A personal statement for master Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

A personal statement for master - Essay Example I was usually the winner, because I could always rely on my calculations to win the large majority of overall rounds in the long term. This sense of winning from the poker games stimulated my interest in studying the relevant courses of statistics even further. However, I do not believe that this use of statistics would be good for actual gambling, because if I was not doing it just to entertain friends I would lose the objectivity needed for the calculations. Statistics is still full of barriers for non-professionals to read or understand. This is obvious from Mark Twains famous quote, â€Å"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics†. In my opinion, non-professional people may be surprised or even feel cheated if a 95% probability failed, so a 99% significant level may be something they would accept more easily. However, despite peoples lack of trust in the reliability of statistics, they really do need a reliable probability or statistics result to help them make the sensible choice when confused or unsure. I met with just this kind of problem during my two periods of internship. I was a three-month part-time cleaner of Runnymede campus in the summer of 2007. At the end of each term, all rooms need to be cleaned, so the workload available determines the number of full-time workers. During summer holidays, there are many European students who would come for their short vacations on campus. Thus, some part-time cleaners are needed to deal with the increased workload. However, the number of European students is variable, and the campus doesn’t start these employees appointments several months before their arrival. Even by employing part-time cleaners, the campus couldn’t catch up with the sudden increase of cleaning work. Many rooms couldn’t be cleaned on time, so the campus had to reduce the amount of students that were received. I was interested in this problem, which was quite similar to a question

Analyse the ideology of motherhood represented in distributed imaging Dissertation

Analyse the ideology of motherhood represented in distributed imaging spaces such as Instagram - Dissertation Example This is because more and more people share their life events on the social networks regardless of the events being sad or happy, says (Kivran-Swaine et al, 2013:1-5). Through one’s social media account most people are able to follow one’s transition through the years from one’s teenaged life to adulthood. Motherhood is only the kinship relation between an offspring and the mother. It is also one of the most life altering events that can be experienced and is often represented in the social networks. Most social media users usually cover their social pages with pictures of their experiences of pregnancy, and motherhood accompanied by status updated of about their daily events as mothers. Kivran-Swaine goes on to say that the ways in which motherhood is represented and enacted on the social networks is usually very broad, and does not effectively account for the complex content in which motherhood is understood and performed using new communications technologies. M ost information presented on the social networks about motherhood usually give the idea that motherhood is full of happy moments; where the mothers are always smiling holding their bundles of joy and updating how happy and blessed they feel to be mothers. The ideology of motherhood in the social media is often one-sided. Section II: The theoretical concept of â€Å"workface† Kivran-Swaine comes up with a theoretical concept of ‘facework’ that she uses to analyze the ideology of motherhood in the social media. Facework functions as a critical mode of self presentation and self expression on the social media where mothers create their own â€Å"mommy face†, a social space where they can showcase their motherhood achievements and their various standards of motherhood with the rest of the world. There are a number of mothers who have shown a good use of their facework, whose social media activities have incorporated their experiences as mothers that are if the y have not completely changed to motherhood experiences only. A good example of new mothers who have incorporated their motherhood experi

The Book Thief Review Essay Example for Free

