Does science consist in the progressive development of objective truth?

Does science consist in the progressive development of objective truth? Contrast the views of Kuhn with one other writer on this topic. The philosopher and historian of science Thomas Kuhn introduced the term paradigm as a key part of what he called â€Å"normal science†: In normal (that is non revolutionary) periods in a science, there is a consensus across the relevant scientific community about the theoretical and methodological rules to be followed. (Marshall 1998). Paradigms tend to shift over time as new scientific discoveries are made, and anomalies or observations that conflict with the current paradigm begin to accumulate. Eventually this leads to a scientific revolution. There is a shift from one paradigm to another and a new period of normal science begins. So, what seems to be scientifically relevant at one time may not be so in years to come. An example of a paradigm shift would be when it was discovered that Earth was not the centre of the universe and that the sun did not revolve around the earth. This was a widely held belief up until, and even after there was proof to show that these beliefs w ere held falsely. Kuhn argued that the way scientists choose what conceptual and theoretical framework (what "paradigm") they should apply in framing their scientific questions and in seeking to resolve scientific puzzles is necessarily heavily influenced by subjective factors, including prevailing social norms and conventions. This implies that scientific theories are subjective and therefore so is the â€Å"truth† they aim to show. Kuhn argued that an old scientific paradigm is occasionally displaced by a new one and that in some senses the scientist finds himself working in a â€Å"different world†. For Kuhn, what counts as true in one paradigm is different from what counts as true in a different paradigm. Another way of putting this is that truth does not survive a scientific revolution. This means that Kuhn can be seen as a relativist as his argument suggests that there is no external reality by which we are able to measure the truth of scientific theories and that the truth changes with each new paradigm. Thomas Kuhn observed that science, as it's actually practiced, isn't the logical and cumulative building up of a true picture of the world that it was generally believed to be. He showed that there is no fixed, defined criterion for deciding bet... ...not there is an objective truth or reality. His main point is that scientific progress is a continuing refinement of our ideas about what might be the case. He says there's no single criterion for selecting one theory over another, not even success at predicting phenomena. The only judge is the consensus of the scientific community, and that clearly changes so it can't be used in advance to decide one theory over another. Popper also argued that we can never be sure that our theories will never be falsified and so all knowledge or truth is provisional and can change. It seems therefore that although Popper seems to follow a realist account of scientific progress and Kuhn a relativist one, that actually they both believed that there is progress in science but that we could not know if we were progressing towards an objective truth. . Ekelund, Robert, Jr. and Robert F. Hebert. A History of Economic Theory and Method. Fourth edition. New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Kuhn, Thomas S. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Second edition. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1970. Popper, Karl R. The Logic of Scientific Discovery. New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1959.

The Hero’s Journey in Homers The Odyssey Essay -- Hero, Homer, Odysse

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Hero’s Journey is never an easy one. This particular journey, as detailed in Homer’s The Odyssey, is one of struggle, loss, heartache, pain, growth and triumph. It is comprised of many steps that Odysseus has to overcome and battle through in order to achieve his final goal of reaching his home and his loved ones. From the Call to Adventure to the Freedom or Gift of living, Odysseus conquered them all. The story begins in the middle of the story, as many of the oral Greek traditions did, with the Journey of Telemachus to find his father. Although Telemachus has not yet met his father, it is almost as if they are journeying together, where the end of both of their journeys results in being reunited. Telemachus journeys from being a boy to becoming a man, while out in the sea Odysseus is battling Poseidon to return to the home that wife that he loves and the home he has left behind.