Internet Auctions in China Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Internet Auctions in China - Essay Example Though E-commerce is thus still in infant stage in China there has been a continuous growth in the business. "Already, some 6 million people a day shop on the internet in China. The vast majority are young people living in large cities. There are now 43 million registered online shoppers, and their purchases may total US$6.4 billion in 2007, a year-on-year leap of more than 60 percent" (Daniel 2007) China Center for Information Industry Development Consulting (CCID Consulting) has presented a report which estimates the total online transactions of China at US $ 14 billion amounting to a growth of 51 percent over the 2005 year volume of business. The report also indicates that about 99 percent of the business undertakings of China belong to Small and Medium sector and out of these only 3 percent deal through internet. This is the kind of volume of business and market EBay and Taobao are contesting to share. With this background this paper envisages presenting a detailed report on the functionalities of EBay and Taobao being the major competitors in the ecommerce business in China. The paper also analyses the differences between such functions and the qualities of services being provided by both the contenders. When alternative choices exist the customers would obviously prefer one over the other. In this case also the paper analyses the reasons for the preference of Taobao than the EBay. 2.0 Evolution of Online Business in China: Although online business is in existence in China even from the year 1998, its growth was rather sluggish. This was mainly due to the lack of trust among the purchasers and sellers and the absence of an effective payment settlement system. It has been the tradition of China that the buyer before completing the online transaction would like to meet the seller, check the quality of the product, pay the money in hard cash and take delivery of the products. Ironically enough the outbreak of SARS in China had discouraged people going out of their homes and meet strangers. This has reduced the chances of the buyers meeting the sellers and thus SARS had removed the Trust barrier in the online business. Normally eBay was handling the US and European markets which were highly developed and were nearing the saturation point. EBay even persuaded corporate customers to off load their excess inventories in their website. However the situation in China when EBay entered was totally unregulated wit h the buyers and sellers consisting of individuals with lack of trust on each other. With the passage of time the online business developed very well with the sellers finding it interesting to offer their products to the foreign buyers as they see it as an opportunity to increase their profitability. The modus operandi is to buy the cheaper products from large local factories, use marketing techniques like AdWords Google or other search engines and get the products listed in the EBay to sell

Personality traits Emotional Labor

Personality traits Emotional Labor Emotions are a natural part of an individuals makeup and their management is a routine task. Emotions are best judged in the workplace which is considered as the rational environment for individuals (A. Grandy, 2000). In past emotions were totally ignored as a study of behavior (Arvey, Renz, Watson, 1998; Putnam Mumby, 1993). Research findings have proved that management of workplace emotions are a good predictor of individual as well as organizational outcomes. But the gap lies how organization and personal characteristics are related to managing emotions. One of the terms used for managing fake emotions at job for a particular amount is termed as emotional labor (Hochschild, 1983). The focus of the present article is to find an exact relationship between individual characteristics (personality and the need for achievement) with emotional labor. Grandey (2000) has defined emotional labor as the process of regulating both feelings and expressions for organizational goals (p. 97). In lay man term it is basically defined as artificial or displayed emotions that employee may not privately feel (Ekman Friesen, 1975; Goffman, 1959; Hochschild, 1983; James 1989). Qualitative research shows that all employees find their true feelings do not always conform to their roles (Ashforth Toumiuk, 2000). As feelings do not erupt spontaneously or automatically employees modify their display of emotions either by deep acting or by surface acting (Ashforth Humphrey, 1993; Hochschild, 1979, 2003). Both deep acting and surface acting represent different intentions. When engaged in deep acting, an actor attempts to modify feelings to match the required display rules whereas in surface acting employees modify their displays without shaping inner feelings (Ashforth Humprey, 1993; Hochschild, 2003). Increased competition between service providers has forced organizations to give attention to quality of service, which is directly proportional to employee interaction with customers (Bowen Schneider, 1988). For example an air hostess has to greet with smile each and every passenger on board in order to provide quality customer service regardless of her bad mood, family problems, responsibilities etc. Research findings have proved certain antecedents of emotional labor (surface acting deep acting) which are Social Factors; Hochschild (1979) argued that individuals may learn to feel according to the situation cues. Secondly Occupational Factors; the display of positive emotions is required in many service occupations, including restaurant workers and flight attendants. Funeral directors in contrast are required to display negative emotions (i.e. sadness). Some job requires display of neutrality i.e. those of the judges (Rafaeli Sutton, 1987). Finally Organizational Factors; The service employees represent the organization to the public. Therefore organizations have vested