different articles. It is inconceivable that under such conditions a shoemaker or blacksmith might get the same amount of money for a product which took half the labour-time which a weaver or other artisan might require in order to get the same amount of money f or his products.Here again we clearly see the mechanism of an accounting system in workhours, a society functioning on the basis of an economy of labour-time, which is generally characteristic of the whole phase which we call small-scale commodity production. This is the phase intervening between a purely natural economy, in which only use values are produced, and capitalist society, in which commodity production expands without limit. dEtErMInAtIon of thE ExchAngE VAluE of coMModItIEsOnce we have determined that the production and exchange of commodities becomes regular and generalised in a society based on an economy of labourtime, on an accounting system in work-hours, we can readily understand why 14 An IntroductIon to MArxIst EconoMIc thEory the exchange of commodities, in its origins and inherent nature, rests on this fundamental basis of an accounting system in work-hours and consequently follows this general rule: the exchange value of a commodity is determined by the quanti ty of labour necessary to produce it.The quantity of labour is measured by the length of time it takes to produce the commodity. This general definition of the labour theory of value is the basis of both classical bourgeois political economy from the 17th century to the beginning of the 19th century, from William Petty to Ricardo; and Marxist economic theory, which took over the theory of labour value and perfected it. However, the general definition must be qualified in several respects.In the first place, not all men are endowed with the same capacity for work, with the same strength or the same degree of skill at their trade. If the exchange value of commodities depended only on the quantity of labour expended individually, that is, on the quantity of labour expended by each individual in the production of a commodity, we would arrive at this absurdity: the lazier or more incompetent the producer, and the larger the number of hours he would spend in making a pair of shoes, the gr eater would be the value of the shoes!This is obviously impossible since exchange value is not a moral reward for mere willingness to work but an objective bond set up between independent producers in order to equalise the various crafts in a society based both on a division of labour and an economy of labour-time. In such a society wasted labour receives no compensation; on the contrary, it is automatically penalised. Whoever puts more time into producing a pair of shoes than the average necessary hours — an average determined by the average productivity of labour and recorded in the Guild Charters, for example! such a person has wasted human labour, worked to no avail for a certain number of hours. He will receive nothing in exchange for these wasted hours. Expressed another way, the exchange value of a commodity is not determined by the quantity of labour expended by each individual producer engaged in the production of this commodity but by the quantity of labour socially necessary to produce it. The expression â€Å"socially necessary† means: the quantity of labour necessary under the average conditions of labour productivity existing in a given country at a given time.The above qualification has very important applications when we examine the functioning of capitalist society more closely. Another clarifying statement must be added here. Just what do we mean by a â€Å"quantity of labour†? Workers differ in their qualifications. Is there complete equality between one person’s hour of work and everybody else’s, regardless of such differences in skills? Once again the question is not a moral one but has The Theory of Value and Surplus Value 15 o do with the internal logic of a society based on an equality between skills, an equality in the marketplace, and where any disruption of this equality would immediately destroy the social equilibrium. What would happen, for example, if an hour’s work by an unskilled laboure r was worth as much as an hour’s work by a skilled craftsman, who had spent four to six years as an apprentice in acquiring his skill? Obviously, no one would want to become skilled. The hours of work spent in learning a craft would be wasted hours since the craftsman would not be compensated for them after becoming qualified.In an economy founded on an accounting system of work-hours, the young will desire to become skilled only if the time lost during their training period is subsequently paid for. Our definition of the exchange value of a commodity must therefore be completed as follows: â€Å"An hour of labour by a skilled worker must be considered as complex labour, as compound labour, as a multiple of an hour of unskilled labour; the coefficient of multiplication obviously cannot be an arbitrary one but must be based on the cost of acquiring a given skill. It should be pointed out, in passing, that there was always a certain fuzziness in the prevailing explanation of c ompound labour in the Soviet Union under Stalin which has persisted to this very day. It is claimed that compensation for work should be based on the quantity and quality