Should Hong Kong Dollar Depeg with USD Essay Example for Free

Should Hong Kong Dollar Depeg with USD Essay Since Joseph Yam had mentioned by June 2012that it should be time to call for a review of the link to dollar. This reminded us to focus back on this 29-year-old currency linking system of HKD to USD. It was a very good / effective system to help Hong Kong to remain stable under the economic turmoil when first applied in 1983. This formed a very firm ‘firewall’ to protect the stability of the Hong Kong Dollar. We also had the testimony for the effectiveness of this system while the economic crisis that happened in 1997 and 2007. Although the Hong Kong Government had shown their loyalty of pegging the Hong Kong Dollar to U. S. currency and had announced that there are no plans to adjust such link. But I really agree with Joseph Yam that it should be time to call for a review. Since we all know that Hong Kong is having a higher and higher inflation rate that makes the whole city suffer. As well as most of the inflation we experiencing are imported inflation. We may find that U. S. is seeming to have a down slope economic trend and their currency is a lot weaker than before, especially against RMB. If Hong Kong still insists to peg HKD with U. S. currency that means we will, to some extend, having the same trend and future with the state i. e. declining. Moreover, Hong Kong is a place that mainly depends on import and almost all our daily necessities are imported from other countries and of which, mainly from Mainland China. RMB is now having a very strong appreciating trend from which HKD had depreciated 40% to 50% against RMB in the past decade. And we found that the price of food and products that imported from China is becoming more and more expensive. That really makes the whole city suffer. I am quite agreed with what William Ackman, founder of hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management LP, said in September that he had placed a wager that would profit if Hong Kong allows its currency to appreciate against the dollar to curb inflation. Also to switch the linking of HKD from USD to RMB in the coming three to six years. This is one of the effective ways to release the painful situation we are currently experiencing. Lets not afraid of changing from the 29-year-old policy to a new and aggressive format.