interest being managed well by the service employee. Thus, organizations increasingly offer display rules for the employees. Several researches state that individuals regulate their emotions according to situations in which they are able to create emotion ((Freud, 1936/1961; Frijda, 1986). This regulation of emotions mainly results in job burnout, stress, dissatisfaction and other negative job outcomes as proposed by Hochschild (1983) and others. But these outcomes and emotion regulation are somewhat subjected to different personality traits which is not studied in past. The current study extends the research in two ways. First we examine one of the most critical variables i.e. personality dimensions to see how extraverted, openness to experience, agreeableness, conscientiousness and neurotic (Costa McRae, 1992; Goldberg, 1992) individuals will regulate their emotions in a certain situation, whether they tend to behave as a deep actor or surface actor. Secondly we will see how need for achievement which is the need of an individual to accomplish significant task, will define persons display of emotions at job. Literature Review Understanding the concept of emotional labor is very important as it might affect the employees in certain ways which can either be useful or useless. As the research has already proven that the emotional labor excites pressures for the person to recognize with their service roles (Black E. Ashforth; Ronald H.humphery, 1993). Emotional labor is an invisible mask that the employees have to wear as the job requirement. But this display of emotions is totally dependant on the personality of the employees. Personality is defined as a mix of persons psychological as well as biological traits that makes him unique from others and persists over a certain period of time (Phares, 1991: 4). Each personality trait has its own depth and significance some of them are determined by birth and some are determined by situational factors ( Cattell, 1950). Emotional labor is basically related to the situational side of personality. Five broad dimensions of personality have been identified by analyzing, observing, seeking responses from thousands of people. These five factors are independent variables, and are studied with many other factors such as job performance, org commitment, job burnout, positive negative affectivity (Costa McCrae 1980), job stress, emotional intelligence, emotional expressions, self efficacy, self esteem and many more. Dimensions include; Neuroticism which is basically how much a person has control over his/her emotions? It can be high or low. People with low levels of neuroticism are confident, secure and calm which indicate emotional stability whereas high levels of neuroticism increase the probability of occurring negative emotions like stress, burnout, dissatisfaction etc. Persons with high levels of neuroticism are reactive and more easily troubled by stimuli in their environment. They are prone to moodiness. Persons having strong control over emotions on the other hand need strong stimuli to be aggravated (Howard Howard, 1995). Person with high neu roticism are not at all psychologically defected. A more proper term could be negative affectivity or nervousness (McCrae John, 1992). Extraversion, extraverts tend to be more physically and verbally active. They are gregarious, outgoing, assertive and high spirited. As they have excellent social skills they are best at jobs which require interaction. In contrast introverts may be described as quiet, reserved, shy and unsociable ( Costa McCrae, 1992: 49). Openness to experience is a measure of how much a person is creative and thinks out of the box. People with a high openness to experience have broad interests, are liberal, curious and are artistically sensitive whereas people with low openness to experience are predictable, conservative and prefer familiarity (Howard Howard, 1995). The agreeableness scale is linked to compassionate, self-sacrifice, trust, eager to cooperate, caring versus competitiveness, aggression, indifference, self-centeredness, unkindness and envy (Howard Howard, 1995). People who rate high on agreeableness are more compliant, rule abiding and interpersonally strong and are best fitted at jobs which require interaction for e.g. customer service. So their relation with emotions seems to be positive due to their social skills. Conscientiousness determines goal-directed actions and amount of control over desires. The more conscientious a person is the more responsive, well organized, dependable and persistent he is (Costa McCrae, 1992: 49), they have high standards and always strive hard to achieve goals. The personality traits which are not included in the above model may also serve as the basis for investigation of their relation with emotional labor for example in the present article we have taken; apart from the big five model a personality trait called the need for achievement. This is defined as the drive to excel, and strive to succeed. People who rate high on this need are more likely to set high challenging goals and as they are personally responsible so they are not good at managerial jobs instead entrepreneurial activities suit them the most. So regulation of emotions seems a difficult task for these people because they dont rely on others and does what they think is perfect. Figure: Theoretical framework conceptualizing personality traits with emotional labor. Deep Acting (felt expressions): Two of the dimensions of big five model, extraversion neuroticism are consistently linked with emotions and are expected to be positively related with felt expressions. Extraversion is related to positive affectivity which influences positive moods and more rewarding interpersonal relationships due to their strong social skills. In contrast neuroticism is totally opposite which is related to negative affectivity which influences negative moods and pessimistic approach. Costa McCrae (1980) found that extraversion relates to