Functionalist, conflict and the integrationist theories of education Essay

The functionalist theory looks more into the ways that universal education serves the needs of the society. On the other hand, the conflict theory focuses on the function of education as perpetuating inequality on the social aspect of life and boosting the power of those who are dominant within the society. The interactionist’s theory limits its analysis on education to what happens directly in a classroom setup, as it looks into the teacher’s expectation from the learner and how it affects the learner’s performance, attitude and perception (Rappa 1976). The relationship of each theory to education Functionalist theory; According to this theory, the latent role of education is that it brings people together. In other words it enhances socialization within the society among the different people from diverse cultures, languages, color, age and interests. Through the interactions, people get to learn from one another through the exchange of ideas and views regarding different areas of discussion. The other role of education is that it plays the role of passing down core values and social control within the society. Read more:Â  Functionalist Perspective on Social Institutions The conflict theory experts further insist on getting rid of modern exams, as according to them all tests contain a knowledge base which is always culturally sensitive. On the other hand, the Conflict theorists look at education not as a social benefit or opportunity, but as a powerful means of maintaining power structures and creating a docile work force for capitalism. The interactionists’ theory is relative to education in the sense that a teacher has more influence on the students within a classroom set up; therefore the performance of a student is majorly based on the teacher judgment and effort (Brubacher 1962) The perspective of each theory The functionalists see education as a means of transmitting or perpetuating the core educational values from one generation to another. Additionally, they consider education as an important factor in separating the learners putting the basis of this distinction as merit. The conflict theorists on the other hand see the educational system as perpetuating the status quo by dulling the lower classes into being obedient workers to the higher classes. The interactionists on the other hand, focus on the influence of the expectations of the teacher on the learner’s performance (Rappa 1976) Expectations of education from each theory The functionalists expect that universal education should serve the society by unifying the people within a society, and helping in transmitting the core values of the society. The conflict theorists expect that education will maintain inequality within the society, by preserving the power of those who are dominating the society. The interactionists’ expectations are that the teacher’s anticipation from the students should have an impact on their performance, regardless of its positive or negative nature (Rappa 1976). Comparison The functionalist and conflict theorists concur on that education is a tool to be used for sorting out the different learners. Further, the functionalists argue that schools sort students based on merit, while the conflict theorists argue that schools sort out students along class and tribal lines (Schon, 1983). The conflict theory puts more focus on competition between groups, while the functionalist theorists focus on balance and stability within a social system. Additionally, conflict theorists focus on society as made up of social relations characterized by inequality and change. Functionalism perceives the society as a complex phenomenon or system of interrelated parts working together to maintain the desired stability (Brubacher 1962) Analysis of personal selected philosophy and philosopher Aristotle; His philosophy is education for producing quality citizens who are virtuous. He further put consideration on human nature, habit and reason as the vital forces to be expected from and through education. For instance, he considered repetition to be a key tool towards the development of good habits; from the teacher’s systematic guidance of the different students (Schon, 1983). Aristotle put more weight on balancing the theoretical and practical aspects of the subjects taught. Additionally, he argues that the explicitly important subjects include reading, writing and mathematics. Based on the discussion, it can thus be considered that Aristotle’s thinking fits into the ideas of the functionalist theory (Rappa 1976). Conclusion Having discussed the different educational theories, it can be argued that these educational theoretical models are paramount as far as education is concerned, as they bring about an understanding of how different people perceive education. Further, it is through these differences that different people come together and reason towards reaching a solid conclusion, which contributes to an advancement in the field of education because trough discussions new ideas are established. Additionally, these theories help the members of society realize diversity in their thinking and perception of things. References Brubacher, S. (1962). Modem Philosophies of Education. New York: Mc Graw Hill Book Co. Pg 114 Rappa, S. (1976). Education in a Free Society: An American History. Philadelphia: David McKay Company Inc. pp 59 Schon, D. (1983). The reflective practitioner. New York: Basic Books.

A Rainy Day

It was raining. I and mother were coming back from our forest campsite as the plan was all washed away in the rain water. It was around 10 at night. We both were all alone. The rain got heavier, the wipers of the car faster. The streets were empty. Our car fleeted through the logged water and the wheels splashed the water all around the bushes nearby. Everything was quiet. I tried to turn the radio on but the signal was not caught in the dense forest. Mom checked the mobile. Not only the battery was low but there was no coverage. Dad was out of station. He was not at home from a month or more. Mom drove really fast. She was worried about old granny at home. Suddenly the phone rang. It was an unknown number. I picked up the phone. â€Å"Hello. Hello! Are you there? † The phone was cut. We didn’t wonder who was there. We thought that the phone must be cut because of low coverage. It was ignored. We headed on. After a mile or two, amidst the foggy ambiance we saw a diminished structure. It was not clear. I thought it was just a foggy illustration. As the car got a bit near, it seemed to be an injured man. As fast as a jaguar, the car had lost its control. Mom couldn’t apply brakes. It looked as if an accident is going to take place. The car stopped making a dreadful noise. We looked back there was no one. Mom got off the car. Looked around. What was it? Was it a zombie? Or really a man? We were truly scared. My heart was beating like anything. We reached home-safe and sound. What happened that night nobody knows. We didn’t share this incident with anyone. It was forgotten and considered only a rainy day.

How smart phone change or life(draw back and advantage) Research Paper

How smart phone change or life(draw back and advantage) - Research Paper Example The dominant perspective is that smart phones are killing personal computing, citing the tremendous growth in usage, mobile technology and capability. According to a report in The Guardian, smartphones are already poised to be the dominant device where people connect to the Internet, hold data, run programs and organize their lives - functions that have been what the PCs are made to do. What is important from these developments is that smartphones are changing the way people live, including the way humans perceive themselves and what it actually means to be human in the modern times and in the near future. Here, smartphones are showing what the author P.G. Wodehouse called as â€Å"the frozen limit† or that which breaks the barriers set by constraints and limitations in our society and the world. What are Smartphones Motorola has been credited to have introduced the first truly mobile hand help phone. A team from this organization led by Martin Cooper developed the first hand set in 1973 and it was huge, weighing a staggering two kilograms (Teixeira, 2010). Back then, the cost of manufacturing a mobile costs at least $1 million as opposed to the cost of making the latest iPhone today, which is only estimated to be $191 (Associated Press 2013). In 1978, the analog cellular system was introduced and the most advanced of this technology was build in 1983, with a cost of $100 million and took almost a decade to reach consumers (Associated Press, 2012). The phones in this technology were sold for almost $4,000 each and it only has an average of about 30-minute talk time (Associated Press 2012). By 1990s, the second generation 2G phone was introduced. Around this time, the SMS - a new way of mobile communication was introduced. This began the rapid development of mobile phones as handsets began featuring capabilities for rich media content. This is now the time when mobile phones became feature phones, then, finally, smart phones. As usage became widespread, p eople start to demand more mobile data and this led to the third generation (3G) mobile technology, which was typified by reliable data speeds. New media capabilities such as video streaming became possible. Recently, the world was introduced to the wonders of 4G mobile technology, which features more incredible data speed than 3G technology (Thomas 2013). The development in data speed has been complemented by the rapid evolution of mobile phone hardware. From the first hand set back in 1973 to the current iPhone and Android phones, the changes have been revolutionary especially in terms of size, display, user interface, appearance, and battery life. The implications of these developments are that today people can communicate while on the go in numerous ways: through telephony, video, VOIP, SMS, and so on. The advances in mobile technology also magnify the tremendous benefits of the Internet. And this is further highlighted by the fact that mobile phone users have grown. Last year, the UN has reported that there are now six billion mobile phone subscribers all over the world (BBC, 2012). Impact on Human Lives There are many studies that provide empirical evidence showing how telephony has favorable effects on a country’s economic growth. For example, Unwin (2009) documented the relationship between economic growth

Case Study Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5500 words

Case Study Analysis - Essay Example The company has a web site which provides an overview of the business but it does not encompass any e-commerce related activity. Seeing the importance of e-business in today’s business world, the top management of Panfore electronics, Inc has decided to establish a new web based business or ecommerce platform that will be helpful in managing the business dealings and will offer better business market status. This new dimension of e-commerce for the Panfore electronics, Inc will bring better competitive advantages. 1- INTRODUCTION Many aspects of the way corporations or individuals perform their operations and compete in the current period will be determined by means of huge network of electronic networks that was emerged as the information thruway but now it is known as the Internet (Turban, Leidner, McLean, & Wetherbe, 2005). Basically, the internet is a large network of networks that is used by the millions of corporations, government agencies, educational institutions, and individuals to carry out their everyday work (Shelly, Cashman, & Vermaat, 2005, pp. 11-12) and (Norton, 2001). The rapid growth of information technology (internet, e-commerce, information systems etc) during last few years has greatly influenced the corporations. Additionally, at the present, e-commerce has become one of the most significant features of the Internet which has appeared in the recent times. Normally, electronic commerce (e-commerce) refers to the implementation of business over the internet with the help of PCs those are connected to each other in the form of a network. In more simple words, ecommerce is the process of buying and selling (products, goods or services) using a digital infrastructure (Hendershot, 2011) and (EcommerceEducation, 2007). The basic purpose of e-business is to help establish a business that be executed over the Internet, or using Internet systems and technologies to enhance the prosperity or production of a company. On the other hand, this te rm can be used to explain some type of electronic business: specifically to express any company that makes use of a computer system. This practice is rather old-fashioned, though, in the majority cases e-business denotes wholly to Internet businesses. In more simple words, e-business refers to the process of offering and selling products, goods and services using web. Thus, corporations can use e-business to reach at a great deal broader customer base as compared to some customary retail shops with everlasting substantial sites could always anticipate. In this scenario, the role of e-business is acknowledged as ecommerce; however both ideas are used identically. There is another fact about e-business, that is, it can be used to get access to the across the border products or supplies for domestic production. In this scenario, e-business is acknowledged as e-Procurement. In this way the corporations can reduce their expenses radically. Moreover, a lot of e-businesses that work withou t having an electronic business platform at the present make use of e-procurement as a main method to effectively follow and run their purchases (McGuigan, 2011) and (Ray, 2004). Panfore electronics is among one of the major suppliers of power management solutions, such as eco-reactive chargers for notebooks, laptop computers and mobile electronic devices (for example PDAs, mobile phones, digital cameras, and so on.). Additionally, Panfore

Personalization in Adult Social Care Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Personalization in Adult Social Care - Essay Example This paper shall also reflect on the skills needed in the personalization of social work skills, including the laws applicable in practice and for the service user. Finally, this paper shall consider what theorists say about the personalization of social work practice. These points shall be discussed in the hope of coming up with a clear and academic understanding of the subject matter. In a general sense, personalization can be defined as â€Å"tailoring pages to individual users’ characteristics or preferences† (Search CRM, 2001). In these cases, personalization is about the client or about the person and about meeting his specific needs not based on generally applicable practices. Social work practice has traditionally been based on what a person needs as assessed by social workers and other people involved in the social works services. After such assessment is conducted, the social workers would now tell the clients what services and type of support they would recei ve, who from, where, and when (Squibb, 2009, p. 1). Personalisation in the social work context and based on the personalization agenda now refers to a change in the system where a person needing social care and support would get to decide the type of support he will receive, who from, where, and when (Squibb, 2009, p. 1). It is also referred to as self-directed support. It is not the social workers who will get to decide what services a person would need, but it is the client himself who would choose and fashion such services to suit his life and his needs. Personalisation â€Å"enables the individual alone, or in groups, to find the right solutions for them and to participate in the delivery of service. From being a recipient of services, citizens can become actively involved in selecting and shaping the services they receive†.