Our Religion Does Not Define Us Theology Religion Essay

Our Religion Does Not Define Us Theology Religion Essay Our religion does not define who we are regardless to popular belief. Our religion is only a part of who we are if we let it. Not everyone that practices a religion knows everything about it or even accepts it. Some people have a religion just because everyone else has one, and most people have a religion because they were brought up in it. The human mind is easily convinced to do and believe things when it is young and fragile. As a child, you listen to your parents, obey them and learn from most things they do we stand on the shoulders of others to get to the next level (Fraklin). Most people choose their religion based on the religion their parents practiced. Our religion could affects many aspects of our lives depending on how deeply we believe in it; this includes the way we see others, the way we act, and the way we influence those around us. Our faith in our religion can always be seen in the way we live our lives, nevertheless it does not define who we are. As humans, we learn everyday of our lives, introducing us to new things which indirectly change our point of view on certain things in our lives; we begin to see things in different ways and accept somethings we thought was wrong but some people still somehow let their religion come in the way of how they see these things, even though they have a different op inion on some matters they feel like they are obligated to believe whatever their religion asks of them. For those who accept this changes, it could bring about a big difference in their life. I believe no one can tell what religion is right or wrong because no one knows everything. Most people like to be right in most situations, so whenever they are asked what religion is right, it is quite normal for them to say theirs is right. Not everyone tries to realize that the same way they think their religion is right could be the way another person sees his as the right one The easy confidence with which I know another mans religion is folly teaches me to suspect that my own is also (Mark Twain). With what we know, religion might not even exist, which is why I believe that everyone should respect each others point of view on any situation God has no religion (Mahatma Gandhi), personally I think all that matters to God, if there is one, is the good and bad that people do. It is easy to t hink someone is wrong, when you think you are right even though you might be wrong. An example is the apology of Socrates. Socrates was a simple minded person who never thought himself to be more than he was. The fact that he acknowledge his ignorance makes him a wise person (Plato), most believers are ignorant of other religions, yet they believe their religion is the right one while others are not even though they do not know much of the one they criticize. Children learn most things from their parents and those around them. Growing up, children are taught what is right and wrong by their parent or guardian, and that helps them in deciding for themselves when they are adults. It is very common for a parent to take their children to where they worship, and as they grows they learn from their parents faith, making them believe in their religion. The reason why people rarely change their religion is because they grow in it and that makes it more of a lifestyle to them rather than something they learned. Most religions like Christianity has been made in a way that you are not allowed to question some of the things you might not agree with. Some of the stories and rules we learn from our religious books sometimes seem wrong and sometimes we might find some not quite sensible, but we have also learned that we have no right to question the things that happened in them, we just have accept it. The story of Job is one that should bring every Chr istian to question their God as to why he made a man go through so much, just to test his fate. Job was a faithful Christian, but he was tested by Satan with the permission of God; he lost everything he had and was terribly ill, with no help from anyone (The story of Job). Everything that happened to him is something no Christian would accept from any other person, it would not matter what reason they might have to do that, it will be considered bad, but when it is God that did this to a man just to test his faith, they are not allowed to question him. Even though Job went through a lot of things, he never questioned God. When believers feel angry towards God, most of them think it is a wrong feeling and they are not able to express themselves to other believers because they feel judged, guilty, and ashamed (julie and joshua). Every religious belief has its good and bad parts, some that we agree on and others that we dont, but the fear that has been put into us from when we were young is what makes us accept it even though we have other opinions. The fear of a god could make anyone do anything. The story of how Abraham is a great example. Abraham was willing to kill his only child because God asked him to do so, even though that was his only child and he knew he will never have any other child, he was still willing to kill his child And it happened after these things that God tested Abraham. And He said to him, Abraham! and he said, here I am. And he said, take, pray, your son, your only one, whom you love, Isaac, and go forth to the land of Moriah and offer him up as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I shall say to you (Abraham and Isaac). Despite how deep our faith might be and how well we understand a religion, we still put in our own interpretation to it just to make it suit us. Lailak ask ed are we supposed to interpret the Bible in our own way?. Lone77star answered that we all have our own path to choose, he explained by saying he had his own interpretation and would not want anyone to follow it blindly (hubpages). Not every Christian that reads the Bible understands it, and not every Muslim that reads the Quran understands it. This is the reason there are pastors and Islamic leaders teaching their religion. Even though this people are seen as the holy ones, they also interpret the religion in a way they see fit. Religion is not just one thing, it is a way of life in which people design for themselves; everyone has their own unique religion because we all see and interpret things in different ways. Some people believe they are Christians because they go to the church. This is simply their interpretation of being a Christian Anyone who thinks sitting in a church can make you a Christian must also think sitting in a garage can make you a car (Garrison. goodread), it d oes not matter how much a person attends a church or pray, it is their heart towards things that defines them. The actions they take and how they deal with things. The most annoying people are those who try to get people into their religion; this is basically asking others to think like they do and see things from their own perspective. Christians believe that God created humans And God created the human in his image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them (Genesis). Christians accept and believe this theory. In some way this affects their way of living because they think they owe their existence to someone. They live most of their life trying to please someone they have never seen Religion has convinced people that theres an invisible man living in the sky. Who watches everything you do every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a list of ten specific things he doesnt want you to do. And if you do any of these things, he will send you to a special place, of burning and fire and smoke and torture and anguish for you to live forever, and suffer, and suffer, and burn, and scream, until the end of time. But he loves you. He loves you. He loves you and he needs money (George Carlin). The misinterpretation of religion could lead to disagreement, conflicts and even death. When people have different interpretation of what their religion says, it is very easy for them to disagree on most things. Some Muslims have been killing for years, and they believe what they are doing is right. They believe they can do anything as long as they ask for forgiveness. Religion has caused most of the wars the world has ever known. God says we should love our neighbors has we love ourselves. Anyone could interpret this the way they want, some would say it means to love your family, and others might think it means to love everyone love your fellow as yourself (livneh). Some people believe in God just so they have someone to blame when they are in trouble When people experience traumatic or highly stressful events, a common response is to blame God (Julie and Joshua), to these people God is just a figure they run to whenever they are in trouble or need someone to blame for their own fau lts and weaknesses. They do not fully understand the concept of God, but they feel that they need him. Our religion does not define who we are, what makes us who we are is what we accept our religion to be, our interpretation of it, and the choices we make through them. The Bible teaches about loving one another love your fellow as yourself (livneh), this is hard sometimes because some people are just hard to love. No matter how you try to get close to them, they still somehow do not accept you. Some Christians are this way, even though the bible says they should love one another. The bible also mentions not having hate towards a fellow human you shall not hate your kinsman in your heart (livneh), yet there are several Christians who have hate in their heart towards someone in their family, and people in the church. Even though the law of the bible ask them to love and never hate, this does not define them.

