Tuesday, January 28, 2020
Market Analysis and Promotional Issues in South Africa Essay Example for Free
Market Analysis and Promotional Issues in South Africa Essay South Africa is an ethically diverse country and was under the colonial rule for decades. It has been noted that its Black African ancestry in the whole population consisted of 79.3% while the white population was 9.1%, the colored 9% and the Indian/Asian of 2.6 %. The country’s new constitution which came into effect on 4th February, 1997, has recognized 11 official languages and has further given them all an equal status. Its colonial history was one of subjugation by the white colonial masters and therefore the native African and colored population nursed a growing sense of resentment, doubt and a feeling of revenge for the wrong doings meted out to them by the colonial rulers. The nation that became liberalized by emerging out of the past again realized that the colonial spell of subjugation was not fully over as yet as they still have to remove the feeling of inferiority over the English language left out by the foreign rulers. Thus, conscientious efforts were on by the new government to save the country’s various linguistic cultures. By accepting linguistic globalization, which has adapted the use of English, mother tongue equally need to be used and also developed (Moyo, 2009). In this context and the resulting confusion of attaining a cultural identity the book sales in South Africa saw a significant increase including those of English books. South African Customers The South African Customer for market purpose in consumer products covers a whole range of people from all cultural and linguistic angles. Yet from the point of view of the book publishing the range is limited and this is further narrowed down given to reason that the English reading population is limited only to the white people and the educated lot of the Black African and colored population. Now taking into consideration the market of English fiction of the Janet Evanovich line of books the market gets further segregated according to age. However, it is seen that fiction in general is the easiest genre to sell in the overseas market (O’Reilly, 2010). This is more so keeping in view of the South African government’s recent bilingual education policy where English language is an important official language. Although South Africa has a significantly different political, social and cultural landscape than that of US, it provides an excellent example of bilingual education policy (England, 2009). In spite of the above it is seen that there is some amount of resistance from the culturally distinct group who would like their own mother tongue as their main language. According to the author Mzamane Mbulelo Vizikhungo liberating the African mind from the stronghold of Western cultural imperialism is the unfinished business of the liberation struggle (2009). This shows the nature of resistance which still exists in the Black African and colored population which may take some time to completely erase out. As Vorster states that after a long period of inequalities in the society a new dispensation cannot be effectively established without a deep-rooted transformation process that must redress the imbalance cause by the previous dispensation (2005). Yet this may slowly subside as the whole world moves towards globalization and there will be changes in the attitudes of the consumers. An understanding of the psychological process by which attitudes are changed should provide insight into when and how attitudes guide consumer behavior (Bagozzi, Gurham-Cauli and Priester, 2002). This is true for any fiction and the publishers ought to be aware of this in order to project the book as tailored for the customers. Today’s approach is to accept that there are different demands in the market place and the product needs to be tailored specifically to meet the differing demand if it is stand the best chance of success (Proctor, 2000). In case of Janet Evanovich writing which is incidentally a fast moving, suspense filled, romantic version of contemporary life in America, and the South African public can see reason as to why they too may not change likewise. Customers are more discerning than they used to be in the past where they purchased simply on their whims and impulse (Griffin, 2002). The same could hold true for the modernizing South Africa who might rather than reject accept the fast fiction version of the American life. Defining the Changing South African Market With the advent of globalization it is not possible for any nation to remain cocooned in one’s own narrow beliefs and cultural pretense. Although by and large the global society would undoubtedly become a multicultural and multi-lingual one there is enough evidence that heterogeneity would remain distinctively rooted within a larger homogeneity in existence everywhere. This homogeneity would be defined as the assimilation of all positive sides of human endeavors and linguistic aspects. Therefore, for projecting the Janet Evanovich’s line of books the publishers need to emphasize the point through website and other media that the book is meant for the public simply as a form of entertainment and not to transgress on their cultures and at the same time to inform them of the life style in contemporary America. Marketing is about meeting customer’s needs and developing their trust and loyalty (Doyle, 2000). In order to achieve these publishers would have to wean themselves away from the biasness of their own home country and look at book sale as a specific objective. Many marketers now distinguish a goal as a specific objective, a refinement of an objective and make it desirable (Rogers, 2001). In order to remove whatever friction that may cause by the introduction of the books the publishers may undertake promotions in an appealing way with due consideration given to the cultural aspects of each group. Not only can a celebrity endorsement campaign fit with the launch of Janet Evanovich’s line of books by local artists, but the author can sign a few dozens of the initial published copies. This can make the public more intimate with her style of writing and wouldn’t try to uncover any seemingly hidden motives. Utilizing a charitable outlet for a portion of the profits can enhance the sensitivity of the company’s representation in the community (Hosier, 2010). Further, a special low pricing could be offered so as to entice the potential customers who are usually in the age group within 16 to 60. Or a special discount could be offered for the first hundred copies or the whole of the first published lot in South Africa only. Prices, reflect values, the value seller believes their product possesses and which the buyer too perceives (Bradley, 2003). An intimate relationship is thus established between the consumers and with those who are very sentimental when their cultural values is seen under threat.  