Academic english

The sociological imagination first coined by c. Wright mills in 1959 what is the sociological imagination? The vivid awareness of the relationship between personal experience and the wider society. -Seeing â€Å"strange in the familiar† is detaching yourself from individualistic interpretations of human behavior and accepting the initially â€Å"strange† notion that human behaviors are a product of social forces. The ability to see things socially and how things interact and influence each other that is the sociological imagination. How can we differentiate between personal troubles and social issues? Example: unemployment/ if your unemployed, that's a trouble in your life (personal). But, if it was during the great recession, you were in the same boat as everybody else in society. Therefore your personal trouble is connected to a broader public issue. What is problem with the common sense explanations of ills?They fail to consider the wider picture of the issue yet the y Just focus on pre- conceived Judgments for example in relation to aboriginal people a common sense explanation would be that they are all petrol sniffing no hoppers though this is not the case what has been failed to be realized here is that due to colonization indigenous people lost a lot of there rights and are still trying to recover from all they have lost in life. -Examples of social issues that might be better explained through investigating social forces and influences rather than individual failings Unemployed- its not necessarily that you're lazy or don't want to work.There are social forces at play that make it more likely some groups over others will be unemployed. Seeing the general in the particular show that age, gender, class, race, sexuality they all impact behaviors and life chances. Although we are individuals, social forces touch our lives in significant ways, even if we don't see those forces. Sociology: is the study of society, whose goals are to establish, ex plain and predict patterned regularities of human behavior. The sociological imagination asks us to see the strange in the familiar and general in particular, linking our behaviors to broader social forces.Personal trouble re linked to broader public issues, and our goal in sociology is to uncover those links using the sociological data and not rely on common sense explanations Topic: social class and stratification -What is social stratification? Social stratification refers to a system of social inequality -Which societies experience social stratification? All societies have social stratification to some degree -Some societies have simpler stratification where they stratify along one dimension (such as age) while others are more complex and consist of many different factors reading stratification (such as age, race, gender, etc†¦ -3 types of stratification systems Estate systems Caste systems Class systems -definition of class in sociology the term class does not refer to one 's style or sophistication, rather social class is the social structural position groups hold relative to the economic, social, political and cultural resources of society. -class can not be directly observed but can be â€Å"seen† by observing the various displays others project such as brand of clothing, type of car, the places one shops. -these objects become symbols of an individuals lass status.Types of class systems: -Upper class: owns major share of corporate and personal wealth -Upper middle class: those with high incomes and high social prestige -Middle class: -Lower class: workers in skilled trades and low-income bureaucratic workers -Lower class: the displaced and poor. -The social class that you are in gives you different access to Jobs, income, education, power, and social status. Age, race, gender as well as class shape people's experiences within society. -These differences allow different opportunities for success.

