The Re-inscription of Identity: Black Affirmation

Toni Morrison’s novel, Beloved, was set at a time when slavery was still an accepted practice. One of the effects of slavery on the slaves was the stripping off of their identities. This was the case because they were not perceived as humans with the privilege of having their own identity. They were dehumanized and objectified as a mere species of animals – one that is treated as property. African-Americans, for instance, were not given individual identities or names. This was portrayed when Paul D mentioned his brothers Paul A and Paul F.It emphasized how they were treated as interchangeable pieces that can only be differentiated by letters such as exhibits in a courtroom or identical items on a list. This was also portrayed in the scene where the schoolteacher came to claim Sethe back after she escaped. It was shown through his perspective how he sees all the black people in the community as nameless â€Å"niggers† only to be differentiated by what they wear. O nly when the perspective was shifted to the African-Americans will the readers realize that the girl referred to by the schoolteacher as the â€Å"nigger with the flower hat† was Baby Suggs.The absence of a name signifies a denial of her humanity; the slave masters never call their slaves by names. They were treated as objects that are defined. Everything must be given or bestowed upon them. Morrison points to the fact that the jungle was actually created by the white people, who annihilated the sense of selfhood and humanity in the slaves: â€Å"White people believed that whatever the manners, under every dark skin was a jungle. Swift unnavigable waters, swinging screaming baboons, sleeping snakes, red gums ready for their sweet white blood.. . . But it wasn't the jungle blacks brought with them to this place from the other place. It was the jungle white folks planted in them. And it grew. It spread†¦. The screaming baboon lived under their own white skin; the red gums were their own. (Morrison, 198-199) The novel shows two main forms of resistance to slavery. These are escape and murder. Escape was shown as the primary form of resistance. Most of the slaves in the novel resorted to escape or at least attempted to escape when things started to become unbearable for them.Escape was resorted to when life has become increasingly difficult for them. This however was not easy to do. For instance, Paul D attempted numerous times to escape, but failed almost every time. The only time he succeeded to escape was when he was in prison. In prison, he was kept in a small box on the ground at night only to be let out during the day where he was suffered to work while chained to other prisoners. One night, a powerful rainstorm came lashing down. This was the chance that they needed. The storm facilitated their escape.â€Å"To escape† means â€Å"to slip or get away as from confinement or restraint; to succeed in avoiding or to elude one’s memory , notice, search, etc. † (Random House Webster’s College Dictionary, 1992, p. 455). â€Å"Escaping† has also been defined as â€Å"to get free from flight, from prison or other confinement or restraint; to regain one’s liberty, to find release from worries, troubles, or responsibilities; it is the act of getting free from prison or other confinement, from pursuit from a pursuer, etc. † (Longman’s Modern English Dictionary, 1968, p.354). Not only Paul D, but Sethe as well, both escaped from the confinements of slavery. In psychology, escape has been often resorted to as a means to avoid aversive stimulus or conditions, commonly referred to as escape conditioning. In psychoanalysis, escape conditioning is a form of aversive conditioning where unpleasant or painful stimuli are avoided (Bateman and Holmes, 1995; Marthe, 1968). It occurs when an aversive stimulus is presented and the subject responds by leaving the stimulus situation.In laboratory experiments, escape conditioning is most typically tested with animals such as rats which are placed in a box wherein they receive a jolt or a shock when they come into contact with one of the box’s walls. In a sense, the experience of the African-Americans under slavery is similar to the compulsive need of a laboratory specimen seeking to avoid further painful or aversive stimuli (Bateman and Holmes, 1995). In the novel, Sethe displays elements of escape conditioning when she feels a horrifying shock when she becomes aware that the Schoolteacher and his nephews have come after her and her sons.The other form of resistance to slavery shown in the book is murder. When Paul D was sold to a new master, he attempted to kill the latter because of the abuses done to him. In fact, that was the reason why he was sent to prison in the first place. Another instance of this as shown in the book was when Sethe killed her own child. When Sethe's master came after Sethe and her children, Sethe ran into the shed where she and her children were hiding. When she got there, Sethe killed her own baby girl Beloved and tried to kill her other children – Howard, Buglar, and Denver – as well.Even though this sounds horrific, Sethe's motive was that she would much rather kill her children rather than have them go back to being slaves. She only managed to wound Buglar and Howard. Sethe tried to throw Denver against a wall, but Stamp Paid stepped in and managed to save Denver's life. Schoolteacher's behavior indicates one of the ways the black were dehumanized by the whites. They were treated like dispensable objects, and even worse than animals.For instance, Sixo was beaten up not simply because he stole something, but also because he tried to edge into the position of the Definer. Since Sixo was smart, and had such a good command of language and logic, the Schoolteacher felt it was necessary to beat him up since his intelligence posed as a threat to the white ma n's control of speech. Sethe and her children lead a difficult life under Schoolteacher and decided to escape on the Underground Railroad. Sethe sent three of her children ahead on the Railroad, and stayed behind to wait for Halle.She eventually joined her children. Her tedious journey included walking pass a row of young black boys, who were hung by their necks in a row. One of those black boys was most likely Paul A. Sethe continues to address her dead baby child Beloved in her mind. She keeps rationalizing and repeating to herself everything she had to go through and suffer through to get to her children. More important than losing her milk, or the beatings that she got from the Schoolteacher's nephew, was the painful instance when Sethe overheard the Schoolteacher talking about her.He made a distinction between Sethe's human and non-human characteristics. If anything, in the past Sethe may have felt they were being objectified, but to actually hear Schoolteacher speak of them as human and at the same time not human, shook her to the very core. It jarred her into realizing that these whites will never see them as equals, that they will always be objects to use and manipulate. This experience triggered the growing unease and conflict within Sethe, and signifies what she must have felt right before she murdered her baby.After hearing the Schoolteacher speak of her that, she was overcome with terror at the thought of allowing her children to lead a lifetime of dehumanizing treatment. How Sethe affirms herself in the murderous act Despite the fact that she killed beloved and attempted to kill her other 3 children, Sethe still firmly believes that she did the right thing. In her mind, her children were better off dead rather than have them go back to a life of slavery under Schoolteacher. In an oddly twisted way, Sethe's love for her children was so much that she could no longer distinguish where the world ended and where she began.She felt that as their mother, she had should have complete control over their fate, and in fact, she felt that as their mother, she had to step in so that she may control their fate – even if it meant killing them. Quite obviously, the fate she wanted for her children was one that did not involve slavery. She wanted to guarantee her children's safety – even if it meant killing them. Thus, for her, she was protecting her children, protecting the only thing she has that is pure and worth saving as mentioned in the book: â€Å"Anybody white could take your whole self for anything that came to mind.Not just work, kill, or maim you, but dirty you. Dirty you so bad you couldn't like yourself anymore. And though she and others lived through and got over it, she could never let it happen to her own. The best things she was, was her children. Whites might dirty her all right, but not her best thing, her beautiful, magical best thing — the part of her that was clean. â€Å"(Morrison, 251) Unfortuna tely, despite this protective motivation, Sethe's act effectively denies her daughter the chance to live. In effect, she appropriates on her own her daughter's yet unrealized subjectivity.Sethe's act has been defined as limited by its reaction to a commodifying ideology: â€Å"It is always in relation to the place of the Other that colonial desire is articulated: the phantasmic space of possession that no one subject can singly or fixedly occupy, and therefore permits the dream of the inversion of roles† (Bhabha, 44). It is difficult for the reader to assume a moral high ground in this situation and to criticize Sethe's action as â€Å"playing god. † There was nothing god-like at all about Sethe and her conditions.Before she killed Beloved, the novel described in graphic detail the suffering that Sethe and her people went through. Beyond the physical suffering, what was truly deplorable was the mental and emotional suffering Sethe went through – of knowing and f eeling in every bone in their body that other human beings did not treat them as human beings simply because of the color of their skin. She mistakes her own identity with her motherhood, and thus, in a way, reenacts the violence of the white masters against her.Sethe feels she has no power over her own self because the white people had crossed all the boundaries and not only taken everything she possessed physically, but everything she had dreamed as well: ‘†Those white things have taken all I had or dreamed,' she said, ‘and broke my heartstrings too. There is no bad luck in the world but whitefolks. ‘†(Morrison, 89) It is obvious that the â€Å"whitefolks† are â€Å"bad luck†, that is, for the black slaves they were the instruments of destiny itself, trough the power have over their lives.Thus, when Sethe kills her infant daughter, she obviously acts, although out of love, as a white master would. Bhabha's theory of the colonial subject represents both the colonized and the colonizer in defining that colonial subject position as shifting rather than fixed. In the creation of a colonial subjecthood, the positions of master and slave not only define each other, but can shift into an inversion of roles (Mohanty, 1995). Sethe does not hold much hope in the world changing, and abhors the thought of her children being treated as animals.She couldn't bear the thought of her children enduring the animal-like slavery that her people were reduced to, and felt thus that she was justified in wanting them dead. Slavery was all about the whites â€Å"laying claim† on the African-Americans, and this concept of ownership Sethe decided to take upon her own hands with regard to her children. Since the whites did not make any distinction among the African-Americans, with the latter being forced to ignore the distinction between one's self and others since they were all lumped together as objects, Sethe used this same mindset w hen she killed Beloved.In Sethe's mind, taking Beloved's life was as if she took her own. It is a possessive love that is, admittedly, dangerous, but it is not entirely evil. It is fuelled by desperation. An examination of Freud's Oedipus complex may help to understand Sethe's feelings towards her children, particularly Beloved. The intricate web of attachment between the mother and daughter often makes self-identification among both the mother and the daughter difficult to grasp (Bowlby, 1999). The mother's need for primal love causes her to become overly attached to her daughter, defining the daughter as an extension of herself, and not as a separate individual.As result, the mother projects her unfulfilled aspirations and expectations onto her daughter, which inhibits the daughter from forming her own unique identity (Bettelheim, 1983; Rieff, 1979). In Sethe's case, this inhibition is not merely an inhibition on Beloved from forming her own identity – she effectively preve nts Beloved from having her own identity to begin with by killing her. Clearly, Sethe's unfulfilled aspiration is a life free from slavery, and this aspiration she transfers upon her children.The motivation is certainly not evil, but in hoping for a better life for her daughter, Sethe deprives Beloved of the chance to live, of the form her own unique identity. The Oedipus complex as exemplified in Freud's teachings finds support in Bhabha's theory of the colonial subject wherein Sethe appropriates on her own her daughter's yet unrealized subjectivity (Mohanty, 1995). Sethe didn't want her daughter to be whipped, and to be worked to the ground. She especially did not want her daughter's characteristics to be listed and broken down into human and non-human traits.Sethe's love for her children makes it difficult for her to acknowledge or recognize her own self and her own self-worth outside of her relationship to others, and particularly outside her role as a mother. This is something that Sethe cannot be entirely blamed for. The culture of slavery she had been born into precisely refused to acknowledge an individual's own self and self respect. In treating the blacks as animals, the whites have effectively purged many of them of the ability to view themselves as individuals deserving of respect.How Denver discovers herself out of 124 when she leaves the house and becomes a part of the community Denver, Sethe's child, has clear memories about the time when she used to attend school. When Denver was only 7, she walked away from home and found herself in the home of Lady Jones, a mulatto woman who taught reading, writing, and math to black children. Denver's year of schooling ended when Nelson Lord asked her â€Å"the question† and right after, when Denver asked her mother Sethe â€Å"the question,† Denver became deaf.She failed to hear her mother's answer, or anything else for that matter, for two years. She only regained her hearing when she heard t he baby ghost crawling up the stairs. After this, Denver realized what her mother had done. This made her fear the possibility of the reoccurrence of what happened that tragic day. â€Å"All the time, I'm afraid the thing that happened that made it all right for my mother to kill my sister could happen again. I don't know what it is, I don't know who it is, but maybe there is something else terrible enough to make her do it again.I need to know what that thing might be, but I don't want to. Whatever it is, it comes from outside this house, outside the yard, and it can come right on in the yard if it wants to. So I never leave this house and I watch over the yard, so it can't happen again and my mother won't have to kill me too. † (Morrison, 205) One day, Denver finally decided that she had to go for help. Beloved is destroying her mother; they are all â€Å"locked in a love that wore everybody out,† and Denver is afraid for her mother's life.She finds the courage to le ave the yard of 124 for the first time since she was seven, and she makes her way to Lady Jones. Sethe was consumed by her attention for Beloved. â€Å"Beloved . . . never got enough of anything: lullabies, new stitches, the bottom of the cake bowl, the top of the milk. . . . When Sethe ran out of things to give her, Beloved invented desire† (Morrison, 240). The one time Denver had ventured away from 124 was that year when she was seven years old and had found Lady Jones. She ventures out of the 124 yard again after regaining her hearing and looks for Lady Jones again.The mulatto woman remembers Denver, and tries to help her in her own way. In the weeks that followed, Denver kept finding baskets with food in them, and little scraps of paper bearing the senders' names. She returns the baskets and gives her thanks to the senders. This allows Denver to get gradually get to know the black community in Cincinnati – a world outside the 124. As her world expands, Denver trans forms from being a shy, clumsy girl to flourish into a strong, independent young woman. She is driven by her resolve to save her mother Sethe and to take care of her.Denver's relationship with her mothers bares elements of Freud's Oedipal complex theory (Isbister, 1965). According to psychoanalytical theory, a female never completely relinquishes her pre-oedipal attachment to her mother, and these unresolved feelings surface not only in adolescence but also in adulthood. Through mothering, the adult female re-enters what is called the oedipal triangle, which is the attachment she experiences with her father and mother during childhood, but instead of being the child, she now becomes the mother (Lawler, 2000; Wyatt, 1993; Pigman, 1995).In Denver's case, the attachment she experiences with Sethe has resulted in an evolution of their relationship wherein Denver assumes the role of the mother, the protector, of Sethe. For the first time in her life, Denver also begins to understand her mother's actions and the impact of their past. The community who secures Sethe`s release from the past and exorcises Beloved In the novel, we see how Sethe takes her first shaky steps towards recognizing her own sense of self. â€Å"Bit by bit, at 124 and in the Clearing, along with others, she had claimed herself. Freeing yourself was one thing; claiming ownership of that freed self was another.