Reference List Bradley Frank (2003). Strategic Marketing: In the Customer Driven Organization.          Pricing Strategies and Tactics. 12, 221. Chichester, England. Wiley. Bagozzi P. Richard, Gurham-Cauli and Priester R. Joseph (2002). The Social          Psychology of Consumer Behavior. Attitude Change. 5, 102. Philadelphia.          Philadelphia Open University Press. Doyle Peter (2000). Value Based Marketing: Marketing Strategies for Corporate          Growth and Shareholder Value. The Marketing Value Driver. 3, 69. New York.           John Wiley Sons. England W. Travis (2009). Bilingual Education: Lessons from abroad for America’s           Pending Crisis. A. South Africa. Washington University Law Review. Griffin Jill (2002). Customer Loyalty. A Closer Look at Loyalty. 2, 17, San Francisco.            Jossey-Bass. Hosier Bill (2010). Benevolent Marketing-Building Charitable Giving into the            Business Model. Advertising, marketing, public relations community. O’Reilly Gillian (2010). Canadian Books Sell around the World. Fiction. Canadian            Children’s book News. Proctor Tony (2000). Strategic Marketing. Segmentation, Target and Positioning.           10, 188. London. Routledge. Moyo Thamba (2009). Linguistic diversity and development: the language question            And Social justice in Southern Africa. The Mother Tongue Defined. Forum            On Public Policy: A Journal of the Oxford Round Table.
Monday, January 20, 2020
Vonneguts Simple Style in Vonneguts Cats Cradle Essay -- Cats Crad
Vonnegut's Simple Style in Cat's Cradle The simple style with which Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. writes his novels belies the complexity hidden behind his sentences. Vonnegut's novels, as a result, are amazingly easy and, to many, enjoyable to read, yet they contain messages that go to the very root of humanity, messages that are not hidden underneath flowery prose. The success of Cat's Cradle, like all of his novels, relies on this simplicity to reveal its messages about religion, death, and apocalypse to the reader. Cat's Cradle is composed of a series of short, very direct, and seemingly simple sentences, that, when combined, form a surprisingly complex novel. Cat's Cradle, like most of Vonnegut's novels, is not very wordy. Vonnegut will almost always say things directly; for example, when discussing the history of San Lorenzo, he writes, "Subsequent expeditions came for gold...found none, burned a few natives for entertainment and heresy, and sailed on" (89). Vonnegut uses a very direct and flippant manner when he writes of things that others might not confront, such as the cruelty of the conquistadors. He does not try to hide his messages subtly, so his readers get the full meaning out of his novel, even if they are reading the book merely for entertainment. One does not have to search through his novel word-for-word to find Vonnegut's themes. Instead, Vonnegut sends his themes via simplicity and exaggeration. For Vonnegut to convey his ideas successfully to the reader, he must use a simple style to do s o; his point of view is so contrary to the norm that simplicity is the only way for him to get hi... ...continue trying, because it is human nature to risk destroying the world to further one's own ends. Cat's Cradle depends on Vonnegut's simplicity and other literary techniques, like exaggeration, to make its point. Man's destructive nature is made quite clear in this excellent novel, and unnecessary words and sentences would have destroyed the clarity of Vonnegut's message. The message, and the readability of the novel, are more important than if the novel is of the same literary caliber as the likes of Shakespeare and Hemingway. Vonnegut's simple sentences, combined with exaggeration, irony, and elements of science fiction, make his novels, and the messages contained within them, very powerful, and very enjoyable to read. In this way, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. has established himself as a literary master. Vonnegut's Simple Style in Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle Essay -- Cat's Crad Vonnegut's Simple Style in Cat's Cradle The simple style with which Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. writes his novels belies the complexity hidden behind his sentences. Vonnegut's novels, as a result, are amazingly easy and, to many, enjoyable to read, yet they contain messages that go to the very root of humanity, messages that are not hidden underneath flowery prose. The success of Cat's Cradle, like all of his novels, relies on this simplicity to reveal its messages about religion, death, and apocalypse to the reader. Cat's Cradle is composed of a series of short, very direct, and seemingly simple sentences, that, when combined, form a surprisingly complex novel. Cat's Cradle, like most of Vonnegut's novels, is not very wordy. Vonnegut will almost always say things directly; for example, when discussing the history of San Lorenzo, he writes, "Subsequent expeditions came for gold...found none, burned a few natives for entertainment and heresy, and sailed on" (89). Vonnegut uses a very direct and flippant manner when he writes of things that others might not confront, such as the cruelty of the conquistadors. He does not try to hide his messages subtly, so his readers get the full meaning out of his novel, even if they are reading the book merely for entertainment. One does not have to search through his novel word-for-word to find Vonnegut's themes. Instead, Vonnegut sends his themes via simplicity and exaggeration. For Vonnegut to convey his ideas successfully to the reader, he must use a simple style to do s o; his point of view is so contrary to the norm that simplicity is the only way for him to get hi... ...continue trying, because it is human nature to risk destroying the world to further one's own ends. Cat's Cradle depends on Vonnegut's simplicity and other literary techniques, like exaggeration, to make its point. Man's destructive nature is made quite clear in this excellent novel, and unnecessary words and sentences would have destroyed the clarity of Vonnegut's message. The message, and the readability of the novel, are more important than if the novel is of the same literary caliber as the likes of Shakespeare and Hemingway. Vonnegut's simple sentences, combined with exaggeration, irony, and elements of science fiction, make his novels, and the messages contained within them, very powerful, and very enjoyable to read. In this way, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. has established himself as a literary master.
