Causes of Political Disaffection and Disengagement

Causes of Political Disaffection and Disengagement Is the British political class to blame for political disaffection and disengagement? The Founding Fathers suggested that a democracy can only come to impartial decisions if both high levels of representation and deliberation take place (Gargarella, 1998). As a result of growing political disengagement and disaffection within contemporary British politics, there is a growing, â€Å"focus on the quality of representative democracy in Britain and on the quality of participatory democracy† (Kelso, 2007, p365) – the relationship that has been recognised is that political disaffection and disengagement are not conducive with an impartial democracy. Worryingly, both the Hansard Society’s annual, ‘Audit of Political Engagement’ (2017), and a recent House of Commons briefing paper, ‘Political disengagement in the UK: who is disengaged?† (2017), suggest that political disaffection and disengagement are growing issues; knowledge of politics is down six percent from the previous year (49%), the level of trust in Government ‘to put the needs of the nation first’ has dropped to 17% (2013) and trust in the credibility of MPs stands at a measly 9%. These figures indicate that there is indeed an issue of disaffection and disengagement within the UK, thus, to determine if the political class or instead, something else is responsible, it becomes necessary to investigate what the cause of disengagement and disaffection is within specific subsections of the population; especially those who are more likely to become disengaged from politics – the ‘disaffected democrats’ (Flinders, 2015). These factions include demographics such as the ‘working class’ and ‘18-24 year olds’, both of which account for low levels of knowledge in politics compared to the average mentioned above; 29% and 33% respectively (Hansard Society 2017). The term ‘political class’ is contentious and, ‘is still not thoroughly developed in literature’ (Manolov 2013). Allen & Cairney’s, ‘What do we mean when we talk about the â€Å"Political Class†?’ (2015), offers the best practical definition; that the term political class is used to identify certain, ‘flawed characteristics’, that elected politicians tend to hold, those being: Limited roots in local constituencies, inexperience of the real world, inability to reï ¬â€šect the social background of the voting population, inability to represent devolved and English regions, and their tendency to engage in a style of politics that is off-putting to the general public.(Allen & Cairney, 2015, p18  ) The general view that the working class currently have of politicians is one of ‘cynicism’ (Manning & Homes 2012). Within a study conducted by Manning & Holmes (2012), members of the working class gave opinions on how the political class cannot represent them – one member of the survey describing David Cameron, the then PM as followed: â€Å"he’s snooty†¦ [h]e’ll not really be interested in ordinary, what I class ordinary people† (Manning & Holmes, 2012, p.483). This line of narrative makes total sense as there is no sense of ‘descriptive representation’ (Pitkin, 1967) for most elected MPs. For example, just 3% of MPs elected in 2015 came from an occupational background described as ‘manual work’ (House of Commons Library 2016), whilst the proportion of the population that lies within the social class of manual workers (DE) stands at 25% (NRS, 2016). Moreover, the annual wage for the working class sits below  £20,000 (Manning & Holmes, 2012) whilst the base annual salary of an MP starts at  £76,011 (Parliament.uk, 2017). It would be fair to say that there is a huge socio-economic disparity between the two classes which makes it hard for the working class to believe that they are truly represented within Parliament. This idea has been explored thoroughly in regard to the descriptive representation of women; Phillips (1995), most notably suggested that the electorate tends to favour those that are, â€Å"best equipped to represent† (Wà ¤ngerud, 2009, p.52), their views – those that can empathise directly with their electorate. Underrepresentation is an issue for a much wider demographic than just the working class. Just 8% of MPs identify as BME (British Future, 2017) whilst the population of BME citizens in the UK stands at 13% (Census, 2011). Furthermore, just 2% of MPs are under the age of 30 (Total Politics, 2016) whereas those who are of voting age under 30 make up 8.4% (Census, 2011). As the political class is not representative of the working class, or if it fails to represent minorities proportionally, there is no sense of, ‘impartiality’, within the representative process (Gargarella, 1998), resulting in political disaffection and potentially even disengagement. Whilst Pinkleton & Austin (2004) suggest that political disaffection leads to political disengagement, in