Social Change In Pakistan

Social Change In Pakistan Pakistan enters the second decade of the 21st Century as a majority middle class society, indicating an increasing social and economic mobility  [1]  and therefore demand for new services and for global relationships. This process of social change from Feudal to Civil society is fraught with complications creating institutional vacuum that distorts the social change process and makes the change slow and reducing societys competitive advantage vis-à  -vis other societies. One of the major impact is that about 60% of the middle class comprises of low income households who earn between Rs.5000 (US$60) and Rs.25000 (US$300). The low income households are highly vulnerable to slipping below the poverty line, have little or no citizenship rights and political voice and depend on informal sector for housing, employment, finance, transportation and social services. The second impact is the massive environmental degradation and pollution due to unregulated production and exploitation of natural resources. Now with more than 70% of the population below 30 years of ages, and the ever increasing demand for services and low level of energy production and infrastructure development, Pakistani society faces a crisis of competitiveness to benefit from the social change process. Also Pakistan has been carved out of the Indian sub continent where the Central Asian Tribal society and the Indian Caste based society meet. On right bank of the Indus River, especially in the North Western Frontier Province (NWFP) and the upper reaches of Balochistan, bordering with Afghanistan, the society has a strong tribal nature. Of the 9% of Pakistans 168.8 million persons living on the right bank, 23% are middle class and the urban proportion is 20%. On the left bank of the Indus River where the caste societal structure is crumbling, 64% of the population is middle class and the urban proportion is near to 40%. The violence accompanying the societal change evident in 16th century Britain, and in 18th and 19th century Europe and America that ushered in a constitutional government and abolished slavery and fiefdoms, is now taking place on the right bank of Indus River. One reason for the delayed change is the existence of the tribal institutions that is strongly conservative i n nature, values survival, and has the capacity to maintain subsistence economy based on natural resources and wars to capture neighboring resources. The closing in of the borders is forcing the tribal society to change, but there is a strong resistance given the foreign aid it receives. The Caste based society; mainly feudal in nature has undergone considerable change since British colonization of the Indian subcontinent triggered the change from Feudal to Civil society in the Mid-Nineteenth century. The British were able to trigger the change because the Civil society structure they brought was more advanced  [2]  than the Feudal, and it was in an advanced stage of development in Britain  [3]  . The Colonization process started a process of capture of resources (restraining the locals from its use), its massive conversion into capital, and its transfer to Britain for its Industrial development. This process was facilitated by technological innovation and marginalized the local communities directly dependent on them. To help the British in this process they created a cadre of people i.e. educated them, gave them political and administrative powers and enabled them to become economic agents. The English Speaking elite that emerged through a century of British rule continue to play key role in the transfer of resources from Pakistan to global market at the cost of local population. These elite hold key position in Government, academia, businesses and military. They create nexus to marginalize other sections of the society from developing and partner with external forces to exploit the countrys human, financial and natural resources. They influence government policies and prevent low income groups from legitimizing their social, economic and political assets. And therefore, restricts the society from developing new services and institutions and keeps the low income dependent on mafia for services. This process like virus corrupts all new reforms and innovations and kills them before they can institutionalize. To maintain the status quo, they capture benefits from development projects and malign citizen organizations from bringing about social change. After the Aryans invaded the subcontinent and pushed the Dravidian society to retreat, they established the Caste structure that gave the highest position to the priest class, secondary positions to warriors and traders, and relegated the non-Aryan to a position of slavery and outcasts. This society grew and developed and consolidated the feudal mindset. Muslim invasion of the subcontinent created a historical schism in the existing society and divided it into two nations. Being invaders and rulers, the Muslims could not be relegated to the slave status and at the same time the Muslims coming from a tribal society could not enforce a new structure on the existing more advanced social structure. During the Moghul rule, attempts were made to bring the nations together but to no avail. As the British opened doors to social and economic mobility, the secondary castes were quick in entering the elite circle, while the Muslims because of their elite nature alienated themselves from the dev elopment process and even opposed the process. Within the Muslims developed orthodoxy and conservative forced entrenched themselves as leaders. During the British rule, the caste system began to weaken but the Hindu-Muslim schism widened. On the eve of partition, Bengal and Punjab were divided and mass migration took place. The violence that took place during Partition and the forceful capture of Muslim states and part of Kashmir further heightened