Critically evaluate Althussers and Marcuses critiques of capitalism Essay

Critically evaluate Althussers and Marcuses critiques of capitalism - Essay Example Althusser advanced a progressive critique of humanism, historicism, and empiricism, which he depicted as the medium of the influence of bourgeoisie ideology on the modern Marxist theory. Althusser’s collection of essays titled Pour Marx (1965) and Lire de Capital (1965) inspired a number of new left thinkers. He focused on the mature Marx as exhibited by his analysis of alienation in the capitalist society. The essays represented intellectually hard-line Marxism but not dogmatism. Althusser attempted to employ Marx’s tools such as mode and means of production to probe the production of Marxian knowledge and highlight its uniqueness from other philosophical systems. This aided in promoting the credibility of Marxism as a science. Althusser confronted contemporary softer interpretations of Marx’s work. In particular, he sought to reread Western Marxist theory and free it from Soviet dogmatism, as well as humanistic interpretations (Michael 2011, p.134). Meanwhile, he wanted to reinstate their pace in the class struggle. Pour Marx is considered as the founding text of the school of structuralism in Marxism. Although he refused to be labeled as a structuralist, he used structuralism to abolish the â€Å"knowing subject† as the centre of thought and action. According to Althusser, Marxism is not an ideology or a world view but a revolutionary science. He holds that Marxism should ultimately be the science of society. He claimed that Marx had introduced a theoretically plus practically revolutionary philosophy such as dialectical materialism (Ferretter 2006, p.32). According to Althusser, the â€Å"epistemological rupture† witnessed around 1845, climaxed Marx coming out as a ‘scientific’ theorist. Althusser wanted to sever ties from idealist (Hegel’s philosophy) and materialist (Feuerbachian) philosophies. Althusser adopted the method of â€Å"symptomatic reading,† which is a deep analysis of structures

Rules for You Put All of Your Company’s Products Essay Example for Free

Rules for You Put All of Your Company’s Products Essay Once you put all of your company’s products into their respective categories, you then consider these rules: 1. Stars:  invest your marketing dollars in these since they could become dominant market leaders 2. Cash Cows:  milk these to provide the cash to invest in your stars and a few question marks 3. Question Marks:  invest in the most promising of these as well — but only a few 4. Dogs:  cut the leash and let these go to the highest bidder for some much needed cash To illustrate, imagine that you’re Coca-Cola. Your portfolio might look something like this: Question Mark:  your energy drink brand (Full Throttle) ? Star:  your bottled water (Dasani) ? Cash Cow:  your namesake soft drink (Coca-Cola) ? Dog:  your sweetened juice drink (Hi-C) As Coca-Cola’s CMO, you would use income from Coke to invest primarily in Dasani and Full Throttle, while looking to sell off Hi-C to some private equity fund with too much cash on its hands. But before you rush off and start reallocating your dinero, consider these caveats†¦ Caveat #1: Markets change with the economy and other conditions — sometimes very quickly. What if consumers make a massive shift from bottled water to tap water, as many municipal governments are doing? Dasani is doomed. Or what if  Tiki Bar TV  uses Hi-C as a drink mixer, making it a hip and trendy drink amongst geeks overnight? Your dog is now a star†¦ Caveat #2: One company’s dog is another company’s cash cow (or better). Some investors have struck gold by buying another company’s dogs. In 2003, Nike bought troubled Converse for only $305 million (less than what the movie â€Å"Iron Man† earned in two months). Tips: Invest for sales growth and market share. Use cash from Cash Cows to support required investments. Star examples: Apple = iPhone Coca-Cola = Vitamin Water Cash Cows Low Growth, High Market Share [pic] †¢ Foundation of the company and Stars of yesterday †¢ Generate more cash than required †¢ Extract profits by investing as little cash as possible †¢ located in an industry that is mature and not growing or declining Tips: Maintain the strong market position and defend your market share. Take advantage of sales volume and leverage the size of operations. Support other businesses. Cash Cow examples: Apple = iPods Coca-Cola = Coca-Cola Classic Dogs Low Growth, Low Market Share [pic] †¢ Cash traps †¢ Do not have potential to bring in much cash †¢ Number of dogs in country should be minimalized †¢ Business is situated at a declining stage Tips: Optimize your current operations. Get rid of all non value added activities and features. Reposition your offering to generate positive cash flow or sell this business. Dog examples: Apple = Since good company should not have any dogs Coca-Cola = New Coke

Health Three Levels Of Promotion Health And Social Care Essay