evaluation, there is evidence to suggest that although disaffection is significant within the UK, the same cannot be said for political disengagement. Flinders (2015) argues that the current political climate is not, ‘anti-political’ –   that is it is not in favour of disengaging from politics – but that it is, ‘anti-establishment’ – disaffected from contemporary politics and the nature of the institution of the political class. Whilst statistics previously mentioned indicate that the levels of political knowledge within the working class are relatively low (29% vs. social class AB returning 71%), voter turnout in the 2017 General Election is only slightly lower than the highest ranking social class; DE’s 61% in comparison to AB’s 73% (IPSOS Mori, 2017). This would then indicate that even though the working class feel s disaffection towards politics, they remain involved in the political process. This seems to be the case more generally; more and more people are involving themselves in politics. Party membership numbers are ever increasing with the Labour party holding a 38 year high of 552,000 members (June 2017) and the Liberal Democrats a 24 year high of 102,000 (June 2017) (House of Commons Library, 2018). The logical question therefore; why is this the case amongst the working class and society in general? Birch (2016) reiterates the assumption that the [re]mobilisation of certain cleavages within politics indicates that a, â€Å"new issue has galvanised a previously political quiescent sector of the population† (p.107). This is reflected in the 2015 YouGov analysis of the General Election in which, the data within the social class ‘DE’ shows a shift away from the Conservatives (a vote share of 29%, their lowest amongst any social class) and one towards the alternatives of Labour and UKIP (37% and 18% respectively). A vote for Labour, whilst not as obviously as a vote for UKIP, could still very well be a vote against the political class. Mills (1958) specification of the political class as the, ‘political directorate’, places greater influence on the role of Cabinet above both Government and naturally Parliament. Following Mills’ terminology, a vote against the, ‘political directorate’, would be any party that would topple the current Cabinet. Thus, as Labour offer the most immediate alternative to the, ‘political directorate’, in a UK that is converging upon a two-party system (Prosser, 2018), a vote for them could also be interpreted as a rejection of the current political class; proof of political disaffection but not of disengagement. A stronger argument for disaffection being the fault of the political class would be the rise in support for UKIP. Nigel Farage, former leader and ardent supporter of UKIP, ran on a campaign revolving around the political class, ‘selling us out’, due to them being, ‘career politicians’ (GE 2015 & Brexit referendum 2017), drawing a clear line between the electorate and, ‘them’, (the political class). As well as furthering the argument of a lack of descriptive representation causing political disaffection, Farage’s campaign platform highlights an issue Crouch outlined in Post-Democracy (2004); career politicians are, â€Å"more concerned with meeting the needs of big business rather than ordinary citizens† (Jennings et al., 2016, p.880). This concept is reinforced by a survey carried out by Jennings et al, which reports that 78% of social classes C2DE believe politicians to be ‘self-serving’. This in tandem with the rise in votes for other parties, gives evidence of a growing cleavage against the political class, which although has prevented political disengagement from becoming a widespread issue amongst the working class, has cemented political disaffection within society. However, in evaluation, whilst political disaffection is self-evident, there is a systemic issue which enables the political class to unjustly receive much of the criticism. Flinders (2014, p.3) draws attention to the 1975 report, The Crisis of Democracy, which suggests that, â€Å"the demands on democratic government grow, while the capacity of democratic government stagnates†. The concept Flinders then explores in the same article is one of an, ‘expectation gap’, and, in another article, joined by Kelso, he goes on to assert that the contemporary system of Government, ‘encourages politicians to promise standards of behaviour †¦ that are unrealistic and unattainable’ (2011). Thus, when these, ‘unattainable’, promises are not kept, the result is one of disaffection as the electorate feels let down. Looking through the lens of game theory, it becomes clear as to why this is a systemic issue within contemporary UK politics. Whilst competing politicians both offer the most out of reach promises, any attempt to reduce the expectation gap by lowering the quality of promises will yield less votes, as to the electorate, the other candidates yields them a better