Media Law in South Africa

The Press Freedom Commission (PFC) was launched in July 2011 by the press industry representative body, Print Media South Africa and the South African National Editors Forum in order to set up a suitable regulatory media system for South Africa (Press Freedom Commission, 2012: 1). The Press Freedom Commission that was held earlier this year assessed all measures concerning co-regulation, self-regulation, independent regulation and state regulation so as to ensure that the media is accountable to the public that they serve and similarly to ensure the protection of press freedom (Press Freedom Commission, 2012: 1).This year, the PFC recommended that an independent co-regulatory system , which does not include State participation, would best suit the country. This would mean that the press are accountable to serve in interest of the population (Press Freedom Commission, 2012: 1). With reference to Julie Reid’s and Julie Posetti’s article in the Rhodes Journalism Review, I aim to evaluate various contexts and henceforth provide reasons for why I am in accordance with the co-regulation of the media.Under the South African Constitution, in the Bill of Rights (1996) it is stated that every person has a right to freedom of expression, which includes freedom of press and the media, the freedom to receive or impart information or ideas, freedom of artistic creativity, academic freedom and freedom of scientific research (Act no. : 108 of 1996). Henceforth press freedom means the autonomy to communicate ideas, opinions and information without restraint.The media are a public trust with the ability to inform and influence and because of this power they should serve to represent the interests of the citizens without external institutional constraints. When analyzing freedom of the press with the current regulatory system, there are two powerful institutions in society which cannot be ignored, that is political and economic power. Under apartheid the freedom of the press was heavily restricted.The Newspapers Registration and Imprint Act of 1985, required that all newspapers had to be registered and conform to a strict code of conduct. In addition newspapers were also required to lodge R40 000 as a deposit before they could publish, as a result the act silenced many liberal newspapers (Manoim, 1996: 7). With the transition into a new democracy, self-regulation of the media was employed to uphold freedom of expression, a pivotal component of a true democracy.Self-regulation is a system that operates on self imposed rules by the media, it consists only of representatives of the media profession who use the Journalistic Codes and Ethics as a guideline (Reid, 2012: 1). The relationship between the government/ state and the media is one of conflict and dependency because on the one hand, the media are commonly referred to as the ‘unofficial opposition’ to the government.As ‘watchdogs’ they make public a range of issues concerning health care, education, corruption, unemployment etc and because of these disclosures the government repeatedly attempt to censor their biggest critic. As such, the government proposed a Media Tribunal, which could lead to the forced registration of all newspapers, the registration of all journalists and punitive fines(Reid, 2012: 1). The tribunal exemplifies the government’s hostility towards the media and it clearly epitomizes the Newspapers Registration and Imprint Act of 1985 .Another example constitutes as the Protection of Information Bill which will allow the government to classify specific information which is deemed harmful to the â€Å"national interest†. The government have suggested media-unfriendly laws which pose a threat to attack the heart of the struggle for democracy (Reid, 2012: 1). On the other hand, however, the media are dependent on the government for information and official materials and similarly the government depends on the media to produce important information to their citizens.It is evident that the media plays a large role in making public the successes and the failures of the government, however, I argue that a change in the regulatory system could improve the relationship between the two so that the media do not have their own agendas for the information they produce, but they produce that which of interest of the public that they serve. Although self-regulation of the press was once highly valued, examples like the Murdoch scandal have shown that the system is weak and does not assure the accountability of the press.Journalists from the News of the World were accused of phone hacking, police bribery and using unethical means to obtain ‘public interest’ stories (Posetti, 2012: 19). The self-regulatory system allows for journalists to operate freely without state interference and although there haven’t been any situations like the aforementioned unethical proceedings in South Africa, the regulatory system does not fulfill the democratic vitality of the inclusion of wider population (Reid, 2012: 18). For many years under the rapacious system of apartheid, the black population was silenced, their grievances and njustices undocumented. In this new democracy, the media are still seen to cater for the interests of the elite, this can be conceptualized in Noam Chomsky and Edward. S. Herman’s â€Å"propaganda model†. Granted the media does deliver information to serve the interests of its citizens, news coverage is frequently tailored to what suits the corporate. The media are a profit-seeking institution, funded by advertisers and are (sometimes) owned by private investors, this can henceforth lead to the media placing profit above public interest (Manoim, 1996: 4).An example of this can be