Price Wars free essay sample

The key players in the wireless industry are Verizon Wireless, ATT, Sprint, and T-Mobile. With these four companies controlling 90% of the market, there are no other ‘key players’ in the industry. U. S. Cellular is not quite a ‘key player’, however they do hold approximately 2. 4% of the customer nationwide and must be in the overall picture. In addition, the data suggests that the pool of potential people that would get a cell phone is almost entirely saturated so it does not look as if there is any room for additional competition. If a price war will reduce margins, as the case suggests, why would any company ? embrace this strategy? Price is the most attractive marketing gimmick to attract competitors’ customers. As the case told, the cell phone subscribers have nearly topped 260 million in the US and the country’s population is 305 million. The remaining 45 million maybe too young for a cell phone or they have already decided they do not want to have a cell phone. We will write a custom essay sample on Price Wars or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This condition created no more new customer so wireless companies will compete each other to attract its competitors’ customers. Certainly, the existing customers will be reluctant to move to another wireless company without an interesting offering. The existing customers have to change their cell phone number that is not comfortable so the company should attract the competitors’ customer by offering low price. In the middle of rigor competition, the company should put attention to the competitor-based method to set its price. Furthermore, the case told that low price would have a risk of causing harm to their economic bottom line. Thus, the wireless company should formulate the marketing gimmick to compensate its low price. For example, Verizon lowers its voice plans price but in the flip side Verizon eliminates the data plan bonus. In addition, JP Morgan estimates that only 2% of wireless subscribers will end up with lower bills. Price wars do not always harm the companies or reduce margin as a whole business but it will stimulate company’s creativity to create a marketing gimmick to attract competitors’ customers. On what other strategy elements could the wireless companies compete? With a potentially unsustainable pricing war, companies will need find other methods to compete with each other. Currently, ATT and Verizon both battle back and forth between whose networks are bigger and whose 4G data speeds are faster. As the cellular data speeds continue to increase, this will surely continue to remain one of the major competition points between the service providers. Another competition point that is beginning to emerge is the ease and frequency with which customers can upgrade phones. With the capabilities of the new smartphones changing almost daily, customers who want the newest, best phone will be likely to move their contract to a provider who allows them to upgrade more often. These additional services are things that some customers will be willing to pay more for and can offer the service providers a way to help boost the margins that have been hacked by the pricing war. Which wireless provider do you use? Why? Given the benefits of each firms wireless ? program, did you make the best provider choice? Justify your answer. One team-member uses ATT as the wireless provider because his employer pays for the service. The building in which they are located is made of steel, making it problematic for cellular signals to penetrate. Of the four major providers, ATT is the only firm that is able to service our office, which is where the majority of employee phone usage takes place. Due to this functional issue, our wireless provider options were severely limited. Nevertheless, ATT still manages to offer a price break, and as a business this makes the plan more cost effective. Additionally, our employees were utilizing smartphones years ago, when ATT had an unlimited data plan. This plan feature has been extended for our company, which is not available at the same price point with other wireless providers.

