Monday, January 27, 2020

Design And Build Procurement Route Changes Construction Essay

Design And Build Procurement Route Changes Construction Essay The design and build procurement route changes the traditional sequence of work. It answers the Employers wishes for a single-point of responsibility in an alleged attempt to reduce risks and overall costs. It is now commonly used in many countries and forms of contracts are widely available. Design-Build is sometimes compared to the master builder approach, one of the oldest forms of construction procedure. Comparing design-build to the traditional method of procurement, the authors of Design-Build Contracting Handbook noted that: from a historical perspective the so-called traditional approach is actually a very recent concept, only being in use approximately 150 years. In contrast, the design-build concept also known as the master builder concept as been reported as being in use for over four millennia. (Songer,1996). The disadvantage of the traditional procurement method had been identified in many reports. According to Lathem Report (1994), it stated that the traditional method has the problem of adversarial and inefficient way of doing things and separation of the roles and responsibility of team members. According to the Construction Industry Review Committee Report (2001) stated that a high degree of fragmentation with an adversarial culture and a contractual and confrontational culture would be developed. The alternative procurement method would be sought for solving those problems. Describing Design and Build as a viable alternative method, Songer and Molenaar (1996) concluded that there are a number of advantages associated with Design and Build such as: cost savings, improved constructability, time savings and claim reduction. From the Employers perspective, the single point of responsibility is the most attractive benefit derived from the DB procurement approach (Chan 2000). With the support of case studies and quantitative data, Hale et al. (2009) pointed out the Design and Build is superior to the traditional procurement system hence recommended to use Design and Build approach in both public and private sectors. Levy (2006, p.197) even suggested that the design-build delivery system appears to be a perfect vehicle by which to pursue sustainable or green building construction. According to Chan and Chan (2004), the completion time as it relates to speed of a project depended on the procurement method adopted for the project. They attributed the slow delay observed in one of the projects to be due to the use of the traditional procurement method. However, they recognize the possibility of other factors playing a role that it was noted as the project who has suffered delays; obtained better results in terms of cost compared those obtained through the method of design and build method The increasing the complexity of the project, the Employer would be hesitated to how to reduce the time for design and the time for construction. The Employer was willing to seek for the alternative method to reduce the time of the design stage and the construction time and improve the performance of the projects. There are many alternative procurement methods have been developed in recent years such as Novated Design and Build and Enhanced Design and Build. The traditional procurement method is not the only choice for the Employer. Design and build is now one of the most frequently used procurement routes in construction and it is a radical departure from the traditional design-bid-build method. The use of design and build is on the increase with many Employers perceiving it as providing better value for money and giving rise to less disputes than other procurement methods. As per the surveys of Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors,2004 , new procurement trends can be identified which may be associated with the boom period in construction in the early part of the decade and it clearly shows that the Design and construction has become the single dominant method since the previous survey in 1995, it was the traditional methodUnder a design and build contract the contractor assumes primary responsibility for the design of the development, in addition to its traditional role to supply work and materials. The contractor engages the design consultants, or more usually, has the appointments of the design Consultan ts novated to him. 2.1 THE DEFINITION OF THE DESIGN AND BUILD PROCUREMENT METHOD Design and build is and arrangement in which a building contractor enters into a contract with you to design and construct your new building. It is the simplest approach, as one firm is responsible for producing the building you want rather than this responsibility being divided amongst several firms, as is the case with every other approach. (Sarah Peace and John Bennett, How to use a design build approach for a construction project, CLOB, P2) Masterman(1992) state that the term Design and Build has almost been unanimously interpreted and defined as being an arrangement where one contracting organization takes sole responsibility, normally on a lump sum fixed price basis, for the bespoke design and build of a Employers project. This contains three main elements: the responsibility for design and build, contractors reimbursement is generally by means of a fixed price lump sum and the project is designed and built specifically to meet the Employers needs. According to David Chappell (1997), Design and Build contracts place responsibility for both design and erection in the hands of the contractor one point of responsibility for everything. In this system contractor will carry out two functions: design and construct. In other definition, design and