seen in various newspapers during the apartheid era, particularly the Business Day. The Business Day embraced a conservative liberal take on the apartheid system. Th e reporting that the Business Day encompassed relied on keeping an apolitical stance and avoided negative consequences of full disclosure. The newspaper did not report on any issues negative aspects of the apartheid system or its effects on the population and the reason for this was to gain more revenue than to possibly create controversy (Manoim, 1996: 4).Another example of this was the recent Marikana shootings, wherein the first pieces of information distributed by the media through print and broadcast, told a story of a violent, armed and angry mob, charging towards apprehensive policemen who then shot the mobsters from afar, in fear of their lives (Johnson, 2012: 1). At least 36 miners were shot dead and because of the inadequate coverage by the media, many people were under the impression that the police action was proportional to the threat posed by the miners.It wasn’t until Greg Marinovich went on to publish shocking findings about the deaths of the Marikana minors, in his article â€Å"The murder fields of Marikana: The cold murder fields of Marikana† (Marinovich, 2012: 1). The article made public that some of the miners had been shot by close range (execution style) and others crushed by police vehicles, thus providing proof that the police did not act in fear, but instead hand the upper hand and viciously killed the miners.In many of the articles published, before Marinovich’s, statements were mainly one sided, comprised of policemen, the mining management and government official (Manoim, 1996: 7). It can be understood that many journalists and news firms did not accurately report on the Marikana shootings because they did not want to cause controversy and did not want to lose revenue. With regards to the aforementioned relationships between the media and political/ economic institutions within the self-regulatory system, I argue that the system is clearly weak.There is indeed more freedom of speech with this system, however, t he press aren’t held accountable to the citizens that they serve, the press can be seen to accommodate only the elites and silence the people. For these reasons and the above examples, in my opinion it is clear that the self-regulatory system in inadequate for a new democracy such as ours. The proposed system of independent co-regulation without state or government intervention will best serve the freedom of the press in our country.The system will consist of members of the public (e. g: academics, civil society organizations etc. ) and members of the press industry therefore sufficiently creating integration between the press and the society that it serves (Reid, 2012: 18). The independent system as well as journalists will henceforth be accountable to the public. The co-regulatory system will allow regulatory rules to be created by more than one stakeholder and it will have independence from industries (Press Freedom Commission, 2012: 1).The system should sufficiently allow members of the public and the press to engage with reports made by the independent body. This nature of transparency will build a close relationship between the public and the media and henceforth it will encourage the media to be accountable to the citizens that it serves (Reid, 2012: 18). I believe that the increased integration between the public and the press will give the once unheard voices of the public a platform for their opinions furthermore it will directly assist the country on the road to true democracy.The PFC suggests that the system will introduce a more efficient framework for dealing with sensitive matters especially when dealing with children. There will also be a be a method of â€Å"space fines† which will consist of monetary fines, summons or rulings for any offences made by the press (Press Freedom Commission, 2012: 1). The co-regulatory system proposed by the Press Freedom Commission is not an attack at the freedom of the press, rather, it is very nec essary to strengthen the system of the press in South Africa.Co-regulation will not only serve the public because of the system’s transparency and allowance for integration but it could also improve the quality and credibility of journalism in the country. The marginalized and excluded persons of this country need an environment where they are able to make public their discrepancies and regarding the extensive reception to the current self-regulation it is evident there needs to be a change in the system.In my opinion co-regulation will ensure the greatest independence from different influential institutions, it will reinforce the accountability the press should have for the citizens, it will allow for press freedom and furthermore it will assist to uphold the principles of a democracy. References: Manoim, I. 1996. You Have Been Warned: The First Ten Years of The Mail & Guardian. Penguin Books: South Africa. Posetti, J. 2012. Media Regulation, Murdoch and the Journalism Wars of Oz. Rhodes Journalism Review. Press Freedom Commission, 2012.What the Press Commission recommends. Retrieved from http://www. politicsweb. co. za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page71656? oid=294997&sn=Detail on 11/01/1012 Reid, J. 2012. Press Freedom in South Africa and why self-regulation is best. Daily Maverick. Retrieved from http://dailymaverick. co. za/opinionista/2012-01-26-press-freedom-in-south-africa-and-why-self-regulation-is-best on 11/01/2012. Reid, J. 2012. What will co-regulation mean? The Press Freedom Commission report and its implications for the regulation of journalism. Rhodes Journalism Review.

