An Account of the Purchase of a Television Set in Singapore

CASE 5 : AN ACCOUNT OF THE PURCHASE OF A TELEVISION SET IN SINGAPORE Question 1 : What are the different stages in the buying process for a television set? What critical stimuli or events drive each stage? The buying decision process is a basic psychological process. This process plays an important role in understanding how customers make their buying decision. In this case, the consumer are planning to purchase a bigger television set, which can be placed in their living room, while the current television will be moved to their bedroom.Referring to the case, there are five different stages in the buying process for a television sets which are problem recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision and post purchase behavior. STAGE MODEL| DESCRIPTION| a) Problem recognition| * The buying process is start with problem recognition. A need can be activated through internal and external stimuli. * As a consumer, they have to recognize a problem occurred and the needs of the new television set.In this, the external problem occurred when her parent in law decided to move in with them. The purpose of buying new television is to give more appropriate environment and to avoid conflicts with her parent in choosing the television programs. Besides that, it is to give a better perception to the relative. While the internal stimuli derived when * Their budget for the new television set is RM 1300 only. | b) Information Search| * After problem recognition, the consumer tries to solve it and gathers the sources and information about the television set.There are four consumer information sources which is : i) Personal sources ( family, relatives, friends, neighbors etc) ii) Commercial sources (advertisement, salesman, dealers) iii) Public sources (mass media, consumer rating organizations) iv) Experiential sources (handling, examining, using the products) * In this case, they have started browsing a newspapers and magazines, browsing an internet and website to compare the different models available in market. In order to get more information, they also get a recommendation from their friends and colleagues.Besides that, they also make a visit to the household shop to learn about the product specifically. | c) Evaluation of alternative| * After collected the information, the consumer have to clarify and evaluates the alternatives that they find out. First, they have to clarify a need of a new television set. * In this case, they plan to have a new television set when their parents decided to move in to their house. This is to avoid conflicts with their parents in choosing the television programs and to give a better perception to their family. Besides that, they have to look at the benefit from the product selected. As a consumer, they have to choose which television will give more benefit to them and can satisfy their needs. | d) Purchase decision| * Evaluation behavior leads the consumer to form a ranked set of preferences . In making buying decision, they will consider a few factors which is a) Attitude of others such as husband, family, relatives, friend. b) Anticipated situational such as expected family income, expected total cost of the product and the expected benefits from the product. ) Unanticipated situational as look or manner of the salesman * In executing a purchase intention, the consumer have to make up five sub decision : a) Brands, b) Dealer c) Quantity d) Timinge) Payment method (cash or credit card) * At this stage, the consumer has to choose either JVC 29† flat screen or Panasonic 29†. * For JVC 29† flat screen, the television set was came with four years warranty, special discounts of 15% and will get a free gift; JVC VCD worth of S$180. The model also has a futuristic look and matched with their furniture. However, the price was slightly higher than their estimated budget. While for Panasonic 29†, the television set was come with one year warranty, no free gift and the price was lower from their budget. * Finally, after evaluate and considering all the factors and recommendations, they have decided to purchase the JVC 29† flat screen model although the price exceeded their budget. | e) Post purchase behavior| * After buying and trying the product, the consumer will feel some level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction and the level of satisfaction depends very much on the expectation and the product’s perceived performance. In this case, the consumer is very satisfied and happy with the television set because it matches up to her expectations. | Question 2 : What are the social and psychological factors influencing the buying process for a television set? In the buying process of a television set, there are social and psychological factors that will influence the consumer. The social factors influences customer buying decision includes culture, subculture, social class, reference group and family. Culture is the set of beli ef, attitudes and behavior patterns shared by members of the society and transmitted form one generation to the next.For example, most of the Singaporeans will spend much of their free time at home watching television. So the television set is an important household appliance for every family. Reference group includes a variety of groups that effect consumer behaviors through normative compliance. In this case, reference group that influencing them in buying process are referring to family consist of husband, wife, parents and relatives. While the psychological factors influencing the buying process of a television set are motivation, perception, learning and memory.Motivation will drive a person to act in achieving their needs. In this case, the consumer has many needs such as privacy, esteem, belongings and discomfort. In achieving their needs, the consumer will collect all the information and evaluate the alternative that they find out in choosing the best television set. Questio n 3 : What lesson can be learnt for the marketing of television sets from understanding the consumer buying process and influences? Perception is the process when the consumer select, organize and interprets information.In this scenario, the consumer has been influenced by the salesman about the quality and performance of the television set after he explained the features and functions of the different models. The features of the message and the way it is communicated was influenced the consumer perceptions. Learning involves the changes in an individual’s behavior arising from the experience. In this case, the consumer has learned from the salesman/salesgirl behavior, such as when they went to the Courts, no salesperson entertain them and at the Electric City & Best Connection, the sales person failed to give the best services to her customer.These bad experiences have change the interest of the consumer to buy television set with them. Memory is all about the information an d experiences that have been encounter as they go through their life. In the stages of the buying television set, the consumer will influence with the famous and high quality brand of television in Singapore. In the marketing of television sets, understanding the consumer buying process is very important. As the marketer, they must identify needs, wants and demands of the consumers. They also have to consider all the buying process factors and try to provoke the feeling of risk in the consumer perception.

