What Family Family Means to Me

Abstract Family is important as it is also important to have a happy family. We might think at times what makes a happy family? Is there such a thing as a happy family? Or is it possible to have a happy family. Having a happy family as we all might know is not an easy task to do, but it is neither impossible. What we can do is search for element to guide us through a happy family. I understand that no one is perfect therefore; there is no perfect happy family. We will learn that a happy family is unique and different from other happy families since we are all different human beings.What Makes Up a Happy Family Is There Such A Thing? â€Å"All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. † (Sokolik, 2010) There is a question that at some point in life a family member may ask themselves is there such a thing as a happy family, or what the elements are in order to have a happy family. Every family is happy in a unique way, there is no such a thing to b e a one hundred percent happy family with no problems what so ever. Every family has problems whether they are marriage problems or problems with their children.They also share sadness, happiness, love, freedom and many more emotions at the same time; otherwise it would not be a happy family. â€Å"In happy families, family comes before friends. The camp counselor understands something that parents don’t and that is that caring for kids also has to be fun. Give rules, but understand that kids need fun, too. When kids get bored and listless, they start looking for excitement out of the home and that is when friends become more important. Friendship is important but subordinate to family. (Mann, 2012) Therefore we should not let our children become bored of us and look for their friends. We must save the future conflicts and try to have the most possible fun with our children so they don’t get bored of us and enjoy being with us their parents, their family. References A gnes, M. (2003). Webster's New World Dictionary. New York : Pocket Books. Mann, D. (2012). Web MD. Retrieved April 2012, from WebMD, LLC: http://www. webmd. com/parenting/features/15-secrets-to-have-a-happy-family Sokolik, M. K. (2010). Sound Ideas. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Application of Music therapy and Psychodrama Essay

With the blooming economic growth and remarkable improvement of people’s living standard, we focus on balancing physical well-being and emotional health in our daily life. Active research and the practice of improving mental health have become one of the most studied areas of science in the 20th century. Complimentary therapies have become more established during this time to supplement the Doctor’s Prescription pad. Combined with the lack of prior education in musical therapy, recipients can access this form of treatment without barrier because of the innate capacity for human’s to appreciate musical form and the profoundness with which we all regard music. This form of therapeutic treatment therefore transcends traditional forms of medical treatment such as paediatrics and adult health as all age groups seem to take part in the musical experience irrespective of gender, ethnicity etc., which has elsewhere in medicine been attributed some special status such as the requirement in paediatrics for twice the capacity in dealing with minority groups not exceeding one-third of the populace. Looking at all therapies around us, Music Therapy comes in different methods and approaches. Music is a language of its own; it is an alternation form of expression that is different to everyday verbal language communication. There are different definitions of Music Therapy due to different research types carried out in each country. In a definition given by the American Music Therapy Association, 2005, Music Therapy is the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional who has completed an approved music therapy program. Professor K. Bruscia defined music therapy as ‘A systematic process of intervention wherein the therapist helps the client to achieve health, using musical experiences and the relationships that develop through them as dynamic forces of change.’ In my understanding of broadening this definition, Music therapy is a systematic therapy treatment program of applying music or music related experience to promote physical and mental health. Any therapy that planned to apply music as a tool, in order to achieve the purpose of promoting human physical and mental wellbeing, should belong to scope of music therapy. Psychodrama, which was developed by J. L. Moreno, is used as a form of psychotherapy. Psychodrama is an action method, participants use dramatization, role playing and dramatic self-presentation, which often includes elements of theater and uses props on a stage, to recreate real-life situation, acting them out in the present. This can also be seen as psychodramatic enactment. Participants have the opportunity to evaluate their behavior and understand better a particular situation in their lives or common experiences in life in general. Moreno encourages participants expressing their underlying needs in role playing, and thereby neutralizing their compelling influence and tendencies. Clients can use non verbal expression e.g. musical instruments, for their emotion and feeling, which helps naturally healing by this process. Music and Drama are connected historically and have strong affection on each other in many aspects. The same theatrical forms of plays and opera will have the same healing effect. They all support the development of spontaneity and uninhibited expression of emotions and feelings. It’s unusual to see the combination of music therapy and psychodrama together until the advent of this book: ‘Acting Your Inner Music: Music Therapy and Psychodrama ’by Joseph J. Moreno. The method that is used in this book is defined as music psychodrama, is a particular complementary therapy. The complementary therapy integrates music and psychodrama for participants adequately exchange between music and verbal language, to complement expression of emotion and feeling. The ensemble of music improvisation, creation, using treatments from music therapy, together with traditional psychodramatic therapy, psychodramatic enactment, is a comprehensive treatment which shows better therapeutic effect than any single treatment of the two. The Complementary therapies, which is a term used to describe therapy that combines both music therapy and psychodrama together concomitantly. The complementary therapy requires participants in groups to express their emotion by communicating effectively with both music and language. Participants don’t need to have any musical background; neither needs to know how to play any musical instruments. In another words, anyone who wants to take part in this therapy are welcome to take part in, despite age, gender, occupation and education of participants. The Musical presentation of human emotion can be expressed quite well. This brings out a new and unique treatment effect in complementary therapy. The core of music psychodrama is a psycho-dramatic musical improvisation ensemble. It’s a way of experiencing what happened and how individuals reacted to the given situation and ambient experience of music in combination with an acting format. In order for participants to ‘let go of themselves’ and enable each individual to freely express their emotion and feeling, the following stages are operated by a psychodrama director or a psychotherapist with musical background: Musical improvisation serve as warm ups; Action, Individual and group improvisation and psychodrama; collectively combined constitute a common access point to Sharing. It’s important to note that interpersonal relationships between client and therapist, or psychodrama director remain strong during the whole process; music selected for the therapy is not for leisure proposes. Therefore the director needs to have a musical background and have professional understanding of music. Director also needs to have intensive training and be familiar with the therapeutic processes, as well as build up close relationship with participants. The room that psychodrama and music therapy is taking place should be quiet and comfortable for all participants to be in and enjoy. Children should not be put into a group of adult participants, babies should not be allowed in the room. If a child cries during the therapy, the sound of crying may tune with high pitch together with the therapeutic music. This could results unnecessary tension and upset and bought to participants, having negative emotions. * Warm ups A group of five or five participants are formed either by volunteering or selected by a Director. Each individual is asked to select a musical instrument and then to play a solo improvisation on their instrument, expressing their feeling at the moment or overall life situation. All solo improvisation is recorded and played back for participants to discuss and analyse. This is an effective projective technique. Emotions and personalities of individuals can be simply revealed by sounds projected through the instrumentation. Group music improvisation is another technique that helps the warm up of musical psychodrama. The principle is similar to individual improvisation. But this technique would emphasize emotions of members towards others in the group. During the orchestrated performance by phychodrama director or a musical therapiest, group members would emphasize their intragroup communication, responsiveness and rapport building of each member. For example, some would be the person who takes the leads in the group; some would be supporting and coordinating the group; some would immerse in their own performance; therapist can observe individual reactions to the other’s real behaviour rather than merely listen to verbal description by them. Involvement in and exposure to these experiences would help participants emerging musical imagery and emotional expression to the next stage of therapy, the musical psychodrama. * Action Protagonist selection of psychodrama is complete by discussion and identification of distinctive sounds of their instruments. During the action of psychodrama on the stage, protagonists need to move from one character to another character by swapping their situations, which means move himself into another person’s situation, and learn and action to the other person’s mind. The protagonist is living in another person’s life. When verbal expression is not clear enough to express by the protagonist, music or instrument can be selected by participants to better express their feelings. For example, participant may select a drum, which is a very powerful and dynamic instrument. The participant can play the drum in a very dominant and aggressive manner; it would easily affect the group feeling and continuously move the whole group to a stronger sharp and dynamic level. This might also create conflict between group members. The other group members may also use their instruments to change the aggressive behaviour of this participant with drum. In normal verbal communication, people who are involved in the communication also move with rhythmic synchronicity with speaker. If someone wants to pass their opposite opinion or thoughts to a listener in a soft, slow and gentle tone, listener will tend to be easier to accept their opposite idea than someone speak in a fast and commanding voice. Music has the same effect on people in affecting people’s emotion and feelings. By playing soft and sad music, this music is responsiveness to the drum player. Every nuance gives a continue reaction to drum player’s feeling. The drum player would be able to verbalise the different feelings, the subliminally hearing helps him to fell and benefit from the group support that the music which is played by other members of the group. Music psychodrama can be seen as a real life. The protagonist will be in different relationships and situations, for example, accepting a death from a beloved one, or giving up part of his life. It takes great courage to release part of ego. Communication through music in the improvisation may sometimes work better and more effectively than verbal communication. Musical mirroring is an auxiliary technique to mirror the progatonist’s behaviour or style of interaction by a selection of an appropriate musical instrument and improvise musical statement. The advantage of musical mirroring over verbal mirroring is helping it portray the protagonist’s essential behaviour without being mired in words. Musical modelling is a technique that suggests and influences the protagonist’s action, behave and interact through improvisational statements. The advantages are similar Musical Mirroring. Break-in and Break-out techniques are very special techniques in psychodrama. They can be very strong and effective approaches in the session for break through barriers that a protagonist holds him back in a real life situation. Break-in, protagonist may feel him being excluded from a group, feeling from outside of a group and looking in; Break-out is the reversed situation. In both these two situations, the protagonist needs to find the initiative to break the inner barriers and reconnect to the outside. Group members will surround the protagonist in a circle with locked arms; sometimes, depending on individual circumstance of protagonist, the group members will verbally taunt the protagonist and playing intensive nervous music; protagonist needs to fight his way out of this circle and break this barrier. * Sharing Sharing is an essential component in psychodrama. After the psychodrama enactment, all group members will be encouraged by director to share the feelings, thoughts in the experience both verbally and non-verbally. All members will be reassembling face to face in a circle. The purpose of this sharing is not only to help the protagonist feel less isolated; but also help the group member to find out their identification and share these identifications. Sharing in psychodrama enable the unconsciousness deep under in one’s mind to become conscious, enable all participants to find the fundamental problems in themselves. Protagonists in music psychodrama, just like performance in other types of drama, need to be engrossed and throw themselves into the performance. There are many issues that would affect the performance. For example, participants need to be in a quiet and comfortable room for all activities. They will not be disturbed by others outside the room. It’s also very important to build up confidence and trust between participants and director. The soul in musical psychodrama is the music that is selected for improvisation for participants. The director must be someone who has musical background and have well understanding of psychology. During the musical expression on stage, people who have no musical education normally do better than those who have been studied music for a long time. People who study music are more emotional and have more susceptibilities. They know how to technically control musical instruments and vocal, as well as rhythm sensation and volume. This is a limitation of applying musical psychodrama for musicians and musical students. How to use these musical techniques on these people is a subject that we can study. Certain music expression can be conveyed by the elements of music, for example, dynamic indications, differing qualities of touch and articulation, colour, intensity, energy and excitement, etc, through performance. Director needs to have certain level of appreciation of music in order to distinguish the content conveyed by participants. During the sharing, director and all participants will obtain different level of understanding. These are due to individual differences by culture, education, age, religion and life experiences. These differences would still contribute and help participants to express their emotions freely. Both music therapy and psychodrama are therapeutic approaches for participants to active their own treatment. The participants, who can be with or without prior music background and knowledge, use music, music instruments or any alternative to verbal expression, improvising their emotions and feelings in interaction with auxiliaries. Some members of the group in these involvements might be less activated with little response to surroundings. These silent participants are also absorbing and learning from the therapy in different levels, reflecting in a inner-action that also help with improving the pshchological status of participants. Music psychodrama in Mainland China Psychodrama and Music Therapy were introduced in Mainland China in the 80’s. The standard of the knowledge, skills, professionalism and application of music therapy and musical psychodrama are far from the standards of similar researches and studies in these subjects. Both forms of practices are still in the initial stage. For example, in the mid 80s, someone used the term Music Therapy in a clinic in Hunan Province and claimed that Music Therapy can treat many diseases. The so called Therapist only played some soft music for patients and used music as a medicine for treatment. This was totally misunderstood at the time due to lack of knowledge in this new psychotherapy. During 1985-1986, Beijing Anding Hospital and Beijing Hui Longguan hospital started researchs on Music therapy treatments for chronic mental disorders, Music therapy for senile melancholia; combined therapies for chronic psychosis disorders. China Association for Music Therapy was formed in 1989. In 1991, Music performance personnel stage nervous correctional and training research was produced by Zhang Hongyi. In 1999, China Conservatory of Music formed Music therapy centre for research and development in this subject. More people started to study and research for music therapy in China recent years. Music Therapy In Treatment Of The Cancer Patients is published in Chinese Mental Health Journal in 2001; Mood and Cognition in Music Therapy is a book that was published by Wu Ji-Hong and Wan Ying in 2006. Music Therapy is growing and being more and more recognised in China in recent years. Main obstacles for developments of Music Therapy in China are listed as followings: poor quality on academic researches and studies, knowledge and skills of this psychotherapy fall behind western countries; the value of academic in researches and publishes don’t have the standard compare to countries like American and the UK; there are not official publisher that focus in this subject; there are no professional bodies to evaluate and assess music therapists, neither any regulation nor laws to protect patients; lack of public awareness. Psychodrama or combination of Music and Psychodrama are less common in Chi na. People are not aware of this term and what it is involves. A small number of researches were carried out in schools and education. On School Psychodrama was published by Chen Xiaomei in Journal of Fujian Commercial College in 2006. Schools can be selected as operational bases for more researches and studied to carry out for psychodrama. Students will also benefit from different activities carried out by psychotherapist and receive good mental health education. In a research programme that was carry out in a university, 300 students were randomly selected for a mental health test. The result shows that 61 students have various degrees of psychological problems, which equals to 20.61% of candidates. The majority problems are caused by stresses come from studies, worries of employment, interpersonal relationships. This research provides a good breakthrough of applying music therapy for people of who can benefit. Localisation of Music therapy in China is the first step of development of music therapy and musical psychodrama. To develop this, musicians and therapists need to adapt to the Chinese culture and the Chinese social. A serial of arrangement need to be carried out for this localisation procedure: in an academic point of view, meetings and conferences for music therapists, psychologists, musicians, and other relevant specialists to meet up, set up a proper research area for music therapy, either as an academic discipline or therapeutic treatment. Researches then carried out to categorize music therapy to more detailed branches and select those can be better adapt in China; at the same time, establish and set up institution for this practise. Set up exams and assessment to select people who have musical and psychological expertise to become music therapists. Set up music therapy centres and clinics in hospitals and schools for people who want to participate in the theory. Establish database and update the information for people who are interested in this field. There are currently very few workshop and activity group in Mainland China. But there are some music therapy associations and workshops in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Music Therapy Association of Taiwan is formed in 1996. In 2012, GaoXiong hospitals approved to use music therapy as a form of clinical alternation treatment for patients. Hong Kong Music Therapy Centre was formed in 2008. The centre was operated by Ms Mak, an Association of Professional Music Therapists as well as qualification from Academy for Neurologic Music Therapy Academy. She’s the first music therapist in Hong Kong. Many lecturers and workshops are being held in the centre for a range of different attendants, especially youth in Hong Kong. Mainland China should learn and try to implement the development of music therapy in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Case Study Analysis of Casual Togs