â€Å"(Morrison, 95) It starts to develop when she runs away from the Sweet Home plantation. During the 28 days of freedom she experienced after she fled, Sethe felt exhilarated. For the first time in her life, she was allowed to be selfish. For the first time, her life was her own to live. More than anything, she felt that her children were truly her own, because in the plantation they were all â€Å"owned† collectively. Sethe's community both perpetuates the legacy of slavery and plays an important role in the process of the development of her own sense of subjectivity.â€Å"Seth e had had twenty-eight days†¦ of unslaved life†¦ Days of healing, ease and real-talk. Days of company: knowing the names of forty, fifty other Negroes, their views, habits; where they had been and what they had done; of feeling their fun and sorrow along with her own, which made it better†¦ All taught her how it felt to wake up at dawn and decide what to do with the day†¦ Bit by bit†¦ along with the others, she had claimed herself. Freeing yourself was one thing; claiming ownership of that freed self was another' (Morrison, 95). Morrison's concept of an â€Å"unslaved life† means a life with the freedom to develop one's subjectivity.This process is closely connected to inclusion in and participation with one's community (Knapp, 1989). Even though Sethe freed herself, she cannot claim ownership of that freed self alone. The people around her in the community play an important role in teaching her how to be herself because prior to her freedom, Sethe ha d learned, through coercion, the lessons of invisibility, silence, and submission. Unfortunately, the community displays warped codes of morality, and eventually led to their collective desertion of Sethe at a time when she needs them the most.The feast at Baby Suggs' was taken as a sign of pride, and the day after the party, the community waits, and even hopes, for Sethe's downfall. â€Å"Somehow the members of the black community imagine that Baby Suggs has not suffered in slavery as they have suffered, and this ignorance of their mutual history makes mutual trust impossible† (Scruggs, 103). This attitude of the community displays their collective unconscious. Jung's theory of the collective unconscious represents what has been described as the â€Å"psychic inheritance† (Jung, 2006). It is the collection of our experiences as a species, a kind of knowledge we are born with.Since we can never be directly conscious of it, it influences all of our experiences and behav iors, particularly the emotional ones, but we only know about it indirectly, by looking at the influences (Jung, 2006; Knapp, 1989; Halbwachs, 1992). The African-American's colonial past of slavery is a collective experience with a deeply rooted impact that they may not all be directly conscious of in terms of how it affects how they view themselves and their own community. It becomes manifest in their behavior, and from their behavior can one only really trace the influences of their colonial past.The jealousy, or envy, of the community, lead to the withdrawal of the community's support from Sethe. Their silence during the appearance of the Schoolteacher at 124, which resulted in Sethe's murder of her daughter, and the way they ostracized Sethe afterwards, indicated the community's need to see a successful black family's downfall. Yet it is this jealousy which indirectly causes Sethe to perform the act for which they themselves, the community, could not allow itself to morally forg ive her for a long time. The community however eventually shows a sense of guilt with what happened to Sethe and her family.They participate in exorcising Beloved, indicating that the tragedy of Beloved's death was not just the responsibility of Sethe and the whites who came to get her, but of the entire black community. After all, the black community must have known that the Schoolteacher and his nephews were coming for Sethe and her children, but they took no steps to warn her. Four white people rode towards 124, with a certain â€Å"look† about them, and everyone who saw them knew what they meant and what they came for. Yet the community did not do anything, driven perhaps by what Stamp believed was jealousy of Baby Suggs and from the feast weeks before.The 28 days of freedom Sethe experienced were followed by 18 years of disapproval by the community, and she lived a static and â€Å"solitary life† (Morrison, 173). Sethe herself describes this lonely existence as â €Å"unlivable† (Morrison, 173). When she decided to kill her child and thus protect Beloved from the â€Å"unlivable† life of slavery, Sethe herself returns to a life in which she is unable to learn to claim her freed self. Beloved returned in the flesh, and it actually became therapeutic for Sethe who had been ostracized by the community for 18 long years for what she had done to her daughter.Sethe was struck with guilt for having killed Beloved, and looked for ways to make up for it by welcoming the â€Å"resurrection† of Beloved. In this way, Sethe chose to dwell in the past, and Beloved became the symbol that effectively removed Sethe’s link with the murder of her child. The decision to exorcist Beloved was something that the entire community practically participated in. Sethe’s reliance on Beloved has prevented her from moving on and leaving her past behind. An exorcism of Beloved meant an exorcism of the past – a much-needed step to ma ke room for Sethe’s own self-realization.Exorcism then was an especially communal act, and the exorcism of Beloved makes a strong statement. She represents the legacy of slavery that had marked the blacks' past, and it is something that the entire community must contend with (Scruggs, 1992). Sethe, long after Beloved's death, constantly relives and rehashes her life of slavery, perhaps to justify to herself again and again why she killed her own child. This self-inflicted torture of reliving her past causes Sethe to almost kill the oppressor – not the Schoolteacher, but Mr. Bodwin who merely happens to be white as well.Sethe needed to face her past and to step outside the confines of her terrible history. Beloved returns to 124 for the same reason she came to haunt Sethe – to force her mother to confront her past. Sethe cannot break through the confines of her past without finding some resolution in her relationship with her daughter. Sethe was incapable of pers onal growth for 18 long years because she refused to face her own commodification and its deep implications. Jung's theory of the personal unconscious includes anything which is not presently conscious, but can be (Jung, 2006).The personal unconscious is like most people's understanding of the unconscious in that it includes both memories that are easily brought to mind and those that have been suppressed for some reason (Hayman, 1999). In this case, Sethe's suppression of her colonial past was dominated by her own guilt in murdering her own daughter. Freud's concept of rationalization provides for the cognitive distortion of fact to make an event or an impulse less threatening. People do this often on a fairly conscious level when we provide ourselves with excuses.These defenses or justifications may be seen as a combination of denial or repression with various kinds of rationalizations. Defenses are lies which take us further and further away from the truth and ultimately, from re ality. At a certain point, Freud points out, the ego can no longer take care of the id's demands, or pay attention to the superego's (Freud, 1963). The anxieties come rushing back, and the person who harbors these defenses and justifications eventually break down or deteriorate (Gay, 1988; Jones, 1961).In Sethe's case, her rationalization of her daughter's murder and her denial of the colonial forces in her life continued to block the development of her own subjectivity. Beloved's physical presence and the ensuing relationship between her and Sethe eventually forces the latter to acknowledge the internalized colonization that she had for the longest time denied. To enjoy total freedom, Sethe needed to claim freedom within her own mind by dealing with the past not as a burden, which must be beaten back by all means, but as a factor which constitutes the present.). This was something Sethe had to conquer. She kept asking herself â€Å"Would it be all right? Would it be all right to g o ahead and feel? Go ahead and count on something? † (Morrison, 38) This shows that there is no sense of self as there is no sense of future, but only of past for the former slave who has learned only how to be dependant Accepting her past as playing a pivotal role in shaping who she has become at present is important for Sethe’s self-identity. This is something she purposely avoided. â€Å"To Sethe, the future was a matter of keeping the past at bay.The ‘better life' she believed she and Denver were living was simply not that other one† (Morrison, 42) Self-concept provides for the total of a being’s knowledge and understanding of her self (Freud, 1963; Rieff, 1979; Pigman, 1995). This makes it necessary for Sethe to stop resorting to denial, of fending off awareness of an unpleasant truth or of a reality that is a threat to her ego, as defined by Freud (1963; Rieff, 1979), but to take stock of the reality behind what she did and what prompted her to do it.Only then could she literally quite let go of the ghosts of her peace and enjoy total freedom. The gender conflict which comes to a resolution In an argument with Paul D, Sethe said that all man wrong women. In the colonial economy, the slavery of a black woman represented the connection between the economy of pleasure and desire, and the economy of domination and power (Wyatt, 1993). Sethe, as the black female slave, represented this difference as racial and sexual â€Å"other. † This is exemplified in Sethe's rape by the Schoolteacher's nephews.â€Å"‘I am full God damn it of two boys with mossy teeth, one sucking on my breast, the other holding me down, their book-reading teacher watching and writing it up. I don't want to know or have to remember that. I have other things to do: worry about tomorrow, about Denver, about Beloved, about age and sickness, not to speak of love. ‘ But her brain was not interested in the future† (Morrison, 70). The Sch oolteacher observes Sethe's rape and makes it a discursive act. He exploits Sethe as a racial and sexual other in order to rewrite her identity as something less than human – more of a beast rather than a human being.Sethe then experiences this dehumanization of herself and her body by the Schoolteacher and his nephews. Sethe's personhood, as it has been allowed to exist under slavery, is further reduced to animality. Among female African-American slaves, thus, there was not just the â€Å"fetish of colonial discourse† (Bhabha, 78) but sexual fetish to contend with as well. Pursuant to the object relations theory – an adaptation of psychoanalytic theory – the psychological life of the human being is created in and through relations with other human beings, through â€Å"good object relations.† Unlike Freudian and Lacanian theories, however, object relations theory, the â€Å"gendering† of the subject has little to do with one's awareness of sexuality and reproduction at early stages of development (in other words, when one is a child). It involves the internalization of any inequities in the value assigned to one's gender, as well as the associated imbalance of power (Wyatt, 1993; Chodorow, 1978). In Sethe's case, this imbalance of power was present in two levels – fetish of colonial discourse, and the sexual fetish displayed against female black slaves.This â€Å"gendering† is something that she carries with her even when she is freed and can be seen in her attitude towards her children. Ideally, Sethe's concern for her child's well being should not involve overinvestment in the child as a mere extension of her own self. She needs both material and emotional support from other adults who are able to both nurture her and reinforce her own sense of autonomy (Patterson and Watkins, 1996). Unfortunately, given the harsh realities of the life and conditions under slavery, Sethe hardly had the opportunity or t he good fortune of being exposed to such an environment or â€Å"good object relations.† The dehumanization of African-Americans, and the dehumanization of African-American women during that period made it difficult for even women themselves to break away from the roles that society had forced them into (Chodorow, 1978). Despite the gender conflict displayed in Morrison’s book however, the last chapter indicates the potential and possibility for harmonization, as Paul D returns to 124 after he hears that Beloved is finally gone. This is the first time he returned to the place where he escaped from, and this very act symbolizes that it is finally time for Paul D to stop running.When Paul D and Sethe are reunited, Paul D reassures Sethe that they will build a new future for themselves together, telling Sethe to take care of herself as she is her own best thing. Paul D tells Sethe he plans to move in and that he will take care of her at night, while Denver was away. As he shows Sethe, she herself and not her children is her best possession: â€Å"‘You your best thing'† â€Å"Me? Me? † (Morrison, 273) In this, we see how Paul D affirms not just Sethe as a woman, but as an individual, separate and distinct from her daughter, Beloved. WORKS CITED LISTBateman, Anthony and Holmes, Jeremy. Introduction to Psychoanalysis: Contemporary Theory & Practice. London: Routledge, 1995. Bettelheim, Bruno. Freud and Man’s Soul: An Important Re-Interpretation of Freudian Theory. New York: Random House Vintage, 1983. Bhabha, Homi K. Locations of Culture. New York: Routledge, 1994. Bowlby, John. Attachment and Loss: Vol I, 2nd Ed. New York: Basic Books, 1999 Chodorow, Nancy. The Reproduction of Mothering: Psychoanalysis and the Sociology of Gender. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978. Fitzgerald, Jennifer.â€Å"Selfhood and Community: Psychoanalysis and Discourse in Beloved. † Modern Fiction Studies 39 (1993): 669-87. Freud, Sigmund. â€Å"Obsessive Acts and Religious Practices† Freud: Character and Culture. Ed. , Philip Rieff. New York: Collier Books, 1963. 25. Gay, Peter. Freud: A Life for Our Time. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1988. Halbwachs, Maurice. On Collective Memory. Ed. and trans. Lewis A. Coser. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992. Hayman, Ronald. A Life of Jung. New York: W. W. Norton & Co. , 1999. Isbister, J. N. Freud, An Introduction to his Life and Work.Oxford: Polity Press, 1985. Jones, Ernest. The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud. Eds. , Lionell Trilling and Steven Marcus. New York: Basic Books, 1961. Jung, Carl. The Undiscovered Self. London: Signet Books, 2006. Knapp, Steven. â€Å"Collective Memory and the Actual Past. † Representations 26 (1989): 123-49. Lawler, Steph. Mothering the Self: Mothers, Daughters, Subjects. New York: Routledge, 2000. Longman’s Modern English Dictionary. London: Longman Harlow Ltd. , 1968. Marthe, Robert. The Psychoanalyti c Revolution. London: Avon Books, 1968.