Letters of Appreciation to Caregivers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Letters of Appreciation to Caregivers - Essay Example This letter should have been something I wrote months ago. But hopefully it can serve instead as a small indication of the gratitude so many feel but have not had opportunity to express to you. I have kept a close eye on events in New Orleans. I was particularly moved to hear how you tried to speak with and reassure people still trapped in the floodwater. So much of the media tends to focus on negative elements in general - especially in the event of a natural disaster - that virtuous acts are frequently overlooked. That small act of kindness is, I'm sure, just the tip of the iceberg of long hours and sleepless nights you must have spent through the course of the last year. Please ignore any slander the press may say. The most notable commendation of your efforts has been your re-election - coinciding with the advent of this year's hurricane season. Whatever anyone else may say, the people of New Orleans trust you to have their best interests at heart - and remember, you were re-elected by those who have returned to New Orleans and know most directly all that you have done for them. And although, I am not currently there, It warms my heart to know that someone is taking good care of my home so that I might one day return.

None Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

None - Research Paper Example Interest in the coffee developed, with neighborhood restaurants and hotels asking to be supplied too. While the first bistro is no more possessed by Green Mountain Coffee, the organization now keeps up its base camp in Waterbury, Vermont, where it has a 93,000 square foot 8,500 m2 broiling and dissemination office. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters opened up to the world in September 1993 and is recorded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the stock image GMCR. In October 2002, Green Mountain consented to an arrangement to offer reasonable exchange coffee under the Newmans Own Organics mark. In 2005, the organization procured Keurig, incorporated, a producer of single container fermenting frameworks (Gasparro. 2015, p. 5). The organization was positioned number one in The Best Corporate Citizens in 2006 and 2007. On November 13, 2009, Green Mountain declared the procurement of the wholesale division of Canadian coffee supplier Timothy World Coffees for $160 million US. On September 14, 2010, Green Mountain Coffee purchased a second Canadian wholesaler, Quebec based coffee administrations organization Van Houtte, for $920 million. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters then sold the Filter new US coffee administration parcel of Van Houttes business to Aramark on August, 29th 2011 for $140 million. On September 28, 2010, the organizations stock rose to an untouched high, yet the organization uncovered after the businesses shut that the Securities an d Exchange Commission has asked for archives and information from Green Mountain Coffee Roasters identified with an investigation into how it represents an income. The organization reported that U.S. controllers had asked into some of Green Mountains bookkeeping works for, including income distinguished, and the vast stock with a solitary merchant, M. Square. Most scholars accept that the organization practices are

Simplified Model of Consumer Behaivor Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Simplified Model of Consumer Behaivor - Essay Example Under the decision making stage, the consumer behavior may be significantly influenced by a range of psychological factors including motivation, perception, learning, beliefs and attitudes. Those factors play a central role in the process of need recognition. Once a consumer identifies his actual needs, he will begin pre-purchase research so as to gather maximum information about available products in the required category. In addition, he may search for alternatives. In the output phase, the consumer makes a trial purchase and may or may not repeat the purchase based on the post trail purchase evaluation. Recently I purchased a Nokia N8 mobile phone. Certainly, a number of socio-cultural factors and Nokia’s promotional practices have influenced me to take this purchase decision. Firstly, I came to notice a Facebook post depicting extensive features of this cell phone. While I went through the post in detail, I could realize that most of the product features were really useful to my everyday life. When I researched further, most of the online mobile phone review forums strongly recommended me to order for a Nokia N8. In addition, reputed social status that I would obtain from purchasing this costly model also persuaded me to go on with the purchase decision. ... My attitudes and beliefs toward the Nokia brand greatly influenced me to make this purchase decision. Since Nokia is world’s leading mobile manufacturer, I strongly believed that they had adequate expertise and experience to deliver high quality products. Moreover, I thought that Nokia N8 with 12 mega pixel camera would assist me to put off my plan for digital camera purchase. Trade Dress â€Å"Trade dress refers to total image or overall impression created by product’s configuration or packaging, interior and exterior decor, architecture and other promotional materials† (Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett and Dunner). In the United States, a product’s trade dress is considered as a form of intellectual property and hence it is legally protected by the Lanham Act. In the country, registrable trade dress elements may include features like â€Å"size, shape, color, texture, graphics, and packaging† (Finnegan, et al). Evidently, the size, shape, and color of a product are major factors that distinguishes the particular product from other similarly products. A product’s texture indicates the font, style, and other characteristics of writing that are used to label name and other details of the product on its cover. The element of graphics plays a notable role in creating the product’s visual appearance and thereby attracting consumer attention. In addition, packaging also contributes to a product’s external look even though the primary intention of this feature is to protect the product from damages. Coca Cola’s 3-dimensional Coke product has a valuable trade dress. The shape and color of this 3-dimensional Coke product

Facing the Hard Facts of Life Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Facing the Hard Facts of Life - Essay Example Born in a well-to-do urban business class family, life had always been a cakewalk for me. A cakewalk, till the day the â€Å"hard facts† of life were thrust on me! I remember having a carefree childhood, cushioned in the warm, caring love of my parents and elder sister. Being the younger child, and a chubby one with dimples to go with my naturally good looks, I was the apple of everyone’s eye. Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, teachers, seniors, friends, and later girlfriends, everyone simply loved me. Life was just beautiful. In school, I was good in studies, sports and extra curricular activities. Dad’s business was thriving and we were used to the best in life. We lived in a palatial house, went to the best school in town, dined in fine restaurants on weekends with dad’s friends and had a chauffeur driven limousine to drop my sister and me to school every day. Once in a couple of years, we would have a foreign holiday. What more could one ask for in life? At least, that is what I thought when I entered my teens.

Metabical Case Essay Example for Free

Metabical Case Essay The weight loss drug vailable in three four-week packages. The four week packaging was at the specific point where the consumer did not have to spend too much money to buy it, yet got invested in the product enough that they would come back to buy the second and third portions Marketing Research According to the US survey 34% overweight 25. % obese 4. 7% severely obese Health care providers were positive about the prospects of weight loss drugs. Responses of individuals: indicates 12% would immediately opt for such a solution. Focus group: Need of Prescription-strength drug with FDA approval clinical results o backup weight loss results. Decision making The process of decision making for the consumers would follow the hierarchy of effects and would include the following steps Users involved in word of outh publicity First prescription drug to be approved by the FDA specifically for weight loss of overweight individuals credibility First prescription drug for BMI of 25-30 It worked on low dose formulation hence stress on liver and heart was lesser Side effects were less severe and conditional Behavioral modifications and healthier eating habits Results were seen on an average in 12 weeks More comprehensive support plan The above advantage could be used for positioning in the following ways: Premium pricing as it is the only FDA approved prescription drug for weight loss. Strikingly different from dietary supplements for weight loss Segmentation Targeting multi cluster segmentation Demographic Income levels High Income group, since they are ready to pay out of their pockets. Gender- Females are more weight conscious. Age: 35+ Education: college plus Psychographic : Based on, Physical activity, Food preferences, Nutrition, Self image, Overall health l want to be healthier I want to fit into my skinny Jeans Geographic : US is the largest geographic segment where 65% of the entire adult population is over-weight, obese or severely obese . Targeting customers with a BMI of 25-30 Positioning Strategy Positioning as a ?Life saving drug Those 20 extra pounds can kill you. Being overweight leads to heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes Its time to get Healthy- Metabical can help. Positioning as a ?Motivational Therapeutic drug Discover a happier and a more attractive you Increases confidence Boosts self- esteem Marketing Communication Strategy Electronic media TV Radio Social media Print media NEWS Magazines Viral media DTC and prescriber advertising ?Free lunch pre launch program Metabical Challenge Biggest looser contest Medical education events Thank you

