Compassion Fatigue - Tools for Facilitating an Interactive Educational Research Paper

Compassion Fatigue - Tools for Facilitating an Interactive Educational Forum for Psychiatric Nurses - Research Paper Example I am also privileged to have family and friends who have provided unconditional support throughout my studies. ABSTRACT The purpose of this capstone project is to create awareness about compassion fatigue among psychiatric nurses. Compassion fatigue is a marked presence of chronic stress resulting from intense empathy for others and an absence of self-care practices, which causes prevalent negative attitudes and can lead to drug use, depression, and other stress-related traumas (What is Compassion Fatigue, 2010). Compassion fatigue, common among healthcare professionals, is a stress induced disorder (unlike a normal stressed or tensed state of mind) that is difficult to treat and can be unintentionally prolonged if the afflicted individual remains unaware of the severity of their condition and neglects to incorporate self-care practices into their daily routines (Joinson, 1992). This project outlines the details concerning the triggers that cause the onset of compassion fatigue and t he common causes, symptoms, and treatment strategies for psychiatric nurses who provide direct care to the mentally ill. Recommendations will be made towards the ways to best educate psychiatric nurses about compassion fatigue and provide them with the means to prevent and/or cope with it. Additionally, this project will outline the tools necessary for prevention of compassion fatigue and burnout conditions, as well as create a framework of options for self-care plans to aid psychiatric nurses in making use of their own skills to prevent the recurrence of these conditions. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 2 ABSTRACT 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS 4 LIST OF FIGURES 7 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 8 Background 9 Project Purpose and Description 12 Chapter summary 19 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 20 Search and Retrieval Strategies for Literature Review 20 Literature Review 21 Compassion Fatigue 24 PTSD 25 STSD 26 Burnout 27 Vicarious Trauma 27 Counter –Transference 28 Need for Self Care 29 Chapter Summary 34 CHAPTER THREE: PROJECT METHODOLOGY 35 Primary research 35 Secondary research 37 CHAPTER FOUR: SERVICE LEARNING PROJECT 39 Target audience 39 Needs addressed 39 Scheduling 40 Location 41 Purpose 41 Implementing 42 Chapter Summary 43 CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 44 Conclusions 44 Implementation Benefits of intervention forum 45 Outstanding Questions of the research 46 Further Recommendations 47 REFERENCES 50 APPENDICES 59 Appendix A - Questions/Issues 59 Appendix B - Life Stress Test 62 Appendix C – Professional Quality of Life Scale 63 Appendix D – What is My Score and What Does It Mean 64 Appendix E – Your Scores on the PROQOL 65 Appendix F – Presentation Aids 66 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: CS and CF professional quality of life scale 37 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND Many psychiatric nurses are becoming over-stressed due to caring for a growing and complex mentally ill population in increasingly u nsafe environments (Canadian Nursing Association 2010). They face extreme and bizarre situations, such as patients insulting them, male patients sexually harassing the female staff, threats to kill them, having medications thrown at them, shouting at them aimlessly, and other staff members considering them as an inferior healthcare professional who does not know how to maintain a safe

ETH301 MODULE 2 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

ETH301 MODULE 2 - Assignment Example Others thought that the law must be followed. In this case the law does not allow anyone access to emails of deceased. Agreements are between an individual and the service providers, which in this case, Yahoo. The agreement meant that no third-party should get access to the email for it would be a violation to the agreement signed (Herold, 2012). The military have tried to advice soldiers on having a letter with IDs and passwords to their e-mail accounts. This letter should be kept by someone they trust and delivered ‘only when the solider dies (Kopetski, 2012). But this still raises many concerns on how the person should be trusted since privacy can be compromised (Wilkens, 2011). According to Herold, (2012) privacy is important and many people would not want to share their emails with others whether alive or dead. Another case is having important data stored on ones email. When the person dies it will mean that this information is lost forever. The family will not be able to get what they could have inherited from the deceased (Kopetski, 2012). The case of Ellsworth is viewed either in the Utilitarian or Deontological point of view. According to Utilitarian theory, actions are considered to be right provided they promote happiness and satisfaction and wrong when they cause sadness (Latus, 2012). The Utilitarian in Ellsworths case appeared to have had more meaning to many people who were in support of the familys request as stated by Kopetski. Ellsworths parents wanted some comfort and satisfaction by getting access to their sons emails. They were not happy when Yahoo denied them access to these emails. The action by Yahoo to deny Ellsworth parents access to their sons e-mails was wrong according to Utilitarian since it led to sadness on their part (Latus, 2012). From what Susan Llewelyn wrote, she does not see the difference between an e-mail address and any

The comparative case study of Developed (G-8 & G-20 countries) Term Paper

The comparative case study of Developed (G-8 & G-20 countries) - Term Paper Example The United Nation’s definition of the poor indicates that they are such persons living on less than a dollar a day. The more alarming indications that the developed economies classified under the G-8 and the G-20 have their share of economic problems points out the seriousness of this issue. The world’s giant economies are classified under the G-8 whereas the G-20 are the fast growing economies of the world that have continued to be a threat to the developed nations in terms of economic power. The World Bank has made projections to the effect that developing countries or the G20 are likely to reach full capacity in terms of growth and consequently slowing growth from the year 2010’s 7.3 percent to a region of around 6.3 percent annually as from 2011-2013. On the other hand, the G8 will encounter a slowed growth from the lower growth reflected by the 2010’s 2.7 percent to the year 2011’s drop to 2.2 percent. They will experience a rise of up to 2.7 percent in the end of 2012 and a further drop to 2.6 percent in 2013, which shows a fluctuating economy in the giant economies1. If these statistics are to be believed, the developing world is steadily catching up with their developed counterparts even though there are obstacles that they must overcome. This paper examines the macroeconomic indicators of two selected countries (United States and Saudi Arabia) that are in the G-8 and G-20 categories. The period of examination shall be in the last five years a nd indicators such as the GDP, unemployment rates, GNP, consumer and producer price index and GDP per capita among others will be used to analyze their macroeconomic conditions. United States is slowly picking up from the worst economic downfall in decades. On the other hand, the Arabic nation of Saudi Arabia has not been affected much by the global economic crisis but that does not mean that the citizens of the

Multinational Companies Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Multinational Companies Management - Essay Example This is the same in the case of employee retention. However it is very difficult for any organisation to take the necessary steps to retain its workforce and ensure that they remain loyal and engaged, and when this has to be carried out by an organisation with many different cultural dimensions the strategies that need to be adopted become even more difficult and complex. The author believes that through this study, she will be able to gain sufficient information on the specific steps that can be taken by a transnational organisations with regard to managing and retaining employees while remaining profitable and ensuring that they remain loyal and engaged and highly productive, thus making the organisation even more profitable. THE DIFFERENT MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES THAT CAN BE ADOPTED BY AN ORGANISATION WITH A DIVERSE WORKFORCE TO RETAIN ITS WORKFORCE, ENSURE EMPLOYEE LOYALTY AND ENGAGEMENT AND CONTINUE TO STAY PROFITABLE IN BOOM AND BUST CONDITIONS In this document the author proposes the methods and the type of research study that she will undertake in fulfillment of her degree requirement. The author is currently interested in studying how Multinational Companies such as Microsoft, IBM, Toyota, Honda, General Electric, Coke Cola, Unilevers, General Motors, Hewlett Packard and Sony can do to retain its employees, keep them engaged and loyal to the organisation, while ensuring that the organisation remains profitable through boom and bust conditions. In this proposal the author discusses the research objectives, the research topic, the methodology that she wishes to adopt, the limitations of the study, and finally the dissertation structure and the time line for the study. The author has carried out a brief literature review into the subject area and has presented it in this research to give the proposal more background and to justify the reason for the choice. Research Objectives Here the author will give a brief overview of the objectives of the research study that she will evaluate for completion at the end of the research. Gain an in-depth understanding of the importance of employee retention for a multi-national organisation. Gain an in-depth understanding of the importance of employee engagement for a multi-national organisation. Gain an understanding of the co-relationship between the profitability of the organisation, employee retention, employee engageme