Heritage Assessment Essay

In all aspects, the background of any medical practitioner determines the overall attitude, aptitudes and performance of the practitioner. This paper seeks to identify this correlation with due reference to Culture Care Guide to Heritage Assessment by Spector (2009). The guide ardently utilizes the tools inherent in the guide in developing basic nursing principles within the fraternity. Within the guide, the write uses self experience in analyzing the traditions in the nursing profession. This paper seeks to make a clear comparison between the family of the writer and two other families in relation to their overall approach to health issues. The issues given expended attention are promotion, maintenance and restoration of health. The paper undertakes a dissection of how families adhere to subscribed health practices and traditions. Thereafter, the paper will give a brief overview of the author’s professional nursing heritage. Heritage Assessment Tools According Spector, the response of any patient to medication depends to a reasonable extend on the patient’s heritage, language and background. Spector (Spector S. , p 9) argues that the health of any individual can expressed in terms of the experiences and the expectation of individuals. Consequently, most of the medical professionals will tend to identify their experiences with their own heritage. Vividly, the understanding of the self assists one to be able to understand the other party. Within the precincts of this assertion (Spector S. , p 34) it’s imperative, according to Spector, that practitioners first understand themselves. There seems to be a tremendous paradigm shift within the American medical fraternity. This shift has been apparently precipitated by the trends in migration and the immigration patterns. By any feasible standards it appears arguably tenable that the mixing of the cultures has also contributed to the changing trends in Medicare. One of the key and outstanding aspects of the present medical system in the United States of America is that any practitioners have to ardently understand the myriads of the ethno cultures. To be able to understand the varied medical needs of the mixed cultures, two other cultures have to be identified for any feasible heritage assessment. The comparison is tidal as it does reveal the differences and similarities, if any, in the heritages of people with distinct backgrounds. Consequently, the analysis assists in the understanding of the different approaches to the maintenance of the varied heritage and their socialization prospects (Spector S. , p 16). The assessment also seeks to understand the acculturation process within the American system. In analyzing the heritage of the writer, the writer completed 29 questions that were designed for the Heritage Assessment. The instructions on the Heritage assessment Tool were very explicit asserting that if the degree of one identifying with their own culture was high, there would be a high number of the positives. The writer (Spector S. p 28) argues that after the family moved to a new place in the united states, despite the different socialization, she was assimilated, developing newer cultural identity. The writer argues that much as her culture and the heritage have determined her health and life values, the time of growth have played a bigger role. The promotion of health would be supported and promoted through a number of practices and routine activities. If the weather is very cold, anybody is expected to dress in a manner that is appropriate to ensure that the individual does not contract ailment related to cold. In addition, individual are expected to take part in the physical activities such as can keep their bodies physically healthy. Similarly, (Spector S. , p 23) the use of the right foods also assists in the promotion of good health. The food eaten assists in the reducing the likelihood of contracting certain ailments. The use of these foods is a practice that is developed over time. Clearly, this is where the heritage and the culture of any individual come in. This is indicative of the fact that the health promotion is a result of a multifaceted practice. The medical fitness of any individual as result of a conglomerations of numerous aspects which will play a role in the restoration, the promotion and the subsequent prevention of any ailments. When the first individual was assessed, it emerged that the religious foods were inevitable in the diet of the respondent. Clearly, if the diet is balanced through the use of the religious foods, the health of the individual will be maintained. This appears common in believers who are staunch. The assessment of the second individual showed that the individual was religious and that for him, physical activities were inevitable. The individual asserted that the father had insisted that every day in the morning he does some drills before going to school. Besides, the individual indicated that his food was not tied to religion. Vividly, unlike the first individual, the accumulation of fats would be unconceivable with such traits. Perhaps for this family physical activity had been turned into a culture (Spector S. p 12). Consequently, this would promote the health of the individual. Professional heritage The writer has a strong bond towards the profession, not as a result of any family ties but as individual innate desires towards the profession. Having yearned to be a professional in the area, the writer makes all the efforts in ensuring that the profession is practical even in his home. He practices various recommended health tenets. Subsequently, this not only promotes his personal health, but it also does enhance the transmission of the same practices to both the patients and the neighborhood. Conclusion It can be adduced from the foregoing discussion that the medical wellbeing of any individual is not only dependent on the culture but also on the habits that are implanted in an individual by the environment. The environment will be inclusive of the family, the religious group and the community. The practice of the professional ethics and sobriety will also depend on the environment and the innate aptitudes.

