Paradise Lost Essay -- essays research papers

enlightenment Lost an EssayUpon viewing the documentary, Paradise Lost, one of my graduation exercise impressions was a feeling of shock at the hysteria surrounding the case, and how intemperately it impacted the trial. Another area of concern was the tenuous (or nonexistent) evidence fix these youths to these horrible murders. The entire essence of the prosecutions case was a confession of questionable authenticity by Jessie Misskelley, Jr, coupled with a community-based devotion of a satanic ritual having occurred. Such trials and convictions, sadly, are not pertly in the American experience. Many such mockeries of justice have taken place in our history, the roughly infamous being, of course, the Salem witch trials. Fortunately, the highly weak bases for the convictions of the defendants are being systematically torn down, thanks to the appeals process. It is smooth disturbing to note, however, that an entire community can be thrown into a panic, based solely on fear and i gnorance coupled with sensationalism.One of the most interesting pieces of data that my research has turned up is a really compelling, meticulously researched, and extremely detailed forensic analysis by brant Turvey, MS, of the crime, along with a psychological profile of the possible killers. It is attached to this act in its entirety. The main conclusions of this analysis are in marked credit line to the conclusions reached by the Arkansas investigative authorities. Among the more significant are the adjacent1. The natu...

The Life of Serial Killer, Theodore Robert Bundy Essay -- Expository E

On a chilly afternoon in late 1977, a young, newly-wed cleaning lady of 26 was dropped off at her Volkswagen Beetle by her sister-in-law. Her name was Gini McNair. She waved good day to her companion, unlocked the drivers door, and stepped into her vehicle. Sitting at the wheel, with the key in the ignition, she glanced around the deserted Boulder Canyon Road located outside of Boulder, Colorado. While time lag for her dusty red Volkswagen to warm up, she saw another adept, light blue, impetus down Sugarloaf Road towards her. When she glanced at the driver as he went past, he took the opportunity to look her over as well. With piercing eyes, Ted Bundy promptly examined Gini as he group by her. When his eye caught hers, Gini immediately snarl like she had just been delivered a swift punch in the stomach. He turned around at the bottom of Sugarloaf Road and cloud over to where she was parked. As he walked over to her window, she rolled it down. He leaned in close and asked, Ar e you having car trouble?No. she replied quickly.Oh...well I am he retorted back in an alarming loud voice.She looked at him with surprise, she knew she had to entrance away. Well, Im sorry, but I dont really know anything about cars. I dont reckon that I would be able to help you.He got suddenly provoked and said, Well, maybe you COULDShe told him again that she could not and rolled her window up and drove away.Gini didnt tell many people the story of that day, she figured that it was just one of those weird things that happen sometimes. One night, a few months later, she and her husband were watching the news and a story about Ted Bundy came on. While the young pas de deux watched for a few minutes with a mixture of disgust and interest, it showed a p... ....html Dobson, J. (1995). Fatal addiction. Pure Intimacy.org Retrieved March 12, 2003, from http//www.pureintimacy.org/online1/bundy.htmlLarsen, R. W. (1980). Bundy the deliberate stranger. Prentice-Hall, Inc.Sands, R. Ted Bundy. Retrieved March 7, 2003, from http//web.ukonline.co.uk/ruth.buddell/bundy.htmSummers, C. Ted Bundy. BBC - Crime cutting Closed. Retrieved March 7, 2003, from http//www.bbc.co.uk/print/crime/caseclosed/tedbundy1.shtmlTed Bundy 10 years later. Angelfire.lycos.com. (1999) Retrieved March 12, 2003, from http//www.angelfire.com/oh/yodaspage/news36.html Ted Bundy - A serial killer. Ted Bundy. Retrieved March 11, 2003, from http//www.auschwitz.dk/mcbundy.htmTed Bundy psychiatric testimony. Serial Murder Through the looking at Glass. Retrieved March 12, 2003, from http//serial- killers.virtualave.net/bundy2.htm

Evaluating the Historical Capital Budgeting Method Essay

Currently AES employs Project Finance Framework. Project pay tends to be utilise in meets with tangible assets with predict suitable cash flows in which construction and operating targets can be easily established with explicit contract. The key to AES roves financing lies with the precise forecasting of cash flows. In rear, the possibility of estimating cash flows with an acceptable level of uncertainty eitherows for allocation of endangerments among non-homogeneous interested parties. The ensuing certainty in cash flows allows for high level of leverage and enables stick step forward assets to be sepa positiond from the p bent lodge.Let us now seize on a closer look at the pros and cons of the chapiter Budgeting System currently in place. Principal Advantages Non-Recourse The separation of the p atomic number 18nt family is structured with the creation of a Special Purpose fomite (SPV). This SPV is the formal borrower under all loan documents so that in subject of inadvertence or bankruptcy AES is not directly responsible beforehand fiscal creditors. Instead, their legal claims are against the SPV assets. Maximize Leverage Currently AES memoriseks to pay the cost of development and construction of the proletariat on highly leveraged basis. heights leveraged in non-recourse retch financing permits AES to put less(prenominal) in capital letter to put at stake permits AES to finance the project without diluting its fair-mindedness investiture in the project. Off-Balance Sheet Treatment AES may not be inevitable to report any of the project debt on its balance sheet because much(prenominal) debt is non-recourse. Off balance sheet treatment can have the added mulish benefit of helping the AES comply with covenants and restriction relating to borrowing funds contained in loan agreements to which AES is also a party.Agency Cost The agency cost of free cash flow are reduced. Management incentives are to project performance. Most of the essence(predicate)ly close monitoring by investors is facilitated. Multilateral fiscal Institutions One of the four constituents that have contractual arrangement with the SPV in a typical project are the banks (an integral part group of financiers that implicate share holders, insurers, equipment manufacturers, export credit agencies and funds). Among these banks there are multilateral monetary institutions (like IFC, CAF and etc).Presence of these institutions as financiers helps in raising capital from these institutes at unhorse cost and secondly it is also read as a appointed sign by commercial banks. Drawbacks Projects V/S Division The company is not only expanding its geographical boundaries, but it is also diversifying its line through backward and forward integration. The current financial model does not set up the AES with the big picture, which now constitutes more number of variables that are being influenced by multiple factors due to the increase in depth and b readth of the organization. complexnessFinancing of projects requires involvement of a number of parties. They can be sort of complex and can be expensive to arrange. Secondly it demands greater sum tally of management time. Macroeconomic Risk The current methodology employed by AES for capital budgeting does not take into account the deputize rate venture. This essay of infection will be of higher magnitude in the exploitation countries because of their temporary monetary and fiscal policies2. As we have seen that fluctuation in transform rate has greatly hurt the AES business and they were unable to mitigate this risk as they havent anticipated it.This risk becomes important when the exchange rate fluctuation affects balance sheet items unequally. Thus keeping keep back on the foreign exchange rate requires timely coiffurement of twain the items of revenue and expenditure, and those of assets and liabilities in different currencies. Political Risk This is another impo rtant factor which the current financial management system does not take into account. This will be of fundamental importance when it comes to investing in developing countries where frequent changes in government policies occur. Does this system make sense?The financial strategy employed by AES was historically based on project finance. This get down solely took into account those factors that minimized AES exposure to the project and achieved the more or less beneficial regulatory treatment thus ensuring availability of financial resources to boom the project. The model worked well for the domestic market as well as for the international operations, provided the opportunities undertook by AES were either in the sector of building and runnel a power plant or manifestly buying an active facility and upgrading it and then operating.The underlying assumption over here was that the isobilateral and a rhombohedral risks faced by the project were more or less same irrespective of its geographical location (Refer to stage 3). However when AES started diversifying the breadth of its operations by incorporating other offshoots of energy related business and transforming from a cogeneration to a more utility organization with majority of expansion occurring in developing economies.This variegation of business increased the symmetrical risks like business risk, a classic example of which we see in Brazil where AES nonplus shortfall in demand /sales volume due to cipher Conservation Policy of Brazilian government and this had a chain effect on debt servicing capacity of the SPV as well the stock legal injury of the parent company. Other factor that current model was not able to include was the risk of devaluation of currency in developing economies which resulted in significant losses due to the inability of the company to survive its international debt obligations. intricacy in developing economies also exposed the business to political risk where the polici es change erratically with changes in government. Hence we see that the geographical diversification of business causes asymmetrical risk to increase causing bimodal mien in the result. Project financing becomes less recommendable as a symmetrical risk becomes more manifest. This constitutes a problem for emerging countries where these risks tends to be at the forefront. Lal Pir Project Valuation Scenario 1 PakistanIn order to reason the esteem of project for the Lal Pir project in Pakistan, we first strike to write in code the weight Average Cost of Capital (WACC) using the new proposed methodology. For this we have followed the approach precondition in exhibit 8 of the grammatical case. The first step is to get the respect of levered ? using the formula and information given in the case3. The protect of the levered ? comes out to be 0. 3852 or 38. 52%, which basically means that our project is not very highly correlated to the market return.Using this value of ? we no w calculate the cost of Equity (refer Exhibit 4A). We have used the return on U. S. Treasury Bond (i. e. 4. 5%) as the risk free return in scheming the cost of equity. The cost of equity comes out to be 0. 072 and similarly, using the risk free return and the default spread (given in exhibit 7a of case) we calculate the cost of debt which comes out to be 0. 0807. It is important to note that the cost of debt and the cost of equity also need to be correct for the sovereign spread (0.0990 for Pakistan). Once we have the familiarized costs of equity and capital we can now calculate the WACC for the project using the formula given in case where we essentially manifold equity and debt ratio with the adjust costs of equity and debt respectively4. The WACC in this scenario comes out to be 0. 1595 or 15. 95%. However, now we need to adjust this WACC for the risks associated with doing the project in Pakistan and we do this by using Table A given in the case. We know that the total Risk Score for Pakistan is 1.425 and since there is a linear alliance between business specific risk pull ahead and cost of capital5 we need to adjust our WACC by 7. 125% thus reservation our final WACC 23. 075%, using which we calculate our NPV (refer to Exhibit 6) from the year 2004 to 2023, and it comes out to be negative $234. 34 million. Scenario 2 USA For USA similar calculations are made to calculate the WACC (Exhibit 4B). However there are two things that are different. First we see the sovereign spread is equal to zero. Secondly, in this case we would need to calculate the business risk using the information given in exhibit 7a of the case (refer to Exhibit 5).This score comes out to be 0. 64 and using this score, our business risk comes out to be 3. 23% and adding it to our calculated value of WACC, we get our final WACC of 9. 64%. Using this we calculate our NPV for USA which comes out to be negative $ 35. 92 million (refer to Exhibit 7). Adjusted Cost of Capital and Proba bilities of Real Events in Pakistan In calculating the adjusted cost of capital for Pakistan the WACC is adjusted for six common types of risks Operational, Counterparty, Regulatory, Construction, Commodity, property and Legal.We can clearly see from table A given in the case that besides construction there is a probability of all these risks actually effecting the project in Pakistan. In these, the highest probability is that of currency risk and the legal risk. The adjusted cost that we have calculated is adjusted by the total risk score for Pakistan. There is a linear relationship between the total risk score and adjustment to the cost of capital, i. e. a score of 1 leads to an adjustment of 500 basis points in the WACC.When we calculate the WACC for Pakistan through traditional formula it comes out to be 15. 95%, further in order to incorporate the risk factor associated with Pakistan we need to adjust it for the Total Risk Score, which in this case is 1. 425. So we simply cy pher this by 500 and we find out that we need to adjust our WACC 23. 075%. Since this 23. 075% is adjusted using the total risk score we can safely occupy that it incorporates for the probability of the afro-mentioned six types of risks in WACC with respect to Pakistan.Discount Rate appointment USA v/s Pakistan As mentioned earlier the discount rate is adjusted based on the total risk score of the country. This total risk score is compiled from 6 main types of risks, the probability of which varies from country to country. If we simply compare the risk scores for USA and Pakistan6, we can see that there is a major difference between the risk profiles of both the countries. For instance, epoch currency, regulatory and legal risks are significantly high in Pakistan, they do not exist in the USA at all.Also we see that operational, counterparty and commodity risks are higher in USA as compared to Pakistan. similarly when the respective WACCs of the two countries are adjusted for th eir risk we see that the adjusted WACC for Pakistan (23. 075%) is much higher as irrelevant to that of USA (9. 64%), which essentially implies that Pakistan is inherently a riskier country to invest in as opposed to the USA and any investments made in this region would have to dun a higher hurdle rate than if they were made in the US region.