The Washington And Post Washington Consensus

The Washington And Post Washington Consensus Abstract The present term paper is an attempt to explore and put forth the theoretical exposition of the two major development paradigms the market-oriented and the state-cum-market centric development models, plausibly portrayed in terms of what is often phrased as the Washington Consensus and the Post-Washington Consensus. These discourses must not be only analysed keeping in mind the benefits and costs of the implementing the policy prescriptions advocated by these two sets of development paradigms in different economies over the years, but at the same time its long-term effects on the individual economies, be at the centre or periphery, and the repercussion effects of any alteration in economic variables in one country on the other as a consequence of openness of economies, while pursuing the universal policies, granted for the fact that today we believe the world no less than a global village where the governance concept has modified radically over the last a few decades at the behest o f the key Bretton Woods institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The development discourse must also account for the individual capability and capacity of countries to absorb the economic policies in the development agenda of individual countries in question, as put forth by these institutions. Naturally enough, the failure of the sound theoretical programs would invite criticisms, at least because it has worked unevenly in almost every country trying to employ these policies and unfortunately there are no dearth of evidences from all corners of the globe to prove that the universal policy design uniformly for all countries, in order to bring about meaningful economic development globally has actually failed or at least been partly successful. The overall idea is to make an insight into the Washington Consensus and the Post-Washington Consensus and evaluating to what extent any scrutiny for these policies could be hence put forward. Introduction The economic development discourse of nations had been under constant influence of the economic ideology prevailing in particular nations at any point in time. The economic history of nations itself suggests that how we have witnessed the changing development paradigms have evolved after the Second World War in 1944-45, primarily seen as the deliberate developmental assistance to the war-affected nations. The focus used to be mainly the need to correct market failure through command and control mechanism through various state-oriented developmental strategies and economic programmes like the import substitution industrialisation policy for the promotion of indigenous industries for better comparative advantage in production and exchange, financial repression etc. But the decade of 70s precisely late 70s, apparently proved the defects and malfunctioning of the centrally planned economies. The two major oil shocks, first in 1973 and the next in 1979 put the greatest challenge before th e policy makers and development economists, which completely destabilised the global economy along with many other politico-economic developments around the world. This would be clear in the following excerpts. The 1980s were a hell of a decade. They began with the reverberations of the second OPEC oil shock. They ended with the fall of the Berlin wall. In between, we had the Reagan-Thatcher-Kohl economic policy era in North America and Europe, the Volcker interest rate shock, the Latin American debt crisis, collapse in Africa, the start of rapid growth in China and in India, and on and on. Oh, and by the way, in 1989 John Williamson coined the term Washington Consensus (Williamson, 1990:3) It became a questionable affair to challenge the efficacy of how far government policies can actually benefit or harm the economic environment. This tendency of statist model inevitably led to emergence of an alternative theory of development fundamentally rests on the assumptions of the neo-classical model of a free-market enterprise economy. The Washington Consensus per se is primarily affiliated to this school of economic thought, which states for the minimal role of the state in carrying out economic activity. That is governments should limit their interferences in the economy, only to maintain macroeconomic stability and to secure law and order and provision of public goods. In other words, the Washington Consensus is the market-centered strategy designed to counter the ill-effects of excessive state intervention in the economy, under the aegis of World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which claimed to provide a universal mechanism for the efficient allocation of economic resources and promoter of economic growth world wide. However, the validity of Washington Consensus was under strict scrutiny for not fulfilling its much hyped economic policies and soon criticised for its failure. At this preliminary level, it is important to introduce the other parallel but pole opposite of Washington Consensus, that is, the emergence of the Post-Washington Consensus in mid-1990s, which advocates for a mixed-blend of interventionist and market strategy for better economic development of nations, granted a few conditions of the Washington Consensus like the trade liberalization to be continued along with deliberate state intervention in the economic affairs. The Pros and Cons of the Washington Consensus The Washington Consensus, sometimes synonymously used as the set of neo-liberal economic policies or a universal policy package was originally designed by the key Bretton Woods institutions like World Bank and IMF, to restore economic growth and to correct the balance of payments crises or the debt crises and hyper-inflation kind of situation facing the Latin American countries, such as Argentina and Mexico. The term Washington Consensus was coined and formulated by John Williamson in 1989 at the Peterson Institute of International Economics in the US. According to Nobel Laureate in Economics in the year 2001, Joseph E. Stiglitz, The Washington Consensus policies, however, were based on a simple model of market economy, the competitive equilibrium model, in which Adam Smiths invisible hand works, and works perfectly. Because in this model, there is no need for the government that is, free, unfettered, liberal markets work perfectly the Washington Consensus policies are sometimes referred to as neo-liberal based on market fundamentalism, a resuscitation of the laissez-faire policies that were popular in some circles in the nineteenth century (Stiglitz, 2002: 74). This neo-liberal orthodoxy prevailed over the entire global economy from the beginning of the late 1970s to the mid of 1990s irrespective of the nature and extent of economic growth parameters in different countries. The set of policy prescription was purely of market-oriented model of economic growth. This policy package eventually effectuated in what is better known as the Structural Adjustment Policy (SAP) of the World Bank and the IMF to help countries get rid of debt-crises aftermath of the oil shock of 1979 from the sharp decrease in the primary commodities prices and increasing interest rates, the World Bank and the IMF put forward conditionalities in order to receive credits or financial assistance from these institutions basically to the governments of the developing countries. Therefore, stable macroeconomic policies, outward orientation, and free-market capitalism became the central instruments of the Washington Consensus. In other words, the three big ideas underlying these reforms as Williamson asserts are: The macroeconomic discipline, a market economy, and openness to the world. The first three reforms are, so far as I am aware, widely accepted among economists (Williamson, 2000: 251). Williamson also provided a more specific list of ten policy areas or tenets of that could be used to characterize the consensus as listed below: (1) fiscal discipline, (2) redirection of public expenditure toward the areas of education, health, and infrastructure, (3) tax reform, (4) interest-rate liberalization, (5) competitive exchange rates, (6) trade liberalization, (7) liberalization of inflows of foreign direct investment, (8) privatization, (9) deregulation, and (10) secure property rights (Williamson 1990). We can say that all these reforms fundamentally rest on the premises of the neo-classical paradigm that supports the laizzez-faire doctrine as panacea for all economic problems in a capitalist economy. Therefore, the whole concern was through following these policy package, the markets could be freely allowed to take its own course in order to set the prices right, which comes from the essence of free trade as a major component of the Washington Consensus. The widespread and often excessive state intervention was being seen as the making the economy weak and therefore it was contended that imperfect markets are better than imperfect states. Giving the logical corollary to prove this point, Lal (1983: 63-64) at different occasions asserted that The cost of government failures arising from the rent-seeking and price distortions associated with excessive protectionism would always outweigh market failures associated mostly with imperfect competition an under-provision of public goods. The Washington Consensus was thus increasingly based on the understanding that imperfect markets are always superior to imperfect states. Some scholars like Colclough and Manor (2000: 263) summarised the resurgence of the neo-liberal thinking in development discourse in following words. The emerging neoliberal orthodoxy advocated a new development model based on the primacy of individualism, market liberalism, outward-orientation, and state contraction. The organising principle of neo-liberal political economy was the notion of a minimal state, whose primary functions were to secure law and order, ensure macroeconomic stability and provide the necessary physical infrastructure. Further, according to Colclough and Manor (2000: 263) Trade liberalisation and state contraction were necessary tools to curb the excessive powers enjoyed by politicians and bureaucrats, a process which was regarded as crucial for rapid and equitable economic growth. Originally the policy reforms as envisaged in the Washington Consensus was designed and intended to cover all the Latin American countries, later it was applied to almost all countries and was intentionally penetrated into the economic policy agenda of Third World Countries. Regarding the supremacy of the Washington Consensus on all the earlier prevalent economic thoughts, different opinions came into the picture. Say for instance, much before the arrival of such an economic ideological discourse, economists like J. M. Keynes (1936), who is considered to be a pioneer of the welfare state, believed that a policy of fiscal discipline would neither avoid the current account crisis, nor it can lead to a fully employed economy where all the factors of production and economic resources are optimally employed. So J. M. Keynes basically challenged the classical axioms for the smooth functioning of the economy. Since the classical axioms are not very close to the real world phenomena of perfe ctly competitive markets, the essence of the Washington Consensus way of looking at the economy could be better described in the words of Keynes in the following lines: It happens not to be those of the economic society in which we actually live; with the result that its teaching is misleading and disastrous if we attempt to apply it to the facts of experience (Keynes, 1936:30). Infact, it is felt that the last of the ten policy reforms, that is, securing property rights for efficient production in the economy however, cannot be refuted easily. If the state is capable to ensure that the production ownership should go in the hands of those who value it more, who has also the capability to augment resources, further there is no harm in transferring property rights to develop right entrepreneurship in the economy. What is important here is to note that the Washington Consensus was treated like a shock therapy for the countries suffering from debt-crises of any sporadic shock like the one oil shock of 1979, because it was assumed that trade liberalisation and privatisation will take care of the economic disturbances affecting the normal working of the economic system. However, the experiences of the last 20 years or so have shown that the reforms envisioned through the Washington Consensus have actually led to disaster in many countries. This understanding of the neo-liberal orthodoxy could be better explained in the following lines of John Williamson. I wrote a background paper in which I listed 10 policy reforms that I argued almost everyone in Washington thought were needed in Latin America as of that date. I labeled this reform agenda the Washington Consensus, never dreaming that I was coining a term that would become a war cry in ideological debates for more than a decade. Indeed, I thought the ideas I was laying out were consensual, which is why I gave them the label I did (Williamson, 1990). The evidences we have clearly indicate that Washington Consensus as a universal policy package became a soft target of severe criticisms in recent years primarily from the countries at the periphery. The consistent episodes of criticisms labeled against the Washington Consensus pave the way for the future insights in the economic development discourse. Whats wrong with the Washington Consensus A wide range of criticisms had been put forward as a result of the practical problems faced by the countries pursuing the reforms as recommended by the Washington Consensus since the year of its introduction. One of the criticisms which is generally labelled against the Washington Consensus is regarding the fundamental assumptions of the neo-classical model of free market ideology. In this connection, Stiglitz (2002:73-74) maintains that: Behind the free market ideology there is a model, often attributed to Adam Smith, which argues that market forces the profit motive drives the economy to efficient outcomes as if by an invisible hand. It turns out that these conditions are highly restrictive. Ironically occurring precisely during the period of relentless pursuit of the Washington Consensus have shown that whenever information is imperfect and markets incomplete, which is to say always, and especially in developing countries, then the invisible hand works most imperfectly. Significantly, there are desirable government interventions which, in principle, can improve upon the efficiency of the market. So in this way the basic premises on which the Washington Consensus rests itself became questionable in the academia. Furthermore, Stiglitz (2002: 74) went on to criticise the theoretical validity of the neo-classical model in his following words: Even if Adam Smiths invisible hand theory were relevant for advanced industrialised countries, the required conditions are not satisfied in developing countries. The market system requires clearly established property rights and the courts to enforce them; but these often these are absent in developing countries. The market system requires competition and perfect information. But competition is limited and information is far from perfect and well-functioning competitive markets cannot be established overnight. The theory says that an efficient market economy requires that all of the assumption be satisfied. In some cases, reforms in one area, without accompanying reforms in others may actually make matters worse. This is issue of sequencing. Ideology ignores this matters; it says simply move as quickly to a market economy as you can. But economic theory and history show how disastrous it can be to ignore sequencing. Apart from the theoretical loopholes in overall framework of the Washington Consensus, many other empirical evidences can be put forth for its failures. These are listed below: The fundamental claim of the Washington Consensus that full-scale liberalisation, at all costs, is associated with superior economic performance was doubtful. For instance, it has been maintained that the highly successful story of the Newly Industrialised Countries (NICs) in East Asia such as Japan and Taiwan better known as the East Asian miracle, gave a reason for the resurgence of the neo-liberal policies. These NICs, no doubt, performed appreciably not only in making rapid and high economic growth but also progressed in terms of key social indicators paved a strong supporting pillar for the neo-liberal paradigm constituting the Washington Consensus. Many believed that these NICs are very close to the norms of the free-market economy. However, this story is partly true. What is significant at this point is to know that the institutions pertaining to industrialization and export growth were performing robustly well and these were the factors which were at the heart of success of t hese countries. Onis (1998: 197-216) has tried to give the valid argument in following words: Strong growth and diversification of industrial output and exports could not be accounted for simply for the logic of the free market: interventionist strategies and an active industrial policy, dictated by considerations relating to longer-term competitiveness and dynamic comparative advantage, constituted the central elements contributing their success. If we see the world economic growth rate, it had infact strikingly lowered, and become more unstable during the neo-liberal era. Not only this, the degree of inequality in the global economy appeared to have increased during this period of neo-liberal economic restricting (UNCTAD 1997). Even the gap between the developed and the developing countries had widened and there had been increased divergence within the Third World. For example, as compare to the hyper-growth in Asian NICs, the Latin American countries in 1980s and sub-Saharan Africa lagged far behind over the same period of time (Rock, 1993: 1787-1801). Moreover, excluding China, there is an increase of poor people and the poverty rate had declined from 28.5 percent to 25 percent (Fischer, 2003:8). According to Stiglitz (2002:76), There is a more fundamental criticism of the IMF/Washington Consensus approach: It does not take acknowledge that development requires a transformation of society. Even it completely ignored the fairness concept. A few more instances could be put forward to support the argument that the collapse of Washington Consensus was inevitable such as the success of Argentina in the first few years of accepting the policies and later how its economy collapsed. The case of Turkey is another example where the Washington Consensus policies totally failed. Exposure of many middle income countries to the vagaries of financial globalization actually proved costly for them because opening of their capital accounts before taking into account the macroeconomic stability fell in the trap of the World Bank and the IMF. These high volatile capital flows and frequent financial crises, because of unregulated financial markets led to repercussion effect of one country could be easily felt in another, which we have thoroughly witnessed in the Asian Crisis of 1997 and the Russian Crisis of 1998, which had myriad socio-economic-politico impacts on different economies. Last but not the least in the series of criticisms that had been labelled against the popular programmes of the Washington Consensus is of course a paradoxical situation when the Washington Consensus talks about minimising the bureaucratic inefficiency, rent-seeking, and other forms corruption and pervasive state failure, it had come to our observation that it had actually happened the other way round these all social and economic evils had actually aggravated during the neo-liberal regime. Keeping these issues in mind, during the mid-1990s there emerged a new and thought provoking policy focus of the key Bretton Woods institutions away from the hard-core neo-liberalism to a new synthesis of states and markets as emerging Post- Washington Consensus. The Post-Washington Consensus: Is it inevitable? The Post-Washington Consensus goes further in detailing the nature of the failures of the Washington consensus (Stiglitz, 1998:17). Joseph E. Stiglitz who is supposed to provide the intellectual backbone to the emerging Post-Washington Consensus maintains that there was lack of understanding between the policies put forth by Washington Consensus and the contextual framework of developing countries. In the following words, Stiglitz tries to state his position: There was a failure in understanding economic structures within developing countries, in focusing on too narrow a set of objectives, and on too limited a set of instruments. For instance, markets by themselves do not produce efficient outcomes when technology is changing or when there is learning about markets; such dynamic processes are at the heart of development; and there are important externalities in such dynamic processes, giving rise to an important role for government. The successful East Asian countries recognized this role; the Washington consensus policies did not (Stiglitz, 1998:17-18). Stiglitz and Greenwald (2003) further believe that the Post-Washington Consensus recognizes that There is a role for a market; the question is to what extent the neoliberals recognize that there is a role for the state, beyond the minimal role of enforcing contracts and property rights. There is no theoretical underpinning to believe that in early stages of development, markets by themselves will lead to efficient outcomes. Moreover, the Asian crisis of 1997 proved to be an important turning point for the rethinking about the Washington Consensus for the reason that for the first time in its history, the IMF was confronted with serious criticisms from all over. It was criticised not only for failing to predict the crisis but also to make the situation worse aftermath the crisis. To describe it more clearly in words of Stanley Fischer, The Asian Crisis was also important in terms in producing a serious rift between the two Bretton Woods institutions again for the first time for many decades. Following the rethinking process that has occurred, the IMF now tends to pay far more attention to regulatory reforms, notably in the context of the banking and financial system, and recognises far more than on the past the importance of strong institutions and good governance (Fischer, 2002:385). Stiglitz (2002:155) further added that the IMF until the Asian Crisis used to be crititicised by the countries at the periphery or the Third World countries, but now the criticisms were also put forward by the countries at the centre or the developed countries. He maintains that: With the onset of the Asian Crisis, the IMF especially became the object of serious criticism from the centre within the key Bretton Woods institutions themselves (Stiglitz, 2002:155-156). One of the key ingredients of the Post-Washington Consensus is the recognition that states have a great role to play in the economic development process. However, the Post-Washington Consensus favours the market liberalisation, the twin concepts of states and markets are considered as of complementing rather than substituting in nature. Greater role for the state institutions has been prescribed for better and efficient working of the economy. There is a clear indication about the regulation of financial markets in order to avoid any uncertainty arising out global flows of capital between countries. And the most important, it is thought that certain areas like human development, equality and to alleviate poverty, states can replace the market failures in accomplishing these issues. The question remains how to improve the state efficiency or to avoid state failure. In this regard, Stiglitz (2001:17) highlights that: The effectiveness of states can be improved by using market-like mechanisms. An interesting symmetry is established by noting that states are important for the effective functioning of markets but also that markets or market-like mechanisms are important for the effective functioning of states. Conclusion While analyzing the whole set of ideas and instruments put forward by each of these different line of thinking about the development discourse it is certain that the policies advocated by them may work in some countries and may not in others. What is important is the debate over the sufficiency conditions put forth for the pervasive development of countries primarily the Third World countries. So far nothing appreciable has been achieved since the introduction of either Washington or the Post-Washington Consensus in developing countries. What is apparent here is the fact that all policies whether its neo-liberal or structuralist in from and nature has not benefitted much from the development assistance programmes initiated by the World Bank and the IMF Post-Second World War period. While the role of the state cannot be undermined in economic progress of any country, it is also important to scrutinise its position and capability in the global scenario marked by excessive dominance of the global governance agenda before it. The irresistible wave of globalisation to a large extent undermines the possible intervention in formulating policies at least at the domestic levels for the countries. The concern in the developing countries is how to bring growth with equity. The balanced approach of the Post-Washington Consensus between states and markets along with reforming the governing institutions is far more impressible strategy than that of believing the automatic working of the economy exposed to liberalisation of markets and openness of economy. At least the gains and losses can be mutually appropriated between these two institutions of markets and states. Relying heavily on the free trade and the consequent trickle-down effect to happen automatically has become a far fetched dream for majority of the countries in the larger paradigm of global governance with varied socio, economic and political implications. What is sure is the trade-off between states and markets would to a large extent provide a new outlook for the development discourse for individual countries presuming institutions of governance are at their best of their capacity, capability and efficiency fronts.