Health Three Levels Of Promotion Health And Social Care Essay The three levels of health promotion include primary, secondary, and tertiary. All levels are equally important and key in preventing disease and providing starting points for health care providers to offer patients positive, effective change. All levels are important in nursing because nurses are able to take part in almost every step of the promotion. Within the three levels of promotion, there are five steps. These steps include health promotion and specific protection (primary prevention); early diagnosis, prompt treatment, and disability limitation (secondary prevention); and restoration and rehabilitation (tertiary prevention) (Edelman Mandel, pg. 18). Primary prevention includes health promotion and specific protection (Edelman et al, pg. 18). In primary prevention, the main focus is to avoid the development of the disease and to focus on interventions to maintain a healthy life. Its purpose is to [also] decrease the vulnerability of the individual or population to disease or dysfunction (Edelman et al, p. 14). Nurses must do their part in encouraging preventative and appropriate interventions to improve patient health. Primary prevention also involves two further subdivisions that include health promotion and health protection. An example of health promotion would be educating a patient on their health or on nutrition. This type of promotion includes any type of education that would promote a healthy lifestyle. Health protection would be anything that would protect the patient from a disease. For example, health protection can include administering immunizations to reduce exposure the influenza virus this winter. Secondary prevention refers to activities like screening and early diagnosis that aid in treatment of the existing health problem, disease, or harmful situation. Secondary prevention ranges from providing screening activities and treating early stages of disease to limiting disability by averting or delaying the consequences of advanced disease (Edelman et al, p. 18). It is during secondary prevention when early detection occurs in the window of time just before symptoms are apparent, which fosters early treatment and delays onset of more serious symptoms (Murray, R., Zentner, J., Yakimo, p. 42). The difference between primary prevention and secondary prevention is simple. In primary prevention, the focus is more on how to prevent or decrease the probability of the disease or problem before it precedes and allots different suggestions to promote a healthy lifestyle. In secondary prevention however, the preventative methods are more focused on the actually screening and encourages ear ly detection and treatment before a serious disease occurs. Tertiary Tertiary prevention is the last level of promotion that promotes health. Tertiary prevention refers the person to optimum function or maintenance of life skills through long-term treatment and rehabilitation (Murray et al, p. 42). This form of prevention involves treatment, rehabilitation, prompt treatment, and patient education. Usually, tertiary prevention is used when the disability or disease cannot be reversed or is permanent. This level of prevention is easier to look at more as treatment rather than prevention. At this point, the disease has already been established, and the main focus is to minimize the detrimental effects of the disease process and maintain optimal health. It is important that the nurse ensure[s] that persons with disabilities receive services that enable them to live and work according to the resources that are still available to them (Edelman et al, p 19). In primary and secondary prevention, the treatment is geared more towards preventing the actual disea se and early diagnosis and detection. In tertiary treatment, the focus turns toward the reduction of any further complications once the disease process has already progressed. All three levels are equally important to prevent disease, but also have a key impact in health promotion in nursing. Health promotion and purpose for nursing Health promotion is behavior motivated by the persons desire to increase well-being and health potential (Murray et al pg. 42). Individually, patients must find that motivation to ensure and attain optimal health. Nurses, as well as many other health care providers play an important role in motivating and encouraging patients to maintain and strive towards better health. Here is where nurses can use all skills learned to use primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention to encourage healthy lifestyles. Nursing roles and responsibilities The role of the nurse in health care promotion can be demanding, and tiresome, but in the end is simply gratifying. Nurses must take on many different roles to ensure that the patients are promoting and maximizing they health. These roles may include: educator, advocate, provider of care, researcher, care manager, and consultant. By incorporating all these different roles, nurses teach people how to remain healthy. Nurses must have an evidence-based understanding of the significant effect that can be made through health promotion interventions and communicate this understanding to the public at large (Murray et al, pg.42). The goal is for people to become more aware of lifestyle changes that can consequently worsen their health status and make the lifestyle changes to maintain a healthier lifestyle. Nurses can assist in promoting health in many different ways. Nurses are the educators in providing patients and their families with the proper resources to maintain a healthy life. Whether it means teaching on nutrition, immunizations, or diseases, nurses provide most of the teaching. Nurses can also be advocators by making sure the patient is receiving what they are entitled to in the health care system and from their provider. The nurse is to go to person when the provider is not available. Nurses also aid in providing the delivery of care, consulting the patient when any problem exists, and researching and relaying message to the provider when a problem or question exists. For example, in Healthy People 2010, nurses must take on the role in all of these situations to promote a