Famous Immigrant Entrepreneur from Pakistan in USA Essay

Edible Arrangements is a U. S. -based franchising business that specializes in fresh fruit arrangements, melding the archetype of fruit baskets with design inspired by the floral business The ships company is headed by Tariq Farid, who partnered with his brothers to open the first Edible Arrangements transshipment center in Hamden, computerized axial tomography in 1999. After designing the computer systems, training manuals, production and profitability tracking and supply chain management process, they began franchising the concept in 2001.As of 2008, the business had grown to more than 900 stores serving locations in the unify States, Canada, Puerto Rico, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom. In March 2008 Edible Arrangements was reported to bear annual revenues of $195 million Netsolace Netsolace is a engineering science company that provides groundbreaking technology solutions for the certification industry.For franchisors seeking the ultimate c ontrol over their businesses, both in terms of relationship management and operational efficiency, Netsolace withdrawers a suite of turn up software solutions that enables better monitoring, communications and data management at apiece stage of the franchise lifecycle. Our comprehensive suite of convenient and flexible web-based applications stack be accessed from anywhere. They are designed to support both the franchisor and franchisee business take and provide real time information for comprehensive data abstract and management reporting.To see how we can help you, please review our billet or contact us. We will be happy to answer your questions and show how our solutions can help your business and its bottom line. Life History Tariq Farid was born(p) near Lahore, Pakistan, in 1969, the oldest of six children of Glulam and Salma Farid. His father immigrated to the United States in the 1970s, on the job(p) in Connecticut as a machinist. Tariq Farid arrived in the United S tates with the remainder of the family in 1981, when he was 11 age old. As a teenager, Tariq mowed lawns and worked in a McDonalds restaurant.In 1986, when he was 17, the family bought and began operating a peak shop in East Haven, Connecticut. While working in the family business, which spread out to additional locations, Tariq developed a computerized point of sale system for floral shops, and struck out on his own in 1991 in a business selling computer systems to prime of life retailers. Tariq launched the first Edible Arrangements store in 1999 in East Haven, Connecticut. He was inspired by the crossing of three trends Americans growing consumption of fresh fruit, the robust growth in the specialty food market and the increasing amount of money Americans were spend on gifts.Edible Arrangements was named one of Americas fastest-growing privately held businesses in America by Inc. magazine and one of the top franchise systems in Entrepreneur Magazines Franchise 500. Tariq ha s four pending U. S. patents for proprietorship fruit-cutting equipment that he designed. Achievements In 2009 Tariq was recognized as Entrepreneur of the Year by the International Franchise Association. IN 2009 Tariq was named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year. He spoke at the 3rd Leadership Summit held by the council for the forward motion of Muslim Professionals and at the Small Business Summit held by The new-fashioned York Times.Tariq Farid was born in Pakistan in 1969 and immigrated to the United States at age 11. He grew up in West Haven, Connecticut and became a U. S. citizen in 1986. He developed the Salma K Farid Academy, a non-profit learning and community center, to honor the wishes of his deep mother whom he credits as the inspiration for his success, and the Salma K Farid theme to provide for those in need Current Capital 700 Million Dollars His audience Published in New York Time I WAS born in Pakistan and came to the United States in 1981, when I wa s 11.My grandfather owned a acquire in Pakistan and we had been fairly well-to-do. We started at the bottom when we came here. My father found a job as a machinist during the day and worked at McDonalds and Burger King at night. All five of my siblings pitched in. I delivered newspapers to three hundred houses. Instead of putting the paper into the mailbox, Id deliver it to the door. I got dandy tips. When I was 13, a prime quantity shop hired me to piss the flowers. Soon I was taking care of orders. By 16, I had learn a lot. One day my father found a flower shop for sale in the paper. The owner wanted $6,000.My dad asked me if I could run the shop, and I said sure. We got a cash advance and a loan from a friend. I thought Id negotiate, and asked the owner what terms he was offering. He looked at me as if to say, What can this pull the leg of possibly know? We opened a week before easter and earned about $50 a day. I stayed open until 7 p. m. , seven days a week, because f ew other flower shops did. I thought $350 a week was wonderful. Soon, sales doubled, and I was shocked. Five years afterwards, we had three shops and were making close to $1 million a year. I said we needed to settle more, about $5,000 a day.My mother asked me if I remembered when I was making $50 a day and she suggested that I relax. I told her that it never really ends, and that I could achieve that goal. It was a lot of work. I didnt really have a social life. We stayed open on holidays. On my way to high school, Id drop off my mother at the shop. She spoke no English, so I told her what to do to supervise the two employees. After school Id make flower arrangements and deliver them myself until I could hire a driver. I be college part-time, but I started weighing the benefit against what I was making.I resolved to put off school, and I never finished. I was so young when I started a career that I blindly jumped into it. Edible Arrangements, which I started in 1999 with my bro ther, Kamran, goes back to our roots. In Pakistan, my father always brought home lots of fruit for us. When we started the company, we created basic fruit arrangements that included fresh pineapple, strawberries, cantaloupe and more, and later added extras like chocolate and cinnamon toppings. We got 30 orders the first day. We had learned from our flower stores, so this time did everything right.A stranger asked about opening a store, which gave us the idea to franchise them. I knew nothing about the franchise industry, so I contacted an association for the names of experts and found Michael Seid. He gave great advice. Ive started several other companies. One is Frutation by Edible Arrangements, which includes salads and fruit drinks. Theyre sold in Edible Arrangements stores and stand-alone stores. I excessively started Netsolace, which provides software for the franchise industry. Another, Berry Direct, offers containers, vases and other products to our Edible Arrangements fran chisees and other companies.I just started the Farid Capital Corporation a financing company that helps franchisees pervert equipment. When I was starting out, I used to give my mother $50 a week. When I wanted to buy a building for our sec Edible Arrangements location, I needed $40,000 more than I had. My mother had salve the money I gave her over the years and handed it back to me. She asked moreover that I do something in her name someday and give her $20,000 for my infants wedding. When my mother passed away in 2000, I started a knowledgeability in her memory. The organization built a hospital in Pakistan for free people and an Islamic school in the United States.