of the work, but the concept of quality is no longer understood in the Marxist sense of the term, that is to say, as a quality measurable quantitatively by means of a specific coefficient of multiplication. On the contrary, the idea of quality is used in the ourgeois ideological sense, according to which the quality of labour is supposed to be determined by its social usefulness, and this is used to justify the incomes of marshals, ballerinas and industrial managers, which are ten times higher than the incomes of unskilled labourers. Such a theory belongs in the domain of apologetics despite its widespread use to justify the enormous differences in income which existed under Stalin and continue to exist in the Soviet Union today, although to a lesser extent.The exchange value of a commodity, then, is determined by the quantity of labour socially necessary for its production, with skilled labour being taken as a multiple of simple labour and the coefficient of multiplication being a reasonably measurable quantity. This is the kernel of the Marxist theory of value and the basis for all Marxist economic theory in general.Similarly, the theory of social surplus product and surplus labour, which we discussed at the beginning of this work, constitutes the basis for all Marxist sociology and is the bridge connecting Marx’s sociological and historical analysis, his theory of classes and the development of society 16 An IntroductIon to MArxIst EconoMIc thEory generally, to Marxist economic theory, and more precisely, to the Marxist analysis of all commodity-producing societies of a precapitalist, capitalist and postcapitalist character. hAt Is socIAlly nEcEssAry lAbour? A short while back I stated that the particular definition of the quantity of socially necessary labour for producing a commod ity had a very special and extremely important application in the analysis of capitalist society. I think it will be more useful to deal with this point now although logically it might belong to a later section of this presentation. The totality of all commodities produced in a country at a given time has been produced to satisfy the wants of the sum total of the members of this society.Any article which did not satisfy somebody’s needs, which had no use value for anyone, would be a priori unsaleable, would have no exchange value, would not constitute a commodity but simply a product of caprice or the idle jest of some producer. From another angle, the sum total of buying power which exists in this given society at a given moment and which is not to be hoarded but spent in the market, must be used to buy the sum total of commodities produced, if there is to be economic equilibrium.This equilibrium therefore implies that the sum total of social production, of the available pro ductive forces in this society, of its available work-hours, has been distributed among the various sectors of industry in the same proportions as consumers distribute their buying power in satisfying their various wants. When the distribution of productive forces no longer corresponds to this division in wants, the economic equilibrium is destroyed and both overproduction and underproduction appear side by side.Let us give a rather commonplace example: toward the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, a city like Paris had a coach-building industry, which together with associated harness trades employed thousands or even tens of thousands of workers. In the same period the automobile industry was emerging and although still quite small it already numbered some scores of manufacturers employing several thousands of workers. Now what is the process taking place during this period? On the one hand, the number of carriages begins to decline and on the other, the number of a utomobiles begins to increase.The production of carriages and carriage equipment therefore shows a trend toward exceeding social needs, as these are reflected in the manner in which the inhabitants of Paris are dividing their buying power; on the other side of the picture, the production of automobiles is below social needs, for from the time the industry was launched until the advent The Theory of Value and Surplus Value 17 of mass production, a climate of scarcity existed in this industry. The supply of automobiles on the market was never equal to the demand. How do we express these phenomena in terms of the labour theory of value?We can say that in the carriage industry more labour is expended than is socially necessary, that a part of the labour expended by the sum total of companies in the carriage industry is socially wasted labour, which no longer finds an equivalent on the marketplace and is consequently producing unsaleable goods. In capitalist society, when goods are unsal eable it means that an investment of human labour has been made in a specific industrial branch which turns out to be socially unnecessary labour, that is to say, it is labour which finds no equivalent in buying power in the marketplace.Labour which is not socially necessary is wasted labour; it is labour which produces no value. We can see from this that the concept of socially necessary labour embraces a whole series of phenomena. For the products of the carriage industry, supply exceeds demand, prices fall and goods remain unsaleable. The reverse is