build is an arrangement where one organization design and build to the firm order for the Employer to a single financial transaction. The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB-1983) defines Design and Build as the process where the Employer deals directly with the contractor for the complete building and it is the contractor who is not only responsible for but also coordinates the separate design and build process, including engagement of the design team who are, therefore contractually linked with the contractor and not the Employer. The diagram below shows the contractual relationship in the design and builds procurement method. Client Design Build Contractor In-house designers or external consultants Specialist Contractors Source: Sarah Peace and John Bennett, How to use a design build approach for a construction project, CLOB, P2 In practice, Design and Build procurement is generally structured in one of two ways; The Employers employ a dedicated Design and Build organization with its own in house design team. The Employers engage a general building contractor who employs external design consultant members of the contractors team for the duration of the project. 2.2 STRENGTHS OF DESIGN AND BUILD PROCUREMENT SYSTEM As the Design and Build defined, it is therefore important to reveal the strength or advantages of Design and Build as procurement system. One of the prominent feature of Design and Build is to provide a single point responsibility. This is achieved by allocating all design responsibility and liability to the contractor alone. The owner may have more design options to choose from the respective design builders who enter the tender. Owner will tend to have variation of design ideas together with the expected cost that was proposed based on his requirements. Unlike traditional approach which only appoint a single unit of design team to come out with the design ideas, Design and Build will produce much more different design ideas from the design builder who enter the tender (P. Chan et al.,1997). The owners administrative burdens may be reduced because the procurement of design and build services is consolidated into a single selection process. After award of the Design and Build contract, the owner will not be required to spend time and effort coordinating and arbitrating between separated design and build contracts. While the process does require the owner to provide prudent oversight of the design and build process, this responsibility is considerable less time consuming and exposes the owner to far fewer risks than the traditional approach (P. Chan et al.. 1997; Dennis Turner, 1986). Figure 2.0: (A): Single point responsibility D B Contract ,(B): Fragmented responsibility traditional contract (Source: Bennett and Grice, 1992) In addition to the single point responsibility, cost and completion time is firm in the Design and Build procurement method. This means the Employer knows his total financial commitment in the initial stage of the project, provided he does not introduce any changes throughout the project. The Design and Build entity is responsible for quality, budget, schedule, and performance of the completed facility. With the single point of contact, Employers can concentrate on definition of needs and timely decision-making rather than on coordination between designer and contractor. Besides, the Design and Build entity has total responsibility for the finished product and cannot shift design errors of construction defects to another party. Therefore, it will likely to end up with the expected or higher quality of end product. Unlike Design and Build approach, traditional approach contracts rely on restrictive wording, adversarial audit and inspection requirements and the legal system to attain project quality (Jeffrey L. Beard et al., 2001). Cost has always become the key considerations affecting adoption of Design and Build procurement method. Whilst project time is relatively easy to interpret and potential savings clearly identified, project cost is more ambiguous and therefore difficult to evaluate. A prominent consideration for the Employer, in any procurement form, is that final cost does not exceed the project budget. In this respect, Design and Build certainly presents a better chance of the Employer obtaining his completed building within budget. Jerry Adanison (2001), explained that several financial considerations make Design and Build desirable. Private sector have implement Design and Build for financial reasons. Completing a project quickly can save Owners used to finance projects. On the question of cost, real cost savings can also be made in Design and Build. According to Mastermann (1992), when using this system, the initial an final costs are lower than when using other methods of procurement because of diminished design costs, the integration of the design and build elements and in built build ability of the detailed design. Cost savings may also result in timesaving. The overall effects is reduction in the Employers financing charges, lesser effect of inflation and faster building operation, which, in a commercial context, produces an earlier return on the capital, invested, (Frank 1998). 