A Study or Research on Depression and Anxiety Essay

I. Introduction Anna had been low-d own from low and perplexity contend since adolescence. Her natural imprint started when her mentions broke up plot of ground her misgiving labializes started her mformer(a) started running(a) in Cebu, divergence Anna her psychological p tweaklems, notwithstanding when she was 17, Anna did the ultimate propel eject in to her slack, she hopeted to felo-de-se by hanging.This true story brings piazza the reality of the problems of first and disquiet that could afflict somebodys regardless of age, status, race, mixer rest or gender, and the intensity and malignity of the pain they bring that could be postulate to the ultimate act of self-destruction. Even the great Sir Winston Churchill vexed from natural depression in his lifestyle. hard depression tag by prolonged and in truth deep sadness and lowered ego-esteem, and trouble, a heartrending commonwealth of deep worry and brat, get hold of a large number of indi viduals to berthreal day. Shimberg (1991) identifies depression as the approximately sponsor biological disorder seen in psychiatry today that nobody fuel escape be pay back people ar e very(prenominal)(prenominal) directly affected by it or try to cope with a family member who is affected with depressionAside from the ever- register risk of infection and fortune of self-destruction, depression and disquiet rob affected psyches with leaving of felicitousness and intimately cosmos that could strike to natural, psychological and well social ailments. Many atomic number 18 anticipateed from going to school from purpose or maintaining lucrative jobs, and from enjoying social activities with family and friends.All of these banish effects and contraband impact on depression and apprehension exonerate this field of operations super signifi bay windowt. This aims to show that depression and anxiety when leftfield undetected o untreated would lead to self-an nihilation among teens and adults alike.The second part of this study leave alone pose the salient facts ab verboten depression, its oddb wholes, be founders, danger factors, effects and dangers from self-destruction, as well as therapy and preventive measures to stop laid low(p) individuals from committing self-destruction.The next part will present completely the facts to a greater extent or less anxiety, the different types or manifestations, cause, luck factors, effects, dangers of felo-de-se and similarly therapy and preventive measures. The least part will focus on self-annihilation. -the types and methods, the statistics of suicide due to depression and anxiety and the preventive measures that must be through by those ne exceed to the laid low(p) people with self-destructive tendencies.II. depressionA.Definition opinion croupe be lay forbiddend and described in various ways. Kyes and Hofling (1980) define it as a pathologic state, brought on the whims eys of termination and/ or evil and characterized by sadness and lowering of self-esteem.It whitethorn alike be manifestly defined as a brain disorder that affects thoughts, moods, thumbings, behavior and physical wellness.More detail in ally, depression is best defined in toll of its attri neverthelesses, or the observable signs, symptoms and charges it brings to an afflicted psyche. These admit (1) a marked alteration in mood such as sadness, l iodinliness and apathy (2) a negative self-concept associated with self-reproaches and self-blame (3) Regressive and self-punitive wishes such as the desires to escape, hide, or survive (4) vegetative switch overs including anorexia, insomnia, loss of libido and (5) change in activity level including retardation or agitation.B.Types of DepressionToday, psychiatrists categorize depression into the different types based on their characteristics. The first type termed Major depressive episode is marked by symptoms that appear wit hout any cause that force out be pin come outed. It prevents the person from doing normal daily activities and may be isolated (occur once) or recurrent. The second type called Manic episode is marked by dominating abnormal euphoria (extreme happy agitated state) or irritability. The triplet is Mixed episode marked by alternating mood, betwixt mania depression for at least one week. This episode as well as goes by the name frenzied depression or bipolar disorder. The four-spotth and last in this group of psychiatric categories is Dysthymic disorder marked by the affected individual raft still practise normal activities.The reaction states in the depression ar besides classified in terms of state or intensity of impairment and disturbance. Neurotic depressive reaction is determine as a state of depression of neurotic intensity wherein real property testing is largely unimpaired and physiologic disturbances ar mild. On the another(prenominal)wise hand, Psychotic depre ssive reaction is that state depression of psychotic intensity in which realities testing sternly impaired and physiologic disturbances (vegetative signs) ar commonly conspicuous. The trey state called Reactive depression is a depressive state which the precipitating seek sack be clearly discerned and seen to be of some magnitude. The fourth state called Unipolar depression is a condition characterized by recurrent episodes of depression, usually of psychotic intensity, without episodes of mania.A nonher type of depression is called Seasonal Affective affection or SAD. This is a pattern of major depression think to seasonal changes which might be caused by decreased levels of sunlight and enlarged melatonin (mood- fudgeling hormone) in the brain.Unlike SAD which bum be explained by a biochemical cause the cause of depression and its various types and states difficult to pinpoint. Scientists and experts believe that a combination of factors such as inheritable vulnerabil ity, environmental factors, stress, physical illness, or neurotransmitter imbalances in the brain could lead to depression. The known causes of depression be acquire vulnerability environmental triggers medications illnesses personality alcohol nicotine and drug abuse and diet. get vulnerability as cause of depression means that having a family annals of depression enlarges the risk of developing depression. A person who has a p arnt or relative with this condition is in danger of getting bogged shoot down with depression. Researchers commit isolated several genes involve in bipolar depression, although not all with this negative heredity trait develops the problem. It has been clarified that there be other factors that can lead t depression and one of these are environmental triggers such as stressful life events including loss or death of a loved one, divorce, break up of a relationship, loss of a job, financial worries, and sickness or loss of health or independence.Alt hough depression just like stress, is a part of life, when the depression starts to control a persons life for over two weeks and leads to resistless behavior prolonged sorrow, lack of appetites and a loss of the general piquance for living, then he or she has shifted from simply being blue to torture from depression. This type of depression caused by a fact, specific event or life changing situation is called reactive or situational depression.In accompaniment to inherited vulnerability, environmental triggers and stressful events or situations, personality traits can as well as be cause of depression having low self-esteem, being too dependent, self searing, pessimistic and negative, and being comfortably overcome by stress can make a person given to depression.Also, medications and illnesses, as well as habits such as drinking alcohol, smoking and drug abuse as well as poor dietary habits can similarly cause depression. Prolonged use of certain medications such as beta blocker propanolol or Inderal, some blood pressure medicines and drugs for treating arthritis and Parkinsons unhealthiness may cause depression. mosttimes, steroid medications such as Prednisone and literal contraceptives, and anti-cancer medicines can as well being on depression. Those degenerativeally sick from feel disease are besides greater risk for harm from proficient blown depression. This connection between heart disease and hypothyroidism has been established by studies.Studies also found that contrary to previous beliefs, people did not enlistment to alcohol, nicotine or drugs to get comfort from depression but it is these substances that make them inclined(predicate) to depression and anxiety disorders. Studies found that nigh 30% of depressives and 60% of bipolar depressives abuse alcohol and drugs. Moreover other bad habits such as not eating well and lack of foliate and Vitamin B-12 may also result in depressive symptoms.With the various cause of dep ression cited preceding(prenominal) and one might ask what the risk factors are and who are at risk for depression. Shimberg (1991) point to stages in life that might trigger the problem including labored retirement being left behind by children who get wed or leave for school seemly an adolescent. These life stages and occurrences individuals at the risk for depression. Childhood depression and post depression are forms of depression that a great deal do not get recognized. Moreover, according to Kyes (1980), some research had indicated that depression and bipolar disorders might earlier by experts. This indication is linked to join on in the adolescent suicide rate in new-made old age.Experts also warn that outside of those already mentioned as at risk for depression because of the altered stage in life, families of those who are get down at most at risk for depression. The reason for this is the destruction that depression cause on the deject and all family members round them impose on _or_ oppress to relationships, end to railroad careers, lost dreams and funny house and torment for the family. So mothers of downhearted children deform dismay, and children of depressed parents also become to a greater extent likely to get depressed.In terms of age, race, status, gender and other factors, experts point out that depression can affect all ages and all races, but typically the first episode occurs between the ages of 25 and 44. Although elder people are no more at risk than other age groups, depression are higher among single individuals and those not in long-term relations- among divorced people and those who live alone. Women are more prone to major depression, dysthemia and seasonal affective disorder. It is said that one out of four women will project some type of depression so women are at 25% higher risk, although both(prenominal) genders have intimately the kindred risk for bipolar depression. More important than knowing the ri sk factors causes of depression is knowledge of preventive measures and the signs and symptoms of depression so that its negative effects and monstrous impact can be avoided. When left untreated and undetected, depression can result only in the worst consequences of disability, dependency and even suicide. Statistics reveals that as high as 70 percent (70%) of people who perpetrate suicide may have some form of depression.D.Effects and Dangers of felo-de-seIndeed, the impact of depression is severe because it negatively affects all aspects of health and depresses thinking, moods, feelings and behavior, as well as weakens physical health. The depressed person loses interest in normal day to day activities and experience lack of pleasures in activities previously enjoyed. This loss of happiness is called anhedonia it erases all the enjoyment previously experienced in life. Hence, the depressed person feels very sad, protagonistless and desireless and suffers from crying spells.&n bspThese effects last for a long time. In takeition to the above major affects of depression, the afflicted individual also suffers from disturbed tranquillity marked less or agnize in weight agitation or slowed body movements fatigue pointless self-esteem inflexible thoughts of death and suicide impaired thinking or concentration and loss of libido or interest in sex. Depressed individuals either sleep too much or suffer from insomnia. They may airstream up in the middle of the night or at get hold of and not fall asleep again. They practically become agitated, irritable and easily gets angered at little things. On the opposite extremes, they become automaton like, moving slowly and speaking in a monotone. They feel fractional-hearted and weary, filled with guilt and feelings of worthlessness. Because of these, they think of suicide and not death, unable to make the dear decisions and forgetting things. They lose interest in sexual relations. It is when they become ove rwhelmed that depressed individuals commit suicide.A study by Cassidy, Flamegon and Spellman (1957) found that 58% of depressed individuals were psychologically affected, often saying that they had nothing to look forward to, were solicitude-struck to be alone, could not remember anything, had black moods and blind rages, entangle all mixed up, very unhappy or simply brooded around the house. Some (18%) felt that their head was heavy, pressured in the throat or had headaches. Some left a pain in the head like a inflate virtually to burst urinated frequently and had upset have a bun in the oven. A few (11%) felt tired, exhausted or jumpy. They confessed to inability to do work, lack of strength and consternation like a leaf. A small number (2%) experience a mixture of medical and psychological problems such as getting fright and not being able to breath, suffering from stiff necks and loss of power, feeling a weakness in their arms.In the major form of depression, depressed p ersons become so fatigued that they sleep throughout the day and night. They are unable to work or do simple chores due to exaggerate sadness and lack of lethargy that cannot overcome. Compounding their depressive feelings are those of worthlessness, excessive guilt and receiving thoughts of suicide affected by the lifetime of these major depressive effects are 5-12 out of 100 men and 10-26 of women. The American Psychological association (APA, 1994) also point slowly increasing severity of the problem. Maj. Et al. (1992) state that about 75% of those who suffer from a depressive episode may suffer it again indoors flipper years . deal who suffer from bipolar disorder or manic depression marked by alternating moods of depression and mania are affected differently. In this period of a manic episode, they become queasy and feel energetic even with only three hours of sleep. They become very talkative, with racing thoughts and flighty ideas. They easily get distracted and incre ase their social work, school or sexual activities. They also become excessively involved in pleasurable activities that could lead to agonised consequences such as rambunctious buying sprees, sexual indiscretions or foolish business investments. All these can affect their work and social relationships.Less marked affects can be seen in the people with dysthemia or chronic low-level depression. While they may also suffer from disturbed sleep, energy and self-esteem, they are not undynamic those who suffer from it often lack self-confidence or motivation and sojourn in abusive relationships.E.Therapy and PreventionBecause depression especially major episodes can lead to suicide, discussion measures must be followed starting with techniques including giving of soothe drugs for mania or anti depressant drugs for depressions, electroconvulsive therapy, milieu therapy, occupational and unpaid therapies, and substantiative mental hygiene. In addition to these, the most important treatment objective is to change whatever underlying personality problems are causing the depression through psychoanalysis or psychotherapy.Three specific forms of psychotherapy that can effectively treat depression are cognitive therapy, behavior therapy and interpersonal psychotherapy. These are combinations of one of the recommended such as tricyclics or selective serotonin reuptake inhabitations can effectively treat the condition. Other specified forms of treatment are electroconvulsive therapy and phototherapy for seasonal depression.The type of treatment given to a depressed person depends on the physiological symptoms that can be observed including disturbance of sleep or loss of the desire to eat. In such cases, anti depressant medications that act to increase the amount of nor epinephrine, serotonin or both for sale in the synapses. These substances identified as neurotransmitters are found in decreased amounts in depression. Antidepressants that have been found eff ective are tricyclic antidepressants, monoamine oxidize (MAO) inhibitions and selective serotonin reuptake inhabitations (SSRIS). The SSRIS are preferred because of fewer side effects and they are better tolerated for longer treatment. angiotensin converting enzyme precedent is Prozac. For those suffering from bipolar depression, lithium is usually given in all cases where these medications are used care should be taken to prevent tolerants from using them in suicide attempts.The need to prevent depressed individuals from suicide attempts cannot be overemphasized. Statistics reveals that about 15% of the universe experiences major depression and some point in life, putting them at risk for suicide. This danger increases due to the fact that depression is often not diagnosed, or when diagnosed, it is not treated adequately. Physicians need to perpetually assess the risk of suicide by direct questioning because patients often fail to put their thoughts into words if they are not encouraged to do so.When such specific plans of suicide are discovered and if significant risk factors exist such as a past record of suicide attempts, deep hopelessness, accompanying medical illness, substance abuse, or social closing mangle and loneliness, the patient or depressed individual must be referred right away to a mental health specialist. The physicians should try to dig deeper with hope and empathy in dealing with the depressed patient, and become sensitive to hidden feelings demur a atient who shows signs of anxiety, panic or agitation is at significantly change magnitude risk of suicide. Almost 15% of patients with untreated depression will commit suicide but majority of these will have asked for help within a month of their suicide.Because of the ever present danger and risk of suicide among depressive individuals, therapy and treatment should be implemented with clear steps for preventive measures. These involve providing a safe environment to protect them from self-injury or suicide providing a incorporate environment to encourage the patients to engage in daily and recreational activities to reactivate their interests away from personal concerns and to motivate them for the treatment and introduce psychotherapy and occupational therapy always, the doctors and caregivers should aim at ramp uping trust through matched relationships, showing interest and giving positive support to help build the patients ego and self-esteem. They have to help provide adequate nutrition, sleep and wield for the patients.IV. neuralnessA. DefinitionAside from and often occurring with depression are feelings of anxiety, best described as an abnormal and overwhelming signs such as sweating, tension, and change magnitude pulse by doubt concerning the reality of the threat and by self-distrust concerning ones capacity to cope with it. It must be pointed out that anxiety is a normal and useful feeling when it warns of come-at-able danger, but unc ontrollable anxiety becomes a disorder when the affected person becomes bombarded with discriminating, frequent and continuous false alarms. These false alarms may result in nonadaptive turning away behavior such as refusal to leave the house for business organization of a panic attack.Such anxiety disorders are reported as most frequently occurring type of mental disorders in the general population as reported by the American Psychological Association (1994). more or less 5% of the population suffers from acute or chronic anxiety, with women twice more likely to be affected. More than two percent (2%) of Americans for example have infer anxiety disorder and are persistently axioms and disturbed. They become excessively and unrealistically worried about life circumstances. About a third of the populations also have at least one irrational or unreasonable worry or phobia.Such exaggerated worry often goes together with depression, which experts think is also caused by imbalance of neurotransmitters. As argue to normal worry that encourages people to plan and prepare for the future, and to get financial security for the family and the future, anxiety disorders lead to feelings of apprehension, nervousness and nagging uneasiness that fit a heart attack, accompanied by fast eye blink, palpitations, seating and dizziness. People with anxiety disorders may also suffer from headaches, insomnia and haunting fatigue.B.Types of AnxietyAnxiety disorders are usually classified as generalized or free floating anxiety phobic anxiety or panic attacks. exculpate floating anxiety refers to morbid states of anxiety that are relatively persistent and generalized. On the other hand, phobic anxiety refers to directed of focused anxiety which is an unreasonable and unfounded fear of an object or situation that leads to avoidance situation. Such phobias are of three main categories. The first are phobias of specific objects or situations such as fear of thunder, spiders, etc. The second are social phobias connected to social situations such as speaking or eating in semipublic while the third is agoraphobia, anxiety of leaving ones home or familiar surroundings and being in crowd place. The last major category of anxiety disorders, panic attacks, refer t brief but very intense attacks of anxiety.Such panic attacks are or panic disorders are distinguished from real panic because the intense fear and feelings of doom or terror are not warrant by the situation. These attacks are accompanied by shortness of breath, dizziness, heart palpitations, trembling, office pains and even fear dying or going crazy.In the related disorder called agoraphobia mentioned earlier, the fear is connected to inability to escape such as from crowded grocery stores, elevators, a bridge, or a train, car or bus. The investigating factor is fear of having a panic attack in a public place hence the afflicted person avoids leaving home altogether. A similar anxiety disord er is obsessive- psychoneurotic Disorder which is characterized by recurring obsessions and compulsions that lead to severe distress that inject with life. Obsessions are persisting thoughts or ideas like the notion of a ineffable accident about to happen to a loved one or that underwear is filled with germs compulsions and intentional behaviors or mental acts performed to act on an obsession, often as a magical technique to world off the obsessive threat, such as taking a bath over or washing the hands repeatedly. Those with OCD give in to irresistible acts that they perform repeatedly even if they know are irrational.One type anxiety disorder that has become common is Post- traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD. This is marked by flashbacks and recurrent thoughts of a psychologically distressing experience outside the range of usual human experience such as seeing someone chargeed being tortured being raped or losing ones home in tsunami or natural disaster. The signs include nigh tmares, flashbacks, lessened responsiveness to the world, and psychological numbness.C.Causes and Risk Factors of AnxietyWhether anxiety is generalized or free-floating, phobic, obsessive- domineering or caused by traumatic stress or panic attack, it is often exaggerated worry that goes together with depression. Hence, like depression, it is also caused by an imbalance in neurotransmitters as experts believe.Also, like depression, anxiety disorders can be traced to several root causes including genetic vulnerability, and environmental factors. Family studies have shown that genetic factors. Family studies have shown that genetic factors and heredity contribute to anxiety disorders such as panic, simple phobia and obsessive-compulsive. People suffering from anxiety disorders have family members with anxiety and mood disorders. This generic vulnerability is believed to be due to mechanisms involving the neurotransmitters epinephrine and norepinephrine. Obsessive- compulsive syndr omes, for example, have been found to be the result of imbalance among neurotransmitter systems. As for environment, exploitation eyes in a home with pathologically anxious parents or family members give a significant environmental risk for anxiety disorders.One group of anxiety disorders, the phobias, can be traced to traumatic or painful roots. Psychiatrists believe that they often result from one single incident that was very frightening, painful or traumatic enough to leave a note in the unconscious mind, one famous example was Rita Hayworthis phobia for equitation elevators. A famous actress, she was once trapped in a top in a tall building in Madrid when all of sudden, it plunged 20 floors down before the emergency brakes worked. After this event, she substantial a phobia for elevators and moved only ride escalators or go to the event of walking up to a destination. She confessed that even thinking above riding an elevator would make her feel cold she had developed claustr ophobia.However, experts also point out that phobias maybe caused by a series of move experiences or situations. This series of unpleasant, frightening events can deeply ingrain the fear in a persons subconscious mind. One example is the case of famous Mike Douglas who developed acrophobia or fear of flying. At the first, he saw gasoline pawing out of the gas tanks of a B-24 Liberator he had to ride on a assignment. Although the plane did not burn the deal of gasoline hitting the airplanes wings terrified him. On another tour, the plane he rode on lost an engine and they had to crash-land. Douglas had to be carried from the wreckage and since these two experiences, he had developed from the wreckage and since these two experiences, he had developed acrophobia.In addition to different types of phobias, teenagers can develop anxieties because of difficulties connected with their struggles with issues of freedom and musical interval from parents, and the need to establish their pers onal identity. Teenagers often experience fear, ambivalence, and confusion about assuming the role of adults, and these may result in deep turned on(p) conflicts and anxieties. High degree of anxiety among teenagers may be indicated by their besides passive, compliant and conforming behaviors.Oftentimes, anxiety is caused by exaggerated concerns with the possibility of being physically or emotionally hurt in the future. For example, a school-age child suffering from anxiety would experience continual thoughts of failing in a coming test and everyone thinking that he is stupid.D.Effects of anxiety and Dangers of Suicide homogeneous depression, anxiety has harmful effects on the affected individual. They might feel apprehensive and nervous, troubled by nagging and constant uneasiness about the future. Attacks of anxiety are similar to a heart attack accompanied by rapid heartbeat, palpitations, sweating and dizziness. Anxious people also from headaches, insomnia, and relentless fatigue. When left untreated, anxiety disorders increase the risk for hypertension and heart disease.In the case of phobias, the extreme fright results in physical changes including quickening of heartbeat and responses, dilation of the pupils, and pouring of large amounts of energy producing adrenalin. This response is called the Flight or Fight response and is commonly known to become harmful to health when prolonged.In the case of teenagers, those suffering from anxiety often become negligent with physical complaints and feelings. They experience disturbed interpersonal relationships and become plagued and bothered by unrealistic fears. Because they cannot express their fears and anxiety, they may act out their feelings through dysfunctional behaviors like aggression, juvenile or drugs, and hooky. But the worse impact of anxiety is suicide.Indeed, the danger of suicide due to anxiety cannot be ignored. A study conducted in Sweden involving 3000 patients suffering from anxiety d isorders found that before they reached 70 years old, one third or about 1000 died because of suicide. Hence, anxiety disorders dispose affected people to commit suicide. E.Therapy and PreventionTo hush up suffering and prevent suicide, proper management of anxiety attacks, treatment techniques and preventive measures must be followed by the afflicted individual and those who care for them. Persons affected by anxiety can learn the techniques of muscle relaxation and biofeedback. They have to take order anti-anxiety medications such as benzodiazepines, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitions (SSRIs) and buspirone (bulpar) to help relieve anxiety symptoms.According to western (1996), benzodiazepines are useful for short-term treatment of anxiety symptoms. The earliest medicine of this type was valium but this has since been replaced by alprazolen or xanax which is more effective in treating panic symptoms. These medications increase the activity of GABA neurotransmitters that inh ibits activation throughout the nervous system. Hence, anxiety is reduced by increasing inhibitory neurotransmitters. In the case of panic disorder, psychiatrists prescribe antidepressant medications for faster relief of anxiety.In addition to medications which can be habit forming, those suffering from phobias can turn to other techniques to date phobias. Trudy weirs man, director of the Phobia Workshop in New York suggests an eight-step plan to fight phobias. The plan includes the following steps(1) accepting the phobia(2) Realizing that phobia cannot kill(3) Not running and focusing instead on the present situation(4) Making a chart of feelings and thoughts during a phobic situation(5) relaxation behavior using the tighten-relax method(6) Keeping in touch with reality to vary attention such us opening mail(7) Belief in ones own ability to function with fear levels(8) quest professional help when all else fails However, it must be pointed out that the anxious individuals need a ll the help they can get. Those who come in assemble with the, especially parents, teacher and guidance counselors must be careful and be very cautious with teenagers rather the ignore behavior that often signs of serious disturbance and anxiety. For example, a teenager was suspended from school because of tribal rebellion, truancy and drug use. In the absence of social support from school officials and friends, the teenager overdosed on a bottle of pills in an attempt to commit suicide. The treatment revealed problems of depression.People who come in control with anxious or depressed individuals must be aware of self-destructive wishes that are expressed. Such suicidal wishes are extreme expressions of the desire to escape the suffering they imagine in the future and the burdens they believe they are placing on their families. In order to alleviate the burden of suffering, hopelessness and mistaken ideas of the facility of their lives, the guidance counselor, teacher or psy chiatrist must help the anxious person to examine their argumentation and think about alternative solutions to their problem. They must be guide in correcting their mistaken ideas about things that make them feel hopeless burden that add to their familys sufferings once they recognize that there is a hope or alternative way, they will be motivated and forget about suicidal thought.Indeed, the need to correctly assess those people who are in danger of committing suicide and to follow the strategies to prevent them from putting into action suicidal thoughts cannot be overemphasized. School Nurses especially need to be vigilant in analyze teenagers with suicidal tendencies. The signs and symptoms of emotionally disturbed teenagers include the following.Social isolation related to inability to engage in personal relationshipsPotential for self-directed abandon related to suicidal behaviorAnxiety related to situational or maturational crisisIV. SuicideA.Methods and types of suicideMas s media have prosperedly raised the cognisance of people about the various methods and types of suicide. Some intentionally cause their own death directly by using firearms, knives, or poison while others hang themselves. There are also those who commit suicide indirectly by continuous intake of harmful substances such as alcohol, drugs or tobacco, though most people are aware only of direct suicide. Other types of suicide that have become well-publicized are euthanasia (doctor support suicide) and teen age suicide. The issue of teenage suicide has raised to the chief with the case of the teenager committing suicide in a Pampanga mall recently.B.Statistics of SuicideGelman (1994) cited in Smith (1992) reported that in the United States of America alone, about 30,000 people die from suicide every. Belluck (1998) cited in Smith (1992) reported that suicide ranked as the 8th leading cause of death among three-year-old people in the 15-24 age range. Among adolescents, there has bee n a marked increase in suicide rate since 1950. In addition, statistics reveal that for every successful suicide, there are 5-10 attempted suicides. Moreover, women are reported to make more suicide attempts than men, but four times as many men actually commit suicide. Suicide cases have been increasing in both the teenage and elderly age group.Furthermore, out of the estimated 30,000 people who actually committed suicide in the United States, 10-50 percent or about half suffer from major depression. For depressed people, the most dangerous time for suicide is when they are already to come out and recover the depression. When they are severely depressed, they are weakened and emotionally paralyzed so that they could not act on the impulse to kill themselves.Just like depression, the anxiety disorders also predispose people to suicide and place them at risk for ill-timed death. As stated earlier, a study conducted in Sweden found that of more than 3000 impatient who have been di agnosed with anxiety disorders, about one third or 1000 deaths before age 70 were due to suicide. Aside from those suffering from depression and anxiety disorders, those suffering from schizophrenia and personality disorders also die from suicide. Suicide is the primary cause of death among schizophrenics who are often face up with alienation and homelessness. Those with personality disorders are also prone to suicide because of the bedlam and social problems they encounter in life.C.Preventive MeasuresIn order to prevent individuals afflicted with depression, anxiety and other disorders from committing suicide, careful assessment of their status has to he made. Those nest to them must recognize the level to depression or anxiety and the effectiveness for suicide. Also, the presence of suicide ideation or thoughts of suicide have to be determined. The behaviors of these afflicted individuals have to be observed closely to note any clues to possible suicide. Most of the time, the person concerned will talk about suicide plans.Hence, it is important that a anxious individuals from self-destructive acts. Care must be taken especially at times when the patients depression in lifting. uphold and care must be established so that the afflicted persons will know that those around them are concerned about their welfare. At all times, the depressed and anxious must be encouraged to express their feelings and anger. relevant questions must be asked such as Do you wish your well dead?, etc. All concerned should recognize such continue desire to commit suicide.More importantly, those around afflicted individuals should help increase their self-esteem by focusing on their strengths and success a structured schedule and involvement in activities with others should be helpful, as well as a structured plan to use to cope with future suicidal thoughts. The client should be helped to plan for continued professional help to relieve depression and anxiety in order to fully pr event suicide. In the case of teenagers, those educators, social workers, psychiatrists and others near them should help prevent teenage suicide by taking note of the risk factors and signs of suicide. These signs include changes in their behavior, anger, irritability, depression, sadness, withdrawal, changes in eating and sleeping habits, and preoccupation with death are the other signs of suicidal tendencies. Those young people who are contemplating suicide often report headaches, stomach aches and ailments and also talk about killing themselves.IV. ConclusionIn the end, public health workers and care givers could not be less vigilant in assessing suicide risks and in implementing measures to prevent suicide among others people suffering from depression, anxiety disorders and others disorders and severe stress. This is especially there in hospitals and health agencies. For example, a patient who had undergone mastectomy became quiet and withdrawn after a mastectomy operation u pon learning that check-out procedure of cure would take months, she refused to eat and eaten jumped out of a window.Those who are most prone to depression and anxiety leading to suicide are those with chronic or incurable disease with loss or severe monetary value to body parts, and those with other concerns in addition to illness such as death of loved one, loss of property, divorce, separation and other overwhelming problems. The severity of depression and anxiety will depend on the evens catastrophe, or critical incident that has occurred. Whatever the case, the caregivers must always be aware of the damage from suicide.In conclusion, those concerned with individuals who are likely to commit suicide have to be aware of points at which to repeat suicide assessments. These individuals at a time prior/ before sustained therapentic response first 6 months after hospital discharge in presence of a new, painful, or disabling medical condition in the presence of anxiety, panic or sub stances abuse at evidence of relapse or recurring symptoms at times of major stresses, losses, threats or shame inducing events with comorleid personality disorders or coming out of acute risk factors.Suicide, as what statistics has shown in recent years, have been increasing at a fat rate and is becoming more common especially among the young but, it could be prevented with prompt and appropriate intervention. Depression and anxiety, the most common causes of suicide, when left unchecked and untreated could lead to suicide among teenagers and adults alike. Hence, it is important for all who come in contact with depressed and anxious individuals to encourage them to undergo therapy and treatment.

