Learning Methods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Learning Methods - Essay Example Consequence of this is we sometimes tag learners who use less preferred methods as â€Å"bright’ while those who apply most like techniques as dumb. These kinds of perceptions can cause and create negative and positive twists that emphasize the conviction that a person is bright or dumb. A research on student Learning methods indicates that interesting lecture is not essentially good teaching. Even though students are entertained they might not have grasp anything. Better methods of learning are most probably been improved through an integration in the lecture of illustrative skill and other communicative approaches. Lectures are delivered by a teacher to great number f students. In most cases in person but sometimes conducted through a film or video broad cast. The advantages of applying lecturing as a learning method are; students acquire an overview of the topic quickly, continent of a subject can be controlled, allows for use of recognized, it is cost effective, it’s a common method of delivery, expert in the subject of study and students can be motivated by the lecturer. Drawbacks of lecturing are it doesn’t permit for various learning capabilities or speed of learners, it mostly viewed as boring by students, location and time are mostly directed by the lecturer. Student learning is also hard to gauge. Communication in a lecture is monologue. Audience is always passive. One needs a concise introduction and summary of the intended topic of discussion. Preparation requires time and content in order to be successful .Presentations pursue a similar approach to lecture however they are more likely to be conducted beyond formal education surroundings such as the workplace. Presentations are sometimes brief and often integrate high tech visual aids. Advantages of presentations are it can be done simultaneously. Before preparing for a presentation always keep in mind that the human brain has a typical

Enhancement of Learning and Development Strategies Essay

Enhancement of Learning and Development Strategies - Essay Example As the essay stresses Hierarchical organizations are bureaucratic and somewhat rigid, since they only set base in stable environments. Market organizations on the other hand are driven by competition and have strong emphasis on productivity. As for family organizations, operations are very personalized and employees share norms and values. From the three, we chose to do a case study on a market organization that has a global presence, and whose products can be consumed by people of all ages. In addition, the type of organization needed for the case study had to be a well established company, whose history has been characterized by success. Accordingly, Coca Cola became the best option, considering that its employees need to be trained on how to handle a global consumer market, made up of people of diverse cultures and ages. This paper highlights that Coca Cola Company is a global beverage manufacturing company whose headquarters are in Atlanta Georgia. Being a global leader in beverage manufacture, the Coca Cola Company has had to deal with its fairs share of challenges and problems. For example, Coca Cola there have been issues of contaminated products, competition, allegations of racial discrimination, trouble with bottlers, and human resource management issues stemming from incompetent and untrustworthy employees. Most employees working within the company are not sure about the vision of the company, thus putting the future of Coca Cola at stake.

Healthy Vending Machine Business Plan

Healthy Vending Machine Business Plan Food awareness is one of the most common areas over which people have started focusing as it is directly related to their health. Irrespective of their background, age, income, or any other factor they are concerned about their eating habits. Based on this very particular aspect, we have come up with our product, i.e. Healthy Vending Machine which will target customers in a niche segment during its start. Our vending machine will be exactly like any other vending machine, but difference lies in its contents. All the content like snacks, drinks, juice, bars, chocolate, etc. in our vending machine will be chosen in a highly particular manner based on their effect on health. We will be giving very high end concern over quality of food that we place in our vending machine as maintaining healthy food will be acting as our USP (Unique Selling Proposition). We are planning to place our healthy vending machine at all the places where footfall is remarkably high like metro stations, railway stations, shopping malls, crowded market places, etc. We are planning to keep price of our products quite nominal as it will help us in attracting customers are they able to fulfill their need in a healthy way by getting healthy snacks without spending extra money. SWOT (S)trengths Primary strength of our venture Good Luck Food would be its uniqueness in the market. Weve performed extensive research and so far none other vendor is operating in this domain. Thus following a blue ocean strategy, we will be able to capture maximum percentage of the market without any competition. Based on this trend, there had been several restaurant take away places that started in recent past in order to serve healthy food in a community which is struggling to get such options. This particular factor will act as the primary strength for our business. (W)eakness Weakness of this Healthy Vending Machine will be to attract people towards itself during initial times along with ensuring that it is able to form a clientele. It is one of the most difficult tasks to be performed by any new business, especially for those which are not associated with any big brands. Being a startup (though with excellent business idea), it