Ethics & people Essay Example for Free

Ethics people Essay The question of ethics is particularly important for a person who is both part of society and works with a group. The development of community and collective self is impossible without the struggle of opposing ideas and positions, and the collision of different points of views and opinions through which it is possible to overcome contradictions and disagreements. The relationship within a team works in a â€Å"mirror-system† where members can see their behavior reflected in their interaction with other people. An example of this can be seen when group members introduce themselves to each other. Usually, group members gauge how they will act depending on how the first person introducing will make them feel. If they feel comfortable with the personality of that person, they will also act naturally. However, if they feel threatened or intimidated, they will also exhibit signs of such. Understanding this particular group dynamic is important in maintaining relationships in the workplace. Once members understand this, they start to create their own group values/culture of which good ethics is a foundation. The presence of group ethics and values can lead to the success of a group especially in diffusing conflicts to maintain decorum and maintain work ethic (Green 2006). I want to point out an experience I had in which I acted unethically within a group. This instance happened last semester when I took a class in Entrepreneurship and got into an argument with a groupmate while planning for a project entitled â€Å"Blue Ocean Strategy†. I was trying to convince him that my side was right. I was on the verge of tears that I raised my voice and walked out on him, slamming the door as I left. In retrospect, I realized that I reacted unethically to the situation. Since I was part of a team, my actions disrupted the group and affected our work ethic. But what was I to do? Keep quiet even though I had a good suggestion for the group? Let my idea be discarded without me fighting for it? I have tried to justify my actions as a way for me to assert myself, to make my groupmate realize that I was trying to contribute to the group. This, however, did not change the fact that my outburst affected my groups opinion of me. Now I understand that to act ethically is to act calmly in resolving conflicts. In defending my ideas, I have to be careful to exude confidence calmly and not arrogantly. Being aggressive and arrogant creates a negative feeling within the group. It is also important to choose words carefully when dragged into a conflict. It is even better if I keep my silence even if my groupmate is goading me. I should calm myself and wait for my partner to calm down too before we try and solve the problem. The Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu in his book The Art of War shared that it is best to win without fighting (Tzu 1). Thus, the real winner of any conflict is the one who is able to prevent it from the start. It is an important exercise to weigh factors first before getting into a conflict. â€Å"What have I got to gain? To lose? †, â€Å"Will these actions lead to a solution for the group or for myself? † These are the questions that I will ask myself before I confront any one, not just members of my group. Conflicts will always arise whenever people get together. What is important is how the group will move together to resolve such issues. Even though groups move in different contexts, whether political, social, industrial or domestic, the strategies to conflict management are grounded on one, same idea. We should always act and behave ethically and not let emotions seize our actions. Works Cited Green, Daryl. Understanding Group and Personal Ethics. Nu Leadership Series. 2006. EzineArticles. com. Web. 21 July 2010. http://ezinearticles. com/? Understanding- Group- and-Personal-EthicsNu-Leadership-Seriesid=419973 Tzu, Sun. The Art of War. Trans. Shawn Conners and Lionel Giles. Texas: el Paso Norte

Sony Corporation Executive Summary :: Sony Business Marketing Essays