healthier, better lifestyle. Implementation methods for health promotion In order to implement health promotion, nurses are taught to properly find alternative methods that personalize every patient in contact with their delivery of care. Not all forms of health promotion are done by the bedside nurse, but can also be encompassed by the clinic nurse and the community nurses. These levels of promotion can be brought on by the clinic and community nurse by offering different presentations regarding what is directly affecting the specific community. By involving the community in different methods of health care promotion and prevention, the nurse is doing his/her part to assist in primary and secondary promotion. Then, if the assistance is needed, tertiary prevention can be used. The nurse must learn to encompass and become familiar with every aspect of prevention and promotion in order to do his/her part in preventing and promoting healthier lifestyles. In order to facilitate and accommodate to patients needs, evidence based practice is key. There are many articles that can justify and help solidify the need for prevention and promoting in patient lifestyles. Compares the three levels of health promotion prevention First article The article that I found from the Grand Canyon University Library discussing primary prevention is called Opportunities for the Primary Prevention of Obesity during Infancy. This article discusses the opportunities that physicians have to decrease and prevent obesity during infancy. The article proved that through early intervention and prevention, great promise [holds] for interrupting the vicious cycle of obese children becoming obese adults who subsequently have obese offspring themselves (Paul, Bartok, Downs, Stifter, Ventura, and Birch). Evidenced proved that if providers instructed parents on different strategies to promote healthy behaviors, that the infants will have long lasting obesity preventive effects. By using primary prevention, obesity during infancy and possibly throughout the lifetime may be decreased by primary intervention. This article would be beneficial to nursing practice because throughout pregnancy, nurses would be able to show how vital it is to continue to maintain and continue to show healthy eating habits to pregnant mothers and their children to potentially avoid obesity and other health problems for the child. Second article The second article that I found from the Grand Canyon University Library discussing secondary prevention was called Running nurse-led secondary prevention clinics for coronary heart disease in primary care: qualitative study of health professionals perspective. This article was based on a nurse led trial that used secondary prevention to improve coronary heart disease and lower all-cause mortality during a four year follow up. This article emphasized on how this clinic was run by nurses and whether or not it was effective. Studies showed how it was viewed positively by most healthcare professionals that had been involved in running them, but barriers to their implementation had led most to stop running them at some point (Campbell Murcia). It also proved that although it might have been effective, many of variables interrupted in proving the study effective. Issues like lack of space and staff shortages, funding training, and communication arose within the practice and eventually en ded the study. The study still showed how effective the nurses ran the clinic and seemed to be able to do their part in preventing and lowering the occurrence of coronary heart diseases. Third article The third article I found in the Grand Canyon University Library on tertiary prevention is called Applying epidemiologic concepts of primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention to the elimination of racial disparities in asthma. This article emphasized the importance in prevention in asthma. It stated that the primary prevention targets reductions in asthma incidence; secondary prevention is the mitigation of established disease and involves disease detection, management, and control; and tertiary prevention is the reduction of complications caused by severe disease, (Joseph, Williams, Own by, Saltzgaber, and Johnson). This article is good because it is able to illustrate all of the effects of proper primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention. The article showed how by managing, and understanding the disease, changes that could reduce asthma morbidity in US minorities and ultimately mitigate disparities (Joseph, et al). Conclusion This purpose of this paper was to inform the reader of the different levels of health promotion and the role that nurses must play in encouraging this care. Nurses can do their part in promoting a healthier lifestyle for their patients by using alternative methods of prevention. Primary prevention involves health promotion and protection, secondary prevention involves screening and early diagnosis, and tertiary prevention focuses on treating the actual disease and preventing any further complications. It is important for nurses to understand that the role they play on patient health care is vital. Patients rely on nurses to help alleviate and advocate for them when any sort of ailment or sickness occurs. In order for nurses to promote health they must become familiar with the different ways of helping to prevent and promote healthier lifestyles. The articles that were chosen in this article illustrated the different positive effects of prevention and the different ways nurses and hea lth care providers can promote a healthier lifestyle.