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The first step in any hero’s journey is the Call to Adventure, or the seperation from the pack. For Odysseus this call happened while he was on Calypso’s Island. Up on Olympus Athena had convinced Zeus of her case and Hermes was dispatched to free Odysseus from Calypso’s grasp. Odysseus was settled here for quite some time and had no way of escape until Calypso was forced by the gods to let him go. This is where his journey begins. At first Odysseus is very skeptical of this freedom and thinks that it is a trick by Calypso, which is the denial stage that follows the call to adventure. This stage seperates Odysseus once agaian from what has become familiar to him. He is called to journey alone once again to gain what it is that he has wanted for so long. For Telemachus his call came due to the perils he was facing in his own home with suitors competing for his mother’s love. They started to eat him out of house and home and began to disrespect his mother. B efore this Telemachus had stayed quiet, and had not taken action. Telemachus got summoned to branch out from his mother and his home to venture out on a journey of his own. It was now his time to become a man.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In every journey the hero also has a mentor. In this story Athena, the gray-eyed goddess of wisdom, has taken on this role for both Odysseus and Telemachus. Athena was by Odysseus’ side as a guide for much of the beginning of his Journey. Athena also is a guide to Odysseus when he’s not even aware o... ...machus, through this journey, has become a man. When the story began Telemachus was a little boy with no figure in his life to really guide him stuck in a bad situation. Over the course of the journey Telemachus had to make due in many situations where respected elders surrounded him. In normal father to son relationships it is your father who teaches you and forces you to become a man. Somehow in this story, although Odysseus was not directly in Telemachus’ life, Odysseus did teach Telemachus how to be a man. It was Odysseus’ absence and hope of his return that was the driving force for Telemachus, and which made him eventually grow into manhood. The hero is the man who fights for what he loves. A hero is someone who rises above circumstance to take back what is his or hers. A hero is a man who was favored by the gods. All of these qualities and more can be found in both Odysseus and Telemachus. Odysseus and Telemachus both showed many manifestations of a hero throughout the Odyssey. It was a journey of change and growth for both men. Out of this journey they returned with much wisdom and personal gain. Odysseus and Telemachus have truly walked the path of the hero’s journey.

Prisoners Rights Essay

Societies over time have defined human rights through a variety of documents that have sought to protect the rights of people. The Geneva Convention is an example of these documents. These documents not only firmly establish rights, but also ensure that countries that adopt these laws are responsible for ensuring rights are respected and followed. Unfortunately, not all governments obey these documents. In the case where war occurs, the Geneva Convention has been especially disregarded and ignored. As a result, agencies such as Amnesty International have stepped in to fight for those prisoners whose rights have been broken. Amnesty International has become one of the most successful agencies, freeing and helping thousands of people who have been imprisoned unfairly. The rights for different kinds of prisoners in different countries are still being debated to this day. These prisoners include prisoners in detention centers and prisoners of conscience. Some people think that someone who has infringed on other’s human rights should not have valid rights themselves. Despite this, prisoners are allowed rights, such as conditions of confinement, limited privacy, safety from other prisoners, food and water and medical attention if necessary. Many prisons still deny one or more of these rights, and continue to this day to torture, kill and/or discriminate against prisoners. One of the most globally recognized laws regarding prisoners is the Geneva Convention. The Geneva Convention is a set of rules written in 1929 and revised in 1949, which focuses on the rights of prisoners of war. Prisoners of war are specifically soldiers captured and held captive by the enemy army. The Geneva Convention states that prisoners of war cannot be prosecuted for taking direct part in hostilities. Their detention is supposed to prevent further participation in the conflict and should not be a form of punishment. The term ‘Prisoners of war’ only applies to international armed conflict. These prisoners must be released and sent back to their country without delay at the end of the war. They must be treated humanely in all circumstances and should be protected against any act of violence, intimidation insults and public curiosity. Despite this, many governments have failed to acknowledge the convention and in some cases, have resulted in prisoners being tortured and even killed. In Guantà ¡namo Bay, Cuba, there is a detention center at its naval base, set up by the United States. From 2002, the prison has been holding prisoners who have been suspected of being terrorists or having ties to terrorists. They are held in order for the government to try