The Unique Categorical Imperative of Kant Essay Example for Free

The Unique Categorical Imperative of Kant Essay Morality appears to us as a concrete term which is underscored by certain rational assumptions about the universe. And yet, our own experience tells us that that which one considers to be vice may, to another, be seen as virtue. The reverse may also apply. Thus, it is rather difficult to reconcile that which does in fact define our cause for moral behavior, though all figures of importance to the historical discourse on philosophy have ventured a framework. The 18th century in particular would witness a flurry of activity, with the latter generation of the Enlightenment Era providing a spirited exchange across decades of literature on that which inspires moral behavior. In our investigation here of the various possible lenses through which to understand morality, consideration of German theologian Immanuel Kant’s 1785 Groundwork for the Metaphysic of Morals provides basic understanding for the discussion of morality from the normative perspective. Such is to say that Kant’s will be the most rigid, socially constrained and dangerous of understandings, but nonetheless, totally unique in its orientation and provisions for its time and place. At the center of Kant’s argument is the premise that the same reason which applies to the empirical nature of scientific discourse must rationally apply in the same way to ethical discourse. His perspective toward scientific certainty would mark a unique and original bridging of worlds between the corporeal and the ideological. Accordingly, Kant contends that â€Å"physics will have its empirical part, but it will also have a rational one; and likewise ethics – although here the empirical part might be called specifically practical anthropology, while the rational part might properly be called morals. † (Kant, 20) To Kant, previous ideals on ethical autonomy are threatening to social order, representing the opportunity for the individual to devise his own ethical parameters. The rationality of scientific practicality denotes, to Kant, instead a heteronomous orientation whereby there is a connective tissue of ethicality common to all men and women, restraining and directing behaviors. Kant defines autonomy as the ability to act based on one’s own volition. Heteronomy, on the other hand, is a common set of social forces inclining individuals to tend toward common motives and common actions. Accordingly, Kant lays out a concise framework for justice, admonishing that â€Å"the categorical imperative, which declares the action to be objectively necessary without referring to any end in view. . . . holds as an apodictic practical principle. † (Kant, p. 18) The ‘categorical imperative’ to which Kant refers is foundational to the normative theory suggesting that there is some immutable force associated with our conception and actualization of the idea of ‘good’ or ‘evil. ’ It inclines us to understanding that the means by which we behave are inherently informed by our commitment to a single, shared and unchanging idea about what is right. To commit to this idea is practical reason and to fail to make this commitment is irrational, which allows Kant to propose that such a positive correlation could be observed between rationality and morality. . This contrasts the idea of utilitarianism, which proposes that all situations demand a certain degree of pragmatism with respect to behavior. This throws into chaos the moral presuppositions of Kant, with such thinkers as Bentham and Mill coming to the fore of the discussion. In utilitarian philosophy, it is imperative that morality be channeled through an understanding of context and the nuances of society human interaction. By contrast to this view of morality, Kant provides deep ideological refusal for what he might argue is mere ethical laxity. Kant presents this argument that moral order is impossible to define without permanent standards that are shaped by man’s dignity, denoting therefore that it is only reasonable to act in cooperation with this conception for one’s own self-preservation. If Kant’s points are to be assimilated when adopting a moral stance which is consistent with man’s dignity, such absolute terms are inevitably defined by dominant social structures, bringing us to the application of a normative theoretical structure. The inextricable relationship which theology and morality have shared throughout history tends to have a tangible impact on the way these hegemonic standards are defined. And Kant, rejects any flexibility outright, however. Beyond its deviation from his established disposition toward moral absolutes, such variation violates Kant’s maxim about man as an end rather than a means. Man is to be the motive for moral acts, with his dignity defining right and wrong. Indeed, as he pointedly phrases it, â€Å"the laws of morality are laws according to which everything ought to happen; they allow for conditions under which what ought to happen doesn’t happen. † (Kant, 1) To my view, this demonstrates Kant’s approach to be both unrealistic and unattractive to the nuance and flexibility of human social systems and individual ideological orientations. Absent of these characteristics, ethicality becomes an empty term and morality a weapon against minority ideologies. Works Cited: Kant, Immanuel. 1785. Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals. Jonathan Bennett. Preferred language style: English(U. S. ) A. Explain the originality uniqueness of Kants ethical theory by:1)explaining kants general critcism of previous ethical theories 2)defining how kant distinguishes between autonomy heterononmy 3)explaining kants formulation of the `catergorical imperative. ` 4)explaining how adherence to the categorical imperative provides for autonomous ethical choice. B. Reflect on Kants ethical theory by:1)supporting a position on how kants theory on ethical decision making is correct or incorrect with personal thought. 2)supporting your position with evidence from the text

Urban Regeneration Environment

Urban Regeneration Environment TO WHAT EXTENT HAS CULTURE-LED REGENERATION AFFECTED THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT Abstract To what extent has Culture-Led Regeneration affected the built environment within the UK? Use examples to put this into a wider context. Since the 1940s the phrase ‘Urban Regeneration has been increasingly used in conjunction with the action of redeveloping land which had, in years prior, been areas of moderate to high density urban land use. The study of this process and the way in which it came about has also increased as the successes of Urban Regeneration throughout the United Kingdom and indeed internationally, continue to prove economically, socially and politically advantageous to any number of parties involved in the development of gentrification over the last 70 years. In addition to looking at how regeneration has affected the built environment, the idea that it has been ‘culture-led poses further aspects and issues but however, less scrutiny has been given to the idea of regeneration being ‘culture-led, this is a continuously growing area which deserves more analysis due to the economic success it has given investors and key stakeholders. It has also worked towards preserving some of Britains architectural heritage for the future, giving certain areas that would otherwise have been in a state of disrepair a new lease of life and additional social benefits. By paying attention to the way in which regeneration has developed during the 20th century to becoming culture-led it will be possible to give an in-depth view of the effects on the existing urban fabric of the United Kingdom, particularly over the last 25 years. There are a number of ways in which cultural regeneration takes place, from local governments wanting to increase investment in the area to them gaining status through cultural events such as the Olympic and Commonwealth games, the World Cup to the European Capital of Culture and prominent buildings such as Stadiums and tourist attractions. All of which will be discussed and then highlighted through case studies including the Albert Docks in Liverpool, the Capital of Culture for 2008 and Salford Quays, Manchester which was involved in the Commonwealth Games 2002. On a wider scale, regeneration has played an important role in the history and demographics of cities around the world including Beijing and Melbourne, commonly cited UK examples include Salford Quays in Manchester and Albert Docks in Liverpool; other UK examples include, Canary Wharf in London and Cardiff in Wales. For the purposes of this study, UK examples will be used to directly answer the question posed, which will then be put in to context through briefly analysing the city of Bilbao and Barcelona in, Spain. Regeneration or gentrification can be a contentious topic due to the variety of complex issues surrounding this topic. This often includes, premium prices charged for the new developments. To the nature of change and impact on the local communities that may have fallen in to decline. The existing infrastructure and community that is impacted on by the process of regeneration can take time to evolve and ultimately impact upon the initiatives proposed, as well as the effects on the local community, the power of which should not be underestimated. In order to balance the argument for regeneration it will be necessary to substantiate these different viewpoints and provide a fair consideration from all stakeholders who would be involved and affected by developments. The impact on the environment caused by regeneration can vary depending on the amount of refurbishing and