Grapes of Wrath :: Essays Papers

Grapes of Wrath2 In the Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck uses intercalary chapters to provide background for the various themes of the novel, as well to set the tone of the novel". The turtle is a metaphor for the working class farmers whose stories and struggles are recounted in The Grapes of Wrath. In Chapter 3, the turtle plods along dutifully, but is consistently confronted with danger and setbacks. Significantly, the dangers posed to the turtle are those of modernity and business. It is the intrusion of cars and the building of highways that endanger the turtle. The truck that strikes it is a symbol of big business and commerce. â€Å"The turtle entered a dust road and jerked itself along, drawing a wavy shallow trench in the dust with its shell† (pg 21) shows that the Joad family that will soon be introduced will experience similar travails as the turtle, as they plod along wishing only to survive, yet are brutally pushed aside by corporate interests. Chapter 7, another intercalary chapter critiques yet another part of the business system. The owners of the car dealerships mean solely to exploit impoverished buyers. They do not profit from selling cars that will last, but rather from finding the most ill-used vehicle, giving it the appearance of reliability, and pawning it off on desperate farmers wishing to get to California. There is no compassion in the car sales, but rather a perpetual cycle of exploitation. This indicates what the Joad family must certainly have experienced to get their car to go west, yet places it in a larger context. The chapter makes it clear that they are not the only family to experience this. As the Joad family faces the same trials that the turtle faces, and as the desperate farmers have to deal with car dealerships, the intercalary chapters help to set the tone of, as well as integrate the various themes of The

Hum/176 Week 1

Hello! Thank you for your submission this week. Here is some feedback to help you assess your assignment contribution versus what was expected in this assignment. Please see the following as a guide for how your responses measured versus the ideal answers to this activity. Assignment: News Media, Option 1: Toolwire ® Learnscape Credibility and Impact Purpose of Assignment: In this Learnscape, students take on the role of Deputy Speech Writer for Senator Owen Johnson.Students use the Internet (via a Universe of Content consisting of 12 sites hosted on the Toolwire ® system) to identify credibility issues related to the use of Internet content as it pertains to political issues. In doing so, they also have to discern which sources are most credible and be able to substantiate this. The student is also asked to review a speech outline from the senator and write an introductory paragraph addressing the effect of the Internet on politics.Resources Required: Toolwire ® Learnscape Cre dibility and Impact Grading Guide |Assessment A Part One – Credibility and Impact: Exploring the Internet and Politics | |Summary |This interaction is the first part of the assessment (Part A). The student opens the InVision Pro | | |application and uses a drag-and-drop list to assess the credibility of the sites from the Universe| | |of Content dashboard.When the student has completed the drag-and-drop list, they close the | | |InVision Pro application and their BlackBerry ® Smartphone rings with a video call from the | | |senator. | |Character |Text | | |InVision Pro |Instructions: Indicate whether each Web site is credible by dragging and dropping your | |Application |answer from the list at the left. | | | |[Student drags yes or no to the Credible? column from a list to the left of the table. | | | |The Why? column will automatically populate with notes from the Notepad of the Universe | | | |of Content interaction. When finished, the student is prompted to close the | | | |application. | | | | | | | |[Completed table should look like the below (answers):] | | | | | | | |Website | | | |Credible? | | |Why? | | | | | | | |The Drudge Report | | | |No | | | |News aggregator run by known conservative Matt Drudge – Certainly, he has his own | | | |agenda, but could someone pay Drudge to promote or bury a story? | | | | | | |Daily Kos | | | |No | | | |The largest progressive community blog in the United States – What are the | | | |qualifications of the posters? Do they research their posts or just spout opinions? | | | | | | |The Huffington Post | | | |No | | | |Named after founder and editor-in-chief, Arianna Huffington – Her personal views drive | | | |the content, which leans quite liberal. | | | | | | | |POLITICO | | | |Yes | | | |It looks like it tries to dig a bit deeper than mainstream media.The half news, half | | | |blog format may make it hard to figure out what to take at face value. | | | | | | | |Salon | | | |Yes | | | |Self-described â€Å"award-winning online news and entertainment website. † Forbes calls it | | | |†smart and provocative. It’s well respected, but where does the entertainment end and | | | |the news begin? What’s written to deliberately provoke? | | | | | | | |Colbert Nation | | | |No | | | |Is this truth or comedy? When comedy is the goal, can you ever tell what’s real and | | | |what’s skewed just for a laugh? | | | | | | |The Hill | | | |Yes | | | |Nonpartisan, nonideological with the largest circulation of the Capitol