2.3 FACTORS CONSIDERED IN PROCUREMENT METHOD SELECTION CRITERIA Requirements of the Employer The successful of the procurement method should fulfill the requirements of the employer. The objective of the Employer should be identified. Employer would require the best design for their project and meet his requirement stated in the Employers requirement. Time should be as fast as possible for the construction period. The cost of the building should be as lower as to satisfy his requirement. The Employer would prefer to minimize the contractual risk to avoid the unnecessary trouble. Time As time is money, the duration of construction period of the project is very important. Time at large, the time spending on the planning, construction and development would affect the economic scale of the Employer. The Employer would seek for the shorter construction period to earn for the greatest profit. The time- related cost item such as the cost of site office, human resources would increase as the duration of the construction period become longer. The early release the building, the greater profit for the Employer. Quality The quality of the workmanship and the quality of material is one of the main concerns for the Employer in general. The quality of the building should meet the requirement stated in the specification of the contract. Cost The development cost, the construction cost and the operation cost are the concern of the Employer. They totally affect the profit of the Employers. The construction cost is the cost for the building construction such as material cost, plant cost, labour cost. The operation cost is the running cost for the building such as maintenance cost, management cost. The development cost is the land cost, construction cost and other all expenditure which has paid for the development. Communication One of the major reason for choosing design and build arrangement is to benefit from the good communication that can occur between the design team and the construction team (Gould, 2003). Many of the large design and build companies specialize in particular areas and have developed a smooth flow between the design and build phases of the project. This collaboration allows the project to be easily fast-tracked, cutting down on overall schedule for the project. Direct contact between the Employer and the contractor as provided a Design and Build system lines of communication and enables the contractor to adapt more promptly to the Employers needs. Integration and encouraged inherently within the system (Griffith, 1989). The Employer and contractor will communicate closely during the process of the project. Communication between them will start at the beginning stage of the project. Therefore, in design and build it provides the Employer and contractor an opportunity to interact more often and more directly than traditional contract. In general, this arrangement allows easier incorporation of changes due to scope or foreseen conditions since their coordination occurs within the same contractual entity. The Employer is less heavily involved and sits outside the direct day to day communication between designer and constructor. This keeps owner staffing to a minimum and puts the full responsibility for good communication and problem solving. Risks The Design and Build contract transfer more risks to the contractor than any other construction contract. Among a variety of risks, a contractor usually takes on many speculative risks. Risks that can vary in incidence between the parties as they wish. Speculative risks can be within or out with the control of a contractor (Turner 1990). However, the suitability of a project to the Design and build approach must be carefully undertaken by ensuring that the contractor is able, willing and has relevant experiences to control the risk satisfactorily, otherwise they may pass these back to the Employer (Hogg Morledge, 1995) Figure 2.0: Risk allocation for each type of procurement system (Hogg Morledge, 1995) 2.4 THE FACTOR AFFECTING THE SUCCESS OF THE DESIGN AND BUILD 2.4.1 THE PROJECT CHARACTERISTIC Large and complex projects take longer construction durations. It is difficult to use the design and build procurement in such projects. Because it is unfair for the contractor to take risk on the material inflation on the lump sum fixed price contract. Therefore, the size and the complexity of the project should be considered. 2.4.2 THE CONTRACTOR SELECTION According to Sarah Peace and John Bennett, it is very important for the selection of the contactor to process the design and build project. From the figure shown that the design and build project in increasing because of the government is willing to use Design and Build procurement method. As the adopting design and build procurement method by the Government, there is the system for selection of the Contractor as per the Procurement Guide Lines The selecting the Contractor is not only concern the tender price, but also the quality Time, Contractors financial status, potential contractor with good reputation, manpower good record for the previous project as per the pre-qualification marking scheme of National procurement guide lines. Therefore, the contractor who meets the Employers requirement for time and quality at the best price would be selected. 2.4.3 THE EMPLOYERS REQUIREMENT The Employer should fully state their requirement, idea and specification of the workmanship in the Employers requirement. The more detail of the Employers requirement is, the fewer disputes will be occurred in the later stage. The design of the building and the standard of the building is according to the Employers requirement. The Employer should understand what he needs in the building and the idea should be fully explained in the Employers requirement. The proposal responded from the Contractor should be carefully checked by the Employers representative. Once the Employer accepts the proposal from the Contractor, the contract will be formed between them. The design of the building and the construction method will not be changed which stated in the contractors proposal. The changes by the Employer would cause the great amount of the variation. Therefore, the accepted proposal should be fully understand by the Employer which is suitable to his ideas. According