the Hindu-Muslim divide. Governance in Pakistans therefore developed as a reaction to Indian hostility and gave legitimacy and support to Conservative rule in Pakistan. In Pakistan, conservative forces created a nexus between Pakistans Muslim identity and security issue to oppose liberalizing civil society. With the setting in of the Afghan War, Pakistani conservatives received massive support that went into strengthening conservative elements and strengthening sectarian differences. The conservative elements weakened the governance structure through creation of sectarian politics, support to militancy and suppressing all other forms of political and cultural forums. They marked development as threat to Muslim identity and supported violent means to distort development, especially education, population planning and political participation. The conservatives saw the educated and emancipated young women aggressively seeking social and economic freedom and creating new aspirations, connections and symbols of expressions as a major threat, and have launched a movement to contain and regulate the emerging new woman. The backlash has been in the name of r eligion and to maintain family honor and social values. The conservatives have put up all sort of hurdles to block womens mobility, education, employment, freedom of expression (especially public appearance) and decision making. The reactions range from domestic tensions to honor killings and to preventing new women from voting and participating in political activities. Conservative forces at all levels have tried to keep the women domesticated and out of public realm to the extent of engaging in terrorism and creating human insecurity. The new women, not to be contained are sacrificing her life, honor and property to realize the new found dreams and freedom. Her greatest assistance comes from Civil societies in more advanced stage of development, and presently with more than 70% of the population below 30 years of age in Pakistan, she is poised to overcome the conservative forces with the help of foreign institutions to establish Civil society in Pakistan. In Punjab, after Independence, the immigrant Muslims settled in cities and small towns and today forms the backbone of the middle class. Even though large number of migrants was from rural areas or carried a Feudal mindset, but the migration changed them and they were forced to accept a middle class lifestyle. The Punjabis therefore participated in the market based process and took an edge given the historical discrimination facing other communities. The lower castes because of the historical discriminations began entry as the agricultural revolution mechanization, financing of agricultural inputs, land reforms, road and communication development, etc forced the feudal to release stranglehold. Coupled with Industrial production and development of urban services, agricultural revolution also set into motion rural to urban migration and the centralization of political power in cities. The middle class started developing in cities, but with Feudal order sustaining the values and mindset, the new middle class remained Feudal. The change process manifested itself in the political agenda of the seventies and in the Pakistani constitution of 1973 that recognized the people as citizens with rights and stimulated the growth of working class. It tried to decimate the edge enjoyed by the elite through nationalization and encouraging the peasants to participate in the emerging construction, transportation and communication industries. Subsequently, the low income group or working class earning a monthly household income below Rs.25,000 (US$300) and above the national poverty line of Rs.5000 (US$60) emerged as force. In addition to new migration to urban areas, the low income group also comprises of a middle class in rural areas. This group even today however has little or no access to formal sector services and citizenship rights. Consequently, they acquire these services housing, finance, transport, employment, etc. through informal sector and collaborate with mafia and interest groups to access citizenship rights and seek protection from law enforcing agencies. The low income households over time has improved its income and status with the help of informal sector and in the process strengthened the mafia and created new interest groups transporters association, informal money lenders, land mafia and land grabbers, etc. The low income households are estimated to be more than 60% in Karachi, Pakistans biggest city and in higher proportions in other urban and rural settlements. These households are most vulnerable to edging below the poverty line because of dependence on a single earner who is susceptible to health risks, human rights violations and accidents. Conclusions Summarily, the social change in Pakistan from a tribal and caste based society to Civil society is reflected in the rise of the low income groups. And this most obvious in the left bank of River Indus where rural and urban middle class are in majority. The new women are leading the social change process at a very high cost. The process however is not complete and fraught with violence. In the process of change, though middle class are in majority and increasing in number but their aspirations and demands are not finding a political expression. Three complications in the social change process have created an institutional vacuum  [4]  : As a result of the complications in the social change process, development remains small and scattered. Big development projects marginalize the target groups, lead to elite capture of development benefits and destruction of public goods and formation of duplicate institutions. Small pilots develop into models but fail to scale up. Institutional vacuum maintains the demand for social mobilization, awareness raising and training, making development inefficient and unsustainable.