Introduction The present-day business environment is characterized by increasing competitiveness in different industries. In this regard, it is vital for organizations to ensure that all their functions or departments are aligned towards being ahead of their competitors (Rugman et al., 2012). There is a wide range of problems that may adversely affect the progress and competitiveness of organizations. These include structural problems, communication, management issues and failure to embrace change. Given that there is no fixed approach to management that is ideal for all organizations, each company has to ensure that it adopts the most ideal approach, which can be determined by several factors in the internal and external factors that are specific to the company (Hill et al., 2014). Businesses also need to ensure that they are flexible enough to promptly change in response to the adjustments that might be taking place in the tastes and preferences of their clients or even the tactics that their c ompetitors in the industry are using. Companies that are not flexible enough might fail to maintain their relevance towards their target market segments and lose their competitive edge (Carter et al., 2013). This report presents a case analysis of Casual Togs, a women’s apparel company that is known for its moderately priced products. Most of the company’s products are blouses, shorts and knit dresses. In the analysis, the report highlights the problems that are being faced by the company and the factors that might have contributed to these issues. The importance of addressing these issues in a business is that it provides a guidance or basis for formulating strategies that will help to improve the company’s performance. The report also provides recommendations for Cy, Casual Togs’ principal stockholder, on the changes that he needs to make in the company. It also provides recommendations on how the company should change its management practice, structure and response to change, so as to avoid a recurrence or the problems it faces. The major problems facing the firm With reference to the case study of Casual Togs, there are a number of problems that are currently being faced by the company. One of these is that many of its products are being returned by consumers because of their low quality. For any business, the quality of products that are offered to clients is among the key attributes that determine its performance in the market (Bhardwaj & Fairhurst, 2010). For Casual Togs, this also led to the loss of a major portion of its old loyal consumers. It also posed a challenge to the company in attracting new clients. Consequences of this issue include a drop in the company’s revenue and its overall brand position in the industry. It has also been outlined in the case study that the company also faces stiff competition from companies that have long been in the apparels industry as well as new upcoming ones. Another issue that faces Casual Togs lies in the human resource department. The company has failed to attract the necessary skills for it to run successfully. This is evidenced by the halt in the construction of the company’s distribution centre in the middle of the construction, which was attributed to the fact that the company did not get a qualified person who could supervise the construction project. In addition to this, two of the company’s designers resigned. This contributed to a drop in the company’s overall production in its nine centres by approximately 15%. The fact that Andy Johnson, the company’s budget manager and Sol Green, the market analyst could not speak to one another also clearly depicts a communication flaw among the employees in the firm. Judy, who was the company’s vice president, is also depicted in the case study as being aggressive in her communication with other employees. There are several incidents mentioned in the case study that highlight the failure by a section of the company’s executives and employees to embrace change. For instance, Judy objected most of the proposed changes, arguing that they were either too expensive or that they had been suggested by incompetent individuals. Another incident was when Andy rejected suggestions that were made by Bill Smith, his assistant, on new approaches that could be used in the collation and analysis of daily sales printouts so as to make better sales forecasts. Even though there are several other issues that are faced by Casual Togs in its operations, three main issues have been outlined in this section. These include the decline in the company’s competitiveness, human resource issues and the resistance to change among a section of the company’s staff. Causes of the Problems The first problem about the company is the fact that it is losing its old customers, and more of its products are being returned as a result of either poor quality or late delivery to customers. For any business to effectively win over the loyalty of its target customers, it has to be dependable in terms of the products and services it delivers (Dervitsiotis, 2011). Prolonged incidences of poor quality products and services or inconsistencies tend to repel customers. As earlier mentioned, there is high competition on the apparel and fashion industry, which also increases the purchasing power of buyers. Failure of one company meet consumer expectations, regardless of how slightly the gap may be, will make even the loyal customers to switch brands (Talib et al., 2011). Late delivery of products to customers also denotes the incompetence of the department that is concerned with the delivery of the company’s products. Another issue that is affecting Casual Togs lies in the human resource management approaches. With reference to the case study presented, there is evidence of a lack of equal of opportunities for career advancement in the company. An example is Andy, who had worked with the company for 15 years without any promotion because was not related with the other managers and was also of a different nationality. According to Choi et al. (2012), one of the causes of employee turnover is the failure of organizations to provide all the employees with a chance to attain their ultimate career goals. The aggressive nature with which Judy addresses employees in the organization also intimidates the employees and lowers their self esteem. This has an adverse effect on the organizational commitment of employees and has and ultimately, affects their levels of productivity (Adler, 2013; Lutgen-Sandvik & Tracy, 2012). The issue of rigidity and failure to embrace change has also contributed to the problems being faced by Casual Togs. One of the organizational aspects that have led to this is the fact that Cy, the company’s president gave all the departmental heads the freedom to make decisions that they considered to be fit for the organization. Whereas it can be argued as an approach that is relevant to the present-day business environment, it poses a challenge to decision making when rapid change are to be made because the opinions of every departmental supervisor have to be considered (Myers et al., 2012). These factors have affected the effectiveness with which Casual Togs adjusts in response to the changes in the market, leading to its dwindling performance. This shows the need for organizations to be flexible enough to maintain its relevance to the target markets (Dervitsiotis, 2011). This section has presented some of the main factors that have led to the existence of the issues that faced by Casual Togs. These include the failure of the company to adhere to quality in the design of its products and the failure to motivate employees, which adversely affects their levels of commitment. Several measures have to be put in place to ensure that the earlier mentioned issues have been overcome. Suggestions for changes to be implemented by Cy, Casual Togs’ President In regard to the issues that have been earlier identified, there are different approaches that ought to be used to change the current situation of the organization. With regard to the quality issues that have led to a loss of clients by the company and increased returns of goods, the direct measure that has to be taken is to ensure that the designers of the company’s apparel products pay attention to detail so as to enhance the quality of the products (Bhardwaj & Fairhurst, 2010). There is also a need to intensify the quality management process to ensure that defective products are minimized (Rosenfeld, 2012). As presented in the case study, market research that is carried out mainly focuses in the levels of sales that should be expected in certain seasons. However, it is also vital for the organization to incorporate the on-going trends in fashion so as to effectively address customer needs (Witell et al., 2011). Human resources in any organization are among the most valuable assets, and have a key contribution towards its overall success. However, it is vital for organizations to motivate them so as to increase their productivity and organizational commitment (Bratton & Gold, 2012). One of issues that are evident at Casual Togs is that employees from a certain nationality are more likely to be promoted than the other employees. In this regard, Cy, the company’s president, needs to ensure that an equality policy is implemented to provide all employees with an equal chance of promotion within the organizational ranks (Giuliano et al., 2011). This will not only motivate employees to work more, but will also attract talented job seekers. The management meetings that were held between managers and other departmental leaders within the organization were informal, marred with emotionally charged arguments, shouting and door slamming. This is a clear indication of the failure to recognize authority an order during these meetings. It is also quite unlikely that such meetings met the intended objectives. To avoid recurrence of such scenarios, the company’s president needs to change the way board meetings are held from informal to formal (Diefenbach & Todnem, 2012). This will instil a sense of order, and will increase the possibilities of attaining the goals set to be met in the meetings. In the presented case, there is evidence of interference of departmental operations by managers or vice presidents of different departments. An individual from a different department could question an action carried out in another department that has no connection to his. Whereas there is need for cross-functional communication and cooperation within an organization (Hongjun & Yajia, 2012), such interferences as those depicted at Casual Togs are destructive. To limit this, the company’s president needs to change the structure of the organization (Deb, 2009). Suggestions to prevent future issues at Casual Togs To prevent future problems from occurring at the organization, it is necessary for Casual Togs to ensure that it makes the necessary adjustments. These include structural changes, management practices and their response to changes taking place in the competitive environment. Suggestions for change are provided in further detail below.Management PracticeThere are a number of changes that ought to