Sony Corporation Executive Summary Sony's current financial difficulties are tied into its corporate culture which were stated over 30 years ago. With such a large multinational corporation, greater planning and more use of strategies should be pursued. Sony could start with the implementation of a new mission statement, with profit and benefits of the company tied more closely to everyday operations. Internally, the four forces, the management, the designers, the production and the marketing should achieve better communication and cooperation. Alliance and cooperation between competitors should also be actively sort after in order to create standards in new fields. Sony should aim at being the leader instead of being the maverick. As for cost cutting, Sony should seriously consider setting up operations in other Asian countries in order to take advantage of the cheap labour and the budding markets. Finally, diversification, instead of pursuing the fast changing and easily imitated consumer goods market, Sony should use its technological know-how for high-end business and office equipment. With SWOT analysis and Porter's competitive forces model, we can view that the market is much more competitive with less profit margins and lead-time for product innovation. The conclusion is that change is needed in Sony. However,even with strategirial and structure change, the Sony spirit of innovation should remain intact because that is what made Sony grow and would make it stay strong. Introduction The first thing that comes to peoples minds of the company and products of Sony is its high-technology-filled-with-gadgets electronic goods and innovation. It was also this innovation that make Sony the greatest company that started in post-war Japan. Sony has used its innovation in building markets out of thin air, created a multibillion, multinational electronic empire with products such as the transistor radio, the Trinitron, the Walk-in and the VTR. that changed everyday household lives forever. However, this consumer targeted quest for excellence and constant innovation instead of targeting mainly at profit also has a lot to do with current crisis Sony is facing - sales and profits are down or are slowing down, capital investment cost and R&D are climbing, competitors are moving in with copycats, the battle between VHS and Beta and the search for a smash hit product such as the Trinitron or the Walk-in. This volatility and emphasis (or gambling) on new products instead of concentrating on profit and loss statements have always been a part of Sony since its beginning days. For each successful product (i.e. transistor radio and Trinitron), R&D cost often ran so high that the they pushed the firm to the verge of bankruptcy. This can also be seen through the eyes of the investor in which although sales have increased tremendously

Did Lizzie Borden Commit Murder

A little over a century ago an atrocious double murder was committed, in the two-half story house at 92 Second Street, in Fall River, Massachusetts. This crime shocked the city of Fall River, as well as the nation, as Lizzie Borden, a 32-year-old Sunday school teacher, went on trial for the murder of her father and her stepmother. (Augustine). An all male jury eventually acquitted her on the accusations. (Aiuto). To this day, the murderer of Andrew J. Borden and Abby Gray Borden is still unknown, but in the public mind everyone believes it was Lizzie Borden.Lizzie was born and grew up in Fall River, Massachusetts. She was the youngest daughter of Andrew Jackson Borden, who was a very successful Banker and Sarah Borden. Sarah died when Lizzie was very young and Andrew then married Abby Durfee Gray. Lizzie grew up with an elder sister, Emma. Neither of them ever married. It is said the sisters hated their stepmother, mainly because of the family’s inferior social position. (Hist ory Channel). Many of the wealthier houses at the time had electricity and running water, the Borden house did not, making Andrew’s reputation a penny pincher. Clark). On the day of August 4, 1892, the bodies of Andrew Borden and his wife were found mutilated. (History Channel). As opposed to 40 whacks, in the popular rhyme, 19 blows struck Abby Borden by a hatchet or axe to the back of her head and neck. (History Channel). At the time she was cleaning the guestroom of the family home, at 9:30 am. Andrew Borden, who had returned home around 10:30 am, after his daily business had been attended to, was napping on a couch in the parlor, when he was attacked. (Lizzie). 11 blows were struck upon Mr.Borden's head and face, to the point that one eye hung from its socket, making him unrecognizable. (History Channel). There were only two people in or about the house at the time of the killings, Lizzie Andrew Borden and Bridget Sullivan, the Borden's maid. (Clark) There is some specula tion as to others that may have been responsible for these evil acts. Among the other alleged killers is John Morse, the brother of Andrew's first wife, Emma Borden, Lizzie's elder sister. Soon after the murders, Lizzie emerged as the prime suspect after John Morse’s alibi checked out. Clark). She then was arrested and tried on three counts, the murder of Abbey, of Andrew, and of them both and, if found