The Book Thief Review Essay In,The Book Thief,we learn about the different types of human nature, from the kindness to the cruelty. Death is the narrator and struggles to come to terms with the difference between the evil plans of the Nazi government and the goodwill and courage of a few German people. His curiosity leads him to uncovering Liesel’s story and he becomes attached to certain features for characters such as; Liesel, Rudy, Hans Hubermann and Rosa Hubermann. The Book Thief goes through some of the most evil things in history and it takes us through these various times. We witness the torture of the Jews in the book, from when Liesel and Rudy witness the streets with the destroyed houses and shops. The Nazi’s classify them as subhumans and make them march through Molching, while they are being tortured by the Nazi soldiers which is totally wrong. Hans Hubermann showed great compassion and pity even though there would be consequences, as he rushes to a crowd of Jews and gives and old man a piece of bread. â€Å"The Jew stood before him, expecting another handful of derision, but he watched with everyone else as Hans Hubermann held his hand out and presented a piece of bread, like magic†. This quote says, that even though his punishment is being sent to the war, it is connected to his act of kindness and he provides a much needed role model for both Liesel and Rudy. Ilsa Hermann displays a great amount of warmth and goodwill by inviting Liesel into her library. Although this character may look lonely over the loss of her son, she manages to teach Liesel into her love of literature. She does not react angrily to the fact that Liesel had stolen books from her library, this in turns show compassion in human nature. Even though Liesel and Rudy stole books, death shows this as acts of courage, rather than a criminal offence. The Hubermann’s ( Rosa and Hans) consent to take care of Liesel as a foster child is wonderful and this is also further more explained as they promised to Max’s family, even though knowing being caught hiding a Jew leass to death. The Hubermann family don’t just take in Max, but they also make him feel loved and part of the family. Liesel defies Nazi rules and regulations, by taking education into her own hands, as Rudy puts it after their fathers were sent to war, â€Å"It feels good doesn’t it? To steal something back.† Liesel further more defies the Nazi model of hate of Jews as she grows closer to Max and help each other develop as individuals and also show a lot of affection towards one another. Rudy is a very loveable character and in the start, goes from stealing bread, to giving it to the marching Jews. This act is selfless because at the time he and his family were starving â€Å"Proof again of the contradictory nature of human beings† – Death. Furthermore, â€Å"From the toolbox the boy took out, of all things, a teddy bear. He reached in through the torn windshield and placed it on the pilot’s chest†. This shows a compassionate act of human nature even though the pilot was from an opposite side of the war. Even though, harsh punishments were experienced during the time of Nazi Germany, many examples of human spirit were exposed to overpower the evil and shows that we can have some sort of integrity to face evil times.

Rivalry Among Firms In Global Hospitality

Rivalry Among Firms In Global Hospitality The Porters 5 forces framework is an outside-in approach whereby the industry forces affecting the business performance is analysed to facilitate managers in decisions to direct their resources in achieving maximum profitability. The 5 forces identified by Porter are the horizontal competition from substitutes, new entrants and existing rivals as well as the vertical competition from the bargaining power of suppliers and buyers (Porter, 1980). In this essay, the author would like to analyse the competitiveness of the hospitality industry by critically evaluating the strength of each force individually with relevant examples and identify the most influential force. 2.1 Threat of new entrants Threats of new entrants are one of the principal forces of Porters theory of five forces (Porter, 1980). Bain (1956) who initiated the study of entry barriers identified the major barriers as capital requirements, economies of scale, product differentiation, government approval and absolute costs. These barriers create constraints for new entrants to enter the industry, creating fewer competitors therefore retaining the market shares of existing firms to achieve higher profit (Botten and McManus, 1999). International hotel chains enjoy large economies of scale (Salinger, 1990) as they have huge numbers of hotel chains and brands therefore expanding their market power. The Hilton Worldwide brand shares the same source of supply through their supply management system and customer database through their technology platform, the OnQ system across all hotel chains (Hilton Worldwide, 2012; Hilton Franchise, 2012), forcing new entrants with small scales to accept the cost disadvantage which directly affects their profits and sustainability (Pearce and Robinson, 2009). Due to the analogous product and service offerings, brand identification is the best way for hotel chains to differentiate themselves from competitors (Dubà © Renaghan, 2000; Makadok, 2010). International hotel chains has succeeded in creating brand awareness through rapid expansions of brands such as Hilton and Holiday Inn (Okumus et al., 2010) with assurance of quality as well as the implementation of different loyalty programmes, causing new entrants the challenge to overcome customer loyalty (Kandampully and Suhartanto, 2000). Capital requirement of opening a new hotel is very high. It incurs high fixed costs (Chung, 2000) for the land and the construction plus renovation of the hotel. Huge amount of start-up and