Hill newspapers | | | |– This is where Congress gets its news. Could it use its influence to sway political | | | |insiders? | | | | | | |The Nation | | | |Yes | | | |This site has been reporting since the Lincoln administration. The mission is clear: | | | |â€Å"The Nation will not be the organ of any party, sect, or body. It will, on the contrary,| | | |make an earnest effort to bring to the discussion o f political and social questions a | | | |really critical spirit, and to wage war upon the vices of violence, exaggeration, and | | | |misrepresentation by which so much of the political writing of the day is marred. | | | | | | | |– from The Nation's founding prospectus, 1865 | | | | | | | |That is tough to argue with. | | | | | | | |Red, Green and Blue | | | |No | | |Environmental politics from across the spectrum – likely a bias towards only posting | | | |stories that support their position on the environment. | | | | | | | |Crooks and Liars | | | |No | | | |John Amato’s blog – All opinions with some references to real news outlets. But where | | | |are the facts? | | | | | | |The Washington Post | | | |Yes | | | |The hometown newspaper of national politics – A pile of Pulitzers gives WaPo all the | | | |credibility it needs. | | | | | | | |The New York Times | | | |Yes | | | |Internationally acclaimed, you cannot get more respected than â₠¬ËœThe Gray Lady. But that | | | |doesn’t mean there will never be bias or a conflict of interest. | | | | | | |Assessment A Part Two: Answer the Senator about Credibility, (at Student Office) – Credibility and Impact: Exploring the Internet| |and Politics | |Summary |This interaction is the second half of the first part of the assessment (Part A). The student | | |receives a video call on their BlackBerry ® Smartphone from the senator.After a brief hello | | |interchange, the senator asks the student to comment on credibility issues pertaining to using | | |information from Internet sources. The student answers via a 140-character short-answer format. After| | |the student sends that information, the senator will call back to acknowledge receipt. When the | | |student hangs up, the scene transitions to the student’s apartment. | |Character |Text | | |Senator Owen |Wow, that’s fast.Now that you’ve done the legwork, I need you to comment on credi bility | | |Johnson |issues pertaining to using information from Internet sources. What do you think? | | |Student (via |[Answer should include: You should look for more information about a Web site, as it’s | | |short-answer text |often not obvious whether it’s nonpartisan, leans left or right, or even employs | | |box) |professional journalists. To really find out if a site is credible, you often have to | | | |look past the home page.Many sites have a long track record of credibility, but that | | | |does not exempt them from any and all possibility of bias, conflicts of interest, or | | | |misreporting in the future. The world’s greatest news outlets all make mistakes | | | |sometimes. You should look at everything with a grain of salt. Someone may leave out a | | | |fact by accident, bury a story that puts a friend in a bad light, or publish something | | | |deliberately false to advance their career. ] | | |Assessment B: Writing the Speech, (at Student Off ice) – Credibility and Impact: Exploring the Internet and Politics | |Summary This interaction is the second part of the assessment (Part A). The student is in their office to | | |write the introductory paragraph for the speech. The student opens the outline so that they may use | | |it for reference. They then open a new document in the InVision Pro application and write a | | |short-answer essay (100- to 350-words) in the application. Per the senator’s instructions from his | | |e-mail, the student then attaches the document to an e-mail to the senator. When the student clicks | | |Send, the interaction is complete. |Character |Text | | |InVision Write Pro |The student must write a short-answer essay (100- to 350-words) as the introductory | | | |paragraph to the senator’s speech about the effect of the Internet on politics. ] | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |[Answer should include: Politics now change very rapidly.Politicians must be able to | | | |rea ct quickly to what is happening in the world. More voter participation in Internet | | | |media provides politicians with more information about what Americans want. Internet | | | |technology allows politicians to reach more people, more often. ] | | |Written Response | |[Answers Vary: Students provide a 250 word response providing an explanation as to whether or not the information media have | |social responsibility. ] |

Causes of the Fall of the Roman Empire Essays