guilty, faced death by hanging. (Clark). What makes the Fall River murders so perplexing is that the motive, the weapon and the opportunity for such a crime are all absent. When the Fall River constabulary investigated the murders, they found no money or jewelry missing, not even small amounts of change or the packet of bus tickets as were taken in the daytime break-in at the Borden home twelve months earlier. (History Channel).There was some speculation on Andrew having a will, but no will was ever found, leaving the entire estate to Lizzie and Emma. (Clark). A local pharmaci st reported Lizzie coming into his store and asking for prussic acid or hydrogen cyanide on several different occasions two weeks prior to the murders. (Augustine). Lizzie insisted that she needed it to clean an item of clothing, but the pharmacist refused to sell it to her without a prescription. (Augustine). Also, when the bodies had been discovered many people from throughout the neighborhood were entering and exiting the crime scene and could have easily moved evidence to protect Lizzie. Clark). Besides the lack of a clear motive for the murders, there was also the perplexing lack of opportunity. Fall River found the entire Borden house locked up as usual, and during the two-and-a-half-hour period in which both murders were completed, the maid Bridget was outside the house washing windows and daughter Lizzie was inside the house reading a magazine. (History Channel). Even if one of the two committed the crime, the violent and bloody act should have been noisy enough to attract t he attention of the other. There was also not a lot of blood splatter at the crime scene. (Clark).If Lizzie were to have murdered her parents there should have been some sort of blood on Lizzie’s clothes. (Clark). The prosecution used this as a key part of their trial. They had a witness that said she saw Lizzie burning a blue dress in her kitchen and the prosecution insisted that it was the dress Lizzie killed her parent’s in. (Clark). Lizzie did in fact burn a dress and was seen doing so, but she was burning it because she had no use for it anymore because it was soiled with paint. (Clark). June 1893, Lizzie was arrested and sent to trial. The all-male jury was put into a difficult position. (Lizzie).It was the Victorian Era where women were considered delicate flowers and not capable of killing someone and it was not a common issue to deal with in those times. (History Channel). After only an hour of deliberating, the jury declared Lizzie to be not guilty. It is sai d it only took them 15 minutes to decide, but out of respect for the prosecution, they waited another 45 minutes before they informed the court of their decision. (Lizzie). Shortly after the trial, Emma and Lizzie each inherited half of their father's estate, about $200,000. 00 each, which was a large amount of money in those days. (History Channel).Their first purchase was a home on The Hill, at 7 French Street, which Lizzie named Maplecroft. (Clark). Lizzie also changed her name to Lizbeth. (Clark) Lizzie became a social outcast after the trial, with few friends remaining loyal. (History Channel). Her every move was criticized: if she appeared solemn in public, it was because she was guilt-ridden because of her crime; if she was happy, it proved she was a heartless monster. Lizzie soon had to travel farther to do her shopping, but she was not left along by reporters. (Clark). Reports after the trial of Lizzie usually were rumors, from engagements to cases of shoplifting.These pape rs never seemed willing to print tales of her good deeds, such as her many charitable donations, her aide to deserving young people who could not afford a college education. (Clark). Nor did they print stories of her love of animals, or of the arts. (Clark). The murder of Andrew and Abby Borden will forever be a cold case and one of the most gruesome crimes that could have been committed by a woman. People will always have some sort of curiosity towards this case because of the lack of evidence, the opportunity and motive that could have possibly been.Works Cited Aiuto, Russell. â€Å"Lizzie Borden Took An Ax. † TruTv. Turner Broadcasting System, 2010. Web. 27 Oct 2010Augustine, Megan. â€Å"Dusting off a Cold Case with Modern Forensics: Lizzie Borden†¦fortyone. † The Forensics Examiner. 14. 4 (2005): 52+ Academic OneFile. Web. 14 Oct 2010.Clark, Denise M. â€Å"How Lizzie Got Away With Murder. † Crimemagazine. com. Crime Magazine,2010. Web. 25 Oct 2010. Th e History Channel: The Strange Case Of Lizzie Borden. New Video, 2005. DVD. â€Å"Lizzie Andrew Borden. †Karisable. com. Karisable Burns. 26 Apr. 2004. Web. 27 Oct 2010.