Equality of Condition Essay

In his book â€Å"democracy in America†, Alexis de Tocqueville provides a thorough study of the equality of condition as a distinctive feature of the democratic America and discusses some of the consequences it might have. He begins his writing by introducing the reader that during his stay in America the equality of condition struck his attention the most. In America, the democracy has reached another level that has never been seen before or experienced in any of the European countries but that are slowly progressing towards it. This level of democracy has created a society in which all persons are legally understood to be socially and politically equal. Despite all the benefits that the equality of condition brings to the society, it also tends to isolate people from one another and cut them off from the social beliefs and values. When this form of isolation is transformed into an extreme form of individualism, it creates selfishness and egoism among people. When these people come together to form a majority which in a democratic society enjoys a great amount of power, it might cause the tyranny of majority – de Tocqueville’s main concern. The concept of equality of condition is more complex than it first seems and a society based on this fact poses a threat to freedom. De Tocqueville argues that â€Å"the influence of the equality of condition extends far beyond the political character and the laws of the country and it has no less empire over the civil society than over the government, it creates opinions, gives birth to new sentiments, founds novel customs and modifies whatever it does not produce† (â€Å"Democracy in America† Heffner ed., 26). It is important to depict from this quote that a society based on the equality of condition, above all, creates the common opinion. In an equal society, the fact that all the members are resembled enables them to trust and support the common judgment and opinion. Furthermore, de Tocqueville argues that all the inhabitants of the democratic society are individually equal and independent to each other but if one individual alone tends to contrast the â€Å"totality of his fellows†, he will find himself insignificant and weak. Therefore in a democratic society, the public has, as de Tocqueville calls, â€Å"a singular power† where it enforces certain opinions and infuses such opinions in the intellect of their mind. Considering that in a democratic society, it is the majority that takes decisions, the public opinion will then become the law creating political omnipotence. Therefore, de Tocqueville claims that in the US the majority comes up with opinions and the individuals although they develop their personal thoughts have to adopt those that the majority offers since they, alone, are unable to contrast them. This, in turn, discourages and in a way prohibits them from developing their own intellectual thoughts. Thus, the equality of condition that gives rise to the majority opinion poses a great threat to the individual freedom of thought. During his stay in America, de Tocqueville discovered that the American people appeal only to their own individual effort of its own understanding. He has found that in America the tie which unites generation is broken and that nobody traces or cares about the ideas of their forefathers. In a society where everybody is equal and classes tend to disappear, no man can have an intellectual influence in the mind of another man since nobody looks at his fellows as being superior. Therefore, de Tocqueville argues that in a society based on the equality of condition, not only the trust of one man on another is destroyed but also the intellectual authority on any man. In absence of such intellectual authority, people develop their own believes and judgments within themselves different from the rest of the society. In the absence of an intellectual trustworthy authority capable of imposing social beliefs and values, people are left to seek the truth alone and when they fail to do so or such truth is against their personal judgment, they simply ignore it. Thus, an equally conditioned society tends to isolate people from one another and cut them off from a common set of social beliefs and values. This isolation that results from the equality of condition has dangerous consequences if it reaches extreme levels which de Tocqueville calls individualism. As a result of the individualism, the selfishness and the egoism of people will be born. The egoism and selfishness cause people in this society to develop a love for material gratification a love for richness. They want to acquire everything for themselves even if it is done in the expense of other people. Furthermore, according to de Tocqueville, these individuals do not change their character as they unite with each other or grow in number. In fact, they tend to enforce those selfish opinions but on a greater scale. The majority they create will then act as one selfish individual and in a pure democratic society is given the power to make laws and take decisions on behalf of everybody. Therefore, such a majority consisting of egoist people who fulfill their needs and greed in the expense of the other people composing a minority creates the tyranny of majority. In a democratic society, the ultimate reason that the tyranny of majority occurs, is the individualism which separates people from each other and from the social values and beliefs and allows people to establish selfish opinions that hurt the other people. Therefore, de Tocqueville argues that the establishment of â€Å"family†, â€Å"religion† and â€Å"patriotism† are necessary protections against such tyranny because they bring people together and enforce on them social and moral values. Families bind people together and connect them with each other. Members of the family are taught to sacrifice some of their personal gratification for his ancestors and descendants. Therefore, the establishments of families attempt to fight the selfishness that individualism has created. The members of the family in their childhood are taught morals and social values. The elderly in the family can influence the young ones because they are perceived to have some intellectual authority. Therefore, the family brings people close to each other, where one member of the family cares about the others, and to the social values avoiding the isolation. Patriotism also fights the selfishness and brings people together. De Tocqueville sees patriotism as one citizen making a personal sacrifice for the greater welfare of the public. He also argues that in a patriotic society people do not fail to faithfully support each other. A patriotic person believes that it is his duty to make himself useful to other fellow citizens. Therefore, patriotism also creates a strong community where the members care about one another. It breaks the isolation and consequently the individualism that the equality of condition creates. Religion also brings people close to each other and to the social and moral values. De Tocqueville argues that every religion places the object of men’s desire above any treasurer in the earth. Every religion imposes duties on men towards his fellow citizens and draws him away from the contemplation of himself. Furthermore, the main concern of religion is to purify and restrict the excessive and exclusive taste for well being which men in the periods of equality wishes. Man cannot be cured by the love of the riches but they may be persuaded to enrich themselves by none but honest means (â€Å"Democracy in America† Heffner ed., 152). Thus, religion serves as a superior intellectual authority which brings people together to each other and also enforces on them moral values that people abide to. In essence it fights both the isolation and the selfishness of people. The â€Å"family†, â€Å"patriotism† and â€Å"religion† fulfill the absence of a superior intellectual authority, create a strong community and bring people close to the social and moral values which lack in an egalitarian society. De Tocqueville emphasizes the importance of associations in a democratic society. In his opinion an association consists of a group people united by a common interest and who agree to promote their ideas in a certain manner. Simply, associations guide a group of people with divergent minds towards achieving a specific end. In order for an association to exist it has to have the liberty to create an opinion and the freedom to meet which a democratic society grants to them. De Tocqueville distinguishes between two types of associations; the political association and the civic association. The political association besides having the two liberties mentioned above, they also have the liberty to unite into electoral bodies and chose their representatives. A political association acts as a government within a government where the delegates of the association represent the collective force of their party just like the delegates of the majority. The civic associations include a large number of organizations starting from building inns, churches, schools and hospitals. While the political associations have one major goal that they try to achieve by electing delegates; the civic associations are less formal, include a larger number and attempt to improve the social life in the society. Political associations are sometimes used to organize revolutions like those in Europe whereas the civic associations are voluntarily created and peaceful in their nature. The political associations are similar to the political parties today who elect their delegates and compete for offices. The civic associations are very similar to the interest groups where a group of people form an organization and express their point of view in certain issues and attempt to influence those who already occupy offices. The civic associations like the interest groups include a greater variety of interests. De Tocqueville goes further to argue that the political and civic associations are necessary to retain an active community life in a democratic society. De Tocqueville argues that in a democratic society all the citizens are independent and feeble and they, alone, cannot do anything and cannot oblige another person to assist them. They all become powerless if they do not learn to help each other voluntarily. If they do not form associations, which are simply artificial ways of binding people, they might preserve their wealth but their independence as well as their civilization will be in jeopardy. Furthermore, in a democratic society, as I have discussed earlier, people tend to get isolated from tone another. Therefore, since civic associations are very diverse, they are necessary to voluntarily bring people together and create ties among them. Thus, they are crucial to retain an active sense of community life. The political and civic associations are very important in a democratic society in the attempt to avoid the tyranny of the majority. The minorities can create political associations and elect their delegates in order to directly fight the oppressive laws created by the majority. The civic associations can also be used by minorities to create a larger group and then together voice their opinion. The associations are also used to bring people together and avoid the creation of individualism which is very likely in a society based on the equality of condition. Political and civic associations are, therefore, necessary schools for democracy because they teach us how to avoid the tyranny of majority in advanced democracies. De Tocqueville’s philosophy is still relevant for our own time. Nowadays, the political and civic associations play a very important role in creating communities. As countries become more democratic, the number of associations in those countries increases because people as individuals become powerless and they are unable to defend their beliefs on their own. Today, the political and civic associations are very common and much more active that they have ever been. The political and civic associations enable people to unite and become active members of the society. As people join different organizations, they agree to help and support other fellow citizens. People unite and form associations because they have strong feelings for a cause they fight although such a cause might not directly affect them. Therefore, political and civic associations tend to correct and remove selfishness from the people. The existence of a large number of associations is the reason why we have not exp erienced the tyranny of majority although a number of countries have reached advanced levels of democracy.

Teacher Interview (Behavior) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Teacher Interview (Behavior) - Essay Example When students were not on good behavior, they would receive a warning for the first offense. Then, with the 2nd offense, the student would lose 15 minutes of recess and with the 3rd offense, they would lose 20 minutes of recess and receive a call home. The teacher believed that these problems occurred from students being bored or restless in the less structured time period of the transition. Interview 2 4th grade classroom In this interview, the teacher found that most behavior problems occurred during long periods of quiet, individual seat work. Examples would be during mathematics drill times or when working on book worksheets. The most common problems were talking, not being on task, being disruptive to other students and moving around the room. The classroom management system in places used positive and negative reinforcement to manage student behavior. The teacher modeled a checkbook system, which not only allowed children to become more knowledgeable about checks and checkbooks , but help them practice practically applied addition and subtraction as well. Students receive a check for $30 in the morning, each school day. Students who are not on good behavior receive a warning for the first offense.

Implication of planning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Implication of planning - Essay Example ill Neighborhood Association, can bring the suit, for the claim or action that the decision by the City Council to rezone land that was previously zoned for single-family development on three-acre lots is invalid since the are no conditions or changes in conditions in the surrounding area warranting it. They should argue that the subject land was suitable as had been previously owned. They must try and convince the court in their application that the rezoning by the City Council somehow do not have any substantial bearing or relationship to safety, general welfare, public health, morals or preserve and protect cultural and cultural areas and places. Additionally, the Willow Hill Neighborhood Association needs to convince the court that the decision to rezone by the City Council severely affect to a large extent upon surrounding lands, by arguing and asserting that, the rezoning is in a way inconsistent with the zoning in the neighboring lands. It would be worth if The Willow Hill Nei ghborhood Association, in addition, argues that, the rezoning may result in substantial detriment to the neighboring lands (Mandelker). As mentioned earlier, The Willow Hill Neighborhood Association, should claim for the action that the City Council acted arbitrarily in making the decision to rezone. It is worth mentioning that, action or decision by the City Council, which should be considered as spot zoning, is a preferential action that in some sense defeats the already existing comprehensive plan. If and when the Willow Hill Neighborhood Association win the suit against the City Council for rezoning one edge and across the street of the previously existing Ordinance that designated the land for single-family development on three-acre lots, to a multifamily residential development, they are likely to get a relief such as the court issuing a judgment declaring the decision of the City Council as constituting a spot zoning this is not in any way warranted by any conditional

Abuse of Drugs Prescription in a Primary Care and Its Prevention Research Paper

Abuse of Drugs Prescription in a Primary Care and Its Prevention - Research Paper Example As a result, medical practitioners and their respective patients have been in a constant limbo as to the trend that may bridge their status quo to future developments. This then has often resulted in the usage of narcotics primarily intended for malignant pain to chronic pain associated to either non-malignant cancer or even to some extent, primary care (Schneider, 1998).   Ã‚   According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the improper prescription and usage of drugs has remarkably increased from 2008 to 2009 (Cullen et al., 2009). From an over-all rate of 8.0% in 2008 for individuals aged 12 and above, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) noted a 0.7% increase in 2009. The Survey maintained that the significant increase is attributable to the prevalent usage of marijuana in teens and partly to the loose prescription of these narcotics of health practitioners to their patients.    Abuse of Prescription of Narcotics in Primary Care    Serious Threat of Opioid Abuse In the medical field, pain has been categorized in two. That is, the pain associated with malignant cancer on the one hand, and the pain allied with non-malignant cancer and other chronic pain. ... Following the medical prescription of opioid analgesics, misuse and abuse of the said narcotic have been the concomitant consequences. That is, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (2009 Report) and the Drug Abuse Warning Network (2010), the United States is now faced with an alarming threat of opioid abuse. Chronic Non-Cancer Pain in Primary Care and Use of Opioids It is estimated that about 50 million Americans experience non-cancer chronic pain and a significant 41% of that population or approximately 20 million patients state that their prescriptions do little to alleviate the pain (Becker et al. 2011). Chronic pain associated with conditions other than cancer is usually treated in primary care clinics (Cullen et al., 2009). Extent of Opioid Misuse in Primary Care and Causes    Von Korff, Kolodny, Deyo and Chou (2011) stated that empirical evidence that would ascertain the degree of drug abuse and misuse among primary care patients are not available, but the surveys conducted to that effect have significantly shown the frequency of prescription ranges from a low of 4% to a notable 26%. However, this increase in opioid misuse and abuse is not singularly attributed to its widespread recognition (Wilsey et al., 2009). Primary Care Givers’ Need for Adequate Knowledge on Preventing Opioid Misuse The widespread abuse of opioid pain suppressants is not to be singularly attributed to the medical acceptance given to the said drug. Salloum (2010) stresses the importance of the said drug and maintains that the public should not let certain consequences of its prescription to obscure its advantages. However, certain parameters must be enacted so as to delimit and control its use and somehow combat the abuse and misuse

The friendship of Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin Essay

The friendship of Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin - Essay Example The essay "The friendship of Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin" discovers the relationships between Paul Gauguin and Vincent Van Gogh. The other anticipation that Gauguin had was that he could establish a more intimate painting connection with Van Gogh, and out of it they could bring their painting talent together to create other a successful painting empire, like the two sunflowers painting that Van Gogh had created. In this respect, Gauguin anticipated that he could tap on his friend’s talent and make some impressive paintings during this vacation. The last of his anticipation was that he would continue building on his friendship with Van Gogh and his brother Theo, owing to the fact that Van Gogh had invited and waited for Gauguin for long, while Theo was the one who encouraged him to visit the Yellow House. The expectations that Paul Gauguin had while visiting Van Gogh was that out of their friendship and combined efforts, success for the two relatively new yet older artist s would spark a more beautiful life for the two of them, owing the fact that both had shared a similarity in living a depressed life previously. When he arrived at Van Gogh’s house, things turned out to be different, since the anticipated happiness and the cordial relationship they sought to create did not come about. The friendly connections lasted a little while, and then arguments between them started drawing them apart, as they could neither agree on the locations where they should paint, nor the mode of painting to adapt.