to Ashley et al. (1987) identified 4 factors contributing to project success and grouped them into five areas including (1) management, organization and communication; (2) scope and planning; (3) controls; (4) environmental, economic, political and social; and 5) technical. The implications of the Employer should develop a thorough project plan in which the scope of work is clearly defined, and the contractor should understand and commit to the achievement of project objectives. The contractors capability and experience in managing Design and Build project is critical to project success and project team members commitment toward the project goals is also important. Songer and Molenaar (1997) identified 15 characteristics of successful Design and Build. They found that the top five important project characteristics were well-defined scope, shared understanding of scope, owner construction sophistication, adequate owner staffing, and establish budget. Although the Design and Build projects are expected to deliver the project faster and cheaper as compared to the traditional bid and build projects, not all the Design and Build projects can really accomplished it. Many empirical studies have been conducted to examine the impact of various project success factors such as the study of factors for a successful public sector Design and Build projects by Songer and Molenaar (1997), study on architects and builders views on Design and Build procurement method in Hong Kong by Mo and Ng (1997) and many others (Albert P.C. Chan et al., 2001). Accordingly Chan et al., (2001) has developed a series factors contributing to the success of Design and Build projects. These factors are the duties, responsibilities and capabilities of different project participants including end-users, contractor, architect and design consultants in Design and Build projects. CONCLUSION The intention of this chapter is to present an overview of the literature published on the subject of selecting the procurement method from the current construction industry; The objective of the Employer in terms of time, cost, quality and risk would be found out also. And the factor that may determine the successful of the procurement method would be identified. They are the project characteristic, the contractor selection and the employers requirement. In general, it can be summarized that Design and Build provides single point responsibility for the whole design and build. Contractors, who are responsible for the implementation of the project, have power to control all over the projects. This nonetheless does not deter the involvement of the Employer. The Employers need and requirements are always been taken into consideration, which this consequently presents uniqueness of the system. In conclusion, it is essential that whoever really want to procure Design and Build method need a thorough understanding of the types and characteristics of that kind of procurement. Therefore, benefits of Design and Build can be exploited. Many studies also showed that the characteristic of Design and Build that make Design and Build different from other procurement system in offering single point responsibility, fixed time and money, communication, allocation of risks and others. Getting success in Design and Build projects enables an assurance of getting the project completed at the right time and within allocated budget. The Design and Build procurement system has better time performance and cost benefits, which are essentially what the end-users are concerned about. This research can be a key to assessing the performance level of Design and Build projects, and the project participants can learn about the important factors for setting up an effective management system to turn Design and Build projects with excellent performance.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Elie Wiesel Speech Summary Essay

In the speech Elie Wiesel says that indifference is bad and that it is a crime against humanity .He also said that indifference to a tragedy is not guiltless and that you cant just witness cruelty towards someone or something and not be responsible in some way for what ends up happening instead he said that you have to step in and help the person or thing that someone is being cruel to. He also talks about his experience during the Holocaust, and how people ignored the millions of Jews that were dying. He also said that indifference is more dangerous than anger and hatred when he says â€Å" Indifference, then, is not only a sin, it is a punishment. And this is one of the most important lessons of this outgoing century’s wide-ranging experiments in good and evil.† he is saying that when people were ignoring the fact that Jews were being killed they were committing a sin. Another thing he said was â€Å"But then, there were human beings who were sensitive to our tragedy. Those non-Jews, those Christians, that we called the â€Å"Righteous Gentiles,† whose selfless acts of heroism saved the honor of their faith. Why were they so few? Why was there a greater effort to save SS murderers after the war than to save their victims during the war?† he was saying that after the war people cared more about helping the SS instead of the and there was few people that wanted to help the Jews that were being killed or injured. Also when he said â€Å" Their fate is always the most tragic, inevitably. When adults wage war, children perish. We see their faces, their eyes. Do we hear their pleas? Do we feel their pain, their agony? Every minute one of them dies of disease, violence, famine. Some of them – so many of them – could saved. He was trying to say that that there are a lot of children dying and they really cant do anything about it and they just end up dying.