SWOT Analysis of Apple Inc. Essay Essays

SWOT Analysis of Apple Inc. Essay Essays SWOT Analysis of Apple Inc. Essay Paper SWOT Analysis of Apple Inc. Essay Paper History of Apple Inc. Since its origin in 1976. the Cupertino headquartered transnational has recorded monolithic growing beyond the industry of personal computing machines. It has become a taking participant in planing and marketing consumer electronics. computing machine package and distribution of digital media content. Although sing a period of coggling gross revenues of its personal computing machine line and ouster of Steve Jobs in 1985. the acquisition of Next in 1996 marked a turnaround for the company. With Steve on board. the CEO led a corporate doctrine of prioritising recognizable merchandises and simpleness in design that has established Apple Inc. . a shaping trade name through its revolutionizing nomadic media merchandises and calculating devices ( Gupta A ; Prinzinger. 2013 ) . In today’s information and engineering sector. Apple Inc. is arguably among the most advanced organisations incorporated in the last four decennaries. Although being an information engineering giant that brought to the market merchandises and services that revolutionized the planetary consumer markets. Apple’s success emerges from incorporating advanced engineering with Steve’s airy personality. stressing corporate secretiveness and simpleness of undertaking squads in merchandise design ( Mallin A ; Finkle. 2011 ) . The success narrative of the corporation is attributed to its mileposts in the 2nd reign of Steve. including the world’s 2nd largest information engineering company by gross. the 3rd largest nomadic phone shaper. and the most admired company from 2008-2012 ( CrunchBase. 2014 ) . SWOT Analysis Performing a SWOT analysis involves the rating of a company based upon its internal strengths and failings. alongside external chances and menaces to obtain elaborate position of its hereafter. Organizational Strengths Invention The information and engineering environment show a clime of accelerated growing with rivals endeavoring to carry through better merchandise portfolio through invention. Apple accomplishes invention through relentless oppugning. re-imagining and iterating on every facet of the merchandise through design. development and selling. to condense it into a signifier. which straight meets their customers’ demands ( Webb. 2012 ) . This invention civilization enables the company design and market revolutionizing merchandises despite confronting tougher competition every morning. This civilization being nurtured since its origin enables the company to prolong its impulse by working at the same time on hardware. package and services that derive great client experience ( France-Presse. 2013 ) . Invention sustained through proactive orientation enables the company to avoid cases. it would see complete out-performance of nimble rivals. Consequently. the company emphasizes incremental inventions and the extension of its merchandise line to work emerging market spreads and output optimal client experience. The secretiveness nucleus emphasized by Apple doctrine. sustains a originative ambiance within the company through close competition between undertaking squads. Clarity of focal point by the Apple Design Teams enables the undertaking members to travel to extreme lengths in work outing the most intricate of jobs and give to detail that leads to the holistic merchandise experience ( Webb. 2012 ) . Against the modern-day feeling that invention outputs solutions to challenges confronting the organisation. Apple sustains existent subject and echt appetency for achieving better merchandises and services. which involves concentrating on terminal users in the full development procedure. Given the modern age of ubiquitous invention. Apple’s think-different image enables the company to present market-disrupting merchandises by concentrating on inventions that suit the consumer market it understand and the originative market it focuses upon ( Ezop. 2011 ) . Although rivals are besides advanced. the originative agitation of its merchandises including the iPod. Mac Pro and iOS7 demonstrate Apple’s advanced civilization. a nucleus competency driving it towards future success. Design With rivals working difficult to turn over out the alone design in their merchandises. Apple derives its repute from its merchandises that generate unbelievable trade name trueness. The company sustains this through handpicked design squads that commit on a outlook that extend beyond the completion of the undertaking within the stipulated clip. Here. the company nurtures a collaborative environment and committedness of different squads in researching new kingdoms of possibility. and polish all parts of the development procedure to present a superior solution ( Webb. 2012 ) . Sing the eternal competition posed by challengers such as Nokia and Samsung. Apple sustains its big customer-base by striking back with merchandises that revive its design infinite. The company manages this through product-line extensions and incremental inventions that provide a makeover such as the iOS7 owing to its alone multi-layered and semitransparent experience aimed at wowing end-users acquiring bored wit h Io ( Tokerud. 