Causes of the Fall of the Roman Empire Essays Causes of the Fall of the Roman Empire Paper Causes of the Fall of the Roman Empire Paper Extended Essay Rough Draft The Fall of The Roman Empire Why the topic is interesting: The Roman Empire was one of the greatest and most powerful communities that ever existed, so how such a mighty Empire could decline in power is very interesting. Background: What was the Roman Empire? The Roman Empire came after the era of The Roman Republic. At its peak, it controlled territories from Britain and Germany to the Persian Gulf and North Africa. The great Empire was then separated into the Byzantine Empire and the Western Roman Empire and attacked by Barbarian invaders. Thesis In my opinion, the Fall of the Roman Empire was mostly caused by sociological and political factors. Some examples of this are the decline of morals and values in Rome that caused internal chaos and an increase in crime. Other factors included political reforms and wars with the Barbarians. Another possible conflict was that the introduction of Christianity to the Roman Empire led to many of the people becoming pacifists and thereby creating a weaker military force and allowing the Empire to be over taken far more easily. This is a case where an internal social conflict resulted in an external military issue. Body Part One In order to have all possible arguments shown, I have been sure to choose 10 different sources that portray many different points of view, ideas, reasoning, etc. Some of the ideas in the sources go hand in hand with my thesis whereas others provide completely new information or thoughts that disagree with my thesis completely. However, all of the sources used are valid forms of information and will help in forming my opinions. For this paper, my thesis is that the Roman Empire’s decline in power was ultimately due to political and sociological causes. In order to prove my thesis is correct, I will state my supporting facts and ideas as well as counter claims to my thoughts. I believe this is the only way to properly state an idea; by giving an idea as well as its opposition. Part Two Social Causes lead to Political Causes In 509 b. c. , Rome changed their government to a Republic which became an internal conflict amongst the Romans. This was largely due to the fact that the Republic had a Senate and a Consul, both of which were positions of authority only given to the wealthy men of Rome, also called Patricians. Many disputes among the people of Rome began to arise, and acts of violence even began to occur within the empire walls. It was not until the less wealthy citizens found an officer that would vote in their favor and veto the bills of the rich. Once the people of Rome solved the political issue, and had a stable government, they began to take control of Italy and the Carthage Empire, proving that the Empire does not thrive during social or political conflict. Sociological Issues affect Military Another issue that arose from social troubles and led to political problems was when the religion of Christianity was introduced to the Roman people. Some have a theory that by introducing the religion of Christianity to the Roman Empire, a religion widely based around forgiveness, mercy, kindness etc. , the Roman people, military men included, became weaker. Mercy was seen as a sign of weakness in the eyes of a military as strong as Rome’s. Some authors think even go as far to say that â€Å"Christianity made many Roman citizens into pacifists, making it more difficult to defend against the Barbarian attackers. † However valid this point may be, the view of Dr. Khan is slightly biased on the issue because he has proclaimed to be Muslim and defends his religion in several of his other writings. Therefore, his views on religion cannot be viewed as an impartial source. But, there are some other authors who agree that the Barbarians did play a descent size role in the Fall of the Roman Empire such as Peter Heather who wrote The Fall of The Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians. There are also other authors that believe that the Christian religion was a partial cause of the Roman Empire’s Decline. These authors are N. S. Gill and the unknown author of the Rome. nfo website. Many other Causes Now obviously the fall of such a great and powerful Empire could not have been caused with only a few factors such as change of government, a new religion, and one enemy. There had to be other faults and weaknesses. A few that I believe to be valid causes are that Rome’s extended borders made them very vulnerable to attacks, th e Roman’s had inferior technology compared to their enemies, and the lack of a proper selective process when choosing a new emperor led to political corruption. Borders Some of the Empire’s greatest achievements turned out to be its downfall. It had conquered so much land and sea that it had too much territory than it could protect and defend properly. The Roman Empire’s borders stretched from Egypt, Anatolia, Italy, The Mediterranean Sea, Gaul, and several more. The problem was that these lands were very vulnerable. By having such a wide range of territory, it makes it a great deal easier for opposing Empires and countries to conquer one territory at a time and eventually have control of the entire Empire. This is what the Ostrogoths and the Visigoths did. The Ostrogoths and the Visigoths were the two new branches of the Goths. Ostrogoths an Eastern Germanic tribe that successfully invaded The Roman Empire, and after invading Italy, made what they called â€Å"The Kingdom of Italy†. The Visigoths successfully ruled Gaul for a short period of time. Their reign was ended by their loss at the Battle of Vouille. Though this point does not agree with my thesis, I think it is a very plausible reason as to why the Empire declined in power. Inferior Technology During the last 400 years of the Empire, their scientific achievements were very limited and lacking. When it came to engineering and public services, however, the Empire did wonderfully. They built