pleasant affect and neuroticism relates to unpleasant affect. Several studies support the relation between extraversion and neuroticism with emotions and different mood states. First, extraverts and neurotics have been found to react differently to a similar stimulus (Grey 1981), for example an extravert will behave positive when exposed to a stimuli due to positive affectivity whereas a neurotic person will develop negative behavi or when exposed to the similar stimuli due to its negative affectivity. Secondly extravert and neurotic persons have different affective experiences when encounter a certain situation. Now this theoretical link between emotional state and the two FFM personality dimensions predict that there might be a relation of these traits with deep acting (felt expressions). Hypothesis 1: Extraversion will be positively related to expressing felt emotions. Hypothesis 2: Neuroticism will be positively related to expressing felt emotions. Surface acting (fake emotions) Previous studies have found relation of displayed emotions with four of the personality dimensions; extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness and conscientiousness (Tews Glomb 2003). Extraversion is said to have relation with display of positive fake emotions as they are inclined to positive emotions. Here extraverts are likely to display fake positive emotions for e.g. happiness because they do not need to, as they are by nature positive people and are very optimistic about things, situations, events etc. On the other hand extraverts are good self monitors and can adjust themselves according to the situation; due to their social skills they can easily display positive fake emotions. Similarly if an extravert is not feeling positive they will outwardly display positive emotions to others by suppressing their negative emotions. Hypothesis 3: Extraversion is positively related to expressing fake emotions. Now if we link neuroticism to expressing positive emotions we know that people who rate high on neuroticism experience negative emotions like stress, burnout, depression, anxiety and are more likely to display fake positive emotions in the workplace by suppressing their negative emotions. This is due to the reason that they want to compensate their inner negative feelings and want to be acceptable in front of others. Hypothesis 4: Neuroticism is positively related to expressing fake emotions. Conscientious individuals are very goal oriented, responsible and are high achievers. Once they are hired, conscientious people not only tend to perform well, but they also have higher levels of motivation to perform, lower levels of turnover, lower levels of absenteeism, and higher levels of safety performance at work. So we can say they are more likely to display positive fake emotions in order to fulfill their job responsibilities. Hypothesis 5: Conscientiousness is positively related to expressing fake emotions. But on the other hand it can be negatively related to expressing fake emotions because of the fact that a conscientious person is believed to possess qualities that reflect dependability (e.g., thorough, careful, organized, responsible) as well as volitional constructs such as need for achievement (Barrick Mount, 1991; Hough, 1992, Moon 2001). Non dependable persons make decisions on their own and they are more than happy to live by the desires of themselves not others. They have no difficulty expressing disagreement with others. They dont fear of those around them not accepting or approving of them. They are not at all sensitive to disapproval so they dont behave in a way others want them to (Olvera 2007). So we can say they are negatively related to expressing fake emotions. Hypothesis 6: Conscientiousness is negatively related to expressing fake emotions. Agreeableness is strongly related to expressing fake emotions as they are very good natured, helpful, and cooperative with others and for this they might put on a good face while making interactions with others. Secondly these individuals hardly retaliate when someone treat them unfairly so they might suppress their negative emotion at that time and express fake emotions to avoid conflict. Thirdly as these people are very nice, tolerant, sensitive, trustworthy, kind and warm they are liked by everyone and to maintain this impression they try to be as good with others as they can with the help of artificial display of emotions. Hypothesis 7: Agreeableness will be positively related to expressing fake positive Emotions. Openness to experience reflects persons curiousity, originality, intellect, creativity, and flexibility. McCrae Costa (1991) argued that these individuals have a very broader and deeper scope of awareness and they need to experience new things and ideas. They are not related to any kind of facial expression and any social interaction so no relationship is maintained between openness to experience individuals and emotional labor. Need for Achievement is the desire to do well at something. It is motivated by a want to achieve success, mastery, and fulfillment. People whose need for achievement is high know what they want and reject things which distract them from their goals. They do what needs to be done even when they dont want to so this means if they want to achieve something they can display positive fake emotions in order to excel. These people are highly emotionally stable, they have full control over their emotions and can regulate them where required. So whatever the situation may be they are likely to manage it and strive for success. Lastly they know and understand the principle of communication so they are very strong at communicating and articulating their thoughts in many ways and presenting them to others. And wherever social skills are strong means a no of relationships with others are involved which some way or the other requires an artificial display of emotions. Hypothesis 8: Need for achievement is positively related to expressing fake emotions.

