Texas Policy Report Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Texas Policy Report - Term Paper Example Governor Rick Perry signed the Texas bill 5 during a special session. Rick Perry convened the special session after Senator Wendy Davis conducted a filibuster in an attempt to interfere with signing of the abortion bill. Rick Perry signed the bill in a ceremony attended by various media groups, lobbyists and legislators. Perry and other supporters of the abortion bill had believed that unborn children experience immense pain during abortion. Governor Perry had proposed the abortion bill on May 27, 2013 though it became unsuccessful in regular senate sessions. However, Wendy and other activists argued that illegalizing abortion would had fatal consequences to the mother. Wendy explained her protest through her experience where she discussed abortion case of her daughter (The State of Texas 1). Wendy had tried several times to stop law provisions that restrict abortion including 2012 debates. She was especially concerned about part of abortion bill that banned abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Consequently, during the special session when the Perry was to sign the abortion bill in June 25, 2013, Wendy Davis reported to the media that she would conduct a filibuster. The filibuster would aim at preventing final process of adopting abortion bill. Wendy attracted social media debate following her emotional speech where she discussed heart-rending disclosures about her pregnancy experiences. However, Governor Perry had promised citizens six months before the 25 June 2013 session that he would sign laws against abortion. Perry had stated that unborn babies deserved the legal rights to sound health besides constitutional protection. He had believed that abortion bill would form the foundation on Texas culture of respect for life. House bill 2 signed by Governor Perry had provisions that bans abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. In addition, House of Bill 2 demands that clinics that perform abortion be of similar health

Un-American Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Un-American - Essay Example The altered political ideology following the communist expansionism of the ‘Cold War’ had domestic repercussions in American society. The stage was set by F.D. Roosevelt, who conceded control over post-war Eastern Europe to the Soviet Union, granting â€Å"moral legitimization to what Stalin had acquired by sheer force† (Nisbet, qtd. in Maltsev and Simpson, 15). The subsequent race for nuclear supremacy, and the policy of ‘Mutually Assured Destruction,’ â€Å"inspired widespread fear of impending nuclear war† in Americans, who built bomb shelters in their backyards (Foner, 891). This let the â€Å"sweeping tide of anti-communism† (Pike, Global Security organization web site) engulf America. Any criticism of American society was construed to be ‘Un-American.’ Senator McCarthy’s witch-hunts made ‘McCarthyism,’ with its connotation of ‘unsubstantiated accusations of disloyalty’, a dominant theme of the 1950’s. America of the 1950’s witnessed â€Å"the twentieth century’s greatest citizens’ movement – the black struggle for equality† (Foner, 899). The rigid racial boundaries of the previous decade persisted in post-war America. The new suburban landscape was racially segregated, and reinforced by methods, such as ‘block-busting’ (Foner, 863). Jim Crow laws flourished in the South. The American judiciary led the assault on racial discrimination. In 1944, the US Supreme Court ruled racial segregation unconstitutional in public schools. Rosa Parks’ defiance led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955 and Martin Luther King burst upon the scene with his charismatic leadership. Despite strong resistance, America’s march towards a truly equal, ethnically integrated society began in earnest. Economically and culturally, the 1950’s gave a new definition to ‘the American way of life.’ Most significantly, â€Å"consumerism replaced economic freedom and democratic participation as central definitions

Verbal and Nonverbal Communication in Retail

Verbal and Nonverbal Communication in Retail Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication All around the various environments/ settings that man lives in, there is always some form of communication that takes place, whether verbal or non-verbal communication. Most of the communication that happens with man is often conveyed through non-verbal means. The non-verbal communication may happen both consciously and non-consciously. This paper seeks to give an analysis of a social setting – in this case, a shopping mall – and give an application of the various communication concepts in relation to this setting. There are many reasons as to why people decide to take trips down to the shopping malls. Perhaps they could be going to do some actual shopping or window-shopping, to relax/ meet someone, watch a movie, access the internet, and have a cup of coffee or a meal, among other reasons. At times people walk into the shopping malls as individuals or in groups. As they go about doing their own businesses, they communicate in various ways. For example, an individual may walk into the goods bay and begin walking around the shelves. The pace of walking in itself communicates a certain message. For instance, based on the kinesics theory, if the person is walking hurriedly and pacing back and forth among the shelves, especially in the same area, one may easily conclude that the person is either confused or in a hurry to escape from something or someone. At this point, if there are shopping attendants in the goods bay, they may approach the person and try conversing. In relation to the adjacency pa irs concept, the shopping attendant may begin a conversation with words like, â€Å"Sir, may I help you?† The response the individual is expected to give may be similar to, â€Å"Yes, please. Could you please show me where I can find product X?† In this case, product X could be a particular detergent, shaving cream, electronic equipment, and so on. If a response that may sound to be rude, disrespectful, or harsh is given, then the shopping attendant may try to want to know more in order to identify the problem or seek assistance from somewhere else. In this scenario, customer service and public relations may be necessary. The two techniques may come in handy to resolve the situation. At times, a person may walk into the shopping mall and may just take their time moving around the shelves. They may seem to pick up things off the shelves but then return them. At times, they may be seen to compare two items as they talk to themselves. In such instances, in relation to kinesics concept, the person may appear to be undecided and does not know the choice to make. Perhaps, the person could be doing a mental budget by comparing the products picked, or they may just not know what to pick. Sometimes, people go to purchase products that they are not familiar with at all. In such cases, the person doing the shopping may befriend another shopper and solicit for advice. In the process, they may actually converse and show curtsies and smiles. Different people may actually interpret this act differently. Some may see it to be a friendly and relaxed looking environment. As the people who have just met continue to talk and laugh, it may signify socializing and friendly society. Ot her people may think that the two people may have known one another for ages and are just catching up. To some, they may think that the two people are just drawing unnecessary attention. Some buyers as they do their shopping some go picking anything from the shelves and in large quantities. Some pick a variety of one product, e.g. different types of a particular brand of soap or lotion. Some do not even care to look at the product prices. However, others have to compare the prices carefully before making up their minds on what to buy. These contrasting behaviors show that different buyers have different purchasing capabilities. For instance, when a parent walks into the shopping mall with their child, the child may want something that was outside the budget. Some parents may choose to buy the child what they have asked without thinking twice while others will have to convince their children that it is not possible to buy them what they want. According to the proxemics concept, this behavior shows that different people have different purchasing power. When a shopper buys a variety of things, they are even treated differently by the shopping attendants and cashiers as well. For instance, they may be offered a mall attendant to help them carry the goods to their car, they may be given discounts, or they may be offered some preferential treatment like being offered extra items at no extra cost. There are also people who purchase goods without having to come to the shopping mall and have the goods delivered at their doorstep at an extra cost. Some people do not have trouble paying for the extra cost of transport delivery while others have to consider their options. Regular customers are also treated in a special way that seems to appreciate them. However, those who exhibit high purchasing power and do not necessarily fall to the category of regular customers are always treated in a nice way compared to others. They may even be taken to the front line, skipping other shoppers waiting to be served. This underscores the fact that the elite in society will always have their way as they please. The inequalities that exist in society are also evident thro ugh such gestures. At the cashier counters, there are those who pay cash while others pay using credit or debit cards. Those who have electronic payment cards may at times be in possession of more than one card. The communication here is that in society, there are the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’. There are those with plenty and spend with ease as they can afford whatever they want. Others have even to negotiate at the counter as they pay and may even end up not paying for everything that they picked from the shelves. All these help in explaining the concept of proxemics. In addition, some clients may experience problems with their credit cards. This scenario at times may lead to the involvement of the managers. In such cases, the customer may converse with the manager and want to find out why they cannot purchase anything yet they may have the funds. In such instances, the transmission model of communication is applicable. This is because the manager may involve the bank of the cl ient or access the personal details of the client under authorization from relevant authorities. However, encoding and decoding of the messages may lead to too much bureaucracy that wastes time for the client even when there is no major issue. Shopping malls are at times social meeting points. People who know each may bump into one another in the malls or may arrange to meet there. When they meet, there may be the excitement of meeting as they greet one another. In the process of greetings, they may either hug or shake hands. This scenario best explains the speech act concept. The two parties express their greetings in action form through hugging or shaking hands. When they are even saying goodbyes in the shopping malls, they may kiss or show some signal to the public. However, the danger with sign language is that not all symbols/ signs are standard across various localities. One friendly gesture in a certain locality may be an offense in another locality. The same case applies to certain words used in the public. There are words in certain cultures that are not offensive while in other cultures they are highly offensive. For this reason, extra caution should be taken when speech acting. The challenge however is that most of the time, people speech act at times unconsciously. They may not even consider to have made an offense. One important communication concept that marketers in shopping malls use is the looking-glass self. Whenever a customer goes to buy or just wants to try a product, the marketers may give pleasant comments to the potential buyer in a bid to sell the product. For example, when one wants to buy clothes, they may go window-shopping and in the process try them out to see how they look in them. The marketers often take advantage of these situations to give compliments to the potential buyer. The nice or positive compliments regarding the cloth in relation to the potential buyer play around with the psychology of the potential buyer. As a result, the potential buyer’s self-esteem may be boosted and the compliments may play a major role in influencing the decision to buy. Even if the potential buyer may not have money now to buy the product, they may go and come back later to purchase the item after a while. When clients are made to look good and are motivated to buy, they will buy ev en if they did not intend to buy a given product. The sales promotion personnel should learn to utilize the looking-glass self concept in ensuring that they sell their products/ services. The provision of demos goes a long way in further convincing the potential buyer and influences their decision to buy greatly. Well-presented demos or promotions capture the attention of potential buyers. At the same time, the promotions and demos influence the perceptions of how the potential buyer thinks the sales promoter views them, consequently affecting decision to buy in a number of potential buyers. In conclusion, verbal and non-verbal communication often takes place concurrently. However, the majority of the communication is what happens non-verbally. Learning how to interpret different messages as they are communicated is the most important thing in interpersonal communications. The person who learns to decode messages, especially non-verbal messages, always knows how to relate with other people in society effectively. Clarity especially in verbal is important. This is because if the message is not properly encoded for the intended recipient to decode appropriately as intended, then meaning will have been lost. Hence, elaborations in verbal communications are extremely importance for clarity purposes and ease of understanding.