Guilt and Shame

The society of traditional  Japan  was long held to be a good example of one in which shame is the primary agent of  social control. The first book to cogently[citation needed]  explain the workings of the Japanese society for the Western reader was  The Chrysanthemum and the Sword. This book was produced under less than ideal circumstances since it was written during the early years of  World War II  in an attempt to understand the people who had become such a powerful enemy of the West. Under the conditions of war it was, of course, impossible to do  field research  in Japan.Nevertheless, depending on the study of members of that culture who were  available for interview and study in the West, namely war prisoners at detention centers, as well as literary and other such records pertaining to cultural features,  Ruth Benedict  drew what some regard[who? ]  as a clear picture of the basic workings of Japanese society. Her study has been challenged and is not relied upon by anthropologists of Japan today. Contemporary  Western society  uses shame as one modality of control, but its primary dependence rests on  guilt, and, when that does not work, on the  criminal justice  system.Paul Hiebert  characterizes the shame society as follows: Shame is a reaction to other people's criticism, an acute personal chagrin at our failure to live up to our obligations and the expectations others have of us. In true shame oriented cultures, every person has a place and a duty in the society. One maintains self-respect, not by choosing what is good rather than what is evil, but by choosing what is expected of one. Personal desires are sunk in the collective expectation. Those who fail will often turn their aggression against themselves instead of using violence against others.By punishing themselves they maintain their self-respect before others, for shame cannot be relieved, as guilt can be, by  confession  and atonement. Shame is remov ed and honor restored only when a person does what the society expects of him or her in the situation, including committing suicide if necessary. (Hiebert 1985, 212) guilt society  is one in which the primary method of  social control  is the inculcation of feelings of  guilt  for behaviors that the society defines as undesirable. It involves an implicit judgment on the being (rather than just the behavior) of the individual: â€Å"You are an  evil  person if you would do such-and-so. It also involves creating the  expectation  of punishment now (when the behavior fails to be kept secret) and/or in the hereafter. One of the interesting features of many such societies is that they inculcate feelings of guilt for feelings and/or impulses that the individual cannot help but feel. Where a  shame societymight tell its members that sexual interactions are to be hidden from general view or knowledge, a guilt society may tell people that they are guilty or sinful for me re  sexual desire.A prominent feature of guilt societies is the provision of sanctioned releases from guilt for certain behaviors either before the fact, as when one condemns sexuality but permits it conditionally in the context of marriage, or after the fact. There is a clear opportunity in such cases for authority figures to derive power, monetary and/or other advantages, etc. by manipulating the conditions of guilt and the forgiveness of guilt. Paul Hiebert characterizes the guilt society as follows: Guilt is a feeling that arises when we violate the absolute standards of  morality  within us, when we violate our conscience.A person may suffer from guilt although no one else knows of his or her misdeed; this feeling of guilt is relieved by confessing the misdeed and making restitution. True guilt cultures rely on an internalized conviction of sin as the enforcer of good behavior, not, as shame cultures do, on external sanctions. Guilt cultures emphasize punishment and forgi veness as ways of restoring the moral order; shame cultures stress self-denial and humility as ways of restoring the social order. (Hiebert 1985, 213) GUILT, SHAME,  and embarrassment are forms of social control.Whether these are cast in evolutionary, psychological, or cultural terms, we should not lose sight of that basic function. These emotions may not always be portrayed in these terms, but that is how they have evolved and become embedded in our cultural beliefs and practices. It is in this context that we should raise the question: Are there shame cultures as opposed to guilt cultures, with corresponding differences in how people within them experience guilt and shame? In American culture (and Western cultures enerally), personal identity is conceived of as being independent and autonomous. Society is seen as a collection of self-contained individuals who are held responsible for their own behavior. One's interests are best served by allowing maximum freedom and responsibili ty in choosing one's objectives. Moral precepts are based on conceptions of justice. Even when these are tempered by interpersonal obligations, the focus remains on individuals who must balance their responsibilities between the self and significant others.THE PRIMARY  moral obligation is to avoid harming significant others. It is when you cause harm, or are unjust, that you feel guilty. Being responsive to the needs of others is desirable, but is not a moral duty. Individuals are free to follow their inclinations within the limits of the law and in consideration of the rights of others. Their obligations to others are defined in negative terms—what they should not do—rather than as positive duties of what they should do. Whereas the failure to uphold justice is a vice, the failure to be beneficent to others is only a lack of moral virtue.By contrast, in Asian contexts, one's identity is defined in relation to the group one belongs to, typically the family. Whereas i n the West, a person would be known as Jane or John Doe, in the East, they would be identified as members of the Doe family. In her study of Indian Hindus, psychologist Joan Miller found that the primary basis of determining moral conduct was not justice but a person's duties to significant others. Among Americans, moral duty is imposed on the individual to constrain that individual's actions.For Hindus, doing one's duty meant both meeting one's obligations as well as realizing one's own nature. Therefore acting benevolently toward others was not an aim secondary to considerations of justice, nor was it a matter of acting above and beyond the call of duty—fulfilling one's social duty was the primary purpose of moral conduct. These differences lead to contrasting ways of determining what is moral. For instance, if there is no other way to help a friend in need, it would be ethical for an Indian to steal but unethical for an American to do so even if it means failing to help th e friend.These differences are not absolute; nonetheless, twice as many Indians as Americans would give priority to interpersonal considerations over abstract ethical principles. Moreover, Indians were more prone than Americans to make contextual exceptions (where the morality of an action depends on the nature of the relationship and the circumstances of the case), whereas Americans took a more absolute view about an action being right or wrong, irrespective of other considerations. The moral objective in the West, as noted above, is to avoid doing wrong and is more objective; in the East, it is to do what is right and is more subjective.Similar considerations apply in other Asian cultures. In China, the family is the â€Å"great self. † One starts by literally owing one's life to one's parents. One's primary obligation in life is to serve and protect social ties, not pursue personal goals. Similarly, while Americans place a high premium on self-reliance, the Japanese favor interdependence and harmonious integration within the group. Individuals in both groups are highly competitive, but in different ways. Americans want to  get ahead  of others; the Japanese are concerned with not falling behind; instead of pushing ahead, they line up sideways.The personal boundaries of Americans have been compared to the hard shell of an egg; those of the Japanese, to an egg's soft internal membrane. Erich Lessing/Art Resource This individualistic-versus-interdependent basis of moral judgment helps clarify the problematic distinctions between shame and guilt cultures. Instead of these designations explaining differences in such a way that makes one culture seem morally superior to another, they explain cultural differences as the outcome of serving different needs.In the Western context of individualism, guilt, with its emphasis on autonomy, provides a better moral foundation for guiding individuals who are responsible for themselves. With a lesser sense of respo nsibility for others, there is less need for shame as a form of social control. By contrast, in the Asian cultural context, where maintaining harmony in relationships is most valued, shame is a more effective means of moral control. Since personal boundaries extend beyond the individual, it becomes more difficult to generate guilt. When someone does wrong, it is not only the person but everyone related to that person who shares in the guilt.Therefore, shame in Asian cultures fulfills some of the same functions of social control that guilt does in the West and vice versa. These considerations are important to our understanding of differences in the ways guilt and shame are perceived in Western and Eastern religion. . . . For instance, the centrality of shame in Confucianism has led to the general impression that Confucian China is a shame society, and hence is ethically less developed. [Religion scholar] Mark Berkson [MA '92, PhD '00] has raised cogent arguments that this characteriz ation is not valid.Confucian ethics, far from being ethically less well developed, offers much to others to learn from. While generally framed in East/West terms, these differences between guilt and shame can also be seen within Western culture itself in historical perspective. Homeric heroes in ancient Greece were driven by the twin virtues honor and fame. In their warlike society such virtues were best manifested on the battlefield. The self-esteem of heroes like Achilles, Odysseus, and Oedipus depended on their standing in the eyes of their peers, with whom they were in fierce competition and often conflict.Failure led to loss of face and shame. Consequently, shame has been generally assumed to be the predominant moral sentiment that motivated and restrained the ancient Greeks. Their shame culture was based on public esteem. What mattered was where one stood with respect to one's peers, who constituted an honor-group. This view has been challenged by moral philosopher Bernard Wil liams, who argues that Greek conceptions of shame also included elements of guilt. The moral objective in the West is to avoid doing wrong; in the East, to do what is right. These cultural differences are embedded in various languages as well.This makes translating terms like guilt and shame a common source of confusion. For example, when we look for synonyms for shame and guilt in Chinese, we do not find single terms that correspond to them. Rather, we find a number of terms that correspond to various types of shame, making distinctions that do not exist in English. In some contexts, even guilt may appear as a subsidiary form of shame. Even if the terms to designate them vary, are these emotions universal or culture specific? Do an American and an Indian experience guilt and shame the same way, whatever they call them?There are no simple answers to this question. Some emotions appear to be more universal than others; for instance, it is hard to imagine a culture that does not recog nize expressions of fear or anger. However, when it comes to complex emotions like guilt and shame, which are more subject to cultural variation, the picture becomes less clear. Even the fact that a culture has no word for an emotion does not mean that the emotion it represents is absent. Linguists point out that even if certain emotions are universal, their terminology is not.For instance, there is no word for â€Å"disgust† in Polish. And in one Australian aboriginal language, â€Å"fear† and â€Å"shame† are expressed by the same word (associated with the impulse to retreat). The common error is to start with one's own language and look for exact translations in other languages. Ultimately, it is not through specific terms like â€Å"guilt† or â€Å"shame† but throughmetalanguage—descriptions of the essential elements in emotional states— that we can test the universality of the emotions. For instance, the answer to â€Å"How do y ou feel when you have lost someone dear to you? would convey the idea of sadness better than would the answer to the question â€Å"Do you feel sad? † How does the evolutionary view help us in  dealing with guilt? This is not a matter explicitly addressed by evolutionary psychologists. . . . Nonetheless, the evolutionary basis of the capacity for altruism and the capacity to feel guilty provides us with a natural foundation for guilt, and hence the need for its acceptance and usefulness. If guilt is indeed part of our nature, and there are good reasons for it, it makes no sense to fight it or deny it. Related essay: Shame is Worth a TryAccepting guilt as a fact of life therefore makes it easier to approach it in a positive manner, and perhaps helps us to resolve it in more authentic and adaptive ways. HERANT KATCHADOURIAN,  who came to Stanford in 1966, is an emeritus professor of psychiatry and human biology and former president of the Flora Family Foundation. He has received the Dinkelspiel and Lyman awards and has been selected seven times as Outstanding Professor and Class Day speaker. HONOR AND SHAME  IN A MIDDLE EASTERN SETTING| Roland Muller Copyright 2000 All rights reserved. Sociologists have recognized that three social issues have existed since earliest times.As civilizations formed, each of them grappled with the concept of fear, shame and guilt. These are, in essence the building blocks of society. Every society has its particular ways of dealing with these issues. And each of these issues have different importance, depending on the cultural makeup of that society . These three aspects make up the basic building blocks of worldview. It is similar to the three basic colors that an artist mixes to make all the colors of the universe. On my computer, I can mix the three primary colors to make up 64 million other colors. That's the way it is with worldview.There are many different kinds of worldview, but when carefully examined they can be better understood when looking at them in the light of man's response to guilt, shame and fear. Sociologists have used terms like guilt-based cultures, and shame-based cultures for years now. We must be careful, however, not to try and fit each culture or worldview into one specific category such as fear based or shame based. As I stated, these building blocks are similar to an artist, creating thousands of colors from three basic primary colors. How much of each primary color is used, determines what the final color will be when the paint is mixed.In the same way, all three building blocks are present in all c ultures and worldviews, but how much of each one is present, determines the actual type of culture that emerges. Having determined this, one must also consider how people in a particular local culture react to the elements of the overall culture. As an example, when an Arab is shamed, he may react by taking revenge on the one who causes the shame, but when an oriental is shamed, he may react by committing suicide. So while individual cultures may react to sin in different way, in general terms there are great blocks of the world that have similar worldviews.Where are the major blocks? Many western nations (Northern Europe, North America, Australia, and New Zealand) have cultures that contain mostly guilt-based cultural characteristics. On the other hand, much of the Middle East and Asia is made up shame-based cultures. Most of the primal religions and cultures of the world (such as tribes in the jungles of Africa, Asia, and South America) are structured around fear-based principles. The problem comes when we want to simply classify cultures into these three basic classifications. They do not easily fit, because they are made up of blends of all three.Thus, when analyzing a culture, one must look for the primary cultural characteristics, and then the secondary ones. As an example, many North American Native cultures are made up of elements of both shame-based and fear-based cultures. On the other hand, much of North American culture has been made up almost exclusively of guilt-based principles, although this has changed in the last two decades. As cultures and worldviews developed over the millennia, they have gravitated towards one of these groups. This polarization has created three mega-trends in worldview.While the majority of worldviews fits into these three classifications, many cultures draw equally from two or all three worldviews. This mixing of worldviews is especially noticeable in South America where jungle tribes with fear-based cultures come in co ntact with shame-based cultures originating out of southern Spain, and guilt-based cultures brought by western religion and western business. The goal of this paper is to simply introduce the idea of guilt, shame and fear based cultures, and then to examine how the Nabataean culture fit into this picture.Along the way I will use illustrations drawn from many cultures of the world, including modern Muslim culture. Guilt-Based Culture None of us lives in exactly the same culture. Culture varies from town to town, family to family and sometimes even from individual to individual. All of us are different. We are made up of different fabrics and formed by the different experiences that come into our lives on a day to day basis. Even those who try to define â€Å"American† or â€Å"Canadian† culture can only talk in vague generalizations. Americans come from all kinds of ethnic backgrounds, and have all kinds of values.Some live in middle class housing, some in cardboard box es on the street, and some in large impressive mansions. It's hard to place categorizations and descriptions on people who are so diverse. Despite this, however, there are some general characteristics or mega-traits that fit the majority of people in the western world. Certain basic fundamental beliefs have molded western civilization. These beliefs have laid the foundations upon which these nations are built, and from which the fabric of their society has been formed. One of these basic foundations is their belief in right versus wrong.This understanding is so deeply ingrained in western culture, that westerners analyze almost everything from this perspective. Most western forms of entertainment are built upon ‘the good guys and the bad guys. ‘ It is so familiar to westerners that few of them question its validity. It is such an integral part of religion and society, that they often cannot imagine a world where ‘right versus wrong' isn't the accepted basic underly ing principle. ‘Right versus wrong' is the yardstick used in their culture to measure everything else with.They talk about the rightness and wrongness of someone else's actions. They talk about things being â€Å"right for me. † They are obsessed with knowing their rights and exercising them. Many western societies spend countless hours and billions of dollars debating the wrongs of society. Is homosexuality right or wrong? Is spending billions on the military right or wrong? Is possession of drugs right or wrong? How about possession of nuclear bombs, or weapons of mass destruction? Almost every major issue the west struggles with involves an aspect of deciding whether something is right or wrong.They arrive at this basic tension in life because almost everything in western culture is plotted on a guilt/innocence line. (Innocence being something defined as being right or righteousness). Guilt —————————- Inn ocence The pulls and demands of these two diametrically opposed forces dictate much of western human behavior. Guilt can plague and haunt people bringing fear and condemnation upon them. Many westerners do everything they can to avoid being guilty. Psychologists spend a great deal of their time helping people deal with all sorts of guilt complexes.Evangelical Christians in particular, often live in circles that are governed by guilt principles based on the authority of the Bible. Outside of these circles, guilt is defined in many other ways. It can be a sense of public disapproval, being in trouble with the authorities, or not being politically correct. However guilt is defined, and to what extent it influences a culture varies widely from location to location. However, the understanding of right and wrong has been instrumental in forming much of western society. On the other end of the spectrum, is righteousness, or innocence.This is the unspoken goal of much of western society. â €Å"I'm OK, you're OK† is the most comfortable situation for many. Many westerners express their innocence with the statement that they are as good as the next person. If this is true, then they can get about their business of pursuing happiness and pleasure within the bounds of being OK and not guilty. Most westerners do what they can to avoid being guilty and at the same time exercise their rights. This guilt/innocence thinking is so ingrained in western society that most westerners have immediate reflexes to events that catch them off guard.Being a westerner, I have often noticed some of the reflexes that we have developed. Have you ever noticed what happens in the swimming pool when the lifeguard blows his whistle? Almost all westerners will stop to see who is guilty, and when they realize they are innocent will resume swimming. This is a normal scenario from the western world, but it is not true in much of the eastern world. When we in the western world do something wron g, like unintentionally running a red light, we may feel guilty. This is also not necessarily true in the eastern world. Or, how about this scenario?Imagine a classroom full of grade school kids. Suddenly, the intercom interrupts their class. Johnny is being called to the principle's office. What is the immediate reaction of the other children? In the west the immediate reaction would almost always be: â€Å"What did you do wrong? † Even western children almost always immediately assume guilt. Perhaps the school principal was going to hand out rewards, but much of western society conditions people to expect the worst, and they feel pangs of guilt. So much of western thinking is wrapped up in guilt. Wars are justified on the basis of establishing guilt.During the opening days of the Gulf War, the American government spent many hours and millions of dollars determining if Saddam Hussein was guilty. Once they thought they had established that he was guilty of committing atrociti es they had the right to take military action against him. Throughout the war, they continued to make statements about Mr. Hussein's deranged mental state and irrational actions. All of this helped justify the war. In fact, all during the history of western civilizations, wars have had to be justified, and each side identifies the other as being the ‘bad guys. But some things are not easy to chart between right and wrong. Is a hungry child stealing food guilty? Should he be punished despite his hunger? These questions disturb us, because we feel that everything in life must fit somewhere between guilt and innocence. In fact, western association with guilt has gone so far as to provide an avenue for people to develop guilt complexes. They feel guilt for what they have done and also guilt for what they have not done. They even feel guilt for what others have done. People who struggle with a guilt complex can even be overcome with embarrassment and feelings of guilt from the acti ons of others.The flip side of guilt is innocence, righteousness, and exercising rights. As I mentioned, â€Å"I'm OK, you're OK† is an important philosophy in western culture. In order not to point a finger at people, western society continues to expand the limits of what is acceptable activity. By making homosexuality acceptable, they help thousands of people avoid feeling guilty. This alone is enough to convince many people in western society that it's OK for people to be homosexual. In fact, almost anything is tolerated as long as it doesn't hurt another person.I have been surprised to discover that many people in our western world believe that our fixation with right and wrong is not only normal, but also the only correct way to think. They assume that anyone, who does not think in these terms, does not think rationally or logically. In order to understand guilt-based culture, we must go back to Greek and Roman times, and examine the origin of this pattern of thinking, a nd discover how this has had an impact on society and religion. The Roman Connection The Roman Empire has come and gone, leaving us with a few ruined cities, and a wealth of stories about conquest and heroism.While most of what the Romans accomplished has disappeared, there is one facet of Roman life that has impacted the west, right down to the present. It is the Roman law, or the ‘pax romana' (Roman peace) which was brought about by everyone obeying the Roman law. Roman law introduced the concept that the law was above everyone, even the lawmakers. This idea was not totally new. The Jews under Moses understood this. Greek politicians developed a similar plan with their city-state, but with laws that were man made, not divine. The Romans, however, perfected the system, and put it into widespread use.They developed a type of democracy known as the republic. They put in place a complex legal system that required lawmakers, lawyers, and judges. This Roman system of law left a tr emendous impact on western society. Even to this day, much of the western legal system is still built around the basic Roman code of law. Western civilization today is littered with references to the Roman Empire. Much of their coins, architecture, and language have Roman roots. Legal and economic theories are so filled with Romanisms that westerners no longer see them for what they are.They have become so much a part of their mental furniture, that few people today question them. As an example, Roman law during the Roman Empire assumed that the individual's rights were granted by the state (by government) and that lawmakers can make up laws. Under Roman law, the state was supreme, and rights were granted or erased whenever lawmakers decided. This philosophy is sometimes called ‘statism. ‘ Its basic premise is that there is no law higher than the government's law. Roman politicians were not the first to invent statism but hey did such an effective job of applying it, tha t the Roman Empire has become the guiding star for politicians in the west. Statists see the â€Å"pax romana,† the period in which Rome dominated the Mediterranean world, as the golden days of statism. The known world was â€Å"unified† and controlled by one large government. This unification was symbolized in Roman times by something known as the  fasces. This was a bundle of wooden rods bound together by red-colored bands. In ancient Rome the fasces was fixed to a wooden pole, with an ax at the top or side. This symbolized the unification of the people under a single government.The ax suggested what would happen to anyone who didn't obey the government. The Roman fasces became the origin of the word fascism. During Roman times, pax romana (the Roman peace) meant, â€Å"do as you are told, don't make waves, or you will be hauled away in chains. † Roman Law was supreme. In contrast to this, there was the old way of obeying the supreme ruler. Under this system , the word of the ruler was law. With the Republic, the Romans elevated law, so that it was above the ruler. Now everyone, even the emperor of Rome had to obey the law. The law, not the ruler determined if people were innocent or guilty.It is interesting to note, that as the early Christian church developed and grew, Roman law also had an impact on Christian theology. Since Roman law interpreted everything in the terms of right versus wrong, early Christians were deeply influenced by this thinking. Early Church Theologians Tertullian,  the early church father who first developed a code of systematic theology, was a lawyer steeped in Roman law. Using his understanding of law, and the need for justice, guilt, and redemption, he laid the basis for Christian systematic theology, as it would develop in the west.Tertullian was born shortly before 160 AD, into the home of a Roman centurion on duty in Carthage. He was trained in both Greek and Latin, and was very much at home in the class ics. He became a proficient Roman lawyer and taught public speaking and practiced law in Rome, where he was converted to Christianity. In the years that followed he became the outstanding apologist of the Western church and the first known author of Christian systematic theology. Basil the Great  was born in 329 AD, and after completing his education in Athens he went on to practice law and teach rhetoric. In 370 AD, Basil, the awyer, became Basil the Bishop when he was elected bishop of Caesarea. During his time as Bishop he wrote many books in defense of the deity of Christ and of the Holy Spirit. Basil's training in law and rhetoric gave him the tools he needed to speak out in defense of the church. Next came  Augustine  who was born in 354 AD into the home of a Roman official in the North African town of Tagaste. He received his early education in the local school, where he learned Latin to the accompaniment of many beatings. He hated studying the Greek language so much th at he never learned to use it proficiently.He was sent to school in nearby Madaura and from there went to Carthage to study rhetoric, a technique used in Roman law for debate. He then taught legal rhetoric in his hometown and Carthage until he went to Milan in 384 AD. He was converted in 386 and became a priest in 391. He returned to Africa and became a prolific writer and bishop. No other Christian after Paul has had such a wide and deep impact on the Christian world through his writings as Augustine. Ambrose  was born around 340 AD, in Gaul. When his father, the prefect of Gaul, died, the family moved to Rome where Ambrose was educated for the legal profession.Later, he was appointed civil governor over a large territory, being headquartered in Milan. Upon the death of the bishop of Milan in 