payoff. Thus, the current scenario remains in a Nash equilibrium in which both candidates will offer a high level of promises in detriment to the expectation gap. Whilst it could be argued that the political class is at fault for offering unreasonable promises in the first places, it is to an extent only as a result of the nature of the contemporary electoral system. It can also be argued that political disaffection and disengagement are both contributed to by external factors, as opposed to just the political class. One of those external factors would be the influence of social media. Whilst this applies more to the younger generations within the electorate, the effects of social media in creating political disaffection are considerate. Yanamoto et al. (2017) report of ever increasing, ‘attack advertising’, and, ‘negative media coverage’, which perhaps foreshadowed the investigation into the activities of Cambridge Analytica (Channel 4 News, 2018). CA was more notoriously active in the Trump presidential election yet played a part in the 2016 Brexit referendum. Although there has been no leak of the explicit role CA played in the Brexit campaign, going off track record of its campaign defining ‘crooked Hilary’ slogan it developed from US Facebook data, it would be fair to suggest that the firm played a part in inflating political disaffection felt by the UK electorate. Even if CA was not directly involved, it cannot be denied that websites such as twitter, facebook and YouTube give individuals and entities a platform to spread cynicism and a rhetoric in favour of political disaffection. As suggested in Flinders (2015) individuals such as Owen Jones and Russel Brand played, ‘major roles’, in promoting a, ‘different form of politics’, engaging their audience, primarily the youth, in a narrative which revolved around the idea that, ‘the nature of British democracy’ was one of failure. Yanamoto et al (2017) found that cynicism like this, did not yield in disengagement from politics but rather, it, ‘foster[ed]’, a sense of desire to create change. In evaluation, social media is only a means of venting and publicising the original disaffection held by the electorate – disaffection which has been created by the political class. Bibliography Allen, P. & Cairney, P., 2015. ‘What do we mean when we talk about the â€Å"political class†?’. Political Studies Review, 2017, Vol.15(1), pp.18-27. Available from: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1478-9302.12092 Birch, S., (2016). ‘Our new voters: Brexit, political mobilisation and the emerging electoral cleavage’. Juncture, 2016, Vol.23 (2), p.107-111. Available from: http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=1b6a5f7d-88e1-4a87-93c5-b91d1acc55b3%40sessionmgr102&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=118114895&db=bth British Future. ‘52 minority MPs to sit in ‘most diverse UK parliament ever’’. London: British Future. Available from: http://www.britishfuture.org/articles/52-minority-mps-to-sit-in-most-diverse-uk-parliament-ever/ Channel 4 News., 2018. ‘Exposed: undercover secrets of Trump’s data firm’. London: Channel 4. Available from: https://www.channel4.com/news/exposed-undercover-secrets-of-donald-trump-data-firm-cambridge-analytica Crouch, C., 2004. Post-Democracy. Cambridge: Polity Crozier, M., Huntington, S. P., Watanuki, J., Trilateral Commission., 1975. The crisis of democracy: Report on the governability of democracies to the trilateral commission. New York : New York University Press Farage, N., (2017). I got into politics because I could see our political class in Westminster would sell us out to Europe. Available from: https://www.facebook.com/nigelfarageofficial/videos/1542379039143027/ Flinders, M., 2014. ‘Explaining Democratic Disaffection: Closing the Expectations Gap’. Governance, Vol.27(1), pp.1-8. Available from: https://bath.userservices.exlibrisgroup.com/view/action/uresolver.do?operation=resolveService&package_service_id=2335930000002761&institutionId=2761&customerId=2760 Flinders, M., 2015. ‘The General Rejection? Political Disengagement, Disaffected Democrats and â€Å"Doing Politics† Differently’. Parliamentary Affairs, 2015, Vol. 68(suppl1), pp.241-254. Available from: https://academic.oup.com/pa/article/68/suppl_1/241/1403570 Flinders, M. and Kelso, A., 2011. ‘Mind the Gap: Political Analysis, Public Expectations and the Parliamentary Decline Thesis’. The British Journal of Politics and International Relations, Vol.13(2), pp.249-268. Available from: http://journals.sagepub.com.ezproxy1.bath.ac.uk/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-856X.2010.00434.x Gargarella, R. (1998). ‘Full Representation, Deliberation and Impartiality’, in J. Elster (ed.), Deliberative Democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 110–37 Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons, 2016. Social background of MPs 1979-2017. London: House