Does the assumption and implementation of corporate social Essay

Does the assumption and implementation of corporate social responsibility makes businesses more successful - Essay Example It encompasses two broad views in general. The first one is that the companies share the wealth they create with either the society they operate in or other under privileged societies. The other is managing their activities in a more ethically and morally responsible way. It is the voluntary exceeding of the society's expectations of the business and it is agreed that it is majorly affected by how the company manages its core businesses. (Baker) Corporate Social responsibility is extremely important to a company's business. According to a survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Corporate responsibility is affecting the relationship between companies and their various stakeholders, such as investors, customers, vendors, suppliers, employees, communities and governments. (Doebele, 2005) Underlying principles The Corporate responsibility trend is being driven by a large number of factors. Companies which do not engage in social responsibility might be viewed as unethical as peoples t rust in large organizations is already waning. The rise in the corporate governance movement, globalization of businesses and the competition presented by rivals all contribute to a firms increasing interest in corporate responsibility. The benefits of corporate responsibility may prove never ending for an organization. ... They include environmental management, issues management and stake holder's management. There will be times when two or more of these management areas will be integrated to form one areas of concern. Foreg in 1994 BHP Billton's shareholders were concerned about the company causing environmental damage in Papua New Guinea. (Gail Thomas, 2006) There have been multiple arguments in favor of supporting corporate social responsibilities for businesses. It has been said that practicing a business enables many things in the society and businesses are dependent upon a healthy, well-developed and economically sound society for its proper functioning. Improved quality of life for employees and citizens should be one of the top priority for all ethical businesses and this is only fulfilled if they practice giving back to the society or caring capitalism as Niall Fitzgerland, chairman Unilever calls it. Since the main responsibility that the company owes is towards itself, the company has to ens ure that fulfilling responsibility is both beneficial to itself and the society, but ensures that the company survives in the long run. People in favor of corporate social responsibility clearly state that CSR enhances the view of the company in the eyes of the customers and generates a loyal customer base. Others state that fulfilling CSR also provides unmatched promotion and publicity for the company which is again very necessary for the success of the company. Last but not the least practicing social responsibility raises the morale and self esteem of the employees of the company and they feel good about the contributions and are more likely to work efficiently and develop into diligent workers. Boyle and Boguslaw (Boyle, 2007,

The Work of Discipleship Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The Work of Discipleship - Research Paper Example Majorly, Christology bases on the Apostolic Age of the gospel that is during the days of the apostle Paul. The themes and ideas of Paul were built on the worship of Christ as Lord and Christ’s pre-existence, forming the epicenter of Christology. There have been arguments to the fact that there are several Christophany cases in the Old Testament and that the numerous biblical records account for the preexistence of Jesus Christ. In this aspect, the term Christophany is a term that is considered to be more appropriate as compared to the term Theophany because of the belief that God’s visible manifestations represent the pre-incarnation of Christ. 1There have been arguments pointing to the fact that the Old Testament’s records of the appearing of the Lord’s Angel were Christ’s pre-incarnate. The Angel of the Lord is understood by many to be a theophany that is true. Over the years, especially after the Apostolic Age, the early church was thrown into debates that often got politicized and fierce concerning issues that are interrelated in Christianity. Among the issues that were being debated was Christology, with the matter finding its way to the ecumenical councils as a contentious issue. These coun cils were dubbed as the Christological councils that base their focus on the teachings of the condemnation of interpretations that were incorrect regarding Jesus Christ’s life and works. St. Thomas Aquinas was the first to provide a systematic Christology in the 13th century. His view was instrumental in the resolution of a good number of issues that were there at that time. Aquinas in his Christology focused on the championing of the view of the perfection of the human attributes of Christ. Through the middle ages, there was the witnessing of the emergence of a different view of Christ as being a source of comfort and love and true living friend in addition to being the Lord. 2Modern Christology, therefore, seeks to

Weimar Republic Essay Example for Free