true in the automobile industry where demand exceeds supply, causing prices to rise and under-production to exist. To be satisfied with these commonplaces about supply and demand, however, means stopping at the psychological and individual aspects of the problem.On the other hand, if we probe into the deeper social and collective side of the problem, we begin to understand what lies below the surface in a society organised on the basi s of an economy of labour-time. The meaning of supply exceeding demand is that capitalist production, which is anarchistic, unplanned and unorganised, has anarchistically invested or expended more labour hours in an industrial branch than are socially necessary, so that a whole segment of labour-hours turns out to be pure loss, so much wasted human labour which remains unrequited by society.Conversely, an industrial sector where demand continues to be greater than supply can be considered as an underdeveloped sector in terms of social needs; it is therefore a sector expending fewer hours of labour than are socially necessary and it receives a bonus from society in order to stimulate an increase in production and achieve an equilibrium with social needs. This is one aspect of the problem of socially necessary labour in the capitalist system. The other aspect of the problem is more directly related to changes in the productivity of labour.It is the same thing but makes an abstraction of social needs, of the â€Å"use value† aspect of production. In capitalist society the productivity of labour is constantly changing. Generally speaking, there are always three types of enterprises (or industrial sectors): those which are technologically right at the social average; those which 18 An IntroductIon to MArxIst EconoMIc thEory are backward, obsolete, on the downgrade, below the social average; and those which are technologically advanced and above average in productivity.What do we mean when we say a sector or an enterprise is technologically backward and has a productivity of labour which is below the average? Such a branch or enterprise is analogous to our previously mentioned lazy shoemaker, that is, it is one which takes five hours to produce a specific quantity of goods in a period when the average social productivity demands that it be done in three hours. The two extra hours of expended labour are a total loss, a waste of social labour.A portion of the t otal amount of labour available to society having thus been wasted by an enterprise, it will receive nothing from society to compensate it. Concretely it means that the selling prices in this industry or enterprise, which is operating below average productivity, approach its production costs or even fall below them, that is to say, the enterprise is operating at a very low rate of profit or even at a loss. On the other hand, an enterprise or industrial sector with an above average level of productivity (like the shoemaker who can produce two pairs of shoes n three hours when the social average is one pair per three hours) economises in its expenditure of social labour and therefore makes a surplus profit, that is to say, the difference between its costs and selling prices will be greater than the average profit. The pursuit of this surplus profit is, of course, the driving force behind the entire capitalist economy. Every capitalist enterprise is forced by competition to try to get greater profits, for this is the only way it can constantly improve its technology and labour productivity.Consequently all firms are forced to take this same direction, and this of course implies that what at one time was an aboveaverage productivity winds up as the new average productivity, whereupon the surplus profit disappears. All the strategy of capitalist industry stems from this desire on the part of every enterprise to achieve a rate of productivity superior to the national average and thereby make a surplus profit, and this in turn provokes a movement which causes the surplus profit to disappear, by virtue of the trend for the average rate of labour productivity to rise continuously.This is the mechanism in the tendency for profit rates to become equalised. thE orIgIn And nAturE of surplus VAluE And now, what is surplus value? When we consider it from the viewpoint of the Marxist theory of value, the answer is readily found. Surplus value is simply the monetary form of th e social surplus product, that is to say, it is the monetary form of that part of the worker’s production which he surrenders to the owner of the means of production without receiving anything in return. The Theory of Value and Surplus Value 19 How is this surrender accomplished in practice within capitalist society?It takes place through the process of exchange, like all important operations in capitalist society, which are always relations of exchange. The capitalist buys the labour-power of the worker, and in exchange for this wage, he appropriates the entire production of that worker, all the newly produced value which has been incorporated into the value of this production. We can therefore say from here on that surplus value is the difference between the value produced by the worker and the value of his own labourpower. What is the value of labour-power?In capitalist society, labour-power is a commodity, and like the value of