Reflection papers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Reflection papers - Essay Example Many local musicians continually win international fame in the music arena owing to their sensational music that hits the global audience. For instance, the up-tempo Arabic tune of Princess Diana remains acclaimed piece of art that has influenced the nature of the Western music especially in San Francisco (Tomasino 2005). Music pervades the limits of the artistes region and receives global attention depending on the ability of the singer to coin the message of the songs in a manner that suits the diverse audience. Recent progress in the music industry however gives the impression that music artistry has become more audience-demand motivated than self-manipulative. Despite the remarkable progress made in the music industry, music piracy remains a public concern for the American music (Tomasino, 2005). Piracy takes the form of sales of illegally recorded music and general illegal acquisition of music segments without the consent of the songwriter. Furthermore, reception of global music threatens to scuttle the dominance of local music in various regions, though music domination has to be responsive to the changing audience base that has the access to a variety of international music. It is undeniable that piracy threatens the progress in the music industry yet its progress is dependent on the rewards that the artistes gain from their music. The music industry is obliged to remain manipulative and more responsive to changes in the global audience expectations in order to retain

Regional Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Regional Paper - Essay Example This trend of regional integration, irrefutably, posts opportunities for business organizations and gives birth to multinational companies. The formation of free trade zones and regional blocs irrefutable lowers the cost of business operation because generally, it encourages countries to attract the inflow of foreign direct investments through tax holidays and other financial incentives. It should be noted that this practice is very common especially in developing countries where foreign direct investment is viewed as a way to curb unemployment, increase local competition, enhance the efficiency of the domestic industry players and stimulate the whole economy. Regional integration also opens doors for other business activities through joint venture, licensing, franchising, and others. Regional integration also posts opportunities of costs savings to business organizations. Through trade blocs, companies are also able to take advantage of lower input costs of certain materials which can be readily imported from other countries since tariffs and quotas are eliminated. It should also be noted that globalization also made possible the transfer of service from one country to another. Coupled with the rapid development and wide popularity of the internet and other advance technologies, business organizations are able to lower their costs of operation by outsourcing various back-office services from countries which have relatively lower wage requirements but with a pool of skilled workforce. Through business process outsourcing, companies enhance their profitability by incurring lower operational expenses while enabling them to focus on their major activities and core competencies. The North American Free Trade Agreement is a regional bloc with members including Canada, Mexico, and United States (North American Free Trade Agreement 2006). It is apparent that the countries comprising this regional bloc present different stages of economic development. During the time of integration, the United States is already recognized as one of the economic superpowers in the world with its high level of GDP and wages. The United State's largest sector in the economy is the services which employs almost 75% of the entire population (US Department of State 2007). Similarly, Canada is one of the world's wealthiest nations with its high per capita income. This country has been growing rapidly in the past years with low unemployment rate and large government surpluses on the federal level. The country has remarkably maintained the best economic performance in the G8 since the recession in 2001. It should be noted that Canada is the second largest nation in the world next to the United States (US Department of State 2007). Mexico, in comparison, lags behind its trade partners in terms of economic performance. Even though it recently manages to improve its income, Mexico still suffers from the large disparity of income between the upper and lower social classes. Compared to its trading partners, the country has a far lower wage rate (US Department of State 2007). With its establishment in the 1994, this agreement has brought numerous developments in each of the countries' business sector. For one,

Philosophy - Is Memory Reliable Essay Example for Free

Philosophy Is Memory Reliable Essay How would I prove that my memory or reasoning processes are reliable? There really is no good way to answer this question. My first thought was, well that should be easy, because I can prove my memory is reliable by the fact that I remember where class is every day that I show up. If I can remember where the classroom is, that must show my memory is reliable. But then I realized that I’m relying on a memory to come up with that example. This makes the question seem like a paradox to even try and answer, because in order to figure out if there is a way to prove my memory is reliable, I must use my memory to recall memories that might apply, and I must also assume the accuracy of the memories I might draw from as example. I cannot prove memory reliability by using logic drawn from the assumption that the memories I used are reliable. This seems to create a fallacy in logic before even getting started. In reality it seems easy to say that yes, although our memories are sometimes wrong, generally more often than not they are right. We know this because we recall from our memory many times each day to do the simplest tasks. If our memory was that flawed, we would be unable to survive on a day to day basis. Where do I get water? How do I get food? How do I drive a car? While this does show that we are able to rely on our memories to complete everyday tasks, it doesn’t prove our memory is consistently true. We cannot be sure that any memory we’ve ever had actually happened exactly the way we remember it (unless material sources are used, like video or pictures to back up the memory) because of a multitude of problems with memory like delusion and distortion. Memories can be easily manipulated and altered in many different ways, from simple re-telling where little details may be unwittingly changed each time a memory is told, to the power of suggestion in which an entirely false memory can be implanted into a persons mind and believed to be true by that person. Although these memories may seem very real to us, even to the point where we are willing to fight for their reliability, they are still factually false. This actually happens a lot! Although it practice these issues with memory exist, they are mostly ignored because we typically use other methods beyond memory alone to help collaborate what we remember. We are validated by others who share the same memory, photos, ect. So although in a philosophical world it seems impossible to find solid clear evidence that memory is truly reliable, but it seems silly, and even dangerous to continually doubt that memory can be reliably called upon. For example, I decide to cross the road without looking both ways because I cannot be sure that being hit by a car would kill me. I might have seen and heard of people being killed by cars in the past, but if I doubt my own memory how could I be sure that speeding cars have the potential to actually kill people. Because of this seemingly correct logic I might then be hit by a car and become a victim of what many would say is clear common sense. So although there is no good way to prove the reliability of memory, we must still rely on it all the same.