running cost is also required to recruit employees and roll-out marketing activities such as the development of the hotel brand through advertising as well as research and development activities (Matovic, 2002). Huge budgets must also be allocated for maintenance and u pkeep of the hotel property (Hall, 1987). Besides structural barriers which are influenced by the nature of the industry, there are also behavioural barriers which Sigfried and Evans (1994) describe as the retaliation strategies firms implements such as patents, predatory pricing, and exclusivity agreements with suppliers and distributors. However, the liberation of trade barriers by governments due to the trend of globalisation lowers the entry barriers especially in developing countries which do not have the resources to provide sufficient hospitality services and requires foreign firms to help develop the tourism sector (Hitt and Hoskisson, 1999). Conversely certain government do limit entries and provide exclusive rights to the local firms. Weighing the facts in this study, barriers of entry to the hospitality industry is still considered relatively high, especially to the luxury segment where more investment and development of brand is required, and customers loyalty in existing luxury brands are already high which is proved by the high prices the consumers are willing to pay for a hotel room. In the budget or midscale segment, new entrants could attempt price penetration but the sustainability of the business could be unfeasible if consumers choices are dependent on the pricing only (Graf, 2011). Generally the threat of new entrant is fairly low, but could increase if there is liberal trading policies and high concentration of the industry in the particular location. But once a new entrant decides to take the high risk of entering the industry and has the ability to innovate and make differentiation in products and services, they will aggressively pursue market share to cover the high fixed cost invested (Matovic, 200 2), raising the competition level in the industry. 2.2 Threat of substitutes Porter (1980) has also identified the threat of substitute in increasing intensity of rivalry. Substitutes give consumers more options often with better prices or value in achieving the same basic needs or wants. Substitutes are often not identified as primary rivals, making them difficult to be anticipated by firms (Magretta 2012). The presence of substitutes limits the profitability of firms by placing a ceiling in prices and increase price elasticity of the hotel product (Porter, 1980). When the pricing factor is considered, threats are formed when substitutes offer lower prices for the similar product, offer better quality products with a slight increase in price and when lower quality of products is provided with a significant drop in prices (Lewis et al., 1989). Technological advancement supported by the high speed of internet has posed significant threat to the meeting and conference facility of a hotel which are the main revenue source of business hotels with the availability of teleconferencing. Many corporate companies would consider teleconferencing to be an ideal choice as it eliminates the high cost incurred for flight tickets, lodging and rental of conference facilities and equipment as well as the time consuming trips (Leocha, 2009). Other potential substitutes for the business traveller segments could be corporate guesthouses and long stay hotels (Regal Wing, 2011) whereas leisure travellers could opt for cheaper alternatives such as rented apartments, informal lodging with friends or families, RVs, camping, simple capsule hotels or make plans for overnight rides by long hour flight, train or bus. Business of airport hotels are also affected by the availability of sleeping capsules and rooms in airports (USA today, 2009) which remo ves the need of transit passengers to rent day rooms in hotels. However, threats of substitutes in upper-scale luxury hotels are relatively low because consumers of this segment demands for exceptional comfort along with exclusive service standards, amenities and recognition which typical substitutes could not meet (Griffin et al., 1997). There are many substitutes in the hospitality industry except for the high end hotels. The author concludes that the overall threat of substitute is moderate as the availability of substitutes is very dependent on the location of the hotel and consumer preferences as hotel provides more comfort, convenience and security compared to the substitutes. 