the variety of materials used in the regeneration programme. The extent to which these are recycled and reused to reduce the amount of waste and energy varies with each development. This field of expertise is large and far-reaching and will be discussed briefly in chapter 4 using case studies to highlight the various aspects. The study will also address physical as well as the environmental impacts of regeneration with past and current projects aiming to improve urban areas, with the aid of culture to deliver change. The environment aspect in particular is becoming increasingly important as the countrys social conscience continues to increase into the future. The paper will then draw together conclusions using arguments both in favour of and also against urban regeneration. It will also draw on why cultural regeneration is initiated and why these areas are finding the effects of cultural regeneration successful. The paper will also touch on areas that may have failed or where areas are finding the task of regenerating the physical but also the social and political aspects challenging. It will also be possible to discuss and argue the extent to which culture-led regeneration has moved away from the initial aims of improving an areas social and economic problems to also encompass the physical and environmental aspects of improving an area. This multi-faceted approach has continued to provide many obstacles for experts within the area but these are challenges that, if overcome, will ensure the longevity and economic well being of the project in question for a long time to come. The degree to which urban regeneration has affected the built environment in the UK is likely to be extensive due to well known case studies and examples, as well as visual evidence being clear in day to day life and also being reported in the media, however extracting the elements of gentrification to date and stating to what level they have been purely culture-led will prove more complicated due to difficulties in finding material that points to an area of culture as being the sole catalyst for the regeneration to begin. The essay proposes to demonstrate why cultural regeneration is successful Chapter 1 History History of regeneration Industrial revolution Early 20th century (1940s) Last 25 years (definition culture led detail) Castleford, Canary Wharf QUOTE The United Kingdom has a long history that has become synonymous with the manufacturing industry, dating back to the British Empire when the UK imported and exported many products from countries around the world. During the earliest phase of the Industrial Revolution the Bridgewater Canal was built in 1761, this halved the price of coal in Manchester due to decreased transport costs and ease of access. This triggered a period of canal building activity between 1760 and 1850, the canals provided the infrastructure by which trade could occur more easily and cheaply and it is along these waterways that many cities were developed, including Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Birmingham and London. Many industrial facilities were strategically located close to rivers, canals and estuaries, most notably Manchester and Liverpool being situated just 35 miles apart and joined by the Manchester Ship Canal, the North West became a fundamental destination for cotton and textiles and manufacturing as well as Liverpool becoming a central dock for trade due its global connections. The Industrial Revolution also witnessed a large growth in population, in 1695 the population of Britain was estimated to be 5.5million, by the early part of 1801, just over 100 years later, this had grown to 9.3million and 40 years later again, almost doubled to 15.9million people in 1841. These figures represent a 60% increase in just 40 years. (www.historylearningsite.co.uk) In the North West, Manchester alone experienced a dramatic six-fold increase in its population during this time. The development of cities during this period clearly meant that workers moved to these areas seeking jobs, stability and prosperity. By 1900, 80% of Britains population lived in urban areas, whilst the number of workers employed in the agricultural sector fell from eleven percent to just two percent. (www.statistics.gov.uk). There were various reasons for this to occur, but the main ones being the advances in technology and the closure of many farming and agricultural companies, hence reducing the number of those employed in this sector. This sudden surge in the migration of people from rural to urban areas, initially for jobs in the factories or mills, obviously meant that housing was required in these ‘super-cities, and it was needed quickly. The ever increasingly rich owners of the businesses saw the need to provide cheap housing for their workers, and so the now-famous back to back terraced housing associated with British industrial inner cities were born. The back-to-back terrace was the most popular addition to the city due to it being cheap and easy to construct, as well as durable and serving the purpose that it was required for. However, much of this housing was constructed without proper planning, adequate facilities or infrastructure for clean running water and waste disposal. Areas throughout the United Kingdom fell into a state of squalor and disrepair; serious efforts were made to reverse the ‘slum conditions resulting from the housing crisis over the next 100 years. During 1909, a Town Planning Act was formed, this act was to, ‘forbid the building of any more back-to-back houses, this highlighted the need for builders and designs to meet certain standards. During the First World War the slogan, ‘Homes fit for heroes (Crisp 1998) which accompanied the revised Town Planning Act in 1919. This Act focused on implementing improvements to inner city slums on general housing conditions, in order to create space for new housing many of the workers were persuaded to move out to the suburbs which were ‘greener and ‘cleaner this coincided with the decline of the industrial revolution and again agriculture levels increased. Once many of the inner city areas had been abandoned, a prompt decision was taken to destroy many of the workers houses due to the overcrowded and poor conditions of them. During the post war-era employment in the city grew more slowly than in towns and rural areas, employment began to decrease in the 1960s and the decline spread to almost all cities in the 1970s. As the worlds first industrial economy virtually collapsed within a ten year period between 1970 and 1980, 55% of jobs were lost in cities during the recession. (Turok Edge) The former industrial cities of Newcastle, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester were left lifeless and devoid of jobs, whilst towns and rural areas saw a steady increase in the number of opportunities. The inner cities were left with polluted by-products from the factories whilst the movement of jobs and people to the country was actively encouraged with the aim of reducing over-crowding, in order to clean up the cities and plan orderly settlements for the future. This led to further social and economic problems such as crime and relative poverty as many areas sank in to depression. During the 1980s, Manchester and Liverpool along with the other industrial areas of Birmingham and Newcastle had lost their influential status, mills, warehouses and docks which had made the cities so successful lay abandoned and increasingly vandalised, whilst the river and canal networks lay polluted. The beginning of the ‘Information Age during the 1990s saw a sharp transition from primary manufacturing industries to a knowledge based, service industry. This was seen as an important driver for change, despite the ability for new industries and businesses to locate in rural areas, through the use of the digital medium of the Internet. However, financial services and the retail industry have increasingly relocated business to city centres once again, creating flagship stores that drew service sector workers back into the city centre in turn creating the need for additional services in the city. The end of the 20th century saw the start of a renaissance in the development of new and improved venues for cultural activity, from arts and media centres, theatres, museums and galleries, to less formal roles such as public art works and urban designs in the public domain. Many towns and cities were seen to be re-investing in the rich cultural heritage of the past, and complementing this with contemporary art projects and exhibitions. It was during this time that work within the creative industries was recognised as bringing a viable way of sustaining a business enterprise around the arts and crafts, later joined by digital media based work. Chapter 2 Culture-Led Models Major events 3 models e.g. Olympic games (London , Commonwealth, Capital of Culture, World Cup, Stadiums International context/differences Bilbao (Capital of Culture), Barcelona (Olympics) It has not only been traditional and historic cultural capitals or world cities, that have looked to install this new form of cultural energy into their urban centres, those seeking to transform their image, established industrial cities as in the case of Bilbao and Glasgow. These cities are undergoing re-imaging, through new and upgraded cultural facilities to try and appeal as cosmopolitan destinations for the first time. Towns and cities such as these, will undoubtedly be greatly affected through culture, not only on the built environment, but also in their social and economic development. The role culture can play in attempting to regenerate an area can be expressed through three different models of regeneration; cited in a report by the Department of Culture, Media and Sports, on the contribution of culture within regeneration in the United Kingdom. The three models include; Culture-led Regeneration Culture Regeneration Culture Regeneration The models which have been identified