very good bridges, structures, roads, and aqueducts. However, the Roman’s success was extremely dependent on human labor and the labor of animals. This prevented them from inventing very many new machines or technology that could help produce items faster and produce more of them. As previously stated, the Roman Empire had a great deal of territory. They, however, could not produce enough products to support such a large population. As well, they were getting defeated more frequently because they could not compete with other militaries’ technological superiority. Due to all of this, they could no longer maintain several territories, they were not gaining new ones or the new technology that would come with new territories, and the Empire could no longer maintain its military. This is also a cause that does not correspond with my thesis, but I am willing to agree that it has great validity. Political Corruption This argument, however, completely supports my thesis that political an sociological reasons were the main causes of the fall of the Roman Empire. One of the Empire’s huge mistakes was that its people never created a system that determined who would be the new emperor. The decision of who was to be the new emperor was simply left up to a discussion between the previous emperor, the senate, the Praetorian Guard (this was the Emperor’s personal army), and the Empire’s army. Eventually it go to the point where only the Praetorian Guard was choosing the new emperor and in return, the new emperor would give the Praetorian Guard more power and other perks. Although this was an obvious issue with the political system, a bigger problem arose when the army strangled one of the emperors in 186 A. D. This began a cycle of selling the throne to whomever was willing to pay the most for it. Throughout the next 100 years, Rome had 37 different emperors. Out of these 37, 25 were assassinated. This ultimately weakened the Empire’s government a great deal and strongly contributed to both the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. Distraction This article claims that the gladiatorial events that occurred throughout Rome’s history was merely a distracting device created by emperors to divert the common people’s attention away from wars and battles like the First Punic War and the Battle of Cannae. The author, Jason Mille, says that these distractions were strategically placed to keep the population amused and prevent street violence and such. Mille compares the gladiatorial events to television, radio, video games, and movies. This could be a true reason as to why the Emperors began the gladiator fights, but the fact that Mille suggests they were successful is absurd when so many other authors agree that it was social conflict, unemployment, uprisings, and violence that helped lead to the end of the Roman Empire. There are even historic records of mobs being started in order to violently control political situations. Men were even violently carried out of court and beaten simply for not agreeing with the mass opinion. And if anything, the gladiatorial events would encourage violence in the minds of the young just as people complain that violent videogames are poisoning the minds of our youth today. Another issue with this claim is that he compared it to the result of modern television, music, movies, and videogames. I believe that when an event as massive as your country engaging in war occurs, it is impossible to simply be distracted from it by entertainment. For instance, when the events of September 11, 2001 occurred in the U. S. and America entered a war with Iraq, a mere television sitcom could not distract the nation from the current events. And true, events were not broadcasted in Ancient Rome as they are broadcasted now, but wives and children of the soldiers knew their beloved men were fighting in wars and battles. They may not have known as many details as we do now given mass media, but a country still knew if it was at war, even then. Therefore, I do not consider this counter argument to be a valid one against my thesis. It is simply not plausible. Conclusion I believe that the main reasons the great Roman Empire fell, were mostly due to problems in the government and with its population such as failure to have a proper selective system in choosing the new emperor, the population becoming passive and weakening the military in doing so, changing the government to a Republic putting the rich in power and upsetting the poor etc. I also agree with some other opinions that widely spread borders making invasion easier to enemies and not being very technologically advanced are also causes of the Empires ultimate failure. However, I do not think these causes were as influential as the sociological and political reasons. And ultimately, I do not believe it was possible for the people of the Roman Empire to be distracted from political injustice and wars going on around them. I think the population was very aware of how corrupt their government was and the fact that unemployment was at a high. And although a certain group may have been affected by the introduction of Christianity into society and became pacifists, I think during the decline of the Roman Empire, many people became violent and reckless. McLovin McLovin Khan McLovin Rome. info Rome. info McLovin eb. com Rome. info Rome. info Rome. info Rome. info Rome. info Rome. inf Mille