and get information out of them. The Americans also set up another detention center in Abu Ghraib, Iraq in 2004. George Bush, who was president of the USA at the time, described the men held in these prisons not as prisoners of war, but as unlawful combatants and claimed that the Geneva Conventions protections did not apply to them. A lot of people have argued that the prisons should not be allowed, due to the fact that most prisoners have been tortured, sexually abused, drugged, and harmed by many other violent acts to get information. There are still no laws that protect these prisoners and the USA has gotten many negative judgments from all around the world. A lot of global campaigns and agencies are currently working to fix this issue. Prisoners of Conscience are people who are believed to have had already had their rights stripped from them. More specifically, they are people who have been imprisoned for expressing ideas about their lifestyle, belief, race, or religion in a non-violent way and have been denied due process. Due process is the system where a person is procedure where a person goes through a fair trial in the normal judicial system where he/she is innocent until proven guilty. There are agencies and campaigns worldwide that go to extreme extents to get prisoners of conscience publically recognized and hopefully released. Amnesty International is one of the most well–known and successful non-governmental campaigning organizations that works to monitor and protect human rights all over the world. The organization began with one man’s outrage and his courage to do something about it, this man being British lawyer Peter Benson. He is looked at as a hero, not only within the organization. Their main focus are Prisoners of Conscience. The organization has over 3 million members and supporters and was founded in London 1996. Their objective is to â€Å"conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated.† Amnesty International think of themselves as advocates for prisoners and the word ‘amnesty’ refers to being forgiven for a crime or other offence. Prisoners’ rights is just one segment of human rights, but is still just as important as children’s or elderly rights. Prisoners everywhere, from those in Guantà ¡namo Bay to prisoners of war should have valid rights if they don’t already. Having legal rights or laws is the first step, but putting the law in action is what really matters. Although there are a number of countries that ignore these documents, there are also countries that abide by them and are great examples of fair humanity. Agencies, organizations and campaigns work for these changes all around the world and with the help and support of every day people, they can hopefully change the world for the better.

“Of Mice and Men” †John Steinbeck Essay

In Chapter 4 of â€Å"Of Mice and Men,† John Steinbeck portrays Crooks, Lennie, Candy, and Curley’s wife as outcasts who although are lonely and seek each others companionship, ostracize each other nevertheless. Each of said characters seek companionship, are outcasts, and as a result abase one another. Crooks, Candy, Curley’s wife, and Lennie are lonely and therefore seek companionship. Crooks is a very lonely character, and may in fact be the most diverse due to both his handicap and race. When he gets company, he tries to conceal his pleasure with anger; he does not welcome others into his abode because they discriminate against him (his impediment is therefore seen as a spiteful retaliation), but at the same time he is delighted to have company. When Crooks sees Lennie standing at the doorway smiling at him, Crooks gives in and allows him to stay, telling him â€Å"you can come if ya want.† Lennie is also lonely, for he is drawn to Crooks’ stable when he sees the light on; when he approached Crooks, he â€Å"smiled helplessly in an attempt to make friends.† Candy later comes in to the stable, as Crooks allows him to come in; he is modest about Crooks’s welcome, saying â€Å"of course if you want me to.† Candy is a passive man virtually unable to take any independent action and his one major act in the book, offering Lennie and George money in order to go in on a piece of land together, is a means by which he can become dependent on them; this is a result of his impeding loneliness. Lastly, Curley’s wife enters the stable. Her presence is almost nomadic; she wonders around the whole ranch, seeking company and then parting. Generally considered to be a tramp by the men at the ranch, Curley’s Wife is the only major character in Of Mice and Men whom Steinbeck does not give a name. She dislikes her husband and feels desperately lonely at the ranch, for she is the only woman and feels isolated from the other men, who openly scorn her. She still holds some small hope of a better life, claiming that she had the chance to become a movie star in Hollywood, but otherwise is a bitter and scornful woman who shamelessly uses sex to intimidate the workers. When she enters the stable, she pretends as if she is looking for Curley, but she really just wants company. Each of the aforementioned characters seek each others companionship and company to keep from getting lonely. Crooks, Candy, Curley’s wife, and Lennie are also scrutinized as outcasts in the society in which they live, due to their defects – Crooks being a black cripple, Candy an old handicapped man, Curley’s wife being female, and Lennie whom is afflicted with mental retardation. Their reclusive stature is justified in the names in which they call themselves; Crooks calls himself â€Å"black† and a â€Å"busted back nigger.