374, the people unanimously wanted him to take that position. Believing this to be the call of God, he gave up his high political position, distributed his money to the poor, and became a bi shop. In 374, Ambrose demonstrated his ability in the fields of church administration, preaching, and theology. But as always, his training in Roman law enforced his views of guilt and righteousness. Have you noticed the impact that law and lawyers had on the development of the early church?This trend did not stop with the early church. Reformation Theologians John Calvin  was born in 1505 in northeastern France where his father was a respected citizen. He studied Humanistic Studies at the University of Paris, and then law at the University of Orleans, and finally at the University of Bourges. Sometime between 1532 and 1533 he converted and adopted the ideas of the reformation. The writings of John Calvin, the lawyer and theologian, have had a tremendous impact on our society. Calvin was not alone. Arnauld Antoine the French  theologian (1612-1694), studied at Calvi and Lisieux, first law, then theology.He was made a priest and doctor in 1634. Arnauld spoke out against the Jesui ts and his writings added to the impact of the reformation. There are more examples of theologians who were also lawyers, such as  Martin Luther, but this list will suffice to point out that legal thought and expression had much to do with the development of the theology of the Early Church and the Reformation. Each of these church leaders continued to develop the relationship between Christianity, as it was known in the west, and the legal understanding of guilt, justice, and righteousness.These lawyers were concerned with establishing guilt, or innocence, and they brought this emphasis with them, into their theology. And so the western church that developed used this theology to build their civilizations. In the ensuing years, new nations in the New World would be founded on the theological basis developed by these church leaders. The United States of America was founded on these principles. The American founders attempted to establish a nation built on the Roman principle of a republic, and on the early church's understanding of right and wrong.Today, it is interesting to notice that there are many non-western sources who link guilt-based culture with Christianity. In October 1999, Isaiah Kalinowski, the Opinion Editor for the Jordan Times, wrote an article entitled â€Å"The Shame Culture that is Wabash. † In this article he pointed out: â€Å"†¦ guilt culture is due largely to Christianity. A shame culture is one in which individuals are kept from transgressing the social order by fear of public disgrace. On the other hand, in a guilt culture, one's own moral attitudes and fear of retribution in the distant future are what enforce the ethical behavior of a member of that society. From Kalinowski's perspective, guilt-based culture is linked to Christian theology. This is an unfortunate misrepresentation, as the Bible was written in a shame-based setting and speaks to all cultures and worldviews. On the other hand, Christians, must recognize the incredible impact that guilt-based culture has had on their history and understanding and interpretation of the Bible. The Eastern Scene Christianity in the east, however, developed differently. Eastern theologians did not use Roman law as a vehicle for interpreting the gospel.Rather, the eastern world was caught up in the shame-honor relationship that was prevalent in societies scattered from the Middle East to the Far East. Eastern Orthodox theology didn't deal directly with sin, guilt, and redemption. Chrysostom,  the early church theologian for the Eastern Church, was born about 345 AD into a wealthy aristocratic family in Antioch. He was a student of the sophist Libanius who had been a friend of the Emperor Julian. This man gave him a good training in the Greek classics and rhetoric that laid the foundation for his excellent speaking ability.After his baptism in 368, he became a monk in the eastern churches. Chrysostom rose to being an outstanding preacher, even winning t he acclaim of the emperor. Today we have a record of around 680 of Chrystostom's sermons and homilies and I am told that he never once preached on justification. In the end, he was banished because he spoke out so sharply against the views of the western theologians. In the same way,  Islam,  which rose to prominence around 600 AD, teaches that God remains over all, and that law is in his hands, not the hands of lawmakers.The Qur'an enforces the principle that God is overall with the story about Pharaoh and how he was shown Allah's â€Å"mightiest miracle, but he denied it and rebelled. ‘  The Pharaoh quickly went away and summoning all his men, made to them a proclamation. ‘I am your supreme Lord. ‘  The Qur'an then tells us that Allah â€Å"Smote him,† and goes on to warn, â€Å"Surely in this there is a lesson for the God fearing. † Therefore it would be unthinkable to a Muslim, that a lawmaker could make a law that is over all. This is wh y Islam presents both a religious and a cultural pattern for people to live by. God dictates both moral laws and civil laws.Western Historians Roman law and thinking has also impacted the way we westerner look at history. The danger comes, when we westerners take our Roman understanding of civilization and culture and apply it to those who do not have a Roman-based culture. We fruitlessly spend untold hours and incalculable amounts of energy explaining to what motivates people and shapes society, when in truth, we don't understand the real principles of the other culture. The answer to this dilemma is quite simple. We westerners must put our Roman, guilt-based understanding of culture and history aside, and strive to understand other worldviews and their thinking.Then we need to return to our history books and discover what is happening in a society that is not pre-occupied with right and wrong, or guilt and innocence. Fear-Based Cultures As we drew near to the jungle village, the s ound of drums could be heard. Drawing closer, we could see people dancing and withering on the ground. A man approached us and explained that they could not go further. The village was doing a sacred rite to improve the economy and bring more trade to the area. We were escorted away and not given a chance to introduce why we had come to their village.Later we heard that a human sacrifice had been offered to the spirits that day. In another situation we arrived in a village when a rain-making ceremony was about to begin. They were invited to watch. A black bull was led to the edge of the village where it faced the direction from where the rain would come. The animal's throat was cut and it fell over on its left side, to the delight of all. This indicated that the sacrifice was acceptable. The men then cut up the meat and cooked it. As the meat was cooking, an old man began to shout out a prayer to the spirits for rain. Soon everyone joined in.After the meat was eaten, the shouting tu rned into dancing. The villagers danced all afternoon until the rain came. It rained so heavily that everyone had to run for shelter. Did the rituals bring the rain? To the natives it was obvious and there was no way that we rational westerners convince them otherwise. As these two stories illustrate, there are many people in the world today whose lives revolve around their interaction with the spiritual world. They believe that gods and spirits exist in the universe and they must live in peace with these unseen powers, either by living quietly, or by appeasing these powers.Based on their worldview, these cultures and peoples view the universe as a place filled with gods, demons, spirits, ghosts, and ancestors. Man needs to live at peace with the powers around him, and often man lives in fear. This fear is based on a number of different things. First, man fears man. Tribal wars are endemic, with captives becoming slaves or, sometimes, a meal for cannibals. Whenever tribes encounter people from outside of their own group, they approached them with suspicion and fear. Secondly, these people fear the supernatural.All around them events are taking place that can only be explained by the supernatural. Much like the ancient civilizations, they have developed spiritual explanations for how things work in this world. If crops fail, then specific gods or demons are responsible. If sickness comes, then other gods or demons are responsible. If a tribe fails in battle, it is because of the activity of a god or demon. Sickness is often viewed as a god reaping revenge. Everything in life, even romance, is somehow attributed to the activities of gods or demons. The struggle that these people face is simply one of needing power.Using their voodoo, charms, and other methods, they seek to gain control over other people and over the controlling powers of the universe. The paradigm that these people live in is one of fear versus power. At the end of the 19th century, E. B. Tylor attempted to understand the difference in thinking between Europeans and other peoples living in Africa and South America. In his writings he coined the word ‘animism' from the Latin word  anima  for ‘soul. ‘ He saw the animistic worldview as interpreting everything from a spiritual philosophy rather than a materialistic philosophy.Many sociologists of Tylor's era saw mankind moving from an ancient worldview based on the supernatural to a modern worldview based on science and reality. Dave Burnett states in his book  Unearthly Powers,  that H. W. Turner later advocated the use of the term primal religion, meaning that â€Å"these religions both anteceded the great historic religions and continue to reveal many of the basic or primary features of religion. † Almost everywhere you find animists or primal religions you find people living under the influence of a fear-based culture.Burnett goes on to state, â€Å"Power can be understood in many ways: ph ysical, political, economic, social, and religious. The secular worldview tends to regard all power as originating from within the material world. †¦ In contrast, primal worldviews see such powers not only as being real within the empirical world but as having their primary origin outside the visible world. † In this way, those whose lives operate in the fear/power paradigm see themselves living in a physical world that co-exists and is influenced by unseen powers. These powers may be present in people or animals or even in inanimate objects like trees or hills.In some cultures, powers may be perceived in personal terms such as we would use for living beings. These powers are often regarded as having their own particular character, feeling, and ability to relate to others, and often, even have a will of their own. Like people, they may be angered, placated, or turned to in time of need. Power is an important concept in fear-based cultures. In the Pacific Islands it is oft en called ‘mana,' while the Iroquois of North America call it ‘orenda,' which particularly refers to the mystic power derived from a chant. The Eskimos have the notion of ‘sila,' a force watching and controlling everything.The Chinese have the concept of ‘fung shui,' or the powers within the earth and sea. In folk Islam the term ‘baraka'  (blessing or holiness) sometimes embraces many of these concepts. In most fear/power cultures, the main way of dealing with a power is to establish rules to protect the unwary from harm and procedures to appease those powers that are offended. These rules and procedures are generally referred to as taboo. Taboos come in the form of things like special people, forbidden or unclean foods, sacred objects, special acts or rituals, and special names.Appeasements are usually made in the form of sacrifice or dedication to the invisible powers. These powers can take various forms, such as: ghosts, demons, ancestors who live around people, spirits in trees and rocks, and totems (clans associated with certain animals or inanimate objects. ) In order to deal with these powers, rituals are established which people believe will affect the powers around them. Rituals are performed on certain calendar dates, and at certain times in someone's life (rites of passage), or in a time of crisis.In order to appease the powers of the universe, systems of appeasement are worked out. They vary from place to place. Some civilizations offer incense while some offer their children as sacrifices to gods. However it is done, a system of appeasement, based on fear is the norm for their worldview. Wherever this system of appeasement comes into being, religious persons come to the forefront to control these systems. In some cases they are known as priests. In other cases they are known as witch doctors, or shamans. Whatever their title, their role is the same. They are the ones who hold power.Often they are the only ones who u nderstand the needs of the gods or demons, and they are the ones through whom the demons or gods communicate. In every fear-based culture, the pattern is much the same. The witch doctor, priest, or shaman controls people through the use of fear. They are very effective in their roles, and as a result, whole cultures and people groups are held in their iron grip. Early Religion As archeologists and historians have dug through the sands of time, they have uncovered temples and signs of religious activity that reflect strong fear-based elements in early civilizations.Along with this, the structure of civilizations where rulers held absolute power reflects a fear-power base for their civilization. Kings, pharaohs, and rulers held supreme authority and wielded power through the fear that they instilled in the members of their civilization. This allowed civilizations like the Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians and others to conquer wide areas of their world. While we can deduce the fear-po wer aspect in these civilizations from ancient buildings and military records, it is much harder to detect the importance of shame and honor. Shame-Based Cultures Our taxi screeched to a halt.Lying in the middle of the street was a teen-age girl, dying. She had been shot in the head four times. Just then her brother walked across the street with two policemen and stated, â€Å"There she is. I killed her because she was in an immoral situation with a man. † Under the laws of the country, the young man was innocent. He had not committed murder but had preserved the honor of his family. In another case, a girl ran away from home. Later her family learned she had married someone from another religion. They were furious. The police imprisoned the girl so that she would be protected from her family.Elderly grandmothers taunted the brother and father. â€Å"How long do we need to keep our heads to the ground in shame? Won't you do something to cleanse the shame from our tribe so we can raise our heads and live in honor once again? † The family finally agreed to pay the police a $50,000. 00 guarantee that they would not hurt her and she was released into their custody. Within hours her father and brother shot her thirteen times. The entire family was pleased that honor had been restored. The guilt/innocence perspective in which westerners live dictates much of our thinking in the west.However, not everyone in the world operates within this paradigm. As I mentioned earlier, while living in the Middle East I noticed that when the lifeguard at a swimming pool blew his whistle, the westerners all stopped to see who was guilty, but the Arabs kept right on swimming. As I observed this and other phenomena, I began to realize that Arabs and Arab society were operating in another whole dimension. Guilt did not have the same power and influence as it did in the west. While they were aware of guilt, it didn't have the same strong connotations for them as it had for me.If a policeman pulled me over, I immediately felt guilty, thinking that perhaps I had done something wrong. But when my Arab friends were pulled over, they didn't display any sign of guilt. They talked boldly to the policeman, and even argued loudly with him over the issues at hand. It was only after many years of living in a Muslim culture that it started to dawn on me that the Arabs around me were not operating on a level of guilt versus innocence. Nor were they operating in a fear versus power paradigm. I had heard much about this from missionaries living in Africa but it didn't seem to apply to the Arabs of the Levant.Rather, I discovered that Arabs were living in a worldview where the predominant paradigm was shame versus honor. Once I clued in to this, I began to explore this concept and tried to verify it on all social levels. I was amazed to discover what I found. When I would visit my friends, I would try to act correctly and they would try to act honorably, not shamefu lly. I was busy trying to learn the rights and wrongs of their culture, but somehow my framework of right versus wrong didn't fit what was actually happening. The secret wasn't to act rightly or wrongly in their culture.It wasn't that there was a right way and a wrong way of doing things. The underlying principle was that there was an honorable and dishonorable way of doing things. Every part of the Muslim culture I lived in was based on honor and shame. When I visited my friends I could honor them in the way I acted. They could honor me, in the way they acted. Three cups of coffee bestowed honor on me. The first, called ‘salam' (peace) was followed by ‘sadaqa' (friendship), and the third cup of coffee was called ‘issayf' (the sword). The meaning was clear in their culture.When I arrived I was offered a cup of coffee that represented peace between us. As we drank and talked, the cup of friendship was offered. The last cup, the sword, illustrated their willingness t o protect me and stand by me. It didn't matter if I was right or wrong, they were bound by their honor to protect me. Everywhere I moved in the Middle Eastern culture there were things that pointed to honor or shame. What chair I chose to sit in, who entered the door first, the way I expressed myself in Arabic, the very way I walked and held myself, all communicated to others around me ‘my place' in the world.The cultures of the Middle East are filled with thousands of tiny nuances that communicate messages about shame and honor. Shame is a popular topic today in western society. Shame, however is closely identified with a lack of self-esteem. Shame often stems from some form of abuse where children fail to learn trust. This is quite different from the shame societies of the east where shame and fear of shame are used as controlling forces in people's lives. (As compared with right and wrong being used as a controlling factor. As western parents, we teach our children to act r ightly. If they don't, we teach them that feelings of guilt are the proper response. In a shame-based culture however, children are taught to act honorably, and if they don't, feelings of shame are the proper response. But it goes farther than just feelings. Shame and honor are positions in society, just as being right (and justified) is a position in our western culture. In the west, young people are free to act as spontaneously as they want, as long as they are within the framework of right and wrong.They can be loud, boisterous, and happy, as long as they don't break things, or abuse others. Our rule in the west is â€Å"As long as I don't hurt someone else or their property, I'm generally ok. † Young people in a Muslim setting are different. Wherever they go, they represent their families and tribes. Young people are not free to act as they want. They must always act honorably, so that the honor of their family and tribe is upheld. If they act shamefully, then the family or tribe will react against them. Shameful deeds are covered up. If they can't be covered up, they are revenged.It is the unwritten rule of the desert. The whole concept of shameful deeds can be traced back to the early Bedouin code of practice, which existed even before Islam arrived. This code, still much in existence today, affects not only the way individuals act, but also the actions of entire nations. As I have visited with people from other eastern countries, I have continued to explore the concept of honor and shame among these other countries. It has helped me understand and communicate with people from places such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, China, Japan, and Korea.In fact, I have discovered that the concept of shame and honor makes a great discussion topic. I have often asked people from shame-based cultures what are honorable or shameful acts or actions in their cultures. The discussion that follows is often highly stimulating, and usually reflects or cont rasts similar attitudes right across the shame- based countries of the world. In some cases however, there are distinct differences between cultures. As I mentioned earlier, if someone is badly shamed in an Arab culture and the shame cannot be hidden, then it is revenged, and the person responsible for the shaming is killed.In many eastern cultures, if a shame cannot be hidden, the way out is suicide. Even here, however, there are many similarities, as I have known of a number of students in Jordan committing suicide because of their poor school marks, just as happens in Japan. In order for shame-based cultures to work, shame and honor are usually attached to something greater than the individual. Honor is almost always placed on a group. This can be the immediate family, the extended tribe, or in some cases, as large as an entire nation; as was demonstrated in Japan just previous to World War Two.In most Middle Eastern cultures, honor is wrapped up with one's tribe. Everyone grows up within a tribal concept. If someone is from the Beni Hassan tribe, he thinks and acts, and dresses as a Beni Hassan. His actions reflect on the honor the Beni Hassan tribe. If he acts honorably, the Beni Hassan tribe is honored. If he acts shamefully, the whole tribe is shamed. If the act is vile enough, the Beni Hassan tribe will react, and execute the offender, even though he is a member of their own tribe, and perhaps even their immediate family.Thus the honor of the tribe is restored. Many years ago an Arab soldier's gun accidentally discharged and killed his friend and companion in the army. After serving seven years, he was released on condition that he leave Jordan. He lived for nearly twenty years in the United States, but decided to return one day to see his family. When it was learned that he had returned, several young people, some of whom had not been born at the time of the killing, surrounded the house where he was and riddled his body with bullets. Their honor was restored, and shame removed.If someone shames another tribe, tribal warfare could result, and often only the skilful intervention of a third party ends the strife. Arab lore is full of stories of how wise and skillful men have intervened in difficult situations. In fact, many national rulers gain their fame and reputation from their skills at ending tribal strife. In the Middle East two methods are recognized. First, a skillful ruler, through diplomatic efforts and displays of great wisdom, can end disputes. Solomon's dealings with the two mothers who claimed the same baby displayed the kind of wisdom that Arabs appreciate and desire in their rulers.The second kind of ruler crushes all of the tribes and by force makes them submit to himself. Peace may then rule, but once the controlling power is removed, old animosities return. This is well illustrated in the Balkans conflict where the domination of communism brought about a measure of peace. Once freedom returned however, old confl icts and animosities flared again. The storytellers who frequent the coffeehouses of the Middle East excel in telling stories of both kinds of rulers and heroes, especially heroes who can effectively deal with shame and restore honor.This is very different from the entertainment styles of the west, where the hero determines who is guilty, and punishes him, and right and goodness reign again. This is because in our worldview, we try to hang onto the concept that in the midst of a crooked and perverse world, right still reigns and has the upper hand. Those from a shame-based culture, on the other hand, cling to the idea of maintaining honor, in the midst of a shameful and alienated world. For many western people it is very hard if not impossible to try and comprehend a culture that is based on shame, not right versus wrong.In most western cultures, telling the truth is right and telling lies is wrong. In the Middle East, people don't think of lies as being ‘right' or ‘wron g. ‘ The question is, â€Å"Is what is being said, honorable? † If a lie protects the honor of a tribe or nation, then it is fine. If a lie is told for purely selfish reasons, then it is shameful. Thus, in the west we debate ethics, by trying to determine if things are right or wrong. In the east, they debate ethics, by trying to determine if things are honorable or not. Shame in Western Culture In the past, shame has played a role in western culture.One has only to read Tolstoy's  Anna Karenina, or any of Shakespeare's works to see the role that shame used to play. Shakespeare uses the word shame nine times as often as he does guilt. In time, however, our culture has changed and guilt has become much more important. Then, during the last twenty years, we have begun to move away from such a strong guilt-bases for our culture. Why is this? I suspect that the popularity of Freud's teachings is one reason. Sociologists generally credit Freudian psychology for the removal of guilt from western culture.Since his teachings have become popular in many universities, the concept of guilt has become unpopular and guilt has been assigned to others, such as our parents. Other factors, like the lack of responsibility within modern politics have influence young people today. Nixon and Watergate, and Clinton and Lewinsky have illustrated to people today that ‘right versus wrong' is not the only way to think. During the period of 1960 to 2000 western civilization has begun a slow but steady shift away from the ‘right versus wrong' paradigm. Today young people are very reluctant to label anything as right or wrong.Instead, things are assigned the label as â€Å"cool† or â€Å"not cool. † In the eyes of many high school students, being cool is equivalent to being honorable. Being not cool is the equivalent of shame. I believe that this slow shift in worldview is responsible for many of the differences between boosters, boomers, busters, and Generation X'rs. Shaming in History Early Roman culture started out in the fear/power paradigm. Events of nature and history were interpreted within this paradigm. The worship of a pantheon of gods carried on during their whole civilization until Christianity became the state religion.When the Romans adopted the Greek pattern of placing the law above the emperor, they began to interpret events in their society on the guilt/innocence paradigm. This soon came to the forefront of their civilization, and fear/power was pushed to the back. When the Romans conquered shame-based civilizations the people they conquered had a profound impact on their own culture. Shame was always present in Roman culture, but it slowly came more and more to the forefront and eventually into Mediterranean culture today. In republican Rome, criminals had the doors to their houses burned as a public sign that a criminal was living there.Those who had been wronged could legally follow the criminal around, ch anting and accusing him in public places. The concept of public shaming carried on into the Middle Ages, and even into Victorian England where criminals were put into stocks. These stocks were located in public places, so that the criminal would be known and shamed before all. Pillories were rife during the Victorian age, when those who were pilloried had to endure the shame of publicly having rotten vegetables thrown at them. Branding criminals was practiced in England until the eighteenth century.Brands were often placed on the hands or face, so that the criminals would be publicly shamed wherever they went. The major difference between east and west, however, is not the presence of the shame concept, but rather, the structure of society around either the group mentality or individualism. Eastern shame became much more powerful than western shaming activities, simply because in the east the shame rests on the person's group rather than the individual. Since many eastern society fu nctions in a group setting, the whole group suffers rather than just the individual.If the crime is bad enough, the group itself may oust or, for a severe offense, kill the offender. In 1999 at least twenty-five women were killed to maintain the honor of their families in the country of Jordan. Hundreds of others were killed in countries like Egypt, Sudan, Syria, and Iran. In many countries where shame-based culture is predominant, the names of criminals and those being ousted from their families for shameful activities are publicly printed in the newspapers. In western countries we tend to isolate criminals from their surroundings, and then determine if they are guilty.Criminals are then locked away out of sight, rather than publicly shamed in stocks in the public square. It's interesting to notice that in the Crow Indian culture in North America, mocking of some one else's inappropriate behavior effects shaming. This is sometimes called â€Å"buying-of-the-ways. † If you im itate someone else's inappropriate behavior, you are buying his ways. In some cases a person actually offers money to buy someone else's inappropriate behavior. This is the ultimate shame. In many shame-based cultures, rather than encourage others, people criticize and question others.This is seen as positive, as it keeps them from becoming too proud. In the same way, Arabs are often quick to criticize leaders, especially elected ones, if they perceive that they are too ambitious or proud. They are sometimes publicly questioned or shamed, and often they leave public life. Even new language students discover that their neighbors are quick to point out that someone else speaks better than they do, or they are asked why they speak so poorly after being there for â€Å"a whole four months! † The criticism is often meant to keep them from being proud of how well they have done.Arabs understand that the criticism may be a compliment, but the poor westerner is often crushed. Clash o f World Views As I mentioned earlier, there are three basic planes on which worldview, function. On each of these planes, there