Waste Land Essay: Superficiality in The Waste Land -- T.S. Eliot Waste

Superficiality in The Waste Land  Ã‚   The Waste Land is concerned with the 'disillusionment of a generation'. The poem was written in the early 1920's, a time of abject poverty, heightening unemployment and much devastation unresolved from the end of WW1 in 1918. Despite this, or because of it, people made a conscientious effort to enjoy themselves. In doing so they lost their direction, their beliefs and their individuality. They were victims of the class system which maintained a system of privilege, snobbery and distrust. Advances in machinery brought new products onto the market, like cars, but the people were so disillusioned with the social turmoil caused by four years of war, that even the glamour of new possessions could not fill the spiritual and emotional void left by the war. The consciousness of a nation had been battered into submission by the horrors of the first world war that people now were living a shell of what was once life. People went through the motions of life but there was no feeling just a mecha nical existence. This kind of surface existence, the inability to see beyond the obvious, is portrayed throughout the Wasteland. The Wasteland is a soulless picture of a world deprived of fertility. Everything has become sterile in this barren landscape, people have nowhere left to look but to the outer shell because the inside is emotionally dead. As a result, the characters of The Wasteland are superficial in every sense of the word. Some are obsessed with appearance. Others are so far detached from the things that make life more than just breathing and looking good, that they perpetuate the destructive cycle that is slowly killing them and their world. They exist without hope, faith and spiritual enlightenme... ...t could bring life to the Wasteland, then there would be hope. Water of course becomes symbolic of faith. Eliot's message is if we had faith, then the world would begin to take root again. Eliot suggests that our superficiality is replaced by 'Datta... Dayadhvam..Dumyata' 'give, sympathise, control'. Our superficial nature has left us in an uncontrollable, unsympathetic, mean wasteland. In short, superficiality is portrayed throughout The Wasteland. Those who inhabit the land exist without faith and reject enlightenment because they are too concerned with appearances, money and other such inconsequential matters that they have lost the ability to recognize what is needed to make life better. 'Do You know nothing? Do you see nothing? Do you remember Nothing? Works Cited: Eliot, T. S. The Waste Land and Other Poems. Harcourt Brace & Company: New York, 1958.

Analysis on the Shift of Business Strategy for Ge Into the 21st Century Essay

Question 1: In what ways has Jeff Immelt redirected the strategy of GE? In 2001, shortly after Jeff Immelt became the CEO of GE, a series of events changed and impacted the corporate landscape. The immediate challenges that he faced included 9/11, and a subsequent series of high profile corporate scandals (Enron, WorldCom). In 2008, the financial crisis hit and had a severe impact on GE’s primary growth source, GE Capital causing it to accumulate bad debts and asset write-downs. These events caused slow domestic economic growth, crisis of confidence among investors and more global competitors. Due to the change in environment and the need to adapt Immelt shifted the focus of GE from cost cutting and deal making to new products, services and markets. He particularly focused on redirecting the strategy of GE through: organic growth, customer focus, and innovation. In 2002, Immelt committed GE to an organic growth rate of 8% per year. He identified a number of emerging global trends – the ageing population, the demand for sustainable energy, the necessity of improved infrastructure, and opportunities in the emerging markets. He aimed to create value for customers by leveraging GE’s core competencies particularly in advanced technology and related service by delivering superior, customized products and services to high-growth markets. A core component of his growth strategy was to create new ‘Growth platforms’ which could be either extensions of the existing businesses or entire new commercial areas. Through identifying a new growth platform, it would then be executed through a series of divestments and strategic acquisitions in sectors with high growth potential. Technology was seen to be a key driver of GE’s future growth which led to the launch of Imagination breakthrough. New technologies were seen as an essential ingredient to successful product innovation and quality improvement. GE expanded its research and development capabilities and supported them with adequate financial backing. Another vital part of Immelt’s growth strategy has been the implementation of the Customer Focus initiative. This lead to the revitalization of GE’s marketing function – most notably through the creation of GE’s Commercial Council and a number of customer-oriented programs. Through this customer focus imitative it became one of Immelt’s value creation strategies: exploit linkages across GE’s many companies. His efforts started off with product bundling and cross selling, which eventually led to enterprise selling. This meant seeking out customers that would benefit from GE’s broad portfolio of businesses and deliver highly customized solutions. The strategic focus was on creating differentiation advantage through innovative product-service bundles and enhanced customer focus Question 2: To what extent is this strategy well aligned: a) with the requirements of 21st century business environment Jeff Immelt took over the reins of General Electric at the end of an Era where the Market economy was buzzing with optimism, confidence and growth, and was now heading into a downturn. This shift in the Business environment and economic instability instigated a crucial issue for Immelt, which was to identify the likely sources of profit for the future. Under Jack Welch the potential for value creation through cost reduction and the elimination of under performing assets had mostly been completely utilized. So from Immelt’s view, in the current Market situation, the primary driver of growth was going to be organic growth. With the poor state that the world economy was in, the central challenge for Immelt was going to be identifying where the most promising opportunities for profitable growth would lie. He identified a number of key significant emerging global trends—the ageing population, the conflicting forces of growing energy demand and concerns over global warming, the advent of biosciences in conjunction with global warming and nanotechnology, and new commercial opportunities in the emerging markets. In order for GE to position itself for stronger growth in the changing business environment, Immelt saw the need to exit form slow growth business, and reallocate its resources where growth prospects were strong, taking advantage of the emerging global trends. At the heart of Immelt’s growth strategy for General Electric’s was the development of new Growth Platforms, which could be either extensions of the existing businesses or entire new commercial areas. Even though Immelts core focus was on organic growth, repositioning to take advantage of the emerging market trends and opportunities would require acquisition. Then once a new Growth Platform was identified, GE would build a leading position in those sectors through small strategic acquisitions and the deployment of its financial, technical and managerial resources. GE was entering a new generational era, one where technology is at the forefront of growth and adaptation. Immelt identified Technology as one of GE’s major drivers for future growth which was signaled by his expansion of GE’s R&D budgets. He shifted the importance of Technology within GE by focusing on the R&D projects that offered large scale market potential, reffered to as â€Å"Imagination breakthroughs†. Within this new business environment that GE was facing, customers needs, wants and expectations of what products can offer them is forever changing. Immelt saw and understood this from the amount of time spent with customers, and implemented this idea within GE through the IT redesign process becoming increasingly customer focused. One of the most important outcomes of GE’s enhanced customer focus would be the ability to better meet the customers needs through bundling products with support and technology services, and combine product and service offerings from different businesses (Enterprise selling) to enhance customer value. Also by increasing customer orientated products, this would also help GE to increase its success in international markets by involving more local product development and emphasis on truly aligning products and services to meet local market needs. (b) GE’s resources and capabilities The backbone GE’s success over time has been its ability to combine massive size with constant adaptation. Over the decades GE has successfully adapted both its business portfolio and its management systems to the demands and opportunities of the ever-changing business Environment. GE’s success in innovation has been built on the back of their ability to nurture ideas and innovations, and expertly managing and formulate them into successful investments. This is clearly shown through General Electric’s â€Å"Imagination breakthroughs† through Immelt. These imagination breakthroughs are promising technological R&D projects, that have the potential to create $100 million in sales over three years. Immelts emphasis on technology reflected his belief and the Belief intrinsic to GE which is that the primary driver of sales is great products. Immelt’s assessment of emerging global trends and his strategic direction demonstrate his understanding of the external opportunities and threats, and internal strengths and weaknesses. Technical leadership has proved to be not only a source of GE’s competitive advantage but it is also an important barrier to entry. For example, GE is the only US-based company with all the necessary capabilities to build a nuclear power plant. This is an example of General Electrics ability to marry Industrial and technological R&D to a business system capable of turning scientific and technological discoveries into marketable products. Question 3: What organizational changes has the new strategy necessitated? Will GE be able to successfully execute the strategy? Through placing greater emphasis on customer focus, organic growth and innovation, GE’s systems and structure must be realigned to better manage the complex situation of diversified businesses and to maintain its efficiency and performance. Immelt’s focus on greater cross integration, new growth platforms and enterprise selling lead to a major structural change in 2002. GE divisions were reorganized into a smaller number of broad based sectors. By 2008, there were 5 sectors and each of them focused on broad markets, in which they had a scale, market leadership, and superior customer offerings. GE’s 5 broad markets were: technology, infrastructure, industrial and commercial, GE capital, healthcare and NBC Universal. Through regrouping the various businesses into their markets it would be easier to identify the various connections between the businesses. Becoming a more customer focus business had a huge impact on the organization; it led to the revitalization of GE’s marketing function. A number of customer – orientated programs were created, most notably GE’s Commercial Council. The key initiative of the six part growth process in terms of marketing and sales were introduced, there were increasingly many metrics driven analysis on customer satisfaction and attitudes. This whole phase of becoming a customer focus business instead of an operating efficient one demanded the managers to become less of an operator and more of a marketer. Immelt’s reshaping of GE’s Business portfolio, through Growth platforms, required acquisition. Developing these opportunities required high levels of coordination across multiple organizational units. This further increased the organizational complexity of GE, and great difficulty in performance management as it was hard linking individual incentives to individual’s organizational performance hard to implement. Other issues arose through the organizational changes necessitated through the new strategy. Immelt had changed the rganizational structure to further integrate the different businesses, however this lead to a complex coordination problem as they have gone beyond cross selling to enterprise selling. Also through placing heavy emphasis on customer focus this caused the sales and marketing department to put less focus on particular business and just look at opportunities that they can exploit this can be seen from the example of GE medical systems. Through constantly acquiring new businesses to further fuel growth in technology and the energy sector this has made the organizational structure even more complex. Focussing on customers and enterprise selling requires a simple structure. It can be seen that if Immelt wants to successfully implement his strategies he needs to find a solution to change the organizational structure to mitigate the complexity of it, while being able to acquire new businesses for growth. Whether Immelt can execute these strategies due to these organizational issues are discussed in the further sections of this essay. Will Immelt’s strategy be successful? Are there alternatives corporate strategies that GE should consider – break up in particular? We believe that Immelts strategy will be successful and recommend that he continue to pursue his strategy of greater emphasis on technology, customer focus and increased integration. In order for this to happen in the context of the economic situation of the 21st century, we feel that it is important for GE’s emphasis to be shifted to risk-taking, sophisticated management, and innovation in order to deliver new products and services, and to penetrate new markets Immelt should continue to divest companies of low profit, growth and returns, and focus on those whose are aligned with their competencies are as a future possible growth platform. To reduce organizational complexity GE should also introduce competitive based pay which will link to all levels of employers from base workers to managers. This is to encourage collaboration through all levels of the employment ladder both vertically and horizontally. The success of Immelt’s strategy of combining innovation and efficiency in a fast-moving business environment will allow GE to capitalize on the demands and opportunities of a changing world. Thus, GE will play a leadership role as it sets the trend for the conglomerate business model to maintain its relevance. Breaking up GE There are several advantages in breaking up GE. GE will be able to focus on innovation and reinvest back on innovation and technology through the funds acquired from selling some of their businesses. There is also no need for having a complex organizational structure if GE would only focus on one segment of their business. The source of competitive advantage for GE is integration of business in its portfolio. GE Capital contributes 32% of total revenue. This is a stable source of revenue for GE. Spinning it off the business portfolio will reduce the funding for other GE initiatives. By doing so, they will not be able to address the challenges facing the business environment in the future. This proved as a disadvantage as it will alter the competitive scope of the company and will ultimately lose their capability to compete in global markets. GE should not break up as it will lose its core competencies and won’t be able to compete and enjoy the current market position that they are in. Focusing On Technology and Energy  Based on 2010 GE annual report, technology and energy infrastructure has the highest profit and revenue contribution for GE. This is the main focus of their business today. Although GE capital is not as profitable as before, it still contributes 32% of the total GE revenue. Overall, it is still growing from the period of 2009 – 2011. While GE Capital revenue does not contribute as the main source of contribution in both revenue and profit of GE, it is essential as a source of revenue to pursuit and invests in innovation that drives the Energy and Technology Infrastructure sector of GE.