Women and Love In Chaucer Essay -- Chaucer Poetry Poem Essays

Women and Love In Chaucer   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Chaucer's opinion of women and his views on love are very prominently featured in his poetry. Focusing on women, one must first examine the popular views concerning women during Chaucer's time. Arlyn Diamond writes of Chaucer that, ". . . he accepts uneasily the medieval view of women as either better or worse than men, but never quite the same." (Green 3) This is evident in Chaucer's portrayal of women in such poems as "The Wife of Bath" and "The Clerk's Tale" which assault the reader with antithetical views of women. The Wife of Bath is one of the most memorable characters Chaucer ever created. She is considered, in view of Diamond's statement, to be better than the men in her life. Patient Griselda in "The Clerk's Tale" is a peasant woman, married to a nobleman, who tests her loyalty through a series of ordeals in which she is lead to believe her children to be murdered. In this tale Chaucer is exposing his reader to a woman who is beneath her husband, and is treated horribly by him. Chaucer frequently treats the women he writes about as objects, some prize to be won by the heroic man. This is evident in "The Knight's Tale," in which the two protagonists, Palamon and Arcite, war over the hand of Emily, who they have never met, but only gazed upon from a distance. Their devotion to her branches not from love, but the want of men to contain and control the women surrounding them. Now on to the subject of love. Chaucer writes in "The Knight's Tale" of a love based on physical beauty, where the two protagonists fall in love at first sight. This is a common device used in medieval literature to create conflict between characters. "The Book of the Duchess" focuses on the real love between the Black Knight, and the White Woman. This allows Chaucer to explore the nature of love in context.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Chaucer's Wife of Bath is a domineering woman who demands the men in her life to be subservient. The reader gains from her prologue that she is concerned with sovereignty, which she views as the control or mastery in the relationship. She does not appear to truly love any of her husbands. The first three are older men whom she seems to marry for their money. They pass on quickly leaving her with wealth, standing, and the chance to find herself a more suitable man. Her fourth husband was a profligate, a man of loose morals, who keeps ... ...t sight. The pointless death of Arcite only emphasizes the hollow nature of this love. Love in "The Book of the Duchess" is treated differently. When Arcite dies there is no real pain felt for his loss. This is not the case with the death of the Black Knight's lady. Chaucer spends about eight hundred lines allowing the knight to lament his lost love. In his poetry Chaucer tries to be sympathetic to the plight of women. He endeavors to discuss love honestly, accepting the contradictory types of love and giving them all equal opportunity to prove themselves. The problem, however, lies in the subjects, for no matter how long or intently you look at them, they will always be as complex and incomprehensible as they always were. Works Cited   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Green, Richard Firth. "Chaucer's Victimized Women." Studies in the Age of Chaucer. Ed. Thomas J. Heffernan. Vol. 10. 1988. 3-21.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Wynne-Davis, Marion., ed. The Tales of the Clerk and the Wife of Bath. By Geoffrey Chaucer. Routledge: New York, 1992.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Edwards, Robert R. Stephen Spector. Ed. The Olde Daunce: Love, Friendship, Sex, and Marriage in the Medieval World. Albany: State University of New York Press. 1991 154-176.

Sexism in the Workplace :: GCSE Business Marketing Coursework Essays

Sexism in the Workplace Gender Roles Children learn from their parents and society the conception of "feminine" and "masculine." Much about these conceptions is not biological at all but cultural. The way we tend to think about men and women and their gender roles in society constitute the prevailing paradigm that influences out thinking. Riane Eisler points out that the prevailing paradigm makes it difficult for us to analyze properly the roles of men and women in prehistory "we have a cultural bias that we bring to the effort and that colors our decision-making processes." Sexism is the result of that bias imposed by our process of acculturation. Gender roles in Western societies have been changing rapidly in recent years, with the changes created both by evolutionary changes in society, including economic shifts which have altered the way people work and indeed which people work as more and more women enter the workforce, and by perhaps pressure brought to make changes because of the perception that the traditional social structure was inequitable. Gender relations are a part of the socialization process, the initiation given the young by society, teaching them certain values and creating in them certain behavior patterns acceptable to their social roles. These roles have been in a state of flux in American society in recent years, and men and women today can be seen as having expanded their roles in society, with women entering formerly male dominions and men finding new ways to relate to and function in the family unit. When I was growing up a woman was never heard of having a job other than a school teacher or seamstress. Our(women's)job was to take care of the house. We had a big garden out back from which we got most of our vegetables?A garden is a lot of work you know?We also had to make clothes when there were none to be had(hand-me- downs) Gender can be defined as a social identity consisting of the role a person is to play because of his or her sex. There is a diversity in male and female roles, making it impossible to define gender in terms of narrow male and female roles. Gender is culturally defined, with significant differences from culture to culture. These differences are studied by anthropologists to ascertain the range of behaviors that have developed to define gender and on the forces at work in the creation of these roles.