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Data Structure Using C++ - Essay Example In the context of the above brief discussion, Big O notation can be defined as a description of the growth rate of the order of a function T(N) as N becomes very large (Ellard 1997). In C++, the only difference between classes and structures is that all the members and base classes in structure are public by default, whereas, classes have private members and base classes by default. Dynamic Objects are those objects whose lifetimes are independent of the existence of the scope in which they were created and therefore, they give programmers a greater flexibility in managing the objects (Kafura 1996). In C++, a dynamic object can be created using a â€Å"new† operator which returns a pointer to a newly constructed object. On the other hand, to destruct a dynamic object in C++, a â€Å"delete† operator is used which takes an argument of a pointer variable that holds the pointer to the object that is returned by the â€Å"new† operator at the time of creating a dynamic object (Kafura 1996). The free store is a dynamic memory area which is available to allocate (by using the â€Å"new† operator) and deallocate (by using the â€Å"delete† operator) storage for objects during the execution of the program. A â€Å"null pointer† is a special kind of pointer which is distinguishable from all other pointer values and is not the address of any object or function. It is used to refer to the pointer which is â€Å"not allocated† or â€Å"not pointing anywhere yet†. However, it is important to note that a null pointer is not the same as an uninitialized value (Summit 1994). (a) A destructors is the special kind of function with the same name as its class prefixed by a ~ (tilde) which is called for a class object to deallocate memory and do other cleanup for a class object and its class members when the object passes out of scope or is explicitly deleted. For example: An AVL tree, also called height balanced, is