Activity-Based Costing ( ABC ) Essay -- GCSE Business Marketing Course

Activity Based Costing ACTIVITY BASED COSTING AND MANAGEMENT : AN OVERVIEW Activity Based Costing (ABC) is more relevant than traditional costing in companies, where product mix is diverse in; batch sizes, physical sizes, degree or complexity, and raw material characteristics. ABC will also provide more decision useful information for the service industry, characterized by diversity in range of services provided. If the products in a plant or services provided posses similar characteristics, wither volume based or an activity based cost driver will provide reasonably accurate costs. The strategic goal of ABC is to provide decision useful cost and profitability information for optimal pricing decisions, appropriate product mix, and operational improvements by focusing on activities and cost drivers. (Burch 1994) ABC provides a closer approximation of the cost of product, than that provided by the traditional volume based costing method. The use of ABC in itself will not lead to better profitability management uses information provided by ABCs to decide the optimal product-mix. The action of the management will lead to improved results. What is ABC ? There are several elements worthy of note. First is that activities happen because an input has triggered them, e.g., an activity such as "purchase supplies" is caused or triggered by a requisition, secondly, we see that resources are consumed by an activity. Resources are the things that an organisation pays for, such as people, machines and equipment and facilities. We can measure the consumption of resources by activity for example, the activity "purchase supplies" consumes one hour of an employees time per requisition. Activities can be associated with the outputs or cost objects of the organisation examples of a few of the cost objects for service organisations that we have worked with include such things as mortgages, chequing accounts, railcar movement from point A to point B, or B to C. Cost objects consume activities in much the same way that activities consume resources consequently, we can measure how much of an activity such as "purchase supplies is required by an organisations service output such as "engineering training course". The measurement of consumption is called an activity- cost driver. Of significant note here is that different cost objects do consume activities " in diffe... ...self rather than using the cost of the final products only. The cost drivers that trigger the activity are also identified and monitored. These cost drivers may be different from the resource or activity drivers. In addition performance measures are developed and monitored to judge the efficiency at which the activity is being performed. These measures may be financial or non-financial variables such as cost per units of activity driver, defects per million items produced or time taken per unit of item produced. These measures then provide a sound basis to the control the performance of the activity with accurate information about the costs involved. ABM has number of benefits to offer. Here, the focus of attention is an activity rather than a department. A department may have a number of activities which if not segregated may diffuse the vision of the managers while making a particular decision. The areas where specific benefits have been derived from ABM are following A. Determination of product/service costs B. Improvements in performance and activities C. Cost cutting and downsizing D. Other applications. Number of benefits are high and harmful effects are less.

Monomyth Cycle in Star Wars

The once there was a galaxy far far away where one man had to learn about becoming a hero and finding himself through his journey. You may know of this story because there was a clue in the first sentence. Yes, this is the story of Luke Skywalker and his journey to become a Jedi knight. However, you may not realize that during the filming of Star Wars IV, the director worked very closely with Joseph Campbell. What is a mythologist doing on the set of one of the greatest science fiction of all time? Well Luke experiences what Campbell calls the Monomyth Cycle, during the movie.While Luke followed this path there were some relevant parts of the cycle that defined him the most. When he crosses the threshold into his 2nd world, Luke finds himself lost in a new world. During his road of trials, Luke finds his purpose through the tasks he must perform. Lastly, Luke’s efforts to join the Dark side are being planned to ruin the universe’s hopes of freedom. Crossing the threshol d is when the hero first crosses into the second world, which is unknown to him. Luke is seen here as a man who left his friends in hopes of completing his mission to become a Jedi knight.He leaves the ice planet of Hoth and leaves for Degoba where he is to meet the great Jedi master Yoda and learn from him. This step according the Campbell is to be very rocky transition into the hero’s new world. And likewise, Luke crash lands on the unknown planet of Degoba and at first sight the planet is a dense forest with unknown creatures. Immediately after he lands and dismounts from his ship, R2-D2 is eaten by a sea monster but soon returned to Luke. While trying to fix R2 Luke first a weird green alien, who helps Luke find shelter in his hut.Luke urges the alien that he must meet with master Yoda and finds that the alien is actually Yoda. Immediately Luke feels he is ready to become a Jedi but Yoda informs Luke that his father was reckless and he was powerful (Star Wars V). Luke fee ls disheartened but he is determined to become a Jedi at any cost. Luke finally finds the master and planet he was looking for but Yoda tells him that he will gain fear through his training. During the road of trials the hero must overcome obstacles in order to find his place in the new world.In Luke’s case, he meets master Yoda and must learn to become a Jedi in order