Harriet Jacobs s Story The True Meaning Of A Slave s...

Harriet Jacobs’s story informs the reader of her experiences and transformative tribulations she had to undergo from childhood to adulthood. No one in today’s society could come close to comprehending the amount of heartache, torment, anguish, and complete misery women had to suffer and endure during slavery. However, we can all learn from Jacobs’s heartbreaking story to understand the true meaning of a slave’s quest for freedom and the inalienable bond a mother has for her children. Life was tough and very cruel for Harriet Jacobs and other female slaves. Slave women, especially young girls, found that their bodies were the property of their slaveholder. Their bodies were looked upon as sexual objects, deemed to be used any way the master saw fit. Slave women were taunted and insulted, in Harriet Jacobs’s case, but many others were frequently raped. In addition, slave women washed, sewed, picked cotton and assumed primary responsibility for the care of their children and the slaveholders children. Many slave mothers had to undergo the gut-wrenching pain of watching their children be sold to other slaveholders, and in most cases, never see their children again. If the women or any slave tried to resist the slaveholder, they would be whipped until the master thought the punishment was at an end. Harriet Jacobs has witnessed and suffered through a very difficult time in life that faced many hardships and cruelties such as physical and psychological abuse, th e separation ofShow MoreRelatedDeveloping Management Skills404131 Words   |  1617 Pagesbuilt-in pretests and posttests, focus on what you need to learn and to review in order to succeed. Visit www.mymanagementlab.com to learn more. DEVELOPING MANAGEMENT SKILLS EIGHTH EDITION David A. Whetten BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY Kim S. Cameron UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Prentice Hall Boston Columbus Indianapolis New York San Francisco Upper Saddle River Amsterdam Cape Town Dubai London Madrid Milan Munich Paris Montreal Toronto Delhi Mexico City Sao Paulo Sydney Hong Kong Seoul SingaporeRead MoreLibrary Management204752 Words   |  820 PagesCongress Subject Headings: Principles and Application, Fourth Edition Lois Mai Chan Developing Library and Information Center Collections, Fifth Edition G. Edward Evans and Margaret Zarnosky Saponaro Metadata and Its Impact on Libraries Sheila S. Intner, Susan S. Lazinger, and Jean Weihs Organizing Audiovisual and Electronic Resources for Access: A Cataloging Guide, Second Edition Ingrid Hsieh-Yee Introduction to Cataloging and Classification, Tenth Edition Arlene G. Taylor LIbRaRy and InfoRMaTIon

The Privacy Of The Bill Of Rights - 2654 Words

Nate Brisson Extra Credit Paper Bus Law 3500, Blackburn Monday 5:30-6:50 Invasion of Privacy From the days the constitution was signed and the solidification of the bill of rights, one can see that there were many core values that our forefathers wanted to promise every American citizen. Under the bill of rights, lie the ten amendments, which express the need for civil rights and personal freedom. However, as the era marches progressively into the technological age, the need to uphold these rights, especially those pertaining to personal privacy has become a popular topic of discussion on social media and Internet forums, namely the privacy of Americans. Privacy, to me is defined as the protection of all things being personal, in the sense to be unwatched in a free society. Now, this is not the legal definition but one can still see from the aforementioned description that privacy in all matters should have an upholding of rights regarding freeness without intervention of anyone watching. In which this is what one of the main goals and underlying reason for the need for Inva sion of privacy torts. Privacy in all sense is the catalyst for the need for some sort of protection to carry out these promises that our forefathers have set, where the need for some sort of common law or tort that comes into play. A tort is a civil wrong other than a breach of contract. It recognizes the right to a victim of a tort to recover compensation in the form of money damagesShow MoreRelatedThe Consumer Privacy Bill Of Rights1600 Words   |  7 Pagessame citizens bear the right and deserve the peace of mind of having personal identifiable information handled appropriately. 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A Brief Note On Sociology And Sociology Class - 1524 Words