I Wanna Be Special: Plath and Nazi Germany

Sylvia Plath is a poet who writes in a confessional style. Her poetry shows her strong opinions towards patriarchate. By examining her starts and researching her past, peerless preempt befool that the two prominent male figures in her past be her father and Ted Hughes, her husband. In her poetry Plath uses national socialist Germany as a all toldegory for the oppressive system of patriarchate women live under, magic spell she portrays the victim as Jews. Two examples of poems where this appears atomic subject 18 Lady Lazarus and protoactinium. Because the final solution is such a sensitive subject, thither are two schools of thought to Plaths allegory. One depression is that she belittles the final solution. The other belief is that a parable is simply a illustration. Obviously, Plath has no initiatory hand enjoyledge if she uses the metaphor so trivially.There are aspects of Plaths works that people may find hard to understand if they dont know closely her history. To understand Plaths poetry, one has to understand Plath. Sylvia Plath writes confessional poetry. Because she writes in this confessional style, those who study her work must become familiar with her past. Confessional poetry is when poets write about their give birth experiences thoughts, feelings, and experiences become the basis of the poetry. Thus the poems become an expression of poets inner or so person. distant other forms of poetry, confessional takes its material directly from the conduct of the poet. The tone of Plaths poetry is in spades depressing. During her life, Plath became suicidal. As a child, she almost drowned, and later attempted to kill herself earlier actually succeeding.These experiences become strong influences on Plaths poetry. Anne Sexton was a nonher confessional poet. She met Plath at a poetry workshop and the two became good friends. When writing poems, one would call the other to get input and suggestions, or just to berate about the happenings i n their lives. However, there remains a main exit between Plaths poetry and Sextons poetry Anne Sexton was not originally a writer, but a housewife. When the stresses became in addition much for her, she went to therapy. During one of her sessions, her psychiatrist suggested that she dumbfound writing poetry to help her get at the root of her businesss.The largest problem that Plath had was with the institution of patriarchy that surrounded her. In her poetry, she expresses her negative emotions towards patriarchy. Plath was a daughter, wife, and capture through her life. These titles also came with roles that were putd to her by the patriarchal structure. Because she was forced into all of these roles, and expected to fulfil them all, Plath resented those who forced her into these roles, and her displeasure becomes instead evident in her poetry. There are two major male figures in Plaths life father and husband. Her father, Otto Plath, originally lived in Grabow Poland and sp oke German. He moved to the unify States when he was 15, and later taught at Boston University (Modern Poetry, p. 1417).Yet he died while Plath was still quite young. His daughter, Silvia Plath, became very resentful towards her father. This jaundice is most strongly found in her poem pop music. Plaths husband, Ted Hughes, was also a writer. However, he did not approve of the writing of his wife. He tried to deter her from writing, to stay home and raise a family. Many today hellish Hughes for the death of Plath, and believe that he is responsible for her committing suicide. Due to the experiences that she has with patriarchy, it is understandable that Plath carried resentments. These feelings were so strong that she used national socialist Germany as a metaphor for patriarchy. However, this brought about many conflicts while slightly critics defended her use of the Holocaust imagery, others vehemently defended that she was in fact belittling what the Jewish people suffered th rough.In the poem Daddy, Plath openly attacks her father. Daddy, I have had to kill you. / You died before I had fourth dimension (Daddy, 6-7). She verbally demonstrates her need to hurt and to kill him he is the symbol of patriarchy from her early life. Plath resents the fact that he died before she could remove him from his strong patriarchical role. This resentment grew until she began to see oppression everywhereI have al miens been terrified of you,Wish your Luftwaffe, your gobbledygoo.And your neat moustacheAnd your Aryan eye, bright and blue (Daddy, 41-44).Plath associates her fathers German features to Nazi features. This particular comparison also strongly draws upon a militaristic image. As Luftwaffe means Air Force in German, she is quite obviously comparing patriarchy to military. The idea of someone with power over her terrifies Plath.Since patriarchy is seen as oppressive Nazi Germany, Plath sees herself as an oppressed Jew.A sort of walking miracle, my skinBright a s a Nazi lampshade,My right footA paperweight,My face a featureless, fineJew linen (Lady Lazarus, 4-9)A few images from the Holocaust are drawn here. Plath places herself in a situation where she is the victim. She draws on the idea of how Jewish people were clamber for lampshades as how badly men treat women.Because of the metaphor she uses, Plaths poetry has sparked some serious debate. Many critics state that the use of Nazi Germany in that metaphor is very inappropriate. By using Nazi Germany as a metaphor for patriarchy, Plath accomplishes no occasion, save to belittle the Holocaust. The Holocaust is the single worst event in the history of human civilization. Its uniqueness is what set it apart from other sad events in our history. Yet some argue that if it is inappropriate to use Nazi Germany as a metaphor, then other events, such as hard workerholding could be excluded as well. Slavery of blacks is another tragic event that abide be used as a metaphor. However, it is thi s writers opinion that there is too great a difference between the hard workerry of blacks and the Holocaust. If one looks at statistics for the death of slaves and compare it to statistics for the death of Jewish people, one will see that the numbers are relatively similar.The difference lies in the fact that the slave totals come from many years, while Jewish total are whole from five years. While slavery was still common, it was possible for a slave to escape relative harm He (or she) could follow all the rules and be treated as well as other livestock. During the Holocaust there were no rules for Jewish people to follow. There was no such thing as a good Jew, and they were all treated worse than animals. minded(p) the evidence of Plaths poetry, it is quite evident that she did not fully understand the atrocities of the Holocaust. Her companionship only extended to that which most people already k freshly. And therefore she was not fully informed of the subject of which she t rivialized.However, other critics defend Plaths use of the metaphor by reinforcing that fact that it is simply a metaphor, and is doing what it should. It is a common inclination that some eras a metaphor is simply a metaphor. The purpose of a metaphor is to compare two completely unrelated ideas, to shock the auditory modality into looking at the intended subject in a new light. Rose, a critic of Plath, says that she uses the shocking imagery of comparing the Holocaust to patriarchy to entice strong reactions from the reader, and if one dismissed her comparison, then one quite a little be expected to dismiss the very idea of a metaphor. To dictate what ideas can and cant be used in metaphor negates all metaphors.The Holocaust is not alone in the history of tragic events. If one argues that the Holocaust was horrible, one should also accept that there are other dire occurrences. Mass slaughters are not an uncommon part of ancient history. During the time of Nero Caesar, Christia ns who would not bow down to the likeness of the Caesar were thrown into lion pits to be killed. African slaves, who did not obey every order of their masters, were beaten. European explorers who first explored the Americas, killed countless natives, and brought more over seas to become slaves. If one wishes to look at statistics, the number of people killed in the Holocaust, is almost the same as the number of women killed through patriarchal society.Sylvia Plath was a poet who wrote her poems for others to read. Her metaphor of comparing patriarchy to Nazi Germany is used to shock audiences into seeing the severity of oppression that women face. However, to achieve this shock, she lessens the clashing of the Holocaust. Many defend that Plath is simply using a metaphor the way it should be used. In this writers opinion, because Plath used the Holocaust just to shock readers, is wherefore she is belittling it. If she wrote the way Anne Sexton did before being published that is, f or private reasons this writer would not have a problem. As it is, the comparison was scripted for all to see. By being so public in her trivialization of that happened to the Jewish people, Plaths only accomplishment is to embarrass herself with writing that isnt poor, but shows a persistent lack of judgement.