Groundwater and the Hydrologic Cycle Essay -- Geology

Groundwater and the Hydrologic Cycle Introduction Water is the lifeblood of every living creature on earth. Approximately 70 percent of the earth's surface is covered with water. Thought the wonders of nature, water can take on many different forms, form the water we drink, to the ice we use to chill a glass of lemonade, to the water vapor used to steam clean equipment equipment. It is easy to understand the significance water plays in our lives, but it may be much more difficult ot understand the water that exists below the earth's surface, called groundwater. From the time the earth was formed, water have been endlessly circulating. This circulation is known as the hydrologic cycle. Groundwater is part of this continuous cycle as water evaporates, forms clouds and returns to earth as precipitation. The Hydrologic Cycle The hydrologic cycle begins with the water evaporation from the earth's soil, plant and water surfaces to form water vapor. The energy required to evaporate water is supplied by the sun. The vast majority of evaporation occurs from the oceans. It is estimated that 39 inches of water annually evaporate from each acre of ocean. Water vapor is drawn into the atmosphere by temperature gradients and can be transported over hundreds of miles by large air masses. When water vapor cools, it condenses to form clouds. As water condenses within clouds, water droplets increase in size until they fall to the earth's surface as precipitation such as rainfall, hail, sleet or snow. Approximately 70-90 percent of the water that falls to the earth's surface enters the soil. This water can become groundwater but most of it evaporates or is used by vegetation. Water that passes though the root zone ... ...ment levels (Florida Aquifer). Florida's growing population, now fourth in the nation, is placing a heavy demand on the state's water supply. The addition of 6,000 new residents each week has increased the use of water for direct human needs to more than 60 million gallons per day. Florida rainfall averages 54 inches per year, or nearly 150 billion gallons of water a day. Unfortunately, an estimated 110 billion gallons is lost to evaporation and plant life consumption. The southern 50 percent of Florida receives only 44 percent of the state's natural water supply, yet is home to 78 percent of the population and accounts for 75 percent of the state's total water use (Groundwater Withdraw). The largest consumer of water is the agriculture industry, using 42 percent. Homes, offices and hotels consume 11 percent. The rest is consumed by other industries.