After conducting five interviews, I found some similarities and differences on their views of what sociology is. I interviewed two females and three males. The ages from the interviewee’s ranged from 19 to 56. All of my respondent’s in this research were white. The five respondents had a different socioeconomic status. One of the respondents is still in school, and does not work at the moment, so I listed her as a low socioeconomic class. I interviewed both of my parents, and they are at a middle class standing. Also, I interviewed my girlfriend’s mom and dad, and they are also at a middle class standing, while her mom got her BA, and is a nurse. Both my girlfriend and her parents are Republican’s, while my parent’s are Democrats. The first question I asked in these interviews was, â€Å" What the discipline of sociology is, and what they expect when they enroll in an Introduction to Sociology class.† The majority of my respondents did not kn ow what the discipline of sociology meant. Except for one respondent said â€Å" The discipline of sociology can range from criminology, politics, and philosophy.† To the second part of the first question, the answers were all the same. All of my respondents went on to say, the basics of sociology, study human behavior, the interactions of people from, different races, gender and different socioeconomic class. On the next question, about what sociologist study, I received common answers from my respondents. All the respondent’s answers was,Show MoreRelatedTraditional African Family19679 Words   |  79 PagesHARALAMBOS and HOLBORN Sociology LESSON PLANS BY LESLEY CLARK Sociology teachers and students have relied on Sociology Themes and Perspectives for over twenty years. The coverage of theories and research in each subsequent edition has been unrivalled for accuracy and detail. 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Cultural Comparisons Ethnocentrism Essay Example For Students

Cultural Comparisons Ethnocentrism Essay CultureCultural comparisonsEthnocentrismEthnocentrism is the name given to a tendency to interpret or evaluate other cultures in terms of ones own. This tendency has been, perhaps, more prevalent in modern nations than among preliterate tribes. The citizens of a large nation, especially in the past, have been less likely to observe people in another nation or culture than have been members of small tribes who are well acquainted with the ways of their culturally diverse neighbours. Thus, the American tourist could report that Londoners drive on the wrong side of the street or an Englishman might find some customs on the Continent queer or boorish, merely because they are different. Members of a Pueblo tribe in the American Southwest, on the other hand, might be well acquainted with cultural differences not only among other Pueblos but also in non-Pueblo tribes such as the Navajo and Apache. Ethnocentrism became prominent among many Europeans after the discovery of the Americas, the i slands of the Pacific, and the Far East. Even anthropologists might characterize all preliterate peoples as being without religion (as did Sir John Lubbock) or as having a prelogical mentality (as did Lucien L?vy-Bruhl) merely because their ways of thinking did not correspond with those of the culture of western Europe. Thus, inhabitants of non-Western cultures, particularly those lacking the art of writing, were widely described as being immoral, illogical, queer, or just perverse (Ye Beastly Devices of ye Heathen). Cultural RelativismIncreased knowledge led to or facilitated a deeper understanding and, with it, a finer appreciation of cultures quite different from ones own. When it was understood that universal needs could be served with culturally diverse means, that worship might assume a variety of forms, that morality consists in conforming to ethical rules of conduct but does not inhere in the rules themselves, a new view emerged that each culture should be understood and appreciated in terms of itself. What is moral in one culture might be immoral or ethically neutral in another. For example, it was not immoral to kill a baby girl at birth or an aged grandparent who was nonproductive when it was impossible to obtain enough food for all; or wife lending among the Eskimo might be practiced as a gesture of hospitality, a way of cementing a friendship and promoting mutual aid in a harsh and dangerous environment, and thus may acquire the status of a high moral value. The view that elements of a culture are to be understood and judged in terms of their relationship to the culture as a wholea doctrine known as cultural relativismled to the conclusion that the cultures themselves could not be evaluated or graded as higher and lower, superior or inferior. If it was unwarranted to say that patriliny (descent through the male line) was superior or inferior to matriliny (descent through the female line), if it was unjustified or meaningless to say that monogamy was better or worse than polygamy, then it was equally unsound or meaningless to say that one culture was higher or superior to another. A large number of anthropologists subscribed to this view; they argued that such judgments were subjective and therefore unscientific. It is, of course, true that some values are imponderable and some