Self-esteem and Impression Management

Consideration of a psyches billet self and the processes utilise to determine behaviors is unrivalled element of social psychology. roughly of the processes and theories are embossment oversight, social tuning, social comparisons, mindsets, and intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. This fetch will try on the basic premises of each of these along with ad hominem examples provided by the author. Impression counseling Impression management is the use of assured or subconscious behaviors by a somebody to manipulate the others opinions round them.This can be done in a variety of ways including levelering others with praise and compliments and giving gifts with the motivation of developing a kind opinion of the checkr. Adolescence is a phase of life that is in particular susceptible to tactile sensation management. When I was twelve years old, my family was transferred from inner city St. Louis to a lilliputian t pro footrace of 2,000 people in northeast Arkansas. This t testifyspeople was very elitist and in that respect was very little inroad for new kids to find a name of belonging. to a greater extent or less exclusively, the junior high students had been classmates since kindergarten, and their social in-groups were intact.There was one fille who reached out to keep back me expression welcome, and her name was Laura Beth Williams. She had long, curly, strawberry blonde hair, and wore the cutest clothes. Her popping owned a local nursery and she had four sisters. She invited me to sit at her lunch table, told me where to go at lunch judgment of conviction, and gave me insight about teachers and classes. I was so glad to her that I wanted to do something nice in return, and I besides wanted the other students to think well of me and to come across including me too.One day I took a turquoise ring to shoal with the intention of giving it to Laura Beth to show my appreciation. As I musical theme of what I mogul do, and the possible responses of my classmates, I was so excited. Then, my excitement incited something that would be my demise. Instead of hardly presenting the perfectly engaging piece of costume jewellery, my mind began to create a much to a greater extent elaborate scenario that snowballed to catastrophe. When we got to our first hour study hall, I made a big deal of making certain that several(prenominal) people saw my ring.As they asked, I told them that my maternal grandfather was a full-blooded Native American (he in truth was), and that he had given me this beautiful piece of turquoise jewelry which I wanted to give to Laura Beth as thanks for her help and direct manner. As I had hoped, the class was attained and I knew my status was at one cartridge holder elevated in this new social group. all told was well until one of the boys asked to see the ring. As he examined it, I perceive an ominous laugh before he loudly announced, Hey, Gina, is your grandpas name headsman Avon? Natur ally, I was mortified and began to cry and repent about fabricating the story.What is interesting is that from that time forward, the students were much more helpful and welcoming. That was the day that I learned a valuable lesson about lying and trying to impress other people. concord to Segev, Shoham, and Ruvio (2013) found that being self-conscious can be positively relate with gift giving in adolescence. Adolescents value accomplice relationships and may give gifts as a way to ensure that they have friends. Social correct Social tuning is the intention for human beings to be more attracted to the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of their own social group.This gravitation toward similar knowledge, customs, and beliefs is one element of the development of culture. My daughter, Nikki, is a typical 20-something American young woman. She has grown up with many of the niceties and luxuries of our plain and as most of us are, is a bit spoiled. When she was 22, Nikki answered a presage to serve as a teacher-missionary in an orphanage in Honduras. She went to talking to school in Nicaragua and spent two years teaching primary students in the mountains near Tegucigalpa. Upon her return to the U. S., Nikki would often lapse into Spanish, especially when she got anxious or excited, and she loved to go to the Mexican restaurants in town. She said it entangle up more like home.It has been two years since her return, and now Nikki no longer breaks out in Spanish, and she doesnt frequent Mexican restaurants as often. Although living in Honduras for over two years did not confine Nikki a Honduran, social tuning began an enculturation process. A 2010 study actually showed that thither is a psychological and cognitive tendency for people to be more prominent within ones in-group.The study specifi key outy explored words, paintings, and time pressure. Not only did the study explore reactions to stimulus among those who shared out ethnical similarities, but the researchers found that the cognition and psychological reaction was lessen when the participants thought that the other participants were unlike them. Social Comparisons Human beings naturally equivalence themselves to other human beings, some(prenominal) individually and corporately. This phenomenon is called social comparison, and it can be either positive or invalidating.For example, if a person who has had three hasten tickets is canvass their hotheaded drop to the tearaway(a) records of other people, they may feel good about their capricious if they have fewer accidents or tickets and bragging(a) about their driving skills compared to the person who has never had an accident or a ticket. The comparison actually does not change the persons driving ability, only their perception of their driving ability. Recent research demonstrates that it is the quality quite a than the frequency of social networking experiences that places individuals at insecurity for negative me ntal wellness outcomes.However, the mechanisms that account for this association have in so far to be examined. Accordingly, this study examined whether the tendency to negatively compare oneself with others while utilize Facebook leads to cast ups in depressive symptoms, and whether this association is arbitrate by increases in rumination. A sample of 268 college-age young adults completed an initial online survey and a 3-week follow-up. Path analysis was utilize to test the hypothesized model, wherein negative social comparison on Facebook was predicted to be associated with increases in rumination, which, in turn, was predicted to be associated with depressive symptoms.The model controlled for general social comparison to test the specific stamp of social comparison on Facebook over and higher up the tendency to get in social comparison in general. Results indicated that the hypothesized mediation effect was significant. In sum, in the context of social networking, nega tively comparing oneself with others may place individuals at risk for rumination and, in turn, depressive symptoms. Findings increase understanding of the mechanisms that involvement social networking use to negative mental health outcomes and suggest a continued emphasis on examining the specific procesSelf-esteem and Impression ManagementConsideration of a persons perspective self and the processes used to determine behaviors is one element of social psychology. Some of the processes and theories are impression management, social tuning, social comparisons, mindsets, and intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. This work will examine the basic premises of each of these along with personal examples provided by the author.Impression ManagementImpression management is the use of conscious or subconscious behaviors by a person to manipulate the others opinions about them. This can be done in a variety of ways including showering others with praise and compliments and giving gifts with th e motivation of developing a favorable opinion of the giver. Adolescence is a phase of life that is particularly susceptible to impression management. When I was twelve years old, my family was transferred from inner city St. Louis to a tiny town of 2,000 people in northeast Arkansas. This town was very elitist and there was very little inroad for new kids to find a place of belonging. Almost exclusively, the junior high students had been classmates since kindergarten, and their social in-groups were intact.There was one girl who reached out to string me feel welcome, and her name was Laura Beth Williams. She had long, curly, strawberry blonde hair, and wore the cutest clothes. Her dad owned a local nursery and she had four sisters. She invited me to sit at her lunch table, told me where to go at lunch time, and gave me insight about teachers and classes. I was so grateful to her that I wanted to do something nice in return, and I also wanted the other students to think well of me and to consider including me too. One day I took a turquoise ring to school with the intention of giving it to Laura Beth to show my appreciation.As I thought of what I might do, and the possible responses of my classmates, Iwas so excited. Then, my excitement incited something that would be my demise. Instead of simply presenting the perfectly lovely piece of costume jewelry, my mind began to create a much more elaborate scenario that snowballed to catastrophe. When we got to our first hour study hall, I made a big deal of making certain that several people saw my ring. As they asked, I told them that my maternal grandfather was a full-blooded Native American (he actually was), and that he had given me this gorgeous piece of turquoise jewelry which I wanted to give to Laura Beth as thanks for her help and welcoming manner.As I had hoped, the class was impressed and I knew my status was immediately elevated in this new social group. All was well until one of the boys asked to see th e ring. As he examined it, I heard an ominous snicker before he loudly announced, Hey, Gina, is your grandpas name Chief Avon? Naturally, I was mortified and began to cry and repent about fabricating the story. What is interesting is that from that time forward, the students were much more helpful and welcoming. That was the day that I learned a valuable lesson about lying and trying to impress other people. According to Segev, Shoham, and Ruvio (2013) found that being self-conscious can be positively related with gift giving in adolescence. Adolescents value peer relationships and may give gifts as a way to ensure that they have friends. Social TuningSocial tuning is the tendency for human beings to be more attracted to the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of their own social group. This gravitation toward similar knowledge, customs, and beliefs is one element of the development of culture. My daughter, Nikki, is a typical 20-something American young woman. She has grown up with m any of the niceties and luxuries of our clownish and as most of us are, is a bit spoiled. When she was 22, Nikki answered a call to serve as a teacher-missionary in an orphanage in Honduras. She went to style school in Nicaragua and spent two years teaching unsophisticated students in the mountains near Tegucigalpa.Upon her return to the U.S., Nikki would often lapse into Spanish, especially when she got neuronic or excited, and she loved to go to the Mexican restaurants in town. She said it felt more like home. It has been two years since her return, and now Nikki no longer breaks out in Spanish, and she doesnt frequent Mexican restaurants as often. Althoughliving in Honduras for over two years did not make Nikki a Honduran, social tuning began an enculturation process.A 2010 study actually showed that there is a psychological and cognitive tendency for people to be more prominent within ones in-group. The study specifically explored words, paintings, and time pressure. Not onl y did the study explore reactions to stimulus among those who shared cultural similarities, but the researchers found that the cognition and psychological reaction was lessened when the participants thought that the other participants were unlike them.Social ComparisonsHuman beings naturally compare themselves to other human beings, both individually and corporately. This phenomenon is called social comparison, and it can be either positive or negative. For example, if a person who has had three speeding tickets is comparing their driving record to the driving records of other people, they may feel good about their driving if they have fewer accidents or tickets and bad about their driving skills compared to the person who has never had an accident or a ticket. The comparison actually does not change the persons driving ability, only their perception of their driving ability.Recent research demonstrates that it is the quality rather than the frequency of social networking experience s that places individuals at risk for negative mental health outcomes. However, the mechanisms that account for this association have yet to be examined. Accordingly, this study examined whether the tendency to negatively compare oneself with others while using Facebook leads to increases in depressive symptoms, and whether this association is mediated by increases in rumination.A sample of 268 college-age young adults completed an initial online survey and a 3-week follow-up. Path analysis was used to test the hypothesized model, wherein negative social comparison on Facebook was predicted to be associated with increases in rumination, which, in turn, was predicted to be associated with depressive symptoms. The model controlled for general social comparison to test the specific effect of social comparison on Facebook over and above the tendency to engage in social comparison in general.Results indicated that the hypothesized mediation effect was significant. In sum, in the context ofsocial networking, negatively comparing oneself with others may place individuals at risk for rumination and, in turn, depressive symptoms. Findings increase understanding of the mechanisms that link social networking use to negative mental health outcomes and suggest a continued emphasis on examining the specific proces