Middleboro Case Questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Middleboro Case Questions - Assignment Example For average population of CY-10, it will be given as 126,723/8 = 15,840. With this basis, communities that grew faster or slower than the overall rate of population increase in Hillsboro County can be found by comparing individual communities to the average of 16,446 for CY-5 and 15,840 for CY-10. This information is deduced in the graph below. From the two graphs above, it can be deduced that 2 communities namely Middleboro and Jasper grew faster than the average rate for Hillsboro for both CY-5 and CY-10 because these had populations higher than the average, which the individual communities was compared with. All remaining communities namely Harris City, Statesville, Mifflenville, Carterville, Minortown, and Bolsburg grew slower than the overall rate of population growth in Hillsboro County. According to Noe and Gerhard (2007), the distribution of health facilities, services and programs must be based on the specific population need of a community so as to ensure that the doctor to patient ratio of the world health organization (WHO) can be realized. By implication, the various communities need different distribution of health interventions. To find the degree to which the age profile of Hillsboro County resemble the overall age profile demographic of the United States in CY, the percentage of age group making up the total population of citizens for the United States must be compared with that of Hillsboro County. The percentages for each age group are provided by InfoPlease (2013). But to find the percentage of each age group to the total population of Hillsboro County, these must be computed. The table below shows the computation of percentage of age group in relation to the larger or overall population of Hillsboro County From the graph above, it would be noticed that for each age profile the difference between Hillsboro County average and average for USA was not very vast. Based on this, it can be deduced that there is a