Rurality in Post Industrial Society

Paper prepared for the conference ‘New Forms of Urbanization: Conceptualizing and Measuring Human Settlement in the Twenty-first Century’, organized by the IUSSP Working Group on Urbanization and held at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Study and Conference Center in Bellagio, Italy, 11-15 March 2002. Paper 14 THE NATURE OF RURALITY IN POST INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY By David L. Brown and John B. Cromartie? Draft 2/15/02 INTRODUCTION Urbanization is a dynamic social and economic process that transforms societies from primarily rural to primarily urban ways of life (Hauser, 1965). Few would dispute this definition, but how useful is it for examining the spatial reorganization of population and economic activities in postindustrial societies where a large majority of people, jobs, and organizations are concentrated in or dominated by urban agglomerations? The essence of this question hinges on our ability to differentiate between what is rural and urban in postindustrial societies. While this may have been a relatively straightforward task during the late 19th and early to mid 20th centuries, it has become an exceedingly complex question in the context of postindustrialization. We acknowledge the helpful comments of Calvin Beale, Kai Schafft, Laszlo Kulcsar, and the conference organizers Tony Champion and Graeme Hugo. Brenda Creeley prepared the manuscript. Early social scientists saw urbanization and industrialization as being reciprocally related. One process could not proceed without the other. While most scholars understood that urban and rural were not ent irely discrete categories, relatively clear lines could be drawn to distinguish urban from rural communities and distinct ways of life associated with each. In addition, early social scientists were convinced that the transformation from rural to urban-industrial society would be accompanied by a wide range of negative social outcomes. In fact, this concern is generally credited with motivating the rise of the new discipline of Sociology (Marx, 1976; Durkheim, 1951; Weber, 1968; Wirth, 1938). The social and economic organization of community life has been thoroughly transformed by technological and institutional changes since the mid 20th century. Accordingly, notions of what constitutes urban and rural communities that grew out of the era of industrialization may no longer offer a reliable lens with which to view contemporary settlement structures. They may no longer provide a reliable delineation of what is urban and what is rural, and consequently we may not be able to determine whether the level of urbanization is advancing, declining, or remaining constant. As a consequence, our analyses of population redistribution may bear little connection to the reality of spatial reorganization. The large literature on counter-urbanization, to which we are both contributors, may be missing the mark because it depends on data systems and geo-coding schemes that reflect a prior era of socio-spatial organization. Hence, our purpose in this paper is to propose a multidimensional approach for conceptualizing rurality that reflects the demographic, social, economic and institutional realities of postindustrial society. We agree with Halfacree (1993: p. 4) that â€Å"†¦the quest for an all-embracing definition of the rural is neither desirable nor feasible,† but we believe that social science can and should develop conceptual frameworks and geo-coding schemes to situate localities according to their degree of rurality. Since rurality is a multidimensional concept, the degree of rurality should be judged against a composite definition that includes key social, economic and demographic attributes. This approach rejects the notion of rural as a residual (after urban has be en measured). The operationalization of rurality should be flexible enough to differentiate urban from rural, while recognizing and appreciating the diversity contained within each category. Our approach to defining 2 rurality involves the material aspects of localities, but we acknowledge the validity of other approaches. As Halfacree and others have observed, rurality can be defined as a social representation. Or as he puts it, â€Å"the rural as space, and the rural as representing space† should be distinguished (1993: 34). We do not propose to debate the relative merits of the material and representational approaches in this paper. Each has a respected tradition in social science. Our sociodemographic approach is inspired by previous work of Paul Cloke, 1977 and 1986, while the social representation approach’s pedigree includes Moscovici, 1981, Giddens, 1984, and many other highly respected scholars. We feel that these approaches are complementary rather than competitive. As Martin Lewis has observed, â€Å"In the end, only by combining the insights of the new geography with those of the traditional approaches may human relatedness be adequately reconceptualized† (1991: 608). However, we emphasize the socioeconomic approach in this paper because of its utility for informing statistical practice essential to the quantitative empirical study of urbanization. Why Do We Need To Know What Is Rural In Postindustrial Society? At the most basic level, urbanization cannot be understood without also examining the nature of rurality. Perhaps it is axiomatic, but urbanization cannot proceed in postindustrial society unless rural people and communities persist and are at risk of â€Å"becoming urban. While there is copious evidence that rural-urban differences have diminished during the latter half of the 20th century, important differences have been shown to persist structuring the lives people live and the opportunities available to them (Brown and Lee, 1999; Fuguitt, et al. , 1989). In addition, what we believe about rural people and communities sets the agenda for public policy. The American public, for example, holds a strong pro-rural and/or antiurban bias that provides continuing support for agricultural and rural programs (Kellogg Foundation, 2002; RUPRI, 1995; Willits, et al. 1990), and quite possibly promotes population deconcentration (Brown, et al. , 1997). However, research has demonstrated that this pro-rural bias is based on nostalgic positive images of rural places, and a misunderstanding of the social and economic realities of rural life (Willits, et al. , 1990). What people value in rural communities is often formed â€Å"at a distance,† through literature, art and music, not through actual experience. As John Logan (1996: 26) has observed, â€Å"A 3 large share of what we value is the mythology and symbolism of rural places, rather than their reality. Accordingly, more reliable research-based information about the social and economic organization of rural areas, their role in national society, polity and economy, and their relative share of a nation’s population and economic activity will provide a stronger bas is for public policy. Bringing beliefs about rural areas into closer connection with empirical reality will improve the fit between rural problems and opportunities, public priorities, and the targeting of public investments. HOW CAN THE NATURE OF POSTINDUSTRIAL RURALITY BE DETERMINED? The Conventional Approach: Rural-urban classification in most national statistical systems typically involves two mutually exclusive categories. In most highly developed societies, (North America, Western Europe, Oceania, and Japan) the rural-urban delineation is based solely on population size and/or density (United Nations, 1999). It is not that government statisticians don’t understand that rurality is a variable not a discrete dichotomy, that the rural-urban distinction is somewhat arbitrary regardless of the population size or density threshold chosen, or that neither the rural nor the urban category is homogeneous. However, given their responsibilities for monitoring basic aspects of social organization and social change, and for providing data tabulations to the public, to businesses, and to other government agencies, the elemental need is to develop a geographic schema that makes intuitive sense, and where between category variability exceeds internal differentiation. It has not been realistic to expect statistical agencies to adopt a complex multidimensional delineation of rurality given the realities and politics of statistical practice in which budget constraints, and competition between stake holder groups determine which items are included on censuses and other large scale public surveys, and which variables are routinely included in tabulations and data products. However, the development of GIS techniques, and new advances in small area data collection and availability suggest that more flexibility and variability in geo-coding may be possible in the future. Hence, while we do not necessarily expect statistical agencies to adopt our multidimensional approach, we believe that it raises important questions about conventional methodologies for assessing the level and pace of urbanization in highly developed nations. 4 OMB’s New Core Based System: A Step In The Right Direction: The public availability of summary tape files from censuses and other nationwide surveys, provides significant opportunities for inquiry by university-based and government scientists into the extent and nature of rurality in postindustrial societies. In effect, analysts can design their own residential categorization schemes to examine various aspects of settlement structure and change. And, innovative research experimenting with alternative categorization systems can eventually contribute to changes in official statistical practice. For example, 25 years of research by social scientists in the USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) and in academia is ar guably responsible for persuading the U. S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that an undifferentiated nonmetropolitan category is not defensible (Duncan and Reiss, 1956; Butler and Beale, 1994). As early as 1975, ERS was recommending that the nonmetropolitan category be disaggregated according to the degree of urbanization. In a major publication released in that year, Hines, Brown and Zimmer showed that more populous nonmetropolitan counties, especially those adjacent to metropolitan areas, were more similar to metropolitan areas than to their nonmetropolitan counterparts. OMB has now modified its official geo-coding scheme to recognize diversity within nonmetropolitan America. OMB has instituted a â€Å"core based statistical area classification system† that recognizes that both metropolitan and nonmetropolitan territory can be integrated with a population center. The new CBSA classification system establishes a micropolitan category as a means of distinguishing between nonmetropolitan areas that are integrated with centers of 10,000 to 49,999 population, and nonmetropolitan territory that is not integrated with any particular population center of 10,000 or more inhabitants (OMB, 2000). 2 Metropolitan counties contain 79 percent of the U. S. opulation and 21 percent of its land area in the new classification scheme while the 1 In the United States and some other postindustrial countries, two residential categorizations are used: urban vs. rural and metropolitan vs. nonmetropolitan. Some writers use these concepts interchangeably, but even though their respective shares of the nation’s total population have tracked quite closely during recent decades, they are different concepts. What is similar between them, however, is that rural and nonmetropolitan are both residuals that are left over once urban settlement is accounted for. Hence, the rural population includes all residents of places of less than 2,500 and persons who live outside of urbanized areas while the nonmetropolitan population includes all persons who live outside of metropolitan counties (counties containing or integrated with a place of 50,000 persons). 2 Social scientists have also objected to the use of counties as building blocks for the nation’s metropolitan geography, but the new OMB standards have retained counties in the new classification system (Morrill, Cromartie and Hart, 1999). 