Toyota Prius vs Honda Insight :: Cars Automobiles Environmental Essays

Toyota Prius vs Honda Insight This paper aims at examining on Toyota and Honda’s current environmental control systems for next century’s energy vehicles, comparing released the echo automobile, Prius, Toyota and Insight, Honda. Specification Prius was released in December 1997 in Japan in order to reduce emissions in urban areas, which startled the world. The Japan-market Prius, which has sold 35,000 units, was optimized for "stop-and-go" driving, so it needed some tuning to meet the requirements of the U.S. market. In the U.S., motorists typically drive faster for longer distances, and vehicles have stricter emissions requirements. The Prius, a four-door sedan that seats five, is designed to minimize tailpipe emissions and get excellent mileage for a car its size. It meets California's very stringent SULEV standard (super ultra-low emission vehicle), which allows only 10 percent of the smog-forming exhaust gases as the ULEV standard. To reduce emissions, the Prius operates without running the gasoline engine at speeds below 13-25 mph. The car decides which driving mode to operate in based on how it is being driven, the charge level in the batteries and driving conditions. It never needs to be plugged in to recharge; the onboard generator automatically charges the batteries when necessary. The retail price is about $23000, which is reasonable price in market now. Honda Insight, two-door seats is a simplified parallel hybrid which is superior in fuel efficiency and is known for being a â€Å"hybrid gasoline-electric propelled car. Fuel efficiency of Insight precedes 7km per 1l of the Prius. Honda jumped to the top of fuel efficiency competition. The Insight also meets California's Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle (ULEV) standards, which measures other emissions. The fuel efficiency is important in reducing consumption of non-renewable resources and green gas emissions, developing future automotive technologies because of limited range problems, battery electric or fuel cell electric cars will need to be very efficient to be successful in the marketplace Honda improved fuel expensive of the gasoline engine itself and developed the motor/generator which becomes auxiliary power, furthermore adopted aerodynamic, light and the aluminum alloy body make inherently low energy vehicles.

Killings by Andre Dubus Essay

â€Å"Killings† by Andre Dubus is a short story about a father who seeks out vengeance for the murder of his twenty-one year old son only to learn that revenge will only make things worse. The father, Matt Fowler, is haunted by the tragedy that has befallen his youngest son. Retribution is a common human desire because people feel that it offers the truest form of justice; however, this action is against the law of the land and is thought of as reckless to pursue. The author uses foreshadowing, imagery, and dialogue to illustrate a tone of prudence when thinking of taking vengeance into one’s own hand. In the story the literary element of foreshadowing is used. The desire to get even is an emotion that is felt by all people and is not biased as to who feels it. That desire is displayed at the beginning of the story. This is shown when the author writes, â€Å"Matt’s older son, Steve, turned to him as the family left the grave and walked between their friends, and said: ‘I should kill him’† (1203). This ominous statement shows how the feeling of revenge causes the character to not think of the consequences when pursuing vengeance for what is thought of as true justice. The writer further establishes how the feeling of retribution clouds cautious thinking through foreshadowing when he writes, â€Å"‘I’ve got a . 38 I’ve had for years, I take it to the store now†¦She knows I started carrying it after the first time she saw him in town. She knows it’s in case I see him and there’s some kind of situation. ’† (1204). This indicates that not only is revenge to be sought out but also the means by which Matt Fowler plans to exact his vengeance without any thought of consequence. The author’s use of imagery creates a picture of how the father’s vengeance for his son’s murder takes place when Matt waits on the murderer to get off of work so that he can take the killer and his car back to the killer’s house. The author describes the scene with vivid detail when he writes, â€Å"†¦he stopped and aimed over the hood at Strout’s blue shirt ten feet away†¦They drove across the empty front lot and onto the road. Willis’s headlights shining into the car; then back through the town, the sea wall left hiding the beach, though far out Matt could see the ocean; he uncocked the revolver: on the right were the places, most with their neon signs off, that did so much business in summer†¦the street itself empty of traffic†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (1209). The description of the abduction of the killer creates a mental picture to the reader of how the father planned to obtain the murderer and exact his revenge. The use of magery is also evident when the author describes the preparations taken for getting even when the author writes, â€Å"Beyond the marsh they drove through woods, Matt thinking now of the hole he and Willis dug last