Globalisation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Globalisation - Essay Example However, interrelations and dependence among the different economies of the world was present from the historical period but what appears to be new with the concept of globalization is the intensification of the awareness of people. Local transformations as well as extensions of social relations laterally through time and space are parts of the process of globalization. Thus, with globalization the society will be without borders and boundaries with no specified cultural territories. This often results in dominance of the developed countries of the world over the poor economies in their efforts of decision making which often leads to the exploitation of the dominant economy leading to their degradation of the environment and human rights suppression. Thus, the objectives of the global economists are to suppress the negative impacts of the globalization process so that the positivities of the phenomenon could dominate. (Globalization101, n.d.: Waters, 2001, pp. 2-4) Background of glob alization There have been constant debates among economist regarding whether globalization is a unique phenomenon of the recent modern period. However, history reveals that trade relations existed among economies from historical age. There were also cultural interactions among countries, and work relations as people migrated to different countries of the world for better living from the time immemorial. From the years before the First World War capital flows from one country to the other, trade relations between countries and immigration of workers existed. The change that ultimately occurred with globalization is the increase in the volume of unrestricted trade, doubling of the capital flows amongst economies and rise in the number of the migrants. For over the past twenty years the features of globalization also took a change of course. Globalization that was previously restricted to the developed economies of the world spread among the developing economies with the opening of the markets of these nations through liberalization. Thus, the economic relations among the nations underwent a huge change with the spread of globalization across the borders of the rich countries. With globalization, the trade pattern experienced considerable change. The developing economies of the world that previously exports raw materials to the developed world emerged as serious competitors of manufacturing products of the industrialized nations. Thus with the increasing trade relations the developing economies mainly India and China experienced continuous economic growth. With globalization and increased trade relations world production increased by about 30% which further increases international trade by almost 80%. This resulted in reducing the cost of production through specialization of products and thus helped in increasing the living standards of people. The increase in the trade of service sector implies that nations are becoming richer. With the advancement of technology and communication trade in services has been popularized in recent years. The developing countries that opened up market through policies like trade liberalization, deregulation of the capital markets and privatization of state owned industries experience huge capital inflows and stands as the emerging economies of t

Paper should be down on the country Ethopia Research

Should be down on the country Ethopia - Research Paper Example There are eighty six known indigenous languages in Ethiopia out of which 82 are spoken and 4 are extinct. The Amhara have been the dominant ethnic groups traditionally. Other ethnic groups have responded differently to different situations taking place in Ethiopia. The Standard of living refers to the well being. Well being is defined in terms of a state being healthy, happy and satisfied. It refers to the quality, degree of excellence, grade or distinguishing characteristics. In the context of Ethiopia it refers to mainly availability of resources/goals to satisfy basic needs. Standard of living has to do with having farm, land, farm implements and a house in rural settings, as well as having a job (employment) or business (income) in urban settings. Those people without these have a jeopardized standard of living The standard of living or the economy of Ethiopia started to grow by early 1970’s, and it diversified into areas such as manufacturing and services. Ethiopia is the 12th least developed country in the world (UNDP, 2007). The HDI for Ethiopia is 0.414 which ranks the country 171st out of 182 countries. The less than average score of HDI ~0.51 for Sub Saharan Africa is scored by Ethiopia. It made no improvement in its people’s standard of living as compared to earlier years. ... The PPP income of Ethiopia is 58% and is on 146th number among the other countries of the world. The standard of living reflected by the GDP, HDI and PPP values places Ethiopia behind 132 countries in having a better living standard. Inequality within the countries and between the countries is identified as one of the main barriers to human development (UNDP HDR, 2005). The inequality is a major problem in Ethiopia which includes major gender inequality and income inequality issues. Although Ethiopia remains one of the most tradition bound societies in Africa, the policy instruments and legislative commitments serving women’s interests, recently introduced a vast majority of Ethiopian women, particularly in rural areas, as far from being well off, independent, and direct beneficiaries of development initiatives. Women are considered inferior to men both in family life and society at large, following traditional socio cultural installations and practices. Polygamy, female genit al mutilation, and violence against women are very common in Ethiopia. Many urban and rural women believe that their husbands have a right to beat them. About 73 percent of Sub Saharan Africans live on less the US$2 per day (UNDP, 2011). The UNDP has launched a pro-poor initiative to boost job creation through pro business development that engages low income Africans e.g. customers, employees, producers or entrepreneurs. This initiative includes African countries like Ethiopia, Kenya, Angola and Malawi. 12 million people in 44% population are chronically or at least periodically poor and food insecure. A large percentage of Ethiopians are under nourished, and majority of the