5 ercentages are exactly reversed for nonmetropolitan territory. The nonmetropolitan population is almost evenly split between micropolitan and noncore based areas, although the former category contains 582 counties while the latter has 1668. The data in tables 1-3 show substantial diversity between micropolitan and noncore based areas, and demonstrate the importance of distinguishing between these two types of counties. To begin with, the average mi cropolitan county has 45,875 persons compared with only 15,634 persons in the average noncore based area. The data in Table 1 also show that micropolitan counties have 43 persons per square mile while only 12 persons live on each square mile of noncore based territory. [Table 1 here] Table 2 compares social and economic characteristics of persons living in various types of U. S. counties. In each instance these data show regular patterns of decline as one moves from the largest metropolitan counties to noncore based counties. For example, almost half of all metropolitan persons have attended college compared about one third of nonmetropolitan residents, but only 31 percent of noncore based adults have been to college compared with 37 percent of persons living in micropolitan counties. Metropolitan workers are more dependent on jobs in service industries while their nonmetropolitan counterparts depend more heavily on farming and manufacturing, although these differences are not strikingly large. Within the nonmetropolitan category, however, dependence on farming is over twice as high in noncore based counties compared with micropolitan areas, and small but consistently smaller percentages of noncore based employees work in manufacturing, retail and services jobs. Similarly, professional, technical managerial and administrative occupations comprise a much larger share of metropolitan than nonmetropolitan jobs, and a larger share in micropolitan than in noncore based counties. Data on earnings per job (displayed in the bottom panel of Table 2) show that noncore based workers earn less than their micropolitan counterparts in all industrial categories, and their earnings are consistently the lowest of any county type in the U. S. [Table 2 here] We have also examined whether micropolitan areas are more â€Å"metropolitan† than noncore based counties with respect to the presence of various services and facilities typically associated with metropolitan status (Beale, 1984). We conducted a mail survey 6 f the heads of county government in a 10 percent random sample of noncore based areas, and in 20 percent of micropolitan and small metropolitan areas. We have only received about 40 percent of the questionnaires from the county executives at this time, so the data in Table 3 are provisional. 3 However, these preliminary results reveal that central counties of small metropolitan areas are clearly differentiated from both nonmetropolitan categories. In all t welve instances the presence of these â€Å"metropolitan functions† is most prevalent in small metropolitan counties, and least available in noncore based areas. Micropolitan areas, however, appear to be more similar to small metropolitan areas than to noncore based counties. Hence, OMB’s new system seems to be a step in the right direction from the undifferentiated nonmetropolitan residential. It does a good job of distinguishing between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas, and between micropolitan and noncore based areas outside of the metropolitan category. [Table 3 here] While we applaud the OMB’s new classification system as a step toward recognizing rural diversity, we believe that it is just that, one step. We recommend that social science research further examine the multidimensional nature of rurality in order to enhance understanding of the extent of urban and rural settlement and urbanization in postindustrial societies, and to guide future modifications of official statistical geography. A MULTIDIMENSIONAL APPROACH TO CONCEPTUALIZING RURALITY IN POSTINDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES As mentioned earlier, our multidimensional approach elaborates and extends earlier work by Paul Cloke (1977; 1986). The basic notion is that while urban and rural have intrinsic meaning, both concepts derive much of their analytical power when compared with the other. Low population density, for example, has important meaning in and of itself, but its meaning is further clarified when low rural density is compared with the high ratio of persons to space found in urban regions. 4 Cloke’s objective was to develop a 3 We are now involved in the refusal conversion process and hope to obtain at least a 60 percent response rate. Moreover, attitudes about urban and rural areas are formed on the basis of the attributes people believe characterize such areas, but these attitudes also reflect people’s opinions of how rural and urban areas differ 4 7 quantitative statement of rurality that could be used as a basis for comparative studies among rural areas, and between them and urban areas. He used principal components analysis to identify nine variables associated with rural-urban location. Principal components loading scores were then used as weighting criteria to form an index of rurality. The resulting scores were arrayed in quartiles ranging from extreme rural to extreme non-rural, and each of England’s and Wales’ administrative districts was assigned to one of these four categories. In 1986, Cloke replicated his 1971 index. His second study showed that while most districts were classified in the same rural-urban category in both 1971 and 1981, some districts changed categories over the decade, and the nature of rurality itself was marginally transformed over time. He found that the variables differentiating rural from urban areas in 1981 were somewhat different than those used in the initial analysis. In particular, population decline and net out migration were important rural attributes in 1971, during a period of population concentration, but not in the 1981 analysis after the relative rates of rural-urban population change and net migration had reversed in favor of the periphery. The 1981 revision included 8 variables. Positive variable loadings on five of the eight factors indicated that they corresponded to urban characteristics (high level of housing occupancy, high percentage of workers outcommuting, high percentage of women in childbearing ages, high level of household amenities, and high population density) while negative loadings on the remaining three variables corresponded to rural characteristics (high involvement in extractive industries, disproportionate number of older persons, and distance from an urban area of 50,000 population). It is important to point out at this juncture that neither Cloke nor we are geographic determinists, e. g. , we do not contend that the type of environment people live in has an independent causal effect on their attitudes and behavior. On the other hand, we believe that spatial locality is more than simply a setting in which social and economic relationships occur. Our position is that a person’s place of residence in a nation’s settlement system can shape social and economic outcomes, and can have a profound impact on life chances (Brown and Lee, 1999). While a growing number of social from each other. Accordingly, the public’s overall positive attitude toward rural people and areas is a combination of â€Å"pro-rural† and â€Å"anti-urban† attitudes. 8 scientists agree that space should be incorporated into social theory and research, there is little agreement on the manner in which space enters into social behavior. The debate hinges on the question of whether spatial arrangements are an elemental cause of social behavior, or whether space acts in a more contingent manner. Our position is consistent with the latter view; that space has an important but contingent causative role in social relations. Hence, we see value in distinguishing rural from urban areas because we contend that rural-urban variations in socioeconomic status, for example, can only be understood by taking into account how contingent characteristics of rural and urban places modify the access to opportunities. In other words, we are saying that local social structure contextualizes social and economic behavior. We do not question the existence of fundamental social relationships, but we observe that these relationships are modified by spatial variability in social and economic contexts. Linking back to the status attainment example, education is positively related to income in all locations, but the strength of this relationship varies across local labor markets depending on their industrial and occupational structures. Education matters everywhere, but returns to education are higher in some spatial contexts than in others depending on the availability of well paying jobs and on the nature of the stratification system (Duncan, 1999). Dimensions of Rurality in the United States at the Turn of the Century: Cloke’s approach to defining rurality was largely inductive. His choice of variables was not shaped by a clearly defined theoretical framework for distinguishing rural from urban, although they were suggested by the literature as being important aspects of the sociospatial environment. Neither do we claim that our approach emanates from a wellcrafted theory of rurality, but we do start with a clear premise about four distinct dimensions that comprise rural environments in postindustrial societies. We then choose indicators for each domain that have been shown in the research literature to vary across rural-urban space. The concept of rurality we are proposing involves ecological, economic, institutional, and sociocultural dimensions. In this section of the paper we discuss each of these four dimensions in turn, and propose a set of indicators that could be used to empirically develop a composite measure of rurality. We follow Willits and Bealer (1967) in observing that a composite definition of rurality involves both the attributes of rural areas themselves, and the attributes of persons residing in such areas. Figure 1 shows 9 the four dimensions of rurality, indicators of each dimension, and the contrasting rural vs. rban situation for each indicator. Our approach indicates the attributes that define rurality, and it does so in a comparative framework vis a vis urbanity. [Figure 1 here] The Ecological Dimension: Population size, population density, spatial situation within a settlement system and natural resource endowments are included in this dimension. As indicated earlier, conventional statis tical practice typically emphasizes this approach. Urban vs. rural delineations are usually defined by a size and/or a density threshold, while metropolitan vs. onmetropolitan delineations use size and density criteria to identify central cities and measures of geographic access such as physical distance or commuting to signify the interdependence of peripheral areas. Hope Tisdale’s (1942) influential article provides one of the clearest theoretical statements for the size/density delineation, while central place theory is the primary theoretical basis for considering geographic location vis-a-vis other places in a settlement system (Berry, 1967). The ecological dimension also includes a consideration of the natural environment. As shown in Table 1, 79 percent of land in the United States is found outside of officially recognized metropolitan areas, and 61 percent is located in noncore based areas. While this tells volumes about density, it also indicates that most of America’s natural resources are located in its rural territory. Energy, minerals, land for agricultural production, water, and habitat for wild life are all found disproportionately in the rural sector, and this is an important aspect of the nation’s rurality during the postindustrial era. The Economic Dimension: This dimension concerns the organization of economic activity in local economies. It focuses on what people do for a living, the size and composition of local economies, and the linkages between local economic activities and national and global capital. Until the mid 20th century, rural and agriculture while not synonymous were very closely related, and definitions of rural were heavily influenced by measures of dependence on agriculture and other extractive industries. Rural economies were small and undifferentiated both in terms of establishments and workers, and localities had a relatively high degree of economic autonomy. 