† Candy is called a â€Å"busted sheep,† Lennie a â€Å"dum dum,† and Curley’s wife a â€Å"tart.† Furthermore, Steinbeck does not give Curley’s wife a name; this illustrates that women in the concurrent era were looked down upon. Crooks, Curley’s wife, Candy, and Lennie are further exemplified as outcasts by the fact that Slim, George, and Whit left them behind. Crooks, Candy, Curley’s wife, and Lennie are â€Å"exiled† from society and left to be alone. With the pain, loneliness, and fear which they feel, Crooks, Candy, Curley’s wife, and Lennie degrade each other. They call each other names, and Curley’s wife adds to these statements by saying â€Å"they [George, Slim, and Whit] left the weak ones behind.† Candy calls her a â€Å"bitch† and reminds her that they at least have friends. Candy and Crooks even indicate that they want her to leave, that they have â€Å"had enough.† Crooks, Lennie, Candy, and Curley’s wife are portrayed as outcasts who although are lonely and seek each others companionship, they ostracize each other nevertheless because of the over bearing society in which they live. They demean and mortify one another to make themselves feel better – to attain a private victory that the other is more of an outcast than the former. They would rather have bitter company as to no company.

Advancing Physical And Psychological Conditions Of The Work Environments

Agenda Item A ;Occupational Safety And Health ; Advancing Physical And Psychological Conditions Of The Work Environments Working in a safe and healthy environment is among the cardinal human rights of all working people in the World. In this respect, occupational safety and wellness issues, protection schemes every bit good as national and international events are of critical importance for employees, endeavors, societies and economic systems.Occupational Safety and Health is straight related to human life. Therefore, it is extremely of import to forestall work-related jeopardies and making safe workplace for the international community. In a on the job topographic point where comprehensive protective and preventative schemes have been developed, figure of work related accident and occupational diseases will diminish. Therefore, purpose should be minimise unintended jeopardies. These workplace jeopardies can be named as followerss ; Physical and mechanical jeopardies, Biological and chemical jeopardies, Psychosocial jeopardies. Especially workers who work on the Fieldss of building, agribusiness, servi ce and Mining and oil & A ; gas extraction sector, have much inclinations to meet with these jeopardiesInternational Organizations such as InternatAÂ ±onal Labour Organization, World Health Organizations and United Nations etc. have been working to progress the conditions of work environments by coercing conventions and Acts of the Apostless. Since it’s constitution ILO has attached specific importance to the issue of OHS and regarded it as one of the edifice rocks in accomplishing societal justness. The ILO has so far adopted a series of conventions and recommendations in order to extinguish hazards and jeopardies in working life and in this context, to protect both workers and endeavors. The most relevant ILO Conventions sing OHS are No.155 on OSH, No.161 on Occupational Health Services, No 81 on Labour Inspection and No.187 on the Promotional Framework for Occupational Safety and Health. The ILO Constitution sets rules that workers should be protected from illness, diseas e and hurt originating from their employment. Yet for 1000000s of workers, the world is really different. Some two million people die every twelvemonth from work-related accidents and diseases. An estimated 160 million people suffer from work-related diseases, and there are an estimated 270 million fatal and non-fatal work-related accidents per twelvemonth. Harmonizing to latest ILO information every twelvemonth 337 million people fall victim to work accidents. El Salvador’s economic system was preponderantly agricultural until industry quickly expanded in the sixtiess and ’70s. Despite its traditional concentration on agribusiness, after that epoch province industrialized rapidly and although it’s the smallest state in Central America geographically, El Salvador had the 3rd largest economic system in the part. This sudden alteration caught province unbalanced about workers’ protection so that Occupational Health and Safety measurings hadn’t been taken so far decently. Because of the fact that a big portion of the population was engaged in risky activities such as agribusiness, deceases