be made in the management practices of Casual Togs. The individual in management that raises concern in the case study is Judy, the vice president. Her aggression towards employees, as well as her interference with operations across all departments within the organization, has to be addressed. Given that she is among the majority shareholders in the company and related to the president, there is no possibility of sacking her from the position she holds. Instead, she needs to be encouraged to attend management seminars so as to improve her employee management approach (Bratton & Gold, 2012). R ather than being autocratic in her management and aggressive in communicating with other employees in the organization, she needs to change and become a persuasive or democratic in her management and assertive in communication (Adler, 2013). In persuasive management, managers provide a clear explanation to their employees as to why they have made a certain decision. In democratic management, employees are allowed to make suggestions in the decision making process, and the opinion with the highest votes is selected (Hill et al., 2014). By being assertive in communication, points or arguments are firmly put across to other employees, but respect is still maintained (Adler, 2013). Cy’s approach of management is too lenient to departmental heads within the organizations. This has also affected the way in which he handles suppliers, who often take advantage of his leniency to secure tenders even though they are supplying products at a higher price. Even though his consultative approach to management allows departmental heads to take part in decision making, there is still a need for him to exercise authority, especially when holding meetings with them (Diefenbach & Sillince, 2012).Structural ChangeBefore making a suggestion on the structural changes that ought to be implemented in the organization, it is vital to describe the organizational structure of Casual Togs as depicted in the case study. Based on the informal nature of meetings between departmental heads and the company’s president and the lack of a clear hierarchy of authority in the firm, it can be argued that the organizational structure of the company is adhocratic (Deb, 2009). Even tho ugh such a structure is ideal in encouraging creativity and innovation among employees and effectively adjusting with the changes in the market, it also has several demerits. These include a difficulty to solve routine problems that may arise in the organization, an unclear line of authority and high exposure of the organization to risk (Diefenbach & Todnem, 2012). With reference to the case study, even though Judy is the vice president, she seems to have more authority that the company’s president, Cy. In this regard, the company needs to consider changing its structure to a more formal and well structured bureaucratic structure (Dervitsiotis, 2011). Even though such structures are known to limit innovation and creativity within the organization, it may be ideal for Casual Togs for a number of reasons. These include easing the decision making process, reduction of the exposure to risk and the acknowledgement of a certain structure of authority that has to be adhered to (Bratton & Gold, 2012). Implementing such a structure is likely to eliminate the emotionally charged informal meetings’ scenarios and also the interference of individuals like Judy in all organizational departments.Responding to Changes in the Competitive EnvironmentBased on the fact that the apparels industry is highly competitive and dynamic, it is also necessary for the company to be flexible enough and ready to implement changes that will maintain its relevance to the target markets (Rugman et al., 2012). One of the measures that have to be undertaken to attain this objective is to intensify market research and carry it out on a regular basis. This could be through seeking customer feedback or studying the changing trends through observation. Market research also involves studying the tactics or strategies that are being used by competing companies in the industry (Witell et al., 2011). It is through these market research efforts that the Casual Togs will be able to adjust its product designs and marketing strategies to fit the market preferences while at the same time ensuring that it effectively competes with other players in the market. Maintaining a competitive edge in the industry also depends on the skills that the company has in its human resource force (Dervitsiotis, 2011). It is important for Casual Togs to hire employees that are not only qualified, but also innovative enough to come up with designs that will be well accepted by the target markets. Innovation can also be nurtured among employees in the organization by utilizing appropriate motivational and reward strategies (Wright et al., 2012). Workers at Casual Togs also need to be informed on the inevitability of change in organizations, and why they should always be ready for it. By so doing, resistance to change among employees will be reduced. Some of the changes that may need to be implemented at Casual Togs include technological advancements in the production of its apparel and alteration of product designs to reflect the needs in the market (Myers et al., 2012). Conclusion and RecommendationsConclusionThis report has presented a case study analysis of Casual Togs, a fashion business that mainly deals in the manufacture and distribution of women’s apparels. After two decades of operation, the company’s performance in the market dropped due because of a number of reasons, which have been highlighted in the report. One of these is the poor quality of products, which led to an increase in the volume of returned products. It also led to the withdrawal of many old customers. Another issue that has been identified is the failure to keep employees motivated enough to increase their organizational commitment. The causes of these issues at Casual Togs have also been presented in the paper, as well as some suggestions on how the president of the company can make the necessary changes to improve the situation at the company. Suggestions that have been provides comprise of management changes, structural changes and how the company can respo nd faster to changes and competition in the market. Further recommendations that can improve the company’s brand position are presented hereunder.RecommendationsIn order for the company to appeal to a wider market and increase its returns, it needs to consider expanding its product line. As opposed to the current products that only target ladies, Casual Togs can also consider introducing men’s and children’s clothes. As presented in the case, the products that the company distributes are mainly shorts, blouses and some knit dresses. Introduction of other female apparel like skirts, trench coats and pants can also be advantageous for the company. The case has also highlighted the high costs of production that the company incurs. Though some of these costs are inevitable, the company can reduce the overall costs by using appropriate lean production strategies, which are aimed to minimize the cost and maximize production. Some of the approaches that can be used include minimization or even elimination of errors in the design and production of products and standardization of work processes. In terms of human resource management, the company needs to ensure that it hires and strives to maintain talented and innovative employees that will contribute towards its progress in the market. Some of the approaches to motivation include offering them a reasonable remuneration and rewarding them for unique contribution. Given that the fashion industry is quite competitive, failure to motivate and retain skilled employees may tempt them to cross over and work for competitor companies, which may be detrimental for Casual Togs. References Adler, G., 2013. Management Communication. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Bhardwaj, V. & Fairhurst, A., 2010. Fast fashion: response to changes in the fashion industry. The International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, 20(1), pp.165-73. Bratton, J. & Gold, J., 2012. Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice (5th edition). London: Palgrave. Carter, M.Z., Armenakis, A.A., Feild, H.S. & Mossholder, K.W., 2013. Transformational leadership, relationship quality, and employee performance during continuous incremental organizational change. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 34(7), pp.942-58. Choi, S., Cheong, K.K. & Feinberg, R.A., 2012. Moderating effects of supervisor support, monetary rewards, and career paths on the relationship between job burnout and turnover intentions in the context of call centers. Managing Service Quality, 22(5), pp.492-516. Deb, T., 2009. Managing Human Resource And Industrial Relations. Excel Books. Dervitsiotis, K.N., 2011. The challenge of adaptation through innovation based on the quality of the innovation process. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 22(5), pp.553-66. Diefenbach, T. & Sillince, J.A., 2012. Crossing of Boundaries–Subordinates’ Challenges to Organisational Hierarchy. Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 35, pp.171-201. Diefenbach, T. & Todnem, R., 2012. Reinventing Hierarchy and Bureaucracy: From the Bureau to Network Organizations. Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing. Giuliano, L., Levine, D.I. & Leonard, J., 2011. Racial Bias in the Manager-Employee Relationship An Analysis of Quits, Dismissals, and Promotions at a Large Retail Firm. Journal of Human Resources, 46(1), pp.26-52. Hill, C., Jones, G?. & Schilling, ?M., 2014. Strategic Management: Theory: An Integrated Approach. Mason: Cengage Learning. Hongjun, L. & Yajia, G., 2012. Study on Chain Companies Human Resources Management. Information and Business Intelligence, 267, pp.227-32. Lutgen-Sandvik, P. & Tracy, S.J., 2012. Answering Five Key Questions About Workplace Bullying How Communication Scholarship Provides Thought Leadership for Transforming Abuse at Work. Management Communication Quarterly, 26(1), pp.3-47. Myers, P., Hulks, S. & Wiggins, L., 2012. Organizational Change: Perspectives on Theory and Practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Rosenfeld, S.A., 2012. Competitive Manufacturing: New Strategies for Regional Development. New Jersey: Transaction Publishers. Rugman, A.M., Oh, C.H. & Lim, D.S., 2012. The regional and global competitiveness of multinational firms. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 40(2), pp.218-35. Talib, F., Rahman, Z. & Qureshi, M., 2011. A study of total quality management and supply chain management practices. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, 60(3), pp.268-88. Witell, L., Kristensson, P., Gustafsson, A. & Lofgren, M., 2011. Idea generation: customer co-creation versus traditional market research techniques. Journal of Service Management, 22(2), pp.140-59. Wright, B.E., Moynihan, D.P. & Pandey, S.K., 2012. Pulling the Levers: Transformational Leadership, Public Service, Motivation, and Mission Valence. Public Administration Review, 72(2), p.206–215.