10 Many people continue to view rural areas through this archaic lens, even though local economies have been fundamentally restructured during the past 50 years. Direct dependence on agriculture, forestry, mining and fisheries has declined to less than one in ten nonmetropolitan workers although extractive industries continue to dominate economic activity in particular regions of the U. S. (Cook and Mizer, 1994). There is no denying that economic activities in rural and urban America have become much more similar since World War II. Not only has dependence on extractive industries declined throughout the country, but so has dependence on manufacturing, and most economic growth is now accounted for by services. However, the jobs available in rural labor markets continue to be significantly different than urban jobs. Rural manufacturing is more likely to be nondurable than urban manufacturing, and well paying producer services jobs are seldom available in rural economies. Moreover, research shows that full time rural workers earn less than urban workers regardless of their industry of employment, and that rural employment is significantly more likely to be part time and/or seasonal (Gale and McGranahan, 2001). While these rural-urban differences in employment do not adhere to the traditional farm-nonfarm contours, they show that opportunities available in rural labor markets are clearly inferior to those available in urban America, and that rural and urban areas can be differentiated with respect to how people make a living. Rural economies have traditionally been smaller than urban economies in terms of number of workers, the number and size of establishments, and the gross value of products or services sold. Of the three indicators of rural economic activity, this one has changed the least over time even though the decentralization of urban based branch plants has brought some large employers to particular rural areas. Moreover, rural economies have been much more dependent on one or a few types of economic activity than urban economies, and this too remains an important rural-urban difference. The â€Å"protection of distance† enjoyed (or suffered) by rural economies has clearly diminished in recent decades. Technological changes including all weather roads, the interstate highway system, virtually universal telephone service (now including cell phones), and the internet have greatly reduced rural isolation. This is not to deny that some important inequalities in transportation and communication infrastructure persist 11 between rural and urban areas, but for the most part the effect of physical distance has been substantially leveled by technological advances. Institutional changes, especially the increased mobility of capital, have further diminished rural economic independence. The deregulation of banking means that capital now flows easily to and from metro bank centers and the rural periphery. This has both positive and negative implications for particular rural communities, but the clear result is that rural economies are increasingly integrated within national and global structures. With this change comes a resulting decline of local autonomy and increased dependence on extra-local firms and organizations. This makes rural areas at the same time more attractive sites for certain types of external investment, and more likely to lose traditional employers because of financial decisions made elsewhere. There is little room for sentiment in the globalized economy, including sentiment for rural communities as valued â€Å"home places. † When the bottom line demands it, capital flows across national borders to production sites with low costs and few regulations, locating and relocating according to the demands of the market. The Institutional Dimension: Communities are institutionalized solutions to the problems of everyday life. Accordingly, some social scientists view communities as configurations of institutional spheres including education, religion, governance, the economy, etc. (Rubin, 1969). While we do not necessarily subscribe to this functionalist view of community organization, there is no denying that institutions are a critical aspect of local social structure, and that human beings would have little use for communities if they did not serve recurring needs. Both urban and rural areas have formal institutional sectors. Most places have some form of politics and local governance, organized religion, education, and voluntary and service organizations. Moreover, as discussed in the preceding section, sustenance and economic activity are important aspects of locality. Rural and urban areas are not so much differentiated by the presence or absence of particular types of institutions as by their diversity and capacity. For example, schools, newspapers and churches, are widespread, but most rural communities offer a narrower range of choices as to where one’s children may be educated, where to worship, and/or the media from which one obtains local news. School consolidation in rural America has resulted in fewer and larger schools. Students are often bussed long distances to school. 12 Similarly, while churches are present in most rural communities, the range of denominations and congregations is narrow. Clubs, service organizations, and voluntary associations are also an important part of rural community life, but the choice of organizations to join is constrained in comparison to the organizational choices available in urban environments. Rural institutions also tend to have more limited capacity than their urban counterparts. Rural governments, for example, are often constrained by part time leadership, insufficient fiscal resources, ineffective organizational structures, limited access to technical information and expertise, and limited ability to assess changing community needs (Kraybill and Lobao, 2001; Cigler, 1993). The Sociocultural Dimension: Moral traditionalism is one of the most consistent themes subsumed under the term â€Å"rural culture† (Willits and Bealer, 1967). Rural persons are often considered to be more conservative than their urban counterparts, and data from national surveys indicate this to be true in the United States. Calvin Beale (1995) has shown that 49 percent of rural respondents to a 1993 National Opinion Research Center (NORC) national survey regard themselves as religious fundamentalists compared with 33 percent of urban respondents. Similarly, a much lower percentage of rural respondents believe that abortion should be available for any reason (26 percent vs. 44 percent), and a much higher percentage of rural persons believe that homosexuality is immoral (84 percent vs. 2 percent). Beale also observed that rural voters have been more likely to support conservative candidates in recent elections even though rural persons are slightly more likely than urban persons to describe themselves as democrats. A related idea is that rural conservatism is often associated with the homogeneity of the rural population. Wirth (1938) and ot hers argued that increased population diversity was one of the dominant effects of urbanization, and one of the reasons why informal social control was likely to break down in cities. Ironically, Fisher (1975) and other critics of Wirth, argued that ethnic diversity rather than contributing to a weakening of the social order was a main reason why the strength of social relations did not diminish in cities, and why community was not â€Å"eclipsed† in urban environments. While the association between ethnic and other aspects of population diversity and social and political attitudes is still an open question, research clearly indicates that rural populations in the U. S. , while 13 increasingly diverse, remain significantly more homogeneous than urban populations (Fuguitt, et al. 1989). In addition, the rural population’s racial and ethnic diversity is not spread evenly across the landscape, but tends to concentrate in particular regions and locales (Cromartie, 1999). Hence, even though about one out of ten rural Americans is African American, few rural communities are 10 percent Black. Rather, Blacks tend either to comprise the majority or large mino rity of a rural population or an insignificant percentage. The same tends to be true with respect to other racial and/or ethnic populations. Much has been written to suggest that primary social interaction is more prevalent and more intense in rural areas, and that rural areas have a higher level of informal social control than is true in urban areas. However, these contentions, if ever true, are not supported by contemporary empirical evidence. Copious research has shown that urban persons are involved in regular and intense interaction with family, friends and neighbors, and that community has not been eclipsed in urban America (Hummon, 1990; Fischer, 1975). Moreover, research by Sampson (1999), and others has shown that social networks are quite effective in regulating social behavior in urban locales. Accordingly, primary social interaction and effective social control do not differentiate rural and urban areas in contemporary American society, and are not components of the sociocultural dimension of rurality. CONCLUSIONS How urbanized are postindustrial societies? How rapidly is the remaining rural population being incorporated within the urban category? How do rural people and rural areas contribute to and/or detract from the social and economic well being of highly developed nations? We contend that answering these questions accurately is contingent on the availability of theoretically informed definitions of rural and urban areas. Virtually every developed nation uses population size and density as the basis for its differentiation of urban and rural areas. Areas obtain urban status by reaching some threshold of population size and/or density, and commuting or some similar measure of routine social and/or economic interaction is used to determine whether peripheral areas are integrated with, and hence part of large/dense urban agglomerations. Rural areas are simply the residual—areas that fail to satisfy the urban threshold or lack routine interaction with core 14 areas. We join with many previous scholars in arguing that this approach is blind to the complex multidimensional nature of postindustrial rurality. We believe that the residual approach is inadequate for differentiating rural from urban populations, and for examining social, economic, political, ecological and other forms of diversity within the rural category itself. We have recommended a multidimensional framework for considering the nature of rurality in postindustrial society. Our approach includes conventional demographic measures, and adds information on the natural environment, economic structures and activities, the diversity and capacity of institutions, and a sociocultural domain. Our case is the United States but we believe that the situation we describe in the U. S. is similar to that in most other postindustrial societies. Our paper rejects the notion that rurality is simply a residual that is leftover once urban areas have been identified. The rural as residual approach clearly identifies the extremes or urbanity and rurality (Paris, France vs. Paris, Texas, for example), but it offers no guidance for examining settlements that fall in the intermediate zone between these extremes. We believe that the multidimensional approach to conceptualizing rurality is helpful not only for distinguishing urban from rural but also for understanding the variability of social and economic organization that occurs within both categories. As we have shown, the OMB’s new core-based statistical areas systems is a step toward recognizing important aspects of rural diversity and of focusing attention on the zone between what is clearly urban and clearly rural. We acknowledge that there is a venerable tradition in social science of examining the correlates of city size (Duncan, 1951; Duncan and Reiss, 1956), and that it is possible that rural-urban variability in ecological, economic, institutional and sociocultural attributes may simply be a reflection of inter area differences in population size. If this is the case then the conventional practice of using population size to define urbanity may be sufficient for delineating urban from rural. In contrast, if the other dimensions of social and economic activity are only weakly associated with population size then conventional statistical practice may be producing misleading information regarding urbanization and the conditions of life in rural and urban communities. This important question merits continued examination in future research. 