of Commons Library. Available from: http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-7483/CBP-7483.pdf Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons, 2017. Political disengagement in the UK: who is disengaged?. London: House of Commons Library. Available from: http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-7501/CBP-7501.pdf Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons, 2018. Membership of UK political parties. London: House of Commons Library. Available from: http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN05125/SN05125.pdf The Hansard Society, 2017. Audit of Political Engagement 14. London: The Hansard Society. (The 2017 Report). Available from: https://www.hansardsociety.org.uk/research/audit-of-political-engagement IPSOS Mori, 2017. How Britain voted in the 2017 elections. London: IPSOS Mori. Available from: https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/2017-06/how-britain-voted-in-the-2017-election_2.pdf Jennings, W., Stoker, G., and Twyman, J., 2016. ‘The Dimensions and Impact of Political Discontent in Britain.’ Parliamentary Affairs. Vol. 69(4), pp. 876-900. Available from: https://academic-oup-com.ezproxy1.bath.ac.uk/pa/article/69/4/876/2468902 Kelso, A., 2007. ‘Parliament and Political Disengagement: Neither waving nor Drowning.’ The Political Quarterly. Vol 78(3), p. 364-373. Available from: https://onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezproxy1.bath.ac.uk/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.1467-923X.2007.00865.x Manolov, G. L., 2013. ‘The Political Class – Defintion and Characteristics’. Slavak Journal of Political Sciences, Vol. 13(No. 1), pp.5-23. Available from: https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/sjps.2013.13.issue-1/issue-files/sjps.2013.13.issue-1.xml Mills, C. W., (1958). The Power Elite. London: Oxford University Press, pp. 225-42. National Readership Survey, 2017. Social Grade. London:   Publishers Audience Measurement Company Ltd. Available from: www.nrs.co.uk/nrs-print/lifestyle-and-classification-data/social-grade/ Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. 2011. ‘Census aggregate data’. UK Data Service. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.5257/census/aggregate-2011-1 Pinkleton, B. E. & Austin, E. W., 2004. ‘Media perceptions and public affairs apathy in the politically inexperienced’. Mass Communication & Society, Vol.7(3), 319–337. Available from: https://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxy1.bath.ac.uk/doi/pdf/10.1207/s15327825mcs0703_4?needAccess=true Pitkin, H., 1967. The Concept of Representation. Berkeley, CA.: University of California Press Phillips, A., 1995. The Politics of Presence. Oxford: Clarendon Press Prosser, C., 2018. ‘The strange death of multi-party Britain: the UK General Election of 2017.’ West European Politics. 26 January 2018, p.1-11. Available from: https://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxy1.bath.ac.uk/doi/pdf/10.1080/01402382.2018.1424838?needAccess=true Wà ¤ngerud, L., 2009. ‘Women in Parliaments: Descriptive and Substantive Representation.’ The Annual Review of Political Science. Vol.12(1), pp.51-69. Available from: https://www-annualreviews-org.ezproxy1.bath.ac.uk/doi/10.1146/annurev.polisci.11.053106.123839 Whale, S., 2016. ‘The under-30 club: Life in the Commons for Britains youngest MPs’. Total Politics. London: Total Politics. Available from: https://www.totalpolitics.com/articles/features/under-30-club-life-commons-britains-youngest-mps

Capital Punishment Essay -- essays research papers

CAPITAL PUNISMENT - IMMORAL OR NOT As a minority of US bishops once said, â€Å"We cannot teach that killing is wrong by killing.† The Catholic Church has spoken out repeatedly and passionately about the need to protect human life of every stage of existence. All issues and matters relating to the dignity and worth of human life fall with the realm of the fifth commandment, â€Å"You shall not kill.† The Catholic Church consistently communicates the importance of human life. As the late pope John Paul II once stated, â€Å"May the death penalty, an unworthy punishment still used in some countries, be abolished throughout the world. A sign of hope is the increasing recognition that the dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil.† Capital punishment is one of those moral issues that divide society. Most people in favour of the death penalty think that it should only be for those that have committed brutal premeditated crimes, mass murders and convicted multiple rapes. But Christians teaching, whatever the religion, believe that the criminal should be given the chance for rehabilitation. Early references to penalties for murder and capital punishment can be found in the bible. The first mention of appropriate punishment for murder is found in Genesis 4: 11 – 15 â€Å"Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer...