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Food Inflations-the Real Problem of Common Man in India

In simple terms inflation, or price rise is caused by too much money chasing too few goods, or, demand being more than supply. The free play of the twin market forces of demand and supply determine the price of any commodity or service. In a mixed economy like India, Government is also an important player in the market. Hence to search for the causes of inflation, becomes somewhat complex. The last couple of months witnessed a sudden and almost a run-away type of food inflation. The way the price of vegetables and other food items soared, it created doubts in the minds of the common people and the economists alike. Winter is generally the time when fruits & vegetables are at the lowest prices. This was not so this year. The prices were way above the expected normal. This happened in spite of the normal monsoon and average inflation in other sectors. It was the other way round this time. Inflation in the food sector spilled to other sectors causing the rise in overall inflation. The government and RBI are working on the lines of monetary regulations like change in the interest rates, CRR etc. But looking at the way the food prices are stuck at the higher side, don’t these monetary measures appear just temporary remedies? There are certain deeper, grass root causes which have to be actually tackled. India has come a long way in case of food grain productivity. There was a time when our Balance of payments, account was always weighed down by food grain imports and the debts incurred for these essential imports. It is not so anymore. We are self reliant now. In case of sugar, global prices are determined by the amount of India’s sugar production! States like Punjab, Haryana and Gujarat are doing well in the field of agriculture. Production may be slightly short of demand considering the huge population. Such inflation can be checked by importing. But our problem is actually the middlemen. There is a huge difference between the cost of production and the price the final consumer pays. The farmer gets a very small amount of this profit/difference of cost and final price. For example – If we are buying a vegetable for Rs. 40 per kg. , the dealer at the wholesale market gets Rs. 10 per Kg. , and the poor farmer gets a meager Rs. 3. Again this Rs. 40 too will differ depending on the locality it is being sold. Then there is always the problem of black marketing & illegal stocking of goods to get a higher price. So we actually need checks on the middlemen and the retailers. Secondly, the system of direct farm to shops has to be developed, so that the farmers are the real beneficiaries. This will also motivate the farmers to increase production. Wastage is another important avoidable problem, leading to shortage. Production we have raised. But so much is wasted because we still are a laggard when it comes to state of the art storage facilities. Even the government’s huge food buffer stock lies unused till it gets finally rotten. Why doesn’t the government release its buffer stock on time to check shortage and food inflation? Is the buffer stock merely for psychological security? The government has raised the support prices of some food items. This along with the rural employment schemes and high urban salaries has also infused excess money in the market causing the inflation. Lastly, does the government know or sincerely follow, what is happening to the prices which are subsidized or fixed by the government? There are cases where the inflation will not show in the Government statistics, but will certainly affect our household budget. As usual when the Union Budget is presented, all eyes will be on the Finance Minister and his speech will be thoroughly scanned for all the implications on the economy. But this time, there is one particular reason why ordinary citizens will be specially focused on the Budget: the hope that the Government is finally going to act decisively to contain food price inflation. It is not surprising that questions of food security and the right to food have become such urgent political and social issues in India today. Rapid aggregate income growth over the past two decades has not addressed the basic issue of ensuring the food security of the population. Instead, nutrition indicators have stagnated and per capita calorie consumption has actually declined, suggesting that the problem of hunger may have got worse rather than better. So, despite apparent material progress in the last decade, India is one of the worst countries in the world in terms of hunger among the population, and the number of hungry people in India is reported by the UN to have increased between the early 1990s and the mid-2000s. These very depressing indicators were calculated even before the recent rise in food prices in India, which is likely to have made matters much worse. Indeed, the rise in food prices in the past two years has been higher than any period since the mid-1970s, when such inflation sparked widespread social unrest and political instability. What is especially remarkable is that food prices have been rising even when the general price index (for wholesale prices) has been almost flat; thus, when the overall inflation rate was only 1-2 per cent in the past year, food prices increased by nearly 20 per cent. Sharp rise in prices It is evident that the price increase has been so rapid as to be alarming especially over the past two years, with rice prices increasing by nearly half in Northern cities and more than half in Southern cities. Atta prices have on average increased by around one-fifth from their level of two years ago. The most shocking increase has been in sugar prices, which have more than doubled across the country. Other food items, ranging from pulses and dal to milk and vegetables, have also shown dramatic increase especially in the past year. There are many reasons why food prices have risen at such a rapid rate, and all of them point to major failures of state policy. Domestic food production has been adversely affected by neoliberal economic policies that have opened up trade and exposed farmers to volatile international prices even as internal support systems have been dismantled and input prices have been rising continuously. Inadequate