Sunday afternoon†¦as they dug into the soft earth on the knoll they had chosen because elms and maples sheltered it† (1210). The prose writer not only creates a picture of how the father obtains the murder to exact retaliation but also where the killer would be disposed of. The author uses imagery to show that the character had plenty of opportunities to have second thoughts of seeking vengeance but used no caution and thought only of revenge. The author’s use of dialogue enhances the tone of caution when thinking of taking vengeance outside of the legal system. This is apparent in the father’s reply to the murderer when the author writes, â€Å"‘You’re not going to jail’† (1212). Matt Fowler’s response to the killer not going to jail through dialogue shows that he has no intentions of letting the justice system handle Strout’s punishment. The author further reinforces the tone through dialogue when he show’s the father’s distaste with the legal system. This is illustrated when the scribe writes, â€Å"‘I’ll do twenty years, Mr. Fowler; at least. I’ll be forty-six years old. ’ ‘That’s nine years younger than I am,’ Matt said†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (1214). The father’s response gives the reader insight to Matt’s thoughts of true justice and how no caution was used when pursuing this course of action. In conclusion, the author uses foreshadowing, imagery, and dialogue to set a tone of caution when thinking about taking vengeance outside of the legal system. This desire for reprisal is all too common, especially to those who have been victimized, to feel that if one wrong is committed that another wrong will cancel it out. Revenge is ill advised by most as people who say two wrongs don’t make a right and the memories will never fade. The story, â€Å"Killings† by Andre Dubus, illustrates how a father seeks out revenge for the murder of his twenty-one year old son and takes matters into his own hands only to discover that revenge only makes matters in his life worse.

Founding Fathers Of Sociology

Sociology can be defined as the scientific study of society and human behavior. It tries to acquire knowledge about society, and about how the humans making up these societies interact with each other. Auguste Comte was the first true father of sociology. He was the person who coined the term â€Å"sociology†. Other sociologist who can also be called the founding fathers of sociology include Weber, Marx, Engels and Durkheim. In this essay I will be looking at where these sociologists came from and the theories they came up with.Auguste Comte was a French social thinker and was the first person who coined the term â€Å"sociology†. He wanted to establish a science of society as a new discipline. He modeled sociological study around natural science and wanted to discover the laws of society. He aimed to study society through Social statics, which is the study of order and stability and Social dynamics, which is the study of social change. He wants to answer the question o f how one plans for change. One should think about in advance where you want to go and how to get there from here.One should be future oriented and goal oriented, achieving goals by optimal means. Social planning is designed to enhance social functioning by either changing the structural relations among people or providing a tangible support than enables an individual to cope with or overcome a social problem. It is necessary to plan in order to reduce uncertainty and enhance accountability. It also increases the potential for participation. Comte says that the process of change involves three stages; The future state, where the change has occurred.The present state, this is where we are in relation to where we want to get to and it is the period of planning and initiating the desired change. The last stage is the transition state, and asks the question of how we get from where we are to where we want to be. Comte’s idea for sociological study was based on the concept that so cieties evolve through three intellectual stages. These are the Theological stage, which involves the belief in the supernatural, the metaphysical stage, which is the transition stage and the positivistic stage which involves scientific thinking.After the third stage is reached, true understanding of the working of society becomes possible. Social disorder such as crime would be diminished and eventually stop when society’s cogs and wheels are established. Another founding father of sociology is Max Weber. He was a German sociologist. His central focus was on the process of rationalization. He has a middle class protestant background. He defined sociology as the scientific study of human action. Social action is human conduct oriented toward others and based on social meaning given to that conduct.It involves other human beings and is based on intentions and ideas of individuals. It must understand the subjective meaning behind people’s actions and this makes sociology fundamentally different from natural sciences. Weber calls such understanding â€Å"verstehen†, which is the investigator’s attempt to understand human action by viewing the cause of the action through the actor’s eyes rather than his own. The theory became known as Interactionism. Weber focuses on social actions of