Weimar Republic Essay The WR began after WWII the Treaty of Versailles was signed by the Germans and forced to have a democracy rather than a monarchy. The Government from the start was full of problems with its economy, social and political areas, what made it worse was the Great Depression in 1929. The WR was vulnerable to a number of attacks from many different areas including the Nazi party and its leader Hitler. It was attacked for its constitution, unfamiliar structure and its inability to quickly restore Germany. The Nazis appealed to their audience with its foreign and domestic policies, its authoritarian rule, propaganda radical policies and Hitler’s Charisma. After many problems challenging the WR, it collapsed in 1933 and the Nazis thrived from this. The Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1919 by the WR and was a huge hit on Germany and its people. The treaty was seen by Germans as the loss of Germany’s image of a great nation with a powerful military. As a result the WR was often called the ‘November Criminals’ and accused them of the idea of the ‘Dolchstoss(stab in the back)†. Most of this was due to the fact that the allies forced Germany to pay the harsh terms of the war reparations amounting to 60 billion dollars. The WR’s obvious economic problems and the public’s view on them made it look like it was inevitably going to collapse. Hitler used the idea of ‘November Criminals’ and the Treaty of Versailles as propaganda to show the shame that the WR brought on Germany. In one video it is shows Hitler ripping the Treaty of Versailles in front of the crowd causing a frenzy of high German spirit. The WR as a democratic system was very new to the Germans as they were used to an authoritative monarchy. Germans had a â€Å"rich monarchical tradition that had substantial success under authoritative moulds of government† which made it difficult to accept the democracy. Another problem faced by the WR was that the constitution clause of the Reichstag being that of proportional representation which meant a political leader for every party. This was troublesome as it was difficult to find a majority because of many conflicting perspectives. The fire in the parliamentary building in 1933, which some believe the Nazis started, was a situation used by Hitler to show the failure of democracy. He also took advantage of Article 48. In years later when Hitler has much power he completely contrasts the WR policies by being a single powerful dictator and making policies to get rid of all opposition by any means as shown in the ‘Night of the long knives†. In 1924 to 1929 Germany was surprisingly paying the reparations rather quickly. During this period Stresemann agreed to the Dawes Plan, the system of loans from the United states helped Germany get back on its feet which got rid of the French in the Ruhr that troubled the Germany people as well as the WR. â€Å"The Dawes Plan sounded the signal for a period of recovery, the scope and intensity of which were unparalleled in recent German History†. This period of stability however fell due to the depression in which the stock markets crashed. Unemployment soared and many lived in poor conditions. The German people had last all hope in the Weimer republic and started looking for radical change like the communists and the Nazis. As a result, Hitler became popular and made promises to the military and to the industrialists that Germany would return to greatness once again. Hitler exploited the trust of the German people to its fullest during these times of hardship so he could gain support to become in full control of the German state. The depression was a main factor in Hitler’s success and the rise of the Nazi party. The weakness of the WR were truly revealed by Hitler and showed its shame and thus gaining support from the public. â€Å"The depression put the wind into Hitler’s sails†

Systems Analysis: History, Concepts And Theories

Systems Analysis: History, Concepts And Theories One could unarguably suggest that systems exist, in various forms, since the dawn of time. From the Solar System, to our planets ecosystem, to the human societies where people gathered into teams to hunt animals or farm the land to be able to survive, all are prime examples of thousand years old systems. By definition, a system could be described as any entity, conceptual or physical, which consists of interdependent parts (Ackoff, 1960). As the human-controlled systems (i.e. society, organizations, information systems and business systems) started to become increasingly more complex, various issues appeared like an increase of costs, harder maintenance and more administrative complexities. The need to overcome and solve all these problems led to the appearance of the field of Systems Analysis. Systems Analysis: History, Concepts Theories The analysis, as defined in the Oxford Dictionary, is the separation of a substance into parts for study and interpretation; detailed examination. Subsequently, Systems Analysis could be described as the early process in the development of a new system, or the evaluation of an old one, where the analysts try to investigate a given situation, identify the main problems that need to be solved, break them up into sub-problems if needed, and finally recommend the most efficient and costless way