will act as a weakness for us, had it been started by another vendor which is already operating in this segment and has reputation in the market. Another weakness would be that well not be able to spend large sum of money over its marketing and increasing awareness among masses regarding our product. We would be having very limited amount of resources which we would be spending over its marketing and promotion during initial times. Once it starts generating revenue, we will be able to allocate more funds in this domain, but during initial times, new name in the market will act as a weakness for our business. (O)pportunities In recent past, bad and unhealthy eating habits of people have resulted into unnatural physical changes. According to a report, amongst most obese countries in the world, UAE ranked fifth. An average person in UAE is consuming 20% more calories than required on a daily basis. Thus it has become a major problem for authorities to take care of this problem. (UAE the fifth most obese country in the world, 2012) Based on this particular factor, our venture will pose great support to such authorities and we will get initial push without much effort. Also many of such authorities are owned by government, which will provide government support to our venture. It will also help us in getting required permissions from Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority and Dubai municipality in a hassle free manner as we are helping them solve the problem along with complying with their Policies and Regulations. (Policies and Regulations) (T)hreats As per our research, there is a high demand of healthy food in almost all the parts of UAE. Also people would be willing to pay more amount of money for this category of food which makes it a lucrative segment of food industry. Also it is one of those segments which have still not been tamed by few market leaders; there is a high end possibility that many new entrants could enter the market soon after us. We ourselves being new entrant in the market would make it extremely difficult to survive for a longer period of time in the market in which echelon of competition is continuously increasing. Another important parameter which should be taking into consideration is that after sometime, if already existing vendors like Snackzone, Coffee Planet, etc. also enters into the same segment of the market as they are always looking for opportunities, it will become highly difficult to ensure our survival if substantially remarkable survival strategies are not adopted by us. Thus we need to focus over our progress throughout our tenure in the market along with taking care of our survival. (Next generation vending machines launched at UAE-based Coffee Planet, 2012) Risk Analysis Basic parameter associated with any new venture is Risk. There is no way one can eliminate the risk completely, but by adopting certain measures it is possible to reduce the level of risk. Intimidations First parameter is level of increasing competition which will be a problem in near future based on the prosperous aspects associated with this market segment. Although new entrant will not pose such high degree of risk, but they will still make an affect over our strategies. Major risk is from existing players. If they also enter the healthy vending machine segment, it will make a high end impact over our profitability and operations. Also they would have ample resources to sell products at lower margins and kick us out of the market. Estimate Risks With every threat, there is an associated factor of risk. Increasing competition over the period of time had already been estimated by us as it is inevitable. It will make an impact over our market capturing and market penetration. If new players will enter this market segment of healthy snacks, it will make an impact over our profitability as it will hamper our profit margins. Although it might not be the case in all the regions, but there is a high end certainty of this particular factor. If existing players enter this market segment, it will make a direct impact over our survival. We may have to follow a separate strategy for survival, but there is also a possibility that we may get extinct if we are not able to handle the competition. Managing Risks To handle new entrants, we will have to cover as much market as possible in our first phase before our competition arises. This particular aspect will give us more market visibility as compared to any other vendor. Also being the first player in the segment, we have a chance to establish our monopoly during initial times and earn large profits which will help us in fighting competition at later stages. To manage the risk of existing players entering in this segment, we will have to ensure that we establish our unique image in the market. Although we do not have ample time, but in order to tackle this risk, we will have to build our brand value and ensure our survival. (Risk Analysis) Form of Business Ownership Defining the form business ownership is extremely important as it will define way of our operations along with our liabilities. We can either form Partnership or Corporation. But as the food industry, especially healthy food industry is not generally liable to go into heavy debts; it is not required to go for Corporation option. We can choose Partnership for our business venture as amount of initial investment is also not extremely high. Specifying details of Partnership firm, we can go for General Partnership as it will ensure equal involvement, responsibility and liability of all the partners in the firm. Thus all the owners will also be responsible for any legal actions if taken against the company which is very less likely as we trying to solve a problem. Business Goals Following are the Business Goals of Good Luck Food: Ensure its profitable existence throughout its lifetime so that we