2013 ) . Emphasis on alone design infinite in Apple sustains the company’s repute that attracts immense client trueness. With its clients wishful of high-end merchandises. the company achieves this by piecing a design squad of huge endowment to prolong its repute of quality digital media and calculating devices. For case. Apple’s specifying qualities are about utilizing: easiness and simpleness with an intense focal point on cut downing the component down to its most simplistic and indispensable footing ( Webb. 2012 ) . The company accomplishes this through repeated paradigms by make overing on the product’s bantam inside informations. This translates into a differentiation channel that facilitates the company’s innovativeness right from its research centres to the selling of its merchandises. Similarly. Apple leading in the design infinite furthers the Apple civilization of invention. which attracts client trueness demonstrated in strong fiscal public presentation ( Jurevicius. 2013 ) . Organization Weakness Premium Pricing Apple Inc. carves out a market place through its premium pricing scheme attributed to its quality-packed merchandises and alone designs. While the company markets its merchandises viewed as high-end devices to bring forth the best client experience. it risks losing out its market portion to rivals siting high with cheaper merchandises utilizing the Android operating system. Sing the tough economic times strangulating the disposable incomes of consumers. Apple hazards losing loyal clients in India and China as they switch to cheaper trade names from rivals ( Jurevicius. 2013 ) . Although the company leverages its economic systems of graduated table. it continued invention. ensuing in packaged merchandises that attract premium monetary values that hardly factor in the client fiscal affordability. This forces clients to seek inexpensive replacements from rivals. Incompatibility of Apple Operating System Apple merchandises operate through unique hardware and package system that is entirely compatible with its merchandise series. In this respect. terminal users are limited to Apple merchandises and experience surety. as they can non incorporate with merchandises from other makers. unlike their opposite numbers utilizing Microsoft runing systems. This limitation is unpopular in consumer markets pitching towards planetary integrating. therefore the penchant to remain accustomed to competitors’ merchandises including Microsoft and Intel merchandise lines. This leads to stagnant market portion with possible to worsen as Apple can non act upon its possible clients and carry them to leap into utilizing Apple’s closed ecosystem merchandises. therefore a long-run gross border diminution ( Jurevicius. 2013 ) . Switch overing to merchandise lines compatible with selected merchandises from other makers would protect the eroding of its market portion. Organization Opportunities Explosive Demand of Smartphones and Tablets The desire of consumers to encompass technological promotions that enable them to deduce maximal end product from their Mobile and calculating devices is driving an explosive demand of smartphones and tablets. In a dramatic mark of how consumer gustatory sensations have shifted to new. more exciting radio merchandises. planetary factor gross for smartphones and tablets are lifting every twelvemonth as end-users find more value in their versatility and utility ( Segundo. 2013 ) . As these merchandises drive the demand for smart-connected devices ( SCD ) section following consumers switch to detailed use forms. it opens chances for tablet and smartphone makers. Sing that the market is still sing its accelerated enlargement period. Apple should work such chances by diversifying its tablet and smartphone lines through market-oriented attack to prolong and better its gross revenues gross. Growth in Mobile Advertisement The planetary demand of nomadic advertizement is speed uping in tandem with the mass incursion of nomadic phones across the universe. This arises in the aftermath of planetary interconnection in the information epoch owing to the technological promotion taking to low-cost communicating appliance. This presents an chance for nomadic advertizement channels as most organisations seek to retain direct contact with their mark clients. This is a dual-win chance for Apple to foster the incursion of its smartphones and prehend advertizement through its iAd advertisement platform ( Jurevicius. 