2.3 Power of suppliers The power of suppliers has direct impact on the profitability of hotels as it controls the input of the hotel which is vital for the operations of any hotel and provides flexibility to a hotel to give surplus to their customers. The hospitality industry is considered a matured industry (Martel 1974) and there are many suppliers who are readily in the market (Kim and Oh, 2004; Olsen and Roper 1998). Hotel suppliers include outsourced firms providing operational services such as accounting, maintenance, security, promotion and storage (Burt and Pinkerton, 1996) or even off-premise laundry services. Real estate agencies are important suppliers when hotels are planning their pipelines and there are many which are available and competing for businesses from hotels as the investment is very huge. With active mergers and acquisitions in the industry, many hotel chains are actually affiliated with real estate companies such as Hilton Worldwide, La Quita Inn and Motel 6 being acquired by Blackstone group with active real estate businesses (Wikipedia, 2012) eliminating the need of suppliers. However, power of a particular supplier would be high if hotels are searching for unique locations. Another main input of a hotel would be the employees. With the development of hotel schools and relevant courses, many qualified personnel are available for management trainee programmes and further contribute to the hotels. Hotels are often given credit to the ability to reduce unemployment rate of an area, proving that the ratio of supplier to firm is higher (Hassan, 2000). However hotels face the issue of shortage in manpower during peak seasons due to the employment strategies of hotel establishments to have a core of full time employees and employ casual and part-time labour to meet fluctuation of demand (Lufferty, 1998). The nature of part-time employment results in high turnover rates and high training resources. A centralised supply management system and is often integrated across brands of major hotel chains, giving strong negotiation power to the hotel, making business from hotels indispensable to suppliers (Cox, 1999). With the vast growth of the information technology sector, there are many property management systems without significant product differentiation for hotel chains to choose from, thus giving hotels high buying powers. Another plus point for hotel groups is the practice of vertical integrations and the opportunity of backward integration (Lafferty and van Fossen, 2001) by owning own real estate agencies, manufacturing plants and hotel schools such as the Accor training academy. Summing up the relevant facts shows that the power of suppliers in the hospitality industry is low. 2.4 Power of buyers The hospitality industry has many buyers including corporate companies, travel agencies and individual travellers or the user itself. Price sensitivity of buyers depends on the hotel segmentation (Go and Pine, 1995). Buyers of budget hotel segments are generally more price sensitive than those of the luxury segment who appreciates higher quality of services rather than affordability. Switching cost of buyers could be increased through loyalty programmes which provide more value and benefit to buyers as a reward of repetitive patronisation (Kandampully and Suhartanto, 2000). Corporate and travel agent discounts are also given reduce the power of buyers to switch their suppliers (Jones et al, 2007). Buyer power has increase through distribution channels of hotels in the internet. It gives buyers access to information and reviews of different hotels available and compare them instantly (Law and Hsu, 2005). Gu and Canoon (1998) suggest that buyer power could be subject to seasonality depending on the availability of disposable income and leisure time or the geographical factors of the location such as weather, and hotels implement yield management to gain maximum profitability with considerations of these factors (Burgess and Bryant, 2001). During peak seasons when there is an undersupply of rooms and lower price elasticity, hotel products would be sold at rack rates, decreasing buyer power of price negotiating. In contrast with low season and periods of slow economy growth where hotels strive to fill up occupancy to achieve minimum profit to breakeven, buyer power will increase significantly with attractive packages of value and choice of accommodation in the available hotel chains (Kandampully and Suhartanto, 2000). In summary, the power of buyers in is moderate depending on different circumstances. 2.5 Rivalry among firms The level of competition within existing firms in the hospitality industry also affects the profitability of firms (Porter, 1980). Despite the uncertainty in economy, the tourism sector is showing steady growth and remains strong across the globe. It is forecasted that at the end of year 2012, there would be 1 billion international tourist arrivals globally. Growth is shown in every region, with comparison with the previous year, Asia Pacific showed the highest growth of 8%, Africa with 7%, America with 5%, and Europe with 4%, Middle East only showed growth of 0.7% as the region is still recovering from the effect of the Arab Spring (UNWTO, 2012).The growth in tourism increases the demand in the lodging industry therefore encouraging international hotel chains to develop strategic planning to accommodate the tourist by the expansion of their brands in potential markets (Lafferty and van Fossen, 2001). Expansions can be done rapidly with the trend of franchise licensing and management contracts (Chen and Dimou, 2005). The hospitality industry involves many firms including international and domestic