Psychology Dream Analysis

As I was sitting down, I notice d three people that looked like teenagers walk in. Everyone in that dream looked boring and dread rye, lacking much color, all except this one girl. This girl was wearing a blue shirt. It didn't take 10 Eng for my 5 year old self to recognize this girl in a very strange way. As kept watching her I area sized she was an older version of myself. She had the same long curly brown hair, and green e yes. Younger me continued sitting in the corner watching older me. I saw her sit on the one side e of the booth by herself while her male and female friend sat on the opposite side of her. Fro m far away heard older me say to her friends â€Å"he said he would be here, he is going to be here s non. Don't worry. A server went up to the three of them and asked if they wanted to order food and the two friends said yes and ordered and older me said she would wait for â€Å"him† till he came t order her food. Little me realized she was talking about her boyfr iend and how he was soups seed to meet with them for dinner and he still had not shown up. Older me called â€Å"him† and he did not answer. Older Sabina kept getting more and more anxious telling her friends â€Å"he isn't here! He is not responding to me, where could he be? It has been a few hours! I can't believe he forgot† Among this, the younger Sabina started seeing everything In a time lapse, where the re was no more dialogue after that. Everyone started moving much faster. People were comic Eng in and out, bovine around, talking, eating.Before knew it almost everyone was gone, in clouding older Sprain's friends and all the other customers in the restaurant had left and the e manager or owner had locked up and turned all the lights off and went, leaving older and younger r me in the room. Older Sabina did not acknowledge my younger self nor did she even see me. There was a single light on older Sabina and her table. Older Sabina was very quiet and looked very pe nsive. All of a sudden there was a light on the complete opposite side of the room, older r me noticed and darted walking over to it. Little Sabina then became one with older Sabina a ND I was no longer on the sidelines, was right there.Under the light there was a desk like piece of furniture and on that desk there was a picture frame. Picked up the picture frame only to see it was black and white photo of a teenage couple at the beach. The girl had a big floppy sunhat and sunglasses and a polka dot one piece and the man had a regular battings on. They looked like they were in the middle of laughing. I flipped the picture frame and saw a note written on the back of the photo. It read â€Å"Sabina, This is a photo of my parents when they were younger. It make s me think of us. † Confused I stood back, and looked to the right of where the frame stood and saw a pill bottle. I picked it up and the bottle was completely empty.I turned the bottle around and on that side there was a nother note that read† Dear Sabina, I'm so sorry I couldn't be with you tonight, I couldn't make it. I'm so sorry I had to do this. † I began to scream and panic an d I threw the pill bottle against the wall and looked around for someone to be there, and no on e was there. I was lone, in the dark without any light besides the one shining on the desk full of horrid things, to guide me. I still remember I woke up I screamed and began to bawl, I ran to m y mother's room and told her what I dreamt. Will never forget how horrifying and painful that dream was and how hurtful it still is thinking about It. In the dream, the dreamer was younger at first, observing an older self inside of a restaurant.Seeing an older self symbolizes that maybe the dreamer is going t wrought cometh ins, and moving on from something. Being inside of a restaurant symbolizes that t e dreamer may be upset and is in need of emotional nourishment. When the dreamer observed that her older self was wearin g blue and everyone else was vague and bleak can be associated with the dreamer and views of herself. The dreamer wearing blue may be upset, or depressed. The p art where the older version of the dreamer was waiting for someone( boyfriend) to show up show s that she is very dependent on this person and finds them extremely important. It can also gig unify that one is waiting for something important or significant to happen.In the dream, after everyone was bovine around and the restaurant had been locked up and the older version of the dreamers self was all alone it symbolizes that she may feel abandoned or left in an encounter liable situation. When there was a sudden light across the room and the dreamer approached it and saw the black and white picture frame, it symbolizes a Wish to keep things the same and bee Eng afraid of change. Having the photo be black and white symbolizes that the dreamer may be fee ling confused, blank, depressed or lost. Something very tough and confusing may be going 0 n in the dreamer's fife. The note written on the back of the picture frame can be symbolic for a m usage that the dreamer has to know and figure out.When the dreamer stumbled backwards and into the darkness again it signifies that again, the dreamer is in a whole fit of confusion n and anger with a situation. In the dream, when the dreamer saw the pill bottle and realized it w as empty and saw the note on the back signifies that there may be something that needs to chaw Eng that isn't being accepted. The fact that the person the dreamer was waiting for and never shoo wed up. Along with he empty pill bottle and note that says the boy could not make it with an app logy shows that the dreamer may feel wronged by someone or a situation and that the death of t he boy shows that the dreamer may be in an upsetting situation experiencing a form of loss. O feel like this dream was certainly an accurate representation Of my life at that place in time. My parents had just divor ced and my mom took me with her when SSH e left my father. I was young and my father really was everything to me. At this point I had not s en him for a little while and it was the end of life as I knew it. I think seeing an older self was SSH owing that was going through something. Being with people, and then being left alone really r presents how I felt I was being abandoned and left behind by my father, because I didn't undo restart it was for my benefit that my mother left him. It really was an excruciating pain to deal with as a child especially not seeing someone I spent much of my time with as a child.