show where cultural activity can be incorporated, or incorporates itself into a regeneration process. The different models developed include defining culture-led regeneration, cultural regeneration as well as culture and regeneration. Although sounding similar, the models represent and explain three varied approaches to regeneration. Culture-led Regeneration often involves the use of physical and environmental improvements and more often results in the creation of new cultural facilities. This can be through the construction of new buildings, or the reuse of existing structures, examples of which might include Peckham Library, the TATE modern in Southwark, or the Sage music centre and BALTIC centre for contemporary art in Gateshead. Due to the nature of these highly visible projects, both in the public domain and through marketing and advertising, there can be a misinterpretation that some cultural facilities are solely responsible for the regeneration of an area, when in fact they may be a less significant element in a wider, longer term programme. (Evans 2005). This can be identified particularly where â€Å"flagship† projects are concerned. Bilbao is one example where the external image of the city has been dominated by a single building; the Guggenheim. In this case, far less attention has been given to the preparation of infrastructure, such as improvements to roads and metro systems as well as the improvements to housing, with new residential developments, with the redevelopment of existing cultural facilities that may also have contributed to the regeneration of the city. Castleford, in West Yorkshire, has a population of around 38,000. The restructuring of the mining industry in 1997 meant that the number of employees had fallen to under six hundred. The closure of the mines, and other redundancies has led to unusually high levels of unemployment, poor health and low education achievements. The residents are unusually committed to improving the quality life, The Castleford Project is a programme of improvements supported by a collaboration between Wakefield, key regeneration agencies and the community; to improve the town centre, health care, bring safety within the neighbourhoods and local communities and give opportunities to the younger demographic.. The successful approach to the Castleford project shows that culture-led can support regeneration of the former West Yorkshire mining town. Just a few years prior many felt that towns on the outskirts of Yorkshire such as Castleford were in terminal decline following pit and factory closures that put thousands out of work. A strong community spirit led the changes in the area which saw the development of a visionary 25 year urban renaissance programme, this large scale project covered Castleford and four other local towns. The Castleford project has been unique in the sense that it was designed to empower local people to improve their area and develop their own vision and identity for the future. It involved a partnership between the council, the local community, and Channel 4 television which invested one hundred thousand pounds, as well as regional and national organisations; as a result local people have a sense of pride and care over their community. The initial catalyst for the regeneration of Castleford was the development of the Xscape leisure and shopping complex, this boasts the largest indoor ski slope in Europe, it is said to attract more visitors than anywhere else in Yorkshire, which has also led to the creation of many jobs, more than previously available when the pit was in existence. Considerable investment is being put into the area with one single firm staking  £55m. There is good quality house building, a new hotel, supermarket and plans for a heritage centre. By being rooted in the community and having the local peoples full support this regeneration programme has proved a success, if a project such as this is not deeply rooted in the community then it is not guaranteed to be successful or sustainable. Barcelona is a true example of Cultural Regeneration, where a Cultural City, was a successful host of the Olympic Games in 1992. Barcelona took the initiative with the early approach to urban design and culture planning. The design of creative quarters which span between the old city and the Olympic village site, this often meant refurbishing and reviving derelict industrial areas. This form of Urbanism in Barcelona has been characterised by the forming of cultural and public squares linked by avenues and promenades that promote the form of culture. A major feature of Barcelonas regeneration programme involved the expansion of the city centre to encompass the former industrial areas situated on the citys periphery. This allowed the redevelopment and expansion of the commercial sector along the waterfront. In 1999 the RIBA presented its Royal Gold Medal to Barcelona, the first time a city has received the award. It was given the award for its dramatic and successful transformation whi ch is now widely accepted as a model for cultural regeneration on an international scale. Barcelona proved itself through the successful bid and hosting of the 1992 Olympic Games; other examples of this cultural regeneration model include the European Capital of Culture programmes (ECOC), the international Expositions (EXPO) along with the annual celebrations such as the Edinburgh festival. Host cities have used these international events to increase their cultural profile and in turn these events to help initiate a long term regeneration programme. Glasgow became the first city to become European Capital of Culture in 1990 having had more than three years to plan for the event. This award was seen as an important opportunity as a catalyst for urban regeneration through the form of culture; Glasgows legacy as the first city with ECOC status 16 years ago has sustained this development; similar effects to Barcelona which has been recognised as a success internationally. Seville (EXPO 92), Lisbon (ECOC 94 EXPO 98) and Rotterdam (ECOC 01) are cases where large-scale regeneration programmes have been combined with these cultural events. Liverpool has been nominated as ECOC in 2008 and has chosen to build up to this event by hosting themed years. Liverpool was a major participant in the national celebrations of Sea Britain, with special relevance to 2005, The Year of the Sea. Hosting the start and finish of the 2005-06 2007-08 Round the World Clipper Race. 2008 the year of the Capital of Culture will see Liverpool hosting major events highlighting different aspects of the citys unique culture including The Tall Ships Race which has a significant connection with the cities maritime heritage. One event can have wider and far lasting cultural benefits, whilst attracting further investment and increased visitor numbers. Liverpool suffered a vast industrial decline leaving large areas of Brownfield sites derelict which caused economic and social problems. The ECOC will be a vital aid in reshaping and reforming Liverpool to revive the city back to its former successful status, with the regeneration of its famous waterfront known as the Albert Docks. In the third model, Culture and Regeneration, cultural activities are not fully integrated at either the development or planning stages. This is primarily due to the responsibilities for cultural provision and regeneration being often handled separately, within different departments. This means that any provisions for leisure or culture are likely to be small and implemented after any physical regeneration has taken place, as normally the primary focus was to develop housing and commercial space, the main and sure-fire reasons for bringing money in to an area. This model suggests that in terms of physical and environmental regeneration, the visible signs of any cultural activity or improvements may be small, but this does not mean that cultural activity is absent. This indicates that the cultural element has not been used to promote the regeneration programme. This type of regeneration has distinct connections with community groups, local groups and councils which may not exist in la rger flagship programmes, These three models Culture-led Regeneration, Cultural Regeneration and Culture Regeneration, highlight the different scale of regeneration projects and the level of cultural activities which can differ greatly, from whole â€Å"cultural cities† to redeveloped waterfronts, to community orientated public art programmes. The nature of the culture element in each model may vary, it is clear that culture can contribute to the regeneration programmes whilst also interacting with the physical, social and economic aspects that help to revive areas. The physical and environmental improvements, delivered within a cultural context are the visible signs of progression that ultimately promote the success and image of the city. Chapter 3- Case Studies Case Study 1 Salford Quays Case Study 2 Albert Docks Case Studies Albert Docks The Albert Docks is situated on the waters of the Mersey. The former docks comprises from five blocks of five storey warehouses, which provided 1.25 million square foot of storage space, surrounding by a quadrangle of water. Traditionally, the port had relied on privately owned warehousing in the town to store cargo from the dock. Since the decline in the city between 1970 to 1980, Liverpool has experienced more urban regeneration than virtually any other city in the UK. Since 1971 the city had to respond to a reduction in its population of about a quarter and a loss of more than half of its manufacturing industry. Over this period Liverpool has experimented in a variety in Urban regeneration schemes. The first government response to the emerging â€Å"inner city problem† came in 1968 with the launch of the Urban Programme small amounts of short term funding to support local community development projects in the inner city. Liverpool was amongst the first to benefit