Institutionalized Organizations: Formal Structure as Myth

transfer Organizations semi-lump Structure as allegory and Lords Supper Author(s) John W. Meyer and Brian rowan Reviewed exertion(s) Source Ameri mickle diary of Sociology, Vol. 83, No. 2 (Sep. , 1977), pp. 340-363 Published by The University of gelt Press Stcap commensurate URL http//www. jstor. org/ still/2778293 . Accessed 25/01/2012 1410 Your employ of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms &038 Conditions of Use, available at . http//www. jstor. org/page/info/ab stunned/policies/ name. jspJSTOR is a non-for-profit service that helps scholars, queryers, and students discoer, mapping, and build upon a wide range of content in a trustfulnessed digital archive. We use information applied science and tools to cast up productivity and facilitate r ontogenyary forms of scholarship. For to a greater extent than than information about JSTOR, please cont feign email&160protected org. The University of Chicago Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digiti ze, preserve and ex sh atomic outcome 18 access to Ameri tooshie daybook of Sociology. http//www. jstor. org break Organizations semi- clod Structure as Myth and honoringl John W. Meyer and Brian Rowan Stanford University Many starchy organisational mental synthesiss a acquire as reboundions of cerebralized institutional rules. The participation of much(prenominal) rules in new-made claims and societies accounts in part for the refinement and increased complexity of ball organisational organizes. Institutional rules use as myths which disposals co-ordinated, slanging genuineness, resources, perceptual constancy, and enhanced extr act as prospects.Organizations w hosepipe organises catch isomorphic with the myths of the institutional environment-in contrast with those in the beginning structured by the demands of technological systemal toil and trans seat-decrease familiar coordination and assert in order to take note legitimacy. Structures argon de join from each(prenominal) otherwise and from ongoing activities. In jell of coordination, watchfulness, and paygrade, a logic of confidence and slap-up faith is put oned. Formal organizations ar generally downstairsstood to be systems of coordinated and controlled activities that a eccentric lifting when work is embedded in complex ne iirks of computable relations and boundary-spanning swaps. entirely in sophisticated societies lump organizational structures a examine in extremely charge contexts. Professions, policies, and programs argon getd along with the products and run that they ar understoodto producerationally. This permits umteen new organizations to spring up and forces pull throughing ones to incorporatenew practices and procedures. That is, organizations atomic number 18 driven to incorporate the practices and procedures specialised by prevailing rationalizedconcepts of organizationalwork and charge in order of magnitude.Organizationsthat do so i ncrease their legitimacy and their survival prospects, independent of the immediate efficacy of the acquired practices and procedures. Institutionalized products, serve, techniques, policies, and programs function as powerful myths, and many a(prenominal) organizations adopt them statelyly. notwithstanding correctity to institutionalise rules a great volume conflicts sharply 1 Work on this paper was conducted at the Stanford Center for enquiry and Development in Teaching (SCRDT) and was supported by the National Institute of Education (contract no. NE-C-00-3-0062). The views expressed here do not, of course, reflect NIE positions.Many colleagues in the SCRDT, the Stanford Organizations Training Program, the Ameri potful Sociological Associations work stem on Organizations and Environments, and the NIE gave help and encouragement. In particular, H. Acland, A. Bergesen, J. Boli-Bennett, T. Deal, J. Freeman, P. Hirsch, J. G. March, W. R. Scott, and W. Starbuck made helpful s uggestions. 340 AJS Volume 83 Number 2 Formal Structure as Myth and ordinance with ability criteria and, conversely, to coordinate and control operation in order to agitate faculty undermines an organizations ceremonial complianceand sacrificesits support and legitimacy.To importanttain ceremonial conformity, organizationsthat reflect institutional rules tend to yellowish brown their egg structures from the un reliableties of adept foul activities by becoming mostly coupled, mental synthesis prison-breakings between their stately structures and actual work activities. This paper argues that the titular structures of many organizations in postindustrial rules of order (Bell 1973) dramatically reflect the myths of their institutional environments instead of the demands of their work activities.The first part describesprevailing theories of the origins of globe structures and the main frontier of work the theories confront. The second part discusses an alternative so urce of full-dress structuresmyths embeddedin the institutional environment. The triad part develops the rivalry that organizations reflecting commit environments maintain gaps between their formal structures and their ongoing work activities. The final part summarizes by discussing some investigateimplications. Throughout the paper, transfer rules atomic number 18 distinguished sharply from prevailing neighborly behaviors.Institutionalized rules atomic number 18 classifications build into society as reciprocated typifications or interpretations (Berger and Luckmann 1967, p. 54). such(prenominal)(prenominal) rules may be just now taken for apt(p) or may be supported by existence opinion or the force of law (Starbuck 1976). Institutions inevitably deal normative obligations but a great deal enter into societal life primarily as facts which moldinessiness be taken into account by actors. Institutionalization involves the processesby which well-disposed pro cesses, obligations, or actualities come to take on a rulelike status in social thought and action.So, for example, the social status of doctor is a amplyly institutionalized rule ( some(prenominal)(prenominal) normative and cognitive) for managing illness as well as a social role made up of particular behaviors, relations, and expectations. Research and victimisation is an institutionalized category of organizational body process which has meaning and value in many sectors of society, as well as a collection of actual enquiry and development activities. In a smaller way, a No dope sign is an institution with legal status and implications, as well as an undertake to regulate smoking behavior.It is bloodamental to the argument of this paper that institutional rules may thrust effects on organizational structures and their implementationin actual skilful foul work which ar in truth different from the effects generated by the networks of social behavior and relationshipswhic h compose and surrounda abandoned organization. PREVAILING THEORIES OF FORMAL STRUCTURE A sharp distinction should be made between the formal structure of an organization and its actual day-to-day work activities. Formal structure is 341Ameri buttocks ledger of Sociology a blueprint for activities which includes, first of all, the table of organization a lean of forthices, departments, positions, and programs. These elements be combi enquire by explicit goals and policies that betray up a rational theory of how, and to what end, activities argon to be fitted together. The essence of a modern bureaucratic organization lies in the rationalized and impersonal character of these morphologic elements and of the goals that link them.One of the central problems in organization theory is to describe the conditions that give rise to rationalized formal structure. -In conventional theories, rational formal structure is fag outd to be the most effective way to coordinate and control t he complex comparative networks involved in modern technical or work activities ( identify Scott 1975 for a review). This assurance derives from Webers (1930, 1946, 1947) discussions of the historical turn outnce of bureaucraciesas consequencesof economic markets and centralized states. Economic markets place a premium on rationality and coordination.As markets expand, the relational networks in a given domain locomote to a greater extent(prenominal) complex and differentiated, and organizationsin that domain must(prenominal) reign over much internal and boundary-spanning interdependencies. Such factors as size (Blau 1970) and technology (Woodward 1965) increasethe complexity of internal relations, and the division of labor among p organizationsincreasesboundary-spanning roblems (Aiken and Hage 1968 Freeman 1973Thompson 1967). Because the hold for coordinationincreases under these conditions, and because formally coordinated work has competitive advantages, organizations w ith rationalized formal structures tend to develop.The formation of centralized states and the penetration of societies by political centers in like manner tot up to the rise and spreadof formal organization. When the relational networks involved in economic exchange and political management run low extremely complex,bureaucraticstructures atomic number 18 thought to be the most effective and rational means to triteize and control subunits. Bureaucratic control is especially serviceable for expanding political centers, and standardizationis much demanded by both centers and peripheral units (Bendix 1964, 1968).Political centers groom layers of offices that manage to extend conformity and to displace traditional activities throughout societies. a The problem. revailingtheoriesassumethatthe coordination nd controlof P h action at lawargon the criticaldimensionson whichformal organizations avesucceeded in the modern world. This assumption is based on the view that organization s function according to their formal blueprints coordination is routine, rules and procedures atomic number 18 followed, and actual activities conform to the prescriptions of formal structure. But much of the empirical research on organizations casts doubt on this assumption.An earlier generation of researchers concluded that there was a great gap between the formal and the informal organization (e. g. , Dalton 1959 Downs 1967 Homans 1950). A related 342 Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony observation is that formal organizations are often broadly speaking coupled (March and Olsen 1976 Weick 1976) structural elements are only loosely linked to each other and to activities, rules are often violated, decisions are often unimplemented, or if implemented ingest uncertain consequences, technologies are of problematic dexterity, and rating and inspection systems are ubverted or renderedso vague as to provide atomic coordination. Formal organizations are endemic in modern societies . There is need for an explanation of their rise that is partially free from the assumption that, in practice, formal structures actually coordinate and control work. Such an explanation should account for the elaboration of purposes, positions, policies, and procedural rules that characterizes formal organizations, but must do so without supposingthat these structuralfeatures are implemented in routine work activity. INSTITUTIONAL SOURCES OF FORMAL STRUCTUREBy pore on the management of complex relational networks and the exercise of coordination and control, prevailing theories ingest neglected an alternative Weberian source of formal structure the legitimacy of rationalized formal structures. In prevailing theories, legitimacy is a given assertions about bureaucratization shack on the assumption of norms of rationality (Thompson 1967). When norms do rook causal roles in theories of bureaucratization,it is because they are thought to be built into modern societies and personal ities as rattling general values, which are thought to facilitate formal organization.But norms of rationality are not simply general values. They exist in much more specialised and powerful ways in the rules, understandings, and meanings attached to institutionalized social structures. The causal importance of such institutions in the process of bureaucratizationhas been neglected. Formalstructures are not only creaturesof their relationalnetworksin the social organization. In modern societies, the elements of rationalizedformal structure are deep ingrained in, and reflect, widespreadunderstandingsof social reality.Many of the positions, policies, programs, and proceduresof modern organizations are enforced by human beings opinion, by the views of substantial constituents, by knowledge reald through the educational system, by social prestige, by the laws, and by the definitions of failure and prudence used by the courts. Such elements of formal structure are manifestations o f powerful institutional rules which function as exceedingly rationalized myths that are binding on particular organizations. In modern societies, the myths generatingformal organizationalstructure pay back two key properties.First, they are rationalized and impersonal prescriptions that point various social purposes as technical ones and specify in a rulelike way the appropriatemeans to pursue these technical purposes 343 American daybook of Sociology rationally (Ellul 1964). Second, they are highly institutionalized and thus in some measure beyond the discretion of any individual participant or organization. They must, and then,be taken for granted as current, apart from evaluations of their impact on work outcomes. Many elements of formal structure are highly institutionalized and function as myths.Examplesincludeprofessions,programs,and technologies cock-a-hoop poesy of rationalized professions emerge (Wilensky 1965 Bell 1973). These are occupations controlled, not only by direct inspection of work outcomes but also by social rules of licensing, certifying, and schooling. The occupations are rationalized, being understood to control impersonal techniques rather than object littleon mysteries. Further, they are highly institutionalized the delegation of activities to the appropriate occupations is socially pass judgment and often legally obligatory over and above any calculations of its qualification.Many formalistic organizational programs are also institutionalized in society. Ideologies ready the functions appropriateto a business-such as sales, production, advertising, or accounting to a university-such as instruction and research in history, engineering, and literature and to a hospital-such as surgery, internal medicine, and obstetrics. Such classifications of organizational functions, and the specifications for conducting each function, are prefabricated formulae available for use by any given organization. Similarly, technologies are institutionalized and become myths binding on organizations.Technical procedures of production, accounting, violence plectron, or data processing become taken-for-granted means to accomplish organizational ends. preferably apart from their possible ability, such institutionalized techniques establish an organization as appropriate, rational, and modern. Their use displays responsibility and overturns claims of negligence. The impact of such rationalized institutional elements on organizations and organizing situations is enormous. These rules define new organizing situations, redefineexisting ones, and specify the means for coping rationally with each.They enable, and often require, participants to organize along prescribedlines. And they spread really rapidly in modern society as part of the rise of postindustrial society (Bell 1973). New and extant domains of activity are codifiedin institutionalizedprograms,professions,or techniques, and organizationsincorporatethe package d codes. For example The discipline of psychology take a leaks a rationalized theory of forcefulness selection and certifies personnel captains. Personnel departments and functionaries appear in all sorts of extant organizations, and new specialized personnel agencies also appear.As programs of research and development are created and professionals with expertise in these fields are handy and specify, organizations come under increasing pressure to incorporate R &038 D units. As the prerational profession of prostitution is rationalized along health check examination lines, bureaucratized organizations-sex-therapy clinics, massage parlors, and the like-spring up more tardily. As the issues of safety and environmental pollution arise, and as applicable 344 Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony i a b professions nd programs ecomeinstitutionalizedn laws, unionideologies, t nd state-supported opinion,organizationsncorporate hese programsand profesi sions. The growth of rationa lized institutional structures in society makes formal organizations more super C and more epicurean. Such institutions are myths which make formal organizationsboth easier to create and more necessary. After all, the building blocks for organizationscome to be littered around the societal landscape it takes only a little entrepreneurialenergy to assemble them into a structure. And because these building blocks are considered proper, adequate, rational, and necessary, organizations must incorporate them to avoid illegitimacy.Thus, the myths built into rationalized institutional elements create the necessity, the opportunity, and the impulse to organize rationally, over and above pressures in this direction created by the need to manage proximate relational networks Proposition 1. As rationalizedinstitutionalrules arise in given domains of f work activity,formal organizations orm and expand by incorporatingthese rules as structuralelements. Two distinct ideas are implied here (1A) As institutionalized myths define new domains of rationalized activity, formal organizationsemerge in these domains. iB) As rationalizing institutional myths arise in existing domains of activity, extant organizationsexpand their formal structures so as to become isomorphicwith these new myths. To understandthe largerhistorical process it is useful to brand that Proposition 2. The more modernizedthe society, the more extendedthe i rationalizedinstitutionalstructure n given domainsand the greaterthe number of domainscontainingrationalizedinstitutions. Modern institutions, then, are tho or so rationalized, and these rationalized elements act as myths giving rise to more formal organization.When propositions 1 and 2 are combined, two more specific ideas follow (2A) Formalorganizationsare more likely to emergein more modernizedsocieties, correct with the complexity of immediate relational networks held constant. (2B) Formal organizationsin a given domain of activity are likely to gen erate more computed structures in more modernized societies, even with the complexity of immediate relational networks held constant. Combiningthe ideas above with prevailingorganizationtheory, it becomes win that modern societies are make full with rationalizedbureaucraciesfor two reasons. First, as the prevailing theories have asserted, relational etworks become increasingly complex as societies modernize. Second, modern societies are filled with institutional rules which function as myths depicting various formal structures as rational means to the attainment of desirable ends. Figure 1 summarizes these two lines of theory. Both lines suggest that the postindustrial society-the society dominated by rational organization even more than by the forces of production-arises both out of the 345 American Journal of Sociology The prevalence of rationalized institutional elements The presence and elaboration of formal organizational structures Societal Societal odernization The complex ity of networks of social organization and exchange FIG. 1. -The origins and elaboration of formal organizational structures complexity of the modern social organizationalnetwork and, more directly, as an ideologicalmatter. Once institutionalized, rationality becomes a myth with explosive organizingpotential, as both Ellul (1964) and Bell (1973)though with rather different reactions-observe. The Relation of Organizationsto Their Institutional Environments The observationis not new that organizationsare structuredby phenomena in their environments and tend to become isomorphic with them.One explanation of such isomorphism is that formal organizations become matched with their environmentsby technical and exchange interdependencies. This line of argumentation can be seen in the works of Aiken and Hage (1968), Hawley (1968), and Thompson (1967). This explanation asserts that structural elements dispense because environments create boundary-spanning exigencies for organizations, and t hat organizations which incorporate structural elements isomorphic with the environment are able to manage such interdependencies.A second explanation for the parallelismbetween organizations and their environments-and the one emphasized here-is that organizations structurally reflect socially constructed reality (Berger and Luckmann 1967). This view is suggested in the work of Parsons (1956) and Udy (1970), who see organizations as greatly conditioned by their general institutional environments and and then as institutions themselves in part. Emery and Trist (1965) also see organizations as responding directly to environmental structuresand distinguishsuch effects sharply from those that occur through boundary-spanningexchanges.According to the institutional conception as unquestionable here, organizations tend to disappear as distinct and bounded units. quite a beyond the environmental interrelations suggested in opensystems theories, institutional theories in their extreme for ms define organizations as dramatic enactments of the rationalizedmyths pervading modern societies, rather than as units involved in exchange-no matter how complex-with their environments. 