Sunday, January 12, 2020
Psychology and Scientific Method Essay
There are many arguments that debunk the idea that psychology could ever be a ‘pure science’. In any event, psychology has been touted by many a philosopher as a pseudo-science. This is primarily because science itself has a fixed method by which they conduct scientific experiments. We discuss precisely what it is that makes a theory scientific, how theories can be related to evidence and the principal issues involved in evaluating a theory. We also look at what it is that a science of psychology should study. What aspects of psychology can be defined as scientific and what aspects are thoroughly based on conjecture? Can we really call psychology a scientific medium? The observable is what science studies. Freud was initially concerned with studying the unseen, while observing behaviors (Hays, 1964: 27). He believed that the insanity that is presented to the outside world was due to a complex internal mental mechanism (Hays, 1964: 27). However, Freud also fell short of one thing, hard evidence that these mental processes existed. Scientific method determines that there are 4 or 5 steps the researcher has to take in order to make the experiment valid in the eyes of the scientific community. Physics lecturer Jose Wudka states that these steps include: 1. Observation; 2. Hypothesis; 3. Prediction; 4. Test the prediction with experiment (Wudka, 1998). The last step may be that the prediction needs to be retested and the hypothesis revisited. If we take Freud as an example, his experiments were based almost entirely on observation with no empirical data to either prove or disprove his hypotheses. Theory remains just a theory until is proved as fact. Theories are therefore related to evidence in a crucial way. Firstly, there has to be evidence of something that can be studied: for instance in criminal justice we have a bullet cap left behind at a crime. This bullet may be lying in a certain way and with the added presence of gunshot residue (cordite) can help investigators to formulate a hypothesis about what happened with the particular crime. With the case of Freud for instance, we can observe behaviors of children or even adults, but we cannot say where it comes from without getting inside the head. This makes the evidence inadmissible and the theory remains just that – a theory. Secondly, evidence that is presented, has to be tested. This means that the evidence must relate to the theory it is trying to legitimate. In this case, the evidence either proves the theory or it forces the experimenter to return to the theory and rework it. A theory can be evaluated by means of this same testing procedure, key issues being predominantly about validity, verifiability and reliability. Take for instance the normal experimental procedure for empirical research that includes the presentation of a valid sample group that is anonymous and whose records are either thus or confidential. An example of theory testing in psychology that does follow the scientific method is that of medical and electrical testing. One particular research example in psychology is that of Electro Shock Therapy. In this case the treatment studied is reversed in that the EST was used to treat asthmatics, successfully. This case studied asthmatics brought in for EST after intense supervision prior to hospitalization. The patients were monitored before, during and after the treatment to see whether there is a relationship between hysteria and asthma (Cohen and Holbrook, 1947: 213). In this case the patients themselves provide the data necessary for testing the hypothesis. The hypothesis was that there was a relationship between hysteria and asthma. The results showed not only a relationship, but I significant reaction to Electro Shock Treatment (Cohen and Holbrook, 1947: 214). In other research, EST is studied for its effect on schizophrenia rather than the usual bipolar disorder. This research revealed that EST may be useful in the treatment of this psychotic illness. This especially when combined with medication (ScienceDaily, 2005). These research projects were conducted under strict supervision and with documentation the entire process. On the other side of the coin, there are arguments that also dispel scientific method. William McComas of the Rossier School of Education cites 15 myths about scientific method that he considers to be principal issues. In the scope of this paper we cannot discuss all of McComas’ issues but a few will be discussed. The first of these is that hypotheses become theories and then become laws. This is not always the case since sometimes the evidence does not uphold the hypothesis. He also says that theory is not always absolute. Theory can only be absolute if there are no exceptions and in psychology particularly, there are almost always exceptions. Science and scientific method are also not always absolute proof, nor does it always answer all the questions (McComas, 1998: 2-9). In tune with the fact that the evidence does not always support the hypothesis, science does also not always represent reality but functions as a model around which scientific developments can be made (McComas, 1998: 9-18). Furthermore and specifically in psychology terms, these theories