are able to conduct our operations adequately. Build Good Luck Food a brand in Middle East part of the world. Provide healthy food to all the people to ensure that they are following a good lifestyle. Spread health awareness amongst people which is a noble cause and also act as our Corporate Social Responsibility. It will also help in boosting our business in long run. Generate healthy competitive environment in the Middle East region so that customers are also benefitted from our existence. Work in compliance with government norms and help it in solving one of the biggest challenges of near future. Mission Statement Mission of Good Luck Food is to provide easy accessibility of healthy munching options to individuals and become a leader in the market. Marketing Marketing Analysis In the recent few years, UAE has been emerged as one of the biggest business capital in the world. People from all around the world have come in this country to either open up a business venture or work in some countries. With such a great diversity of people coming in this country, the level of health security has also increased. This gives a great leverage to our product Good Luck Food. With an increasing popularity for one-stop-shop or one-stop-machines, the target population for our product is not restricted to any particular age, gender or income level. But still, there are some groups which can be considered as a higher buying level group and there is some other which is considered low. Looking at the demographics of the country, the total population is 7,890,924, as estimate in the year 2011. Around 71% of the people living in this country are immigrants. There is a gender ratio 70:30 (male: female). Talking about the main target market of the product, this product is reachable to all the customers irrespective of their age, gender, or income level. But, the company is mainly focusing upon the people of the working age group and people who are more into sports (mainly kids). As far as the income level of the target population is considered, middle class people and high class people are the main target customers. Main reason for keeping kids and the working age people to be the target market for the product is that our product will mainly be located in Metro Stations, railway stations, Shopping malls, etc. Hence, the specified groups of people visit these places more often as compared to the other groups. Talking about the geographical distribution about the target market, our product will initiate its business in three main cities of UAE Abu Dhabi and Dubai. According to ICD Research, the potential market for vending machine is UAE as per the year 2015 is going to be huge. Already, there are several companies putting their vending machines at different locations in UAE. The popularity of vending machines is continuously increasing because of the changing needs of the people. Today, nobody would like to go to a shopping mall to buy eatables for immediate consumption, everybody wants vending machines they are easy to reach and they are cool! There is a change in the needs to the customers as well. The customer, whichever age may he be from, is now becoming more concerned about his or her health. With such a changing need, Good Luck Food will serve fruitful to the customers because it will be the first vending machined which will help the customers to chose according to their health status. The sales of various products from the vending machines will depend upon the requirement in a particular season; for example, in Soft Drinks will be more popular in the summer season whereas in the winters, coffee and tea will be preferable. Hence, the sales of few of the products from vending machines will be season. The collection of products in the vending machines should be set keeping in mind their popularity in the market and among the customers. It is very much important that the vending machine should contain all the food which is preferable by the customers. Hence, sales from the vending machines depend a lot on the popularity of the products kept inside the machines. Marketing Plan Advertising and Promotional Campaign There are different types of promotional techniques to be used in the marketing of Good Luck Food among the customers. These promotional techniques used by the company are as follows: Using Print Media (Newspapers and magazines advertisements): Not in comparison with the earlier times, but still newspapers and magazines are mostly used by the people when they are travelling or when they are not doing anything else. Almost every age group is acquitted with these. Keeping in mind the diversity of the population of UAE, the advertisement will have to publish in both Arabic and English Newspapers. At the starting stage of the business, it will cost AED 50,000 and the frequency of the usage of the advertisements will be once in a week three months before the launch and daily, one month before the launch and at least three months after the launch. This is one of the most expensive advertisement technique used by the company but is effective as well Using Digital Media (Television, FM): This is again an expensive technique of advertising. Main target market is the kids, ladies, husbands watching sports channel, daily soaps, and news channels, respectively. The frequency of the advertisements from the digital media would be same as the print media. It would cost a little more than the print media i.e. AED 60,000 Web Advertising: This is one of the most preferred ways of advertising. In the present era, almost everyone is acquainted with the internet. Good Luck Food will be promoted on the websites which are highly popular, for example, advertisement will be put in almost every social networking site facebook.com, twitter.com, etc. These are several other websites where the advertisement will be displayed by the company. The cost of