and hurts took a peculiarly heavy toll. With Mauricio Funesgovernment, El Salvador made some legislative agreements in order to run into the demands of labor market. Being and continuity of the balance in working life and good existences of workers at work depend on back uping nice work and increasing registered employment. The Ministry of Labour and Social Prevision in cooperation with related ministries and representatives of work force played the cardinal function in bettering occupational wellness and safety in the state. To find the prevalence and nature of occupational hurts among workers in Latin America, every bit good as to place factors that predict these work-related hurts, El Salvador participated in a joint plan with other Latin America provinces. With this construct, II Hemispheric Workshop on Occupational Health and Safety was initiated by the Ministry of Labor and Social Prevision of El Salvador. It was co-organized by the Department of Social Development and Employment of the Organization of American States ( OAS ) , the Pan-American Health Organization ( PAHO ) , the International Labor Organization ( ILO ) and FUNDACERSSO, and it was funded by the Labor Program of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada. Yet, kids workers are still the chief job on the field of OHS. Between 5,000 and 30,000 Salvadoran kids, some every bit immature as 8 old ages old, are working in El Salvador ‘s sugar cane plantations where hurts, peculiarly terrible cuts and cuts, are common, harmonizing to theHuman Rights Watch ( HRW ) study even tough Salvadoran jurisprudence indicated that 18 is the minimal age for unsafe work. For a long clip guaranting widespread consciousness on OSH has been the chief aim for El Salvador. El Salvadoran authorities puts a great attempts to diminish work-related hurts and causalities. Programs, to accomplish this thought, have been developed really late and some of them are still ongoing. Harmonizing to us, progressing multidimensional conditions of workplaces would be accelerated by manner of back uping attempts on these issues at national and international platforms by sharing patterns via international plans and events. Agenda Item B ;Elimination of Discrimination in Workplaces Discrimination is a negative judgement toward a individual ‘s gender, age, faith, race, nationality, sexual penchant or tallness and is a immense job that can be found worldwide inside and outside of the workplace. On history of the fact that a big figure of authoritiess base on ballss Torahs that make favoritism illegal, employers must follow these Torahs when engaging employees and employees must move in these law’s model. But even with regulations in topographic point, many people still fall victim to favoritism at workplaces. There have been legion legislative motions to censor discrimination’s every form. One of the most of import act was Civil Rights of Act 1964 which outlawed and prohibited favoritism by covered employers on the footing of race, colour, faith, sex or national. International organisations such as International Labour Organization and United Nations have been puting their dockets by sing favoritism, particularly favoritism in workplaces. While everyone is a possible victim ; adult females, LGBT’s, cultural minorities, migrators, individuals with disablements constitute bulk of favoritism victims in workplaces. As a protagonist of this statement, Human Development Report in 2011 revealed that 52 per centum of non-Hispanic Whites expressed anti Hispanic attitudes towards their colleagues in U.S. Deriving independency from Spain in 1821, El Salvador’s more recent history has been marked by a acrimonious civil war in the 1980s which left more than 75,000 people dead and 500,000 displaced. The state was so hit by a series of natural catastrophes in the 1990s and 2000s, which left more than a million people stateless. These happenings made the province impotent and unstabilized. Therefore, Salvadoran governments have non adopted the findings and recommendations made by UN and ILO organic structures in the field of favoritism in workplaces between those old ages decently. But after 2000 to show, El Salvador has shown an unbelievable betterment to censor all signifiers of favoritism, particularly during presidential term of Carlos Mauricio Funes Cartagena. As a first measure on this country on August 19, 1981, El Salvador ratified the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women ( CEDAW ) , which defines favoritism and establishes an docket for national action to stop such favoritism. In 1996, prior to the Committee ‘s reappraisal of El Salvador ‘s conformity with CEDAW, the authorities of El Salvador established the Institute for Development of Women. The Institute seeks to guarantee that action programs created by the authorities to protect adult females are implemented efficaciously. Yet these amendments were non plenty. Althoughwomen in El Salvador enjoy equal protection under the jurisprudence, they were frequently at a disadvantage relation to their male opposite number