from 50 schemes supported by the programme including nursery, class, sports and community facilities. In 1969 the Home Office established a series of Community Development Projects (CDPs) including the Vauxhall CDP in addition to supporting a number of local projects, community education programmes, community centres etc. Researchers on the project concluded that the areas problems had structural roots and resulted from external economic change and restructuring (Topping and Smith 1977) In 1979, the new government established Urban Development Cooperation (including the Merseyside Development Corporation) central government agencies with the power and resources to reclaim large amounts of urban dereliction and to return them to beneficial economic use. Other areas of derelict land developers were offered more relaxed planning permissions and tax breaks. Through the 1980s British regeneration policy put a lot of emphasis on supporting local economic development by increasing the supply of land and buildings in inner cities. The first response of the government was to introduce City Challenge; a programme that allowed local authorities to lead local partnerships in bidding for central government money to support local regeneration projects, Liverpool was one of the first successful cities receiving 37.5million in the first round of bidding. By the 1980s Liverpools central area was in decline, few people lived in the City Centre, office and Commercial employment was falling and shopping centres were losing trade. The start of the programme to transform the waterfront commenced in 1986 the project saw the conversion of the existing warehouses into a complex of retail, restaurants, cafe, and a series of office units and business headquarters. Also there are a number of unique visitor attractions;- Tate Liverpool, the Beatles Story, Merseyside Maritime Museum, the International Slavery Museum, Liverpool Ghost Tours, and The Yellow Duckmarine. This development includes a number of luxury apartment, hotels and a state of the art conference / exhibition centre. The importance of the Albert docks to Liverpool is vast as it continues to attract visitors and has helped to re brand Liverpool from a declining and poor city. This in turn has led to the millions of pounds of investment reshaping the heart of the city centre with the development of Paradise Street. In the new millennium there are new challenges for planning and regeneration schemes in response to changes in social trends (cultural and political) with an increase in environmental issues, economic changes and associated with globalisation and the drive for developments to be more sustainable. However Liverpool has recognised the value of culture to aid in transforming a failing city, with the help of this development it will ignite many other opportunities for the city. Case Study Salford Quays Located in the former Docks area of Manchester and Salford, recently labelled as Salford Quays, The Lowry Centre is widely recognised as being key in the regeneration of Salford, Manchester and adding to the improvement of the North West as a region. As a national landmark in the Millennium Project for â€Å"The Arts† this comprises of galleries, theatres, bars, shops and restaurants. The Lowry Centre opened in April 2000 and has since been credited, along with its associated projects, with the creation of 6,500 jobs in the local economy. It is predicted that 11,000 new jobs will arise as a result of the regeneration of the Quays as a whole [Goodey 2000]. These associated cultural projects include The Designer Outlet shopping centre, the Imperial War Museum North (IWMN) and the latest development of the Mediacity:uk which will house the BBC; it also includes other leisure orientated facilities such as a multi screen cinema complex and a water sports centre. Although a culture-led scheme, the Lowry project was conceived as the final part of the regeneration of Salford Quays, a process that began in the mid 1980s, following the purchase of the Docks from the Manchester Ship Canal Company by Salford City Council in 1983. A development plan was prepared, which sought to â€Å"create a new quarter of the city which has a unique character derived from the way in which all parts of the development are related to water; and where people would be encouraged to work, live and play in a high quality environment† [Salford City Council, 1985]. However, despite the great potential that existed in the development of the waterfront, the site was not ideally located in terms of attracting residents, businesses or visitors; â€Å"The Docks were three kilometres from the city centre, enclosed by walls and filled with polluted water† [Struthers 2003]. At that time there was very little infrastructure existing prior to the plan. The adjacent Trafford Park Industrial Estate, was littered with derelict warehouses that had little access to the road network and no public transport provisions. Consequently, a reclamation programme was directed at three vital aspects of the site; water, roads and services, in addition to public access and landscaping. Following concerns that the site may be developed purely for housing and offices, a development strategy review was prepared and published in 1988 and set the context for future proposals with an emphasis on a mixture of uses and their relationship to the water, providing opportunities for leisure and culture based activities [Salford City Council, 1988]. This reflected the idea that both physical and environmental improvements had to be made in order to fully exploit the potential of Salford Quays. It took five years to close the main water basin which allowed the water itself to be treated and cleaned whilst the surrounding areas were cleared ready for the private sector development that was to follow. The access roads were developed to link the Quays internally, this initially meant the improvement of bridges, paths and walkways. There were also connections made to the major road networks into Manchester and beyond. This was all carried out in conjunction with landscaping the area and installing lighting and street furniture before any major building work could be carried out. The success of the Lowry Centre was entirely dependent on the infrastructure that was laid before it, in order to carry the number of visitors, workers and residents that would be required for it to be a success. The presence of the Lowry itself was a main drawing point for the Imperial War Museum which is now located directly opposite and is linked by the Lowry pedestrian bridge. The Imperial War Museum, a major tourist attraction in its own right was opened in 2002 and was designed by renowned architect, Daniel Libeskind, the imposing design aimed to depict the â€Å"world as a globe, shattered by war and mans self-destruction† [Libeskind, 2001]. Along with Old Trafford, the Imperial War Museum and the Lowry signify the cultural landmarks known as The Quays. The decision to extend Manchesters tram link to the Quays from Manchester City Centre as well as Bury in the north and Altrincham in the south of the city meant that the Quays was now open to a greater number of visitors, commuters and also residents. Chapter 4- Regeneration Sustainable regeneration Environmental effects of regeneration Physical regeneration Arguments against Regeneration social and environmental (rich people/poor areas and the infrastructure) Environmental / Physical effects The appearance and environment of towns and cities are clear representations of their history as well as indicators of their present ability to provide a quality of life to residents and business owners or workers. The built environment has always performed a wide range of functions, the main theme being initially shelter, social enablers and also trade. All of this f

Ethics and Reality TV

Ethics and Reality TV Abstract Reality TV, like many other postmodern spectacles, operates on a deeply tenuous and ambiguous ethical grounding. On the one hand, the audience / creator model of exploitation can be seen as providing the viewer with entertainment and escapism. On the other it can be said to create a system of dependency and artificial need. The ethics of participation in game show style reality offers a similar contradiction which is dependent upon whether participants are free to choose, or whether they are in fact coerced by elements beyond their control. This dissertation will look at the various factors and paradigms (psychoanalytical, Marxist, poststructuralist) that constitute this model of reality. This requires a certain concretisation of terms such as ethics, and of what constitutes â€Å"reality† itself. The dissertation will also look at the politics of reality TV itself – namely, does Reality TV constitute a unique event in the development of television, or does it merely re flect a continuation for television producers to create ever more innovative methods of keeping our interests satiated? Is Reality TV itself the origin of the moral crimes, or is Reality TV merely a reflection of the ethical climate of capitalism in which we live? Finally, the dissertation will look at the possible futures for â€Å"reality† TV. Methodology As this dissertation is largely discursive in nature, and involves a widespread discussion of general philosophical and ethical themes, I will purely refer to secondary material. This will be assisted by the large and abundant materials that exist on the matter of â€Å"Reality† TV, ethics, and the conjoining of the two. I will use library materials, newspaper and magazine materials, as well as the raw footage of the Reality TV itself to generate an opinion and an overall discussion about the general impacts, considerations and ethical standards of reality TV, and whether constructive change is a) desirable and b) possible. What are Ethics? Ethics have proven to be a central part of philosophical enquiry for thousands of years. As such, it would be useful to summarize what and how this theory has developed over the years, and what tends to form the debate around â€Å"ethics† now. This is essential in order to gauge the relationship between â€Å"good† ethical conduct and the recent phenomenon of reality TV. Ethics was originally conceived as a way to engage with morals – literally, it can be seen as an attempt to establish a â€Å"moral philosophy† for living, and is concerned about notions such as what is right and what is wrong. It exposes the various difficulties between making certain decisions or of living life in a particular way. Understandably, the concept and the notion of good moral behaviour and bad moral behaviour have changed radically since the initial formulation of Western ethics in Ancient Greece over 2000 years ago. While modern moral reasoning bases its understandings upon the writings of Plato and Aristotle, it has mutated radically as regards to who the subject of the writing actually is concerned with. Whereas Plato, Aristotle and the ancient Greeks were concerned more about the self – e.g. how to morally explain the individual – whereas the modern ethical practice is more concerned about how to treat others in the first instance. Annette Hill comments that â€Å"Modern moral philosophy is therefore primarily about public good, and the development of moral values within particular social, political and cultural groups, and also within particular secular societies.