individuals and says that society cannot think or act, only individuals can.There is an opposition to positivism. The subject matter of sociology is unique and it cannot be studied with principles/methods of natural sciences. It requires verstehen. Another founding father is Karl Marx. He was born on May 5, 1818 in the German city of Trier. His family was Jewish, but he later converted to Protestantism in 1824 in order to avoid anti-Semitic laws and persecution. Marx was forced to go to London in 1849, but he did not work alone. He had help of Friedrich Engels who had on his own developed a very similar theory of economic determinism.Although the id eas later acquired the term â€Å"Marxism†, it must always be remembered that Marx did not come up with them entirely on his own. Engels was also important for Marx in a financial sense. Poverty weighed heavily on Marx and his family. Karl Marx focuses on conflict and inequality. Conflict is a fact of life in society. There is conflict between various social groups derived from a conflict of interest which brings inequality. Power and resources are unevenly distributed in society. Such inequality is maintained by naked coercion or manipulation of norms and values. Marx was interested in a particular type of conflict.This was class conflict or conflict between classes. He says, â€Å" The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle†. Production is a key concept in Marxism. It is the production of material goods and services in society and is the most important human activity. Production is carried out in the context of cooperation between h uman beings. Out of productive activity, human beings organize themselves, establish relations with each other and form a society. Thus change through improves technology of production also implies a change in social relations.Processes of production have given rise to inequality between human beings because production has been carried out by means of exploitation of the majority of the population by a few. Classes are social units based on their relation to the means of production. The means used to produce goods and services example: land, factories, tools, machinery, raw materials etc. The dominant class are the minority who own means of production and the subordinate class are the majority who don’t. Production is carried out by exploitation of one class by the other and this leads to class conflict.Bourgeoisie vs Proletariat. All societies go through stages in history and are destined to reach the communist stage. The communist mode only is not based on class exploitatio n. Communism realizes classless society where no one dominates one another. Marx’s dichotomy of society. Society is divided into two levels: The base/infrastructure (economic) and the superstructure (non-economic sphere). According to Marx the superstructure plays significant role in society. Example: the state. Common view: The state is neutral institution representing the interest of all citizens and society as a whole.Marx’s view: the executive of the modern state is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole â€Å"bourgeoisie† (the owners of production). Example: The state. The interest of the state coincide with those of the dominant class. Apparatuses of the state are used to protect capitalists’ interests against worker’s rebellion. There is a contrast with Durkheim. Durkheim says that norms and values of society produce social integration and harmony (social solidarity). Marx says that these norms and values are ideologies which suppress people’s opposition and resistance (which may look like harmony or consensus to Durkheim). Founding Fathers of Sociology Sociology can be defined as the scientific study of society and human behavior. It tries to acquire knowledge about society, and about how the humans making up these societies interact with each other. Auguste Comte was the first true father of sociology. He was the person who coined the term â€Å"sociology†. Other sociologist who can also be called the founding fathers of sociology include Weber, Marx, Engels and Durkheim. In this essay I will be looking at where these sociologists came from and the theories they came up with.Auguste Comte was a French social thinker and was the first person who coined the term â€Å"sociology†. He wanted to establish a science of society as a new discipline. He modeled sociological study around natural science and wanted to discover the laws of society. He aimed to study society through Social statics, which is the study of order and stability and Social dynamics, which is the study of social change. He wants to answer the question o f how one plans for change. One should think about in advance where you want to go and how to get there from here.One should be future oriented and goal oriented, achieving goals by optimal means. Social planning is designed to enhance social functioning by either changing the structural relations among people or providing a tangible support than enables an individual to cope with or overcome a social problem. It is necessary to plan in order to reduce uncertainty and enhance accountability. It also increases the potential for participation. Comte says that the process of change involves three stages; The future state, where the