What Are the Political and Cultural Developments of the Ancient and Term Paper

What Are the Political and Cultural Developments of the Ancient and Medieval Eras - Term Paper Example The Medieval Era is also referred to as the Dark Ages as there was very little writing, science or culture during this period. This period is finally believed to have ended with the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire in 1453. During all these years, the world has been a witness to innumerable events and discoveries, which have had a tremendous impact on our lives. Mesopotamia, was originally the area around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Today, we know this region as the modern-day Turkey, Syria, and Iraq. Historians believe that the earliest civilizations began in a land which today is the modern Iraq. Geographically Iraq belongs to Mesopotamia of the Old Testament. The land of Mesopotamia was filled with surplus water resources and was a land with plenty of valleys and rivers. It was a land of fertile vegetation, plentiful wildlife, and abundant water. This paved way for producing surplus food and for the development of civilization. Civilization here was initialized by many rulers like Hammurabi (1792-1750 B.C.), Cyrus (550-530 B.C.), Darius (520-485 B.C.), and Alexander (336-323 B.C.). By 6000 B.C., Mesopotamia was occupied chiefly by Turkish and the Iranians. Southern Mesopotamia was the area from where a high sense of religion developed. Many of the important Mesopotamian cities developed in areas that surrounded Sumerian culture cente rs. This helped in the development of a close relationship between the government and religion. The ancient cities like Babylon and Assyria were a part of Iraq. There were also many attempts made for flood control and joint irrigation. This was very helpful in initializing the development of this civilization. Mesopotamia was controlled by different people at different times, starting with the Sumerians in around 3500 B.C. The Sumerians are said to have invented the wheel and the Cuneiform script, which most historians regard as the earliest form of writing. Ancient Mesopotamians had ceremonies for each month based on the waxing and waning of the moon, equinoxes and solstices, etc. Music played a very important part in their lives, and songs were sung to children, which and these were passed on through many generations as an oral tradition. Later these provided a valuable source of information about their past history. They used a small stringed musical instrument called the Oud, wh ich is considered as a forerunner to the European lute. They enjoyed games like boxing, wrestling, and some form of polo. Mesopotamians were known to bury their dead in family graves along with their possessions. The political history of the Sumerians was one of constant warfare, where each city-state would try to conquer and unify the other, but mostly failing in their efforts. Though it was eventually unified by Eannatum, the Sumerian King of Lagash for a short period, it was later conquered by the Akkadians, who survived for a few generations before being taken over by the Babylonians. EGYPT The Egyptian culture has about six thousand years of recorded history. Life here began along the banks of the river Nile. This place has a very rare geographical unity and also cultural unity. The Egyptian people even today feel proud about being a descendant of humankind who belonged to the earliest civilized community. Egypt was one of the earliest civilizations, which maintained such a dis tinctive and stable culture that it was powerful enough to later influence the cultures of Europe, the Middle East and the African countries. Most of the dynasties of the ancient Egyptians developed along the river Nile. A lot of

Growth and development in Developing countries Research Proposal

Growth and development in Developing countries - Research Proposal Example It is admissible that the current economic situation appears even more uncertain. The Government has repeatedly stated that the country is experiencing a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expansion of 7% annually. However, the economy appears to be struggling thus presenting challenges to the development of the country (Diejomaoh, 2005; p. 77). It appears that with these predicaments the country is still realizing some level of growth and development. Much as Nigeria continues to record growth in some sectors amid the economic challenges, questions emerge as to whether there is a proportional rate of development (AfDB, 2012; p. 157). This research proposal seeks to assess the relationship between growth and development in Nigeria while factoring in the economic crisis that appears to have persisted. Aims 1. To assess the relationship between growth and development in Nigeria and determine whether the current economic crisis has positive impact in the development of the country. Objectives 1. To assess the level of growth and development in Nigeria 2. To determine whether the economic crisis facing Nigeria has any impact on growth and development 3. To determine the source of growth and development in Nigeria apart from the government 4. To recommend ways of achieving growth and development even amid economic challenges Research Questions 1. ... There are concerns that the country is recording growth without development and economy appears to be on the downturn. Nigeria presently faces diverse challenges to the expansion of her economy including religious hostility, kidnappings, violence, fraud, and poverty (Oxford Business Group, 2010; p. 58). Considered one of the best growing economies globally, Nigeria’s development is paradoxical (Adediji, 2012; 79). This is because most of the people who qualify for employment are jobless thus making meaningless contribution to the economic development (Robinson, 2012) and (Johnson, 2011). Nigeria has a poverty index of 60 percent and the exchange rates are Naira (N) 162 against the dollar. Furthermore, the country has low foreign reserves approximating to $38 billion (NBS. 2012). According to 2011 financial reports, Nigeria inflation stood at 10.3 percent while in 2012 it soared to 12.7 percent (CBN, 2012; p. 57). This is an indication that the country is not doing better econo mically and as more of her citizens continue to become jobless, the growth and development may just be a myriad (Nwosi, 2011; p. 47). It is apparent that these challenges are stifling the development of Nigeria (Akinpelu, 2011; p. 31). It appears that the notable growth in the sectors is driven by other factors. The business community in Nigeria is accumulating massive financial resources that they also invest in the country (IBRU, 2007). The investors in the country are conducting business activities in the oil industry, the agriculture sector, and the real estate industry. Therefore, the growth observed relate to the efforts of the investors engaging in the expansion of their businesses (Menjah and Abor, 2012; p. 68). This

Project Managment - Team work Evaluation Assignment

Project Managment - Team work Evaluation - Assignment Example The activities that fall under these two processes are; decision on leadership through voting, this is also in line with thinking through the purpose of the group, decision on tasks for each member is a strategy to ensure fair share in the workload, all the activities that come prior to tackling of tasks are under transition processes; the plans, goal specification and planning the activities here are like decision on the backup plan as a group to avoid clashing of roles, set up on calendar et al. (Kivipelto & Yliruka, 2012). Action processes are a vital part of the taxonomy, what is entailed here is actual activities that are the sole purpose of a team or rather a group. Information and data are assembled within, members writing down their ideas and opinions, communication of venues for meetings, working on writing skills and grammar are pronounced in this process. The leader sets goals to be completed in every meeting to avoid time waste, the leader also monitors progress. Upon completion of own work, there is team monitoring, members who complete their tasks earlier help their colleagues. Evaluation of work, provision of any vital feedback, coordination and often working in pairs come in action processes. More importantly, the time for completion of work is set in this process (Kivipelto & Yliruka, 2012). Interpersonal processes come later in the taxonomy of team processes. Orchestrating conflict management techniques is employed here. Upon the rise of challenges, the crew chief would exchange tasks of the group members and work in liaison with the group to find an amicable solution. Identification of individual attributes, i.e., strengths takes place and when disagreements occur a management process would be held for instance re-evaluation of objectives and vote on decisions for the best interest of the group. Encouragement occurred during meetings, because of the positive attitude shown. Working in pairs and communication

What are the limits of international cooperation Essay

What are the limits of international cooperation - Essay Example Naturally, this is a naive approach to world relations and one that cannot be reasonably expected to exist at any level as the parties that are integrating with one another are ultimately self interested and seek to maximize their own good at each and every juncture (Chandy & Kharas, 2011). Ultimately, as this analysis will argue, there are distinct limits of expectation that should be established with respect to the way in which international cooperation will be exhibited. As a means of providing relevant situational examples for this, several of the key exhibitions of the limitations and constraints to international cooperation will be elaborated upon and referenced within this brief analysis. In this way, it is the hope of this author that after integrating with a further understanding of what constitutes the bounds of international cooperation, the reader might come to a more informed understanding of how international cooperation is exhibited within the current model and how one might expect it to be exhibited within the near future in any number f different inter-state interactions that may take place. Looking back into the not so distant past, it is the understanding of this author that two distinct indicators of international cooperation can be found to exist. These are the needs and expectations/demand for sovereignty as well as the continual and a surge of need for the propagation of self interest. With regards to the latter, this is one of the terms and understandings that most closely define international relations on any particular level. Likewise, with regards to the former, this is perhaps the most fundamental aspect of state behavior as it lies at the core of almost each and every action that is state engages in (Zaum, 2010). Nonetheless, even though these two concepts are heavily leveraged with respect to international relations, they are none the less salient to a more complete understanding of international cooperation. For instance, if one t akes the case of the Marshall plan, instituted by the United States at the close of World War II as a means of rebuilding a war-ravaged Europe, the self interests of this particular program was with regards to developing a resilient and robust series of economies within Western Europe that could stand up to the growing threat that the Soviet Union posed in the East (Hogan, 1989). Likewise, the cooperation that was noted between these nations and the United States was with respect to the fact that this program did not infringe upon self-interest or sovereignty to a large enough degree for the recipient nations to refuse such aid (Tinsley, 2007). In such a way, both determinants of the rubric lain out above have been met and thus international cooperation is something that can be expected to have taken place in this particular situation. Likewise, as history has proven, this is indeed the result and can be attested to in a variety of other somewhat similar situations. Similar situatio ns to the one described above are not only relegated to history, rather the determinant of sovereignty and self interest of both parties continues to define the exhibition of international