What Made Coca Cola Achieve Superior Performance

What Made Coca Cola Achieve Superior Performance Coca Cola has been operating in the industry since 1886 and is continue leading industry at this date. As the worlds largest beverage company today, Coca Cola has business operation to more than 200 countries found in Eurasia, Africa, Europe, North America, Latin America, and the Pacific, marketing a portfolio of 500 brands and 3300 beverage products. In 2009, Coca Cola ranked 26th in the BW 50 and bagged the recognition having the best brand name by the Interbrand. Commenter of the BW 50 especially mentioned that Coca Cola has triumphed over difficult times because of its innovative spirit. In particular, the companys innovative strategy involves preserving the companys values that made Coca cola remarkable and that is by taking its brand image of wholesomeness and family and friends and applying the values in a new category. Moreover, studies have shown that companies that invested in innovations during recessions have recorded the biggest jump in profits. The innovative spirit of Coca Cola is one of the key factors that contributed for the companys superior performance, that is, its innovation strategy gave the company the competitive advantage over its competitors. A competitive advantage is something that provides incremental value when compared to other offerings, wherein value is the perception of how much the buyer benefit ted beyond what was being paid in the product. In order to create value, the four Ps of marketing (that constitute the marketing mix) product, price, place, promotion have to be observed and practiced effectively. Dwyer and Tanner (2006) assert that innovation can be in the form of innovative marketing strategy, innovative manufacturing processes or innovative corporate structure. Also, companies that display the innovative spirit were found to have a corporate culture that supported innovation. Such a culture is dominated by a desire for the company to grow, to improve and to take advantage of all possible opportunities. That is, innovative companies tend to focus on opportunity risk (Dwyer Tanner 2006). With regards to Coca Colas strategy, the innovation comes in the form of innovative marketing strategy embracing the values that made it famous. Moreover, studies have consistently shown that key factors contribute to the likelihood of success of a company. One factor is vision, or the degree to which the development team shares a vision of what the new development project is supposed to accomplish. Another factor is a structured new product development process. Finally, having a long term perspective is another important characteristic. In many ways, these factors may be characteristics of an innovative culture. As Peter Drucker (1985) wrote, When all is said and done, what innovation requires is hard, focused, purposeful work. The literature also points five key components of success; namely close ties to well-defined market that lead to a product advantage; highly integrated and market-oriented company; competitive advantages in technology and production, strong marketing proficiency, and strong financial support. First, if the company has close ties to well-defined market, then it is able to anticipate customer needs, creating a product advantage. In this case, product advantage is the dominant factor in success (Cooper and Kleinschmidt 1987). Second, there must be close coordination between all who participate in the new product development process. A market-oriented company selects its targets more wisely and offers a product mix better matched to customer preferences. Third, the company must have competitive advantage technology and production capability, with which the new product is a good fit. These first three factors should result in a product or service that is unique and delivers superior benefits. The fourth element is that the company must have a strong marketing proficiencyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦The last but essential component is that the company must have strong financial support for its product launch and must take advantage of the marketing proficiencyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦These factors were identified in studies involving tangible products and services. In addition, it helps to choose a market with a high growth rate (Dwyer and Tanner 2006). Coca Colas focus on beverage creation and marketing enables the company to understand and meet the diverse and ever-changing beverage needs and desires of the consumers from all over the globe. The magnitude of Coca Colas advertising and distribution system enabled the company to easily market new non-alcoholic drinks as well as mineral water. Because of this, despite continuously changing consumer taste and preference, Coca Cola maintained its competitive advantage and lions share in the industry. Moreover, Coca Cola marketing campaigns such as Its the Real Thing, The Pause the Refreshes, Things Go Better with Coke and the latest Happiness have further enticed more consumers to try the companys products. In effect of the strong marketing proficiency, the company has become a global selling company with about 1.6 billion servings of products being consumed every day. Coca cola growth strategy in three ways/directions during 1996 olympic games: Emotional branding,the main idea was to let consumers experience the experience instead of product. Main focus was made on recognition of worlds diversity and individuality, and makes connection brands core ingredient. Company made it obvious to consumers that it recognizes its global status. Artworks: Coca cola bottles were used as canvas by 53 artists from different countries to express their spirit, cultural values, customs and traditions. Some of the artworks were so successful that were put on permanent display at theWorld of coca cola in las vegas. Just In Time advertising: during the Olympic games company ran 88 different TV commercials for 17 days. Each commercial was devoted to a particular theme of the Games and was never repeated. This is a very good example of global advertising campaign, as the advertisments ran simultaneously in 135 countries. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Another way Coca-Cola tackled this strategy was through art. With Coca-Cola bottles as the canvas, artists from 53 different countries created works of art using local materials while capturing the spirit of their native traditions and cultures. Among the works, a six-foot-tall replica of Stonehenge from England and a ten-foot bottle made of rattan, wood and grass from the Philippines. The artwork received amazing reviews as many of the bottles went on world tour. Some of the bottles have even been put on permanent display at the sWorld of Coca-Cola in Las Vegas to demonstrate the global power of the Coca-Cola Company that parallels with the international Olympic Gamesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦The third way the company embarked upon this global growth strategy was with Just In Time advertising. Coke screened 88 separate television commercials, and over the 17 days of the Olympic Games, none of them was repeated. Each spot was also carefully bought to target that particular progra ms specific audience. The 17 commercials, one for each day of the Games, reflected the theme of the day and the latest Olympic news to the 135 countries the advertisement ran. These three global growth strategies proved very successful for Coca-Cola. (http://www.unc.edu/~jdee/creativestrategy.html) Further, using the social media, Coca Cola have invested on archives that collect advertising as well as marketing materials. The archives document the crossing point between the companys products and its consumers. It contains advertising and marketing materials from the newspapers, magazines, radio, advertisements and commercials and also photo collection that depicts international and domestic distribution of Coca Colas products. Blogs are then created that promotes the company with focus on heritage and pop culture. Through this resource, the company is able to get new information from the followers of social media. In this way, the company is learning new ideas helpful for future strategies. An example of this is the Fan-based strategy of Coca Cola, as cited from a literature: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Coca-Cola used the fan-based strategy in an attempt to differentiate itself from traditional Olympic advertising, which used athletes. The For the Fans campaign went into action with a series of ads featuring actual photographs of fans drinking Coke at Olympic Games from 1928 onward. The first two commercials aired during the week of March 6, 1996 and featured black and white photos from previous Olympics showing fans in Switzerland holding Coca-Cola bottles. In the next step, Coke focused on a series of ads highlighting real life stories about how Coke has made a difference to young aspiring athletes. Finally, for the third step, Coke used commercials, print ads, and posters that addressed whether the enthusiasm of the fans makes a real difference to the outcome of the sporting event. The answer was resoundingly yes. (http://www.unc.edu/~jdee/creativestrategy.html) According to Dwyer and Tanner (2006) learning is when we connect new information to what we already know. Learning organization is one that consistently creates and refines its capabilities by connecting new information and skills to known and remembers requisite for future success. Organizational learning is the process of developing new knowledge that has the potential to influence behavior. Learning facilitates behavior change that leads to better performance. Many executive have said that the only truly sustainable competitive advantage is to be able to learn faster than competition, a contention supported by research. Moreover, the companys competitive advantages are explored in the following: buyer bargaining power, supplier bargaining power, barriers to entry, intensity of competition and threat of substitute. Among the customers of Coca Cola, the restaurants have the largest bargaining power. Coca Cola earns the largest profit margins from the large purchase volume made by authorized bottlers on its concentrates, in which the bottled beverages are then passed on the customers (restaurant chains). The overall bargaining powers of the buyers have given Coca Cola an average of 28% operating margin. In terms of raw materials, Coca Cola established a good bargaining power with its suppliers. The companys financial situation, e.g., high and stable gross profit margin of 65% indicates that there is low risk for the bargaining power of the suppliers to affect Coca Colas profitability. Also, high earning per capita of the companys employees reveals that the company has relatively low sensitivity to labor costs changes. The company has established exceptional network of distribution system throughout the globe that enables the company to enjoy economies of scale, and hence a remarkable competitive advantage that created barriers for new entrants to participate in the industry. Also, the companys strong brand and large scale advertising provided the company a barrier to competition. Further, the companys strong brands have reduced competition in the consumer staple sector. Disruptive Innovation Theory: Among the companies providing goods and services to consumers around the globe, only 10% are able to maintain and sustain a level of growth that is acceptable for the shareholders, while the rest of the 90% are not able to. Though these 90% have been applying the best strategies to make the business survive like investments on technological innovations, mindful of healthy competition and customers feedback, these efforts are not enough. The requirements of long-term sustainable success not only include the right normal strategies but also disruptive strategies in innovation. The core principle of disruptive innovation theory is that the innovation made by companies tends to have a faster pace that the changes in the customers lives. Hence, to maintain growth, a company must not only create innovations but also must be able to retain its core offerings and should always continue to practice sustainable innovation In the case of Coca Cola, though the company has been operating for quite a long time already, and can actually be considered as a very old company in the industry, it continues to hold a large share in the industry and even expand its market. The reason is that though Coca Cola adapts innovations, it is still able to embrace the values that made Coca Cola remarkable in the first place. In particular, the company preserved its brand image of wholesomeness and family and friends and continuously applying the brand image to new categories. Innovation Index One indicator that Coca Cola engages in innovations is the Innovation Index published by the UTEK Corporation. The latest Strategos/wRatings Innovation Index result of the UTEK Corporation confirms that Coca Cola continues to be innovative, with index score of 78.04 and leads the ranking of innovation performance of food and beverage companies. The SW Innovation Index is based on end-consumers feedbacks on the tangible benefits that they have obtained for the companies products. Corporate Sustainability In terms of corporate sustainability, Coca Cola initiated its Commitment 2020 plan. The plan outlines Coca Colas goals for the next 10 years which include minimization of water usage, reduction of carbon footprint by 15%, retrieval of 100% of the packaging and increase campaign on recycling. The company also plans to use local resources and pledge to eliminate potent greenhouse gases called HFCs (or hydroflourocarbons) by 2015. Literature views Corporate sustainability as: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦a new and evolving corporate management paradigm. The term paradigm is used deliberately, in that corporate sustainability is an alternative to the traditional growth and profit-maximization modelà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦it recognizes that corporate growth and profitability are important and re requires the company to practice the goals of the society, especially those relating to sustainable development like economic development, protection of the environment, social justice, and equityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the concept borrows elements from four more established concepts: sustainable development; corporate social responsibility; stakeholder theory; corporate accountability theory. ..Sustainable development need for economic growth with environmental protection and social equity to meets the needs of present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ corporate social responsibility deals with the role of business in society wit h the premise that corporate managers have an ethical obligation to consider and address the needs of society, not just to act solely in the interests of the shareholders or their own self-interestà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Stakeholder theory asserts that the stronger the companys relationships are with other external parties, the easier it will be to meet your corporate business objectives; the worse your relationships, the harder it will be. Strong relationships with stakeholders are those based on trust, respect, and cooperationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ is corporate accountability is the legal or ethical responsibility to provide an account or reckoning of the actions for which the company is held responsible (www.sunstar.com.ph). The 2020 Vision of Coca Cola maintains that the company will double its global servings per day to 3 billion from 1.6 billion and will double system revenue and improve margins. If this is pulled-off as planned, along with their dividend payout and stock buybacks, it will create solid shareholder returns over a 10 year period. In 2009, Coca Cola publicized its new plastic bottle made partially from plants. The PlantBottle is a fully recyclable bottle and is made from a combination of petroleum-based materials and plant-based materials. In this instance, Coca Cola have made an innovative product. Quoting from the companys website: The Coca-Cola Company the first company to introduce a beverage bottle made with recycled plastic has been focused on ensuring the sustainability of its packaging for decades. It has put resources behind creating packaging that is recyclable and investing in recycling infrastructure to ensure that its packages are collected, recycled, and re-used. Earlier this year, the Company opened the worlds largest plastic bottle-to-bottle recycling plant in Spartanburg, S.C. The plant will produce approximately 100 million pounds of recycled PET plastic for reuse each year the equivalent of nearly 2 billion 20-ounce Coca-Cola bottles. These efforts are all focused on helping close the loop on packaging use and produce truly sustainable packages for consumers (www.thecoca-colacompany.com.). Financial Performance As one of the well-known companies worldwide, Coca Cola currently is trading at a reasonable value. At the end of 2009, the company has published an 8.7 revenue growth, earning growth of 11%, and cash flow growth of 11%. The average annual dividend of the company is $1.76 but entering 2010, the dividend yields 3.26% with a 3-year dividend growth of 10%. Coca Cola showed remarkable performance over the decades. The companys financial performances over the years are reflected in the table below: 2009 2008 2007 2006 Revenue Growth $B 30.99 31.994 28.857 24.088 Earnings Growth $B 6.906 5.807 5.981 5.080 Cash Flow Growth $B 8.186 7.571 7.150 5.957 Dividend Growth Dividend $ 1.64 1.52 1.36 1.24 Yield % 3.28 3.04 2.5 2.8 The financial health of the company is outstanding. Coca Colas net profit margin is at 22% at the end of 2009, which is higher as compared to its competitors like PepsiCo (with only 14% net profit margin). Analysts and investors also considered the cash flow as the life blood of any business. Cash flow is used as a core indicator of a firms financial health and viability and it is considered as a good gauge to quickly judge a firms financial performance. As an indicator, a negative cash flow, on one hand, indicates that the firm is financially troubled. No firm can keep on operating if cash flow is negative. On the other hand, positive cash flow, when cash is increasing, indicates that the firm is financially healthy (at least for the period) and can be able to pay its bills. In relation to this, Coca Colas cash flow exhibits a growth of 11%, from $7.571 billion in 1998 to $8.186 billion in 1999. In terms of dividend growth, the company has recorded increases in dividends for years in a row that made Coca Cola to be among the top in the list of dividend aristocrat. The current companys stock yields 3.28%. The companys dividend has also increased by 7.3%. Moreover, the companys payout ratio is currently at 56%. Moreover, Coca Cola has a long-term debt-equity ratio of 0.20 while the current debt-equity ratio is 1.3 So, in terms of financial conditions, Coca Cola is financially healthy demonstrating a fairly good dividend growth. The company has the highest profit margins in the food and beverage industry, diversified brands, a strong brand, extreme international exposure, and a solid growth. The companys price-earning ratio is also playing a little above 18, which is not bad. Further, the company has concrete revenue, earnings, and cash flow growth. The stock offers an above average dividend yield, and has been diligently increasing dividends over the past 48 years. This is the type of company that just works, period. You dont need billions of dollars in reinvested research and development to sell more Coke, and the products dont get replaced overnight. The Return Driven Strategic Framework The Return Strategy Model is based on three dimensions of performance namely superior and sustainable return on investment, growth while maintaining superior return on investment, and superior total shareholder return. The model serves as the fundamentals of business strategies. It is the result of combining extensive research and real world applications of great corporate performances over ten years or more. The strategy examines the commonalities in business strategies that have resulted to superior performance. Using the Return Driven Strategic framework in evaluating Coca Colas performance, the following points are highlighted so as to show that the company has indeed demonstrated superior performance. First, the company continuously innovate its offerings to better satisfy the needs of its customers, in which innovate is defined as changing the companys product to better satisfy the needs of the targeted consumers. This is done through re-examination of their offerings, modification of the existing ones and development of new products that are perceived to better satisfy the unmet needs of the customers. Coca Cola continuously change its offerings since the company believes that by doing so, they are creating more value for the customers with the anticipated superior return on investment from the innovation. The value is of creating an intellectual and emotional connection between the consumers and the companys offerings. Another driving factor for Coca Colas superior performance is its strong commitment to and discipline for making shareholder value by focusing on return on invested capital. The company maintains goals, incentives and performance measures that are definitely in line with a sustainable return on investment. The Coca-Cola has been profiled as a company that has used Economic Value Added to create shareholder value. In fact, Cokes value-creating business strategies have increased shareholder value. Moreover, Coca Cola have accomplished superior returns as well as growth without violating any ethical parameters of the community where its businesses are operating. CONCLUSION In todays global, intensively interconnected business environment, a major challenge faced by business organizations is how to maximize shareholder value and sustain growth, while at the same time creating economic value for all. For the leading Coca Cola Company the attainment of superior performance is a tough endeavor and it requires combinations of strategies. The remarkable strategy of Coca Cola is its innovation strategy that enables the almost 100 year old business excels and grows despite tough market pressures.