Earth-Like Planets

Running head: Earth-Like Planets Earth-Like Planets T. Nailor Miller-Motte College Online Critical Thinking – GS235 Dr. Marshall Lloyd Earth-Like Planets Introduction Do you believe that there is life on other planets? Better yet, do you believe that there is another planet that looks like earth? As far as I can remember, there has always been the question of â€Å"is there life in outer space? I remember being in grade school wondering if there were humans or aliens on other planets and if they were trying to communicate with us. Around January 1986 the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded during takeoff in front of the entire world.As a teenager, this event was tragic and amazing at the same time because I felt that we were on our way to discovering new planets, solar systems, and other life forms. This tragic event was the start of my interest in outer space. Fast forward to 2012, the science community has greatly advanced our technology since the mid-eighties. Today, we have computers in everything, all types of space probes orbiting the universe, and unbelievable amounts of knowledge about outer space and other planets, but yet, and still, no proof of life in outer space. Will we ever know?Will we ever meet aliens? Only time will tell and personally I think we will, soon! After searching for an interesting subject to cover for this paper, I have discovered a very interesting article on the U. S. News website titled â€Å"Earth-Like Planet Found in Nearest Star System†. According to the article scientist say they have discovered a planet that looks like earth orbiting a star that bears a resemblance to our sun. The planet is said to be about 25 trillion miles away, making it very difficult for a space probe to reach the planet using current technology.It is estimated to take about 40,000 years to reach this planet, even though it is in the next closest planetary system to ours. â€Å"The planet, dubbed Alpha Centauri Bb, orbits a star in the Al pha Centauri system, a clump of three stars that are closer to us than any others in the night sky. It's called Alpha Centauri Bb because the planet orbits the clump's second-closest star, Alpha Centauri B (Cline, 2012)†. The question here is does this planet really exist, being that it is so far away?The science community and other publications believe that it does. The articles give some clues that are questionable and not all researchers agree that the planet is there. However, there are those who are absolutely convince that it actually exist. â€Å"The exquisitely high-quality data required to find an Earth-like planet doesn't just happen by chance,† UC Berkeley astronomer Geoff Marcy wrote in an email (Khan, 2012). The writer seems to be very interested in this subject, but he only presented a few sources to start with.The main source is the lead scientist along with ten other scientists, who first published the original paper detailing and describing the entire d iscovery at eso. org. The reasons to accept this is that the writer provides information in the article that quotes a well-known scientist named Xavier Dumusque, a scientist at Geneva Observatory and lead author of the paper that published the discovery. Plus, the recent findings of other earth like planets, the huge amount of evidence available and the shear advancement of our technology are all motives to continue our search.Use of a special instrument that detects signal variations attached to the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) telescope in La Silla, Chile (Cline S. , 2012), the excitement of the science community, and a special scientific technique called radial velocity (the velocity of an object in the direction of the line of sight) suggests this discovery is a major accomplishment. The writer also quoted Dumusque saying â€Å"It's an extraordinary discovery and it has pushed our technique to the limit! † (Cline S. , 2012). What technique or techniques is the sc ientist referring to?What are our technical and technological limits at this point in time? Although we are able to send man to the moon, build an international space station, and send space probes deep into outer space, does not necessarily explain our technological abilities in detail. However, this information does suggest to the public that we are getting closer and closer to discovering other earth like planets. â€Å"We can’t be alone† The science community is getting very close to discovering earth-like planets and extraterrestrial life in outer space. This is considered a alued assumption among many researchers and astronomers. To date, they have actually discovered more than 800 of these exoplanets amongst the billions and billions of stars in our galaxy. The more planets found like HD40307g, the more they resemble earth with earth-like characteristics (the spinning on its axis, having a night and a day, and orbiting in the habitable zone). Astronomers are als o finding them closer to our solar system. Another assumption of these findings are that humans are developing and advancing technology to communicate, navigate, and live in outer space in the near future.NASA said no candidate planet discovered thus far by Kepler â€Å"is exactly like Earth,† but noted that the spacecraft â€Å"has collected enough data to begin finding true sun-Earth analogs—Earth-size planets with a one-year orbit around stars similar to the sun. † (Poeter, 2012) According to space. com, private companies and NASA are working together to take the next step forward of launching humans into outer space. Entering the term space settlement, suggest that people can or will be living and working outside of earth, on the moon, mars, or in huge rotating orbital space settlements.The total energy resources of this solar system are about 2. 3 billion times the energy available on Earth. This is simply the Sun's energy output — and the Sun is an enormous nuclear fusion reactor that works perfectly right now, today, and is perfectly safe — or at least isn't going away (Globus, 2007). The claim regarding the existence of earth-like planets, do not contain any fallacies or reasoning tricks. The researchers, scientists, and astronomers are providing honest, verifiable, and creditable evidence regarding this subject.Their approach to discover earth-like planets may be from the heart and they may be very diligent in the exploration of the universe. Most of those involved including journalists who report these findings are well educated, intelligent, and experienced in the science of space study. â€Å"The interesting thing is that if they threw out some of their data, they got more precise measurements,† Eric Ford, an astronomer at the University of Florida at Gainesville, said in an interview (Khan, 2012). The use of misconceptions or myths would damage and be detrimental to their careers, reputation, and progress. Delusional reporting will only distort previous evidence of other exoplanets in outer space and therefore would challenge all findings. The clear and obvious evidence is the universal agreement among the science community in regards to the technological advancements, development of new techniques, quality of data and the cooperation and collaborative efforts of them all. The productivity of 21st century devices used to explore space produce unimaginable audio, visual, and tangible information that was never before possible.For example, the International Space Station is near completion, the Hubble Telescope orbits at the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy, and the recent landing of a space probe on Mars, are great accomplishments towards this effort in discovering life outside of earth. This supports the progression in science and is clear evidence that supports information reported by researchers, journalists, and scientists. The finding (of HD40307g) has yet to be confirmed by other ana lysis or observations. Not everyone is convinced this particular planet exists (Khan, 2012).There are those who are critical of the discovery of exoplanets. Eventually this will lead to more studies, research, and input on behalf of the critics. Either way this will also add to the efforts of space science as a whole. The conclusion is the science community and research scientists have found earth-like planets and we humans are closer to finding extraterrestrial life in outer space. According to several websites in the astronomer’s community, an extra-solar planet, or exoplanet, is a planet outside our Solar System but still within our Milky Way galaxy.A total of 846 such planets (665 planetary systems, including 126 multiple planetary systems) have been identified as of November 8, 2012, all of them within the Milky Way galaxy (â€Å"The extrasolar encyclopaedia,† 2012). Scientists around the world are very excited about the discovery of these exoplanets, especially A lpha Centauri Bb. According to The Independent and the L. A. Times, a new earth like planet that could have a climate that supports life and water adds to the excitement.The new planet, HD40307g is said to be in a multi-world solar system about 42 light years from our sun and sits at the right distance from its sun to allow liquid water on its surface. â€Å"It orbits well within in the stars habitable or Goldilocks zone – the region where temperatures are neither too hot nor too cold to sustain life (Hall, 2012). † With the discoveries of these planets and the rapid advancement of technology, discovering life in outer space appears to be believable and achievable. References 1. Cline, S. (2012, October 17).Earth-like planet found in nearest star system. Retrieved from http://www. usnews. com/news/articles/2012/10/17/earth-like-planet-found-in-nearest-star-system_print. html 2. The extrasolar encyclopaedia . (2012, November 8). Retrieved from http://exoplanet. eu/ 3. K han, A. (2012, November 7). Possible earth-like planet could hold water; scientists cautious. Retrieved from http://articles. latimes. com/2012/nov/07/science/la-sci-sn-earthlike-planet-water-atmosphere-red-light-20121107 4. Hall, J. (2012, November 8).Revealed: New earth-like planet that could have a life-supporting climate and water. Retrieved from http://www. independent. co. uk/news/science/revealed-new-earthlike-planet-that-could-have-a-lifesupporting-climate-and-water-8297750. html – (Hall, 2012) 5. Globus, A. (2007, August 2). Space settlement and war. Retrieved from http://www. space. com/4140-space-settlement-war. html – (Globus, 2007) 6. Poeter, D. (2012, November 17). NASA’s Kepler renews hunt for earth-like planets. Retrieved from http://www. pcmag. com/article2/0,2817,2412264,00. asp – (Poeter, 2012)