Non traditional threat to US Essay

In my opinion the most pertinent Non-traditional threat to the US is the economy. It is the single most important, globalized, and un-accounted for problem in the US. The current problem is so bad that the US economy is days away from a (partial) default. This would be the first default since possibly the 1700’s at the founding of the nation. The problem with this is the US green back is the reserve currency of the world (all or most investments are made in US dollars). If the US defaults it will cause a ripple effect that will make the 2008 global financial crisis look small in comparison to the lobal catastrophe that will occur. The reason most investments are in US dollars is because dollars have historically been the most stable currency in the modern age. The US defaulting on its debts has both internal and external effects. The total of US government debt is over $ 16. 9 trillion. (US Debt Clock) Of that debt, $ 4. 8 trillion is owned by governmental agencies. This includes agencies such as the social security (holds over $2. 5 trillion dollars). Of the public debt, foreign investors own $5. 7 trillion. Keep in mind this is Just the actual government debt; effects of a default would be uch bigger. The US reached its debt ceiling in 2012. The US constitution – 14th Amendment, Section 4 – directly forbids the government from defaulting on its debt. Thus to cope with the debt ceiling being reached the government has been taking extraordinary measures in order to pay their debts (for instance suspending investments on individual pension funds). When these measures are exhausted, the government will not bring on a global economic collapse as they default on all their bonds. They will Just be forced to balance the economy – to match their spending with their collected revenue. This is a very different issue (still with its problems) to a full default. What is important is that a full default is likely to not happen. The brinksmanship between the rogue Republicans and the government would only threaten a ‘technical’ default on the shortest-dated US government bonds, because their shorter lives mean their maturity date is nearer than the rest of the government’s ‘safe’ assets. The problem here, as ever, is not whether the federal government is able to repay the principle from these bonds, but the short-term methods used to make these repayments. The US treasury would still be seen as a ‘safe investment’, albeit in more economically uncertain times, and thus bonds would probably rise in price – believe it or not, the US government 10-year bond decreased in price after news that the media reported a default was unlikely. Though we are quick to forget, there have been 17 government shutdowns between 1976-1996 and the debt ceiling is raised almost every year – a full default never happens. This brinksmanship is historically common, and it is the media and politicians that fuel the political fire by indicating that this is the year where it will default.