Otherness in Moby Dick Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Otherness in Moby Dick - Essay Example The capacity to reveal human nature within fiction is especially true when demonstrating various ways of life, or aspects of social culture. Quality fiction, regardless of when it was written or the length of the written text, can reveal significant aspects of human nature and thus reveal us to ourselves as we identify various elements of the story with our everyday lives. Literature such as Melville's novel Moby Dick or The Whale remind us that even when we feel we belong within a society, there are often elements of otherness that keep us separate. One of the first examples of Otherness found within the book is Ishmael's enforced relationship with Queequeg. Otherness is established when Ishmael checks into a very crowded whalers' inn, the Spouter Inn, at which the only accommodation to be had is a shared bed with a harpooneer. Although he agrees to the necessity easily enough, Ishmael begins to have strong misgivings about the idea as the night draws forward and he has yet to meet the man, "the more I pondered over this harpooneer, the more I abominated the thought of sleeping with him" (18). His feelings are not eased by hearing the strange stories that are told of this man selling heads that he picked up in New Zealand. Given the opportunity to look around the room before Queequag's arrival, Ishmael is also surprised by the strange things the harpooneer has in his possession such as "a parcel of outlandish bone fish hooks on the shelf over the fire-place" (22) and a strange object draped over a chest. Queequag's appearance does nothing to help him blend in either, described as "a dark, purplish, yellow color, here and there stuck over with large blackish looking squares" (23), which gives Ishmael cause for brief alarm. This alarm is only heightened by Queequag's strange bedtime ritual with the idol. Like many individuals, Ishmael's first reaction to Otherness is not an attempt to understand as much as it is an instinct to fear and flee. In spite of his misg ivings regarding the Otherness of his mysterious roommate, though, Ishmael is willing to work through them to discover more. This becomes clear as he tries on Queequag's poncho, which Ishmael describes as a doormat with a hole or slit in the middle, "I put it on, to try it, and it weighed me down like a hamper, being uncomfortably shaggy and thick" (22). This willingness to try on the unknown persona of another is what enables Ishmael to overcome his original aversion to the man himself once he finally appears. Because of this earlier willingness to think through the strangeness, Ishmael is quickly able to overcome his initial reaction to Queequag's appearance, "what is it, thought I, after all! It's only his outside; a man can be honest in any sort of skin" (23). Although he has numerous misgivings at first, Ishmael is able to recognize that Queequag's manner is gentle and kind. "For all his tatooings he was on the whole a clean, comely-looking cannibal" (26). Not only that, but Is hmael realizes Queequag is as much human as Ishmael himself and thus susceptible to all the same fears and misgivings Ishmael himself has been experiencing. Although he has come to accept Queequag's humanity by the next morning, when he wakes to find the savage's arm draped around him as

Financial Accounting Week 8 Course Project Assignment

Financial Accounting Week 8 Course Project - Assignment Example This paper tends to illustrate the different methods of depreciation and analyse the comparison between them with their effects in financial reporting in a business (Rezaee & Riley 2010). It is the widely used method in the United States by several companies and firms. This method charges equal amount of depreciation in each accounting period throughout the business period. It is applied by getting the difference between a company’s asset’s historical cost and its salvage value, the outcome is divided by the asset’s useful life. This method has a uniform and stable effect on business revenues and the asset value remains stable and is predictable throughout the accounting periods of the asset’s useful life (Cunningham & Cunningham 2004). This method assigns equal amount of expense to each unit of production of an asset or the service rendered by the asset. It involves determining the depreciation per unit of an asset by getting the difference between its historical cost and the salvage value, then dividing by the estimated units of production during its useful life. The company then determines the expense associated with the depreciation by multiplying the unit depreciation by the number of units produced (Benston 2006). This method of depreciation has varying effects on a company’s assets depending on the units of production. If the units of production are more, then the depreciation expense in the balance sheet will also be more, while less units of production leads to lesser depreciation expense (Rezaee & Riley 2010). Under this method, the amount of depreciation is determined by multiplying the depreciable costs by fractions based on the sum of the asset’s useful life. This method often results in write-offs than the straight-line method; however the write-offs are less than the double-declining method (Cunningham & Cunningham 2004). This method has an effect on the

Organizational Structure Paper Essay Example for Free

Organizational Structure Paper Essay The United States Army is one of many legal types of organizations of the armed forces and has been since June 1775. It is the largest and oldest of all the branches of the military and continues to dominate all threats aimed at the United States alongside the Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Marines. Like many other organizations in the United States, the U.S Army has a structure of its own. From the top down, it functions as any other organization, but unlike most, every member of its team carries rank and has a chain of command to abide by. In the following I will describe and evaluate the structure and functions within the United States Army, compare it to its fellow branches, and explain its organizational design that has been the primary reason Americans have been kept free from tyranny and enjoy the freedoms taken for granted every day. Army Organizational Structure The United States Army has a structure that starts as high as the President of the United States down to the newest and youngest recruit soldier. Its organizational structure far exceeds that or your local neighborhood Wal-Mart, yet has far less â€Å"employees†. As of 2014, the U.S Army has a total strength of on or about 1,130,000 soldiers, that which include the Army National Guard and Army Reserve units (The Official Homepage of the United  States Army, 2014). Other than the President of the United States, orders go downhill following the Secretary of Defense, Secretary of the Army, Joint Chief of Staffs, then along to Regional Commands stationed globally. Thereafter, divisions are formed by brigades, which control battalions beneath them, formed by several units or companies of soldiers organized accordingly into platoons. Attempting to explain the organizational structure of an entire military branch would be rather extensive and complicated, therefore the following will breakdown the basic structure of a U.S Army company. Similar to nonmilitary organizations, the U.S Army has a structure that coincides with one another to be able to function properly. No matter the type of battalion, either it consist of Armored, Infantry, Airborne, or Calvary soldiers, a Headquarters company is and always will be the core to a battalion. That company staffs a variety of soldiers with particular jobs that range from administration (S1), intelligence (S2), training and operations (S3), logistics (S4), communication (S6), medical, mechanic, and any other type of military occupational specialty (MOS) that primarily functions to support its entire battalion. All these so called â€Å"S Shops† work alongside each other and handle the day to day business as well as prepare units for training exercises and overseas deployments. Similar organizations that resemble the U.S Army would be that of the Marine Corps and the Navy. Even though these branches fight to defend the United States and its interest right alongside the U.S Army, each of their â€Å"mission statement† differs slightly. The United States Marine Corps works closely with the U.S Navy when it comes to training and combat deployments. Like the U.S Army, they both have similar rank structures that move up the chain of command until it hits the President of the United States. A few differences between these branches though, the Marine Corp Commandant reports directly to the Secretary of the Navy, as does the U.S Navy, unlike the U.S Army, which reports to the Secretary of the Army. Organizational Functions The United States Army has many functions that influence its determination on keeping its soldiers properly trained, physically and mentally tough, and readily available to deploy within a few days of after being called for combat operations. To be able to train a soldier, willing and able men and women must first enlist into the U.S Army. No matter their reasons of joining, either school or patriotism, they are all trained as equals. For this to happen, marketing campaigns must be advertised to be able to recruit. Television commercials demonstrate briefly the life of a soldier and the benefits, not only to him/herself, but their families and the courage it takes to join the â€Å"Army of One†. Recruiters often visit local high schools in attempts to enlist soon to be high school graduates. Others wander around shopping malls handing out brochures, speaking to interested men and women on what it takes to be a soldier. All this is only possible if the United States Army is financially able. Like all other organizations, they must follow a specific budget that continuously gets cut for political reasons. The U.S Army has an estimate number of soldiers that it can recruit and have enlisted at certain times under the units structural guidelines. These numbers and structure fall under the Table of Organization and Equipment (TOE). An excess of soldiers in various units account for numerous war time enlistments aimed at maintaining strength in numbers. But what happens when there are no more wars to be fought? Excess soldiers of certain military occupational specialties are deemed unnecessary and honorably discharged before their end of term is officially over. On the civilian side, this is known as downsizing. The army chain of command is what keeps the U.S Army organized and disciplined. Not all orders given are always performed to the letter and many are sometimes unjustified. For these reasons, there is also a human resources department within a battalion. When some issues need greater attention and not are able to be handled within a unit, the Post Inspector General can be contacted. The Inspector General, or IG, help enforce all army regulations that involve soldiers of any rank and also their families  when need be. IG helps assist commanders in handling punishments, what is allowed, and what actions are authorized in simply punishing a soldier temporarily or discharging him/her from service. Usually, when IG is contacted, it is for negative reasons, but there always has to be a strong hand to enforce and influence the continuous control of soldiers, from Private to Captains, regulations know no rank. Following rules are important for the sustainment of the organizational structure and daily operations. Organizational Design There are several organizational designs that best suit the United States Army’s needs and support its organizational structure. Just one would not suffice to assist the U.S Army market its branch of service and promote the value of its organization. Stating the obvious, the U.S Army was born in the United States, yet has bases worldwide. After wars fought in a number of different countries, the U.S Army has made it a point to continue showing its presence by establishing bases in countries such as Germany, Korea, Japan, Afghanistan, and Iraq, giving the United States a geographical advantage. The product it provides consist of customer based relations; supporting and defending the citizens of our country. Army bases overseas report to their Regional Commands depending on the part of the world they are based. This structure continues to allow generals abroad to command its bases yet still must report to the higher echelon in Washington D.C. The fact to remember is, the United States Army is an organization that does not sell material products, but creates soldiers out of men and women to continue fighting, defending, and preserving our land of the free and home of the brave. Conclusion After 239 years serving our country, the United States Army has long proved to Americans that it is a force to be reckoned with. The structure used today has allowed the armed forces to control, enforce, and withstand all others when threatened. Throughout the years all other branches of service  evolved to create a team that no other country on earth can match. With all these organizations united, it is doubtful that the United States of America will continue to rule as the superior force on earth and will remain that way for all time. References Business Dictionary. (2014). The Official Homepage of the United States Army. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.army.mil/