2013 ) . As the company incorporates iAd in its closed ecosystem of its merchandise lines. this would interpret into gross beginnings given the personal relationships nomadic users set up with their phones. Entry to this nomadic advertisement section would tag a new beginning of gross as companies embrace iAd advertisement channel to make their consumers. Menaces Rapid Change in Technology Today’s environment is driven by rapid technological promotion that threatens its bing comparative advantages. This has made it easy for other technology-based companies encompassing the latest techniques let go of better merchandises every twenty-four hours. faster than Apple would alter its merchandise lines. Leting that. companies that fail to maintain abreast with the competition have seen their gross lines decline as clients switch to cheaper and better merchandises that yield more satisfaction for them. Apple may shortly fall a victim. Although Apple’s success is based upon advanced merchandises. acceptance of replacement merchandises such as Android by its challengers make its debuts have undistinguished impact in the extremely competitory market ( Jurevicius. 2013 ) . Particularly. the incursion of the Android operating system drains the power of iOS power. therefore reduced gross where Apple can non act upon consumers buy its merchandises. Agile Competition The company operates in extremely competitory sections where rivals are endeavoring to outwit each other through latest advanced designs. In peculiar. Apple faces menace from turning presence of reprisal merchandises and services from Nokia. Google and Samsung companies as they gear towards market enlargement. For illustration. Nokia is seeking to shoot fresh impulse into its smartphone scheme with merchandise releases that answers the iPhone domination ( Parker A ; Ward. 2009 ) . This would consequentially cut down gross as other companies adopt a similar scheme. besides the entry of new operators in the Apple-dominated sections. Sing the looming force per unit area from Samsung’s over cardinal constituents interpreting into higher monetary values for its application processors. Apple faces lifting production costs that could farther gnaw its long-run net income borders. already sing gradual eroding by the incursion of rivals’ merchandises. Drumhead Extension of the merchandise lines under its simpleness and leading design scheme enables Apple to prolong its enormous growing in the information-technology and consumer electronics sector. Although variegation of the company’s merchandise portfolio to integrate digital media and nomadic merchandises attracts immense gross. client focal point in its merchandises has grown Apple to the most valuable organisation. Unlike its challengers. Apple applies a alone doctrine of better invention and its lead in the design infinite to foster its trade name repute that translate to stronger fiscal returns. However. the company must endure down stiff competition from challengers such as Samsung. Nokia and Microsoft through high-end inventions. Furthermore. variegation to work chances such as nomadic selling channels and unsaturated SCD markets would give more gross. Unless Apple keeps gait with the technological promotions such as Android easing the release of merchandises by its challengers. curtailing its loyal clients to a closed ecosystem of its merchandises is neer plenty screening to its long-run nutriment of its trade name repute. MentionsCrunchBase. ( 2014 ) . Apple. Retrieved January 08. 2014 from hypertext transfer protocol: //www. crunchbase. com/company/apple Ezop. ( 2011 ) . The Patterns of Successful Innovation. Retrieved January 08. 2014 from hypertext transfer protocol: //www. ezopandassociates. com/nwsltr201109. html France-Presse. A. ( 2013 ) . Apple’s ‘magic’ and invention its biggest strength. says CEO Tim Cook. Retrieved January 08. 2014 from hypertext transfer protocol: //gadgets. ndtv. com/mobiles/news/apples-magic-and-innovation-its-biggest-strength-says-ceo-tim-cook-330109 Jurevicius. O. ( 2013 ) . Strategic Management Insight of Apple. Retrieved January 08. 2014 from hypertext transfer protocol: //www. strategicmanagementinsight. com/swot-analyses/apple-swot-analysis. Html Mallin. M. L. . A ; Finkle. T. A. ( 2011 ) . Apple Inc. : Product Portfolio Analysis. Journal of the International Academy for Case Studies. 17 ( 7 ) . 63-74. Parker. A. . A ; Ward. A. ( 2009 ) . Noki a main pledges assault on Apple in war of the smartphones. Financial Times. Segundo. E. ( 2013 ) . Combined Smartphone and Tablet Factory Revenue to Exceed Entire Consumer Electronics Market This Year. Retrieved January 08. 2014 from hypertext transfer protocol: //press. ihs. com/press-release/design-supply-chain-media/combined-smartphone-and-tablet-factory-revenue-exceed-entire Tokerud. J. ( 2013 ) . Apple Strengths and Weaknesses 2013. Retrieved Janaury 08. 2014 from hypertext transfer protocol: //www. tokerud. com/apple-strengths-and-weaknesses-2013/ Webb. J. ( 2012 ) . 10 Success Principles of Apple’s Innovation Master. Retrieved January 08. 2014 from hypertext transfer protocol: //www. innovationexcellence. com/blog/2012/04/30/10-success-principles-of-apples-innovation-master-jonathan-ive/