any other commodity, its value is the quanti ty of labour socially necessary to produce and reproduce it, that is to say, the living costs of the worker in the wide meaning of the term. The concept of a minimum living wage or of an average wage is not a physiologically rigid one but incorporates wants which change with advances in the productivity of labour. These wants tend to increase parallel with the progress in technique and they are consequently not comparable with any degree of accuracy for different periods.The minimum living wage of 1830 cannot be compared quantitatively with that of 1960, as the theoreticians of the French Communist party have learned to their sorrow. There is no valid way of comparing the price of a motorcycle in 1960 with the price of a certain number of kilograms of meat in 1830 in order to come up with a conclusion that the first â€Å"is worth† less than the second. Having made this reservation, we can now repeat that the living cost of labour-power constitutes its value and that surplus value is the difference between this living cost and the value created by this labour-power.The value produced by labour-power can be measured in a simple way by the length of time it is used. If a worker works 10 hours, he produces a value of 10 hours of work. If the worker’s living costs, that is to say, the equivalent of his wage, is also 10 hours of work, then no surplus value would result. This is only a special case of the more general rule: when the sum total of labour product is equal to the product required to feed and maintain the producer, there is no social surplus product.But in the capitalist system, the degree of labour productivity is such that the living costs of the worker are always less than the quantity of newly created value. This means that a worker who labours for 10 hours does not need the equivalent of 10 hours of labour in order to support himself in accordance with the average needs of the times. His equivalent wage is always only a fraction of his day’s labour; everything beyond this fraction is surplus value, free labour supplied by the worker and appropriated by the capitalist without an equivalent offset.If this difference did not exist, of course, then no employer would hire 20 An IntroductIon to MArxIst EconoMIc thEory any worker, since such a purchase of labour-power would bring no profit to the buyer. thE VAlIdIty of thE lAbour thEory of VAluE To conclude, we present three traditional proofs of the labour theory of value. The first of these is the analytical proof, which proceeds by breaking down the price of a commodity into its constituent elements and demonstrating that if the process is extended far enough, only labour will be found.The price of every commodity can be reduced to a certain number of components: the amortisation of machinery and buildings, which we call the renewal of fixed capital; the price of raw materials and accessory products; wages; and finally, everything which is surplus value, such as profit, rent, taxes, etc. So far as the last two components are concerned, wages and surplus value, it has already been shown that they are labour pure and simple. With regard to raw materials, most of their price is largely reducible to labour; for example, more than 60% of the mining cost of coal consists of wages.If we start by breaking down the average manufacturing cost of commodities into 40% for wages, 20% surplus value, 30% for raw materials and 10% in fixed capital; and if we assume that 60% of the cost of raw materials can be reduced to labour, then we already have 78% of the total cost reduced to labour. The rest of the cost of raw materials breaks down into the cost of other raw materials — reducible in turn to 60% labour — plus the cost of amortising machinery. The price of machinery consists to a large degree of labour (for example, 40%) and raw materials (for example, 40% also).The share of labour in the average cost of all commodities thus passes suc cessively to 83%, 87%, 89. 5%, etc. It is obvious that the further this breakdown is carried, the more the entire cost tends to be reduced to labour, and to labour alone. The second proof is the logical proof, and is the one presented in the beginning of Marx’s Capital. It has perplexed quite a few readers, for it is certainly not the simplest pedagogical approach to the question. Marx poses the question in the following way. The number of commodities is very great.They are interchangeable, which means that they must have a common quality, because everything which is interchangeable is comparable and everything which is comparable must have at least one quality in common. Things which have no quality in common are, by definition, not comparable with each other. Let us inspect each of these commodities. What qualities do they possess? The Theory of Value and Surplus Value 21 First of all, they have an infinite set of natural qualities: weight, length, density, colour, size, mo lecular nature; in short, all their natural physical, chemical and other qualities.Is there any one of the physical qualities which can be the basis for comparing them as commodities, for serving as the common measure of their exchange value? Could it be weight? Obviously not, since a pound of butter does not have the same value as a pound of gold. Is it volume or length? Examples