to solve them (Yeates et al, 1994; Silver et al, 1989; Bingham et al, 1978). Plato once said: the beginning is the most important part of work. Nowadays, Platos words are proved far from wrong in the case of developing or evaluating a system. The first steps of working on a new project are probably the most important ones to guarantee any fair chance of success. This is the main reason why many organizations, companies and governments prefer to spend a significant amount of money in the early stag es of development, in order to be able to minimize the risk of potential disaster later on (Daniels et al, 1981). After all, the sooner a mistake is identified, the sooner it will be fixed, saving a lot of effort, time and money. There are many types of human-controlled systems, as previously mentioned, ranging from large-scale, complex human societies (whose boundaries are usually not so easy to define as they constantly interact with other societies near them), to small-scale computer information systems (whose boundaries are easier to define). Although each key author and researcher tried to describe his own concept of what analysis is and why it is critical to apply it in the development process, their thoughts and views share many common elements. Depending on the type of system they concentrated on, various definitions where given. To begin with, Systems Analysis is the process of investigating a systems boundaries, users, processes, inputs and outputs with the aim of suggesting more efficient and economical ways to solve the problems in question (Silver et al, 1989). Another, more general suggestion is that Systems Analysis refers to an orderly, structured process for identifying and solving problems (Gore et al, 1983). Finally, according to George Marshall in his book Systems Analysis and Design: Alternative Structured Approaches, Systems Analysis is the process of defining precisely what a computer system should do (Marshall, 1986). Igor Hawryszkiewycz describes in his book Introduction to Systems Analysis and Design that analysis is mainly used in order to effectively understand the structure of a system and what its requirements are (Hawryszkiewycz, 1994). John Bingham in his book A Handbook of Systems Analysis describes the analysis in six steps: the project selection, the feasibility study, the definition phase, the design phase, the implementation phase and finally the evaluation phase (Bingham et al, 1978). Perhaps one of the most straightforward explanations of Systems Analysis main objective is that it aims to transform user needs into specifications for programmers (Marshall, 1989). To achieve this, the systems analyst has to complete five tasks and responsibilities: to plan, investigate, understand, document and communicate with the rest of the team (Yeates et al, 1994). Firstly and probably most importantly too, the analyst must study the feasibility of the system. This means that he has to thoroughly search and decide if it is humanly possible to develop the system and how much effort in time and money it will cost to do so. Second step is to discuss with the systems target group and find out their needs in order to be able to understand and elicit the requirements. Third step is to research the existing data, human recourses and available computer procedures to find out the limitations, techniques or methods that will be used in the later stages of development. Usually from this phase and on the analyst works close together with the designers, programmers and testers in order to establish a successful communication between the team and share feedback with them (Parkin, 1980; Daniels et al, 1981; Open University, 1982). Although the human-controllable systems are in existence ages now, Systems Analysis as a scientific field is quite more recent, and its roots can be traced back a few decades. Before computers became mainstream, the first analysts where using more traditional approaches to analyze and solve the given problems. They followed two main steps: firstly they analyzed the projects requirements and secondly they specified these requirements. Although this practice was logical and theoretically correct, it depended too much on the human factor, which means it was prone to mistakes. Among the disadvantages of the traditional approach was that it required vast amounts of written documentation, many times there was a lack of communication between the analysts and the designers and last but not least it was very time consuming. All these negatives caused a great number of system development projects to face difficulties during the analysis phase in the 1970s (Yeates et al, 1994). Researchers in the field of Systems Analysis, in an effort to overcome all the problems caused by the traditional approach, focused their attention to develop new, more efficient methods of analysis. The result of the above efforts was a structured approach to analysis (Yourdon, 1976; DeMarco, 1979; Bansler, 1993). This approach, as described in the book Systems Analysis and Design by Don Yeates et al, follows three general principles: modeling, partitioning and iteration. Modeling is the extended use of models, diagrams, data flow charts and other graphic representations, which aim to provide a non-confusing, realistic image of the system to the rest of the development