France and Russia Semi-Presidential Systems Analysis Essay

France and Russia Semi-Presidential Systems Analysis - Essay Example Democracy is simply understood as highly associated with freedom. On the contrary, it would be a bit harder to define authoritarianism due to the fact that it is quite supple and diverse in its form. In other words, it is very interesting to find out why some countries ended up themselves in authoritarian regime knowing the fact that there is no individual freedom associated with it. In addition, it is very complex and not everyone could substantially express their freedom. At some point, there must suppression of individual rights involved. After all, authoritarianism requires absolute obedience to authority. This is the basic requirement in authoritarian regime contrary to emancipation of individual freedom in democratic regime. In democratic regime, it is the people who have the higher authority to select among themselves somebody to be seated in the higher rank, to represent their voices. Submission therefore to this instituted authority would mean complete obedience and respect of the voice of the majority. In this case, it is always the majority wins and has ultimate right over the minority. This only means that for as long as there are minority groups, democratic regime should always subject itself to varying amendments in many aspects in governance. For instance, the emancipation of law should at some point be allowed to undergo process of voting prior to its implementation. In the legalization of abortion, democratic regime always has the chance for ratification by the majority. Substantial debates are necessary just to make sure that everybody’s possible voices on the said issue are heard. On the contrary, one could always associate authoritarianism with dictatorship, monarchy, one-man rule, autocracy and even police state. This what it means about authoritarianism being diverse. In democracy, the rulers are restricted by a constitution, law and even oppositions such as the minority group and even some insurgents. However, this is not the case in the issue of authoritarian regime. There is a repressive control of the people in authoritarianism. Seeing these definitions and illustrations of authoritarianism and democracy would somehow suggest that it would be impossible why countries remarkably engaged themselves with authoritarian regime. It is important to look at this issue in detail most especially in the case of Russia. In this paper, the proponent tries to elaborate some factors that could probably explain why Russia has slid into competitive authoritarianism. Based on history, Russia like France has semi-presidential systems. However, France chose to remain democratic but Russia decided to slide into competitive authoritarianism. There are many probable factors that one could elaborate for the reason of acquiring substantial explanation. However, in this paper, the proponent chose to discuss one of the most important factors considered to be elemental for the institution of authoritarian regime in Russia. This is th e issue concerning democratic value. Democratic value People lack democratic values. Perhaps, this is a good point to start with. In Russia, history could tell that in its archaic society, the leaders always decide for the people. People were never thought to decide among themselves and thus lacking responsibility and freedom to think of different things for the good of the country. This is a remarkable impact and

Abuse Neglect Or Nothing to Worry about Case Study

Abuse Neglect Or Nothing to Worry about - Case Study Example Broudy for assistance. She notes that Kim had shown her cuts on her body and confessed that she was fed up with her condition. While Kim had revealed that her father was involved in her condition, Mary suspected domestic molestation or ‘self-infliction’, concerns that she communicated to Ms. Broudy. Broudy determined to help but Kim was not willing to open up. As a result, Broudy reported the matter to the school principle and counselor but they took no action. Kim’s parents were equally unconcerned about her condition. Possible action for Ms. Broudy Ms. Broudy’s position identified her as a custodian to students while within the school’s premises. She also had a moral obligation as a member of the society to ensure others’ well being. A number of ethical issues therefore arise to determine possible courses of action for any person in Bourdy’s position. She was for example bound by ethical principles of â€Å"respect for the dignity of persons, responsible caring, and responsibility to society† (Pope and Vasquez, p. 93, 94). As a result, Bourdy was under ethical obligation to protect any of her students from any form of bodily degradation such as molestation or physical abuse. The duty of care and social responsibility also required her to protect students from possible ‘self-inflicted’ harm. ... My decision to talk to Kim and finally report the matter to the administration would be supported by â€Å"consequentialist theory† that values impacts of a decision or an action. This is because if successful, such actions would help Kim out of her problem. I would also consider reporting the matter to law enforcement agency if the school failed to help Kim (Strike and Soltis, p. 158- 160). Neglect or abuse Possibility of neglect Neglect defines failure to provide for and protect a child from harm. Based on the facts of the case, if the parents were not involved in abusing Kim, then they were responsible for negligence. This is because the parents had evidently failed to take actions to protect their child from her source of harm. The injuries having been on Kim’s wrist suggested that the parents were aware of what their child was going through but did not bother to seek a solution. Similarly, their response when called upon by the school’s administration also i ndicated lack of interest in protecting Kim from her problem. While her mother did not even comment on the matter, her father disregarded it. Kim’s parents were therefore negligent for failing to protect her from her deteriorating condition. They, contrary to Mary and Broudy’s actions, communicated lack of social responsibility, disregard to other people’s welfare and lack of the moral doctrine of utilitarianism. The parents were as a result neglecting indicators of Kim’s problems that remained unsolved (Pope and Vasquez, p. 93, 94). Difference between neglect and abuse While abuse involves direct infliction of harm to a person, neglect relates to failure to ensure a person’s safety from harm. Neglect is therefore an act of omission while abuse is an act of

Importance of institutional investors for financial markets Essay

Importance of institutional investors for financial markets - Essay Example Such funds are prepared to get reinvested so as to attain the benefit out from investments. There are different types of institutions that manage and organize investments (Davis, 2001). Such include pension institutions, insurance companies, savings institutions and foundations respectively. All institutions are important with respect to the area of finance they manage and deal with. It is their specialized skill which recovers the benefit from the investment, as they are more aware of the market trends and regulations than the ordinary man - â€Å"a common investor† (Davis, 2001). Institutional investments like pension funds have a great role in developing economies. Pension funds mount up the amount and number of investments attained by company employers in respect of their employees. The amount gets doubled and tripled after some time, depending on the rates on which it has been fixed, and adds a consistent share in the financial stock market until the policy gets expired. This is how regulations, policies and instrumentations of pension funds (institutional investment) retrieve the best outcome (liquid assets) for both investors and managers of the fund. The importance of pension institution funds vary with respect to the changing norms of countries’ markets. According to International Financial Services London (IFSL) 2004, UK projects an amount of $1,400 billion in the pension funds prospect, adding a major share in the UK’s financial stock market (BGL, 2010).... Such institutions are caretakers of others’ equities and private holding investments. The role of institutions is deliberate as they set a system of organizing, developing and managing respective funds. Such funds are prepared to get reinvested so as to attain the benefit out from investments. There are different types of institutions that manage and organize investments (Davis, 2001). Such include pension institutions, insurance companies, savings institutions and foundations respectively. All institutions are important with respect to the area of finance they manage and deal with. It is their specialized skill which recovers the benefit from the investment, as they are more aware of the market trends and regulations than the ordinary man - â€Å"a common investor† (Davis, 2001). Institutional investments like pension funds have a great role in developing economies. Pension funds mount up the amount and number of investments attained by company employers in respect of their employees. The amount gets doubled and tripled after some time, depending on the rates on which it has been fixed, and adds a consistent share in the financial stock market until the policy gets expired. This is how regulations, policies and instrumentations of pension funds (institutional investment) retrieve the best outcome (liquid assets) for both investors and managers of the fund. The importance of pension institution funds vary with respect to the changing norms of countries’ markets. According to International Financial Services London (IFSL) 2004, UK projects an amount of $1,400 billion in the pension funds prospect, adding a major share in the UK’s financial stock market (BGL, 2010). The contribution of pension funds is there for Germany and France

Citizen Journalism compared to Professional Journalism Research Paper

Citizen Journalism compared to Professional Journalism - Research Paper Example Equipment issues as well, the entire aspect of Citizen Journalism takes a nosedive at times. However, the results that come out are astounding to state the least. Citizen Journalism is on the rise as it has brought in measures which ask of the Professional Journalism domains to be more vibrant and set things rolling in a proper way. Sadly this has not happened and for all the wrong reasons, there have been serious shortcomings in the wake of the journalism regimes. Citizen Journalism is different as it facilitates a connection between the viewers of these news channels and the organization that takes the clips and videos of the novices and amateurs to air it on television. One shall believe that Citizen Journalism is something that has brought in a good amount of success for these news channels in the time and age of today. And there is reason enough to believe such a premise. One shall believe that Citizen Journalism is indeed the twilight of the press freedom that these news channels talk about. It has helped the people to find out news items and clippings which are covered by different people from varied walks of life and has made them aware of the weaknesses that exist within any society of the world (Gade 2001). There is an important manifestation of the social issues which have come to light once the realms of Citizen Journalism have become prominent and more so with the competitive world of news channels today, this phenomenon has taken more significance now than ever before. The different coverage and techniques have included the use of a single Handycam for shooting purposes and a computer to edit the file that has been shot.