hotel chains ranging from luxury, full service, mid-scale, boutique and budget hotels to accommodate needs of different customer segments. Main international chains found around the globe would be The Intercontinental group, Wyndham Hotel Group, Marriot International, Hilton Worldwide, Accor group, Choice hotels, Best Western, Starwood, Carlson and Global Hyatt with growing numbers of room each year. The hotel industry performance outlook of 2012 provided by tripadvisor shows that 58% of global hotels believe that their firm can gain more profitability in future. Survey done by Travelocity shows that 76% of consumer are planning to spend more on travelling and 53% of consumers are planning to travel more compared to year 2011. This implies a positive growth in the hospitality industry (Marketing chart, 2012). The nature of the hotel business shows the need of international expansion to meet demands with wide dispersion of geographical spectrum (Matthews, 1997) as the carrying capacity is fixed and the services provided by hotels can only meet the demand of consumer if it is present in the location. Firms such as international hotel chains operating in the same location have market similarities as they share the same sets of market (Chen, 1996). They compete for the same resources or customers and face the same constraints affected by the external environment. Location is the key determinant of ones rival as the role of a hotel is to satisfy the guest need to get accommodation at that specific area. The strategic decision in deciding the geographical location of a hotel is very crucial as it is the attribute of a hotel that is fixed the fixed cost incurred is very high and (Matovic, 2002). Hotel chains develop in the same location to justify the attractiveness of the area thus reducing the perceived risk of investment by managers (Markussen, 1990). Go and Pine (1995) argues that product segmentation which includes pricing and level of facilities should be considered while determining primary rivals but pricing is highly variable and the change in pricing could cause the hotel to meet new competitors and increase the number of competitors (Roginsky, 1995) therefore damaging the profitability potential of the industry. Rivalry is often high with firms existing in the same strategic group. Pearce and Robinson (2009) stated that a strategic group would consist of hotels with similar competitive strategies and market positioning; while Hatten and Schendel, (1977) propose that members of an industry can be classified into groups of similar strategy and structure. They have the same distribution channel, features of products and services provided, target market, and identical technology advancement. Strategic groups can be identified by comparing the competitive characteristics of firms by using almost a hundred possible variables (Ketchen et al. 1993) such as the quality range, geographic coverage, degree of service offered and degree of vertical integration. Firms that are present in the same strategic group are identified as a close rivals, assisting managers in constructing competitive strategies and allocate resources efficiently to be ahead of rivals (Matthews, 2000). Structural similarities of fi rms in the same strategic group cause them to be affected in the same way by external environmental changes and competitive strategies within the group. Imitation of strategies can be easily done within the same group which is supported by the institutional theory that shows the occurrence of similar competence between firms (Selznick, 1996) under the same internal and external environment causing isomorphism (Oliver, 1988). Isomorphism is the condition when firms competing in the same population share same characteristics. The environmental forces have mimetic influences on hotels (DiMaggio Powell, 1983), where the successful chain is often imitated by the rest to reduce uncertainty the need of investment in their own market research. Obligatory action also causes imitation, March (1981) quoted that obligatory action happens when enough firms do things in a particular fashion, it becomes the norm and from that point on, things are done that way without conscious thought. Caves and Porter (1980) suggest that the existence of strategic groups gives an advantage to members of a strategic group by creating a high entry barrier to new e ntrants because of the saturation of competition within. Besides the factors mentioned above, rivalry among firms are intensified due to the high exit barriers (Dess et al, 2004) associated with significant capital investment as well as the high exit cost such as the depreciation cost of fixed assets, severance pay for employees and compensation cost for breach of contracts with suppliers and buyers. Exit barriers are especially high for large hotel chain with multiple locations, extensive interconnection with different suppliers and buyers, and large pool of employees. The high amount of sunk and exit cost pressures the exit- prospective hotel to keep its market share and continue running the business along with the implementation of new