Broken Windows Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Broken Windows - Essay Example The theory postulates that when public behavior in a neighborhood is unregulated, it leads to the gradual â€Å"breakdown of community controls† (Kelling and Wilson, 2, 1982). The ‘broken window’ here is symbolic of the breakdown of the informal controls through which people regulate public behavior in a neighborhood. The shared civic obligations and mutual considerations of community living act as barriers to crime and disorder. Once these barriers are overcome by the perception that ‘no one cares,’ vandalism occurs. Social controls are weakened and citizens feel that the environment in uncontrolled. This generates fear. Such an area, with its ‘broken windows, is particularly vulnerable to the spread of crime and disorder.   When disorderly behavior remains unchecked, it goes on to become criminal. When police apply the ‘Broken Window’ theory to specific actions on the street, they aim to â€Å"elevate --- the level of public order† in the neighborhood (Kelling and Wilson, 1982). The role of the police is to maintain order. It is acknowledged that disorder and crime are interconnected in a community. The police’s role is founded on this link between order-maintenance and crime-prevention. Their role is based on the premise that â€Å"serious street crime flourishes in areas in which disorderly behavior goes unchecked† (Kelling and Wilson, 2, 1982). It is a reflection of the police’s role in earlier periods, when the main responsibility of the police was to maintain order. Actions such as keeping drinking away from the main intersections, questioning strange loiterers, preventing panhandlers and vagrants from bothering pedestrians and begging at bus-stops, keeping noisy teenagers in check, and settling disputes between customers and busi nessmen are geared towards the maintenance of public order. Arresting a single drunk or vagrant

How Advertising and the Media Have Created a New China Research Paper

How Advertising and the Media Have Created a New China - Research Paper Example China is no exception: a country with a long history of communism, China slowly adopts a new, westernized vision of the global reality. Chinese media reflect and contribute to the development of new consumer images. The influence of advertising on individual and collective identities is difficult to overestimate. More important are the influences of media advertising on the development of gender relations and the changing perceptions of femininity in the postmodern Chinese culture. A content analysis of Chinese printed ads will provide a brief insight into the role of media and advertising in creating the country’s female ideals. Advertising and the making of new China: Setting the context How advertising shapes new China is a question surrounded by much controversy. It is no secret that the end of the 1970s marked a new stage in the political, economic, and cultural evolution of China. Since the end of the 1970s, China has changed dramatically from being predominantly Marxist to a becoming a new, market-socialist country (Tse, Belk & Zhou 457). The no-advertising culture gave place to a well-developed advertising infrastructure, which both facilitates and is facilitated by the rapid development of modern media sources and consumer values (Tse, Belk & Zhou 457). ... Chinese consumers gradually realize the value of market openness. In their consumer choices they mostly rely on the popular media sources. Product choices in China are no longer limited to bicycles and wristwatches but make Chinese consumers think twice, before they choose the best of the best in highly competitive Chinese and international markets (Tse, Belk & Zhou 458). Against the background of market openness and relative freedom of competition, the Chinese media have become an important carrier of unique cultural meanings. Advertising does not merely sell goods but has the strong potential to create a new collective identity (Johansson 357). Advertising creates a new image of self in Chinese consumers; it strengthens the sense of belonging to one or several societal groups; eventually, advertising creates a distinct borderline between Self and Others, but whether advertising praises or judges otherness depends on numerous contextual factors (Johansson 357). Chinese media context s are extremely complex and diverse. They create and sustain a self-otherness dichotomy which characterizes most, if not all, media processes in today’s China. Women are excessively susceptible to this type of media influences. It would be fair to assume that the role of women in the Chinese society and advertising in popular media are closely interrelated: the media reflect the dramatic changes in the women-society relationship and, simultaneously, drive the development of new gender realities. Advertising shapes new China, through new typologies of women and changes in female perceptions of Chinese cultural realities. This is probably why the role of advertising in the development of female identities and their implications for new