will immediately show that it is none of these. In short, all those things which make up the natural quality of a commodity, everything which is a physical or chemical quality of this commodity, certainly determines its use value, its relative usefulness, but not its exchange value.Exchange value must consequently be abstracted from everything that consists of a natural physical quality in the commodity. A common quality must be found in all of these commodities which is not physical. Marx’s conclusion is that the only common quality in these commodities which is not physical is their quality of bei ng the products of human labour, of abstract human labour. Human labour can be thought of in two different ways. It can be considered as specific concrete labour, such as the labour of the baker, butcher, shoemaker, weaver, blacksmith, etc.But so long as it is thought of as specific concrete work, it is being viewed in its aspect of labour which produces only use values. Under these conditions we are concerning ourselves only with the physical qualities of commodities and these are precisely the qualities which are not comparable. The only thing which commodities have in common from the viewpoint of exchanging them is that they are all produced by abstract human labour, that is to say, by producers who are related to each other on a basis of equivalence as a result of the fact that they are all producing goods for exchange.The common quality of commodities, consequently, resides in the fact that they are the products of abstract human labour and it is this which supplies the measure of their exchange value, of their exchangeability. It is, consequently, the quality of socially necessary labour in the production of commodities which determines their exchange value. Let us immediately add that Marx’s reasoning here is both abstract and difficult and is at least subject to questioning, a point which many opponents of Marxism have seized upon and sought to use, without any marked success, however.Is the fact that all commodities are produced by abstract human labour really the only quality which they have in common, apart from their natural qualities? There are not a few writers who thought they had discovered others. In general, 22 An IntroductIon to MArxIst EconoMIc thEory however, these have always been reducible either to physical qualities or to the fact that they are products of abstract labour. A third and final proof of the correctness of the labour theory of value is the proof by reduction to the absurd. It is, moreover, the most elegant and most à ¢â‚¬Å"modern† of the proofs.Imagine for a moment a society in which living human labour has completely disappeared, that is to say, a society in which all production has been 100% automated. Of course, so long as we remain in the current intermediate stage, in which some labour is already completely automated, that is to say, a stage in which plants employing no workers exist alongside others in which human labour is still utilised, there is no special theoretical problem, since it is merely a question of the transfer of surplus value from one enterprise to another.It is an illustration of the law of equalisation of the profit rate, which will be explored later on. But let us imagine that this development has been pushed to its extreme and human labour has been completely eliminated from all forms of production and services. Can value continue to exist under these conditions? Can there be a society where nobody has an income but commodities continue to have a value and to be s old? Obviously such a situation would be absurd. A huge mass of products would be produced without this production creating any income, since no human being would be involved in this production.But someone would want to â€Å"sell† these products for which there were no longer any buyers! It is obvious that the distribution of products in such a society would no longer be effected in the form of a sale of commodities and as a matter of fact selling would become all the more absurd because of the abundance produced by general automation. Expressed another way, a society in which human labour would be totally eliminated from production, in the most general sense of the term, with services included, would be a society in which exchange value had also been eliminated.This proves the validity of the theory, for at the moment human labour disappears from production, value, too, disappears with it. II. cApItAl And cApItAlIsM cApItAl In prEcApItAlIst socIEty Between primitive society founded on a natural economy in which production is limited to use values destined for self-consumption by their producers, and capitalist society, there stretches a long period in human history, embracing essentially all human civilisations, which came to a halt before reaching the frontiers of capitalism.Marxism defines them as societies in which small-scale commodity production prevailed. A society of this kind is already familiar with the production of commodities, of goods designed for exchange on the market and not for direct consumption by the producers, but such commodity production has not yet become generalised, as is the case in capitalist society. In a society founded on small-scale commodity production, two kinds of economic operations are carried out.The peasants