strategies in hope to revive the performance of the hotel and maintain the employment of the large labour force involved. Perishable products offered by hotels create the urgency in selling the product as soon as possible to capture revenue, elevating the competition especially during off-peak season with oversupply of rooms (Matthews, 1997). For leisure travellers who do not travel frequently and has no brand preferences, the switching cost is very low or almost nothing as they would be attracted to any hotel chain which gives more perceived value or has lower price without considering the brand of the hotel chain, making them a potential customer for any hotel chain (Kandampully and Suhartanto, 2000). Hotel products have very limited potential of differentiation because the basic need of accommodation and shelter for tourist could easily be met and strategies of one hotel could be easily imitated by the other because of the lacking in patented knowledge and technology (Dunning McQueen, 1982). Weighing the factors and reasoning contributing to the rivalry among firms, the author suggest that this is t he strongest force in Porters five forces affecting level of competition in the hospitality industry. 3.1 Conclusion Given the analysis in the many competitive forces found between rivals, the author suggests that the intensity of rivalry among firm is strong but not to the brutal stage yet. Although growth in mature industries such as the hospitality industry is generally slower, the emergence of complement products such as cheap flights and additional frequent routes has facilitated tourism growth therefore benefiting the hotel businesses (Rey et al., 2011). Development of outbound tourism in emerging BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, Africa) countries and other Asia Pacific region which is expected to capture 29% of total international tourist arrival in 2030 (UNWTO, 2012) encourages the growth of hotel pipelines, giving the hotel business a very good prospect of the future. The hotel industry is also a multi-billion dollar industry with signs of rebound due to the healing economy (Hotel News Now, 2012) with large hotel chains co-existing enjoying great amount of profitability especially with the increase growth in the tourism and motivation in travelling. Furthermore, although many hotel chains exist in the industry, different hotels define competitors with different criteria such as segmentation, price and proximity (Whitla et al, 2007) depending on its strategic group. Word count: 3289

Drugs and alcohol effects :: essays research papers fc

The drug problem affects all types of students. All regions and all types of communities show high levels of drug use. Thirty percent of 1990 high school seniors in non-metropolitan areas reported illicit drug use in the previous year, while the rate for seniors in large metropolitan areas was 33 percent. Although higher proportions of males are involved in illicit drug use, especially heavy drug use, the gap between the sexes is closing Bibliography lists 4 sources. California has been considered a leader in the fight for drug control. With its 'three strike and you're out' program, the west coast state has demonstrated its firm stance on the issue of illegal drugs. However, the writer discusses that at the helm of this controversial topic is the mandate of minimum drug sentencing for what some consider to be insignificant usage; as such, people caught with what would have one time been considered a negligible amount of cocaine are now – under new and forceful laws – looking at a mandatory minimal jail sentence. An 8 page paper that argues against the legalization of marijuana from a sociological and psychological perspective. The writer suggests that while there is considerable data about the usefulness of this drug from a medical standpoint, the general legalization would have considerable social and psychological implications. A 6 page research paper that examines the effects of parental substance abuse on their children and argues that such abuse greatly increases the chances that their children will, likewise, develop substance abuse problems. A 5 page introduction on the importance of obstetric/gynecology centers on many aspects of women's health care. Identifies the problems inherent in crack cocaine use among pregnant women and stresses the importance of educational programs in the reduction of crack cocaine usage and suggests that viable alternatives for these types of programs could be revealed by reviewing crack usage among pregnant w omen outside the large urban environment.The drug problem affects all types of students. All regions and all types of communities show high levels of drug use. Thirty percent of 1990 high school seniors in nonmetropolitan areas reported illicit drug use in the previous year, while the rate for seniors in large metropolitan areas was 33 percent. Although higher proportions of males are involved in illicit drug use, especially heavy drug use, the gap between the sexes is closing Bibliography lists 4 sources. The drug problem affects all types of students.

