Power & Politics Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Power & Politics - Coursework Example Oprah Winfrey is one of the most powerful women in the modern day context. The power that Oprah Winfrey possesses is expert power. She is well aware of the fact that she is quite influential all over the world and therefore realises her responsibility and an opportunity to assist others to grow intellectually. Oprah Winfrey has power which is evident from the US President Barack Obama’s election bid. It was identified that by means of her endorsements, President was capable of gathering many extra votes which led him to the highest position. However, it has been found that her power has certain limitations. Her power to encourage and persuade others rests on her capability to align her supporters to any aspect that people can identify with. She needs to have the capability to bring together the idea, repack it if required so that it is aligned with the interest of the mass (Miller, 2004). Alan Sugar is the other influential personality of present times. It can be mentioned that Alan Sugar seems to be exercising referent power. Referent power is the situation where a person gains the right to obtain respect from others because of perceived attractiveness, personal characteristics as well as reputation. Alan Sugar achieved reputation so that he can expect respect as one of the most influential leaders. Thus, it can be concluded that power has a noteworthy role to play in the attainment of the goals of the organisations.

Criminal Behaviour Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Criminal Behaviour - Essay Example [The Mental Health Act 1983, 2000] For example, most jurisdictions consider psychopathy to be an aggravating rather than a mitigating factor in determining criminal responsibility. In some states an offender convicted of first-degree murder and diagnosed as a psychopath is likely to receive the death penalty on the grounds that psychopaths are cold-blooded, remorseless, untreatable and almost certain to re-offend. But many of the killers on death row were, and continue to be, mistakenly referred to as psychopaths on the basis of DSM-III, DSM-III-R or DSM-IV criteria for ASPD. ASPD and psychopathy might now be more or less synonymous constructs. [Hare, 1999] Psychopaths generally are more violent than non-psychopaths, and are more likely to engage in a variety of different types of aggressive acts, but tend to engage in predominantly instrumental (calculated) violence, threaten strangers with weapons and to be motivated by vengeance, retribution, or money. [Hart S.D., Forth A.E., Hare R.D.; 1994] The psychopaths' profile includes such individual characteristics as sense of entitlement, disparate understanding of behaviour and socially acceptable behaviour; they are unremorseful, apathetic to others, unconscionable, blameful to others, manipulative and conning, affectively cold, disregardful of social obligations, non-conforming to social norms, irresponsible. Traditionally, affective and interpersonal traits such as egocentricity, shallow effect, deceit, manipulativeness, lack of empathy, selfishness, guilt or remorse are central individual characteristics in the conceptualization and diagnosis of psychopathy. [Cleckley,1976; Hare, 1993; Widiger & Corbitt, 1995] In 1980 psychopathy was renamed antisocial personal disorder and is now defined by persistent violations of social norms, including lying, stealing, truancy, traffic arrests and inconsistent work behaviour. These features appear to be visible through failure to make intimate relationships, impulsiveness, lack of guilt, not learning from adverse experience. [Harris G.T., Rice M.E., Quinsey V.L., 1993] Hare in his 'Without Conscience' (1999) defines that psychopaths charm and exploit others for their own gain, they lack empathy, sense of responsibility, they manipulate, lie and con others with no regard for anyone's feelings. Psychopathy is characterized by such traits as lack of remorse or empathy, shallow emotions, egocentricity, glibness, manipulativeness, parasitic lifestyle, episodic relationships, low frustration tolerance and persistent violation of social norms. [Hare, 1999] Dr.Hervey Cleckley in 'The Mask of Sanity' came up with 16 traits that formed a specific pattern of perspective and behaviour, and to see the 'symptoms' of psychopathy one should connect him with the circuit of a full social life. Psychopaths miss the qualities that people depend on for living in social harmony. [Cleckley, 1976] The psychopathic personality disorder items fall into two clusters: One cluster - Factor 1, reflects core interpersonal and affective characteristics; the other cluster - Factor 2, consists of items that reflect a socially deviant and nomadic