Assess the Strengths and Weaknesses of the Functionalist Approach to Society Essay Essay Example

Assess the Strengths and Weaknesses of the Functionalist Approach to Society Essay Essay Example Assess the Strengths and Weaknesses of the Functionalist Approach to Society Essay Paper Assess the Strengths and Weaknesses of the Functionalist Approach to Society Essay Paper Functionalism is seen as a macro-scale attack to society ; it sees society as a whole instead than looking at parts of it. Due to this. functionalism sees society as a organic structure ( organic analogy ) . all the establishments work together to do society. This is peculiarly utile when detecting society in order to understand the manner in which it maps and the manner in which all the establishments ( organic analogy: variety meats within the organic structure ) work together to prolong society as a whole. Functionalism being a macro-scale attack is hence seen as a strength as it allows functionalist sociologists to detect society. and its establishments. as a whole. Functionalism is besides seen as a consensus theory. it sees society as just and merely. and it acknowledges that many societies. including the bulk of western 1s. have democracy and all persons within a peculiar society portion the same or similar norms and values. This could hence be seen as a strength as it acknowledges that democracy does be in many societies. However. as functionalism is a macro-scale attack and sees society as a whole. it could lose important factors/ groups which contribute to the operation of society ; these include little groups and folks. such as itinerants. Not admiting these minority groups within society could take to functionalist sociologists missing important information about how society maps and how minority groups live within a big society. This could hence be seen as a failing of functionalism as it fails to admit that there are minority groups within society. Besides. as functionalism is a consensus theory where all persons within a peculiar society portion the same or similar norms and values and sees society as being just and merely ; nevertheless. it fails to admit that there are inequalities within society. these inequalities could be present sums societal category. gender or ethnicity. However. other attacks. such as Marxism and Feminism acknowledge that there are inequalities within society which raises the inquiry as to whether functionalism is the most appropriate attack to utilize when analyzing society. This is hence seen as a failing of functionalism as society does hold many inequalities which functionalism fails to admit. Talcott Parsons. a functionalist sociologist who elaborated on Durkheim’s work about society and its maps. claimed that society is like an being. in peculiar. the human organic structure. He argued that all establishments. such as the household and the instruction system. within society map together to keep society merely as the variety meats within a human organic structure work together to keep life. In peculiar. Parsons identified three similarities between the human organic structure and society ; he claimed that they were both systems within themselves – all the parts of a organic structure and the establishments within society fit together in fixed ways. He besides identified that these ‘systems’ have demands – the human organic structure needs nutrition to assist it prolong life. whereas society demands equal socialization in order for society to go on working in the manner that it does. Parsons besides stated that both the human organic structure and society have maps – the maps of the systems within the human organic structure guarantee that the body’s demands are fitting therefore keeping life ; whereas. in society. the economic system maps to keep the societal system. As parsons’ analogy helps sociologists to better understand the manner in which establishments in society work together to keep a ‘healthy’ society. it can be seen as a strength of functionalism as it helps to construction sociologists’ perceptual experiences about how society maps. Parsons besides identified four demands of society and how they are met. He claimed that society needs version. this is where the stuff demands of society are met ; for illustration. persons within society work in order to derive their rewards which in bend provides for their stuff demands. He besides argued that society demands end attainment – society demands to put ends and accomplish them ; this demand is met via the political – political leaders set ends for society to accomplish and these ends help to better society. Integration is another demand which Parsons identified. this is where coherence between the different establishments. such as the household and instruction system. is promoted ; this is done to avoid pandemonium and struggle. Latency is besides needed by society. this refers to the manner in which persons cope with jobs in society – they may turn to religion to cut down the strain which has been put on them by society. These demands which Parsons identified can be seen as a strength of society as they help sociologists to understand what society needs in order to work adequately. However. functionalist sociologist. Merton disagreed with the demands which Parsons identified. Merton claims that Parsons ignored the fact that there are establishments within society that can be dysfunctional. for illustration. faith can organize coherence but can besides do divisions within society. Harmonizing to Merton. Parsons failed to admit this. Merton besides argues that Parsons fails to distinguish between intended ( manifest ) and unintended ( latent ) maps within society and hence. Parsons’ thought about the demands and maps of society are really simplistic. Merton besides criticises Parsons’ thought about indispensableness. he assumes that everything is necessary in the manner that it is ; for illustration. kids can merely be socialised adequately in a two parent. atomic household. nevertheless. Merton rejects this claim as he argues that equal socialization can happen even within a individual parent household. Due to Merton’s statements. some facets of functionalism. such as the demands and maps of society. are seen as a failing of society. There are besides other unfavorable judgments of functionalism ; it’s argued that functionalism explains the effects before the causes. For illustration. functionalism claims that kids need to socialised ( this is the consequence ) and hence the household exists ( this is the cause ) . Due to this. may sociologists argue that the functionalism attack is non one which can be used to explicate society decently. Besides. Marxist sociologists argue that functionalism has failed to explicate struggle and alteration within society ; the attack claims that society is harmonious and built on consensus. However. Marxist and Feminist sociologists argue that development and inequality do be in many signifiers. such as societal category and gender inequality ; nevertheless. functionalism has failed to admit this and is hence considered to be an attack which has traditional political orientation which is outdated. This therefore shows defects to the functionalist attack and hence points out the failings within the functionalist attack. Overall. in decision. the functionalist attack has many strengths and failings about the manner in which society maps and the demands it requires. It strengths are seen in the manner in which it explains the basic demands and map of society. these accounts can be used by other sociologists to better and keep an equal society. However. other attacks. such as Marxism and Feminism have criticised functionalism due to its deficiency of recognition of development and inequality which occurs within society. However. overall. it is a balanced statement.