Griswold’s concept of “Culture” from a sociological viewpoint Essay

Griswold explored the concept of â€Å"culture† through two different perspectives, namely through the humanities and anthropology’s viewpoint. With reference to different philosopher’s interpretation of â€Å"culture†, Griswold defines culture broadly as â€Å"a complex whole†, including everything in a social world. Since culture and social world are related; to achieve a fuller understanding of â€Å"culture†, we have to examine the connection between them, and how the two come together. The conceptual tool she uses to investigate the connections between cultures and societies are the â€Å"cultural object†, and the â€Å"cultural diamond†. Cultural objects are given meanings shared by members of the culture, and it is through those meanings that those objects are linked to the social worlds. Therefore, we need to decipher how the meanings came by- Griswold introduces and compares different versions of reflection theory in fu nctionalism, Marxism and Weberian Sociology, whereby culture is seen as a reflection of social life, or vice versa. The mirror theory is based on the assumption that culture is the mirror of social reality, reflecting the social world. This is an idea central to the functionalist and Marxist reflective theory; however, she points out that while they share the same reflection model, the essence of the two is opposites. Under Marx’s view, everything, even human consciousness, starts from and has the history as a product of human labor (homo faber). Culture is a concept largely based on the material forces of production and economic foundation of a society. This â€Å"historical materialism† , and the production relations of society is the true root of culture, therefore , it is the social being that determines men’s existence. However, for Functionalism, culture is based on mutual interdependence of one another to meet the needs of a society. Every component in a society is reflective of others. There are no class struggles, as opposed to Marxist theory. As for Weber’s view of the mirror theory, Weber takes into account that the culture and society relationship is two- way: social actions reflects cultural meanings. He argues that while material interests are still being pursued, the way men pursued their interests shows cultural causes in his famous â€Å"switchman metaphor†. The above modern sociological theories illustrates now culture is related, in many different ways, to the social world. Modern music is an example illustrating how societal actions reflects our changing culture- music has always been a vehicle by which we express our values. In recent years, lyrics containing profanity or vulgar language are so common and are very popular among youngsters. It reflects that our culture has became more outspoken and less censorious. Conservatism is no longer something valued. Take another example- women these days are obsessed with slimming as thin is now commonly regarded as beautiful. Women would go at great lengths to achieve their ideal body shape, just to conform to social pressures. This is an example showing how social phenomena can reflect culture, even though this culture is not necessarily beneficial to the society. Bibliography: Griswold, Wendy. 2004. Cultures and Societies in a CHanging World. CA: Pine Froge Press. Selections.