criteria are subjective. Are people in modern Western culture happier than the Aborigines of Australia? Is it better to be a child than an adult, alive than dead? These certainly are not questions for science. But to say that the culture of the ancient Mayas was not superior to or more highly developed than the crude and simple culture of the Tasmanians or to say that the culture of England in 1966 was not higher than Englands culture in 1066 is to fly in the face of science as well as of common sense. Evaluative gradingCultures have ponderable values as well as imponderable, and the imponderable ones can be measured with objective, meaningful yardsticks. A culture is a means to an end: the security and continuity of life. Some kinds of culture are better means of making life secure than others. Agriculture is a better means of providing food than hunting and gathering. The productivity of human labour has been increased by machinery and by the utilization of the energy of nonhuman animals, water and wind power, and fossil fuels. Some cultures have more effective means of coping with disease than others, and this superiority is expressed mathematically in death rate s. And there are many other ways in which meaningful differences can be measured and evaluations made. Thus, the proposition that cultures have ponderable values that can be measured meaningfully by objective yardsticks and arranged in a series of stages, higher and lower, is substantiated. But, it should be noted, this is not equivalent to saying that man is happier or that the dignity of the individual (an imponderable) is greater in an industrialized or agricultural sociocultural system than in one supported by human labour alone and sustained wholly by wild foods. Actually, however, there is no necessary conflict between the doctrine of cultural relativism and the thesis that cultures can be objectively graded in a scientific manner. It is one thing to reject the statement that monogamy is better than polygamy and quite another to deny that one kind of sociocultural system contains a better means of providing food or combating disease than another. Cultural adaptation and Change Ecological or Environmental ChangeEvery sociocultural system exists in a natural habitat, and, of course, this environment exerts an influence upon the cultural system. The cultures of some Eskimo groups present remarkable instances of adaptation to environmental conditions: tailored fur clothing, snow goggles, boats and harpoons for hunting sea mammals, and, in some instances, hemispherical snow houses, or igloos. Some sedentary, horticultural tribes of the upper Missouri River went out into the Great Plains and became nomadic hunters after the introduction of the horse. The culture of the Navajos underwent profound change after they acquired herds of sheep and a market for their rugs was developed. The older theories of simple environmentalism, some of which maintained that even styles of myths and tales were determined by topography, climate, flora, and other factors, are no longer in vogue. The present view is that the environment permits, at times encourages, and also prohibits the acquisition or use of certain cultural traits but otherwise does not determine culture change. The Fuegians living at the southern tip of South America, as viewed by Charles Darwin on his voyage on the Beagle, lived in a very cold, harsh environment but were virtually without both clothing and dwellings. DiffusionCulture is contagious, as a prominent anthropologist once remarked, meaning that customs, beliefs, tools, techniques, folktales, ornaments, and so on may diffuse from one people or region to another. To be sure, a culture trait must offer some advantage, some utility or pleasure, to be sought and accepted by a people. (Some anthropologists have assumed that basic features of social structure, such as clan organization, may diffuse, but a sounder view holds that these features involving the organic structure of the society must be developed within societies themselves.) The degree of isolation of a sociocultural systembrought about by physical barriers such as deserts, mountain ranges, and bodies of waterhas, of course, an important bearing upon the ease or difficulty of diffusion. Within the limits of desirability on the one hand and the possibility of communication on the other, diffusion of culture has taken place everywhere and in all times. Archaeological evidence shows that amber from the Baltic region diffused to the Mediterranean coast; and, conversely, early coins from the Middle East found their way to northern Europe. In aboriginal North America, copper objects from northern Michigan have been found in mounds in Georgia; macaw feathers from Central America turn up in archaeological sites in northern Arizona. Some Indian tribes in northwestern regions of the United States had possessed horses, originally brought into