SERVQUAL MODEL as a Service Quality Measure

SERVQUAL MODEL as a Service Quality Measure 1.0 Introduction A great deal of service-quality research in recent decades has been devoted to the development of measures of service quality. In particular, the SERVQUAL instrument (Parasuraman et al., 1988) has been widely applied and valued by academics and practicing managers (Buttle, 1996). However, several studies have identified potential difficulties with the use of SERVQUAL (Carman, 1990; Cronin and Taylor, 1992; Asubonteng et al., 1996; Buttle, 1996; Van Dyke et al., 1997; Llosa et al., 1998). These difficulties have related to the use of so-called difference scores, the ambiguity of the definition of consumer expectations, the stability of the SERVQUAL scale over time, and the dimensionality of the instrument. As a result of these criticisms, questions have been raised regarding the use of SERVQUAL as a measure of service quality. 1.1 The SERVQUAL scale When the SERVQUAL scale was developed by Parasuraman et al. (1985, 1988), their  aim was to provide a generic instrument for measuring service quality across a broad range of service categories. Relying on information from 12 focus groups of consumers, Parasuraman et al. (1985) reported that consumers evaluated service quality by comparing expectations (of service to be received) with perceptions (of service actually received) on ten dimensions: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, communication, credibility, security, competence, understanding/knowing customers, courtesy, and access. In a later (Parasuraman et al. (1988) work, the authors reduced the original ten dimensions to five: (1) tangibles (the appearance of physical facilities, equipment, and personnel); (2) reliability (the ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately); (3) responsiveness (the willingness to help customers and provide prompt service); (4) empathy (the provision of individual care and attention to customers); and (5) assurance (the knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to inspire trust and confidence). Each dimension is measured by four to five items (making a total of 22 items across the five dimensions). Each of these 22 items is measured in two ways: (1) the expectations of customers concerning a service; and (2) the perceived levels of service actually provided. In making these measurements, respondents are asked to indicate their degree of agreement with certain statements on a seven-point Likert-type scale (1 strongly disagree to 7 strongly agree). For each item, a so-called gap score (G) is then calculated as the difference between the raw perception-of-performance score (P) and the raw expectations score (E). The greater the gap score (calculated as G  ¼ P minus E), the higher the score for perceived service quality. Chapter 2: Literature Review 2.0 Introduction Despite the widespread use of the SERVQUAL model to measure service quality, several theoretical and empirical criticisms of the scale have been raised. Buttle (1996) summarised the major criticisms of SERVQUAL in two broad categories theoretical and operational. Theoretical issues comprise: Paradigmatic objections: SERVQUAL is based on a disconfirmation paradigm rather than an attitudinal paradigm; and SERVQUAL fails to draw on established economic, statistical and psychological theory. Gaps model: there is little evidence that customers assess service quality in terms of P E gaps. Process orientation: SERVQUAL focuses on the process of service delivery, not the outcomes of the service encounter. Dimensionality: SERVQUALs five dimensions are not universals; the number of dimensions comprising SQ is contextualized; items do not always load on to the factors which one would a priori expect; and there is a high degree of intercorrelation between the five RATER dimensions. Operational criticisms include: Expectations: the term expectation is polysemic; consumers use standards other than expectations to evaluate SQ; and SERVQUAL fails to measure absolute SQ expectations. Item composition: four or five items can not capture the variability within each SQ dimension. Moments of truth (MOT): customers assessments of SQ may vary from MOT to MOT. Polarity: the reversed polarity of items in the scale causes respondent error. Scale points: the seven-point Likert scale is flawed. Two administrations: two administrations of the instrument cause boredom and confusion. Variance extracted: the over SERVQUAL score accounts for a disappointing proportion of item variances. The above criticism will be discussed below. 2.1: Paradigmatic objections (Theoretical Criticisms) Two major criticisms have been raised. First, SERVQUAL has been inappropriately based on an expectations disconfirmation model rather than an attitudinal model of SQ. Second, it does not build on extant knowledge in economics, statistics and psychology. SERVQUAL is based on the disconfirmation model widely adopted in the customer satisfaction literature. In this literature, customer satisfaction (CSat) is operationalised in terms of the relationship between expectations (E) and outcomes (O). If O matches E, customer satisfaction is predicted. If O exceeds E, then customer delight may be produced. If E exceeds O, then customer dissatisfaction is indicated. According to Cronin and Taylor (1992; 1994) SERVQUAL is paradigmatically flawed because of its ill-judged adoption of this disconfirmation model. Perceived quality, they claim, is best conceptualised as an attitude. They criticise Parasuraman et al. for their hesitancy to define perceived SQ in attitudinal terms, even though Parasur aman et al. (1988) had earlier claimed that SQ was similar in many ways to an attitude. Cronin and Taylor observe: Researchers have attempted to differentiate service quality from consumer satisfaction, even while using the disconfirmation format to measure perceptions of service qualityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ this approach is not consistent with the differentiation expressed between these constructs in the satisfaction and attitude literatures. Iacobucci et al.s (1994) review of the debate surrounding the conceptual and operational differences between SQ and CSat concludes that the constructs have not been consistently defined and differentiated from each other in the literature. She suggests that the two constructs may be connected in a number of ways. First, they may be both different operationalisations of the same construct, evaluation. Second, they may be orthogonally related, i.e. they may be entirely different constructs. Third, they may be conceptual cousins. Their family connections may be dependent on a number of other considerations, including for example, the duration of the evaluation. Parasuraman et al. (1985) have described satisfaction as more situation- or encounter-specific, and quality as more holistic, developed over a longer period of time, although they offer no empirical evidence to support this contention. SQ and CSat may also be related by time order. The predominant belief is that SQ is the logical predecessor to CSat, but this remains unproven. Cronin and Taylors critique draws support from Olivers (1980) research which suggests that SQ and CSat are distinct constructs but are related in that satisfaction mediates the effect of prior-period perceptions of SQ and causes revised SQ perceptions to be formed. SQ and CSat may also be differentiated by virtue of their content. Whereas SQ may be thought of as high in cognitive content, CSat may be more heavily loaded with affect (Oliver, 1993). Cronin and Taylor suggest that the adequacy-importance model of attitude measurement should be adopted for SQ research. Iacobucci et al. (1994) add the observation that in some general psychological sense, it is not clear what short-term evaluations of quality and satisfaction are if not attitudes. In turn, Parasuraman et al. (1994) have vigorously defended their position, claiming that critics seem to discount prior conceptual work in the SQ literature, and suggest that Cronin and Taylors w ork does not justify their claim that the disconfirmation paradigm is flawed. In other work, Cronin and Taylor (1994) comment that: Recent conceptual advances suggest that the disconfirmation-based SERVQUAL scale is measuring neither service quality nor consumer satisfaction. Rather, the SERVQUAL scale appears at best an operationalisation of only one of the many forms of expectancy disconfirmation. A different concern has been raised by Andersson (1992). He objects to SERVQUALs failure to draw on previous social science research, particularly economic theory, statistics, and psychological theory. Parasuraman et al.s work is highly inductive in that it moves from historically situated observation to general theory. Andersson (1992) claims that Parasuraman et al. abandon the principle of scientific continuity and deduction. Among specific criticisms are the following: First, Parasuraman et al.s management technology takes no account of the costs of improving service quality. It is naÃÆ' ¯ve in assuming that the marginal revenue of SQ improvement always exceeds the marginal cost. (Aubrey and Zimbler, 1983., Crosby., 1979, Juran., 1951 and Masser., 1957) have addressed the issue of the costs/benefits of quality improvement in service settings.) Second, Parasuraman et al. collect SQ data using ordinal scale methods (Likert scales) yet perform analyses with methods suited to interval-level data (factor analysis). Third, Parasuraman et al. are at the absolute end of the street regarding possibilities to use statistical methods. Ordinal scales do not allow for investigations of common product-moment correlations. Interdependencies among the dimensions of quality are difficult to describe. SERVQUAL studies cannot answer questions such as: Are there elasticities among the quality dimensions? Is the customer value of improvements a linear or non-linear function? Fourth, Parasuraman et al. fail to draw on the large literature on the psychology of perception. 2.2: Gaps Model A related set of criticisms refer to the value and meaning of gaps identified in the disconfirmation model. Babakus and Boller (1992) found the use of a gap approach to SQ measurement intuitively appealing but suspected that the difference scores do not provide any additional information beyond that already contained in the perceptions component of the SERVQUAL scale. They found that the dominant contributor to the gap score was the perceptions score because of a generalised response tendency to rate expectations high. Churchill and Surprenant (1982), in their work on CSat, also ponder whether gap measurements contribute anything new or of value given that the gap is a direct function of E and P. It has also been noted that: while conceptually, difference scores might be sensible, they are problematic in that they are notoriously unreliable, even when the measures from which the difference scores are derived are themselves highly reliable (Iacobucci et al., 1994). Also, in the context of CSat, Oliver (1980) has pondered whether it might be preferable to consider the P E scores as raw differences or as ratios. No work has been reported using a ratio approach to measure SQ. Iacobucci et al. (1994) take a different tack on the incorporation of E-measures. They suggest that expectations might not exist or be formed clearly enough to serve as a standard for evaluation of a service experience. Expectations may be formed simultaneously with service consumption. Kahneman and Miller (1986) have also proposed that consumers may form experience-based norms after service experiences, rather than expectations before. A further issue raised by Babakus and Inhofe (1991) is that expectations may attract a social desirability response bias. Respondents may feel motivated to adhere to an I-have-high-expectations social norm. Indeed, Parasuraman et al. report that in their testing of the 1988 version the majority of expectations scores were above six on the seven-point scale. The overall mean expectation was 6.22 (Parasuraman et al., 1991b). Teas (1993a; 1993b; 1994) has pondered the meaning of identified gaps. For example, there are six ways of producing P E gaps of -1 (P = 1, E = 2; P = 2, E = 3; P = 3, E = 4; P = 4, E = 5; P = 5, E = 6; P = 6, E = 7). Do these tied gaps mean equal perceived SQ? He also notes that SERVQUAL research thus far has not established that all service providers within a consideration or choice set, e.g. all car-hire firms do, in fact, share the same expectations ratings across all items and dimensions. A further criticism is that SERVQUAL fails to capture the dynamics of changing expectations. Consumers learn from experiences. The inference in much of Parasuraman et al.s work is that expectations rise over time. An E-score of seven in 1986 may not necessarily mean the same as an E-score in 1996. Expectations may also fall over time (e.g. in the health service setting). Grà ¶nroos (1993) recognises this weakness in our understanding of SQ, and has called for a new phase of service quality research to focus on the dynamics of service quality evaluation. Wotruba and Tyagi (1991) agree that more work is needed on how expectations are formed and changed over time. Implicit in SERVQUAL is the assumption that positive and negative disconfirmations are symmetrically valent. However, from the customers perspective, failure to meet expectations often seems a more significant outcome than success in meeting or exceeding expectations (Hardie et al., 1992). Customers will often criticise poor service performance and not praise exceptional performance. Recently, Cronin and Taylor (1992) have tested a performance-based measure of SQ, dubbed SERVPERF, in four industries (banking, pest control, dry cleaning and fast food). They found that this measure explained more of the variance in an overall measure of SQ than did SERVQUAL. SERVPERF is composed of the 22 perception items in the SERVQUAL scale, and therefore excludes any consideration of expectations. In a later defence of their argument for a perceptions-only measure of SQ, Cronin and Taylor (1994) acknowledge that it is possible for researchers to infer consumers disconfirmation through arithmetic means (the P E gap) but that consumer perceptions, not calculations, govern behavior. Finally, a team of researchers, including Zeithaml herself (Boulding et al., 1993), has recently rejected the value of an expectations-based or gap-based model in finding that service quality was only influenced by perceptions. 2.3: Process orientation SERVQUAL has been criticized for focusing on the process of service delivery rather than outcomes of the service encounter. Grà ¶nroos (1982) identified three components of SQ: technical, functional and reputational quality. Technical quality is concerned with the outcome of the service encounter, e.g. have the dry cleaners got rid of the stain? Functional quality is concerned with the process of service delivery, e.g. were the dry cleaners counter staff courteous? Reputational quality is a reflection of the corporate image of the service organization. While technical quality focuses on what, functional quality focuses on how and involves consideration of issues such as the behaviour of customer contact staff, and the speed of service. Critics have argued that outcome quality is missing from Parasuraman et al.s formulation of SQ (Cronin and Taylor, 1992; Mangold and Babakus, 1991; Richard and Allaway, 1993). Richard and Allaway (1993) tested an augmented SERVQUAL model which they cl aim incorporates both process and outcome components, and comment that the challenge is to determine which process and outcome quality attributes of SQ have the greatest impact on choice[1]. Their research into Domino Pizzas process and outcome quality employed the 22 Parasuraman et al. (1988) items, modified to suit context, and the following six outcome items: (1) Dominos has delicious home-delivery pizza. (2) Dominos has nutritious home-delivery pizza. (3) Dominos home-delivery pizza has flavourful sauce. (4) Dominos provides a generous amount of toppings for its home-delivery pizza. (5) Dominos home-delivery pizza is made with superior ingredients. (6) Dominos prepared its home-delivery pizza crust exactly the way I like it. These researchers found that the process-only items borrowed and adapted from SERVQUAL accounted for only 45 per cent of the variance in customer choice; the full inventory, inclusive of the six outcome items, accounted for 71.5 per cent of variance in choice. The difference between the two is significant at the 0.001 level. They conclude that process-and-outcome is a better predictor of consumer choice than process, or outcome, alone. In defense of SERVQUAL, Higgins et al., (1991) have argued that outcome quality is already contained within these dimensions: reliability, competence and security. 