Raymond Williams and His Contribution to the Study of Culture Essay

Raymond Williams and His Contribution to the Study of Culture - Essay Example The essay "Raymond Williams and His Contribution to the Study of Culture" discusses the brief introduction and historical background of the development of cultural studies; theories and theorists advocating the cultural materialist approach; Raymond Williams on cultural studies and cultural materialism and the relevance of cultural materialism in current context. The explanation of cultural materialism is grounded on the theoretical fundamentals of leftist culturalism and Marxist analysis. Williams views culture as a productive process. In accordance with the Marxist theoretical framework, cultural materialism is an elaboration of historical materialism - a way of understanding the diverse social and material production of the works of art. For Williams, culture is located within flexible but identifiable boundaries. The idea of culture with boundaries is problematic and a complicated issue in the age of globalization. Williams theory of cultural materialism describes the relationshi ps between culture and society. Culture is denoted, according to Williams, as a whole way of life material, intellectual and spiritual. This definition is relevant even in today’s globalization period to understand the complicated patterns of diversified cultural relationships. The various perspectives of ‘common culture’ in Williams’ theory include social relations at work, organized politics, public entertainments. The new modes of communicative production in today’s cultures are the technological advancements.

Outsourcing Functions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Outsourcing Functions - Essay Example Army takes active support of the capabilities of special operations forces, for the functioning of landlines of communication, and other civil programs. A whole range of missions is assigned by the National Command Authorities for the army to play its crucial role with the support from the core competencies. Thus, the core competencies relate to structuring the country’s security environment, quick action against natural or human created crisis, mobilizing the army to be a part of the action on war front, crossing the enemy physical borders by forcing entry, long term hold of foreign lands to resolve the conflicts, closing with and defeating of enemy forces through precision fires and maneuvers by using information technology to its advantage. These are the critical skills that an army must develop and nurture so that it is looked upon with great respect by the powers that matter . Other core capabilities of army include commanding and control of Joint and Multinational Forces that require inter-organization collaboration on united handling of capabilities to foster competency. Army manages and safeguards people, land and natural resources as well. It organizes sustained operations of essentials to the army that includes supply, engineer, finance, medical, and personnel units. Army supports the civil authorities in domestic and global urgencies as well. These are such functions, which the army should outsource to outside companies that have greater expertise to competently perform the related tasks. It will leave enough room for the army to pay attention to more demanding tasks for which it is formed . The Corps of Engineers is one such organization, which is a part of the army. It is in the same way facing hardships in managing