agricultural research, poor extension services, overuse of groundwater, and incentives for unsuitable cropping patterns have caused degeneration of soil quality and reduced the productivity of land and other inputs. Women farmers, who constitute a large (and growing) proportion of those tilling the land, have been deprived of many of the rights of cultivators, ranging from land titles to access to institutional credit, knowledge and inputs, and this too has affected the productivity and viability of cultivation. Poor distribution But in addition to production, poor distribution, growing concentration in the market and inadequate public involvement, have all been crucial in allowing food prices to rise in this appalling manner. Successive governments at the Centre have been reducing the scope of the public food distribution system, and even now, in the face of the massive increase in prices, the Central Government is delaying the allocation of food grains for the Above Poverty Line population to the States. This has prevented the public system from becoming a viable alternative for consumers and preventing private speculation and hoarding. In addition, allowing corporates (both domestic and foreign companies) to enter the market for grains and other food items has led to some increase in concentration of distribution. This has not been adequately studied, but it has many adverse implications, including the fact that farmers will benefit less from period of high prices even as consumers suffer, because the benefit will be garnered by middlemen. Sugar is slightly more complicated, as marketing margins appear to show different trends in different regions and also tend to be significantly lower than the other major crops. The dramatic increase in sugar prices is more a reflection of massive policy errors over the past two years, in terms of supply and domestic price management and exports and imports. Marketing margins So what exactly is happening? It appears that there are forces that are allowing marketing margins — at both wholesale and retail levels — to increase. This means that the direct producers, the farmers, do not get the benefit of the rising prices which consumers in both rural and urban areas are forced to pay. The factors behind these increasing retail margins need to be studied in much more detail. In addition to this, there is also initial evidence that there has been a process of concentration of crop distribution, as more and more corporate entities get involved in this activity. Such companies are both national and multinational. On the basis of international experience, their involvement in food distribution initially tends to bring down marketing margins and then leads to their increase as concentration grows. This may have been the case in certain Indian markets, but this is an area that clearly merits further examination. Many people have argued, convincingly, that increased and more stable food production is the key to food security in the country. This is certainly true, and it calls for concerted public action for agriculture, on the basis of many recommendations that have already been made by the Farmers' Commission and others. But another very important element cannot be ignored: food distribution. Here too, the recent trends make it evident that an efficiently functioning and widespread public system for distributing essential food items is important to prevent retail margins from rising. Food security A universal system of public food distribution provides economies of scale; it reduces the transaction costs and administrative hassles involved in ascertaining the target group and making sure it reaches them; it allows for better public provision because even the better-off groups with more political voice have a stake in making sure it works well; it generates greater stability in government plans for ensuring food production and procurement. It is clear that emergency measures are required to strengthen public food distribution, in addition to medium-term policies to improve domestic food supply. A properly funded, efficiently functioning and accountable system of public delivery of food items through a network of fair price shops and co-operatives is the best and most cost-effective way of limiting increases in food prices and ensuring that every citizen has access to enough food. In a context in which the inflation is concentrated on food prices, measures such as raising the interest rate are counterproductive because they affect all producers without striking at the heart of the problem. Instead, if he is serious about curtailing food inflation, the Finance Minister must provide substantially more funds to enable a proper and effect to public food distribution system. Inflation Statistics. Snapping the five week rising trend, food inflation softened to 16. 91 per cent for the week ended January 1, 2011, although vegetables, onions and protein-based items continued to remained costly. Food inflation fell by 1. 41 percentage points from 18. 32 per cent recorded in the previous reporting week. Even as the index of food inflation showed a meagre decline, vegetable prices soared by 70. 3 per cent on an annual basis in the wholesale market, official data showed. Also onions continued to pinch the pocket of the common man as the prices went up by 70. 70 per cent on a year on year basis. Among the individual items in the food inflation index, egg, meat and fish became costly by 16. 70 per cent, milk by 13. 20 per cent and fruits by 17. 71 per cent annually. However, prices of pulses declined by 14. 84 per cent, wheat by 4. 87 per cent, potatoes by 1. 67 per cent and cereals by 0. 12 per cent on an annual basis. Meanwhile, in the non-food category, the prices of fibers and minerals have climbed up by 36. 1 per cent and 16. 70 per cent, respectively. India’s food inflation rose marginally to 15. 57 percent for the week ended January 15 from previous week’s 15. 52 percent. According to official figures from country’s Commerce ministry, the primary articles price index was up 17. 26 per cent in the latest week, compared with an annual rise of 17. 03 per cent a week earlier. India has the highest food inflation of any major Asian economy, but other emerging markets such as China and Brazil are also battling double-digit food price rises.