harmonizing to Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in 2001.Also as indicated in Human Development Report the female labour force engagement rate in El Salvador was 45.9 per centum, co mpared to the male rate of 76.7 per centum. Lesbian, homosexual, bisexual, and transgender ( LGBT ) individuals inEl Salvadorhad been confronting legal challenges in workplaces. No national jurisprudence does be to forbid favoritism on the footing of sexual orientation, although the jurisprudence prohibited favoritism on the footing of HIV/AIDS position, in pattern, favoritism was widespread. All in all, there was favoritism against adult females, individuals with disablements, sapphic, homosexual, bisexual, and transgender individuals, and autochthonal people at workplace and there weren’t equal commissariats or codifications to extinguish favoritism. When calendars showed 2001, El Salvadoran President and his authorities started to take stairss to anticipate any legal or constitutional challenges to decide the jobs highlighted in a UN general assembly study on favoritism at workplaces. Besides ensured those rights would beef up the fundamental law of El Salvador. The Secretariat for Social Inclusion, created in June 2009 by President Funes, who named the first lady Vanda Pignato as secretary, made attempts to get the better of traditional prejudice in all these countries. The fundamental law provided for the right of workers. In 2009 the authorities amended the fundamental law to allow legal position to public worker brotherhoods. The jurisprudence established sentences of one to three old ages in prison to individual who discriminate in the workplace. There were no authorities plans dedicated to battling favoritism but now The Vida Digna ( Life with Dignity ) plan has been adopted to El Salvador to contend against favoritism bas ed on HIV. Besides on the footing of sexual orientation, in pattern favoritism was widespread, particularly against transgender individuals. In January the new disposal approved the legal enrollment application filed in August 2009 by the homosexual rights NGO Entre Amigos. This is the first NGO focused on sexual minorities registered by the authorities whose primary declared work was other than the bar of HIV/AIDS. Although it’s considerable headroom, El Salvador will non be satisfied with this agreements and for certain, countenances and ordinances will better bit by bit to make international standards. As clearly seen favoritism in workplaces is widespread in many states. In our sentiment, such systematic homo rights misdemeanors can merely be deterred by the humanly will of authoritiess, employers and employees in taking resolute action against people who discriminate at all degrees.

DFA’s investment portfolio Essay

Identify the sources of value DFA is providing its investors DFA creates different value to its customers. For Registered Investment Advisor, the value was the educative access to top researchers who were developing innovative theories and empirical analyses. For high-net-worth individuals, it is low management fee as the services are provided through RIA. For other investors, the value is high performance of portfolio it manages. The sources of values DFA managed to create come from: – Close relationship with prominent academics, who also have stake in DFA. The academic research has played crucial role in the performance of DFA’s investment portfolio and brought substantial return to its customers over a long period of time. – Reputation of the DFA in small cap market help the firm reduce transaction cost, pick and choose the right stock to invest, contributing to positive return for its customers. 8. What are some of the trading costs associated with small, value stocks? How does DFA manage these potential trading frictions? Given the fact that small and value stocks have lower liquidity compared to large and growth stock, transaction of small and value stock is more difficult. There are some trading costs associated with them: – When investment fund wants to buy small and value stocks in open market, their price will go up very quickly. This increase in price will negatively affect the next purchase of the same stock of the investment fund. DFA instead of going to the market and bid for stock, it absorbs the selling demand from the others. By taking a large part of stock, it can even obtain a discount on the stock purchase. – Once the investment fund owns an amount of a certain stock, the future sales of stock to the market may pose some pressure on the price of stock. DFA when buying stock from seller would try to make sure that it take the whole position of th e seller so that it avoids the scenario when the seller sells the other part to the market and the price of stock goes down immediately after DFA buys it. – Same applied when the fund tries to sell its stock. If investment fund sells a large block of stock, the price of stock will be pushed down. To avoid this transaction cost DFA normally offers small amounts of stock to the market each day. It takes more time to sell out but the price of stock will be maintained. 