2.4: Dimensionality Critics have raised a number of significant and related questions about the dimensionality of the SERVQUAL scale. The most serious are concerned with the number of dimensions and their stability from context to context. There seems to be general agreement that SQ is a second-order construct, that is, it is factorially complex, being composed of several first-order variables [2]. SERVQUAL is composed of the five RATER [3] factors. There are however, several alternative conceptualizations of SQ. As already noted, Grà ¶nroos (1984) identified three components technical, functional and reputational quality; Lehtinen and Lehtinen (1982) also identify three components interactive, physical and corporate quality; Hedvall and Paltschik (1989) identify two dimensions willingness and ability to serve, and physical and psychological access; Leblanc and Nguyen (1988) list five components corporate image, internal organisation, physical support of the service producing system, staff/customer interaction, and the level of customer satisfaction. Parasuraman et al. (1988) have claimed that SERVQUAL: provides a basic skeleton through its expectations/perceptions format encompassing statements for each of the five service quality dimensions. The skeleton, when necessary, can be adapted or supplemented to fit the characteristics or specific research needs of a particular organization. In their 1988 paper, Parasuraman et al. also claimed that the final 22-item scale and its five dimensions have sound and stable psychometric properties. In the 1991b revision, Parasuraman et al. found evidence of consistent factor structure à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ across five independent samples. In other words, they make claims that the five dimensions are generic across service contexts. Indeed, in 1991, Parasuraman et al. claimed that SERVQUALs dimensions and items represent core evaluation criteria that transcend specific companies and industries (1991b) [4]. 2.5: Number of dimensions When the SERVQUAL instrument has been employed in modified form, up to nine distinct dimensions of SQ have been revealed, the number varying according to the service sector under investigation. One study has even produced a single-factor solution. Nine factors accounted for 71 per cent of SQ variance in Carmans (1990) hospital research: admission service, tangible accommodations, tangible food, tangible privacy, nursing care, explanation of treatment, access and courtesy afforded visitors, discharge planning, and patient accounting (billing)[5]. Five factors were distinguished in Saleh and Ryans (1992) work in the hotel industry conviviality, tangibles, reassurance, avoid sarcasm, and empathy. The first of these, conviviality, accounted for 62.8 per cent of the overall variance; the second factor, tangibles, accounted for a further 6.9 per cent; the five factors together accounted for 78.6 per cent. This is strongly suggestive of a two-factor solution in the hospitality industry. The researchers had initially assumed that the factor analysis would confirm the [SERVQUAL] dimensions but this failed to be the case. Four factors were extracted in Gagliano and Hathcotes (1994) investigation of SQ in the retail clothing sector personal attention, reliability, tangibles and convenience. Two of these have no correspondence in SERVQUAL. They conclude the [original SERVQUAL scale] does not perform as well as expected in apparel speciality retailing. Three factors were identified in Bouman and van der Wieles (1992) research into car servicing customer kindness, tangibles and faith [6]. The authors were not able to find the same dimensions for judging service quality as did Berry et al. One factor was recognized in Babakus et al.s (1993b) survey of 635 utility company customers. Analysis essentially produced a single-factor model of SQ which accounted for 66.3 per cent of the variance. The authors advance several possible explanations for this unidimensional result including the nature of the service, (which they describe as a low-involvement service with an ongoing consumption experience), non-response bias and the use of a single expectations/perceptions gap scale. These researchers concluded: With the exception of findings reported by Parasuraman and his colleagues, empirical evidence does not support a five-dimensional concept of service quality. In summary, Babakus and Boller (1992) commented that the domain of service quality may be factorially complex in some industries and very simple and unidimensional in others. In effect, they claim that the number of SQ dimensions is dependent on the particular service being offered. In their revised version, Parasuraman et al. (1991b) suggest two reasons for these anomalies. First, they may be the product of differences in data collection and analysis procedures. A more plausible explanation is that differences among empirically derived factors across replications may be primarily due to across-dimension similarities and/or within dimension differences in customers evaluations of a specific company involved in each setting. Spreng and Singh (1993) have commented on the lack of discrimination between several of the dimensions. In their research, the correlation between Assurance and Responsiveness constructs was 0.97, indicating that they were not separable constructs. They also found a high correlation between the combined Assurance-Responsiveness construct and the Empathy construct (0.87). Parasuraman et al. (1991b) had earlier found that Assurance and Responsiveness items loaded on a single factor and in their 1988 work had found average intercorrelations among the five dimensions of 0.23 to 0.35. In testing their revised version (Parasuraman et al., 1991b), Parasuraman and colleagues found that the four items under Tangibles broke into two distinct dimensions, one pertaining to equipment and physical facilities, the other to employees and communication materials. They also found that Responsiveness and Assurance dimensions showed considerable overlap, and loaded on the same factor. They suggested that this was a product of imposing a five-factor constraint on the analyses. Indeed, the additional degrees of freedom allowed by a subsequent six-factor solution generated distinct Assurance and Responsiveness factors. Parasuraman et al., (1991a) have now accepted that the five SERVQUAL dimensions are interrelated as evidenced by the need for oblique rotations of factor solutionsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦to obtain the most interpretable factor patterns. One fruitful area for future research, they conclude, is to explore the nature and causes of these interrelationships. It therefore does appear that both contextual circumstances and analytical processes have some bearing on the number of dimensions of SQ. 2.6: Contextual stability Carman (1990) tested the generic qualities of the SERVQUAL instrument in three service settings a tyre retailer, a business school placement centre and a dental school patient clinic. Following Parasuraman et al.,s suggestion, he modified and augmented the items in the original ten-factor SERVQUAL scale to suit the three contexts. His factor analysis identified between five and seven underlying dimensions. According to Carman, customers are at least partly context-specific in the dimensions they employ to evaluate SQ. In all three cases, Tangibles, Reliability and Security were present [7]. Responsiveness, a major component in the RATER scale, was relatively weak in the dental clinic context. Carman also commented: Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry combined their original Understanding and Access dimensions into Empathyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ our results did not find this to be an appropriate combination. In particular he found that if a dimension is very important to customers they are likely to be decomposed into a number of sub-dimensions. This happened for the placement centre where Responsiveness, Personal attention, Access and Convenience were all identified as separate factors. According to Carman, this indicates that researchers should work with the original ten dimensions, rather than adopt the revised five-factor Parasuraman et al., (1988) model. 2.7: Item loadings In some studies (e.g. Carman, 1990), items have not loaded on the factors to which they were expected to belong. Two items from the Empathy battery of the Parasuraman et al., (1988) instrument loaded heavily on the Tangibles factor in a study of dental clinic SQ. In the tyre retail study, a Tangibles item loaded on to Security; in the placement centre a Reliability item loaded on to Tangibles. An item concerning the ease of making appointments loaded on to Reliability in the dental clinic context, but Security in the tyre store context. He also found that only two-thirds of the items loaded in the same way on the expectations battery as they did in the perceptions battery. Carman supplies other examples of the same phenomena, and suggests that the unexpected results indicate both face validity and a construct validity problem. In other words, he warns against importing SERVQUAL into service setting contexts without modification and validity checks. Among his specific recommendations is the following: We recommend that items on Courtesy and Access be retained and that items on some dimensions such as Responsiveness and Access be expanded where it is believed that these dimensions are of particular importance. He also reports specific Courtesy and Access items which performed well in terms of nomological and construct validity. Carman (1990) further suggested that the factors, Personal attention, Access or Convenience should be retained and further contextualised research work be done to identify their significance and meaning. 2.8: Item correlations Convergent validity and discriminant validity are important considerations in the measurement of second-order constructs such as SERVQUAL. One would associate a high level of convergent validity with a high level of intercorrelations between the items selected to measure a single RATER factor. Discriminant validity is indicated if the factors and their component items are independent of each other (i.e. the items load heavily on one factor only). Following their modified replication of Parasuraman et al.,s work, Babakus and Boller (1992) conclude that rules for convergence and discrimination do not indicate the existence of the five RATER dimensions. The best scales have a high level of intercorrelation between items comprising a dimension (convergent validity). In their development work in four sectors (banking, credit-card company, repair and maintenance company, and long-distance telecommunications company) Parasuraman et al., (1988) found inter-item reliability coefficients (alphas) varying from 0.52 to 0.84. Babakus and Boller (1992) report alphas which are broadly consistent with those of Parasuraman, varying from 0.67 to 0.83 (see Table III). In their 1991b version, Parasuraman et al. report alphas from 0.60 to 0.93, and observe that every alpha value obtained for each dimension in the final study is higher than the corresponding values in theà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦original study. They attribute this improvement to their rewording of the 22 scale items. Spreng and Singh (1993), and Brown et al., (1993) are highly critical of the questionable application of alphas to difference scores. They evaluate the reliability of SERVQUAL using a measure specifically designed for difference scores (Lord, 1963). Spreng and Singh conclude that there is not a great deal of difference between the reliabilities correctly calculated and the more common [alpha] calculation, an observation with which Parasuraman et al., (1993) concurred when they wrote: The collective conceptual and empirical evidence neither demonstrates clear superiority for the non-difference score format nor warrants abandoning the difference score format. 2.9 Expectations (Operational Criticisms) Notwithstanding the more fundamental criticism that expectations play no significant role in the conceptualization of service quality, some critics have raised a number of other concerns about the operationalization of E in SERVQUAL. In their 1988 work, Parasuraman et al. defined expectations as desires or wants of consumers, i.e. what they feel a service provider should offer rather than would offer (emphasis added). The expectations component was designed to measure customers normative expectations (Parasuraman et al., 1990), and is similar to the ideal standard in the customer satisfaction/dissatisfaction literature (Zeithaml et al., 1991). Teas (1993a) found these explanations somewhat vague and has questioned respondents interpretation of the expectations battery in the SERVQUAL instrument. He believes that respondents may be using any one of six interpretations (Teas, 1993b): (1) Service attribute importance. Customers may respond by rating the expectations statements according to the importance of each. (2) Forecasted performance. Customers may respond by using the scale to predict the performance they would expect. (3) Ideal performance. The optimal performance; what performance can be. (4) Deserved performance. The performance level customers, in the light of their investments, feel performance should be. (5) Equitable performance. The level of performance customers feel they ought to receive given a perceived set of costs. (6) Minimum tolerable performance. What performance must be? Each of these interpretations is somewhat different, and Teas contends that a considerable percentage of the variance of the SERVQUAL expectations measure can be explained by the difference in respondents interpretations. Accordingly, the expectations component of the model lacks discriminant validity. Parasuraman et al. (1991b; 1994) have responded to these criticisms by redefining expectations as the service customers would expect from excellent service organizations, rather than normative expectations of service providers, and by vigorously defending their inclusion in SQ research. Iacobucci et al. (1994) want to drop the term expectations from the SQ vocabulary. They prefer the generic label standard, and believe that several standards may operate simultaneously; among them ideals, my most desired combination of attributes, the industry standard of a nominal average competitor, deserved SQ, and brand standards based on past experiences with the brand. Some critics have questioned SERVQUALs failure to access customer evaluations based on absolute standards of SQ. The instrument asks respondents to report their expectations of excellent service providers within a class (i.e. the measures are relative rather than absolute). It has be