Shirley Chisholm Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 8250 words

Shirley Chisholm - Essay Example She was active in the League of Women Voters, the Bedford-Stuyvesant Political League, and the Brooklyn branch of the NAACP, and served in the New York State Assembly from 1964-68, the first black woman from Brooklyn to serve in the Assembly. In 1968 Shirley Chisholm ran for U.S. representative from the Twelfth District under the slogan, "Unbought and Unbossed" and won the election by 788 votes. She attended the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago as a New York state national committeewoman. The first black woman to serve in the U.S. Congress, Chisholm voted against the anti-ballistic missile and the SST, co-sponsored a day-care facilities bill with Bella Abzug, supported the Equal Rights Amendment and the right to abortion, and helped to found the National Women's Political Caucus in 1971. Chisholm entered the presidential campaign in 1972 and earned 152 delegate votes at the Democratic National Convention in Miami Beach before withdrawing her candidacy. She served in Congress until 1982, continuing to work for equal rights for blacks, women, and other minorities. She was married to Conrad Q. Chisholm in October 1949. Chisholm commented on her 1972 campaign for the presidency: "I ran because someone had to do it first. In this country everyone is supposed to be able to run for President, but that's never really been true. I ran because most people think the country isn't really ready for a black candidate, not ready for a woman candidate. Someday. . . ." ( The Good Fight, Chapter 1, 1973) When Shirley Chisholm decided to make a historic run for Congress in 1968, her candidacy was greeted, once again, with dismay by black male politicians within her district. Publicly they voiced concern about Chisholm's "independence" from the local Democratic leadership, but privately they objected to her because she was an uppity woman. Chisholm won the primary only to discover that her Republican opponent James Farmer (the former director of the civil rights organization Congress of Racial Equality) planned to make a campaign issue of her gender. His strategy backfired; and Chisholm, who had cleverly responded by organizing the women of her district, beat Farmer by a margin of 2.5 to 1. Four years later when Chisholm entered the race for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, she faced an even more uphill battle. First, the Democratic front-runners had more money and larger, professionally trained campaign staffs than did Chisholm. Second, Chisholm's race and gender made her candidacy "suspect" in the eyes of the press, the political elite, and among many voters; few people were willing to see her as a "serious" candidate (a point she laments in her account of the 1972 campaign, The Good Fight). Third, Chisholm's candidacy created a political dilemma for two groups, feminists and the civil rights establishment, predisposed to support her. Should they support her because of her strong congressional record on women's rights and civil rights, or should they use their political clout to extract promises of support for their issues from someone (like George McGovern) who stood a better chance of capturing the Democratic party's nomination In the end, although

Critical success factors (MBA) Assignment Essay

Critical success factors (MBA) Assignment - Essay Example This paper will review the literature on what are the key factors that determine success of any project. The term success factor itself has been defined different by different researchers. While Clarke (1999) refers to it as ‘key success factors’, Belassi and Tukel (1996) call it the critical success/failure factor. Cooke Davies (2002) calls them merely ‘success factors. According to Torp et al. (2004, pp2) noticed â€Å"CSFs to projects moved from a mechanistic approach to success determination which was relying on purely technical system and the traditional Cost-Time-Quality constraints to a combination of social and technical systems†. Cooke-Davies further clarifies that project success is more difficult than project management success because the goals and methods are liable to change. Project success is measured against the overall objectives of the project while project management success is measured against the cost, time, quality and performance. Cooke-Davies further distinguishes between success criteria and success factors. People also differ on the number of success factors that are critical for project success. Daniel (1961), in an article published in Harvard Business Review, highlighted the type of information needed to support top management activities. He recognized the significance of non-financial data in order to achieve organizational goals and suggested that an organization’s information system should be centered on providing three to six success factors that help an organization achieve success. Rockhard in 1979 defined critical success factor (CSF) as the limited number of areas in which satisfactory results will ensure successful competitive performance for the individual, department, or organization (ESCC, 2006). He stressed that CSFs are the few key areas which have to be just right for the organization to flourish and for the manager to achieve

Film Mini analysis City of God ( 2002) Assignment

Film Mini analysis City of God ( 2002) - Assignment Example A lot of people start chasing the animal and shouting at others to catch it. The narrator, whose nickname is Rocket (Buscape), finds himself very close to the chicken and tries to grab it. At this point he realizes he is right in the middle of the way with the police and the criminals at each side. He starts talking about how it is harsh to live in that favela and says an expression that can be literaly translated into: "If you run away, the beast catches you, if you stay still, the beast eats you". That means that there are no options once you are in that place, in that kind of situation. The only question is how you're gonna make it until the next day. This scene is intense since its beginning because it shows how desperated the chicken is to escape. All other chickens are being killed and scalped, but that one managed to run away while the motion of the camera can capture that escape closely. However, the lucky chicken will probably be eaten sometime later. That might be the case with people. Some of them struggle not to get involved in the surrounding criminality, but not all of them succeed. Rocket and many others lived the same reality.