Reality and Illusion in Richard Bach’s Illusions Essay -- Richard Bach

Questioning Reality in Richard Bach’s Illusions The message of Richard Bach’s Illusions is based on the concept that the things we interpret in the world as reality are actually illusions. This is made evident to one of the main characters, Richard, through his interactions with his newly found friend, Donald Shimoda. Donald Shimoda is a â€Å"messiah†, and he has gifts that he uses to help mankind. A quote that Richard reads is â€Å"Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: If you’re alive, it isn’t† (121). During the entire story, Don proves this quote to be true. Donald works to share his gifts and carry out his mission on earth. Richard and Don are barnstormers. They live their lives flying from town to town, landing in farm fields, and giving flights to local people for three dollars. Richard meets Don when Richard sees Donald’s plane parked in a field as he is passing by the nearby town. Richard is very curious about this plane because it is extremely unusual to encounter other barnstormers. He also feels lonely at times, and he wants to see if the other barnstormer can keep him company. When Richard lands his airplane, he meets Don. He talks with Don for several moments and, despite noticing some unusual quirks about Don, does not think that Don is too out-of the ordinary. Then he notices that Don’s plane is immaculate. It does not have any dirt or oil or any other evidence that it has been flown before. When Richard asks Don about this, Don tells him that there are things that Richard does not know. Later in the story, however, Richard learns more about Don and why he seems to be mysterious. Richard has a dream that reveals to him why Donald seems so mysterious. He sees a man a... ...ir problems or uncertainties. When people realize that they are capable of knowing the truth, they are able to overcome the illusions and to help others break their own boundaries. Donald Shimoda is aware of his mission on earth. He knows that he has the power to help all of mankind, and he works to help any person who he encounters who is in need. He works hard to do so throughout his entire life and until his death. When Donald dies, his work on earth really is complete. He teaches Richard to look past illusions and to see the reality behind them. Richard comes to realize that he too can perform miracles. In learning and sharing the gifts that Donald offered to the world, Richard is able to help mankind. Donald does finish his mission when he dies. However, his friend Richard has the ability to carry out the same mission and to help others as Donald did.

The Singing School: An American Tradition :: essays research papers

The Singing School: An American Tradition   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Singing School was an institution that was uniquely American. it was established to serve a dual purpose: the desire to create music and the need for sociability. Generations were taught to read and sing music by itinerant singing masters, who developed characteristic methods and materials of instruction, and distinctive performance practices. Through this institution, many people were given the opportunity to participate in music, either as a singer, a teacher, or as a composer. The Singing School foreshadowed the development of church choirs and musical societies.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Early settlers in this country brought with them their native English music, both sacred and secular. They made use of various Psalters compiled in Europe. It was not until 1640, however, that the Puritan ministers in America made their own translation of the psalms. The Bay Psalm Book was the first book printed in British North America and was widely used. The most distinguishing feature of this book was its rhymed and metered English poetry. This allowed a few tunes, having the same rhythms as the poetry, to be used as melodies for many psalms. In addition, the text employed the vernacular, and consequently promoted memorization. The ninth edition of the Bay Psalm Book, published in 1698, was the first edition published with tunes. This edition had printed the letters F-S-L-M, representing the solmization syllables fa, sol, la, and mi, under the notes. This indicates that there was a familiarity with and an interest in music instruction as applied to psalmody.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It was not until the early 18th century, however, that as a direct result of agitation by ministers for a reformation in congregational singing, arguments were advanced promoting regular singing and the eventual establishment of singing schools.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The singing school grew out of the employment by the churches in New England of regular singing. Records indicate that the first singing school was probably established in Boston, the most advanced town in New England, around 1720.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The singing school gradually spread throughout New England during the next twenty-five years. Throughout the eighteenth century, the scope and span of the singing schools continued to grow. The advent of the 19th century saw singing schools established from Maine to Pennsylvania.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first singing schools were church-oriented, due to the face that the original purpose of the schools was to improve congregational singing. After selecting a date (usually two to four weeks during the winter or between planting and harvesting of crops), a teacher was secured (in most cases, the local school master or an itinerant singing teacher), and location was established (either in the local school house or some other public building).