† (2005, p. 110). Rather than acting, then justifying behaviour, modern ethics are primarily concerned about what exactly one should do in the first place, and is about the relationship between the self and society, the promotion of the notion of the â€Å"public good†, and of partaking in particular acts, often against the self or the will that would otherwise have a harmful effect on society. Major paradigmatic models incorporate this model of public good into their progressive ideologies. Central to the Marxist model (which I will be later applying to the phenomenon of reality TV), is the relationship between the working classes and the ruling classes. This is argued in Marx as being ethically dubious, because while the proletariat are enslaved by the capitalist system by their work, the ruling classes benefit from this relationship infinitely. Therefore, from a Marxist context, capitalism and the ways in which this model distributes wealth can be seen as the primary mechanism from which morality is corrupted. Similarly, religion and faith is often touted as â€Å"scapegoats† for unethical behaviour. The existentialist Friedrich Nietzsche formulated his own quasi-religion / moral philosophy based on the concepts of the Ubermensch and the theories of eternal recurrence. His position is existential, and forms a central part of what constitutes ethical matters today. Existentialism is, put simply, a belief that man creates his own belief systems. The existence of something precedes its essence; namely, the process of doing something is more important than the assignation of certain methods of thinking or reasoning behind it. A person is not innately good, but instead he acts good. Robert Anton Wilson (1990) comments that â€Å"Nietszsche’s existentialism (1) attacked the floating abstractions of traditional philosophy and a great deal of what passes as ‘common sense’ (e.g. he rejected the terms ‘good’, ‘evil’, ‘the real world’, and even the ego.) (2) also preferred concrete analysis of real life situations [†¦] and (3) attacked Christianity, rather than defending it† (14-15). As such, an existential critique of reality TV would tend to eschew concrete moral conclusion based on the grounding that reality TV exploits people, and therefore it is bad – moreover, the pheno menon of reality TV is based upon a number of larger social trends and mechanisms; a whole system of belief that doesn’t necessarily taint reality, but actually comprises of reality. Therefore, the existentialist may attack Reality TV, but Nietzsche would presumably argue that it is an expression of human will, Marx would argue that it represents merely an extension of the capitalism that seeks to exploit the workers and Kierkegaard would argue that his role is to determine that people have the choice to make their own decisions. Both Nietzsche and Kierkegaard were not concerned about notions of abstract truth – they were existential insofar as their concern was about day to day existence. In the absence of the notion of truth, over Nietzsche’s â€Å"will to power† and Kierkegaard’s system of choice and personal autonomy, the system of modern moral philosophy was overturned by the new ethical paradigm. Nietszche argued that the ubermensch would not do bad things because it would be detrimental to his own will to power; a moral system of good and bad is, ultimately, irrelevant to the ubermensch, because the parameters of decision-making have been changed. This ethical reasoning in many ways bled into the individualism of psychoanalysis, which is a factor that comes into play in a great many of the reality TV programmes: as I will argue later, the obsession in reality TV with rendering perverse the Freudian neuroses (described by him as anal, oral and genital fixations), combined with the capitalist, consumerist desire to pacify the â€Å"slaves† within the semiotic network that constitutes television, creates a scenario whereby the human self is rendered obscene. A psychoanalytical analysis of Reality TV creates many discrepancies; moreover, it is the combination of pacifying the autonomous will of the individual, combined with the exposition of Freudian unconscious â€Å"discoveries† that makes reality TV objectionable to mainstream technical issues. However, before I try to extrapolate the various issues at stake in the arguments for and against reality TV, the concept of reality TV, in particular what the term â€Å" reality† means in this context, has to be explored. What is the â€Å"reality† in Reality TV? Jean Baudrillard and other philosophers coined â€Å"poststructuralist† by Western scholars would undoubtedly be impressed by the ironical use of the term â€Å"reality† in reality TV. One of Jean Baudrillard’s key issues is the argument for â€Å"hyperreality†. He suggests in Simulacra and Simulation (1994) that the hyperreal is â€Å"real without origin or reality† (1). Indeed, the concept of â€Å"reality† TV where participants are asked to stay in an enclosed space for weeks on end and told to do surrealistic things (Big Brother), or to stay on a desert island (Temptation Island, Survivor) is unreal in itself, but the term â€Å"reality† instead applies to the logic that contestants exist rather than actors or performers. It is a â€Å"genre† of TV in which the controlled amateurish quality of the programme is exaggerated into a package of neuroses that have usurped and transcended reality itself. Secondly, TV is edited, dis seminated and packaged in a particular way that, according to Baudrillard, substitutes itself for reality; in one judgement of hyperreality, Baudrillard suggests that it represents â€Å"more real than real†, and eventually usurps reality. The concept of â€Å"reality† in reality TV destroys the â€Å"sovereign difference† between the map and the territory (1994, 2). As such, reality TV exists as an exemplar of this particular moment in late capitalism where the simulation of reality has evaded and transcended the real itself. To stress this theory further, I will look more generally at what Baudrillard means by hyperreality, and cite some further examples of how this theory can be established. Like Nietzsche, Baudrillard begins with an interrogation of the â€Å"real world†, arguing that because our perceptions of reality are rooted in semiotic languages and discursive structures, that the concept of an external, objective reality outside of the self can not be established, and merely bases itself upon a chimera or a lie. Instead, Baudrillard argues that reality is merely a system of communication, in which reality has become a commodified, capitalistic device. In The System of Objects, Baudrillard offers a critique of the advertising industry. While many of the images used by, say, the automobile industry are deliberately faked or exaggerated, the nature of this exaggeration, and the extent to which these images are promoted over and above the actual reality of what the car is (ultimately, a device for getting from one place to another), the specific, advertised car itself becomes an impossible object – a representation of reality that lies beyond reality itself. For instance, recent advertising that features a car that transforms into a dolphin does not have any prescience in reality, nor does it even attempt to establish itself as real. Instead, it embodies in the vehicle certain images or â€Å"realities† that, acc ording to Baudrillard, become reality and, as such, substitute reality for a marketed, plasticised illusion that â€Å"represents† reality to a greater degree. This theory can be extended to encompass many other factors that seem based upon manufacturing and colonising the real. Pornography represents a reality of sex that transcends and usurps sex itself; a soft drink with a non-existent flavour, such as â€Å"wild ice zest berry† (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperreality) creates a â€Å"reality† in linguistic terms that has no relationship to â€Å"modern† as opposed to â€Å"postmodern† reality. Again, advertising generates a reality that exaggerates and simulates the real in totality; there is no attempt made to reproduce reality, but instead signs and signification operate within themselves, applying to only their own logic. This reality can be seen in terms of reality TV as well. Programmes such as Survivor, Big Brother and other reality TV programmes that synthesise the game show format tend to exaggerate the realities of the participants. The world in which these â€Å"real† people interact is one which is completely fabricated, usually to exaggerate some