Friday, January 3, 2020

Karl Marx Foundations And Concepts Essay - 1868 Words

Name: Rhianna Hutchins Student ID: 300334471 Tutor: Grant Ellen SOSC 111: Foundations and concepts Essay One Karl Marx is known as one of the most influential individual in history. Marx was a sociologist that laid down the foundation to understanding class struggle in a capitalist society. Karl Marx’s theories became known as Marxism. In this essay I will be focusing on Marx and his view of capitalism. This will then be applied to alienation that occurs from capitalist conditions. The four main points of alienation are; alienation from the product, alienation from the production, alienation from human nature and alienation from other workers. I will also look at the contemporary relevance of alienation in modern society. Marx and the capital society A capital society is the â€Å"mode of production based on private ownership of the means of production.† (SparkNotes Editors, 2005) This productions goal is to make as much money as the private owner can get, â€Å"Main focus of capitalism is profit - businesses exist to make money† (Johnson, n.d.) This is achieved by exploitation, â€Å"Capitalists enrich themselves by extracting a â€Å"surplus-value† from their labourers—in other words, exploiting them.† (SparkNotes Editors, 2005) The capitalists will pay the workers as little as possible usually enough to just get by on, which in turn creating a better profit for themselves. In doing so, â€Å"The working class would get poorer (pauperisation); that the rich would get richer and thatShow MoreRelatedKarl Marx, Emile Durkheim And Max Webers Influence On Religion1727 Words   |  7 PagesThree theorists, Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim and Max Weber, are undoubtedly the f athers of modern sociology. â€Å"Nineteenth century Western Europe was pounded by pivotal forces of transformation. Politics, education, religion, communication science, art, and social life were being revolutionized.† (Mohseni 1994;85) Each with distinct views on society and religion, these sociologists are and their theories are significant especially in the field of society. Just as much as they play a major role in theRead MoreEssay on Biography of Karl Marx787 Words   |  4 PagesKarl Marx is the revolutionary founding father of communism and Marxism, while Niccolo Machiavelli expounded upon the concept of realism through his work The Prince. 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Marx attended University of Bonn, but due to his imprisonment for drunkenness and variances with another student, he was enrolled in the University of Berlin by his parents. Marx earned his degree in philosophy and began writing for Rheinische Zeitung, a liberal democratic newspaper. He later became their editor. Marx was a member of Young Hegelian movement which was groupRead MoreThe Soul And Consciousness Of Revolutionary Politics1482 Words   |  6 Pages I In this short paper I will be comparing and contrasting the political psychology of Plato’s Republic and Karl Marx’s political theory. Their concepts of group consciousness will be contrasted as well as how the nature and existence of ideology affect their theories. This will be concluded by a discussion on how the understanding of political psychology contributes to our concepts of political duty and freedom. But first, their theories of the soul must be explained. II De Anima Plato’s RepublicRead MoreA Comparative Analysis Of On Property Owning Democracy 1404 Words   |  6 Pagescomparative analysis to contrast Rawls vision with that of Marxian communism. Karl Marx was a German political philosopher who believed that he had created a system of government, which he believes would lead a utopia. Karl Marx creation is communism, a political philosophy that is a strictly hypothetical political system in which, governmental affairs, economic policies, and the social realms are combined into what Marx describes as a â€Å"perfect, classless, automatic, government-less system based onRead MoreEssay about Karl Heinrich marx and Social-Conflict Analysis651 Words   |  3 Pagesas a whole, social stratification benefits some people and disadvantages others. This analysis draws heavily on the ideas of the great Karl Marx. Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, social scientist, and revolutionist whose writings formed the beginning of the basic idea s known as Marxism. He was born on May 5, 1818, in a place called Trier in Prussia. Marx attended the University of Bonn and later the University at Berlin, where he studied law, while majoring in history and philosophy toRead MoreFuture of Modernization1108 Words   |  5 PagesAdopting modern ways and new ideas move people forward by building on foundations of traditions. When traditions are lost, modernization sets in. Modernization is when technology blends with culture and they exist together in a contemporary time period. The main issue with modernization is that it is a continuing cycle of innovations and change that never cease and force the loss of traditions. There are four key concepts which help explain how modernization manifests; first, the decline of smallRead MoreKarl Marx And The German Ideology1437 Words   |  6 PagesINTRODUCTION Long before our time, two prominent German philosophers emerged at the forefront of ideology and thinking. These two men were Karl Marx and Friedrich Nietzsche who pioneered the idea of truths, religion, reality, etc. Karl Marx’s essay, â€Å"The German Ideology,† otherwise known as Marxism, focused upon the materialistic processes that brought life into our world and the abuse of the burgeouse on the proletariat. This theory later went on to found the core beliefs of communism and played