the Southwest by Spanish explorers, years before they had ever even seen white men. The wide dispersion of tobacco, corn (maize), coffee, the sweet potato, and many other traits are conspicuous examples of cultural diffusion . AcculturationDiffusion may take place between tribes or nations that are approximately equal in political and military power and of equivalent stages of cultural development, such as the spread of the sun dance among the Plains tribes of North America. But in other instances, it takes place between sociocultural systems differing widely in this respect. Conspicuous examples of this have been instances of conquest and colonization of various regions by the nations of modern Europe. In these cases it is often said that the culture of the more highly developed nation is imposed upon the less developed peoples and cultures, and there is, of course, much truth in this; the acquisition of foreign culture by the subject people is called acculturation and is manifested by the indigenous populations of Latin America as well as of other regions. But even in cases of conquest, traits from the conquered peoples may diffuse to those of the more advanced cultures; examples might include, in add ition to the cultivated plants cited above, individual words (coyote), musical themes, games, and art motifs. One of the major problems ofethnology during the latter half of the 19th and the early decades of the 20th centuries was the question How are cultural similarities in noncontiguous regions to be explained? Did the concepts of pyramid building, mummification, and sun worship originate independently in ancient Egypt and in the Andean highlands and in Yucat?n or did these traits originate in Egypt and diffuse from there to the Americas, as some anthropologists have believed? Some schools of ethnological theory have held to one view, some, to another. The 19th-century classical evolutionists (which included Edward Burnett Tylor and Lewis H. Morgan, among others) held that the mind of man is so constituted or endowed that he will develop cultures everywhere along the same lines. Diffusioniststhose, such as Fritz Graebner and Elliot Smith, who offered grand theories about the diff usion of traits all over the worldmaintained that man was inherently uninventive and that culture, once created, tended to spread everywhere. Each school tended to insist that its view was the correct one, and it would continue to hold that view unless definite proof of the contrary could be adduced. Computer Crime (815 words) EssayThe tendency nowadays is not to side categorically with one school as against another but to decide each case on its own merits. The consensus with regard to pyramids is that they were developed independently in Egypt and the Americas because they differ markedly in structure and function: the Egyptian pyramids were built of stone blocks and contained tombs within their interiors. The American pyramids were constructed of earth, then faced with stone, and they served as the bases of temples. The verdict with regard to the bow and arrow is that it was invented only once and subsequently diffused to all regions where it has been found. The probable antiquity of the origin of fire making, however, and the various ways of generating itby percussion, friction, compression (fire pistons)indicate multiple origins. EvolutionEvolution of culturethat is, the development of forms through timehas taken place. No amount of diffusion of picture writing could of it self, for instance, produce the alphabetic system of writing; as Tylor demonstrated so well, the art of writing has developed through a series of stages, which began with picture writing, progressed to hieroglyphic writing, and culminated in alphabetic writing. In the realm of social organization there was a development from territorial groups composed of families to segmented societies (clans and larger groupings). Sociocultural evolution, like biologic evolution, exhibits a progressive differentiation of structure and specialization of function. A misunderstanding has arisen with regard to the relationship between evolution and diffusion. It has been argued, for example, that the theory of cultural evolution was unsound because some peoples skipped a stage in a supposedly determined sequence; for example, some African tribes, as a consequence of diffusion, went from the Stone Age to the Iron Age without an intermediate age of copper and bronze. But the classical evolutionists did not maintain that peoples, or societies, had to pass through a fixed series of stages in the course of development, but that tools, techniques, institutionsin short, culturehad to pass through the stages. The sequence of stages of writing did not mean that a society could not acquire the alphabet without working its way through hieroglyphic writing; it was obvious that many peoples did skip directly to the alphabet. Sociology Issues