Comparison of Techniques in Acne Scar Treatment

Comparison of Techniques in Acne Scar Treatment Punch excision techniques are utilized for depressed scars such as ice pick and boxcar scars. According to the diameter of the scar, a biopsy punch of appropriate size is used to excise the scar. If the scar is > 3.5 mm in size, it is excised and sutured after undermining, in a direction parallel to the relaxed skin tension lines. Procedure: Surgical preparation is done. Local anaesthesia infiltration and marking of the scar is done. Initial undermining of the scar is done. Based on the diameter of the scar, a biopsy punch of appropriate size is inserted till the subcutaneous fat layer and the punch graft is removed and discarded. After removal of the plug, the area becomes elliptical. Undermining with an artery forceps is done and is followed by suturing with 6-0 prolene. (Illustration 33.5) A linear scar ensues lying along the RSTL. Dressing is done. Antibiotics and NSAIDs are administered for 7 days. Depressed pitted ice pick scars up to 4 mm in diameter, are excised and replaced with an autologous, full-thickness punch graft. The donor site is commonly the post-auricular region or the gluteal region. Care should be taken to avoid cobblestoning, which is a common complication. Procedure: Surgical preparation is done. Local anaesthesia infiltration and marking of the scar is done. Initial undermining of the scar is done. Based on the diameter of the scar, a biopsy punch of appropriate size is inserted till the subcutaneous fat layer and the punch graft is removed and discarded. From the donor site, a full thickness punch graft> 0.5 mm than the excised scar is taken. This is then fit into the recipient area( Area of excised scar), if needed it is trimmed. Sutures or surgical glue is applied. (Illustration 33.6) Dressing is done. Antibiotics and NSAIDs are administered for 7 days. All the punch techniques require a postoperative follow up after 1 week to check for the donor/ recipient site and removal of sutures, if required. In selected cases, when scarring is linear and extensive, scar revision techniques such as Z, M and Y plasty may be useful. These need to be performed by a dermatosurgeon properly trained in performing these procedures. [41, 42] Various techniques such as microneedling, threadlifts are being used in atrophic acne scars. Intralesional steroids and cytotoxics along with silicone sheets are the mainstay for hypertrophic scars. Skin needling, also called â€Å"collagen induction therapy† or â€Å"needle dermabrasion† is the technique of rolling a device composed of a barrel studded with hundreds of needles, which create thousands of micropunctures in the skin to the level of the papillary to mid-dermis. [ 43] The optimal scars to treat with skin lesion are the same as fractional laser resurfacing— rolling acne scars, superficial boxcar scars, or erythematous or hypopigmented macular scars. A dermaroller device is used with needles of length 1.5 to 2.5mm is rolled across the skin with pressure in multiple directions until the area demonstrates uniform pinpoint bleeding through thousands of micropuncture sites. One study describes rolling the device four times in four different directions (horizontally, vertically, and diagonally right and left) for a total of 16 passes. [44] In the author’s experience, the number of passes required to achieve uniform pinpoint bleeding of the treat ment area is variable and is inversely proportional to the density of the needles on the rolling barrel. Usually, three or more treatments are required to achieve optimal clinical benefit, separated by four-week intervals. Figure 33.6 shows good results with dermaroller microneedling. Microneedling with fractional radiofrequency (MFR) technology is now being used for acne scars. MFR is useful for distensible scars and non- distensible scars with associated volume loss. The procedural details and clinical studies have been detailed in Chapter 10. Non-surgical face lifts with threads are also being used for acne scar treatment. Polydioxanone (PDO) threads are used for lifting and tissue tightening and scar resurfacing; it stimulates production of collagen and fibroblasts in response to its implantation. Threadlift with PDO is indicated in patients of scars who cannot come repeatedly for multiple number of sittings for derma roller, or do not want to undergo laser/ lights or radiofrequency treatments. Evidence based studies are lacking with this technique. The procedure has been detailed in chapter 15. Intralesional triamcinolone 10-40 mg/mL with or without cytotoxics, like 5-fluorouracil, is indicated for the treatment of hypertrophic scars and keloids. These are repeated at 3-4 weekly intervals until resolution; care is taken to avoid atrophy. [45, 46, 47, 48] Administration of fluorouracil (5-FU) or bleomycin into the scars, results in gradual flattening of the scars. [49, 50, 51] 5-FU inhibits rapidly proliferating fibroblasts found in dermal wounds. [52]The therapy is efficacious for facial acne scars as monotherapy, [53, 54] and in combination with intralesional corticosteroids and a 585 nm pulsed dye laser. [50 ] Studies with 5-FU use a concentration of 50 mg/mL with a total dose per session ranging from 50 mg to 150 mg and can be given multiple times a week to increase treatment efficacy. Bleomycin is another antineoplastic agent that inhibits collagen synthesis through cytotoxic effects on rapidly dividing fibroblasts. [55, 56] Silicone dressings are chemically and biologically inert; silicon sheets or gels are found to be useful in flattening keloids and hypertrophic scars, reducing discoloration and making scars cosmetically acceptable. [57, 58] Scarring in areas which are subjected to repeated movements (chin, marionette lines) are prone to become more obvious with aging. The synergistic combination of botulinum toxin and fillers may prove to be a useful modality in these scars. Botulinum toxin relaxes the muscles and hence decreases the tensile forces surrounding the scar. [20] Combining 2 or 3 modalities of acne scar treatment in a single session or sequential planning of the procedure can prove advantageous to a monotherapy. Various combination therapies are practiced. Combination of different interventions can result in satisfactory improvement of acne scarring. It is useful to combine subcision with various modalities. Subscision treatments followed by microneedling performed immediately the day after and TCA 15% peel done a fortnight later was found to improve the grade of scar. [59] Another sequential combination therapy is TCA peeling, subcision, and subsequent fractional laser irradiation. Dot peeling and subcision is done twice at an interval of 2-3 weeks and fractional laser irradiation is done every 3-4 weeks. The duration of therapy is 12 months. A marked decrease in acne scar severity was noted. [60] Combination of PRP with microneedling, fractional CO2 and erbium YAG also constitutes an effective alternative that produces synergistic benefits with fewer adverse effects. [61, 62, 63] The aim of good postoperative care is to prevent or minimize complications and ensure early recovery. Preventive actions must be taken promptly to avert complications, which may lead to unacceptable aesthetic or functional result. This is most important in ablative resurfacing procedures, particularly in darker skinned patients, where pigmentary alterations are common. Supportive medical therapy and a careful maintenance program are essential to maintain results of surgical treatment in most patients. Complications related to individual procedures are discussed in details in respective chapters. In general, the complications include conditions such as active herpes simplex, immunosuppressive conditions, which may predispose to infection and delayed healing. Post inflammatory hyperpigmentation is a common and dreaded complication of acne surgery, especially in dark skinned patients. Patients with unrealistic expectations or uncooperative patients who do not follow treatment regimens are more prone to develop complications. Adequate counselling, priming the skin and supportive medical therapy, apart from good intra- and postoperative care are essential for satisfactory surgical outcomes. The tips for management based on the author’s experience are outlined in Box 33.4 Box 33.4: Pearls and Pitfalls Procedural treatment in acne provides gratifying results. These are an adjunct treatment in active acne, however post acne scarring is being better managed with the advent of various procedural interventions. Fractional resurfacing lasers have proven to be one of the most beneficial technologies for post acne scarring. Judicious use of combination therapies in a single or sequential sessions have a synergistic role and are increasingly being used in clinical practice. Appropriate patient selection and a good understanding of patient expectations are vital to achieve an optimal therapeutic outcome. Acne surgery involves the use of appropriate surgical interventions for treatment of active acne as well as improving cosmetic outcomes in postacne scarring. In active acne, surgical intervention is used as an adjunctive to medical therapy. The treatment of post acne scars involves a multimodal approach as different types of scars may exist in an individual. Each scar and each patient must be evaluated and treated accordingly. The main goal of treatment is to achieve maximal improvement rather than perfection. The procedures can be classified as resurfacing, lifting, excisional modalities.For superficial scars, non-invasive or minimally invasive techniques such as microdermabrasion, superficial chemical peels or the newer non ablative lasers, are better treatment options. For deeper scars, a combined approach with subcision, punch excision techniques in conjunction with resurfacing procedures, are essential to achieve optimum results. Many complications can be prevented by thorough p reoperative evaluation, sound surgical technique, and careful follow-up care. Good patient rapport and effective communication with patients are invaluable.