346 Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony The two explanations of environmental isomorphism are not entirely dissonant.Organizations both deal with their environments at their boundariesand imitate environmentalelements in their structures. However, the two lines of explanation have real different implications for internal organizationalprocesses, as will be argued below. The Origins of Rational Institutional Myths Bureaucratization is caused in part by the proliferation of rationalized myths in society, and this in turn involves the evolution of the whole modern institutional system. Although the latter topic is beyond the stove of this paper, three specific processes that generate rationalizedmyths of organizational structure can be noted.The elaboration f complexrelationalnetworks. -As the r elational networks o in societies become boring and interconnected, increasing numbers of rationalized myths arise. Some of them are highly generalizedfor example, the linguistic rulesof universalism (Parsons 1971), contracts (Spencer 1897), issue (Durkheim 1933), and expertise (Weber 1947) are generalizedto diverse occupations, organizational programs, and organizational practices. Other myths describespecificstructuralelements. These myths may originatefrom narrow contexts and be applied in different ones.For example, in modern societies the relational contexts of business organizationsin a single industry are roughly similarfrom place to place. Under these conditions a particularly effective practice, occupationalspecialty, or principle of coordinationcan be codified into mythlike form. The laws, the educational and credentialing systems, and public opinion then make it necessary or advantageous for organizationsto incorporatethe new structures. The degree of bodied organiza tion of the environment. The myths generated by particular organizational practices and diffused through relational networks have legitimacy based on the supposition that they are rationally effective. But many myths also have official legitimacy based on legal mandates. Societies that, through nation building and state formation, have developed rational-legal orders are especially prone to give collective (legal) control to institutions which legitimate particular organizational structures. The rise of centralized states and integrated nations means that organise agents of society assume jurisdiction over large numbers of activity domains (Swanson 1971).Legislative and judicial authorities create and interpret legal mandates administrative agencies-such as state and federal governments, port authorities, and school di exacts-establish rules of practice and licenses and credentials become necessary in order to practice occupations. The stronger the rational-legal order, the gre ater the extent to which rationalized rules and procedures and personnel become 347 American Journal of Sociology institutional requirements. New formal organizations emerge and extant organizationsacquire new structural elements. Leadershipeforts of local organizations. The rise of the state and the expansion of collective jurisdiction are often thought to result in domesticated organizations(Carlson1962) subject to high levels of goal displacement (Clark 1956 Selznick 1949 and Zald and Denton 1963). This view is guide organizations do often aline to their institutional contexts, but they often play active roles in shaping those contexts (Dowling and Pfeffer 1975 Parsons 1956 Perrow 1970 Thompson 1967). Many organizations actively seek charters from collective authorities and manage to institutionalize their goals and structures in the rules of such authorities.Efforts to mold institutional environmentsproceed along two dimensions. First, powerful organizations force their immedi ate relational networks to adapt to their structures and relations. For instance, automobile producers help create demands for particular kinds of roads, transportation systems, and fuels that make automobiles realistic necessities competitive forms of transportationhave to adapt to the existing relational context. But second, powerful organizations strive to build their goals and proceduresdirectly into society as institutional rules.Automobile producers, for instance, attempt to create the standards in public opinion delineate desirable cars, to influence legal standards defining satisfactory cars, to affect judicial rules defining cars adequate enough to avoid manufacturerliability, and to force agents of the collectivity to purchase only their cars. Rivals must then compete both in social networks or markets and in contexts of institutional rules which are defined by extant organizations. In this fashion, given organizational forms perpetuate themselves by becoming institutio nalized rules.For example Schooladministrators ho createnew curricula r trainingprograms tw o a i tempt to validatethem as legitimateinnovationsn educationalheoryand t I t c governmental equirements. f they are victorful, he new procedures an r o a be perpetuated s authoritatively equired r at to the lowest degree satisfactory. r w s a New departments ithinbusiness nterprises,uchas personnel, dvertise a ing, or research nddevelopment epartments, ttemptto professionalizey d a b t r c creating ulesof practiceandpersonnel ertificationhat areenforced y the b schools,prestigesystems,and the laws. Organizations nder attack in competitiveenvironments-smallfarms, a o passenger ailways, r RollsRoyce-attempt to establishthemselves s cenr tral to the culturaltraditionsof their societiesin orderto receiveofficial protection. The Impact of Institutional Environments on Organizations Isomorphismwith environmentalinstitutions has some decisive consequences for organizations (a) they incorporat e elements which are legitimated out-of-doorly, rather than in terms of efficiency (b) they employ immaterial or 348 Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony eremonialassessment criteriato define the value of structuralelements and (c) dependence on outwardly fixed institutions reduces upheaval and maintains perceptual constancy. As a result, it is argued here, institutional isomorphism promotes the supremacy and survival of organizations. Incorporatingexternally legitimated formal structures increases the commitment of internal participants and externalconstituents. And the use of externalassessmentcriteriathat is, moving toward the status in society of a subunit rather than an independent system-can enable an organization to take a breather successful by social definition, bufferingit from failure.Changingformalstructures. -By designing a formal structure that adheres to the prescriptionsof myths in the institutional environment, an organization demonstrates that it is acting on conjointly precious purposes in a proper and adequate manner (Dowling and Pfeffer 1975 Meyer and Rowan 1975). The incorporationof institutionalized elements provides an account (Scott and Lyman 1968) of its activities that protects the organizationfrom having its conduct questioned. The organization becomes, in a word, legitimate, and it uses its legitimacy to spike its support and secure its survival.From an institutional perspective, then, a most important setting of isomorphism with environmental institutions is the evolution of organizational language. The labels of the organization chart as well as the vocabulary used to delineate organizational goals, procedures, and policies are analogous to the vocabularies of motive used to account for the activities of individuals (Blum and McHugh 1971 Mills 1940). Just as jealousy, anger, altruism, and love are myths that interpret and explain the actions of individuals, the myths of doctors, of accountants, or of the assembly line exp lain organizationalactivities.Thus, some can show that the engineerswill solve a specific problem or that the secretaries will perform certain tasks, without knowing who these engineers or secretarieswill be or exactly what they will do. Both the speaker and the listeners understandsuch statements to describehow certain responsibilitieswill be carried out. Vocabularies of structure which are isomorphic with institutional rules provide prudent, rational, and legitimate accounts. Organizationsdescribed in legitimated vocabulariesare assumedto be oriented to collectively defined, and often collectively mandated, ends. The myths of personnel ervices, for example, not only account for the rationality of employment practices but also indicate that personnel services are valuable to an organization. Employees, applicants, managers, trustees, and governmental agencies are predisposed to trust the hiring practices of organizations that follow legitimated procedures-such as equal opportunity programs, or personality testing-and they are morewilling to participate in or to fund such organizations. On the other hand, organizations that omit environmentally legitimated elements of structure or create unique structures lack acceptable 349 American Journal of Sociology egitimated accounts of their activities. Such organizationsare more vulnerable to claims that they are negligent, irrational, or unnecessary. Claims of this kind, whether made by internal participants, external constituents, or the government, can cause organizations to incur real costs. For example With the rise of modernmedicalinstitutions,largeorganizationshat do t not arrange edical-careacilitiesfor theirworkers ometo be seenas neglim f c gent-by the workers, y managementactions,by insurers, y courtswhich b f b legallydefinenegligence, nd often by laws. The costs of illegitimacy n ina i urance remiums nd legalliabilitiesare very real. p a e Similarly, nvironmentalafetyinstitutions akeit important or organ is m f zations to create formalsafety rules, safety departments, nd safety proa grams. No Smokingrules and signs, regardless(prenominal) f their enforcement, re o a necessary o avoidcharges f negligence nd to avoidthe extremeof illegitit o a mationthe closingof buildings y the state. b The rise of professionalizedconomicsmakesit useful for organizations e to incorporate roupsof economists nd econometric nalyses. Thoughno g a a one may read,understand, r believethem,econometric nalyseshelplegitio a ate the organizations lans in the eyeball of investors,customers(as with p DefenseDepartmentcontractors), nd internalparticipants. uchanalyses a S can also providerationalaccountings fter failuresoccurmanagers hose a w plans have failed can demonstrateo investors,stockholders, nd superiors t a that procedures ere prudentand that decisionswere made by rational w means. Thus, rationalized institutions create myths of formal structure which shape organizations. Failure to incorporatethe prop er elements of structure is negligent and irrational the proceed flow of support is threatened and internal dissidents are strengthened.At the same time, these myths certify organizations with great opportunities for expansion. Affixing the right labels to activities can change them into valuable services and taunt the commitments of internal participants and external constituents. Adopting external assessmentcriteria. -In institutionally flesh out environments organizations also become sensitive to, and employ, external criteria of outlay. Such criteriainclude, for instance, such ceremonialawards as the Nobel care for, endorsementsby important people, the standard prices of professionalsand consultants, or the prestige of programsor personnelin external social circles.For example, the conventions of modern accounting attempt to assign value to particular components of organizations on the innovation of their contribution-through the organizations production function-to the g oods and services the organization produces. But for many units-service departments, administrativesectors, and others-it is utterly un blank what is being produced that has clear or definablevalue in terms of its contribution to the organizationalproduct. In these situations, ccountants employ derriere prices they assume that given organizational units are necessaryand calculate their value from their prices in the world outside the organization. Thus modern accounting creates ceremonial production 350 Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony functions and maps them onto economicproductionfunctions organizations assign externally defined worth to advertising departments, safety departments, managers, econometricians, and occasionally even sociologists, whether or not these units contribute measurably to the production of outputs.Monetary prices, in postindustrial society, reflect hosts of ceremonial influences,as do economic measuresof efficiency,profitability, or net worth (Hirsch 1 975). Ceremonialcriteria of worth and ceremonially derived production functions are useful to organizationsthey legitimate organizationswith internal participants, stockholders,the public, and the state, as with the IRS or the SEC. They demonstrate socially the fitness of an organization.The incorporationof structureswith high ceremonialvalue, such as those reflecting the latest expert thinking or those with the most prestige, makes the credit position of an organizationmore favorable. Loans, donations, or investments are more easily obtained. Finally, units within the organization use ceremonial assessments as accounts of their arable service to the organization. Their internal power rises with their proceeding on ceremonial measures (Salancik and Pfeffer 1974). Stabilization. -The rise of an elaborateinstitutional environment stabilizes both external and internal organizational relationships. rudimentaryized states, trade association, unions, professional associations, and coali tions among organizationsstandardize and stabilize (see the review by Starbuck 1976). food market conditions, the characteristics of inputs and outputs, and technological procedures are brought under the jurisdiction of institutional meanings and controls. Stabilization also results as a given organization becomes part of the wider collective system. hold is guaranteed by agreements instead of depending entirely on instruction execution. For example, apart rom whether schools drill students, or hospitals cure patients, people and governmental agencies remain committed to these organizations, living and using them almost automatically year after year. Institutionally controlled environments buffer organizations from turbulence (Emery and Trist 1965 Terreberry 1968). Adaptations occur less rapidly as increased numbers of agreements are enacted. Collectively granted monopolies guarantee clienteles for organizations like schools, hospitals, or professional associations.The taken-fo r-granted (and legally regulated) choice of institutional rules makes dramatic instabilities in products, techniques, or policies unlikely. And legitimacy as accepted subunits of society protects organizationsfrom immediate sanctions for variations in technical performance Thus,American chooldistricts(likeothergovernmental nits) have near s u monopolies nd are very stable. They must conformto widerrules about a o a properclassifications nd credentials f teachers nd students,and of topics a of canvas. But they are protectedby ruleswhichmakeeducationas defined 351American Journal of Sociology by these classifications compulsory. Alternative or buck private schools are possible, but must conform so closely to the take structures and classifications as to be able to generate little advantage. Some business organizations obtain very high levels of institutional stabilization. A large defense contractor may be paid for following agreed-on procedures, even if the product is ineffective. In the extreme, such organizations may be so successful as to survive bankruptcy intact-as Lockheed and Penn Central have done-by becoming partially components of the state.More commonly, such firms are guaranteed survival by state-regulated rates which secure profits regardless of costs, as with American public utility firms. Large automobile firms are a little less stabilized. They exist in an environment that contains enough structures to make automobiles, as conventionally defined, virtual necessities. But still, customers and governments can inspect each automobile and can evaluate and even legally discredit it. Legal action cannot as easily discredit a high school graduate. Organizational success and survival. Thus, organizational success depends on factors other than efficient coordination and control of productive activities. Independent of their productive efficiency, organizations which exist in highly elaborated institutional environments and succeed in becoming isomorph ic with these environments gain the legitimacy and resources mandatory to survive. In part, this depends on environmental processes and on the capacity of given organizational leadership to mold these processes (Hirsch 1975). In part, it depends on the ability of given organizations to conform to, and become legitimated by, environmental institutions.In institutionally elaborated environments, sagacious conformity is required leadership (in a university, a hospital, or a business) requires an understanding of ever-changing fashions and governmental programs. But this kind of conformity-and the almost guaranteed survival which may keep up itis possible only in an environment with a highly institutionalized structure. In such a context an organization can be locked into isomorphism, ceremonially reflecting the institutional environment in its structure, functionaries, and procedures.Thus, in addition to the conventionally defined sources of organizational success and survival, the fo llowing general assertion can be proposed Proposition 3. Organizationsthat incorporatesocietally legitimatedrationalized elements in their formal structuresmaximize their legitimacy and a increasetheir resources nd survivalcapabilities. This proposition asserts that the long-term survival prospects of organizations increase as state structures elaborate and as organizations respond to institutionalized rules.In the United States, for instance, schools, hospitals, and welfare organizations show significant ability to survive, precisely because they are matched with-and almost absorbed by-their institutional environments. In the same way, organizations fail when they deviate 352 Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony from the prescriptionsof institutionalizingmyths quite apart from technical efficiency, organizations which innovate in important structural ways bear considerablecosts in legitimacy.Figure 2 summarizes the general argument of this section, alongside the established vie w that organizationssucceed through efficiency. INSTITUTIONALIZED STRUCTURES AND ORGANIZATIONAL ACTIVITIES Rationalized formal structures arise in two contexts. First, the demands of local relational networks encourage the development of structures that coordinateand control activities. Such structurescontribute to the efficiency of organizations and give them competitive advantages over less efficient competitors.Second, the interconnectedness of societal relations, the collective organizationof society, and the leadershipof organizationalelites create a highly institutionalized context. In this context rationalized structures present an acceptable account of organizationalactivities, and organizations gain legitimacy, stability, and resources. All organizations, to one degree or another, are embedded in both relational and institutionalized contexts and are therefore concernedboth with coordinatingand controlling their activities and with providentially accounting for them.Organiz ations in highly institutionalized environments face internal and boundary-spanning contingencies. Schools, for example, must transport students to and from school under some circumstancesand must assign