What would happen if the World Runs out of Oil and Gas :: essays research papers

Oil is hydrocarbons that grew up in the earth when source rock full of organic inclusions sank to just the right depth not too little and not too much and got cooked over the ages. It took hundreds of millions of years for the world's supply of oil to be created. The oil is used to make gasoline obviously, but also home heating oil, diesel fuel but also 90 percent of all the organic chemicals that we use. That includes pharmaceuticals, agricultural products, plastics, fabrics and so on. They are petrochemicals, meaning they originate as oil. the need for those hydrocarbon materials has been increasing for 150 years and will go on increasing especially because the world's population is increasing. The poorer parts of the world want to increase their standard of living, which inevitably means using more energy. Fossil fuels are our principal source of energy. I hope that enough people will become aware of the problem and we will be a little better prepared, Right now we don't have the kind of leadership that would take us in the direction that would make major changes. As individuals we can do things, driving hybrid cars, for example. But as a society we have to redesign cities so that people live close to where they work. There are all kinds of measures. We are so profligate in the use of energy that even with the smallest effort we can reduce the rate at which we use energy very significantly, as Californians showed after the last energy crisis. But what we really need is massive infusion of research on all of the possible ways of ameliorating this problem. It's possible for us to revert either to natural gas or to coal or both. Among consequences are the increasing global climate change. But another consequence is, let us suppose you tried to substitute coal for oil. Natural gas is a good substitute and it will last for a while but it will have its own peak one or two decades after oil, so it's only a temporary solution. If you turn to coal, we're now using twice as much energy from oil as we are from coal. So if you want to liquefy coal as a substitute for oil in transportation which is its most important application you would have to mine coal at a rate that's many, many times at the rate of what we're doing now.

Latin America’s Problems: Result of Violent History?

Latin America’s Problems:Result of Violent History?History plays a role in the problems of any nation, and for that matter in the lives  of individual people.   Does this mean that a country or person is fated to an inevitable  future that is colored mostly by its past?   To some degree the answer is yes, but to take  any particular feature of a society’s past, namely violence in this instance, and thrust the  whole burden of responsibility upon it may be irresponsible, in and of itself, in a sincere  quest to ameliorate and ultimately eradicate the problematic issues that need to be  resolved. If we do want to attribute the current state of affairs in Latin America to its  violent history, we also need to understand the nature and genesis of that violence. Many  countries, including the USA, achieved independence through wars and violence, but we  do not cite our current problems on the American Revolution or the Civil War which was  violence am ongst our own people. The source of violence can be a key to understanding  how the countries of Latin America and their people have not recovered from the nature of the  violence they endured.When wars are fought to expunge a common enemy there is a feeling of  camaraderie and nationalism to have fought and won not only against a common enemy,  but against the very evil represented by that enemy. This mindset unites people and  solidifies belief systems, ethics, and morals so necessary to the success and continued  success of civilizations and their governments. What happens, however, when the  violence is perpetrated by the very institution that is supposed to be the bulwark of good,  and when the violence is perpetrated by this institution against the very people that look  to it for their protection?Chasteen says that â€Å" At the most basic level, conquest is always about  exploitation.† (p.58). Although we do not always think of the process of relig ious  conversion as conquest,   perhaps we should give this careful consideration. Chasteen  seems to agree with this as he goes on to say that â€Å"Most Spanish and Portugeuse people  that came to the Americas in the early 1500s believed that spreading the â€Å"true religion†,  even by force, was a good thing.† (p. 58). The kind of religion that the Catholic Church  brought to the Americas in the early 1500s was a perfect example of non  church/government separation. â€Å"To sin against Catholic teachings was, in many cases, a criminal  offense.† (p.70). The Catholic Church did not merely have a religious presence in Latin America.  