Program and Policy Analysis Essay Example for Free

Program and Policy Analysis Essay A gang is a group formed by a number of people, who share a same identity either through formation, or organization. According to Charles (2003), the word gang is often associated with a negative connotation. Gang activities are wide and vary from typical organized groups that involve themselves in crimes, to a general class of certain behavior that carry out a collective action intended to attain social solidarity or cohesion, especially in cults, gangs, political parties or unions. Studies have shown that, various approaches have been applied by the government, the society, law enforcers, and even the experts in an attempt to fight with the social problems caused by various gang groups. The effort is also intended to prevent formation of gangs, to rehabilitate the gangs and punish those who engage themselves in criminal activities within the gang groups. It has been stated that, gang groups differ due to different experiences in culture which include drugs, territory and nightlife. Various Approaches to Gangs The gang culture approach. According to Shaw, McKay (2004), this approach looks at the cultural experiences of the young people as the key factor which leads to the formation of gang groups. Young people and especially the blacks have felt discriminated by the media and other social groups; hence they have a tendency to form gangs by feeling hated and stereotyped. Other factors such as the way in which policies of the local governments are set up, deprivation and racism have contributed to the rise of gangs. The supporters of this approach try to prevent such factors that contribute to formation of gangs, so as to reduce the number of young people joining various gang groups. The aggressive approach is applied by the harsh and conservative governments, who believe that force must be used in order to deal with criminals in the society. Miller (2000) posited that, such governments believe in the application of harsh laws which include the use of guns to fight criminals in the society. These governments employ a Zero-tolerance principle on criminal actions. The main aim and objective of this group is to bring criminal acts in the society to the end by doing away with any gangs that may be causing such evil in the society. The belief of the aggressive governments is that, harsh measures will instill fear to the youth and discourage them from joining gangs. The liberal approach on the other hand opposes the application and the passing of harsh laws in dealing with gangs. The liberal approach is of the view that, softer laws should be applied with the aim of rehabilitating the gang members and making them better people to live in the society. This approach advocates for the formation of rehabilitation institutions, where various criminals are kept for purposes of rehabilitation other than just applying the punishment measures. The sociological approach of deviance starts by describing and explaining gangs. This approach believes that, it is important to first understand the causes which lead to the formation of a certain gang, before measures can be put in place either for intervention or prevention of such a group. This approach therefore involves researchers to carry out an interactive interview with various groups from different cultures to find out the factors that contribute to the rise of gangs. It is after the findings that strategies and policies are put in place to deal with the problem. Conditions Under which a specific Policy may be Effective and the Requirements The liberal approach can work effectively where the government offers good support to the policy makers and the prison departments in dealing with gang members in the society. For this approach to work, there is need to put in place policies which would allow a good interaction between various gang members and the law enforcers such that, people like the police can first understand the problems which lead to the formation of such gangs so that they can know how to handle the criminals (Shaw, McKay, 2004). A proper rehabilitation center should be established where the reformed criminals can be used to assist those who are engaging in crimes to change by advising them and acting as a symbol, showing that reformation is possible. There is need for the government intervention by provision of funds and trained personnel to handle criminals. There is also need to put in place preliminary data, program performance and developed working strategies to ensure that the policy works out effectively. Assessment of a Local Policy Program One of the best programs applied locally in the U. S is the comprehensive community-wide approach to the intervention of gangs, gang prevention as well as gang suppression. Where all the required equipments and policies are availed, the conditions are suitable to deal with the problem of gangs in the society. Cohen (2005) observed that, this program has been put in place and is designed to test and implement a comprehensive and accurate model for limiting the number of young people who involve them in violence. The U. S government has contributed funds and established institutions which are used to enable this approach work among the youths in the society. The sites set for this work include the OJJDPs which is equipped with strong prospects to ensure the approach is successful, preliminary data, program performance and developed working strategies have been put in place. Other sites include the San Antonio Site, the Tuscon, Bloomington and the Mesa. The program involves the whole community in various programs where gang assessment is done, strategies are made, and consensus building is done and is a team oriented method which is used to solve social problems. Shaw, McKay (2004) stated that, the program mobilizes the community including the community groups, individual groups, citizens and various agencies, who are provided with social opportunities, economic and academic support. The intervention approach is applied here where the institutions use social intervention street workers, to interact and engage the youth gangs who often stay on the streets in various helpful activities. Gang suppression is done where informal and formal control measures of criminal justice system and juvenile procedures are carried out appropriately. In comparing this local approach with the earlier approaches analyzed out in this study, the comprehensive community-wide program has been effective, as it captures the elements discussed by other approaches, by ensuring that gang members are first of all well understood by considering the factors that contribute to the formation of such gangs and then moving ahead to tackle the problem (Cohen, 2005). The program has been effective in involving the community in various programs where gang assessment is done, strategies are made, consensus building is done, and a team oriented method is used to solve social problems. This is a successful way of ensuring that gang members and those who may intend to join various gang groups feel as part of the society and avoid engaging in any criminal acts.

Impact of the labelling perspective on criminological theory

Impact of the labelling perspective on criminological theory Q3: By drawing upon the insights of Symbolic Interactionism, the labelling perspective highlights the importance of how people respond to events and the manner in which responses shape self-perceptions. Discuss, with particular reference to the impact of the labelling perspective on criminological theory. Labelling perspective has negative and positive impact on society and individual. Labelling perspective and symbolic interactionism are inter-depended theories. They represent a few theories where it is often categorized as social reaction theory where it focuses on societys reaction towards the deviant and not the person of deviant. Its the sociology of deviancy. However, the labelling theorists state that their theory never cause criminality directly but they elaborate the situation around the criminals and the possibilities of their criminal occurrence. It is called sociology of deviancy. Labelling came up to UK only in 1960s from Europe from the influence of Elvis Presley and rock n roll culture. Here Frederick Thrasher has quoted in his juveline gangs that official labeling gives a negative impact on youths. Later on the issue of the labeled person will be and behave according to the description was brought about by Frank Tannenbaum (1938). Interactionist theory is of that a persons life is influenced by those being interacted even though the culture, family background and genetics has influence on ones life. So the interactions could influence ones lifestyle through symbolizing and labeling him. Labeling perspective focuses on society and individual. Lemert says that problem arises when individual is labeled and he identifies the label. Becker says that the society determine the rule for criminality and deviance. It is applied to those who disobey those rules and labeled as criminals. So those who are labeled are alienated from society. A few issues has to be look thoroughly as in how the person of labeled being analysed, the reaction to the label, whats the affect in the circle they live, whether the labeling has changed their self image. First of all, it has to be clearly seen, what are the behaviours that is catogarized as criminals. The usage of officials in power on labeling and whats the effect that it has on individual ? Labelling would give a person negative impact internally which affects his behaviour. Becker however disagreed that labelling perspective had caused deviance. It does not mean ones he steals, he would steal again. According to him, the internal changes to an offender are due to the people and to whom they interact to. However there was also idea brought about by Matsueda that a persons own view of himself is affected due to the way others treat and view them. This is shows it is an impact of labelling. Labelling perspective is divided into two; primary deviance and secondary deviance. First ones is of a person who had break the norm and rules yet is not bothered of the labelled that has been stamped on his by the officials or society. This is done through justification of the crime They are those who does not react to the societal reaction of labelling. Theorists also say that these people are falsely labelled. This obviously does not mean that the offender is innocent but he had disagreed to accepts the fact that the act is criminal and he is a criminal. Society disapproves his behaviour and categorize as less-worthy ones. Yet the offender does not bother of the label. However, the negative impact of the labelling is that it might turn the offender into the form that he had been labelled by the society. The latter ones, secondary deviance is of a behaviour that is due to social reaction and self image. Yet theorists say that labelling is the sole cause for all. Here the labelling is done by the prison, people of power such as police and similar institutions. The society determines the label on the individuals by looking at the people of powers reaction. The labelled ones are viewed differently in the society. The impact this; some will accept the label and some has no idea of what is his image and just accept the label. The image is brought about to one by the social interaction is negative impact. Theorist of opinion that labelling by officials does not give much impact to individuals but the stigmatisation from the society which he is belong to or respect. If the society knows about the label, it will affect the way people treat them. Usually criminal label is an overriding label. For example, the manager currently labelled as a thief. The labelled would think he is a thief more compared to he is a manager. So this does not only give a negative impact to the individual but the society. They would start to reject the presence of the labelled among them. The labelling negatively impacts his career as in his refusal to continue working due to the label. Society sees the labelled as less worthy than others of society. The labelling goes on negatively for the offender even in the society, friends, relatives and law abiding society. At last when everyone segregates them, they force themselves to be in the companion of other law breakers who accept them. Here even the innocent labelled person will learn new crimes and criminal values as part of association with them. The drug user who is eliminated from society now will indulge in other crimes as well. If they do once, they may repeat is the term police solely rely on, where it worsen the criminality when they charge the offenders when a crime similar to what occurred earlier in the particular area. The word may will lead those action and reactions unavoidable. Though some offenders will realize the mistakes done and get back to the normal life. It is still argued that the labelling internalised the individuals and criminality arises due to the social reaction to them. The worst impact created by labelling perspective is through prison. It is a dorm for the offenders to learn new crimes and increase the level of criminality as they are alienated from the society. These offenders just accept the label of criminal without hesitation while in prison as they believe they are unable to change the label. So this provokes them to commit more crime on their release. Clearly, that the labelling had give a negative impact as in increasing the crime rate. However the positive impact do arise as in some of offenders will not accept the label as their actions were not genuinely criminal and some would try to lead a normal life and not reoffend again. Whatever their reasons may be, but the society are not ready to accept them in the society due to the stigmatisation. The negative impacts of labelling continue as in the name of ex-prisoner. He faces the problem of getting a job, acceptance into society and police surveillance. Though he had moved out of the label of criminal, the society refuses to accept him in their community. Theorists had been arguing that the process of labelling would lead to criminality is the same as of social control to law abiding society. The labelling and control would lead to one to redefine himself and accept the labels. The impact of labelling is not only on individuals but groups. One group label the other as deviant will make the other ones alienated from the society. More crime is done by the group when the excluders block their social interactions. Current crime shows they have accepted the label and is not bothered of it. Controlling and labelling has created a malicious circle for the criminals. Young commented on a marijuana issue which involves Marijuana Tax Act 1937 where the labelling of media has worsened the criminality. They are negatively labelled where more control from police is provided. It made the offenders treated injustice and wanted to revenge back by acting against the intolerant society. This is criminality increases in society due to labelling. Labelling is not of is not a theory of causation but of interpreting what happens. It is not that the labelling create certain type of behaviours but rather they and their effects may lead any offenders to choose one of it as a path for criminality. Though these explanations is not strong enough to satisfy the accusation of labelling has a negative impact, in theory and practical it has always been viewed as a non causative theory. Next is an offender is classed negatively without thinking the act is actually could be treated as normal. This makes the offender suffer as a victim as his moral element of the act is eliminated. This is due to the labelling of the authority as only law is seen but moral values and the genuine factor in committing the act. The effect of labelling is at times unpredictable as in cases of arrest in domestic violence. (Sherman) where employed persons avoid the act further but those of unemployed found to act in more violent due to arrest which has made them being labelled. It does not withstand an empirical testing. It could convey social and sometimes of political message. The social reaction leads to the difficulty in testing the level of criminality. It is already a problem even before the label is official. Results are ambiguous in the attempts of testing. Labelling is actually a system of capitalism. It ignores the impact and political importance where it is against radical criminology. As this while the labelling perspective is seen in negative manner, so John Braithwaite has brought about the positive application using the theory above which is called reintegrative shaming. Positive impacts are to be created using this. The main idea of this is to make the labelled person realise of their mistake and effects that it has created. At the same time, it is for the society to forgive the offenders mistake and accept them back into the society. The idea is done in a process of two ways, firstly the offender need to be confronted in front victim. Secondly, the process is done in front of the offenders family or those considered important in his life as they are to make him to be accepted in the society. These ideas of Braithwaite claimed be able to give positive impacts as actually the real idea behind any reparation and caution plus is for the offenders to admit the guilt and ask for forgiveness from the victim. this is an excellent idea for the intention above as it has been vastly used in New Zealand Morris, Australia-Strang , Forsythe, and some parts of America-Alford. This had also been used widely in Britain with Crime and Disorder Act 1998 had been widely used as part of reparation Maxwell and Morris, Dignan, Young and Goold. Reintergrative shaming is actually an early cautioning for the offenders as of like in situations of warning, reprimand, take decision of bail decisions, before reports are prepared, part of sentencing, decision as to release and post-release intervention. this is actually a great way to reduce white collar crimes and corporate violations of law (Simpsons). With this some could escape from being convicted even at the early stage. Labelling does create a turning point for the offenders from committing further crimes and mistakes. Labelling theory has been a guideline for many to stay away from crimes and criminal actions. The process of avoiding the interactions with the labels would make the law-abiding society prevented from acting out the criminality. (Vold and Bernard). Especially for those who are young and new offenders. Police could handle the offenders off the criminal justice system as labelling is easily done through society. The official cautioning does not make out of official control but it gives him a second chance to come out of the stigmatisation. So community service and probation are introduced. This allows them to be away from incarceration and reduce the stigma and labelling. However, there had been complains that this are not effective as the rate of people being incarcerated have not reduced. So those who are being punished now are those who had been labelled earlier. It shows the labelling had not brought any good impact as said. Conclusion, it is not because of the way society views had increase the criminality and bad behaviour but the focus of media and officials which had turn into it. Though the action taken was not harsh but the reaction given to it had made the offenders internalise the labelled self image. Its concluded that the labelling perspective is to create awareness of the existence of this criminality and not for the benefit of individual. So in acting out the task, it does bring more negative impact rather than positive to the individual.