Qualifying Saunt’s “Great Transformation” with a Broader Perspective of Indigenous History :: Essays Papers

Qualifying Saunt’s â€Å"Great Transformation† with a Broader Perspective of Indigenous History As the new American nation emerged in 1783, freshly baptized in the blood of war and swollen with patriotic pride, the transformative ideology of materialistic monism slipped soundly into the heart of the Creek Nation in the Deep South and never let go. Saunt tells us this was a novel cultural metamorphosis. Subverted indigenous ethnocide, over 50 years in the making, now found with the advent of the war sweeping economic accommodations in capitalistic competition. Western vehicles of individualistic profit and cultural prestige freely flourished among the southern Indians; the African slave trade boomed among the Creeks, young warriors bartered for rum instead of sustainable grain, and mestizos acquired valuable connections through war efforts and bribes. Yet while this change pervaded Creek society with unprecedented vigor, what evidence exists to prove this shift the most noteworthy in Indian life and memory? While the cultural wounds of these few notable decades are carefully and proudly recorded, and are indeed transformative times, they exist as a mere moment over the course of four centuries in the living testimony of Western cultures transforming and shaping Native American History. However, I contend that Saunt’s â€Å"great transformation† of Creek materialism in Revolutionary America is undeniably significant, especially in his claims linking prestigious mestizos, like Colbert and McGiverlly, to dual forces of ethnocide and environmental destruction in their co-optation with European authorities. Tumultuous and aggressive, colonialism in the late 18 th century promoted a new ideology within the very heart of Deep South. The vital inner structures of clan ties and community tasks were essentially eradicated with the â€Å"great transformation† of Creek culture. Ancient traditions of clan and the martial ties that once â€Å"created a dense network of interrelationships throughout the deep South† were lost in the Revolutionary war politics (Saunt 21). Factionalized and dissident peoples stumbled along in the absence of common compassion. Where trade and marriage were once â€Å"indissoluble† and essential to establishing formidable allies and friends, individualistic pursuits of material gain and power assumed the helm. Even existing agreements with European colonies which previously â€Å"demanded that allies exchange gifts rather than commodities† became secreted, deceptive exchanges of poor quality skins for rum (43). Saunt is correct is assessing the broad ripple effect of this possession plague: European trade monopoly forcibly ripped apart the fabric of Indian society. Rum was more tempting than household goods required by women in caring for their clan, and when young warriors exchanged heaps of ill-prepared skins for an intoxicating drink, they had to resort to plundering necessary clan goods from surrounding communities.