web advertisement would be AED 35,000 Posters, Hoardings, etc.: Digital and non-digital posters will be displayed on various important places (mostly the places where these vending machines are to be placed) like shopping malls, railway stations, metro stations, etc. These are available for all the passing by customers. This is one of the most effective ways of promotion in case of promoting the product through an eye to eye catch. Total cost of promotion through these techniques would be around AED 35,000 Web Presence As this has been presented earlier that internet advertisements would be one of the best ways to promote the product because almost all the people at present are acquainted with internet in the present era. Hence, there is a huge web presence of the product before it gets started off in the market as well as the time when it gets launched because at the present times, it is highly important to continue promoting the products during its operations as well otherwise, its popularity degrades. Location Layout Location Good Luck Food vending machines will be available in various places like metro stations, railway stations, shopping malls, crowded market places, etc. These places are chosen for the placement of these vending machines because these have high footfall which clearly means that a lot of people would visit these place on a daily basis. All of these locations would be considered crowded with obviously crowd in the railway stations and metro station would be more than the crowd in the shopping malls as far as the daily frequency is concerned. Hence, these places are chosen because of the fact that they produce high human traffic. As these vending machines would be placed at the railway stations and metro stations in the open, a deal with the Abu Dhabi and Dubai Municipality has to be done. Permission will need to be taken before launching the same. This deal will be cracked in an approximate average lease of AED 100,000 per year per location. As we are planning to have 25 locations in Abu Dhabi and 25 in Dubai at the start of the business, hence for the location charges, the company will have to pay AED 5,000,000 to the municipality. Other stakeholders involved Other stakeholders involved in the business are as follows: Founder and CEO of the company: The company is founded in partnership of two person Mr. A and Mr. B. Mr. A has done his MBA in marketing from UK and has a total experience of 10 years in the CPG industry in UK and UAE both. Mr. B has done his masters in Finance from Abu Dhabi. He has a total experience of 12 years in the CPG industry Suppliers: Our prime suppliers are few of the very important brands in the industry like Dabur, Pepsi, etc. These are the reputed brands in the industry and hence contribute a lot in the sales of the products. Legal and Auditing Firm Companys yearly financial statements will be audited by XYZ firm with an annual charge of AED 50,000. Human Resource Plan Legal Issues with the Employees All the employees in the company will be hired with a legal obligation to work for at least one year in the company. This will be a mandatory bond which the employee will have to sign with the company before joining. Projection for the employees for Future Total Investment Made 42,870,000 Syndicated Loan of AED 30,009,000 has been taken from two different banks of UAE. These loans are promised to be repaid in the time span of 10 years with an interest rate of 10% per annum.

Subliminal Advertising Is Fair :: essays research papers

Why Subliminal Advertising is Fair to American Consumers The United States ad industry consists of many ad agencies whose job it is to make sure that the American consumers buy their clients products. As many people get smart enough to look past the physical eye tricks the ad may play on them, the ad agencies has turned to subliminal messages to get their message across. From garbage bag advertisements to the advertisements for the hardest type of liquor you can buy, subliminal advertising will almost always affect you without you even knowing it, and its perfectly legal. If a company has the money, the time, and the sense to use the first amendment of the constitution, there is no reason why subliminal messages cannot appear in their advertisements. To produce a subliminal advertisement, a company must pour in a great deal of money to get the consumer wanting their product. An ad agency can spend anywhere up to $50,000 to create a single, one page magazine layout or flyer, carefully getting every detail to perfection. If a company chooses to use this kind of money to advertise, it is perfectly legal to do so. Subliminal messages are just a more efficient way of advertising by appealing to the consumers subconscious mind and bypassing their decision making mind, swaying them to need something they really do not. However, while subliminal messages may make consumers buy items, they also prevent theft. That elevator music you hear in Sears is not just there because the manager likes it. The first purpose of this music is to lull you into a shopping trance. You will also notice that there are no clocks in Sears. This is to make you loose all track of time if you don't have a watch and this in itself is subliminal. However, unde rneath the music, in a frequency only audible to the subconscious, there are messages like, "Do not shoplift", "Stealing is bad", and "Just buy it". The messages use key words which the human mind knows are wrong, even if a person's personality thinks they are okay. So subliminal messages prevent theft also. Making these messages also takes an incredible amount of time. The same advertisements that can take up to $50,000 to make, also take around 3 to 5 months to get every detail just right so the consumer thinks that the images just appear there by coincidence, if the images are even seen by the conscious mind at all.