to save the universe. In his first task Luke must overcome and become physically fit in order to train his mind from succumbing to evil. Luke passes this task with ease with Yoda’s guidance. The second trial was when Luke entered the cave on Degoba where he faced his worst fear. He sees Darth Vader and then slays him but he sees himself as Vader and finds that his worst fear is to join the Dark side. Then Luke must learn to use the force because the force is a Jedi’s life essence and a true Jedi can manipulate the force to work to his needs.His third trial trains him to lift stones, clear his mind , and focus while using the force. However, he learns that the force can give him the sight to see the future the present and past. This scares Luke at first because he sees his friends in peril and he chooses to help them. When Yoda and Obi-Wan persuade him to stay and finish his training, he agrees but when Luke learns to use the force with more ease, his next trial is the get his ship that had crashed when he landed in Degoba (Star Wars V).Yoda informs him that the force can help Luke get his ship back, but only if he can focus. He fails because he thought of the ship being too big for the force to move it. The next trial he must go through is to complete his training on Degoba but he fails to become a true Jedi and leaves Degoba (Star Wars V). Through this step in Luke’s cycle you see the hardships he had to overcome. Throughout the movie Darth Vader and Darth Sidious are formulating a plan to force Luke into the dark side of the force and be used as an extension of the E mpire’s power over the universe.This is first seen when Sidious tells Vader to try to turn Luke to the dark side and be used as an asset to the empire and the Emperor’s power. Vader follows Luke throughout the movie to get in direct contact with him but he realizes that Luke will only face Vader if Luke’s friends are in danger. Vader goes to Cloud City and holds Luke’s friends captive until he receives word that his prey has finally come to him. Luke battles his way through the invaded city and to the chamber where he meets Vader. In the final battle with Darth Vader Luke is constantly asked to join the dark side and Vader finds himself trying not to kill him.During the battle Vader tells Luke that his place in the new world is with Vader and Emperor and that only Luke’s hatred can destroy Vader (Star Wars V). A Jedi must never hate or love because it is the path to the dark side (Star Wars III). Some archetypes appear in this part of the movie whe re Luke is clothed in white and is seen as the hero and Vader is seen as a shadow in all black and the temptress. After Luke gets his hand cut off, Vader tells Luke that if Luke joins him in the Empire he can complete his training and begin his reign.Vader further tells Luke that he can kill the Emperor and rule the universe alongside him as â€Å"father and son† (Star Wars V). After reviewing the preceding evidence it is clear that Luke’s journey in his Monomyth Cycle had defining steps that showed him new worlds, tested him and was tempted by evil. During Luke’s rocky entrance into his new world, Luke finds himself in peril early but escapes. He meets a green alien that will teach him to become a Jedi and be able to become a new hope for the universe.During his road of trials Luke proves to Yoda that he is too weak to become a Jedi even though he faces his fears of joining the dark side, clearing his mind, and focusing on using the force. Luke chooses his frie nds over completing what he sent out to do. Lastly, in the final battle of the movie Luke is tempted to join the dark side or die with hopes of controlling the universe with his father and killing the Emperor to do so. Throughout the fifth installment of the Star Wars series, Luke goes through the Monomyth cycle in order to find himself and defeat the evil in him.

Dracula Reflection - 732 Words

When you hear the word Dracula, what words do you associate with him? Dead, scary, vampire? For most, it would be all of the above. However, when speaking about Dracula, no one hardly utter the word man. Dracual depiction drew a fine line of him being both man and monster, but can we really say that he is of man when his able to turn into different creatures? Draculas complex personality and human form will be discussed throughly in this essay, while also touching on the subject of his sexual needs and wants. When Stokers character, Dracula is first described in the novel he is described as having a very stong face, thin nose, lofty forehead, massive eyebrows and a rather cruel looking mouth and moustache (22). Reading a description†¦show more content†¦Transforming into other creatures is unnatural, it is of the evil or in this case the undead for Dracula. The undead was quite prevalent in this novel because the blood sucking vampire, Dracula would feed on the living until he they finally became dead, then turing into a vampire themseleves. The fact that we have a man who seems normal on the surface is what makes the Dracual character so uncanning. He seems like an average person, despite the way he looks at first, but after understanding what he is capable of we almost feel taunted and confused because he is in fact a monster and had been the entire time. Uncanning means something that is familiar yet unfamiliar at the same time and is shown to of unnatural behavior or acts. Draculas normal interaction with Jonathan Harker made us view him as a man, but once his revealed as sleeping in a box, climbing walls, powerful force over animals the distinction of him being relatble to us is no longer there. So to interpret Dracula from a psychoanalytical point of view, many acts of sex appears in the story. Draculas mean of surving is a significant example. In order to live, he has to suck blood from another living being. In the story, Dracula had his attraction to the female characters to sustain off of, which once again makes him seem more like a man to