Fascism in Venice

Ryan Johnson December 13, 2012 HIST 3400 Soper Venetian Fascism in the Shadow of Wars The qualities that compose fascism are debatable and endless. What is really important about fascism is how it attempted to succeed by influencing not only Venetian, but also Italian culture and society from the beginning of World War I until the end of World War II. Benito Mussolini when speaking on fascism stated that, â€Å"†¦For Fascism, the growth of empire, that is to say the expansion of the nation, is essential manifestation of vitality, and its opposite a sign of decadence†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Enciclopedia Italiana, Handout).The success with which fascism had in expanding the nation is an argument for another time, but the ways they attempted to maintain the â€Å"essential manifestation of vitality† and challenged the boundaries of cultural society in hopes of success are well worth mentioning. Fascism did not have many cultural victories and this could be one aspect of an argument as to why it was a failure. However, one of fascisms greatest â€Å"cultural victories† in Italy can be viewed when studying the floating city of Venice and events that accompanied it.Fascism, as a whole, attempted to conquer in more ways than just obtaining land by means of military victory or tangible items as tokens of their success. As stated above by Mussolini himself, if fascism was indeed to succeed, it needed to support the growth of the Italian nation. The Fascist Party needed to not only influence the Italian people through propaganda, but also gain the support of the Italian nation while challenging the cultural and societal boundaries.In the years between World War I and World War II, fascism made attempting strides to try and create an aesthetic visual for the party, mainly by intervening in society and culture. All moves made by the fascists with regards to culture appeared to be solely instrumental and functional to gaining one hundred percent support of the po pulation in favor of the dictatorship. The effects of World War I, World War II, and fascism can still be seen today in Venetian and Italian culture. World War I was a horrendous time for Italian soldiers fighting in the trenches.Venice was very close to the battle lines on the border with Austria-Hungary, just North of where they lie. Venetians could not only feel the constant threat from the Austrians, but also had a daily reminder when they stepped outside. Venice closed their port, for fear of attack, but they also had to deal with the fact that, â€Å"†¦barrage balloons could be seen†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . Barrage balloons had long steel cables attached to them and were mainly used to deter low-flying enemy aircraft from reaching or bombing an area.These defense balloons were used during World War I and II. For the short distance that Venice was from the battlefront they were fairly lucky in how little devastation took place during the war. During World War I Venice was always ex tremely nervous about their next-door neighbors, the Austrians, of attacking the maritime port, but the city never fell to enemy attack. There were very few bombing that occurred in Venice, and the deaths that did take place mainly happened during the â€Å"black-out† hours.These â€Å"black-out† hours would occur in hopes of minimizing the amount of light escaping outside. By doing this, the Venetians were making it very difficult for any sort of aerial attack to bomb their city, port, or boats off of visibility alone. These were the only significant negative effects even worth mentioning that occurred for the city of Venice during World War I. World War II was similar to World War I with regards to the significantly negative effects it had on the city of Venice, there were just about none.As opposed to the devastation that occurred throughout much of Italy, Venice got away pretty nicely. Yet again, the â€Å"blackout† hours when people would fall into the cana l or injure themselves in other ways in the dark were one of the primary contributors to the death toll. It has been stated that Venice remained essentially untouched throughout the duration of the Second World War. However the minute losses that did occur, with exception of Germans capturing Jews, can be summed up in a few sentences. One or two windows were broken; a stray shell hit the tower of San Nicolo del Mendicoli as the Germans were retrateing; and the Tiepolo friezes in the Palazzo Labia were damaged when an ammunition ship exploded in the harbour. † Although the people of Venice saw little to none of the intense fighting, they were not as lucky to maintain an unconquered status during World War II as they had in World War I. For Germany, September 1943 was the beginning of a fairly short control over northern and central Italy that included Venice.Although Germany occupied Venice until April 28, 1945, very few deaths occurred to the Venetian citizens while in the cit y. â€Å"In the city itself a campaign of sabotage was followed by reprisals in which five men were shot in Cannaregio on July 8, 1944; some thirty partisans were executed later that month, followed on August 3 by seven hostages in Riva dell’Impero, called subsequently, in their memory, Riva dei Sette Martiri. † The most extensive part of the death toll came to the Jewish population in Venice with the presence of the Germans in 1943.The Venetians had historically tolerated the Jewish population up until about 1938 with the enactment of new racial laws. After the racial laws, persecution got so bad for the Jewish population, that they were laid off from their job, and grotesque signs were placed on businesses stating â€Å"Dogs and Jews Prohibited†. It only got worse from there after the Germans arrived in 1943, and the open persecution, capture, and killing of Jews from 1943 to 1945 took place.It has been estimated that approximately two hundred Jews were hunted down and sent to concentration camps in the mainland, with some even being deported to Auschwitz. The Germans were so thorough in their cause to vaporize the Jewish population from the earth, they would even go to hospitals to retrieve mentally ill Jewish patients and send them to an early grave. It has been recorded that only eight of the two hundred Venetian Jews captured by the Germans were ever returned home again.The German’s vicious attempts to eliminate the Jewish population and the atrocities that ensued will never be forgotten. With that being said, Venice got out of not only World War I, but also World War II with an extremely minimal death count compared to the millions of lives that were lost as a consequence of the two wars. World War I and II both impacted Venice, but in a fairly nominal way when viewing the status of many other parts of Italy and the world. However, there were two very influential fascist characters that emerge as a product of World War I and are present throughout World War II.These two men are noteworthy fascist figures with one that called Venice a home for a period of his life and another that was a true Venetian. The first man, Gabriele D’Annunzio, assumed a position, as a fascist political figure in Venice, and he was well known even before fascism was created. D’Annunzio was not a native-born Venetian, but was fairly well known in Italy as a â€Å"poet, novelist, playwright, politician (right- and left-wing in rapid succession), and daring First World War pilot who led sorties against Vienna itself†.It was during World War I when D’Annunzio decided to establish his residence in Venice. When he was not contributing to the fighting he could be found at his home, that was located off of the Grand Canal, called Casetta delle Rose. D’Annunzio continues to have a presence in the fascist politics all the way until its eventual demise, but was most famous for his irredentist taking of Fi ume, which is now present-day Rijeka in Croatia. He was angry that Fiume was not ceded to Italy by the Austrians at the end of World War I with the signing of the peace Treaty of Saint-Germain.D’Annunzio ruled over Fiume as a dictator until December of 1921, and it has been said that Benito Mussolini even â€Å"viewed D’Annunzio with a mixture of admiration and envy†¦Ã¢â‚¬  D’Annunzio was a fascist political figure that did not necessarily contribute much to the city of Venice as much as he was solely a constant reminder of the fascist presence. The second man that emerged from the outcome of World War I was an entrepreneurial man by the name of Giuseppe Volpi. Unlike D’Annunzio, Volpi was a native-born Venetian.He was born in Venice in 1877, and before he was thirty years old he had established the Societa Adriatica di Elettricita in the Palazzo Balbi on the Grand Canal, â€Å"which soon had a monopoly on the supply of electricity in the Veneto a nd Emilia-Romagna. † Along with his northeastern electricity monopoly, Volpi was constantly finding new ways to improve and advance Venetian industry. He would dabble in other industries that included petro-chemicals, iron, and shipping that significantly contributed to advancing Venetian industry, more specifically in Porto Marghera.Volpi’s success on top of his founding of Societa Adriatica di Elettricita was substantial; it has been recorded that he was a, â€Å"president or vice-president of twenty other companies, as a member of the boards of forty-six more, and as a major shareholder in over fifty. † During World War I Volpi was the head of a Committee for Industrial Mobilization where his project of turning the old Venetian fortress of Marghera into an industrial port and factory capable area. Volpi was quite successful in his project in Marghera.The area, prior to Volpi’s presence, only contained a thousand inhabitants in 1921. The growth of Marghe ra after Volpi’s intervening was exponential. â€Å"†¦Marghera had grown by 1940 to a town containing fifteen thousand workers in a hundred industries, and by 1967 to one of thirty-five thousand workers in 211 industries. † Volpi’s tremendous success as an entrepreneur and financial guru in northeast Italy, without fail, caught the attention of the Italian government. Volpi was awarded for his successes with the title and position as Governor of Tripoli.Soon after being deemed Governor, and already a standing member of the Fascist party, Volpi was put into office as Mussolini’s Minister of Finance in 1925. It has been stated that Volpi, â€Å"became one of the most successful administrators of the regime. † Three years after Volpi was positioned as Minister of Finance he resigned after disagreeing heavily with Mussolini on the â€Å"artificially high level at which the leader insisted on fixing the exchange rates, and never having become one of his close circle, he concentrated again on Venice and industry. Volpi was always a very influential fascist figure in Venice, but his greatest contribution to the success of the influence of the Fascist party and its cultural production came when he assumed the position as, â€Å"President of the reconstituted Esposizione Biennale Internazionale d’Arte in 1932. † This Exhibition, more commonly known as the Biennale, originated as nothing more than an Exhibition with strange occurrences such as a man’s face that was stuck in rigor mortis known as Supremo Convegno.In 1934, the Fascist government declared the once bi-annual event was to start taking place annually. The success of the Biennale was consistently growing after it was introduced as an annual event. In 1934, there were 41,000 people that showed up, in 1935, 38,500 people, in 1936, 50,000 attended, and in 1937, there was a staggering 60,000 participants. The Biennale by the year 1948 was considered to be one of the most important events in the entire world of art, and the Exhibition got to that point with the help of Giuseppe Volpi as he active President for twelve years. The international respect and publicity the Biennale gained each year was consistently growing. Countries would set up pavilions at the Biennale and present among them even during the Biennale’s early stages were Belgium, Britain, Germany, Hungary, France, Russia, Sweden, Spain, Czechoslovakia, and the United States. Even though the Biennale is an Exhibition where artwork is displayed, it has a sense of friendly competition between countries for who can produce some of the best artwork.During one Biennale exhibition there were not only paintings by nearly all of the best Italian artists under Italy’s pavilion, but also works â€Å"by Picasso and Klee, by Chagall and Kokoschka. The French staged exhibitions by Braque, Rouault, and Maillol, the Belgians by Delvaux and Ensor, the British by Henry Moo re. † The participation of artists as prestigious as these helped in securing the validity and existence of the Biennale as a true appreciation for art. There was even an exhibition for Impressionist artist and that same year there were ninety-eight Impressionist pieces of art.The Biennale was an exhibition that appears to be more of a friendly competition and get together between major countries of the world. All of the countries that have previously been at one another’s throats in prior wars all come together to participate in the Biennale that takes places in Venice, Italy. The Biennale brings together a magnitude of countries, despite their differences, and allows them to partake in a mutually pleasing and intellectually stimulating event. The importance of the Biennale is much greater than the sole criticizing of artistic works and abilities.The event brings together a variety of countries with extremely varying viewpoints and opinions to meet communally and peace fully. The Biennale during the presence of fascism and in attempting to be a useful tool of fascism held a much more substantial meaning than multiple countries coming together peacefully. It allowed for Italy to feel unified even if it was on the smallest cultural level of coming together for an art festival, and it also gave the Fascist party yet another opportunity to use propaganda towards the masses to their advantage.In 1932, Giuseppe Volpi was deemed the President of the Biennale and Mussolini was in his tenth year of his regime when, â€Å"a good number of prizes went to pictures of marching Blackshirts, dynamic cranes and planes, idealized Italian landscapes, and women and children saluting Il Duce. † Just prior to this particular Biennale of 1932, Volpi was an active member of the Fascist party, and was most recently the Minister of Finance for Mussolini and the Fascist party. Then again, in 1935 during the film festival aspect of the Biennale, prizes were awarded t o Nazi, Soviet, and Palestinian-Zionist films.Volpi’s ability and willingness to give awards to fascist based artwork, regardless of actual artistic value, was no coincidence. Marla Stone describes Fascist Italy as presenting a paradox with regards to the cultural politics of the authoritarian and totalitarian regimes that reigned in Europe in the time period between World War I and World War II. She states that since, â€Å"No one style, school, or monument summarizes the patronage practices of the Fascist state. Rather, the official culture of Italian Fascism is best defined by its diversities, contradictions, and ambiguities. The culture that was present during fascism closely mirrors the culture of the United States, but with different ingredients. The United States is considered a melting pot with all of the diversities that are represented in the country. Fascist Italy creates its own form of a melting pot, but not with an abundance of ethnic diversity. The â€Å"offi cial culture†, if there was a true â€Å"official culture†, of Fascist Italy was composed of the differences between the Italian people geographically, politically, hierarchically, socially, and of course culturally.Therefore terms that have become popular when speaking of Fascist culture such as â€Å"Fascist realism† and â€Å"Mussolini modern† are irrelevant and inconceivable. Since the beginning of Mussolini’s regime he had always strived to obtain and maintain a mutually beneficial relationship with those who encompass the art world. Under Mussolini’s dictatorship artist were free from censorship as long as they were not openly and actively anti-Fascist, and in return, as a sign of their gratitude, many artists and architects would accept