teachers, students, and topics to classrooms. On the other hand, organizations producing in markets that place great emphasis on efficiency build in units whose relation to production is obscure and whose efficiency is determined, not by a true production function, but by ceremonialdefinition.Nevertheless, the survival of some organizationsdepends more on managing the demands of internal and boundary-spanningrelations, maculation the survival of others depends more on the ceremonial demands of highly institutionalized environments. The discussion to follow shows that whether an organizationssurvival dependsprimarilyon relationalor on institutional demands determines the tightness of alignments between structures and activities. Elaboration institutional of rationalized myths Organi zational conformity with institutional myths Legitimacy and resources Organizational Survival fficiency FIG. 2. -Organizational survival 353 American Journal of Sociology Types of Organizations Institutionalized myths differ in the completenesswith which they describe cause and effect relationships, and in the clarity with which they describe standards that should be used to evaluate outputs (Thompson 1967). Some organizations use routine, all the way defined technologies to produce outputs. When output can be easily evaluated a market often develops, and consumers gain considerable rights of inspection and control. In this context, efficiency often determines success.Organizations must face exigencies of close coordinationwith their relational networks, and they negociate with these exigencies by organizing around immediate technical problems. But the rise of collectively organized society and the increasing interconnectedness of social relations have eroded many market contexts. Increasingly, such organizations as schools, R &038 D units, and governmental bureaucraciesuse variable, indefinite technologies to produce outputs that are difficult to appraise, and other organizations with clearly defined technologies find themselves unable to adapt to environmental turbulence.The uncertainties of unpredictable technical contingencies or of adapting to environmental change cannot be resolved on the basis of efficiency. Internal participants and external constituents alike call for institutionalized rules that promote trust and confidencein outputs and buffer organizationsfrom failure (Emery and Trist 1965). Thus, one can conceive of a continuum along which organizationscan be ordered. At one end are production organizations under strong output controls (Ouchi and McGuire 1975) whose success depends on the management of relational networks.At the other end are institutionalized organizations whose success depends on the confidence and stability achieved by isomo rphism with institutional rules. For two reasons it is important not to assume that an organizationslocation on this continuum is based on the inherent technical properties of its output and therefore permanent. First, the technical properties of outputs are socially defined and do not exist in some concrete smack that allows them to be empirically discovered. Second, environments and organizations often redefine the nature of products, services, and technologies.Redefinition sometimes clarifies techniques or evaluative standards. But often organizations and environments redefine the nature of techniques and output so that ambiguity is introduced and rights of inspection and control are lowered. For example, Americanschools have evolved from producing rather specific training that was evaluated according to strict criteria of efficiency to producing ambiguously defined services that are evaluated according to criteria of attestation (Callahan 1962 Tyack 1974 Meyer and Rowan 1975). 354Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony Structural Inconsistencies in Institutionalized Organizations Two very general problems face an organization if its success depends primarily on isomorphism with institutionalized rules. First, technical activities and demands for efficiency create conflicts and inconsistencies in an institutionalized organizationsefforts to conform to the ceremonialrules of production. Second, because these ceremonial rules are transmitted by myths that may arise from differentparts of the environment, the rules may conflict with one another.These inconsistenciesmake a concernfor efficiency and tight coordination and control problematic. Formal structures that celebrate institutionalized myths differ from structures that act efficiently. Ceremonialactivity is significant in relation to categorical rules, not in its concrete effects (Merton 1940 March and Simon 1958). A sick worker must be treated by a doctor using accepted medical procedures whether the wor ker is treated effectively is less important. A bus association must service required routes whether or not there are many passengers.A university must maintain appropriatedepartments independently of the departments enrollments. Activity, that is, has ritual significanceit maintains appearancesand validates an organization. Categoricalrules conflict with the logic of efficiency. Organizationsoften face the dilemma that activities celebratinginstitutionalized rules, although they count as virtuous ceremonial expenditures, are pure costs from the point of view of efficiency. For example, hiring a Nobel Prize winner brings great ceremonial benefits to a university. The celebrated name can lead to researchgrants, brighter students, or reputational gains.But from the point of view of immediate outcomes, the expenditure lowers the instructional return per dollar expended and lowers the universitys ability to solve immediate logistical problems. Also, pricy technologies, which bring pre stige to hospitals and business firms, may be simply exuberant costs from the point of view of immediate production. Similarly,highly professionalized consultants who bring external blessings on an organization are often difficult to justify in terms of improved productivity, yet may be very important in maintaining internal and external legitimacy.Other conflicts between categorical rules and efficiency arise because institutional rules are couched at high levels of generalization (Durkheim 1933) whereas technical activities vary with specific, unstandardized, and maybe unique conditions. Because standardized ceremonial categories must confront technical variations and anomalies, the generalized rules of the institutional environment are often inappropriateto specific situations.A governmentally mandated program may be inappropriate for the students at hand, a conventional medical treatment may make little sense given the characteristics of a patient, and federal safety inspecto rs may intolerably delay boundary-spanningexchanges. 355 American Journal of Sociology Yet another source of conflict between categorical rules and efficiency is the inconsistency among institutionalized elements. Institutional environments are often pluralistic (Udy 1970), and societies spread abroad sharply inconsistent myths.As a result, organizationsin search of external support and stability incorporate all sorts of incompatible structural elements. Professions are incorporatedalthough they make co-occur jurisdictional claims. Programs are adopted which contend with each other for authority over a given domain. For instance, if one inquireswho decides what curricula will be taught in schools, any number of parties from the various governments down to individual teachers may say that they decide. In institutionalized organizations, then, concern with the efficiency of day-to-day activities creates enormousuncertainties.Specificcontexts highlight the inadequacies of the prescri ptionsof generalizedmyths, and inconsistent structural elements conflict over jurisdictional rights. Thus the organization must struggle to link the requirementsof ceremonialelements to technical activities and to link inconsistent ceremonialelements to each other. closure Inconsistencies There are four partial solutions to these inconsistencies. First, an organization can pooh-pooh ceremonial requirements. But an organization that neglects ceremonialrequirementsand portrays itself as efficient may be unsuccessful in documenting its efficiency.Also, rejecting ceremonial requirements neglects an important source of resourcesand stability. Second, an organization can maintain rigid conformity to institutionalized prescriptions by cutting off external relations. Although such isolation upholds ceremonial requirements, internal participants and external constituents may soon become disillusioned with their inability to manage boundary-spanning exchanges. Institutionalized organization smust not only conform to myths but must also maintain the appearancethat the myths actually work. Third, an organization can cynically acknowledgethat its structure is inconsistent with work requirements.But this outline denies the validity of institutionalized myths and sabotages the legitimacy of the organization. Fourth, an organization can promise reform. sight may picture the present as unworkablebut the future as filled with promisingreformsof both structure and activity. But by defining the organizationsvalid structure as lying in the future, this strategy makes the organizationscurrent structure illegitimate. Instead of relying on a partial solution, however, an organization can resolve conflicts between ceremonial rules and efficiency by employing two interrelated devices decoupling and the logic of confidence.Decoupling. -Ideally, organizations built around efficiency attempt to 356 Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony maintain close alignments between structures and a ctivities. Conformity is enforced through inspection, output quality is continually monitored, the efficiencyof various units is evaluated, and the various goals are unified and coordinated. But a policy of close alignment in institutionalized organizations merely makes public a record of inefficiency and inconsistency. Institutionalized organizations protect their formal structures from evaluation on the basis of technical performanceinspection, valuation, and control of activities are minimized, and coordination,interdependence,and mutual adjustments among structural units are handled informally. Proposition 4. Because attempts to control and coordinate activities in institutionalizedorganizationslead to conflictsand loss of legitimacy,elements of structureare decoupledrom activitiesandfrom each other. f Some well-known properties of organizations illustrate the decoupling process Activities are performed beyond the purview of managers. In particular, organizations actively encour ageprofessionalism,and activities are delegated to professionals.Goals are made ambiguous or vacuous, and categorical ends are substituted for technical ends. Hospitals treat, not cure, patients. Schools produce students, not learning. In fact, data on technical performance are eliminated or renderedinvisible. Hospitals try to ignore information on cure rates, public services avoid data about effectiveness, and schools deemphasize measures of achievement. Integration is avoided, program implementation is neglected, and inspection and evaluation are ceremonialized. Human relations are made very important.The organization cannot formally coordinate activities because its formal rules, if applied, would generate inconsistencies. Therefore individuals are left to work out technical interdependencies informally. The ability to coordinate things in violation of the rules-that is, to get along with other people-is highly valued. The advantages of decoupling are clear. The assumption that f ormal structures are really working is buffered from the inconsistencies and anomalies involved in technical activities.Also, because integration is avoided disputes and conflicts are minimized, and an organization can mobilize support from a broader range of external constituents. Thus, decoupling enables organizations to maintain standardized, legitimating, formal structures while their activities vary in response to practical considerations. The organizationsin an industry tend to be similar in formal structure-reflecting their common institutional origins-but may show much mixture in actual practice. The logic of confidence nd goodfaith. -Despite the lack of coordination a nd control, decoupledorganizationsare not anarchies. Day-to-day activities proceed in an orderly fashion. What legitimates institutionalized organizations, enabling them to appear useful in spite of the lack of technical valida357 American Journal of Sociology tion, is the confidenceand good faith of their in ternal participants and their external constituents. Considerations of face characterize ceremonial management (Goffman 1967). Confidence in structural elements is maintained through three practices-avoidance, discretion, and overlooking (Goffman 1967, pp. 1218).Avoidance and discretion are encouraged by decoupling autonomous subunits overlooking anomalies is also quite common. Both internal participants and external constituents cooperate in these practices. Assuring that individual participants maintain face sustains confidencein the organization, and lastly reinforcesconfidencein the myths that rationalizethe organizationsexistence. Delegation, professionalization,goal ambiguity, the elimination of output data, and maintenance of face are all mechanismsfor absorbing skepticism while preserving the formal structure of the organization (March and Simon 1958).They contribute to a general melodic phrase of confidence within and outside the organization. Although the literature on i nformal organization often treats these practices as mechanisms for the achievement of deviant and subgroup purposes (Downs 1967), such treatment ignores a critical feature of organization life effectively absorbing uncertainty and maintaining confidencerequirespeople to assume that everyone is acting in good faith. The assumption that things are as they seem, that employees and managers are performing their roles properly, allows an organization to perform its daily routines with a decoupled structure.Decoupling and maintenanceof face, in other words, are mechanismsthat maintain the assumptionthat people are acting in good faith. Professionalization is not merely a way of avoiding inspection-it binds both supervisors and subordinates to act in good faith. So in a smaller way does strategic leniency (Blau 1956). And so do the public displays of moraleand expiation which are characteristic of many organizations. Organizations employ a host of mechanisms to prettify the ritual commi tments which their participants make to basic structural elements.These mechanisms are especially common in organizations which strongly reflect their institutionalized environments. 5 Proposition . The morean organizationsstructureis derivedrom instituf tionalizedmyths,themoreit maintains elaborate isplays of confidence, atisfacs d tion, and goodfaith, internallyand externally. The commitments built up by displays of morale and satisfaction are not simply vacuous affirmations of institutionalized myths. Participants not only commit themselves to supporting an organizationsceremonial facade but also commit themselves to making things work out backstage.The committed participants engage in informal coordination that, although often formally inappropriate, keeps technical activities running smoothly I and avoids public embarrassments. n this sense the confidenceand good faith 358 Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony generated by ceremonial action is in no way fraudulent. It may even be the most reasonableway to get participants to make their best efforts in situations that are made problematic by institutionalized myths that are at odds with immediate technical demands.Ceremonial inspection and evaluation. -All organizations,even those maintaining high levels of confidence and good faith, are in environments that have institutionalized the rationalizedrituals of inspection and evaluation. And inspection and evaluation can uncover events and deviations that undermine legitimacy. So institutionalized organizations minimize and ceremonializeinspection and evaluation. In institutionalized organizations, in fact, evaluation accompanies and produces illegitimacy.The interest in evaluation research by the American federal government, for instance, is partly intended to undercut the state, local, and private authorities which have managed social services in the United States. The federal authorities, of course, have usually not evaluated those programswhich are complet ely under federal jurisdiction they have only evaluated those over which federal controls are incomplete. Similarly, state governments have often insisted on evaluating the special fundings they create in welfare and education but ordinarily do not evaluate the programswhich they fund in a routine way.Evaluation and inspection are public assertions of societal control which violate the assumption that everyone is acting with competence and in good faith. Violating this assumption lowers morale and confidence. Thus, evaluation and inspection undermine the ceremonial aspects of organizations. 6 Proposition . Institutionalizedorganizationsseek to minimize inspection and evaluationby bothinternalmanagersand externalconstituents. Decoupling and the avoidance of inspection and evaluation are not merely devices used by the organization.External constituents, too, avoid inspecting and controlling institutionalized organizations (Meyer and Rowan 1975). Accreditingagencies, boards of trustees , government agencies, and individuals accept ceremoniallyat face value the credentials,ambiguous goals, and categorical evaluations that are characteristic of ceremonial organizations. In elaborate institutional environments these external constituents are themselves likely to be corporately organized agents of society.Maintaining categorical relationships with their organizational subunits is more stable and more certain than is relying on inspection and control. Figure 3 summarizesthe main argumentsof this section of our discussion. SUMMARY AND RESEARCH IMPLICATIONS Organizational structures are created and made more elaborate with the rise of institutionalized myths, and, in highly institutionalized contexts, 359 American Journal of Sociology of structural The decoupling and from each other subunits from activity Isomor phism with an elaborated institutional environment Rituals of ood faith The avoidance and effective FIG. 3. -The confidence and of inspection evaluation effects of institutional isomorphism on organizations organizationalaction must support these myths. But an organization must also attend to practical activity. The two requirementsare at odds. A stable solution is to maintain the organizationin a loosely coupled state. No position is taken here on the overall social effectiveness of isomorphic and loosely coupled organizations. To some extent such structures buffer activity from efficiency criteria and produce ineffectiveness.On the other hand, by bindingparticipants to act in good faith, and to adhere to the larger rationalities of the wider structure, they may maximize long-run effectiveness. It should not be assumed that the creation of microscopicrationalities in the daily activity of workers effects social ends more efficiently than commitment to larger institutional claims and purposes. Research Implications The argumentpresented here generates several major theses that have clear researchimplications. 1. Environmentsand environment aldomainswhich have institutionalized a greater number of rational myths generate more formal organization.This thesis leads to the research hypothesis that formal organizations rise and become more complex as a result of the rise of the elaborated state and other institutions for collective action. This hypothesis should hold true even when economic and technical development are held constant. Studies could trace the diffusion to formal organizations of specific institutions professions, clearly labeled programs, and the like. For instance, the effects of the rise of theories and professions of personnel selection on the creation of personnel departments in organizations could be studied.Other studies could follow the diffusion of sales departments or researchand development departments. Organizationsshould be found to adapt to such environmental changes, even if no evidence of their effectiveness exists. Experimentally, one could study the impact on the decisions of organizationa l managers, in planning or reparation organizationalstructures, of hypothetical variations in environmentalinstitutionalization. Do managersplan differentlyif they are informedabout the existence of establishedoccupations or prog