team. Partitioning is the method of dividing the system in question to sub-systems with the aim of making them more understandable to the rest of the team. Moreover, partitioning helps the analyst to decide which part of the whole problem every member of the team will be given to solve. Iteration is the method of cons tantly repeating the analysis stage, as many times as needed, in order to reach the best possible solution. The need for iteration arises from the fact that it is rare for a system to be represented correctly the first time, as many repetitions are usually needed, in order to achieve a standard of accuracy (Yeates et al, 1994). Following the appearance of a more structured and formal way of analyzing a system, researchers were trying to come up with various models, which held a central role for Systems Analysis. These models, if strictly followed, would significantly enhance the development process. The early software development models though, such as the Waterfall Model (Royce, 1970), did not allow a lot of room for feedback and changes because of their linear structure. In contrast to these early models, modified approaches like the V-Model (German Ministry of Defense, 1992) and the Spiral Model (Boehm, 1988) gave the analyst the flexibility to interact with the rest of the team even in the later development phases. This is particularly important for the sole reason that, as discussed earlier, Systems Analysis is one of the most crucial phases during a systems creation. By providing the team the option to interact with the analyst on the go, it can minimize the time needed for system revision and most im portantly save a lot of time and money. Although return of investment and risk minimization are two of the most salient reasons of why Systems Analysis is so important, there are a lot more benefits to be gained in the long term. The efficiency of the project team is greatly enhanced as goals are reached faster and the available resources are used more wisely. Furthermore, errors are recognized earlier which translates to less time invested in testing during the final phases of a project, which in its own turn leads again to more profit (Silver et al, 1989). It is very important also to mention that nowadays systems become so complex that usually consist of multiple subsystems, each one playing a key role in the whole process. These subsystems coexist and highly depend on each other. Any change that may occur in any of them could affect multiple other subsystems of the whole. It is critical for the analysts to spend a considerable amount of time and effort to understand the system as one single entity and identify all of its problems. Only after a thorough study of the system they will be able to really understand its purpose and support the development team in creating a system that will be safe, robust and effective (Hawryszkiewycz, 1994). In 1994, a study by the Standish Group provides a better understanding of how valuable the correct application of analysis during a systems development phase is. The company studied eight thousand software projects undertaken by 350 different companies in order to see how successful the development process was. The results were disastrous as around 31% of the projects were cancelled before they make it to the production phase (Standish, 1994). When in further study, these companies were asked about the reasons for these failures, more than 54% answered that it was various problems during the analysis phase (Standish, 1995). Systems analysis though is not a cure-all medicine. Like all approaches in system development, it has its own disadvantages and limitations. Some company, for example, could have so many internal problems, financial or not, that a single Systems Analysis, even the best one possible, could not be enough to save it from bankruptcy. Another disadvantage is that Systems Analysis costs a lot of money and time (Silver et al, 1989). Although, it has been proven many times that projects that went through a thorough System Analysis phase had greater chances to become successful, its still not a guarantee. As the human factor never stops to play a vital role in the whole development process, there is always the risk that something is mistakenly overlooked (i.e. a bug in the code that escapes the final testing phase), which leads to a fault product in the production line, which in turn leads to less sales or even stigmatize the organizations good name. Conclusion Systems Analysis has become a necessity, a highly important and integral tool that development teams, governments and companies use to enhance their productivity and raise their profit margins (Silver et al, 1989). As people say: money makes the world go round, and this is especially true nowadays that organizations put even more effort to identify and satisfy their needs in the most effective and efficient way. Systems and projects become even more sophisticated, even more advanced, even more complex and even more critical for the safety of the users. Developers must be able to adapt in this ever-changing environment if they want to survive in the highly competitive world of today. For all these reasons, Systems Analysis continues to play a key role, and researchers are trying constantly to find new ways to make it even more efficient in the future.