Relationship between Social Groups and Religious Beliefs

Relationship between Social Groups and Religious Beliefs Assess sociological explanations of the relationship between social groups, religious beliefs and religious organisations Different social groups, all show different trends in relation to religious beliefs and religious organistions. This essay will only very briefly touch on the difficulty of defining religious organisations, as this is not its focus. It shall split the social groups into three major categories, age, ethnicity and gender; and attempt to distinguish reasons behind varying levels of religiosity. Religious organisations are difficult to define. Many sociologists, from Troeltsch to Wilson, attempt to define into four different categories, churches, denominations, sects and cults. There however is the problem when there are components which fit many different categories, this can arise when religions change current form (e.g Christianity started off as a small sect eventually becoming a church with its own denominations) as well as times when religions have properties of multiple categories (the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints, sect or denomination?). Different social groups are generally attracted to different religious organisations, in the class system there is evidence that people of lower classes tend to lean towards world-rejecting sects whilst higher classes choose world-accepting churches and cults. There are clear differences in religious beliefs and participation between genders. Whilst there is a large majority of men in priesthood running churches (some changes in recent times in the Anglican denomination however only last month, October 21st, numerous news outlets reported how conservatives within the church were rebelling against such changes are leaving to join Catholicism) the majority of people who practice inside religions are female. This is shown by in 2005 1.8 million women in England were churchgoers, as against 1.36 million men. This supported Miller and Hoffman (1995) thesis that women express greater interest in religion and attend church more often. Other sociologists put forward similar theories with Bruce (1996) estimated that twice as many women were in sects then men. In attempt to explain these differences the Davie analyses the differences between women and menà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s proximity to birth and death, she assumes that men do not have as close conn ection to these life processes meaning women are closer to the ultimate questions. This can be criticised as using the term closer to the ultimate questions is ambiguous, it could mean either closer to pondering about the question or closer to the answer; and even without the ambiguity it seems to overlook the men who work in professions where these life processes frequently occur and levels of non-belief among them, such as Doctors. Another explanation put forward for levels of female participation is that religion serves as a compensator for deprivation. Glock and Stark (1969) and Stark and Bainbridge (1985) argue that three main types of deprivation exist which are common among women explaining their high levels of sect membership. These include organismic deprivation, stems from physical and mental health problems, ethical deprivation, stems from evidence that women tend to be more morally conservative and social deprivation exists from evidence that women tend to be poorer. Assuming, without evidence, that Stark and Bainbridge carried out extensive research before coming up with their compensation for deprivation thesis it should be analysed to its validity in contemporary society. There have been many changes in society, such as wealth of women becoming higher, wages becoming more equal and receiving higher promotions than previously available; also there is evidence that women tend to vote, what would be g enerally be considered, more progressive or liberal could challenge Glock, Stark and Bainbridges thesis. In other social groups within society there is also evidence of varying levels of religiosity depending on ethnicity. According to policy studies institute (1997) the majority religions associate themselves with Christianity (around 72%) however different ethnicities make up this figure, ranging from white British members to those of black African or Caribbean origin. Other religions exist consisting of Muslims, Hindu and Sikhs make with almost all members coming from ethnic backgrounds originating in the Indian subcontinent. The Policy Studies Institute (1997) showed how white Anglicans where least likely to find their religion as important in their lives comparatively with African Caribbean Protestants who rated their religion as very important in their lives. Muslims were also found to have high levels of belief with Hindus and white Catholics being more in the middle of the table. Bruce (2002) attempts to explain these ethnic differences, he argues that religion is used as a cultural defense factor, becoming something to be unified under in an uncertain or hostile environment. This explains why migrants are more likely to be religious in a new country and explains why the native population inside a country has falling levels of church attendance. Bird (1999) supports this finding; he found religion as a unifying power within minorities. He also found that religion can aid with coping with oppression in a racist society, this is shown by the white churches in the UK not actively welcoming black Africans or Caribbean Christians. These both seem logical and explain how when migrants are integrated into society they start to leave the church. Will Herberg (1955) gives the reason, which isnt very different than Bruce of Cultural transition, instead of a means in which religion is used to defend culture; it is used as an integrator into new societies instead. This is also supported by the diminishing levels of religiosity among integrated social groups. It is most probable that both are equally relevant to ethnicity and religiosity, this, in fact, was shown by Ken Pyrces (1979) study of the African Caribbean community. There are big differences between the age of people and their religiosity. The general pattern is the older a person is the more likely they are to attend religious services. The English Church Census, however, found two exceptions to this rule. The under 15s are more likely to attend then other age groups because they are forced to do so by their parents, over 65s were more likely to be sick or injured to attend religious worship. It should be remembered that attendance at church, just as the levels of under 15s show, does not reflect accurately levels of belief. Other age groups could attend church for other elements, such as the social offering of religion, rather than the religious doctrine. Voas and Crockett (2005) attempt to explain these differences, they use the concept of the ageing effect, which is the view that people turn to religion as they get older. There is also the generational effect this is where each new generation becomes less religious than the one before. The latter being the imperative as its claimed that each generation is half as religious as previous generations. To evaluate this claim, the ageing effect, people starting to face their own mortality and turning to spirituality is in a sense logical. The church offers faith-based answers and provides a world in which death is only the beginning. It seems obvious that people facing the own demise would be attracted by this; it could also be supported by the evidence, English Church Census does support the idea that there is a higher number of older people than young in religion. The Kendal project showed people turn to spirituality when they get older therefore making them more likely to attend church . This supports the Ageing factor. The generational effect is supported by the English church census; the levels of the 15-19 year olds fell very sharply since 1979, showing how the new generation had a lower level of religiosity. Religiosity varies among lots of different social groups, the people who choose different religions generally all have different reasons for doing so. Ethnicity, gender, class and age are all different reasons why someone would want to join a particular religious organisation and have varying levels of religiosity. What is not explained however is what is the most important element, it is quite possible for a person to fit into all four categories, be a member of an ethnic minority; female; working class and young, what would, to this young female, be the most important part of her religiosity and her religious participation.