narrative or mythological scenario which the viewer is undoubtedly familiar with. Big Brother, for instance, plays with the familiar Orwellian notion of total surveillance and dystopia – Survivor plays on the themes of the desert island, featured in many historical and literary myths that date back to the Bible. As such, depending on what opinions we have about what reality constitutes, these types of program are undoubtedly far off the mark. Post-production techniques are used to exaggerate the dramatic tensions between people; often people who would ordinarily have no contact are forced into relationships with one another, and it has been insinuated that certain parts of reality TV are scripted beforehand, in order to prevent the programme from becoming tedious or formulaic. What does this development in the notion of â€Å"reality† do to a discussion of the ethics of reality TV? Firstly, the production processes of reality TV are heavily reliant upon advertisers and private corporations concerned about making money. Such companies do not generally have too scrupulous a reputation for ethical marketing or behaviour. Product placement is a regular feature in reality TV, which, if looked at from a Marxist point of view, leads to the synthesis of what is seen as common sense â€Å"reality† and of corporate desire. The existential view of reality, while in a kind of agreement with the ambiguity of reality TV, would argue that reality as it is presented here merely represents a faith or a religion that substitutes the pure will (choice or autonomy) of the individual into a scenario where all things are scripted, edited and controlled by forces that depend upon the viewer becoming pacified and infantilized. I argue that the reality in reality TV merely represents a particular version of reality. As post-structuralist philosophy would suggest, the notion of objective reality in the postmodern age is simply a psychologically, sociologically and metaphysically attuned network that serves to create a religion or a mythical structure of â€Å"truth† and â€Å"reality†. While Nietzsche would argue that Reality TV subdues the personal will, and of human folly and weakness, reducing the viewer to the level of passive consumer, he would also argue that it is not the ethical place of people to assume that this dynamic of â€Å"exploitation† (as Marxists would posit) is necessarily wrong. Indeed, criticisms of Nietzsche’s critiques of Christianity, while vitriolic and hateful in tone, overlook the simple premise that Nietzsche’s intention himself was not to create a system of objective truth himself. Because, as he postulates in Beyond Good and Evil: â€Å"In the womb of being, rather, in the intran sitory, in the hidden god, in the ‘thing in itself’ – that is where their cause must lie and nowhere else! – This mode of judgement constitutes the typical prejudice by which metaphysicians of all ages can be recognized; this mode of evaluation stands in the background of all their logical procedures; it is on account of this their ‘faith’ that they concern themselves with their ‘knowledge’, with something that is at last solemnly baptized ‘the truth’† (1973, 34). As such, the creation of truth, upon which grounds Nietzsche was sorely condemned for throughout the 20th century, was not Nietzsche’s central desire – indeed, the establishment of a particular truth ignores Nietzsche’s attempts to negate the this preoccupation with â€Å"truth† and â€Å"reality† present in the mind of the â€Å"metaphysician† and the abstract philosopher. The existentialist is not concerned a bout abstractions, but instead he is concerned about the establishment of productive myths. In this respect, the â€Å"reality† of reality TV (at least where participants and audience are volunteers) is real and, dependent upon how greatly you herald such issues as personal autonomy cannot be anything but a moral, voluntary exchange. Marxism and the streams of thinkers that have come to be associated with Marxism tend to think very differently about the self. Socialist philosophy suggests that the human freedoms posited by the American and British administrations during their â€Å"free† market experiments are merely a chimera designed to obfuscate and paper over the exploitative system of exchange that operates between rich and poor. Contrary to existentialism, Marxists suggest that voluntary participants (in such things as reality TV) have to adhere to some greater moral code, because the dynamic of exchange exposes basic human vulnerabilities that exist in everybody. Their concept of reality is based upon a politics of exploitation, or a dialectical exchange between two opposing factions, one of which is exploited, and the other is dominant. Such Marxist theory can be used to explore this notion of â€Å"reality† in reality TV further: the dynamic between rich and poor (used in â€Å"crude† or traditional Marxism) creates a system of exploitation between the working class and the ruling class. This can be extended into linguistics and semantic theory, and forms the central tenet of deconstructionist theory posited by Jacques Derrida. Derrida argues firstly that the structuralist theories of Ferdinand de Saussure depended upon a relationship between the signifier and the signified – namely, what is being represented and what it represents. While Saussure argued that this framework was stable, and that the signifier and the signified never changed, Derrida and the deconstructionist theorists argued that the relationship between the signifier and the signified was always subject to â€Å"play† and fluctuated constantly. Moreover, the limitations of human communication meant that our perception of the world was limited. Derrida argues that the world is conveyed in language and discourse. Derrida takes this further, arguing that Western language has always based its functionality upon what he calls â€Å"binary oppositions†, in which one is seen as inferior, while the other is seen as superior. These oppositions run the gamut of human thinking and is what abstract philosophy tends to ignore: for instance, the dichotomy between man and woman is the subject of many feminist writers: while man can give women the same material rights, linguistically, woman still represents the absence of masculinity. Similarly, reality is seen as superior to the simulacrum, as explored by Plato’s myth of the cave, in which he argues that one pure object exists, and that everything else is a copy, and therefore inferior to the real thing. Derrida argues that deconstruction provides a solution to this problem, and by exposing and making conscious these oppositions, and deliberately working against them creates a system of simultaneous difference and equality through semantic â€Å"play†. As such, the ethical concept or exchange between the directors of reality TV, the participants and the audience create an interesting dynamic of exploitation that tends to eschew simple ethical thinking. To say that these reality programmes are bad ethically (a string of reasons have been posited, from the sensory deprivation of participants, to the unsavoury and voyeuristic nature of the program, to the use of the grotesque, to the implementation of torture techniques) avoids the overall issue that participation is â€Å"voluntary†. However, the previous arguments (deconstructive, Marxist, feminist, existential) all have radically different arguments as to what exactly constitutes â€Å"voluntary†; the notion of voluntary participation is a key issue in philosophical debate, and can be seen to surface in the ethics of advertising, fast food consumption and the selling of junk to young people. The question revolves around the concept of â€Å"reality†; namely, wh ether we are in control or whether our choices are determined by mechanisms and structures of power, addiction, and deep psychological needs. Reality TV argues that it exists as a form of entertainment. In the following section I will look at the dynamic of exploitation; particularly upon how reality TV exploits certain human qualities or â€Å"realities†, and renders them perverse. Reality TV: a psychoanalytical approach Reality TV, especially the phenomenon of the game show Reality TV programme, namely such programmes as Big Brother, Survivor, Big Diet, Celebrity Fat Club, Temptation Island, Bachelorette and Boot Camp exploit numerous psychoanalytical desires in order to â€Å"hystericise† reality and to render ordinary impulses and desires perverse. This exploitation, which I will argue is central to the strategy of corporatism and central to the postmodern malaise raises a number of ethical questions concerning the position of Reality TV in contemporary society, is endemic in the phenomenon of reality TV, and appears concerned primarily as either a reflection of, or a creation of, many issues that plague Western consciousness. Reality TV attacks certain concepts and, via gossip columns and TV journalism in other media, makes these things hysterical. One such topic is that of the â€Å"normal† relationship. While Big Brother tends to vet the participants based upon their position as s exually â€Å"perverse† (the last series of Big Brother featured a transsexual and several homosexuals) eccentric or colourful in order to engender conflict within the house and to maximize the entertainment value that can be derived from this â€Å"reality† that is constructed, the vision of the ordinary relationship, which occurs with relative frequency in the Big Brother house, is one that is treated with extreme shock by both participants, media, the programme makers, and eventually, the audience themselves. Jan Jagodozinki (2003) comments that â€Å"each reality game ‘hot-houses’ and hystericizes ‘normal relationships’, engendering paranoid perception where no one is to be trusted† (323). Of course, ethically this hystericisation serves the purpose many mass-mediated and televised spectacles seek to achieve. In a Marxist, postmodernist context, the media (especially