the Fascist regime’s patronage.Certain artists who defied Mussolini’s regime would end up with repercussions. Such is the case with a Venetian abstract painter, Armando Pizzinato, who was an avid member of the Italian Communist Party, and from September 1943 until the end of the war he fought with the partisans and did jail time for certain anti-Fascist activities. However, Pizzinato represents a small portion of the artistic community that was anti-Fascist. The majority of artists cooperated with the Fascist regime, and â€Å"the association between aret and the state was one of mutual recognition and legitimation. Mussolini and his mutually beneficial policies with the art world began to create a more central form of cultural production. Marla Stone refers to the outcome of the newly centralized form of cultural production as a cultural policy of â€Å"aesthetic pluralism – the Mussolini dictatorship’s practice of accepting and supporting a range of aesthetics†. This now meant that there was a magnitude of â€Å"imageries and aesthetic formulations† that represented Fascism and â€Å"were a part of its cultural system, it imaginary and its aesthetic universe. The Fascist party was in a constant search to uncover a single Fascist rhetorical-aesthetic vision while at the same time combining â€Å"modern and avant-garde aesthetics, emerging mass cultural forms, and a discourse of natural culture to produce, during the 1930s, many dynamic and vibrant products. † The products such as exhibitions, fairs, and expositions, that the government produced and were heavily supported by the Fascist party, generated a considerable audience from the Italian population. More specifically speaking, the Biennale was a direct product of the cultural productivity that was being pursued by the Fascist party.Victoria De Grazia argues that the Fascist party was never able to obtain a singular aesthetic vision and identity due to its incapability to mobilize the masses, limits due to the party’s interests, and â€Å"†¦its appropriation of preexisting cultural forms and institutions, which precluded the formation of â €Å"total† Fascist identities†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å" The introduction of Exhibitions such as the Biennale were a key component in Fascism’s political aesthetic vision considering the primary goal was to encompass the cultural sphere of Fascist Italy. In doing so, the Fascist party was hoping to unify Italy under a national culture.Exhibitions had multiple purposes to them while aiming to obtain a unified national culture: â€Å"(1) they were primary sites of state patronage; (2) they opened the social boundaries of culture to the mobilized masses; (3) they offered a location for the appropriation of the cultural identities and cultural capital of preexisting elites; and (4) they courted the participation of cultural producers. † The Venetian Biennale and other similar Exhibitions were, for the most part, good for everyone that attended regardless of party affiliation, social status, or job title.World War I, World War II, and the fascism that accompanies them individuall y had a lasting impact on the country of Italy. Venice, in particular, was not prone to mass amounts of devastation as a consequence of the World Wars. The Fascist presence in Venice was very strong even though the actions of the majority of its supporters were minimal. This problem of mobilizing the masses was not just a problem of Fascism’s in Venice, but throughout Italy. The best attempt Fascism had at completely unifying a Fascist Italian culture was through its support of state patronage in the Exhibitions such as the Biennale in Venice.The political differences, ambiguities, and varying class rank made it virtually impossible to create a single Italian culture under Fascism. However, the ability of the Fascist party to participate in state patronage and allow aesthetic pluralism allowed artists to maintain their careers and not have to alter their stylistic ways. The Fascist party did not succeed in creating their own cultural identity under Fascism, but they did allow for a hybrid-like culture to develop. Fascism did many terrible things for the country of Italy, but allowing the aesthetic pluralism to flourish aided unifying the country under one culture.Lucky for Italians it did not create a unified Fascist culture, but rather a hybrid culture unified due to the intervention of Fascism and the varying differences among the Italian people. Bibliography Ackroyd, Peter. Venice: Pure City. New York: Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 2009. Print. Garrett, Martin. Venice: A Cultural and Literary Companion. New York: Interlink, 2001. Print. Hibbert, Christopher. Venice: The Biography of a City. New York: W. W. Norton, 1989. Print. Reich, Jacqueline, and Piero Garofalo. Re-viewing Fascism: Italian Cinema, 1922-1943. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 2002. Print. Stone, Marla.The Patron State: Culture & Politics in Fascist Italy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1998. Print. ————————————â₠¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€œ [ 1 ]. Peter Ackroyd, Venice: Pure City (New York: Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 2009), 324 [ 2 ]. Christopher Hibbert, Venice: The Biography of a City (New York: W. W. Norton, 1989), 320 [ 3 ]. Martin Garrett, Venice: A Cultural and Literary Companion (New York: Interlink, 2001), 48 [ 4 ]. Martin Garrett, Venice: A Cultural and Literary Companion (New York: Interlink, 2001), 48 [ 5 ]. Martin Garrett, Venice: A Cultural and Literary Companion (New York: Interlink, 2001), 144 [ 6 ].Peter Ackroyd, Venice: Pure City (New York: Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 2009), 324 [ 7 ]. Peter Ackroyd, Venice: Pure City (New York: Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 2009), 324 [ 8 ]. Peter Ackroyd, Venice: Pure City (New York: Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 2009), 324 [ 9 ]. Martin Garrett, Venice: A Cultural and Literary Companion (New York: Interlink, 2001), 144 [ 10 ]. Martin Garrett, Venice: A Cultural and Literary Companion (New York: Interlink, 2001), 46 [ 11 ]. Martin Garrett, Venice: A Cultural an d Literary Companion (New York: Interlink, 2001), 46 [ 12 ].Martin Garrett, Venice: A Cultural and Literary Companion (New York: Interlink, 2001), 46 [ 13 ]. Martin Garrett, Venice: A Cultural and Literary Companion (New York: Interlink, 2001), 46 [ 14 ]. Martin Garrett, Venice: A Cultural and Literary Companion (New York: Interlink, 2001), 46 [ 15 ]. Christopher Hibbert, Venice: The Biography of a City (New York: W. W. Norton, 1989), 316 [ 16 ]. Martin Garrett, Venice: A Cultural and Literary Companion (New York: Interlink, 2001), 46 [ 17 ]. Martin Garrett, Venice: A Cultural and Literary Companion (New York: Interlink, 2001), 46 [ 18 ].Christopher Hibbert, Venice: The Biography of a City (New York: W. W. Norton, 1989), 316-317 [ 19 ]. Christopher Hibbert, Venice: The Biography of a City (New York: W. W. Norton, 1989), 317 [ 20 ]. Christopher Hibbert, Venice: The Biography of a City (New York: W. W. Norton, 1989), 317 [ 21 ]. Christopher Hibbert, Venice: The Biography of a City (Ne w York: W. W. Norton, 1989), 317 [ 22 ]. Christopher Hibbert, Venice: The Biography of a City (New York: W. W. Norton, 1989), 317 [ 23 ]. Christopher Hibbert, Venice: The Biography of a City (New York: W. W. Norton, 1989), 317 [ 24 ].Martin Garrett, Venice: A Cultural and Literary Companion (New York: Interlink, 2001), 46 [ 25 ]. Christopher Hibbert, Venice: The Biography of a City (New York: W. W. Norton, 1989), 317 [ 26 ]. Christopher Hibbert, Venice: The Biography of a City (New York: W. W. Norton, 1989), 317 [ 27 ]. Jacqueline Reich and Piero Garofalo, Re-viewing Fascism: Italian Cinema, 1922-1943 (Bloomington: Indiana UP, 2002), 294 [ 28 ]. Jacqueline Reich and Piero Garofalo, Re-viewing Fascism: Italian Cinema, 1922-1943 (Bloomington: Indiana UP, 2002), 294 [ 29 ]. Christopher Hibbert, Venice: The Biography of a City (New York: W. W. Norton, 1989), 318 [ 30 ].Christopher Hibbert, Venice: The Biography of a City (New York: W. W. Norton, 1989), 318 [ 31 ]. Christopher Hibbert, V enice: The Biography of a City (New York: W. W. Norton, 1989), 319 [ 32 ]. Christopher Hibbert, Venice: The Biography of a City (New York: W. W. Norton, 1989), 319 [ 33 ]. Martin Garrett, Venice: A Cultural and Literary Companion (New York: Interlink, 2001), 47 [ 34 ]. Marla Stone, The Patron State: Culture and Politics in Fascist Italy (Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1998), 5 [ 35 ]. Marla Stone, The Patron State: Culture and Politics in Fascist Italy (Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1998), 4 [ 36 ].Marla Stone, The Patron State: Culture and Politics in Fascist Italy (Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1998), 4 [ 37 ]. Marla Stone, The Patron State: Culture and Politics in Fascist Italy (Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1998), 4 [ 38 ]. Marla Stone, The Patron State: Culture and Politics in Fascist Italy (Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1998), 4 [ 39 ]. Marla Stone, The Patron State: Culture and Politics in Fascist Italy (Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1998), 5 [ 40 ]. Marla Stone, The Patron State: C ulture and Politics in Fascist Italy (Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1998), 4 [ 41 ].Marla Stone, The Patron State: Culture and Politics in Fascist Italy (Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1998), 5 [ 42 ]. Marla Stone, The Patron State: Culture and Politics in Fascist Italy (Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1998), 6 [ 43 ]. Marla Stone, The Patron State: Culture and Politics in Fascist Italy (Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1998), 6 [ 44 ]. Marla Stone, The Patron State: Culture and Politics in Fascist Italy (Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1998), 14 [ 45 ]. Marla Stone, The Patron State: Culture and Politics in Fascist Italy (Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1998), 18 Fascism in Venice Ryan Johnson December 13, 2012 HIST 3400 Soper Venetian Fascism in the Shadow of Wars The qualities that compose fascism are debatable and endless. What is really important about fascism is how it attempted to succeed by influencing not only Venetian, but also Italian culture and society from the beginning of World War I until the end of World War II. Benito Mussolini when speaking on fascism stated that, â€Å"†¦For Fascism, the growth of empire, that is to say the expansion of the nation, is essential manifestation of vitality, and its opposite a sign of decadence†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Enciclopedia Italiana, Handout).The success with which fascism had in expanding the nation is an argument for another time, but the ways they attempted to maintain the â€Å"essential manifestation of vitality† and challenged the boundaries of cultural society in hopes of success are well worth mentioning. Fascism did not have many cultural victories and this could be one aspect of an argument as to why it was a failure. However, one of fascisms greatest â€Å"cultural victories† in Italy can be viewed when studying the floating city of Venice and events that accompanied it.Fascism, as a whole, attempted to conquer in more ways than just obtaining land by means of military victory or tangible items as tokens of their success. As stated above by Mussolini himself, if fascism was indeed to succeed, it needed to support the growth of the Italian nation. The Fascist Party needed to not only influence the Italian people through propaganda, but also gain the support of the Italian nation while challenging the cultural and societal boundaries.In the years between World War I and World War II, fascism made attempting strides to try and create an aesthetic visual for the party, mainly by intervening in society and culture. All moves made by the fascists with regards to culture appeared to be solely instrumental and functional to gaining one hundred percent support of the po pulation in favor of the dictatorship. The effects of World War I, World War II, and fascism can still be seen today in Venetian and Italian culture. World War I was a horrendous time for Italian soldiers fighting in the trenches.Venice was very close to the battle lines on the border with Austria-Hungary, just North of where they lie. Venetians could not only feel the constant threat from the Austrians, but also had a daily reminder when they stepped outside. Venice closed their port, for fear of attack, but they also had to deal with the fact that, â€Å"†¦barrage balloons could be seen†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . Barrage balloons had long steel cables attached to them and were mainly used to deter low-flying enemy aircraft from reaching or bombing an area.These defense balloons were used during World War I and II. For the short distance that Venice was from the battlefront they were fairly lucky in how little devastation took place during the war. During World War I Venice was always ex tremely nervous about their next-door neighbors, the Austrians, of attacking the maritime port, but the city never fell to enemy attack. There were very few bombing that occurred in Venice, and the deaths that did take place mainly happened during the â€Å"black-out† hours.These â€Å"black-out† hours would occur in hopes of minimizing the amount of light escaping outside. By doing this, the Venetians were making it very difficult for any sort of aerial attack to bomb their city, port, or boats off of visibility alone. These were the only significant negative effects even worth mentioning that occurred for the city of Venice during World War I. World War II was similar to World War I with regards to the significantly negative effects it had on the city of Venice, there were just about none.As opposed to the devastation that occurred throughout much of Italy, Venice got away pretty nicely. Yet again, the â€Å"blackout† hours when people would fall into the cana l or injure themselves in other ways in the dark were one of the primary contributors to the death toll. It has been stated that Venice remained essentially untouched throughout the duration of the Second World War. However the minute losses that did occur, with exception of Germans capturing Jews, can be summed up in a few sentences. One or two windows were broken; a stray shell hit the tower of San Nicolo del Mendicoli as the Germans were retrateing; and the Tiepolo friezes in the Palazzo Labia were damaged when an ammunition ship exploded in the harbour. † Although the people of Venice saw little to none of the intense fighting, they were not as lucky to maintain an unconquered status during World War II as they had in World War I. For Germany, September 1943 was the beginning of a fairly short control over northern and central Italy that included Venice.Although Germany occupied Venice until April 28, 1945, very few deaths occurred to the Venetian citizens while in the cit y. â€Å"In the city itself a campaign of sabotage was followed by reprisals in which five men were shot in Cannaregio on July 8, 1944; some thirty partisans were executed later that month, followed on August 3 by seven hostages in Riva dell’Impero, called subsequently, in their memory, Riva dei Sette Martiri. † The most extensive part of the death toll came to the Jewish population in Venice with the presence of the Germans in 1943.The Venetians had historically tolerated the Jewish population up until about 1938 with the enactment of new racial laws. After the racial laws, persecution got so bad for the Jewish population, that they were laid off from their job, and grotesque signs were placed on businesses stating â€Å"Dogs and Jews Prohibited†. It only got worse from there after the Germans arrived in 1943, and the open persecution, capture, and killing of Jews from 1943 to 1945 took place.It has been estimated that approximately two hundred Jews were hunted down and sent to concentration camps in the mainland, with some even being deported to Auschwitz. The Germans were so thorough in their cause to vaporize the Jewish population from the earth, they would even go to hospitals to retrieve mentally ill Jewish patients and send them to an