4 Components to an Award-Winning Resume

4 Components to an Award-Winning Resume Last Monday, Career Directors International (CDI) announced the winners of their 17th annual Toast of the Resume Industry (TORI) award competition. TORI award winners are truly outstanding writers. I am very proud and excited that two members of The Essay Expert’s resume writing team won two awards each! Following the awards announcement, TORI judge Gillian Kelly wrote an article on What the Best Resume Writers Are Doing in 2016. The actual resumes will not be released until next month. In the meantime, Ms. Kelly’s observations serve as valuable advice for resume writers, as well as for job seekers writing their own resumes in 2016-2017. Here are the four main areas where the TORI-award-winning resumes stood out: 1. Storytelling Top-level resumes don’t rattle off boring job duties in long blocky paragraphs. While job duties might be covered in a winning resume, they are connected with a story or accomplishment. Great resumes don’t stop at results. They also explain how that result was achieved, what transformation was necessary to achieve it, and what was unique about the solution. These succinct narratives keep the reader engaged and illustrate the job seeker’s unique brand. Here’s an example from an Essay Expert resume that illustrates story-telling. The following paragraph is the opening paragraph to a position description – a paragraph that often is relegated to a list of job duties: Led largest dollar volume division in country to record sales volume, managing four General Sales Managers and 43 Sales Representatives. Transformed division’s approach to competitive data and market analysis while monitoring lot mix, phasing, new starts, lot premiums, specifications, and promotions. Notice how job duties and scope are covered in this paragraph, but they are made more engaging by wrapping in results and transformative results. 2. Visuals TORI award winners used graphics and other images in their resumes, avoiding the text-heavy look and feel of more traditional resumes. Tools like color, infographics, and text boxes served to accentuate the content of the resume. It’s important to note that if you choose to represent an accomplishment using a graph, you must also write about that accomplishment in a bullet. There are two reasons for this duplicative effort: 1) Since not everyone is visually oriented, they might not even look at the details of the image to understand what it represents, and 2) If the resume gets submitted through an Applicant Tracking System, the data in the graph or image will be lost. Here are just a few examples of graphics used in executive resumes by The Essay Expert: Tools used to create these graphics include basic text boxes, borders, SmartArt, and Excel. You can see how they add pop and interest to what could otherwise be a visually bland resume. 3. Succinct Writing As pointed out by Ms. Kelly, less is more when it comes to resume writing. The best bullets are tightly written, getting each point across in as few words as possible. The fewer words on a resume, the more white space there can be – which is a good thing! White space allows the content to be more easily absorbed. Stay away from densely written, text-heavy resumes, which risk losing the attention of your reader. Here are a couple of examples of tightly written resume bullets: Realized three monthly closing projections in a row, a feat never before achieved in division history. Took one of least profitable divisions and achieved #3 ROI, ranking #2 for lowest overhead and #3 for asset turn. Notice how every word counts! Are your resume bullets this concise, and do they show the true impact you made on your organization? 4. Quantifiable Achievements The best resumes use metrics to nail down achievements, avoiding generalities about a person’s greatness. Buzz words like â€Å"results-oriented† will not fly. And don’t wait to convey your greatest achievements; showcase them in the top 1/3 of the resume! One technique used by TORI award winners was to write â€Å"reverse CAR stories† which state a result, followed by the challenge and action that got the result. Here’s an example of a highlight from the top 1/3 of a resume by The Essay Expert: Built intuitive, interactive user interface for Java web-based delivery system, increasing Java technology downloads by 112% in 3 months. Used Java FX to build Oracles showcase Advanced Results website for 2010 Winter Olympic Games, accessed by 1.2M unique users. Notice there are no generalities in this paragraph; it’s all concrete, factual, quantifiable information. That’s what makes good resume material. Did you learn something from the observations of a TORI judge? How might you change your resume based on her advice and The Essay Expert’s samples? For more examples and tips on how to write a top-notch resume, check out How to Write a WINNING Resume and How to Write a STELLAR Executive Resume, both written by me, Brenda Bernstein. The most current versions of the books are available in PDF through The Essay Expert’s website. Save