have sexual interaction with the female characters. He became the wedge in many of the character relationships. Dracula cameShow MoreRelatedFilm Review : Dracula By Bram Stoker Essay1743 Words   |  7 Pagesscenes, theme, time period, or even the overall story. After reading the gothic novel Dracula written by Bram Stoker in 1897, it is amazing how the storyline is similar to the 1931 horror film, Dracula directed by Browning, starring Bela Lugosi. However, they differ in many key characteristics confusing the audience. Although the Dracula novel and film are similar in many aspects, the filmmakers of the 1931 Dracula give different roles to the main characters, exclude major sexual content, amplify theRead MoreHow Dracula Is The Most Famous Literary Vampire1658 Words   |  7 Pages An Immortal Soul: Why Dracula is the Most Famous Literary Vampire The title character and antagonist of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula is an easily recognizable character in the Western canon. Without ever reading the book or watching any of the countless movie adaptations, people will craft vampire characters with feelings and behaviors nearly identical to those of Dracula. However, Dracula’s success is not because it was the first novel of its kind. Vampiric literature had been around forRead MoreDracula the Stereotypical Homosexual1169 Words   |  5 PagesIn Bram Stokers Dracula, the Count Dracula represents a homosexual figure, which in Victorian times was seen as an inversion of the â€Å"typical† male figure. Diana Kindron states the Victorian idea of a homosexual was one of a male body being fused with a female soul. This is just what Count Dracula represents in Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula. By Amanda Podonsky, â€Å"The Count seems to be an exaggerated representation of the concept concerning ‘evils’ of abnormality and how it can spread and infect.† ThisRead MoreDracula: The Contemporary Dissolution of His Purpose Essay1441 Words   |  6 PagesIn Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Dracula is representative of the superhuman ideal that man is striving to achieve. Dracula is a strong willed, powerful, brilliant masculine figure, and through these characteristics he appeals to the contemporary reader. The 1992 production of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, highlights the contemporary appeasement in satanic creatures, through the justification of Dracula and the corruption that follows, reducing if not entirely diminishing theRead MoreDracula, By Bram Stoker1492 Words   |  6 PagesIn the 1897 novel â€Å"Dracula† by Bram Stoker, a vampire named Count Dracula is brought about and brung into the â€Å"real world†. Many stories, books, movies, and games have developed from this novel. In the novel, Dracula has a lot of myths attached to him. These myths are what make him a vampire, and so when other people come up with these new stories or books or movies, they also implement myths into their characters to give them life as a vampire. In every story, most of the characters are consideredRead MoreEssay about The Cultural Aspect of Dracula in Bram Stokers Dracula981 Words   |  4 PagesThe Cultural Aspect of Dracula in Bram Stokers Dracula In Bram Stoker s Dracula, vampires act as principles of mixing in many ways. Dracula comes from Transylvania, which is a land of many people, and his castle is located on the border of three states. Dracula himself describes the place as the whirlpool of European races, and boasts, in [his] veins flows the blood of many brave races (p. 28). Dracula wishes to go to London, to the crowded streets with a variety of people. He takes bloodRead MoreDracula and the Threat of Female Sexual Expression by Bram Stoker1384 Words   |  6 Pageslate nineteenth century Irish novelist, Bram Stoker is most famous for creating Dracula, one of the most popular and well-known vampire stories ever written. Dracula is a gothic, â€Å"horror novel about a vampire named Count Dracula who is looking to move from his native country of Transylvania to England† (Shmoop Editorial Team). Unbeknownst of Dracula’s plans, Jonathan Harker, a young English lawyer, traveled to Castle Dracula to help the count with his plans and talk to him about all his options. At firstRead MoreAre You A Fan Of The Supernatural? Do You Believe In Things1744 Words   |  7 Pagesto more glamorized characters with a sexy persona such as Edward from Twilight. Vlad III, prince of Wallachia, was an evil and sadistic dictator in the 15th century. Better known as Vlad the Impaler, he would become the real-life inspiration for Dracula, the most famous vampire in film. Although Vlad was not a blood-thirsty vampire, he was evil and dishonorable, and he killed thousands of people in his life. â€Å"To consolidate his power as voivode, Vlad needed to quell the incessant conflicts that hadRead MoreComparing Vampire And The Vampire Diaries1660 Words   |  7 Pagescultural phenomenon would not have happened without Dracula. Without Bram Stoker’s novel, there would be no stereotypical vampires that capture the culture’s conscious. Aside from telling a story on vampires, Dracula also explores ideals about the women of the time in which it was written, which is the Victorian Era. Throughout the Victorian period, one of the predominant concerns was the role of women and the place they fill in their society. Dracula is one of many Victorian novels that explore theRead MoreDracula, By Bram Stoker1166 Words   |  5 PagesThe story of Dracula is well documented and has stood the test of time since it’s Victorian age creation. More times than not, literature writings are a reflection of the era from which they are produced. In the case of Dracula, Vampire literature expresses the fears of a society. Which leads me to the topic I chose to review: sexuality. The Victorian Era was viewed as a period diluted in intense sexual repression and I believe that Dracula effectively exploited this as the fear of sexuality was