change has occurred.The present state, this is where we are in relation to where we want to get to and it is the period of planning and initiating the desired change. The last stage is the transition state, and asks the question of how we get from where we are to where we want to be. Comte’s idea for sociological study was based on the concept that so cieties evolve through three intellectual stages. These are the Theological stage, which involves the belief in the supernatural, the metaphysical stage, which is the transition stage and the positivistic stage which involves scientific thinking.After the third stage is reached, true understanding of the working of society becomes possible. Social disorder such as crime would be diminished and eventually stop when society’s cogs and wheels are established. Another founding father of sociology is Max Weber. He was a German sociologist. His central focus was on the process of rationalization. He has a middle class protestant background. He defined sociology as the scientific study of human action. Social action is human conduct oriented toward others and based on social meaning given to that conduct.It involves other human beings and is based on intentions and ideas of individuals. It must understand the subjective meaning behind people’s actions and this makes sociology fundamentally different from natural sciences. Weber calls such understanding â€Å"verstehen†, which is the investigator’s attempt to understand human action by viewing the cause of the action through the actor’s eyes rather than his own. The theory became known as Interactionism. Weber focuses on social actions of individuals and says that society cannot think or act, only individuals can.There is an opposition to positivism. The subject matter of sociology is unique and it cannot be studied with principles/methods of natural sciences. It requires verstehen. Another founding father is Karl Marx. He was born on May 5, 1818 in the German city of Trier. His family was Jewish, but he later converted to Protestantism in 1824 in order to avoid anti-Semitic laws and persecution. Marx was forced to go to London in 1849, but he did not work alone. He had help of Friedrich Engels who had on his own developed a very similar theory of economic determinism.Although the id eas later acquired the term â€Å"Marxism†, it must always be remembered that Marx did not come up with them entirely on his own. Engels was also important for Marx in a financial sense. Poverty weighed heavily on Marx and his family. Karl Marx focuses on conflict and inequality. Conflict is a fact of life in society. There is conflict between various social groups derived from a conflict of interest which brings inequality. Power and resources are unevenly distributed in society. Such inequality is maintained by naked coercion or manipulation of norms and values. Marx was interested in a particular type of conflict.This was class conflict or conflict between classes. He says, â€Å" The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle†. Production is a key concept in Marxism. It is the production of material goods and services in society and is the most important human activity. Production is carried out in the context of cooperation between h uman beings. Out of productive activity, human beings organize themselves, establish relations with each other and form a society. Thus change through improves technology of production also implies a change in social relations.Processes of production have given rise to inequality between human beings because production has been carried out by means of exploitation of the majority of the population by a few. Classes are social units based on their relation to the means of production. The means used to produce goods and services example: land, factories, tools, machinery, raw materials etc. The dominant class are the minority who own means of production and the subordinate class are the majority who don’t. Production is carried out by exploitation of one class by the other and this leads to class conflict.Bourgeoisie vs Proletariat. All societies go through stages in history and are destined to reach the communist stage. The communist mode only is not based on class exploitatio n. Communism realizes classless society where no one dominates one another. Marx’s dichotomy of society. Society is divided into two levels: The base/infrastructure (economic) and the superstructure (non-economic sphere). According to Marx the superstructure plays significant role in society. Example: the state. Common view: The state is neutral institution representing the interest of all citizens and society as a whole.Marx’s view: the executive of the modern state is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole â€Å"bourgeoisie† (the owners of production). Example: The state. The interest of the state coincide with those of the dominant class. Apparatuses of the state are used to protect capitalists’ interests against worker’s rebellion. There is a contrast with Durkheim. Durkheim says that norms and values of society produce social integration and harmony (social solidarity). Marx says that these norms and values are ideologies which suppress people’s opposition and resistance (which may look like harmony or consensus to Durkheim).