The Life of my Dog Precious Essay -- Personal Narrative Pets Family Es

The Life of my Dog Precious Within the animal kingdom, few animals have the characteristics to co exist with humans. Dogs, however, are the exception. For centuries dogs have been known as man’s best friend. Throughout the test of time dogs have proven to be the most loyal and the truest friends. â€Å"Dogs are not just our proverbial best friends in the animal world but probably our oldest† (Phillips 12). With this in mind I understand the reason that my dog Precious is my most treasured and loyal friend. On December 24, 1993 I opened my mom’s purse to get some Tylenol and out popped a little puppy. Its fur was soft and blonde, she had freckles on her nose, and she had droopy eyes. It was a Cocker Spaniel. She was so adorable that my family and I decided to name her â€Å"Precious.† She was the greatest present anyone could have asked for. Precious, unlike most dogs, has lived an incredible life. She has been dog knapped three different times and taken to Georgia each time. She has been shot, ran over by a car, and experienced many other life threatening experiences. This dog has been through it all. After having her only two weeks, we decided to visit my grandmother. Precious did not like o be left alone, so when I looked around and noticed she was nowhere to be found, we all got a little worried. My family and I started searching all over the house. Finally, my grandmother heard a weird noise coming from the bathroom. Sure enough, it was Precious. She fallen in the toilet while trying to drink out of it, and could not get out. Thanks to my grandmother’s great hearing, Precious did not drown. Throughout Precious’s puppy years we had to repair many things that she destroyed. One ... ...eorgia. Last summer, right before I left to come to school, Precious was once again missing, and I was once again crying my eyes out. Instead of contacting our police or even driving down to Georgia, my parents contacted the police force in the area where the renters lived. They had an officer on dispatch drive by to see if they saw a little blonde Cocker Spaniel and there she was sitting in there lawn. The policeman told the people why he was there and quickly brought Precious home. One might think that dogs do not live an exciting life, but Precious has been on more road trips and lived through many life-threatening adventures than most humans. She is a wonderful pet and a great best friend. Obviously, she is adorable because she was stolen three times. She means the world to me and I do not know what I will do when she is gone for good.

The poem Two Scavengers in a Truck, Two Beautiful People in a Mercedes

The poem Two Scavengers in a Truck, Two Beautiful People in a Mercedes is a descriptive poem by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Night of the Scorpion & Two Scavengers in a Truck, Two Beautiful People in a Mercedes The poem Two Scavengers in a Truck, Two Beautiful People in a Mercedes is a descriptive poem where the poet (Lawrence Ferlinghetti) observes two garbage men in San Francisco and two well-paid people in a Mercedes. The poet's observation is really about the way the garbage men look at the well-paid people and the way the rich people look at the garbage men when waiting at the traffic lights. This poem is about two garbage men and two posh office people in the Mercedes who stop at the same traffic light at the same time on the same day. The main reason I enjoyed this poem was because of the description of each person in the poem. One description I really liked was the description of the two people in the Mercedes, '' The man in the hip three-piece linen suit with shoulder-length blond hair & sunglasses The young blond women so casually coifed with a short skirt...

Audiences and Spectatorship

Are audiences' vulnerable pawns ensnared under the manipulative and calculating control of the media or, do audiences' actively engage in the media by constructing their own interpretations and meanings of the world? This is an extremely controversial issue that is extensively debated all around the world. Some view audiences as being easily influenced masses of people who can be persuaded to purchase products and conform to societies ideals or even follow corrupt leaders through advertising. There have also been fears that the media may alter the way people behave for example, being more violent and aggressive. On the other side of the coin, there are theorists who believe that the media has a great deal less influence over audiences then is hypothesized. This is the central argument that this essay will be debating, to conclude whether audiences are passive individuals who are targeted victims of the media, or whether they are active and are thus not fictitious cohorts who believe everything they are told or watch in the media. To avoid misrepresentation the definition and differentiation of audiences is crucial. An Audience is†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ dictionary definition. There are two types of audiences that are marketed in the media-mass and niche. The mass audience includes people of different social cultures, different degrees of class and wealth and people with varying grades of education. The mass is composed of individuals who are oblivious to each other and who, in an ocean of people, don't individually stand out. Due to this oblivion, members of the mass audience rarely interact and this