and artisans who bring their products to market wish to sell goods whose use value they themselves cannot use in order to obtain money, means of exchange, for the acquisition of other goods, whose use value i s either necessary to them or deemed more important than the use value of the goods they own. The peasant brings wheat to the marketplace which he sells for money; with this money he buys, let us say, cloth. The artisan brings his cloth to the market, which he sells for money; with this money he buys, let us say, wheat.What we have here, then, is the operation: selling in order to buy . C ommodity—Money—Commodity, C —M—C w hich has this essential character: the value of the two extremes in this formula is, by definition, exactly the same. But within small-scale commodity production there appears, alongside the artisan and small peasant, another personage, who executes a different kind of economic operation. Instead of selling in order to buy, he buys in order to sell. This type of person goes to market without any commodities; he is an owner of money.Money cannot be sold; but it can be used to buy, and that is what he does: buys in order to sell, in order to resell: M—C—M’. There is a fundamental difference between the two types of operation. The 24 An IntroductIon to MArxIst EconoMIc thEory second operation makes no sense if upon its completion we are confronted by exactly the same value as we had at the beginning. No one buys a commodity in order to sell it for exactly the same price he paid for it. The operation â€Å"buy in order to sell† makes sense only if the sale brings a supplementary value, a surplus value.That is why we state here, by way of definition. M’ is greater than M and is made up of M+m; m being the surplus value, the amount of increase in the value of M. We now define capital as a value which is increased by a surplus value, whether this occurs in the course of commodity circulation, as in the example just given, or in production, as is the case in the capitalist system. Capital, therefore, is every value which is augmented by a surplus value; it therefore exists not only in ca pitalist society but in any society founded on small-scale commodity production as well.For this reason it is necessary to distinguish very clearly between the life of capital and that of the capitalist mode of production, of capitalist society. Capital is far older than the capitalist mode of production. The former probably goes back some 3000 years, whereas the latter is barely 200 years old. What form does capital take in precapitalist society? It is basically usury capital and merchant or commercial capital. The passage from precapitalist society into capitalist society is characterised by the penetration of capital into the sphere of production.The capitalist mode of production is the first mode of production, the first form of social organisation, in which capital is not limited to the sole role of an intermediary and exploiter of non-capitalist forms of production, of small-scale commodity production. In the capitalist mode of production, capital takes over the means of produ ction and penetrates directly into production itself. orIgIns of thE cApItAlIst ModE of productIon What are the origins of the capitalist mode of production?What are the origins of capitalist society as it has developed over the past 200 years? They lie first of all in the separation of the producers from their means of production. Subsequently, it is the establishment of these means of production as a monopoly in the hands of a single social class, the bourgeoisie. And finally, it is the appearance of another social class which has been separated from its means of production and therefore has no other resources for its subsistence than the sale of its labour-power to the class which has monopolised the means of production.Let us consider each of these origins of the capitalist mode of production, which are at the same time the fundamental characteristics of the capitalist Capital and Capitalism 25 system as well. First characteristic: separation of the producer from his means of pr oduction. This is the fundamental condition for existence of the capitalist system but it is also the one which is generally the most poorly understood. Let us use an example which may seem paradoxical since it is taken from the early Middle Ages, which was characterised by serfdom.We know that the mass of peasant-producers were serfs bound to the soil. But when we say that the serf was bound to the soil, we imply that the soil was also â€Å"bound† to the serf, that is, he belonged to a social class which always had a base for supplying its needs, enough land to work so that the individual serf could meet the needs of a household even though he worked with the most primitive implements. We are not viewing people condemned to death by starvation if they do not sell their labour-power.In such a society, there is no economic compulsion to hire out one’s arms, to sell one’s labour-power to a capitalist. We can express this another way by stating that the capitalist system cannot develop in a society of this kind. This general truth also has a modern application in the way colonialists introduced capitalism into the African countries during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Let us look at the livin