Labour Disputes Case

Labour Disputes: A look at the TKM unrest Introduction: Toyota Kirloskar Motor Private Limited (TKM) was a joint venture, established in 1997, between Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota), Japan’s largest car company and the second-largest car manufacturer in the world, and the Kirloskar Group of India. Toyota holds an 89% equity stake and while the Kirloskar Group holds the remaining 11%. Toyota has over 400 acres of land in its Bidadi plant and less than half of the land has been utilised so far even though its plant's capacity is about 60,000 units per annum. Toyota has invested nearly 15 billion INR in the plant. Some of its most famous brands such as Camry, Innova and Corolla are the end products of this plant. The plant had a total workforce of 2,378 out of which around 1,550 employees belonged to the Employee Union. Toyota's plant has witnessed labour unrest in 2001 and again in 2002 hitting the production of their vehicles leading to a ban of the strike by the Government. Below, we discuss the various reasons, which led to the clashes between the management and the employees of TKM. This highlights the growing number of instances of clashes between the employees and the management of companies in India, which is often guided by external parties such as trade unions and political parties. Aim: To understand †¢ The importance of HR policies adopted by the organization to prevent labor unrest at the workplace. †¢ The role of trade unions, political parties etc in upsetting the work culture in a company. The Issue: On January 08, 2006, Toyota Kirloskar Motor Private Limited (TKM) announced an indefinite lockout of its vehicle manufacturing plant at Bidadi located near Bangalore, Karnataka. The company claimed to have forced to resort to such a decision following a continuous strike by their employee union for third day in a row. The Toyota-Kirloskar union affiliated to the Center of Trade Union (CITU) Jan 9, 2006 demanded that the Government prosecute the management, which had declared an indefinite lockout of the local unit for violating a section of the Industrial dispute act . On January 06, 2006, the Employee Union went on strike with the demand to reinstate three dismissed employees, ten suspended employees, and improve the work condition at the plant. According to company sources, these employees were dismissed and suspended based on disciplinary issues. TKM declared that it would not rehire those employees culminating in the strike and lockout. The company said that the striking workers were threatening to blowup LPG gas cylinders in the company premises, obstructing the outward movement of manufactured vehicles, illegally stopping production, and manhandling other workers, who were not part of the Employee Union, to strike. The Employee Union said that these employees were dismissed because they were active members of the trade union and the company was unhappy with the union activities. They further added that the working environment at the plant was not conducive and the work hours were longer than the standard. The issue scaled further in the event of the Company representatives failing to appear before the Labor Commissioner on January 09, 2006 for dispute resolution with the union. The company reasoned that they feared adverse reactions from the aggressive union members. Though, the company appealed for two weeks time to appear before the Labor Commissioner so that situation could become stable, they were given time only till January 12, 2006. The Employee Union with the back up of CITU and other unions demanded the intervention of the state government to help resolve the dispute in their favor. TKM continued with partial production of vehicles with the help of non-unionized workers and the management staff who were specially trained for these kinds of emergencies. Irrespective of this, the company incurred huge production losses due to reduction in output by 60%. The Employee Union withdrew their strike following a Government Order on January 21, 2006, which was against the strike The Company lifted the lockout on January 21, 2006 stating that it was responding to the request from workers who eager to return to work. Aftermath: The unrest had other impacts as the Toyota spokesperson said that the company would rethink its recent decision to build a second car manufacturing plant in the state. These sorts of incidents will definitely hamper the Government’s efforts to bring in foreign direct investments to the country. This in turn would affect the growth rate, employability and GDP of the country. Discussion: Industrial disputes are costly and damaging to companies and employees alike. The policy formulations should be such that it is strong enough to avoid conflicts or resolve it successfully. Though it is not possible to avoid conflicts, a system can be built in, which guidelines a proper conflict resolution management. In the above case, a proper conflict resolution management system would have solved the issue well within the company rather than involving external parties and escalating the problem thereby resulting in huge production losses & wasted mandates. The HR policies and the top management support should be such as to minimise the chance of a grievance turning into dispute, there by avoiding the influence of external parties in disturbing the peaceful working environment. Either of the parties who participate in a conflict resolution procedure should come with an open mind, without any baggage that hampers the setting. They should be ready to trust each other and believe in the efforts taken by either of them in solving the dispute. The management must give the participating institution its right place in the managerial organisation of the undertaking and implementing the policies of the undertaking. The labour, on the other hand, must also whole heartedly co-operate with the management through its trade unions. A committee can be formed by the management with the whole hearted co-operation of the workers. The board can involve an equal amount of participation from the employees as well as the management. The board can meet at a timely interval and discuss grievances before them turning into disputes. Issues related to work hours, remuneration, productivity, etc can have a say in the board meetings. Policies are made for all the areas of an organisation at the top level which give impetus for growth, discipline, productivity of an industry or business. These policies act as management guidelines to the functional heads who can discharge their responsibilities with clarity. Policies cover the areas of human relations like: policies regarding motivation, morale, communication, leadership, styles, grievance procedure, disciplinary procedure employee counseling etc. These policies also cover the areas of industrial relations like Union recognition, union representation, collective bargaining, prevention and settlement of industrial disputes, participative management etc . Voices â€Å"Central trade unions are still relevant, mainly for the unorganised sector. Internal unions should not have a narrow view on this. They should be aware of the problems of their brothers†¦ † -AITUC national secretary D L Sachdev. â€Å"An ITI pass-out in TKM gets around Rs 15,000 a month, while outside the company he'll only make Rs 4,000 or so. Not just the money, but even in terms of facilities, we offer the best. † -K K Swamy, deputy managing director, Toyota Kirloskar Motor. â€Å"We have requested the government to intervene in the matter immediately and prohibit the lockout declared by the management which is illegal. The government should prosecute the management for violating labour laws and issue immediate relief to the dismissed employees such as reinstatement and payment of wages during the dismissed period. † -Meenakshi Sundaram, General Secretary, Centre of Indian Trade Union, Bangalore, in 2006. â€Å"How long can we put up with unruly behaviour? We would like to restore normalcy as soon as possible, but at the same time, we would not like to compromise on discipline. † -A. R Shankar, General Manager, Corporate Planning Division, Toyota Kirloskar Motor Private Limited, in 2006. There are another 11 people suspended by the management and we fear they may also be dismissed. We are officially supposed to work for eight hours but we are overworked sometimes. And we are treated in such a way, that we can’t even take a bathroom break when we want. † -R. Ravi, Union Joint Secretary, Toyota Kirloskar Motor Employees Unions, in 2006. Conclusion While India boasts the best in class labour irrespective of the colour of the collar, what worries the industry are the regulations in terms of access to this valuable resource. The trade unions are not favouring the demand of the industry to improve labour legislations. While trade unions are of opinion that it would result in labour mismanagement, the industry states that the labour reforms are essential considering the frequent situational changes in the business scenario. According to Management experts, the success story of the software industry indicates how far our country can achieve if not restricted by controls. Bibliography: Ramanathan, Kalyana. â€Å"India: Is Labour Trouble Resurfacing? † Rediff 06 August 2005. 01 March 2007. †¹http://www. rediff. com/money/2005/aug/06spec. tm†º â€Å"Essential Conditions in Successful Working of WPM† CiteMan Network 08 November 2006. 25 February 2007. †¹http://www. citeman. com/essential-conditions-in-successful-working-of-wpm†º â€Å"Industrial Disputes† Business Link 25 February 2007. †¹http://www. businesslink. gov. uk/bdotg/action/layer? r. l1=1073858787&topicId =1074045599&r. l2=1074207487&r. s=tl†º â€Å"Labour Unrest† CiteMan Network 05 April 2007. 26 February 2007. †¹http://www. citehr. com/25642-labour-unrest. html†º â€Å"Toyota Talks Fail† The Financial Express 17 January 2006. 27 February 2007. †¹http://www. financialexpress. com/fe_full_ story. php? content_id=114765†º

Neo-Marxist Contribution to Theories O Social Class Inequality Essay