lack of interaction means little exchange of experiences. A niche is that part of the audience, being relatively small in size, that marketers produce and can thus be easily targeted, producing only a small but secure profit. Audiences are not blank sheets of paper on which media messages can be written; members of an audience will have prior attitudes and beliefs which will determine how effective media messages are. † (Abercrombie, 1996:140) Mass media assumes that its audiences are credulous, susceptible and incompetent. This is however challenged by the idea of an ‘active audience' in which individuals are not mere sheep that follow the flock but individuals who possess agency over their lives and the messages they receive. As Philip Hanes (2000) states, meanings are encoded by the producer into the media text and the audiences decodes the meaning from the text. â€Å"†¦ this intended message is not simply dumped into the minds of passive audiences†¦ â€Å"(Croteau and Hoynes, 2000:263), the producer inscribes a specific meaning in the text that he/she hopes to be decoded, but encodes it by the conventions of the particular medium so as to hide the texts own ideological construction. This concealed message is then decoded by the audience according to external influences such as class, ethnicity, gender, age etc. Thus a text could mean completely different things to different audiences meaning that no text has only one meaning and is thus polysemic. ‘Reception Analysis' suggests the audience themselves help to create the meaning of the text by individually decoding the intended message in different ways according to the mood one may be in or as a result of ones own beliefs and morals. So we can conclude that audiences create their own meanings from the text and are thus not mere passive adherents. However, Its is also shown that media texts contain an excess of meanings within them and thus, â€Å"media contains the raw materials for multiple interpretations; the texts are structured in ways that facilitate peoples reading against the grain†¦ the most successful texts will have components that appeal to different audiences† (Croteau and Hoynes, 2000:266-267) As with all debates it is imperative to discuss and analyze certain theories pertaining to that debate. Firstly, it is important to note that the media only has a limited influence and effect on audiences. As Klapper(1960) demonstrates, â€Å"persuasive mass communication is in general more likely to reinforce the existing opinions of its audience than it is to change its opinion. † The idea of ‘Selectivity† deals with the idea of the resistant audience-it is up to the audience to resist the manipulative powers of the media and be not only cognizant of its manipulative capacity but bend these manipulations in favour of themselves. The Gratifications theory is in support of the premise that audiences are active. This theory testifies that we do not engage in media texts as â€Å"some kind of mindless entertainment. â€Å"(Baker) but make choices over what we consume and thus presume to get something out of it, some form of satisfaction. The types of gratification that we incur comprise of: satisfying our curiosity regarding the world-information; finding ones personal identity by looking to others i. e. celebrities for assistance and corroboration; to find out more about others circumstances and for social interaction(Media allows for communication amongst friends. ); and lastly for pure entertainment. Agenda setting' deals with the notion that although there is an abundance of media messages being thrown at the audience, the audience intercepts this bombardment with their prior beliefs and attitudes. Thus media effects are limited because the audience practices a degree of autonomy. The Marketplace Model positions the audience in the rank of the consumer. This model states that audiences are not inert victims of the media but enthusiastically elect to choose commodities that satisfy their desires and preferences. This model suggests that audiences are realistic and clued-up and know exactly what it is they want. Their preferences allow them to pick and choose the viewing they wish to indulge in and if â€Å"the audience demands diverse content, then the marketplace will provide it. â€Å"(Webster and Phalen, 1994:29) This model insinuates that in view of the fact that audiences actively engage in their choice of viewing they, to a certain degree, have power over the media. One must, however, not be too hasty in succumbing to the notion of the active audience because there is a proliferation of theories regarding audiences as being passive entities. The debate concerning audiences being passive victims of the media and media being capable of radically effecting people's behavior and beliefs, dates far back into history. An extremely appropriate illustration of this is when Hitler and Stalin attempted to use the media as propaganda by persuading the mass audiences to follow their policies and beliefs. Thus we can see how what an extremely precarious weapon media can be in the wrong hands, capable even of convincing millions to follow iniquitous beliefs. We see this persuasion still today in elections which is the same sort of propaganda. The Effects model of media audiences assumes that being exposed to adverse content can result in harm, that the audience is equally harmed by the media withholding high-quality content and the fact that although beneficial content