early grave. It has been recorded that only eight of the two hundred Venetian Jews captured by the Germans were ever returned home again.The German’s vicious attempts to eliminate the Jewish population and the atrocities that ensued will never be forgotten. With that being said, Venice got out of not only World War I, but also World War II with an extremely minimal death count compared to the millions of lives that were lost as a consequence of the two wars. World War I and II both impacted Venice, but in a fairly nominal way when viewing the status of many other parts of Italy and the world. However, there were two very influential fascist characters that emerge as a product of World War I and are present throughout World War II.These two men are noteworthy fascist figures with one that called Venice a home for a period of his life and another that was a true Venetian. The first man, Gabriele D’Annunzio, assumed a position, as a fascist political figure in Venice, and he was well known even before fascism was created. D’Annunzio was not a native-born Venetian, but was fairly well known in Italy as a â€Å"poet, novelist, playwright, politician (right- and left-wing in rapid succession), and daring First World War pilot who led sorties against Vienna itself†.It was during World War I when D’Annunzio decided to establish his residence in Venice. When he was not contributing to the fighting he could be found at his home, that was located off of the Grand Canal, called Casetta delle Rose. D’Annunzio continues to have a presence in the fascist politics all the way until its eventual demise, but was most famous for his irredentist taking of Fi ume, which is now present-day Rijeka in Croatia. He was angry that Fiume was not ceded to Italy by the Austrians at the end of World War I with the signing of the peace Treaty of Saint-Germain.D’Annunzio ruled over Fiume as a dictator until December of 1921, and it has been said that Benito Mussolini even â€Å"viewed D’Annunzio with a mixture of admiration and envy†¦Ã¢â‚¬  D’Annunzio was a fascist political figure that did not necessarily contribute much to the city of Venice as much as he was solely a constant reminder of the fascist presence. The second man that emerged from the outcome of World War I was an entrepreneurial man by the name of Giuseppe Volpi. Unlike D’Annunzio, Volpi was a native-born Venetian.He was born in Venice in 1877, and before he was thirty years old he had established the Societa Adriatica di Elettricita in the Palazzo Balbi on the Grand Canal, â€Å"which soon had a monopoly on the supply of electricity in the Veneto a nd Emilia-Romagna. † Along with his northeastern electricity monopoly, Volpi was constantly finding new ways to improve and advance Venetian industry. He would dabble in other industries that included petro-chemicals, iron, and shipping that significantly contributed to advancing Venetian industry, more specifically in Porto Marghera.Volpi’s success on top of his founding of Societa Adriatica di Elettricita was substantial; it has been recorded that he was a, â€Å"president or vice-president of twenty other companies, as a member of the boards of forty-six more, and as a major shareholder in over fifty. † During World War I Volpi was the head of a Committee for Industrial Mobilization where his project of turning the old Venetian fortress of Marghera into an industrial port and factory capable area. Volpi was quite successful in his project in Marghera.The area, prior to Volpi’s presence, only contained a thousand inhabitants in 1921. The growth of Marghe ra after Volpi’s intervening was exponential. â€Å"†¦Marghera had grown by 1940 to a town containing fifteen thousand workers in a hundred industries, and by 1967 to one of thirty-five thousand workers in 211 industries. † Volpi’s tremendous success as an entrepreneur and financial guru in northeast Italy, without fail, caught the attention of the Italian government. Volpi was awarded for his successes with the title and position as Governor of Tripoli.Soon after being deemed Governor, and already a standing member of the Fascist party, Volpi was put into office as Mussolini’s Minister of Finance in 1925. It has been stated that Volpi, â€Å"became one of the most successful administrators of the regime. † Three years after Volpi was positioned as Minister of Finance he resigned after disagreeing heavily with Mussolini on the â€Å"artificially high level at which the leader insisted on fixing the exchange rates, and never having become one of his close circle, he concentrated again on Venice and industry. Volpi was always a very influential fascist figure in Venice, but his greatest contribution to the success of the influence of the Fascist party and its cultural production came when he assumed the position as, â€Å"President of the reconstituted Esposizione Biennale Internazionale d’Arte in 1932. † This Exhibition, more commonly known as the Biennale, originated as nothing more than an Exhibition with strange occurrences such as a man’s face that was stuck in rigor mortis known as Supremo Convegno.In 1934, the Fascist government declared the once bi-annual event was to start taking place annually. The success of the Biennale was consistently growing after it was introduced as an annual event. In 1934, there were 41,000 people that showed up, in 1935, 38,500 people, in 1936, 50,000 attended, and in 1937, there was a staggering 60,000 participants. The Biennale by the year 1948 was considered to be one of the most important events in the entire world of art, and the Exhibition got to that point with the help of Giuseppe Volpi as he active President for twelve years. The international respect and publicity the Biennale gained each year was consistently growing. Countries would set up pavilions at the Biennale and present among them even during the Biennale’s early stages were Belgium, Britain, Germany, Hungary, France, Russia, Sweden, Spain, Czechoslovakia, and the United States. Even though the Biennale is an Exhibition where artwork is displayed, it has a sense of friendly competition between countries for who can produce some of the best artwork.During one Biennale exhibition there were not only paintings by nearly all of the best Italian artists under Italy’s pavilion, but also works â€Å"by Picasso and Klee, by Chagall and Kokoschka. The French staged exhibitions by Braque, Rouault, and Maillol, the Belgians by Delvaux and Ensor, the British by Henry Moo re. † The participation of artists as prestigious as these helped in securing the validity and existence of the Biennale as a true appreciation for art. There was even an exhibition for Impressionist artist and that same year there were ninety-eight Impressionist pieces of art.The Biennale was an exhibition that appears to be more of a friendly competition and get together between major countries of the world. All of the countries that have previously been at one another’s throats in prior wars all come together to participate in the Biennale that takes places in Venice, Italy. The Biennale brings together a magnitude of countries, despite their differences, and allows them to partake in a mutually pleasing and intellectually stimulating event. The importance of the Biennale is much greater than the sole criticizing of artistic works and abilities.The event brings together a variety of countries with extremely varying viewpoints and opinions to meet communally and peace fully. The Biennale during the presence of fascism and in attempting to be a useful tool of fascism held a much more substantial meaning than multiple countries coming together peacefully. It allowed for Italy to feel unified even if it was on the smallest cultural level of coming together for an art festival, and it also gave the Fascist party yet another opportunity to use propaganda towards the masses to their advantage.In 1932, Giuseppe Volpi was deemed the President of the Biennale and Mussolini was in his tenth year of his regime when, â€Å"a good number of prizes went to pictures of marching Blackshirts, dynamic cranes and planes, idealized Italian landscapes, and women and children saluting Il Duce. † Just prior to this particular Biennale of 1932, Volpi was an active member of the Fascist party, and was most recently the Minister of Finance for Mussolini and the Fascist party. Then again, in 1935 during the film festival aspect of the Biennale, prizes were awarded t o Nazi, Soviet, and Palestinian-Zionist films.Volpi’s ability and willingness to give awards to fascist based artwork, regardless of actual artistic value, was no coincidence. Marla Stone describes Fascist Italy as presenting a paradox with regards to the cultural politics of the authoritarian and totalitarian regimes that reigned in Europe in the time period between World War I and World War II. She states that since, â€Å"No one style, school, or monument summarizes the patronage practices of the Fascist state. Rather, the official culture of Italian Fascism is best defined by its diversities, contradictions, and ambiguities. The culture that was present during fascism closely mirrors the culture of the United States, but with different ingredients. The United States is considered a melting pot with all of the diversities that are represented in the country. Fascist Italy creates its own form of a melting pot, but not with an abundance of ethnic diversity. The â€Å"offi cial culture†, if there was a true â€Å"official culture†, of Fascist Italy was composed of the differences between the Italian people geographically, politically, hierarchically, socially, and of course culturally.Therefore terms that have become popular when speaking of Fascist culture such as â€Å"Fascist realism† and â€Å"Mussolini modern† are irrelevant and inconceivable. Since the beginning of Mussolini’s regime he had always strived to obtain and maintain a mutually beneficial relationship with those who encompass the art world. Under Mussolini’s dictatorship artist were free from censorship as long as they were not openly and actively anti-Fascist, and in return, as a sign of their gratitude, many artists and architects would accept the Fascist regime’s patronage.Certain artists who defied Mussolini’s regime would end up with repercussions. Such is the case with a Venetian abstract painter, Armando Pizzinato, who was an avid member of the Italian Communist Party, and from September 1943 until the end of the war he fought with the partisans and did jail time for certain anti-Fascist activities. However, Pizzinato represents a small portion of the artistic community that was anti-Fascist. The majority of artists cooperated with the Fascist regime, and â€Å"the association between aret and the state was one of mutual recognition and legitimation. Mussolini and his mutually beneficial policies with the art world began to create a more central form of cultural production. Marla Stone refers to the outcome of the newly centralized form of cultural production as a cultural policy of â€Å"aesthetic pluralism – the Mussolini dictatorship’s practice of accepting and supporting a range of aesthetics†. This now meant that there was a magnitude of â€Å"imageries and aesthetic formulations† that represented Fascism and â€Å"were a part of its cultural system, it imaginary and its aesthetic universe. The Fascist party was in a constant search to uncover a single Fascist rhetorical-aesthetic vision while at the same time combining â€Å"modern and avant-garde aesthetics, emerging mass cultural forms, and a discourse of natural culture to produce, during the 1930s, many dynamic and vibrant products. † The products such as exhibitions, fairs, and expositions, that the government produced and were heavily supported by the Fascist party, generated a considerable audience from the Italian population. More specifically speaking, the Biennale was a direct product of the cultural productivity that was being pursued by the Fascist party.Victoria De Grazia argues that the Fascist party was never able to obtain a singular aesthetic vision and identity due to its incapability to mobilize the masses, limits due to the party’s interests, and â€Å"†¦its appropriation of preexisting cultural forms and institutions, which precluded the formation of â €Å"total† Fascist identities†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å" The introduction of Exhibitions such as the Biennale were a key component in Fascism’s political aesthetic vision considering the primary goal was to encompass the cultural sphere of Fascist Italy. In doing so, the Fascist party was hoping to unify Italy under a national culture.Exhibitions had multiple purposes to them while aiming to obtain a unified national culture: â€Å"(1) they were primary sites of state patronage; (2) they opened the social boundaries of culture to the mobilized masses; (3) they offered a location for the appropriation of the cultural identities and cultural capital of preexisting elites; and (4) they courted the participation of cultural producers. † The Venetian Biennale and other similar Exhibitions were, for the most part, good for everyone that attended regardless of party affiliation, social status, or job title.World War I, World War II, and the fascism that accompanies them individuall y had a lasting impact on the country of Italy. Venice, in particular, was not prone to mass amounts of devastation as a consequence of the World Wars. The Fascist presence in Venice was very strong even though the actions of the majority of its supporters were minimal. This problem of mobilizing the masses was not just a problem of Fascism’s in Venice, but throughout Italy. The best attempt Fascism had at completely unifying a Fascist Italian culture was through its support of state patronage in the Exhibitions such as the Biennale in Venice.The political differences, ambiguities, and varying class rank made it virtually impossible to create a single Italian culture under Fascism. However, the ability of the Fascist party to participate in state patronage and allow aesthetic pluralism allowed artists to maintain their careers and not have to alter their stylistic ways. The Fascist party did not succeed in creating their own cultural identity under Fascism, but they did allow for a hybrid-like culture to develop. Fascism did many terrible things for the country of Italy, but allowing the aesthetic pluralism to flourish aided unifying the country under one culture.Lucky for Italians it did not create a unified Fascist culture, but rather a hybrid culture unified due to the intervention of Fascism and the varying differences among the Italian people. Bibliography Ackroyd, Peter. Venice: Pure City. New York: Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 2009. Print. Garrett, Martin. Venice: A Cultural and Literary Companion. New York: Interlink, 2001. Print. Hibbert, Christopher. Venice: The Biography of a City. New York: W. W. Norton, 1989. Print. Reich, Jacqueline, and Piero Garofalo. Re-viewing Fascism: Italian Cinema, 1922-1943. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 2002. Print. Stone, Marla.The Patron State: Culture & Politics in Fascist Italy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1998. Print. ————————————â₠¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€œ [ 1 ]. Peter Ackroyd, Venice: Pure City (New York: Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 2009), 324 [ 2 ]. Christopher Hibbert, Venice: The Biography of a City (New York: W. W. Norton, 1989), 320 [ 3 ]. Martin Garrett, Venice: A Cultural and Literary Companion (New York: Interlink, 2001), 48 [ 4 ]. Martin Garrett, Venice: A Cultural and Literary Companion (New York: Interlink, 2001), 48 [ 5 ]. Martin Garrett, Venice: A Cultural and Literary Companion (New York: Interlink, 2001), 144 [ 6 ].Peter Ackroyd, Venice: Pure City (New York: Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 2009), 324 [ 7 ]. Peter Ackroyd, Venice: Pure City (New York: Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 2009), 324 [ 8 ]. Peter Ackroyd, Venice: Pure City (New York: Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 2009), 324 [ 9 ]. Martin Garrett, Venice: A Cultural and Literary Companion (New York: Interlink, 2001), 144 [ 10 ]. Martin Garrett, Venice: A Cultural and Literary Companion (New York: Interlink, 2001), 46 [ 11 ]. 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