Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and problems for Social sciences

The Strategy Concept - 5 Ps

1. For McDonald's, the egg comes first. False
2. Honda did not go after the biggest market. True
3. Mintzberg's five P's are all true definitions of strategy. True
4. Raises intriguing questions about intention: Perspective
5. Not one of Mintzberg's 5 P's: Perception
6. An ingrained way of perceiving the world: Perspective
7. Consistency in behavior: Pattern
8. Some sort of consciously intended course of action: Plan
9. Really just a specific maneuver: Ploy
10. A product or market: Position
11. The most difficult to change: Perspective
12. The most powerful: Perspective
13. Focused on direct competition: Ploy
14. The achievement of consistency: Pattern
15. Encourages us to look at the survival of the fittest: Position
16. How leaders try to establish direction for their organizations:

Cont 4: New Movement Shift from Faith to Science

It started questioning what’s happening around him/her. Nature went from being feared and respected to something to be tamed and subdued. During the period of conquest, modern anthropology was birthed. Michel Eyquem put forward a very important aspect at the basis of modern anthropology, which is relativism (written by looking at cannibalism). It is the belief that there is no absolute truth, only the truth that a particular individual or culture happens to believe.

Second Shock: Raw Materials to Semi-Finished Products

The industrial system experienced a revolution in each country, leading to more factories and increased human labor. This enabled another idea of evolutionism to appear (Darwin)... Continue reading "The Evolution of Anthropology: From Faith to Science" »

Impact of Factories on Society

The establishment of factories was a pivotal development during the Industrial Revolution, profoundly transforming daily life and society. This document examines the most significant impacts of the factory system, focusing on both the economic shifts it brought about and the severe conditions endured by child laborers.

Economic Shifts and Urbanization

Factories played a crucial role in the burgeoning economy. Prior to their advent, economies were predominantly agrarian. The rise of factories spurred mass migration to cities for various reasons. Initially, factories offered abundant job opportunities with relatively good wages, leading to increased wealth generation. However, as factory efficiency improved and automation... Continue reading "Industrial Revolution: Factories, Economy, and Child Labor" »

The Agrarian Revolution

The agrarian revolution started in England in the first half of the 18th century. There were changes in land property innovations in respect to farming techniques.

• There was a concentration of land plots (complots), in which common land became private property, meant the loss of rights of the peasant. As a consequence, part of the rural population had to migrate to the cities, where they looked for work in the factories, becoming part of the incipient proletariat.

The Technical Revolution

The technical revolution occurred particularly in two areas:

• Energy: The invention of the steam engine by Watt was the motor of change. The steam engine could be applied to the textile industry and to transport, of the steam train and the

The Constant Role of Language Learning

Throughout the history of education, learning a foreign language or languages has been a constant component. Of course, many people feel that this is really an unnecessary part of education for everyone, but this is not a point of view that I share.

Arguments Against Mandatory Language Learning

Opponents of learning a foreign language might argue that most people do not travel that often outside their own country. In addition to this, out of all the countries of the world, comparatively few share the same language. Therefore, learning a foreign language will only be useful for the very limited time that one spends in a country where this language is used. For some people, the language might never be used... Continue reading "The Enduring Value of Learning Languages in Education" »

Why the Upsurge in Globalization?

1. Increased Customer Demands and Access

• Demand for more value for money
• Preference for global brands over local brands
• Access to global distributors

2. Increased Technological Innovation

Improved ICT facilitates access to markets, partners, and global networks.

3. Increased Power of Emerging Markets

4. Increased Globalization of Financial Markets

5. Shared R&D and Global Sourcing

• Companies spread their research across multiple countries.
• Outsourcing is more of a rule than an exception.

6. Evolving Government Trade Policies

Governments try to attract foreign investments.

Consequences of Globalization

Pros

• Free Trade Objective: No borders, fewer tariffs, lower prices, cost reduction, open markets.
• More Employment: New jobs,

Escalation and Revolutionary Measures

When Parisian militants expelled the Girondins, they “regenerated” their own sectional assemblies by purging local moderates. Radicals, including Jacques-René Hébert and Pierre-Gaspard Chaumette, subsequently took control of the Paris Commune. On September 5, 1793, they organized a mass demonstration, urging the National Convention to ensure affordable food prices and to implement terror as a reality.

In response, the Convention, in conjunction with the Committee of Public Safety, took decisive actions to control the popular movement. They proclaimed the necessity of terror against the Revolution's enemies, addressed economic crimes, and decreed a system known as the Maximum (price and wage control)... Continue reading "The Reign of Terror: French Revolution's Era of Radical Control" »

Social Transformations in the Modern Age

Before this period, people commonly ate with their hands. In the 16th century, Catherine de' Medici introduced the fashion of eating with a fork in the French court, but this custom took a long time to spread widely.

Hygiene and Health Beliefs

Bathing or washing was often not considered advisable because it was believed that water spread disease. Some people also considered washing impure from a religious perspective. Instead, they rubbed themselves with a piece of cloth or only washed their clothes. Bad smells were neutralized with perfumes.

The Role of Women and Infant Mortality

In the Modern Age, women were often considered less important than men. Their main function was to bear many children, despite... Continue reading "Renaissance Transformations: Social, Cultural, and Scientific Shifts" »

The Five Classical Approaches to Management Theory

1. Systematic Management

Systematic Management focused on building specific procedures and processes to ensure coordinated efforts. Key aspects included:

1. Defining duties and responsibilities.
2. Standardizing the techniques of doing things.
3. Carefully gathering, handling, and analyzing information.
4. Implementing production controls to aid internal coordination and communication.

Critique: This approach was limited because it focused only on the internal environment and processes, with no regard for the human element (people) or the external environment.

2. Scientific Management (Frederick Taylor)

Frederick Taylor, often called the father of Scientific Management, used the scientific method to analyze work... Continue reading "Foundational Management Approaches: Systematic, Scientific, and Administrative Theories" »

Formalism in Language Description

Defining Formalism in Linguistics

Formalism in language description is a tendency to create formal descriptions of language, formalizing its units and levels, and explicitly presenting its general and abstract organization as a code or system.

Form vs. Function in Linguistic Analysis

• In a formalist approach, form is opposed to function, which is understood as the ultimate goal of units and levels of language, serving as an instrument of communication.
• The structuralist and generativist paradigms are both more formalist than functional.
• Pragmatics is more functionalist, as its paradigm is more interested in communication and usage.
• For Generative Grammar (GG), function does not constrain form. Its main focus is not