is made accessible, it is being underused by the audience. â€Å"The Commodity Model is less wedded to any notion of audiences as individual decision makers and is more a reflection of the fact that, under advertiser support, they are a common coin of exchange. (Webster, 1994:30) Audiences are thus seen as commodities; the media will construct a text, in such a way that it will produce an audience. An example of this is the show Friends and how it is theorized that this show is actually a method of selling beauty products. Friends features stunning people, in amusing situations who are all blissful. Thus young audiences wanting to follow the latest trends of the main characters and experience their happiness would buy the beauty products sponsoring the show. In the argument pro passivity, â€Å"The Frankfurt School, who were concerned about the possible effects of mass media†¦ considered society to be composed of isolated individuals who were susceptible to media messages. â€Å"(Hanes, 2000) Thus the theory of the Hypodermic Syringe was proposed. This theory states that the media takes on the life of a syringe by injecting principles, and beliefs into the audience, who as passive mass viewers have no option but to be influenced and accept or imitate these messages. An example of this is if you see a woman sweeping the floor, being a woman you would go and do the same or being a man, you would expect the woman to go and sweep the floor. † Certain films such as the Exorcist were banned for this very reason; it was felt that it might encourage people to imitate the acts of violence in the film, in other words, if you watch something violent you will accordingly perform a violent act yourself. Yet another theory supporting the passivity debate is the Cultivation theory. This theory surmises that although an individual media text might not impact or affect an individual, years and years of being exposed to violence may consequently make you less sensitive and responsive to violence. If an audience, for instance, is constantly exposed to domestic violence, it may not bother them too much because they have been desensitized and domestic violence may have become just another societal norm which is exceptionally problematic. Yet another theory hypothesizes that we are likely to communicate our media encounters with others, and if we value their judgment, the likelihood is that we will be influenced by it and thus come to a deduction concerning our experience established on the foundation of the ‘opinion leaders'. These theories give us a great deal of insight into the reality of the audience as a passive victim. It is imperative that mention is given of how violence in the media can influence audiences as this is an integral part favouring the audience as victims' debate. It seems evident that by observing violent or aggressive acts on television and film, audiences are learn behaviors which are appropriate, in other words, which behaviors will be punished and which are rewarded. Audiences imitate those behaviors which are positively rewarded. For instance, if the protagonist is in a fight scene with the ‘enemy,' although the enemy may get punished by being defeated by the protagonist and thus the protagonist be rewarded for defeating evil, the protagonist himself was still involved in the violence and aggression. What is problematic is the fact that the protagonist is seen as the hero and is in turn imitated by audiences as it is seen as a good thing. So we can assume that violence in television and film is encoded and continuous viewing of this violence can help to maintain aggressive thoughts and violent ideas. It is also evident how the media may allow for the release of tension and desires through identification with fictional characters. Violent acts in the media may also erode inbuilt inhibitions against acting violently. Through the attraction of television and films, audiences acquire an imprecise comprehension of society, realism and moral values. Although the many theories surrounding the debate of whether audiences are passive or active are extremely influential, they have also been criticized. Firstly, the Gratifications theory can be criticized as it disregards the actuality that we do not always have absolute selection as to what we receive from the media. We typically have to choose the media that we consume from what is available. This emasculates the Gratification theory since we may not all have the equal prospects to utilize and benefit from the media merchandise we want. The Hypodermic Model can also be criticized on account of it being too simplistic and disregarding audiences' individuality. There is a definite association between the mass media and social change but many of the consequences attributed to the mass media can also be attributed to many other influences within society, thus the extensive debate. In weighing up the evidence of whether mass media is influential or not, it is clearly identifiable that the media does play a major role in the construction of representations in society. Therefore we see how the media is used as a powerful instrument in influencing audiences into certain modes and beliefs within society. So we can deduce from the arguments presented in this essay that while audiences are passive victims of an all-encompassing world of messages, they too are active in that they can rebel against the medias domination by ardently participating in it or by resisting it.