Decision Making Essay

The decision making approach that will be employed by the organization is based on a model where all members of the organization will be involved. A decision is made when the organization is faced with some problems in its operations or when the organization plans to redraw its operation so as to plan for the future. The top management, after realizing the need for change on the specified areas that may either be controversial or whose effect is organization wide, instigates a research that will involve all the members of the organization including the investors. The research must be through in that it should analyze the internal operational environment, the industry conditions, market trends and predicts any change in the environment. Moreover, the research must accurately determine the compatibility of the range of opinions and thus solution to the organizational culture and their profitability or effects on the organization productivity. The findings must be presented before the board of management who will ascertain the viability of the solutions and choose the one that best address the needs of the organization and is sustainable with respect to its resources. The board will at all time be constituted of all stakeholders in the organization including departmental representatives, departmental heads, top managers, trade union representatives and investors each of whom have equal right of expressing their points of view. The top management is charged wit the responsibility of evaluating the recommendations made by the research team and ensuring that the whole organization implements the decisions passed. The organization understands that in any community where the members are actively involved in any form of economic or social undertaking that involves their interaction and varied output, problems must always be present. The organization adopts the Osborne-Parnes problem solving methodology that is based on creativity. The first stage in the solution of a problem is the determination of the goals and challenges that the organization works for. After which the management is charged with the responsibility of instructing the research teams to find all data, facts and emotional responses involved. The data and findings will help in bringing out the problems that will affect the achievement of the goals. In clarification of the problem the two main concerns are the needs that should be addressed and the problems that should be focused on. The decision in this phase is based on the perceived impact of the problems as per the research findings. The next stage is the generation of ideas which involves all stakeholders in the organization. The research department and teams are responsible for the implementation of the idea generation process. The main concern at this stage is finding out all the solutions to the problems without any consideration of their effectiveness. The main methodology in the generation of ideas is brainstorming which is implemented in groups. The next stage is implemented by the board of management with the help of the research teams. The main concern at this stage is finding out how the solutions can be made better. Pareto analysis is used in determination of the best method though the implementation of a cause effect analysis will also aid in determining a range of good solutions to the problems. The last phase is a decision making process as the whole organization takes step that are aimed at implementation of the solutions. The decision making model is adopted in this last phase. ii. Behavior The organization appreciates the effects of behavior on the operations and other aspects such as investor confidence and the respect the organization will receive from all in the organization. The employees and all stakeholders will at all time endeavors to uphold a code of conduct that is respectful of their colleagues and all that they may relate to in the course of their activities. The main methodology that will be used in the assessment of the organization employees’ behavior is based on Osborne-Parnes approach. The methodology involves the creation of a code of behavior that all employees are expected to follow. Research is then undertaken to establish the organization behavior with the aim of establishing its relationship and association to the code of behavior. Conformance and other areas of divergence are accurately determined and their exact nature established. The causes of the divergence must be determined through wide research and the results presented to either the top management or to the department heads depending on the level of the investigation and who instigated it. The impact of the diversion on the end consumer of the services and product is determined and the impact on the organization’s operation and thus productivity noted. The problem solving mechanism is then applied to solve the area of divergence and any anomalies in the code of behavior corrected.