15 Changes in a nation’s urban-rural balance have significance that extends beyond purely academic curiosity. Understanding how variability in spatial context affects opportunity structures and the quality of life contributes to producing flexible public programs that are sensitive to local needs. Misinformation about the social, economic and institutional organization of rural and/or urban areas, and about the size and composition of a nation’s population living and working in rural and urban places will result in misinformed policies. For example, if policy makers believe that most rural persons are farmers, agricultural policies will be seen as a reasonable response to rural poverty and income insecurity. But, of course, agricultural policies will not have much of an effect on rural poverty because most rural persons in postindustrial societies do not depend on farming for their livelihoods (Gibbs, 2001). Or, if research indicates that the size of a nation’s rural population has held constant over time, as is the case in the United States where about 55-60 million persons has been classified as rural since 1950, then significant public investments for rural development will be legitimized (at least from an equity perspective). But, if the measurement of rurality is too permissive, and the population that is genuinely rural has actually declined, then public resources may be targeted to the wrong populations. We realize that the multidimensional perspective we are promoting could not be easily or cheaply built into a national statistical system. But, regardless of its practicality our framework raises important questions about the sufficiency of the size/density conventions used throughout the developed world, and consequently about the state of knowledge on urbanization in postindustrial societies. Moreover, our contention that rurality should not be treated as an undifferentiated residual complements the social representational approach in which rurality is defined by how people imagine community life in everyday discourse. Both approaches focus attention on the complexity of contemporary rural life and its continuing distinctiveness in comparison with urban areas. 16 REFERENCES Beale, C. 1995. â€Å"Non Economic Value of Rural America. † Paper presented at the USDA experts’ conference on the value of rural America. † Washington, DC: USDA-ERS. ______. 1984. â€Å"Poughkeepsie’s Complaint or Defining Metropolitan Areas. † American Demographics 6(1): 28-31; 46-48. Berry, B. 1967. Geography of Market Centers and Retail Distribution. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Brown, D and M. Lee. 1999. Persisting Inequality Between Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan America: Implications for Theory and Policy. † Pp. 151-167 in P. Moen, D. Demster-McClain and H. Walker (eds. ) Diversity, Inequality, and Community in American Society. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. ______. G. Fuguitt, T. Heaton, and S. Waseem. 1997. â€Å"Continuities in Size of Place Preferences in the Uni ted States, 1972-1992. † Rural Sociology 62(4) : 408-428. Butler, M. and C. Beale. 1994. â€Å"Rural-Urban Continuum Codes for Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Counties, 1993. † Staff Report No. 9425. Washington, DC: USDA-ERS. Cigler, B. 993. â€Å"Meeting the Growing Challenges of Rural Local Government. † Rural Development Perspectives 9(1): 35-39. Cloke, P. and G. Edwards. 1986. â€Å"Rurality in England and Wales, 1981: A Replication of the 1971 Index. † Regional Studies 20: 289-306. _____. 1977. â€Å"An Index of Rurality for England and Wales. † Regional Studies 11: 31-46. Cook, P. and K. Mizer. 1994. â€Å"The Revised ERS County Typology. † Rural Development Research Report No. 84. Washington, DC: USDA-ERS. Cromartie, J. 1999. â€Å"Rural Minorities Are Geographically Clustered. † Rural Conditions and Trends 9(2): 14-19. Duncan, C. 1999. Worlds Apart: Why Poverty Persists in Rural America. † New Haven: Yale University Press. Duncan, O and A. Reiss. 1956. Social Characteristics of Urban and Rural Communities. New York: John Wiley and Sons. Duncan, O. 1951. â€Å"Optimum Size of Cities. † Pp. 632-645 in P. Hatt and A. Reiss (eds. ) Reader in Urban Sociology. New York: Free Press. 17 Durkehim, E. 1951. Suicide. New York: Free Press. Fischer, C. 1975. â€Å"Toward a Subcultural Theory of Urbanism. † American Journal of Sociology 80: 1319-1342. Fuguitt, G. , D. Brown, and C. Beale. 1989. Rural and Small Town America. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. Gale, F. nd D. McGranahan. 2001. â€Å"Nonmetro Areas Fall Behind in the New Economy. † Rural America 16(1): 44-51. Gibbs, R. 2001. â€Å"Nonmetro Labor Markets in an Era of Welfare Reform. † Rural America 16(3): 11-21. Giddens, A. The Constitution of Society. Cambridge: Polity Press. Halfacree, K. 1993. â€Å"Locality and Social Representa tion: Space, Discourse, and Alternative Definitions of the Rural. † Journal of Rural Studies 9(1): 23-37. Hauser, P. 1965. â€Å"Urbanization: An Overview. † Pp. 1-47 in P. Hauser and L. Schnore (eds. ) The Study of Urbanization. New York: John Wiley and Sons. Hines, F, D. Brown, and J. Zimmer. 1975. Social and Economic Characteristics of the Population in Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Counties, 1970. † Agricultural Economic Report No. 272. Washington, D. C. : USDA-ERS. Hummon, D. 1990. Common Places: Community Ideology and Identity in American Culture. Albany: SUNY Press. Kellogg Foundation. 2002. Perceptions of Rural America. Battle Creek, MI. : Kellogg Foundation. Kraybill, D. and L. Lobao. 2001. County Government Survey: Changes and Challenges in the New Millennium. Washington, DC: National Association of Counties. Lewis, M. 1991. â€Å"Elusive Societies: A Regional-Cartographical Approach to the Study of Human Relatedness. Annals of the Association of Ame rican Geographers 18(4): 605-626. Logan, J. 1996. ‘Rural America As A Symbol of American Values. † Rural Development Perspectives 12(1): 24-28. Marx, K. 1976. Capital, Vol. I. London: Penguin NLR. Morrill, R, J. Cromartie, and G. Hart. 1999. â€Å"Metropolitan, Urban, and Rural Commuting Areas: Toward a Better Depiction of the united States Settlement System. † Urban Geography 20(8): 727-748. 18 Moscovici, S. 1981. â€Å"On Social Representation. † Pp. 181-209 in J. Forgas (ed. ), Social Cognition: Perspectives on Everyday Understanding. London: Academic Press. RUPRI. 1995. 1995 National RUPRI Poll: Differential Attitudes of Rural and Urban America. † Columbia, Missouri: Rural Policy Research Institute. Rubin, J. 1969. â€Å"Function and Structure of Community: A Conceptual and Theoretical Analysis. † International Review of Community Development 21-22: 111-119. Sampson, R. , J. Morenoff, and F. Earls. 1999. â€Å"Beyond Social Capital: Spatia l Dynamics of Collective Efficacy for Children. † American Journal of Sociology 92(1): 27-63. Tisdale, H. 1942. â€Å"The Process of Urbanization. † Social Forces 20: 311-316. United Nations. 1999. World Urbanization Prospects: 1999 Revision. New York: United Nations. U. S. Office of Management and Budget. 2000. â€Å"Standards for Defining Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas. † Federal Register 65(249): 82228-82238. (http://www. whitehouse. gov/omb/fedreg/metroareas122700. pdf. ) Weber, M. 1968. Economy and Society. New York: Bedminister. Willits, F. , R. Bealer, and V. Timbers. 1990. â€Å"Popular Images of Rurality: Data From a Pennsylvania Survey. † Rural Sociology 55(4): 559-578. ______. 1967. â€Å"An Evaluation of a Composite Index of Rurality. † Rural Sociology 32(2): 165-177. Wirth, L. 1938. â€Å"Urbanization As a Way of Life. American Journal of Sociology 44(1): 129. 19 Figure 1: A Multidimensional Framework of Rurality in Postindustrial Society Indicators Rural Areas or Populations Urban Areas or Populations Are More Likely to Be: Are More Likely to Be: Dimensions of Rurality Ecological Dimension Population Size Population Density Situation in Settlement System Natural Environ ment Economic Dimension Dependence on Industrial Activities Size of Local Economy Diversity of Economic Activity Autonomy of Local Economy Institutional Dimension Local Choice Public Sector Capacity Sociocultural Dimension Beliefs/Values Population Diversity Small Low/Scattered Peripheral Rich in Natural Resources Large High/Concentrated Central Lacking Natural Resources Extractive Nondurable Manufacturing Consumer Services Small Workforce Small Establishments Undiversified Low/Dependent Producer Services Professional Services Durable Manufacturing Large Workforce Large Establishments Diversified High Narrow/Constrained Limited/Modest Wide High Conservative Homogeneous Progressive Heterogeneous 20 Table 1: Population, Land Area, Density and Percent Rural by CBSA Category, 19901 CBSA Category U. S. Metro Large Small Nonmetro Micro Non-CBSA 1 No. Counties 3,141 891 606 285 2,250 582 1,668 Population 1,000s Percent 248,709 195,930 171,606 24,323 52,780 26,699 26,081 100 79 69 10 21 11 10 Land Area (square miles) 1,000s Percent 3,536 737 488 249 2,799 625 2,174 100 21 14 7 79 18 61 Population Per Sq. Mile 70 266 351 98 19 43 12 See OMB (2000) for discussion of procedures used to delineate CBSA county types. Source: 1990 U. S. Census of Population 21 Table 2: Comparative Profile of Metro, Micro and Noncore Based Counties, U. S. , 19901 Metropolitan Large Small Nonmetropolitan Micro Noncore Characteristic Educational Attainment Pct. Less Than High School Pct. High School Pct. College Total Total 23 29 48 23 28 49 25 32 43 31 35 34 29 34 37 34 36 31 Industry of Employment (selected) Pct. Farm Pct. Manufacture Pct. Retail Pct. Services 1 13 16 29 1 13 16 30 3 15 18 25 8 18 16 21 5 18 17 22 11 17 15 19 Occupation of Employment (selected) Pct. Manager, Professional Pct. Tech. , Sales, Admin. Pct. Labor2 Earnings Per Job3 All Jobs (000) Manufacture (000) Retail (000) Services (000) 1 2 28 33 24 29 34 24 24 30 28 20 26 34 21 27 33 18 24 36 27 36 15 24 27 37 15 25 0 27 12 16 20 25 12 15 20 27 12 16 18 23 11 14 See OMB (2000) for rules used to identify county types. Skilled and unskilled 3 Nonfarm jobs Source: 1990 U. S. Census of Population 22 Table 3: Presence of Services and Facilities by County Type, 20001 Percent Provided in County Micro 29 71 62 58 91 89 41 64 38 100 45 Service or Facility Scheduled Passenger Air Service Scheduled Inter County Bus Service Local Bus Servic e Museum2 Daily Newspaper National or Regional Hotel Franchise Four Year College Library with Multiple Branches Commercial Television Station3 General Hospital4 N 1 Small Metro 50 91 95 77 95 100 82 64 68 100 22 Noncore Based 11 31 29 23 18 44 11 34 9 74 71 Ten percent sample of noncore based counties; 20% samples of small metro and micro counties. Current response rate = small metro: 41%; micro: 75%; noncore: 42%. Art, science or natural history with focus beyond local county. With local news and advertising. With at least two of four of the following services: emergency room, physical therapy, cardiac care or MRI. 2 3 4 23