They controlled it.   Chasteen summarizes some of what Las Casas had to say about the control ofCatholicism. â€Å"The reason for the death and destruction of so many souls at   Christian  hands†¦was simple greed†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (p. 60).  To further substantiate the demonstration of evil by the Catho lic Church take a  look at an excerpt from Brief account of the devastation of the Indies by Las Casas referred to  by Chasteen as   A brief account of the destruction of the Indies, (p. 61) a translational title  difference of the same work:   â€Å" After the wars and the killings had   ended, when usually there  survived only some boys, some women, and children, these survivors were distributed among the  Christians to be slaves. The repartimiento or distribution was made according to the rank and  importance of the Christian to whom the Indians were allocated, one of them being given thirty,  another forty, still another, one or two hundred, and besides the rank of the Christian there was  also to be considered in what favor he stood with the tyrant they called Governor.The  pretext was that these allocated Indians were to be instructed in the articles of the  Christian Faith. As if those Christians who were as a rule foolish and cruel and  greedy an d vicious could be caretakers of souls! And the care they took was to send the  men to the mines to dig for gold, which is intolerable labor, and to send the women into the  fields of the big ranches to hoe and till the land, work suitable for strong men. Nor to either the  men or the women did they give any food except herbs and legumes, things of little substance.  The milk in the breasts of the women with infants dried up and thus in a short while the infants  perished. And since men and women were separated, there could be no marital relations. And the  men died in the mines and the women died on the ranches from the same causes, exhaustion and  hunger. And thus was depopulated that island which had been densely populated.†(http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/bdorsey1/41docs/02-las.html).Although these are blatant examples of destruction, Chasteen also cites a more insidious  example the Church exercised, such as hegemony defined as â€Å" the basic principle of social  control in which a ruling class dominates others ideologically, with a minimum of physical force,  by making its dominance seem natural and inevitable.† (p. 325). â€Å"Religion offers one of the  clearest examples of cultural hegemony.† (p.69).   Even more dangerous than outright  exploitation, this creeps into the very fabric of the psyche of a people and carries over throughout  generations. As Chasteen points out, â€Å"When they accept the principle of their own  inferiority†¦they participate in their own subjugation.† (p.69).   The subjugation continued through history as Caudillos, rich landowners, were â€Å"the  party’s national leaders†Ã‚   (p. 124) in post colonial days.   In the neo colonial period from 1880-  1930, (p. 180), Latin America was still subjugated, but instead by cultures that had brought  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Progress† from other countries. The late 1800s saw â€Å"dicatorships or oligartch ies.† (p.192).During the time of   the US overtake of Cuba in the early 1900s we see the incendiary racistattitudes prevail, as Teddy Roosevelt coins the term â€Å"dago† for Latins. (p. 201). Right up until  the present day   it appears that Latins have never risen above the station that was thrust upon  them by the Church from the beginning.The book has opened my eyes to many injustices in Latin American history that I was  unaware existed and has provided food for thought as to the reasons Latin Americans seem to be  a problematic people. It is indeed, not the injustices in and of themselves, but the so called  Christian perpetrators of such injustices that give the history and the present fate of Latin  America such a fatalistic outlook and prognosis.Despite all of this and probably because of the  hegemony, it has happened without notice but it is interesting to note that †¦Ã¢â‚¬ Latin America has  always been Catholic, but now the majorit y of the world’s Catholics are Latin American.†Ã‚  (p. 320). At the end of the book Chasteen asks what the future will bring. (p.321).   He does not  provide an answer but it makes one wonder if   the subjugation can ever really end. Like a child  abused by a parent over years and years of time,   the Church ‘s abuse in the growing and  formative years of Latin America have left scars that will last an eternity.ReferencesChasteen, J.C. Born in blood and fire. A concise history of Latin AmericaDe Las Casas, B. Brief account of the devastation of the Indies. (1542). Retrieved fromhttp://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/bdorsey1/41docs/02-las.html on November 26, 2006.