Teaching and Classroom Management in Religious Education Essay

Teaching and Classroom Management in Religious Education - Essay Example The RE is the establishment of the faith and responsiveness to the presence of God, to practice his orders and to lead a life with the patterns, which are given by God to his creatures through his messengers. Religion is the faith, faith in God. The RE first begins with the lap of the mother. Parents are the first educators of a child in the development of their faith in God. The values and thoughts, once developed in God are everlasting and parents are responsible to develop believes through in-formal way of teaching in pre-school days of child. However, the comprehensive and systematic study of the religion needs a person who knows well about faith, religion and has firm belief in God. A teacher is a person who builds a base of pupil with the relationship between faith and life in a manner that makes the pupils curious to learn more about religion. According to Religious Education Curriculum Directory for Catholic Schools (1996: p. 10) the outcome of RE may be "religiously literate young people who have the knowledge, understanding and skills, appropriate to their age and capacity, to think spiritually, ethically and theologically and who are aware of the demands of religious commitment in every day life". Discipline is the pre-requisite for proper learning and teaching process in the school and classroom. As for as RE is concerned, the discipline is more important because it needs more attention and concentration of pupils to learn. The pupils need limits and the teacher should manage properly when he is in the classroom. So, classroom management is essential both for a teacher and a student, to develop and promote faith in God. Good classroom management means, to provide the pupils enough freedom and courage to discuss among themselves about the context of the subject within discipline and limits. Pupils should know the limits and teacher should not make them cross the limits. Teaching of Religious Education (RE) The success of the teaching of RE lies in the quality and dedication of the teachers. So, recruitment of able and devoted teachers is a pre-requisite of a good teaching in the subject of RE. I think, the proper way to teach the subject of religion is to involve pupils in the process of teaching. There should be exercises, writing activities, and group discussions and brainstorming through questions/answers. In the classroom, the teacher should judge the feelings, motivations and opinions of their pupils in order to manage classrooms more effectively. Encourage the pupils to express their ideas, opinions and thoughts and know the religious trends of their pupils. Teach them the objectives of the subject within the limits of the time. Religious Education: from Classroom to Society Classroom of the RE plays an important role in the life of a pupil. It is the place, which either makes his mind social or fundamentalist. Understanding an issue, by uncovering the network of interrelationships, not only leads to a new awareness but also usually offers a wealth of ideas (Altrichter et al 1993: p. 160). So, try to develop positive ideas in mind of your pupils regarding religion and society. ICT in Religious Education (RE) ICT stands for "Information Communication Technology". ICT in RE means the use of modern techniques and approaches to understand religious affairs. It is a powerful tool that can improve the teaching

Critically assess weather the glass cieling still exists in the modern Essay

Critically assess weather the glass cieling still exists in the modern workplace - Essay Example The most appropriate pattern in this situation is the formation of glass ceiling within organizations that hinder the growth of specific group of individuals. First quoted by Gay Bryant, glass ceiling refers to the barrier faced by specific groups in an organization from moving up the management cadre. The United States Labour Secretary, Lynn Martin, defined ‘glass ceiling’ as ‘Those artificial barriers on attitudinal or organizational bias that prevent qualified individuals from advancing upward in their organization into management-level positions’ Bollinger and O’Neill, (2008) p.10. The following discussion critically assesses practices adopted by organizations to eliminate glass ceiling effect and attached implications. In spite of various diversity management practices, evidences indicate that organizations have not been successful in eliminating the glass ceiling at various levels. Reasons and implications of glass ceiling have been briefly disc ussed hereafter. Employee and labour relations studies as well as organizational behaviour reveal that various practices introduced to counter the glass ceiling have been quite effective in many ways. Glass ceiling effect is seen on different economic and organizational aspects. From an economy perspective, the number of female employees has significantly risen in many parts of the world in recent years. Also, organizations are consciously adopting various diversity management practices in order to enhance their performance and also abide by the human rights constitution (Mor-Barak, 2005; p.372). These practices are specific initiatives to bring about a balance in the labour economy. This need has arisen because of various reasons such as increase in number of immigrants into foreign countries; increase in amount of knowledge and technology-driven work; changing life styles; and, increasing costs of living driven by changing businesses and globalization. From an organizational viewp oint, organizations are hiring more women at various positions and are employing distinct diversity management practices to provide opportunity to people belonging to various races, ethnic and social groups. Yet, evidences through reports, researches, news articles etc indicate that women continue to face discrimination issues at workplace. Moreover, blocking the advancement of specific groups to move up to higher management positions will hinder organizational growth to a significant extent. Breaking the glass ceiling helps organizations to harness valuable talent possessed by, women in particular, and all people, in general, at lower levels that belong to diverse groups. Impact of glass ceiling is varied in different parts of the world. In some regions, the glass ceiling is very obvious and others it is discreet, but still exists. For instance, glass ceiling is more pronounced in single-culture dominated regions like the Islamic countries, South African nations and parts of Asia. In these countries, though constitutional rights are provided to minorities as well as women in terms of work and employee relations, yet discrimination and obstacles confront individuals because of sociocultural customs and practices. Its effect is lesser in the United States, European Union, parts of Asian and Australian regions. Most of these countries are multi-cultural, multi-social and pluralistic nations, which is the reason for subtlety of glass ceiling effect in

Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice and antisemitism as shown in the Essay

Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice and antisemitism as shown in the treatment of Shylock - Essay Example But unlike Marlowe, Shakespeare endowed his villain Shylock with some very human qualities that evoke much sympathy. (Glock, 144-50) The result is an ambivalence toward Shylock that makes his role one of the most dramatically complex and compelling among all of Shakespeare's characters, and one that reinforces the sense of this work as a problem play. (Oldrieve, 87) Next to Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice is Shakespeare's most frequently performed play. The reason for its apparent popularity may be in part because it is perennially a required text set for national examinations that students in British secondary schools take. It is less popular in the United States because of the anti-Semitism that the play incorporates, although many producers, directors, and actors have argued that while the play contains elements of anti-Semitism, it is not in itself anti-Semitic. Recently, some scholars have tried to show that, on the contrary, Shakespeare explores ways to reconcile the age-old antagonisms between Christians and Jews.( Glock, 144-50) Shylock, of course, is not the only important character in The Merchant of Venice, which takes its title from Antonio, the Venetian merchant who borrows from Shylock to help his friend, Bassanio. Portia, the rich heiress whom Bassanio courts, is another major character, and the relationship between her and her suitors also raises important moral issues. Unfortunately, in the history of anti-Semitism, Shylock has since become a symbol for a heartless, money-grubbing Jew. Heartless he may be in act 4, but earlier he offers Antonio a loan at no interest in an attempt to win his friendship (1.3.134-37). Usury is the lending of money at interest. It was considered to be inappropriate for a Christian to do this, and as a result, Jews who were in the business of usury were looked down upon. Antonio, who lends money freely, appears to be the charitable Christian, in contrast to Shylock, who preys upon the hardship of others in order to further increase his own material wealth. The perception created by Antonio's argument is that Shylock hates someone for their following a Christian virtue, which implies that Shylock is against Christianity. The demonization of Shylock proceeds by three stages: Shylock is stripped of his name. In the entire play his referred to by name only three times; in the trial scene, the Duke twice identifies him by name, and Portia does so once. In the course of the rest of the play he is called "the Jew" or "dog Jew"(II,viii,14) or "currish Jew"(IV,I,133-34). Shylock is reduced to something other than human. Gratiano curses Shylock with "O, be thou damned, inexecrable dog!"(IV,i,128) Shylock is equated with the devil. In (II,ii,24-28), Launcelot Gobbo identifies Shylock as "a kind of devil", "the devil himself", and "the very devil incarnation". The images of Jews as blood-thirsty murderers of Jesus who snatch innocent Christian children for slaughter in bizarre Passover rituals seems to provide a potent back-drop for the demonic traits heaped upon Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. Shylock is characterized nearly throughout the play as an evil, murderous man. This image of him is supported by the excessive bloodlust that Shylock exhibits. (Rosen, 89-93) The audience is made to hate Shylock early on. In Act 1, scene 3, Shylock tells