Sufism Mysticism in Islamic Religion Essay

Sufism Mysticism in Islamic Religion Essay Islamic Mysticism Essay Example Islamic Mysticism Essay Example The term Islamic Mysticism can be defined as the consciousness that is in harmony with the reality. Islamic mysticism is commonly referred to as Sufism in the Islamic world (Nicholson, 1963). The origin of the term Sufism can be derived from the Arabic word Sufi, which means wool. The word sufi was applied to Muslim mystics and ascetics because they wore clothes that were made out of wool (Ahmed, 2008). Sufism also referred to as the Islamic mysticism deals the unique and special powers that are contained in the Holy Book of Qur’an. Sufism can be described as a philosophical approach that strives to portray a condition in which a person unifies with the nature and feels accordant with God. It is vital to understand that a Sufi strives to unite his personal will with God (Weismann, 2011). The term Sufism represents a new dimension in the Islamic religious way of life. Various Muslim clerics, lawyers, and theologians have viewed this particular aspect with much skepticism and suspicion in the recent past (Ahmed, 2008). Their key concern is that some of the Sufism characteristics and statements occasionally appear or feel blasphemous. The source of this skepticism is that Sufism propels a person into feeling completely close with God such that they at one point in time lose their personal identity and ultimately act as God in the process. Also importantly, the goal of Sufi is to absorb completely an individual into God through following a series of religious practices that lead to higher levels of the ecstatic state. It is every Sufi’s aspiration to elevate to such conditions in which they have a direct communication with God. The Sufi History The fundamental scope of this particular essay is to evaluate the Sufism dimension critically in the Muslim religion. The essay will assess the origin of Sufism mysticism and the spread of the Islam religion. Also importantly, the paper will confer with the Sufi teaching, making a comparison with those of Muhammad Ghazi Arabi ideas and concepts. Islamic mysticism can be traced as early as the eighth century. The three principal regions that were associated directly with the Islamic mysticism were central Asia, Mesopotamia, and North Africa. The fundamental orders that emerged from these particular areas were rifa ‘yeah, kbrawiyyah, suhrawardiyyah, and qadiriyyah. All these Sufi orders were founded in the twelfth century and spread beyond the three principal regions (Ohlander, 2010). Sufism was spread to Egypt, Syria, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, and part of the sub- Saharan region in West Africa. Later on, the Islamic mysticism was spread to Turkey and the central Asia region. It happened in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The Characteristics of Sufism or Islamic Mysticism The al-basri, al-adawiyaa, and other orders attracted various followers who shared some of the common ideas that they had learned from those particular cultures and regions. These individuals, in turn, attracted new students or disciples of their own. Through this, the ideas of absolute devotion and asceticism to God spread through the Islamic community, culture, as well as faith. One of the fundamental characteristics of the Islamic mysticism is that there is nothing more vital than the Gods Presence in the world. The Sufis saw that the life they led was a journey in which they had to seek continuously and consistently the direct relation and experience with God. Most of them fundamentally believed that the best way to see God’s experience and attract Him into one’s life was to read consistently and continuously the Koran and Hadith. In addition to that, most of them practiced praying as often as possible. In short, the best way to experience God was to live the simple and disciplined life of a staunch and devout Muslim. However, other orders of Sufis disagreed with this particular position. They felt that, despite always praying, studying the Koran, and performing other regular Muslim duties were of the essence to lead a religious life, and these particular things were not enough. The second characteristic of the Islamic mysticism is that all Muslims should seek direct and emotional experience from God. The Sufis developed fundamental ideas and rituals, which they practiced in informal study groups in homes and mosques. As early as the tenth century, most Sufi centers had been established. A Sufi master was put in charge and acted as a teacher and leader. Later on, some of the students and followers would go on to become teachers and leaders in the Sufi centers. By the end of the twelfth century, Sufi centers would be found in almost all major cities and rural towns throughout the North and West Africa regions as well as the Middle East and Central Asia regions. These centers included schools, hostels and mosques, where most students would find a place to eat and sleep. Arabi’s Teaching and Concepts Ibn Arabi is considered an enigmatic figure in the medieval Sufi culture and tradition. In addition to that, he is considered a controversial exponent of the Islamic mysticism teaching that is also referred to as the unity of being. Ibn Arabi perception and beliefs of the Sufism requires a careful analysis of the concept of Islamic mysticism. Ibn Arabi thinking and teaching area encompassed with God, the human kind and cosmos. All these dimensions are incorporated together through a set of viewpoints. Ibn Arabi work comprises of various types of upward, outward, downward and inward immensity until there is a broad comprehension of all the three realities (Knysh, 1999). Ibn Arabi words are fluid and constantly changing. His world can be defined in literal terms as imaginary. Everything that he discusses is more of an illusion or image that is vague in the eyes of a new reader. In addition to that, Ibn Arabi’s sensibility and resonances portray shamanic viewpoint. For an individual who seeks to understand the concepts and teachings of Ibn Arabi, he or she will be faced with immense mystery and miracles. In addition, they will meet shape-shifting and shamanic teachings that go back and forth across doors where the world does not touch. I will focus here on Ibn Arabi mystical ideas, concepts and teachings as discussed in his book and include the following: The Divine Reality Concept Ibn Arabi teaching is concerned with what is referred to as the divine reality and the individual experience of it. Ibn Arabi communicates to his students that an individual is a part of the system that strives to be in accordance with the Lord and that all people should translate to definitive works that glorify the Lord. The Concept of Origination of the World from Mercy Ibn Arabi teaches that the world originated from the absolute mercy and one day to mercy shall the world return. He emphasizes that any wretchedness and pain is temporary. Ibn Arabi mentions in various places that the Throne of God has four fundamental pillars and that it is held aloft by four bearers in this world and that as the world progresses they shall become eight bearers. Each of these bearers supports the throne, which is indeed the entire universe or what is defined as the kingdom of Allah. The throne bearers are known as the archangels, and some of the prophets are in human forms. The throne bearing is considered part of the honorable jobs. Ibn Arabi declares that he has been honored by Allah to be one of the supreme bearers of a pillar. The pillar he holds is the pillar of treasury and mercy. Ibn Arabi declares that Allah has made him merciful despite all his knowledge of suffering and hardship. Due to this factor, Ibn Arabi teaches that the world originated from mercy and pity the world shall return (Arberry, 1950). The Unification or Tawhid Concept Ibn Arabi teaches the basis of universality, the oneness of the self-existing one and unique essence and the one and only infinite existence. Ibn Arabi introduces the concept of tawhid. Arabi teaches that there is only one being and that that there is no other being other than the one and only being that is self-subsistent. Ibn Arabi and his followers believe that tawhid is not just a matter of understanding the meaning of the term. He emphasizes on following the act and progressing towards the fulfillment of such actions and knowledge to a state of union. Tawhid teaches individuals the concept of unique or absolute existent (Baldick, 1989). The Realms of Responsibility in Ibn Arabia’s Teaching Arabi teaches the concept of taklif that is a term that is used to denote all the total of all the religious duties and obligations that an individual has towards God. God has willingly imposed upon his servants. Throughout his teaching, Ibn Arabi refers to his fellow believers as Mukallafun, which, when translated, means those who have been burdened with the command. Arabi teaches his students that the divine command comes to an end when the believer dies or when all his veils have been lifted or have turned out to be true (Baldick, 1989). The Concept of Tuliba Arabi teaches his followers that the world is held responsible by God for his strict observance of what he refers to as his due. Arabi teaches his followers that God acts as the great governor who is responsible to his superiors for the proper behaviors, morals and well-being of all his subjects. He teaches that all the human beings are answerable to God for their actions. He also states that God plays a fundamental role in keeping all his members from committing acts that might contradict the divine law. He teaches that if any true believer of God fails to restrain himself or herself from committing illegal acts, then God shall abandon him and forfeit his position as a believer (Schimmel, 1975). Therefore, people should always seek to follow the will of God at all times. In addition, Arabi states that believers should carefully weigh their actions on a given scale of divine law in order to achieve certain aspects of divine equilibrium. Arabi teaches his followers that their lives are continuous tests of their ability to remain faithful to God. He emphasizes that the believers can always rely on the guidance of the divine law in order to achieve the salutary equilibrium between the personal dispositions and the divine commands given to the followers by God. Arabi believes that it is the duty of each follower to carry the burden of taklif (Baldick, 1989). The Concept of Haqq Arabi translates the concept of truth to his followers. He reveals that all created things have their truth and that this particular truth has a normative dimension. This particular nature makes various demands for each and expects that we should treat appropriately every created being. The creation as a whole makes what is known as a claim to each, establishing duties and obligations to each. Through this particular arena, God tests each by giving them various tasks to accomplish (Schimmel, 1975). The concept of Sufism and Islamic mysticism is at the core of the Muslim religion. However, there exists so many fundamental inconsistencies with the teachings of Ibn Arabi such that an individual may not get a clear understanding of the teaching. Arabi teaching stands in one particular tradition while at the same time strives to offer other differing perspectives of a number of other valid and invalid religious concepts. The work of Ibn Arabi does not have the unqualified approval of all Sufis. Many Sufi masters hinder their students from studying the works of Ibn Arabi for the fear of misuse and misunderstanding. Moreover, people should understand that just like any other religious teachings, Sufism strives to unite people but not cause conflicts and misunderstanding. Lastly, Sufism focuses on the heart, mind and the body, developing an infinite capacity to plumb the world consciousness and guide individuals towards self-understanding of God because most people are ignorant of the existence of God. Some do not believe that God exists, hence Sufism should be encouraged to aid people understand who God is to them.