the ‘modern’ mediums of television and brand advertis ing) wishes to engender a consumer whose only relationship to the outside world is through the corporatist-owned signification of signs. We are marketed towards in order to create an atomised, pseudo-individual whose only relationship to him / her self is through signification and engagement with the hyperreal. As such, consumer need is created, manufactured in the dream factory of advertising, and disseminated through mass media to create demand for a product that was, prior to the embellishment of reality through hyperrealistic signification, useless and unnecessary. Reality TV simply contributes to this feeling of post-human disgust with the mechanisms of the body and the unconscious mind. For instance, the drives expounded by Freud (labelled by him as genital, oral and anal), are attacked with frequency in a number of these TV reality shows: In Big Brother, participants are deprived of food, and are occasionally â€Å"treated† to products from the outside world when they participate in a particular task (the oral, anal dichotomy). The lack of privacy in toilets suggest the programmes obsession with these excretive functions; also, the relationships that occur among these â€Å"ordinary† people are exaggerated with an unparalleled degree of disgust and hysteria both within the programme and external to it in other â€Å"gossip† columns and TV magazines. This suggests an obsession with the genital drives that are echoed in other reality TV programmes. The hystericisation of normality â€Å"are the very symptoms that plague the American landscape, namely the preoccupation with the excesses of the drives – anal and oral (food / dieting) [†¦], genital (seduction) [†¦] trust, [†¦] extreme physical exertion [†¦] authority† (Jagodozinki 2003, 323). These drives are isolated and compounded in a manner that many would figure as unethical; the audiences watch the TV – voyeurs in their living rooms – rendering all these desires perverse and alien. The anal / oral functioning can be seen in all manner of these game show / reality TV hybrids. In Survivor, participants experience food deprivation, then are force-fed the junk food of capitalism. Reality TV provides us with either a perverse kind of promotion of these desires, or else exaggerates and satirizes these principles that already play a huge part in the advertising, producer / consumer relationship of (most of) Western society. For instance, many of these reality TV programmes are obsessed with food and excrement, the balance between which is, of course, expressed in terms of physical weight: Game show reality programmes such as Fat Club, Big Diet, Survivor and Big Brother, as well as innumerable documentaries, talk shows (Gerry Springer, Rikki Lake, Oprah Winfrey all tend to devote a disproportionate amount of time to â€Å"exposing† obesity in ways that carefully tread the dual lines of exploitation and grotesquer y, and non-pervasive exploration or passive â€Å"documentary†, often with a focus on the former) all focus on weight, eating and consumption as a mainstay of their challenges. In one edition of I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, pop-mystic and spoon bender Uri Geller was forced to eat live slugs while some other minor celebrity spent most of the programme complaining about his constipation. As such, natural processes such as eating, drinking and excreting matter becomes exaggerated to such an extent that these very bodily processes become shameful. Jagodozinki comments that â€Å"Survivor players are foced to follow exactly the same starve and binge mentality of bulemics† (2003, 321). The Freudian drives and impulses are concentrated upon by programme makers in order to engender an interest in the programme that, if it were a representation of ordinary, mundane â€Å"reality†, would presumably be too scant to provoke widespread interest. Similarly, other drives are obsessed over. The genital desires, marked by an obsession with sex, lust and seduction are exploited through programmes such as Big Brother, Temptation Island and Bachelorette, where sexual, relationship related trysts are exploited by the programme makers in order to maximise audience ratings and profits from their programme. For instance, whenever a relationship threatens to bubble over in Big Brother, the programme makers, along with the media vehicles that feature Big Brother (showbiz magazines and tabloid newspapers, for instance) tend to simultaneously glorify and pervert the developing relationship into a grotesque and abominable spectacle. Trust and paranoiac fantasies are also played with in the post-production of Big Brother. The format is automatically designed to expose hypocrisy: while participants are forced to work together and live together, participants also have to periodically vote each other out of the house. As such, issues of trust and paranoiac functions are exploited, in a microcosm, of the contemporary world that constitutes â€Å"reality† TV. As such, the difficulty with exposing the ethical indiscretion of reality TV is simply that it can either be seen as a hyperbolic reflection or satire of current prevalent trends in Western society, or that it can be seen as contributing to the effects of â€Å"consumerisation†, and can therefore be seen in the light of Marxists who approach the exploitative mechanisms of mass media with grave suspicion. Louis Althusser’s system of â€Å"interpolation† which in his words, is described as having the following relationship with ideology: â€Å"ideology interpolates the individual as subject, [†¦] this interpolation is realized in institutions, in their rituals and practices† (2001). As such, the ideology of guilt, of loathing for the body and of the consumerisation of the general public through the exploitation of these particular vulnerabilities is, according to Althusser, interpolated and disseminated through mass media, or, as he calls it, the  "ideological state apparatus†. And any form of mass media that adheres to these capitalist desires against the individual and for the â€Å"subject† is also catering to systematic oppression to the masses and is therefore morally reprehensible. So, what is the argument in favour of reality TV? Namely, that it bypasses these ideologies and instead presents us with a â€Å"reality† of ordinary people, unencumbered by the traffic of biased representation one tends to get in drama and fiction. The function of reality TV, according to this argument, is to present to people life as it really is. I would argue, however, that this is not the case for a number of reasons. The psychological stresses that subjects are put under are, in themselves, unique in these game show / reality TV programmes. It would be extraordinary to presume that everyday people would be forced to endure these psychological strains. Moreover, the dissemination and the editing of these pieces together serves a dual function: firstly, it imposes a strict narrative upon the happenings based upon a desire to entertain. Entertainment can be achieved through the exploitation and exaggerations of these specific, Freudian functions. In order to condense 24 hou rs of time into half an hour, programme makers have to edit the raw material of â€Å"reality† in a way that generates interest in the overall product. The effect of this is to highlight these desires and dramas and to generate a narrative of disgust from the raw material. As such, events are scandalised, hystericised, and processed through the â€Å"state apparatus† of Freudian drama. This is satirised in the film The Truman Show. Jagodozinki (2003) comments that â€Å"The banality of his everyday life with its mundane repetitions is the very opposite of media hype which happens off camera or is worked in ‘live’† (328). The function of this segment is to highlight the principle that these dramas are not reality; simply because the subject is â€Å"real† and falls into the pigeonhole of â€Å"non-fiction† by programmers, the ways in which these â€Å"documentaries† are assembled tend to fall into dramatic stereotypes associated with the exploitation of Freudian impulses, checked with a Marxian system of exploitation. The World Is Flat: â€Å"Infotainment† and relativism Modern news programming tends to cut and splice events of widely different qualities – from serious news items about plagues, famines, death and suffering to items about cuddly toys and cats getting stranded in trees. Also, programming on commercial channels are cut every fifteen minutes with a barrage of advertising, with the effect of sharply combining the â€Å"reality† of news footage and reality TV with the â€Å"non-reality† of advertising. Ethically, this places TV in general under the accusation of numbing the viewer and transforming him or her into the amoral, relativistic, emotionally numb and philosophically nihilistic consumer infant that sociopaths and corporations tend to prefer. As such, arguments about the â€Å"reality† of reality TV being less produced than fiction tends to falter instead, the handle of â€Å"reality† has the effect of simply lowering the viewer’s (or consumer’s) guard. The juxtaposition of mundane e vents in a fast barrage of creative editing sensationalises the mundane. In a triumph of style over content, some reality TV shows and news features use music and montage to create the illusion of event, when there is no event to speak of. â€Å"Real life† documentaries and long-running reality TV programmes, such as Changing Rooms and DIY SOS utilise quirky (and somewhat insipid) montage sequences with humorous music in order to generate a homely, friendly appeal. However, almost all reality TV programmes appeal to consumerist desires (an endless procession of programmes about house hunting, gardening, buying), or exploitative voyeurism (house cleaning programmes about â€Å"dirty† people, unsympathetic obesity programmes, a fixation upon sexual or cosmetic acts). Ethically, reality TV however, only ser