A fine White Dust :: essays papers

A fine White Dust Facets of Religion The novel was very interesting. It caused me to think of many ideas of religion and of the many processes of conversion. The book portrays religion and conversion to religion in many ways. It uses the various characters to show the many different possibilities that you can have in your religion. Pete is a very interesting character. He has some interesting quirks; he first is strangely religious for his young age for no obvious reason. His parents seem to be very nonreligious so a possibility for his disproportionate spirituality is as a reaction to his parents’ lack of religious zeal. â€Å"I started simmering inside because they wouldn’t go to church with me, because they didn’t seem to care about heaven or hell or their boy’s need for religion.† Pete’s impression of the Preacher Man at first before he is swayed by the preacher’s skills seems to be very accurate. He believed the â€Å"hitchhiker†, who was actually the Preacher Man, to be a member of the shadier element. Some of the possibilities he thinks of are an axe murderer or some kind of violent criminal. This at the end of the story appears to be the most accurate picture of the Preacher Man. The negative image of the Preacher Man is the most correct of all the impressions that Pete has toward the Preacher Man. Pete finally sees through the Preacher Man’s fake facade. Especially After he has had time to allow the effects of his religious experience to abate. Pete is the main character of the story; the story is his discovery of a hero and his subsequent betrayal by this his new hero. Pete is an innocent and naà ¯ve character he is easily taken by the powerful preaching about salvation and heaven by the Preacher Man. The Preacher Man shows him religion that is an escape from the horror and pain of hell. It appears that it is mainly a technique of salvation by fear; if you are afraid enough you will convert and be saved from the dangers of hell. This is a very two-dimensional religion it only is about you not about God. A truly loving God would not want his people to be afraid continually of hell. He would want us to be thinking of him and heaven.