A Functionalist View Of the Holocaust essays

A Functionalist View Of the Holocaust essays Adolf Hitler, the Chancellor of Germany (1933-45) has gone down in history as one of the most horrific mass-murderers in history. Not only did he cause the bloodiest war ever seen, but his warped racial ideology precipitated the Holocaust, the organized slaughter of over twelve million persons. At the top of his list of inferior groups were the Jews of Europe. Hitler sought to make the Reich Judenrein ( free of Jews), and did so in the most horrific fashion imaginable. There are two schools of thought on the origins of the Holocaust. The first is the intentionalist, the belief that it was the Nazis determined and unwavering attempt to physically destroy European Jews. The other is the functionalist belief, that being that the decision to slaughter the Jews was reached via a twisted road, being a result of forces outside of Germany as well as within. This paper will argue the functionalist view of the Holocaust, discussing different avenues pursued by the Germans to make their land Judenrein, and how the failure of those attempts led the Nazis to their horrific Endlsung ( Final Solution). Many people would be shocked to learn that Adolf Hitler was not always an anti-Semite. In his famous book Mein Kampf (My Struggle), which he wrote in prison in prison after the failed Beer Hall putsch of 1923. In this work, he remarks that The Jew still characterized for me by nothing but religion, and therefore on grounds of human tolerance I maintained my rejection of religious attacks. However, he did at some point, experience a complete about-face in his thinking, at one point discovering the moral stain that Jews put on society. Later in Mein Kampf he asked was there any form of filth or profligacy, particularly in cultural life, without at least one Jew involved in it? It is unknown exactly what caused Hitlers attitude of tolerance toward...

Ancestors In The African Context Religion Essay

Ancestors In The African Context Religion Essay In Africa, the world was believed to be inhabited by beings both visible and invisible. Among the visible beings were humans, animals and plants. The invisible things included deities, divinities and ancestors. The belief remains that there is an interaction between the invisible and visible worlds (2007;377). In this essay we will focus on ancestors (the â€Å"living-dead†) and its role in South Africa and the role of the Church. We will also look at reasons behind the strong presence of ancestor practices within Africa. Ancestors Wikipedia defines an ancestor as: â€Å"†¦a parent or (recursively) the parent of an ancestor (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent, and so forth)† (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancestor ,17 March 2011). In other words, an ancestor is a person who is deceased and of whom you are a descendent. An ancestor is also someone who is remote or distant. Using online resources like http://www.ancestor.co.za or http://a ncestry24.com a person can explore the history of ancestors. It’s possible with the use of medical DNA tests to reveal links to ancestors, much like it is used today to relate relatives. Some ancestors are considered to play an active role in the lives of the living and are therefore called the living-dead. In this essay we will focus solely on this â€Å"type† of ancestor group. Ancestors in the African context One of the main reasons why ancestor practices play such a prominent role in African religions is because Africa languishes under the yoke of the fear of spirits. Their views of the spirit-world is contrasted in many aspects against the New Testament teachings. In the African spirit world for example, spirits appear rather as disorganised and competitive (2007;397). This is contrasted against the highly organised view in Ephesians 6. In fact, the authorities and cosmic powers in the Pauline letters allude to the way in which supernatural beings, as it were, inc arnate themselves in structures. Whether it be a political, religious or intellectual structure. These structures are there for holding man in bondage but over which Christ has triumphed and which he now wants to employ in his service on earth. In traditional Africa however, ancestors are never referred to, nor considered, as evil spirits In these religions there is also the concept of a God, or Supreme Being, although it cannot be proved conclusively in all cases. Although there is the concept of evil forces, it’s not the same as the Christian view in the sense that there exists a single-ruler over all evil powers. In Christianity this single ruler is called Satan, among other names. In the Bible God’s angels are depicted as creatures, holy and uncorrupted spirits with a free will, and therefore not necessarily impervious to temptation and sin (1999;68). There are also scriptural indications of an angelic fall, under the leadership of Satan. Good angels are portrayed as powerful agencies for the carrying out of God’s will, there is also a well orchestrated army of evil agencies who counterfeit the activities of those good angels (1999;69). Satan is the evil one which represents the embodiment of antithesis to the will and purpose of God (1999;71). The book of Revelation is notable for its presentation of the absolute power which God exercises over the world and restriction of evil (1999;72).

Employment Law--Case Report Part2 Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Employment Law-- Report Part2 - Case Study Example In some countries (such as Canada), employment laws related to unionised workplaces are differentiated from those relating to particular individuals. In most countries however, no such distinction is made. The labour movement has been instrumental in the enacting of laws protecting labour rights in the 19th and 20th centuries." 1 "In this case the EAT held that nurses providing a telephone service from their own homes at night were working throughout the night, even though they were able to do as they wished and might be asleep between telephone calls. The employees provided emergency nursing cover for nursing homes through a booking service that was staffed by qualified nurses 24 hours a day. During the day the service was provided from various offices but at night it was provided by nurses working from their homes. The Inland Revenue NMW Compliance Team served an enforcement notice on the employer. The Employment Tribunal considered that there was essentially no difference between the day workers and the night workers, except that the night workers worked from home. The Tribunal therefore concluded that the nurses were working for the whole of their night shift. The EAT upheld the decision of the Tribunal. ... ies approached their mutual obligations and the way remuneration was calculated; and the extent to which the period during which work was performed was ascertainable. The fact that the nurses were remunerated according to a shift system illustrated the nature of the obligation, since the employer would not be expected to pay them for time when they were not working. The EAT considered that the nurses' situation was different from that of other home workers because they could not choose the periods of time during the night when they answered the telephone calls. The continuing obligation to hold themselves ready to answer the telephone throughout the night was an important element in considering which periods of time constituted work. The main issue was what was to be regarded as their "actual work". The EAT emphasised that the task is to look at all the facts of the case, rather than trying to apply a general rule or categorise the nature of the work involved." 01 Further more detailed description of type and work of National Minimum Wage Compliance Team is as Follows: "The National Minimum Wage Compliance Team is an arm of the Inland Revenue charged with the task of enforcing the minimum wage with extensive powers to bring infringing employers to the Tribunal. It has had a remarkable track record of success with well selected and well prepared cases. The result is greater compliance with the NMW, more money for workers and more tax and NI revenue for the Treasury. British Nursing Association -v- Inland Revenue ( National Minimum Wage Compliance Team ) concerned workers who operated a telephone booking service for a bank nurse agency. During the day the service was conducted from the employer's premises, but the night shift worked from their homes. The calls