12. Likewise, throughout the 1990s, growth stocks outperformed value stocks. Hence, should DFA reconsider its current strategy? What if growth continues to outperform value over the next five years. Would your answer change?  Again, how would you explain the poor performance of the fund to your clients? Although the growth stock outperformed value stocks in 1990s thanks to the high-tech boom, DFA should not reconsider its current strategy because of the following reasons: -Looking at a long period of time (from 1926 to 2004), despite some up and down, value stock still outperform growth stock (Tim’s calculation) -DFA’s philosophy of investment has been based upon market efficient. And according to market efficient theories, the higher return of growth stock given the lower level of risk compared to value stock will go away as people start to chase growth stock. Switching to growth stock will not help DFA to make sustainable return. Even though the growth stock continues to outperform for the next five years, our answer would not change. The growth stock cannot outperform the value stock for too long because it has lower level of risk. Value stock will soon bounce back in terms of return soon. 14. What future strategies would you recommend DFA pursue? Make a specific recommendation, and justify it. Should they abandon/modify/maintain their current size and value strategies? Should they explore other interesting anomalies and adopt similar strategies?

Cultural Analysis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Cultural Analysis - Assignment Example The first part shall give a theoretical background on the importance of culture in the formation of social identity, as well as the proper ways through which cultural analysis must be done. Through this part, the need for an objective assessment of culture will be reinforced through the help of Geert Hofstede’s Five Cultural Dimensions and the GLOBE Cultural Analysis Model. The second part, on the other hand, will zero in on the results of the three interviews conducted as regards the specific culture and traditions of Spain, Canada, and the Philippines. By using first-hand or primary information as obtained from the one-on-one interviews, credibility of data will be strengthened. The last part will be dedicated to an enriching and highly insightful conclusion that will put an end to this study. Importance of Culture: A Brief Overview By definition, culture refers to the set of beliefs, habits, and art forms that crucially characterize a specific group of people in a specific area. Because of this seemingly vast description, cultural representations may include art, literature, religion, lifestyles, and many more. With this, it can be said that the significance of culture is hinged on its capacity to give a unique identity to people. It gives a community certain character and personality that is original and unique. Thus, it is through the learning and passing of these traditions that cultural values are fostered, which in effect, form the founding principles that help govern people’s way of life. Since cultures have their own share of characteristics, objective measures must be used in order to properly understand and appreciate their natures. Two of the most commonly used analytical frameworks are Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions and the GLOBE cultural analysis model. 1. Geert Hoftstede’s Cultural Dimensions Hoftstede’s model examines cultural differences by highlighting five key dimensions: Power Distance, Uncertainty Avoidan ce, Masculinity vs Femininity, Individualism vs Collectivism, and Long vs Short Term Orientation. 1 Power distance refers to the degree of inequality that exists in a society and how such is accepted by the less powerful groups. Uncertainty avoidance involves a society’s level of tolerance for ambiguity, unstructured situations, and unplanned events. Masculinity vs femininity pertains to the expected gender roles in a society. Individualism vs collectivism refers to the extent of ties that people have with each other. Long vs short term orientation talks about the degree to which a society upholds traditional values. 2. GLOBE Cultural Analysis Model From a functional perspective, the GLOBE model is used as a long-term research effort to explore the effects of culture on leadership, organizational effectiveness, economic competitiveness of societies, and the human condition of the people being examined. Through the GLOBE model, researchers were able to clearly grasp the releva nce of cross-cultural interactions by studying different industries, organizations, and social groups. 2 Analyzing Three Cultures: Spain, Canada, and the Philippines After assimilating the vitality of culture in relation to social identity construction, as well as the various lenses that could be utilized when studying cultures individually, it is now time to focus on the results of the three interviews and expose the characteristics of each country. In order to put more conciseness in the laying