Role of a director in a play Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Role of a director in a play - Assignment Example Its 1971 adaptation to television earned the play’s director Fielder Cook an Emmy award for an Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Drama for a Single Program. Due to these directing successes, The price is a perfect illustration of a director’s role in any production. Rush and Lowe (70) assert that directors are responsible for major decision making, oversight, crew control, text interpretation and play blocking in a production. The director is responsible for all ideas and concepts employed in a production. Therefore, for a success of any single play, relies on the ideas of the director. To discharge this duty, the modern director is expected to develop an overriding theme or main message to pass across to an audience specific to each production or revival, choose a period on which to stage a play in time, determine the theatre space requirements (71), control set design (72), look for the right cast, block or stage the play (73), determine character relationships and lastly, create effects for the audience (74). Director Gary Hynes successfully brings out The Price’s original aim of exploring family relationship, in particularly sibling strife through the two Franz brothers confrontation. Grosbard’s successful direction of the moral standoff between the two brothers (Playbill.com) echoes Gary Hynes later production at the Mark Taper Forum in this regard. McNulty (5) observes that though the play is old fashioned, both directors set it in an attic of a Manhattan brownstone, a quite fitting analogy to the theme of the play. Choosing a theatre for this play is not a difficult task as it does not require much in terms of space, but the design has to reflect a long neglected house and locked away furniture. McNulty’s (5) review critiques Hynes’ set for resembling the â€Å"warehouse of a pricey antique shop†, but credits the director with successful choice of theatre. With regard to casting, the price prior castings have been

Competencies questions answers grammar correcting Essay

Competencies questions answers grammar correcting - Essay Example Throughout this role I have gained sound organization, time management, leadership attributes, communication compactness and self motivation experience. The same reflect on a number of key achievements: Maintaining a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the latest products and services available, regularly analyzing and cross referencing current products and services available in order to establish suitability Maximizing sales by not just effectively identifying customers’ individual requirements and subsequently offering viable product and service solutions, but also through the identification and escalation of cross selling opportunities Self motivation – apart from my academic studies at the university, I learnt Japanese as my fourth language which clearly shows that I am a self-motivated person. This enables me to use my self-motivation to balance my work, study and social life in the future which will work towards a professional qualification Strong analysis – I have strong analytical skills – not just through economic and finance studies, but also working on my dissertation that involved extensive research, data collection, model hypothesis, data analysis and results’ interpretation which developed excellent time management and organization skills within my repertoire Teamwork – I also have excellent teamwork consciousness which was acquired from not just academic history, but also from past employments through effectively participating in group works and working hand in hand with the colleagues towards the common goals Hewitt operates in a highly competitive financial service industry which has successes that rely on the supereminence of individuals and team performance. Therefore, my key strengths are valuable intangible assets for Hewitt At the age of 23, in the year 2006 when I had just