How far would you say that Neo-Marxist have contributed to the continuing relevance of theories of social class inequality today? Social class inequality can be defined as the existence of socially created inequalities among and within classes. They can be attributed to various factors such as race, colour, ethnicity, gender, income, etc. It is arguable that inequalities that exist in post-independence societies as well as the inequalities which exist between nations can be directly traced back to the exploitative capitalism which accompanied European colonialism. Neo-Marxism has indeed contributed to the continuing relevance of theories of social class inequality in contemporary times. Therefore, the aim of this essay is to identify the nature of Neo-Marxism, its emergence as a school of thought, the main views of Neo-Marxism and its application to today as it regards to Social Class Inequality. Neo-Marxism for the purpose of this research paper can be defined as : a term loosely applied to any social theory or sociological analysis which draws on the ideas of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, but amends or extends these, usually by incorporating elements from other intellectual traditions—such as, for example, psychoanalysis (as in the case of critical theory), Weberian sociology (as in Erik Olin Wright’s theory of contradictory class locations), or anarchism (as in the example of critical criminology). Site ref) This social theory emerged during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s through the Frankfurt School, in Germany. This institution was referred to as the Institute of Social Research at the University of Frankfurt, Germany. The early Neo-Marxists from that school were Max Horkheimer, Herbert Marcuse, Theodor Adorno and Leo Lowenthal among others. Max Horkheimer referred to this new strain of Marxism as Critical Theory in 1937; it is a social theory oriented towards critiquing and changing society as a whole, in contrast to the traditional Marxist theory that just sought to explain it . The fundamental principles of critical social theory is that it should be directed at the totality of the society; that is how it has been organised at differentiating historical times. And in addition it should improve on the understanding of our society through integrating the major social sciences. Neo-Marxism therefore held views that were synonymous with Marxism however they were amended and extended on his principles to keep up with modern times. Neo-Marxism, according to neo-marxist Nicos Poulantzas sought to answer three basic questions that traditional Marxist was unable to deliver a rationale for. These questions were firstly, why did the socialist and social democratic political parties not band together against WWI? (Instead of support for their own countries). Secondly, why although the timing seemed right for a workers revolution in the west it did not take place? And lastly how did fascism take place in Europe at this time? Neo-Marxism is based on the total political-economic-cultural systems that exist in contemporary societies. Neo-Marxists were concerned with the growth of the middle class, which changed the traditional Marxist class view of there being only two classes; to the introduction of a new class -the middle class. They studied the composition of the labour force; that is the fragmentation of the working class and the decomposition of capital; that is the growth in the middle class. They needed to discover whether or not social mobility was beneficial to the lower class or whether or not it leads to the maintenance of the status quo. It is believed that ‘Mobility acts as a political safety valves’. (Parkin) It maintains the ideals of ruling class by providing hope to the working class so they would not want to form a revolution against the capitalist system. Neo-Marxists also found that there was a heterogeneous nature among classes; this was evident there were classes within classes. The main Marxist views that were retained by neo-Marxist are that the theory of dialectical materialism remains. This theory of change implies that the world including human beings is â€Å"Matter in motion† and progress occurs through struggle. They also shared the belief that capitalism is an alienating, exploitative system, subordinating human to the interest of hegemonic elites. The society then becomes one that upholds the values as the ruling class and these values inherently become the values of the people within the society. This was posited by Antonio Gramsci, an Italian journalist and politician who suffered at the hand of the fascist dictator that ruled Italy in 1937. He also writes that inequality exists as people are led to believe that it is inevitable. He also credits religion as the most important forms of metal control; as it teaches people to seek reward in heaven and not equality on earth. They were inclined to bear the inequality on earth as they believed that one day they would be rewarded in heaven. Another principle of Marxism that remained is the idea that only socialism had to be treated as the only form of human organisation worth thriving for. This is imperative as it returns to the workers all the profits of their labour, as opposed to the capitalist system. In which the Bourgeoisie retains their profits for themselves; instead of allowing the proletariat to enjoy the fruits of their labour.