are flouted by the presence of some elements in a patient that do not fit the ‘textbook’ description of a certain ailment. For instance, it could be said that most cases of borderline personality disorder come from upper to middle class sectors and develop this type of disorder as a textbook concern, not all BPD patients are upper to middle class. This is merely an example of the type of issue that faces the social sciences where individuals cannot be controlled in the way that plant slides or blood tests can be. The science of psychology is about people and the nuances thereof. It is aware that humans are temperamental and also subject to the actions of other people. This means that psychology can be studied as an observation, by viewing the behaviors of people and documenting them. Psychology cannot be studied in the same way as other sciences can be, despite the fact that in empirical sciences there are also issues of compliance. If we consider that communicable diseases such as HIV/Aids can be physically examined, that blood cells and antibodies can be made visible and studied in their physical form, psychology is not the same. Inroads have been made to attempt to clarify tests done decades earlier, such as Pavlov’s conditioning studies, but unless a method becomes available to view thought processes, these theories remain unproved. The visible is the first step to studying science, but psychology hits a wall after that. We know certain aspects of psychology, such as schizophrenia is as much a neurological disorder as a psychiatric one, but there are other psychological issues we do not know. This means that psychology has to be studied in a multidisciplinary way, rather than as purely scientific. In qualitative research as in quantitative, issues of evaluation are the same. In some psychiatric cases, a patient may also have medical problems, such as diabetes, epilepsy or malnutrition and these can be physically seen. There are indeed ways in which psychology fails the test of scientific method, and therefore falls into the category of ‘pseudo science’. However, there are issues in pure sciences that also fall short of the elitist idea of science. Films such Stanley Kubrick’s â€Å"A Clockwork Orange†explore the idea of experimentation with the human brain, but to undergo such testing even with the consent of volunteers, would be considered inhumane. It seems to be ethical to test chemicals on animals or to test explosives in remote areas, but not ethical to perform potentially dangerous tests on human brains. This leaves psychological testing with the likes of psychometric testing and theories, yet again. As discussed, scientific method is reliant on having the evidence to back it up, whereas psychological is based on assumption to a large extent. Psychological profiling is an example of this in that given the evidence presented, a criminal can be profiled by the marks he leaves behind. Seldom is this knowledge enough to prove someone is guilty of not.
Saturday, January 4, 2020
How Bipolar Is Caused By A Person - 1157 Words
This paper is explaining how bipolar is caused, how to know if individuals have bipolar, how the disorder in a person can affect others around them, along with examples and facts about the mood disorder. Bipolar can be caused by negative thinking and by a person thinking negative things about themselves. There is a person who I know that can hardly think positive; this person is filled with hate and hope others fail because, the person is miserable. Dopamine, serotonin, and also norepinephrine are brain chemicals that can affect a person’s mood. The person I know does not want to get checked out but I feel there may be a few brain chemicals that are messed up. In addition, the disorder can be caused by genes. The person I have been†¦show more content†¦Some of the signs and symptoms of the disorder are constant mood changes, restlessness, paranoia, aggressiveness, having unlimited energy, irritability, remaining inactive, seeming a little awkward or weird to others, rapid speech, and being delusional. I feel people with bipolar impact their friends and family in a negative way. For example, there is a girl named Molly. Molly gets mad at Holly for no big reason . Holly gets upset because Molly is mad. Later on, Molly then becomes really depressed that Holly is upset. Holly feels bad because she sees Molly crying. Dealing with people who constantly change emotions can be tiring and confusing. The most difficult part is dealing with random moods at random times. There is one person I know who blame anything on everyone but this person feels like they do no wrong and that they are perfect. This person takes time out their day to think of a whole scenario to make a problem seem like it was caused by the other person. This person is always suspicious of other people and cannot trust them at all; the person feels like everyone is up to something or doing something bad behind this person’s back. There is another person I know who gets really depressed, they feel like life is not worth living, this person gets depressed too easily. All this person need is someone positive to talk with. Once the person feels better, everything is fine. The repeating
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)