Moral Panic: Youth Slashing in Singapore

Moral Panic: Youth Slashing in Singapore 1. Introduction Slashing cases involving Singaporean youth gang members gain immense notoriety in 2010. The visibility of such criminal acts is amplified further by the mass media. Such reports provoke the publics latent fear of being attack by youth gangs especially so when high-profile cases such as the murder of Darren Ng at Downtown East was reported to occur in the evening between 5.30pm and 5.57pm at a time period where school-going children would be making their way home. This fuel the anxiety felt by already paranoid parents of school-going children. Moreover easy access to gruesome and explicit pictures of the victim that were splashed across both printed and online medias, further fuel widespread panic of youth gang members being more daring to strike anytime in the day. Such panic is contrary to updated statistics proving that crime rates in Singapore have been steadily on a downward trend. The question at hand then is What caused this mass panic of youth slashing in Singapore despite there being no actual spike in crime rates? In our assessment of Singapore youth slashing, several critical tenets of moral panic were identified; high concern over youth violence and gang associations, increase hostility towards the group seen as a threat (people, who were caught carrying weapons, at-risk youths), disproportionality in depiction of the problem and short life-span. This paper seeks to investigate moral panic on youth slashing in Singapore. In our essay discourse, we argue that the surge in news reports youth and gang violence attributes to the moral panic of youth slashing in Singapore. The increased visibility of such criminal acts and detailed reporting has push the issue of youth delinquency to the spot light. This paper will first consider the crime trends in Singapore with an emphasis on youth statistics to ascertain whether the crime rates show any spikes which may be a cause for panic for citizens. In our use of statistics, we assume that all criminal acts were reported accurately. Next, a study of news reports by the Singapore printed English media- Straits Times and New Paper would be conducted to see how frequent such reports were published. 2. Crime Trends in Singapore In the latest Singapore Police Force Annual 2009, it published a 10 year trend of crime rates for Singapore. It captures official crime statistics that includes only reported criminal cases. Figure 1 show that the overall crime and overall crime rate is relatively stable, reaching its peak in 2005 and gradually decreasing over the next 3 years. The year 2008 saw a marginal increase of 1% in overall crime from 32,796 cases in 2007 to 33,113. However according to the SPF annual, the crime rate per 100,000 population mark has actually fallen from 715 in 2007 to 684 in 2008. Further statistics from SPF website records that in year 2009, the number of overall crime cases recording a marginal increase of 0.2% as compared to the previous year. However, overall crime rate in 2009 was 665, lower than 684 in 2008. In 2010 then, overall Crime reportedly fell by 0.6% (or -200 cases), from 33,186 cases in 2009 to 32,986 cases in 2010. There was no mention of crime rates. Comparing the total crime cases reported in 2010, the general crime trend for Singapore would be seen as gradually decreasing. In 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2010 reports, youth crime was highlighted as a key crime concern. The majority of crimes among youths were for shop theft and other theft. Only in 2007, did rioting become the second most common crime among youths. At the peak of 4608 recorded cases of crimes against persons in 2005, only 21 of them were murder cases (Singapore Police Force, 2010). 0.004% of crimes against persons were murder cases at the peak of crimes against persons. There were no statistics that confirm what percentage of the murders was committed by youths. However, the overall crime against persons has remained relatively unchanged since 2006, and we would extrapolate that the number of murder cases would accordingly remain stable. Contrary to the statistics, there was a surge in news reports youth and gang violence in 2010. In the official crime summary for 2010 it was reported that there has been an increase in the number of youths arrested for rioting from 468 persons in 2009 to 531 persons in 2010. However the number of youths arrested for rioting 2010 is still lower from that in 2007 whereby 573 persons were arrested for rioting. Yet in 2010, the responses towards youth and gang violence were more fervent. The public members were organising Citizens-on-Patrol (COP) Programmes (Lim, 2010) and increasing the frequencies of such patrols in the wake of the Bukit Panjang Slashing case. One cannot help but ponder what incites such panic among citizens regarding neighbourhood safety when the statistics seem to show a relatively stable decrease in crime rate. In our essay, we argue that the surge in news reports youth and gang violence attributes to the moral panic of youth slashing in Singapore. 3. Literature Review From a sub-cultural perspective, using Cloward Ohlin(1960) theory of differential access in illegitimate society we could see street corner gangs as a form of conflict subculture, and their senseless violence a product of status frustration. Subcultural theories looked at how crime occur as individuals internalize a set of norms and values that brings them into conflict with the law. As described by Miller (1958) in the focal concerns theory of lower class where he identified trouble, toughness, smartness, excitement, autonomy, fate as concerns deeply embedded in the culture of the lower class. While many studies have attempted to explain street corner gangs and youth violence, there are also many others that looked at the social construction of the crime. Media constructions of crime have been immensely studied in the field. Research on media and crime generally agreed that crime is staple in news and popular programming and that uncommon events tend to be overrepresented (Pizarro, Chermak, Gruenewald, 2007). In studies of gang and youth violence, it is established that particular media portrayals of gangs and youths have shaped the identity of this group and the societys attitude towards them (Dorfman et.al, 1997; Thompson, et. al, 2000). Esbensen Tusinski (2007) discussed medias tendency of stereotyping gangs and their associations with violence and organizational capacity. Where youth violence is concerned, there are also studies particularly on school shootings in US public schools (Frymer, 2009; Waldron, 2002; Muschert, 2007) and knife crime in UK (Squires, 2009; Wood, 2010). The concept of moral panic however goes further to explore the profound influence of media as an instuitution of social control through amplifying deviance. Attention is given to the ideological role of media and the construction of meanings. In Cohens work of mods and rockers this concept is useful in understanding how they were labelled and controlled, as well as explaining how and why the societys reaction was formed. Concept of moral panic can be characterised by a heightened fear over evildoers and the threat they bring to society. It must have a scapegoat and an obeject to be panicked about. This usually brings about a strengthening of social contol apparatus such as stricter regulations. The indicators of moral panic included high concern over the problem, increasing hostility toward the group engaged in the behavior, widespread agreement that the threat is real, disproportionality in the depiction of problems and volalitily (Goode Ben-Yehuda, 1994). Goode Ben-Yehuda (1994) used three theories to explain what brings about the panic. Interest-group theory looks at moral entrepreneurs use media to publicise their concerns their claims taken up by significant section of the media and presented as factual (Jenkins, 1992). Elite-engineered theory see the ruling class as deliberately and conciously creating a moral panic over an issue which they see as not terribly harmful to the society to diver t the public from more serious issues. The third- grassroots theory- presented by Goode Ben-Yehuda (1994) is a bottom-up rather than top-down theory of moral panic. This theory looks at public participation in moral panic, where media then magnify real public fears about crime. There has been increasing application of this concept in studying youth and gang violence (Welch, Price, Yankee, 2002; Bartie, 2010; Killingbeck, 2001), and we believe that this concept is relevant to the current issue we are studying. Yet it would be inadequate to dismiss Singapore slashing case merely as a moral panic. As Squires (2009) argued, Cohen (1972) study of Mods and Rockers did also present how moral entrepreneurs have exploited societys reaction for their own agenda. Henceforth, this paper would like to discuss whether the attention given to local cases could be attributed to moral panic. 4. Case Studies of Youth Slashing in Singapore One of the first incidents, though did receive much attention include one at Pasir Ris on 5th March. The incident was only reported in June where the attackers were prosecuted (tell me if you find another article about this). The other is at Kallang area where a a gang of Sarawakian robbers committed 4 violent thefts, where 1 Indian national was murdered. Below are the high-profile cases: 1) 30th October 2010 at Downtown East 19-year-old Darren Ng Wei Jie died after being assaulted by a group of gang members. The attack started with staring and angry words before he was attacked with choppers and knife. A total of 11 youths were arrested and charged with murder, all of whom were Chinese. The incident was seen as gang-related. Ng was later found out to be a member of one of the gangs. 2) 8th November 2010 at Bukit Panjang 20-year-old Jayasiva Shangar Guru was slashed and stabbed by a group of gang members. The gang also attacked at Jelapang Road, where another six youths were assaulted. In both incidents, the victims were attacked after denying being a member of Pak Hai Tong gang. The attackers were believed to be members of Sah Lak Kau. There were speculations that nights incident was related to a gang fight earlier that day at 6pm where a group of men were chasing after a teenager taunting him to fight back. A total of fifteen men were arrested. Following the two high-profile slashing cases, there were reports of three others. On 18th November at Ang Mo Kio, two youths got into a dispute outside a fast-food outlet, where eventually one of them attacked the other with a knife. On 24th November at Teck Whye, an off-duty auxiliary cop was attacked by 7 street-gang members who deliberately bumped into him. In December at Yishun Ring Road, a 23-year-old man was reported to have been assaulted by 3 youths of age 13, 15 and 18 after a dispute of missing handphone. 5. Societal Response 5.1 Media Attention The series of attacks have triggered a search for explanations on the phenomenon of rising gang violence. Society seeked to explain the nature of fights, whether it is random or due to revenge, and the structure of gangs, now observed as loose associations different from tradition secret societies. Following Downtown East incident, many reports talked about youth gangs- how staring incidents can lead to violent fights, why youths joined these gangs. News reports of ensuing cases tend to remind readers about the significant attack at Downtown East and Bukit Panjang that inadvertently create concerns over gang-related violence in Singapore. There were also follow-up reports to keep public updated on who has been arrested and charged. Reports of being arrested were frequent to remind the society of the strict laws and the consequences of such acts. 40 suspected gang members were arrested in blitz carried out by police officers (Yong, 2010). Although there were no details mentioned, the report came with comments by Minister of Home Affairs, K. Shanmugam, to assure the public tough acts were taken to tackle youth gangs. Comments by public figures like Minister of MCYS also bring public attention to at-risk youths on the importance of increase community initiatives to prevent them from gang associations. Beyond print media, interactive news media seems to play a role in public discourse over the slashing incidents. According to Straits Times on 6th and 4th November 2010, online articles related to the incidents were most read and commented on. News of Bukit Panjang slashing received overwhelming amount of comments from members in ST forum and STOMP and Asiaone News (STOMP: Singapore Seen, 2010;, The Sraits Times Discussion Board, 2011; Asiaone News, 2010). While many comments were neither constructive nor substantial, they do reflect publics concern over gang violence and more importantly, question the safety and security of Singapore society. Again, comments are a way of making sense of the incidences: they were many questions of what is happening in society and the youths and whether there is a come-back of gangs. News and visuals in interactive media allow netizens to fuel speculations and fear over these incidences. 5.2 Legislation: Tackling Gangs In the wake of perceived insecurity at Downtown East, police patrols were stepped up. Zero-tolerance policy was affirmed, as showed in reports where teenagers carrying offensive weapons were arrested and suspected of involvement in gang activities (Straits Times, 2010). In a parliamentary debate, Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam stated that 93 gang members were arrested since end October 2010. He also stated the possibily of giving police additional power to prevent gang formations which include getting youths to observe curfew hours or to attend intervention programmes (Parliament of Singapore, 2011). There was also a suggestion of considering regulating the sale of knives (Parliament of Singapore, 2011). Youth crime was one of the three crime types identified by the police this year (Singapore Police Force, 2011). This is despite a decrease in total number of rioting cases last year. Police efforts of combating youth crime which include working with schools in identifying youths at risk and the StreetWise Programme- that aims to divert youths away from involvement in crime- have been re-emphasized. Such focus can be seen as a way to assure public that something is done to contain the problem of street gangs. It is clear that the series of incidents heightened the fears over youth violence. Before 2010, reports of such slashing incidents were rare.(keywords youth violence and gang violence produced mainly stories from US about American street gangs in Factiva search builder when sources are limited to Straits Times and New Paper.) And because there were little reports, there were little discussions in online forums about gang violence. In list of parliamentary reports from 2006, youth violence only came into attention recently after the incidents. Minister of Home Affairs have emphasised that the crime rates have continually decreased over the years and there is no increase of gang violence lately in Singapore (Parliament of Singapore, 2011). Henceforth, one can conclude that the attention given by the public on slashing and gang violence are a product of a moral panic constructed by the various media portrayals of the incident. 6. The Media Politics of Youth Violence in Singapore Therefore, by concluding that the public concerns on slashing and gang violence are formed as a result of moral panic, we can also conclude that the media plays a pivotal role in the construction of moral panic. The media has universally being respected as one of the major actors of disseminating information over the years. Therefore, the media has been trusted to convey the information to the public, operating as moral entrepreneurs informing the readers the goods and bads of society (Cohen, 1972). This influence has made almost every fact conveyed in the media being perceived as the truth, and when the moral value conveyed in the media intercepts with the societal value that needs to be protected, even the minor happenings in society will generate concerns and instigate fear that some measures should be taken. Thus, the media has used this authority by providing news that instigates fear to the public and arouses concerns about the slashing issue. The frequent follow-ups of the Pasir Ris slashing incident are continuous in nature whereby it tracks down from the initial crime down to the news coverage of the murdered teens funeral and the eventual revelation that he is part of the gang. This surge of news reports are aimed to cause panic and fear of the crimes, and also warns the public about the dangers of gang involvement-as seen from the reports that Darren is part of gang- and the consequences of engaging in such acts. This has instigated fear to the public whereby concerns were directed to the safety of the neighborhood, and parents not allowing their children to return home late at night since the incident happen. The incident in Bukit Panjang has encouraged more residents to take part in the Citizens on Patrol (COP) programme formed by the Zhenghua division in Bukit Panjang, in order to beef up security in the area. (Ismail, 2010) In addition to that, the interest groups, the state as well as the grassroots have used the media as a social control agent to express their concerns towards the conditions of the society. These moral entrepreneurs reach the public through the media such that the news will generate some concerns from the public and get their support in controlling the crime before it goes off-hand. The media amplified the situation by describing the criminals as young, in their teenage years and living in subcultural environment of gang violence (Wong,2010). These facts have amplified the publics response towards the crime when Teen Challenge, a voluntary welfare organization received 20 percent more calls from parents since the slashing cases. The grassroots leaders are working with schools in order to control the issue of gang violence. This is to allow the youths to feel that they are part of the community, and they will feel how important it is to feel accepted by the society. There is therefore, a profound influence of the media as a social control by reporting deviance in a moral provoking manner. 7. Criticism of Moral Panic The moral panic concept has its own criticisms. The problem lies with the proportionality between the cases reported in the media and the reality. The medias role as the medium of disseminating information is regulated by the higher political and commercial forces, The news were received by citizens at second hand which means that is has been manipulated (cohen,1972).Therefore, the citizens panic might not be justified since the reality of the case is not known. The issue reported by the media might not carry the same severity as the reality. As most of the time, the media is amplifying the slashing cases in order to instigate fear and gain concern from the public. However, in actual reality, statistics provided by the home affair ministry have shown that crime cases, which include the case of gang violence, have been decreasing (Parliament of Singapore, 2011). It is only when the citizens panic has reached its point (which means that the government has received enough support and concern from the citizens), will then the reality of the case is revealed and the public will then realize that the case that they have been panicky about was an isolated one. On example of this is the Downtown east incident, whereby Pasir Ris MP Dr Ahmad Magad said that the case is an isolated one, and the neighborhood is peaceful. This was stated after receiving feedbacks from worried parents about the safety of their children and security around the neighborhood has already beefed up by the citizen as well as police patrols (Toh, Tee, 2010). This has shown the proportionality between the case reported on media, and the reality, and the citizens agenda of using the media to exaggerate the case only to gain support and concern from the public. Another point is that the publics reaction towards the issue might not be directly due to panic generated from the media reports, those reaction might be one of the societys concern towards the issue and they would like to help the state take control of the problem before it becomes worse. This is also evident from the states intervention of the matter, describing the re-examining the sentencing options as allowing an early intervention , in order to help the gangs who are yet to commit criminal offences (Ismail,2010). This implies that the situation is not as serious as it seems to be, and the state is only exercising measures to control the spread of youth violence by controlling its growth before it is too late. In addition to that, the media labeling of the criminals highly deviant and depiction of the gangs as a danger to the not only serves as a self-fulfilling prophecy to the deviants and induce them into committing more offences in the future. Thus, the moral panic not only causes the heightened attention by the public, but also exerts the identity to the gangs that they should be feared. They gain their self-defined meaning of success through displaying their masculinities and these hateful reports are only making these gangs to pursue their goals (Mcrobbie, Thornton, 1995). On example is the follow-up of slashing cases since the downtown east incident, one of which is the Bukit Panjang slashing incident involving 6 youths. It was featured in the Straits Times entitled beware the rise of copycat gangs as well as discussion forums such as Stomp and Straits Times, sparking interests that the case in Bukit Panjang might be a sequel of copycat gang-related attacks to the one in Downtown Ea st. This shows that the moral panic caused by the media did not really help to engage the community and help to eradicate the crime but rather helped the criminals in engaging with more acts as labeling them as gangsters will just reassert their identity and make them continue with their criminal behaviors. However, the media is still regarded as the most reliable medium to get current news reports and therefore its credibility rarely goes unchallenged. The frequent follow-ups by the media, portraying the numerous pictures of the crime scene viewable on the television brings these cases close to reality, with the pictures of the victim that could engage the viewers into believing that something needs to be done with these criminals.(Estrada,2001) 8. Conclusion The case of youth slashing incidents in Singapore has illustrated to us how the media induces moral panic in a society. The concept of moral panic further to explore the profound influence of media as an instuitution of social control through amplifying deviance. Attention is given to the ideological role of media and the construction of meanings. This paper also suggests that moral panic is superficially created by incessant reporting of youth slashing incidents rather than a significant spike in crime rates. In other words, this paper argues that rather than an increase in crime rates involving youths, there was an increase in visibility of such criminals act through exposures from mass media.